Hello everyone! 😊

Hope you had a chance to play the new version (and enjoyed it)! ✨

I already posted about the new version on Friday, so the purpose of this dev log is just to give you a quick heads-up on what I'm planning next.
I almost considered skipping this dev log, but then I thought—more communication and transparency can only be a good thing! 🙂

This week

Obviously, the release of the new version was my main focus.
Annoyingly, small touch-ups and dialogue changes took up so much time that I only finished everything by Friday evening, but well, can't help it. At least, it's done now, and the new version is out! 😊

Next week (and next steps)

After releasing an update, I usually take a bit of time off from development, and this time is no different.
This helps me stay motivated and creative for the visual novel in the long run 🙂

As the immediate next step, I wanna focus a bit on bug-fixing and improving some of the smaller problems of the visual novel—something that I often neglect when I'm in full "next update development" mode.
My plan is to release a minor update next with smaller QoL fixes like that (v0.4.1). Since this isn't a main release, it will be "early access only" for now and will remain there until v0.5.0 comes out.

I'm also thinking about adding a "wardrobe" mode in Orange Smash... after all, Yuma has quite a few outfits now, so I think this could be a fun addition! 👀

There have also been various requests here and there for translations of the game, so I might also take some time to explore that further.
For the most part, I'll have to rely on translation tools (like DeepL), but I'll also try to find people to proofread the translations whenever possible.
Of course, I'll start with languages I'm familiar with before expanding to others.

Besides that, I also need to start finalizing some upcoming story elements.
I have a rough outline for the complete story, but some details are not fully decided yet, and slowly, I need to do that since I don't want to be forced to retcon stuff in later updates 😅

Speaking of future updates—this version made me realize my initial scope planning wasn't ideal.
This means: There will be more updates than I originally planned.
And that's fine! I'd rather take my time to make the game fun and something I can be proud of, rather than rushing to finish it.

That's all from me now.
If you have questions and/or suggestions about the development (or the new version), let me know in the comments! ✨

Have a great time, and see you all next week! 👋😊