Devlog and Delays to version 0.16

Happy new year folks!

I was hoping to start the year off right with an update, but unfortunately I'm going to have to delay the release for this month. I'll get to the why in a moment, and start with a little of what's been happening over December.

Version 0.15

As you might remember, during the release of last month's update, I mentioned that I'd be spending December working on the systems behind the Haunted Brothel. There have been mounting bugs that I haven't had the time to fix, and there are still some structural issues lurking in the foundations that I've wanted to tackle for a long time.

These problems are what led me to the decision to spend December working on maintenance, rather than content. So, here's how that's been going:

New and updated systems

As of this devlog, the following features have now been added, or are in-progress:

• A new-and-improved scene-replay menu! Now with entries sorted into their relevant sidequests, fully controllable using mouse input, and featuring the two latest NSFW scenes from version 0.14 and 0.15.
  Being able to replay the more detailed NSFW scene from 0.15 is significant, since it opens the door  for other more dynamic and detailed NSFW scenes (which I'm VERY excited to play with).
• Fixing subtle problems with the input system. The way Varahn and Jasper move around and interact with things (cutscene events, doors, characters, etc.) is hacked together from some very poorly written code. This is one that's been frustrating to work with while including new events, but it's also been causing a lot of bugs (e.g.being able to walk behind Maxi's desk in the 0.14 update, or in general making it difficult to use items on other characters or objects). This issue is being fixed currently, but there is a lot of groundwork to pull up to make sure the system works correctly with existing events scattered around the brothel.
• Mouse input in the overworld. A knock-on effect of fixing the input system is that there is now a nearly complete mouse input system! A friendlier input system has made it possible for me to write path-finding code and detect interaction events with the mouse. For a fully mouse-playable version, there will be even more system updates to come, including a mouse-usable version of the scene system, the inventory and the outfit selector.

Delaying the latest update

Unfortunately, those last two elements turned out to be WAY more than I could reasonably finish in a one-month span. The problems with the input system run deep, and smooth-running mouse input requires more renovations to the Haunted brothel (e.g. making sure there's space enough to click offscreen when you want Varahn and Jasper to leave a certain room). Because of the size of this, there are now a ton of half-finished changes to the Brothel that cause game-breaking errors, and I'm too deep in the system changes to tie up all the loose ends and release a playable build in time.

Plans for January

I hope this delay doesn't rock anyone's trust in the Haunted Brothel project. I've wanted to be able to offer new content for you to play with each month, but the nature of game development is that there has to be time put aside for updates like this.

Over the next week I'll do my best to wrap up the system updates quickly and get back to our regularly scheduled updates. Until then, I'll be excited to share a new-and-improved edition of the Haunted Brothel with you all.

That's all from me for now. Thanks as always for your support, and your patience. I'm wishing you all an incredible start to 2022 <3