StrongGirls FMG Visual Novel

Ch5 devblog 01/12/2025

Added 2025-01-12 15:14:37 +0000 UTC

Sunday update time! Hope you've had a great year so far.

This week I've been busy tackling the remaining tasks.

Last Sunday I listed the following tasks. I will now add a ✅emoji to the tasks that are done and then later explain each point more.

Chapter select, (in progress)
Playtest to make sure all scenes trigger correctly, ✅
Proofreading, (in progress)
Teacher scenes, (in progress)
Art for Virgin Route, ✅
Special Serum Scenes ❌

Chapter select

As I am proofreading I am adding all the chapter titles and save locations so it is closely tied to the proofreading progress. I will then later do icons, but will forgo doing icons if it looks like it may delay release.

Playtest ✅

As expected, I came across many unforeseen issues.

I had to rewrite some code that checks on completion with each girl. Namely I decided to make code that checks on if you've finished all the dates with any girl, and if all dates are completed to not trigger the date screen. The player would otherwise get stuck on the date screen if all dates are completed.

I also decided to not put any 'stops' on girls dates. So for example, say you complete all of Saya's story scenes, you can still take her on dates as long as there are dates you haven't gone on.

To keep things balanced I needed to rewrite some of the girls last story scenes to allow for the open ended nature.

I had to do a lot of changes to the ep1 script to make the virgin route work. Up until chapter 4 the game essentially assumes you have a girlfriend so dialogue had to be reworked. One example is after the tennis scene, you're forced to spend a night with your girlfriend normally - which then leads into a pancake date where you meet Haruka for the first time. But if you're not dating anyone it all needs to be rewritten. Then when you meet Haruka to apply for part time work she recognizes you from that date, but since you never came before I needed to change her dialogue.

Basically a ton of "if virginroute == True:" statements to fit in alternate dialogue. There is a chance I've missed some as well. Hope I didn't.

Next I did a final check on the story scenes to make sure they were working properly. I ended up adding some stuff ;)

Proofreading

Beriya who wrote Episode Megumi has been working hard to read over everything to fix my spelling - as well as call me out on inconsistencies. Some inconsistencies require me to reword or change parts of a scene.

I have now gone over 5 girls with 4 remaining. Me and Beriya agreed I'd have to rewrite or change dialogue on some scenes. (For example I made Manami get drunk on the pub date but had previously established they can't get drunk while on the serum due to metabolism). Naughty me.

Teacher Scenes

These are important for me because they introduce some new characters and make the school feel more lively. In progress for now.

Art for virgin route ✅

I'll leave this one in here.

Special Serum Scenes ❌

Real talk: These don't look good. I did a few with the previous art, but with the upgraded style for the whole game they really stick out. I also feel it wouldn't be fair for some girls to have the old art and some to have the new. NOTE: I will make a 5.1 style release with a much shorter turnaround than chapter 6! It will allow me time to also take feedback and fix any potential issues.

I am also going to withhold the Halloween scenes for next release as well.

Since Halloween triggers on October 31st in-game it would have been the last scene of chapter 5. But upon reviewing it now with all of chapter 5 written, I want to let it cook more. Most importantly I want to change the Halloween scenes from just being filler to being a important story scenes - since it's the first time the player invites his (outside school) girlfriend to meet with Yuka. (For example if you're dating Kaori, she'd be introduced to Yuka)

I want this scene to be a chance to get all the girls involved into the central conflict.

I hope you're not disappointed by this news. Put another way: If I were to get Halloween and special serum scenes to a point where I am happy with them, I'd have to delay the game until next month. I'd rather work on them without the pressure I'm feeling now.