Cicada Springs v 0.10.1.2 | A Little Polish

Happy November, everybody. This is probably the busiest month of the year for me, so I've been plugging away at Cicada Springs a little more than normal. Between Thanksgivings and birthdays, not to mention a quick bout to my local Renaissance Faire, it's been "good" busy, but that's still busy.

I've been working on finishing my commission slate (there are only one-and-a-half stories left!), and that's taken a lot of my time as well. But I was bound and determined not to have another late update, and I think I've got quite a lot here for y'all.

Attached is an "at-a-glance" key that I've been using to keep track of the changes I've made over the course of the month. You can use it to follow along, or just read my breakdown below.

I hope you all had a lovely holiday and, without further ado, let's get started.

Cicada Springs v0.10.1.2

Will I need to start a new game?
You won't! Just start a new day as soon as possible.

Are there any known bugs?
Some of the SPECIAL sections are half-finished and should be completed in the next update. Please read below for more information.

What's Changed?

This update's efforts were split between trying to get the major questlines set in stone and also editing/finalising the look and feel of the game. One received a little more attention than the other, but both areas received a hefty dose of progress that should be completed in the next update.

Each Character Has Different "Unlock" Requirements:

As hinted at in the last update, I've implemented the Friendship Locks, which act as a challenge indicator for each character. We'll cover those first, as they are the biggest changes made to the game.

• Alex is very friendly, but a little awkward. You won't be able to gift her things or ask her questions until her friendship level is 4 or higher (as indicated by the blue progress bar next to her portrait when talking to her/looking at her notes)

• Clover is snobbish and standoffish. After introducing yourself to her, you will only be able to select the [give] option until reaching a friendship level of three or higher.

• Charlie is an open book, but very manipulative. You can ask her questions and talk to her at all times, but you won't be able to give her items until her friendship level is 10 or higher

• Kendra is fun and down for anything; she has no roadblocks to friendship. However, on Sundays, she will be hungover and won't allow any talk of anything other than curing her hangover. After having done so, she should react normally.

• Margot is similar to Alex, very friendly but a little shy. You're looking at 4 or higher for her gift and ask dialogues. However, spreading the love for her Blueberry Frappe will passively give one point to her friendship level each time.

In the spirit of this, giving the wrong gift now penalises the player one (1) friendship point. For example, giving Margot something chocolatey will have her reject the gift, and her friendship level will sink. This can happen repeatedly until the player hits 0, which is the floor amount.

Certain Quests have been Finalised:

For starters, the [SPECIAL] option should now only appear when a player has met the qualifications for questlines to occur. The menus and quests themselves are still under construction.

• All of them have been rewritten and edited, though only a few have been attached to the new switches that activate them.

• Kendra's questline is complete, with Charlie and Clover requiring very high friendships to convince them to go work at the Broken Stool

• Charlie's questline is mostly complete, with Margot and Alex needing a little work to make everything line up properly

• Alex's questline is mostly complete, though it needs a little more polish for things to line up properly

• Clover and Margot's still need to be triggered and remapped

I've left the options to explore these [SPECIAL] options as they are, instead of just hiding them, as proof of concept and to show that I haven't been twiddling my thumbs all month. Again, they should all be fixed by the next update.

All HUB events and Gift Dialogue have been Edited/Streamlined

The HUB dialogue (where you choose Talk/Gift/Ask/Special/Nevermind for each character) was among the first things designed for this conversation tree system, and it was very bloated and archaic. Now it is streamlined, minimising the opportunity for glitches or errors to occur.

The friendship roadblocks also prevent the locked options from appearing.

• Clover, at a friendship of 2, will allow the player to select options for [GIFT] and Nevermind. The remaining options will be unlocked at level 3 or higher.

All Gift Dialogue has been edited. This includes some rewrites, but is mostly trimmed, edited, and centred so that it fits the rest of the dialogue. All TALK and ASK dialogue will follow suit.

Notable Bugs Fixed

• Clover no longer "disappears" during her HUB dialogue

• Fixed a few spots where the player name does not appear (scripting error caused by typos)

• Certain Bobo's cart items would cause Clover's sprites to double up

• Kendra's cheesecake dialogue was left unfinished due to migrating it over from a previous version - this has been fixed

• There are no longer two Kendras on Thursdays

What's Next?

My goal is to have the rest of the dialogue edited/finalised, as well as the quests finished.

I also haven't forgotten about Alex's endings or rewriting Charlie's endings.

After those steps and a final polish/bug test with my Discord peeps, we're finished.

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