Big'ol Post: New build release is delayed a week or so, Sorry. General status update!

Hey everyone, sorry to say the build release won't be this week. Unfortunately, a family matter kind of got dropped on me, so I'm forced to be out of town meaning I can't really work today and the next few days

I had hoped I could pull off a stable build but there's simply no time. Certain features still need some programming work done, and there's things like facial expressions for sex sim dialogue that still need to be transferred.

We're close though, it's mostly busy work not critical functionality left. And even if the work was done right now there wouldn't be adequate time to test an actual build.

All that said, the build should be feasible next week. By then the functions should be complete, and enough things like character data transferred where a build seems reasonable.

The Projected State of the Build

So, here's what's to expect next week:

• The build will be considered [Experimental] meaning it's a limited release, but I will document the state of the build and new functions as much as I can for everyone. 
• While Act 0-4 is implemented dialogue wise, the presentation elements are not. Cinematics, poses, facial expressions, outfits, 2D Sprites for some characters, etc. A lot of elements are required. As such this dialogue may be forcibly skipped for now or made available in a limited capacity for supporters who want to read despite the lack of presentation.
• New UI Elements! A new character status window and journal have been implemented. These UI are still in their early stages but should be functional and will be expanded over time!
• Character stats will be visible but not actively used just yet. 
• Buffs! During sex sim various temporary statuses may be applied! The full extent of these buffs and debuffs remains to be seen. Buffs apply to both Naomi and you, affecting things like arousal increments, climax threshold, speed, and possibly other aspects. 
• Talk to Naomi during sex sim! This feature has finally been properly implemented. There is now a range of dialogue choices possible during sex sim. What options are available depend on various conditions, and responses depend on conditions too! Things you say may apply various buffs or debuffs!
• Grouped items! Now you can select a single item, and see its variants, rather than have a ton of individual items. Not all items of the same type will be grouped, like I won't pair socks with fishnets despite them having the same model.
• Shopping! The release will support the games method of progressively unlocking outfits! Along with other things to buy in due time that will unlock certain features or side stories!
• Saving and loading, Quickie mode, Outfit saving all should be functional. Heads up though as save data may not always work between updates.
• Reworked settings to hopefully prevent weird visual bugs where a settings toggle doesn't seem to work properly.
• Various graphical fixes

While we're here, what's the plan for next month?

Cinematics and Story Content!

Like I said earlier the story is in, but the presentation of that story is not. 

At the moment many features, and functions are missing related to dialogue presentation. There're poses, and animations, and all kinds of stuff.

There're special outfits mentioned in dialogue that are needed (Overly tight clothing and dresses!), and scenes to present! Sex scenes without animations ready for them yet, the horror!

(Art by Kiwi of a character based on my concept, not final, just showing cause I'm slow and this concept represents the character better than my concept did 😩)

Naomi is the only 3D character but there's many others! Co-workers (above), bastards, and Baristas with southern accents! These will mostly have 2D sprites, but this solution is largely unexplored functionally. On top of this, I have not settled on the character designs yet. There's also going to be 2D backgrounds for some scenes, and possibly the option for 2D in other cases.

Additionally, the handling of 3D scene loading is something not thoroughly tested in build and needs added functionality. The above scene is from the intro and ensuring this scene is well optimized and not cumbersome to load is crucial!

Work on this will begin as soon as the build is released!

I've even optimized our workflow thanks to blender 3.2 supporting armatures in collections!

Again sorry

I came close with my projection a release could be pulled off this week, but it's just around the corner now!

Thank you for your patience, I know it's been a long time but some long awaited features are coming, then the story you've all been waiting for!

~sacb0y