New Build, New Video

EDIT: That was fast! The problems that are described in the video below have already been solved. Read this blog post to learn about the current state of the chat interaction feature!

Early in the game’s development, I frequently set milestone goals for myself. My goals were always the same: to include a new major feature in the game by the 1st or 15th day of every month. I stuck to this system for a long time, until it became impossible (because my tasks became very complex and required more than 2 weeks of work to complete).

At this point in time, I am focusing on fixing bugs, removing exploits, balancing gameplay, and making improvements/additions to the game based on user feedback, rather than hitting specific milestone goals. But, with that said, I still feel guilty and apologetic whenever we reach the 1st or 15th day of the month, and I don’t have a new “major feature” to show off.

In the final days of May, I worked on a feature that I was really excited about – something that I had been dreaming of including in the game for many years. It looked like it was going to be finished by June 1st, too. This made me so excited! It was going to be just like the good old days, back when every build had a “star attraction”, a major feature that people could get excited about.

I added the feature to the game, tested it, confirmed that it functioned exactly as I imagined it…but then, I ran into a problem. A problem that I can’t solve my own; a problem that I’d need another programmer’s assistance to fix.

Ah! So disappointing! It really hurts to be on the verge of releasing something really exciting, and then have to postpone it until I find someone to help me fix a problem that is outside my area of expertise…

Working on that feature and not being able to release it makes me feel like I’m coming to you “empty-handed” today; coming to you with no proof that I’ve been spending my time working on something cool and exciting for you to enjoy. I don’t want that to be the case, so I decided to record a video showing you the progress I made with this feature, even if it’s not ready to be used just yet.

…however, it’s kind of awkward to make a video announcing that I don’t have a cool new feature to reveal, so I don’t want to upload this video to my main channel. Instead, I’ve uploaded it to my secondary channel. Here, take a look:

Aside from that, today’s build also contains a bunch of improvements and bug fixes! Click “Continue Reading” to see a list.

Improvements

• The player is no longer able to send a stink bomb to the guidance counselor’s office or Info-chan’s room. (The guidance counselor is too professional to abandon her duties because of a bad smell, and Info-chan has hacked the ventilation system and made it impossible to send any gases into her room. She did this for a specific reason, but it will be one of the last things you ever learn about the game’s lore.)
• The player is no longer allowed to take off a swimsuit that was splattered with blood until they have showered and removed the blood on it, because the act of doing so could result in the player entering a state where they are “soft-locked” and trapped within the locker room, unable to exit because there is no clean clothing they can put on.
• Using the ventilation system to send a bad smell into the Headmaster’s office will cause him to leave school and not come back until after lunchtime has ended. (If you send a bad smell into his office after lunchtime, he’ll go home for the rest of the day.)
• From now on, when students are walking around the school and collecting trash bags to throw away, males will not enter female bathrooms to search for trash bags, and females will not enter male bathrooms to search for trash bags.
• The ventilation system is now accessed by using the B button instead of the A button, since using the A button could cause the player to accidentally throw a stink bomb instead of accessing the ventilation system.
• The player is now allowed to kill students while wearing a swimsuit even if there are no clean outfits at school to change into, since blood can always be cleaned off of a swimsuit without disposing of it.
• Updated the hair model of the foreign boy in the 1980s Mode student council to look less basic/generic and more like the “dreamy foreign boy” character he is supposed to represent.
• Tweaked the 1989 “Pool’s Closed” artwork to more accurately reflect the student council president’s hairstyle.
• Several male hair models have been replaced. If you don’t like them, you are welcome to model your own versions and show me screenshots. If I like your models better than the ones in the game, I’ll consider replacing the current models with your models.

Fixes

• Fixed bug that would trick the game into thinking that there were bloody weapons present on school grounds even though the player had incinerated all bloody weapons, if the player dismembered a corpse with a circular saw that was not bloody before the dismemberment animation began.
• Fixed bug that would cause a faculty member to slide across the ground instead of perform their walking animation if they were distracted by a radio after having sent the player to the guidance counselor earlier in the day.
• Fixed bug that caused the game to permanently mark a save file as being in the Alphabet Killer Challenge if the player activated the challenge and then exited it using the pause screen “return to title screen” feature.
• Fixed bug that caused the “low-sanity chromatic abberation” effect to remain onscreen when the player returned home from school if the player didn’t restore their lost sanity before ending the day.
• Fixed bug that prevented the Martial Arts Club from going about their daily routine if the player enabled the “Disable Distance Animations” feature and then never walked anywhere near the MA Club.
• Fixed bug that would cause student council members to stop acknowledging some of the player’s behavior if they were distracted by the player while returning a dropped object where it belonged.
• Fixed bug that would cause the “Raibaru counters Ayano’s attack and snaps Ayano’s arm” animation to play without sound if the player rapidly attacked Raibaru immediately after killing Osana.
• Fixed bug that would cause the game to incorrectly remember the number of bloody uniforms at school when reloading a save that was made while the protagonist was wearing bloody clothing.
• Fixed bug that would cause students to forget what they were doing if they were distracted by the player aiming a camera at them while they were taking a garbage bag to the incinerator.
• Fixed bug that would cause characters to slide across the ground without a walk animation if they were distracted by the player while returning a dropped object to its proper location.
• Fixed bug that caused a random number of dumbells to disappear from existence after being placed inside of a bucket and used to crush a student’s head from the rooftop.
• Fixed bug that would cause the game to incorrectly remember the player’s chosen school uniform when using the “Reset Week” feature on the Calendar screen.
• Fixed bug that would cause a student to sunbathe in the incorrect location if they were fed by a Cooking Club member while in the middle of sunbathing.
• Fixed bug that would cause the game to count a body part hidden inside of a bookbag as an unconcealed body part when attempting to attend class.
• Fixed bug that would cause the student council to perpetually ignore giggles if they shoved the player away while investigating a giggle.
• Fixing bug that would cause students to spawn wearing the wrong shoes or turn white while changing shoes if the player reloaded a save.
• Fixed bug that would cause two photographs of Ritsuko to appear during her memorial if the player saved and loaded after killing her.
• Fixed bug that would cause the game to forget whether or not a weapon should be splattered with blood upon reloading a save.
• Fixed bug that would cause Ryoba’s gym uniform to turn pure white if she changed into the uniform after reloading a save.
• Fixed some errors with the 1980s Mode female delinquent hair models.
• Fixed typo on the ventilation system screen.