Hello everyone! 😊
Hope you had a great week (and weekend)! 😄

It'd be funny if I misspelled 'Orange Smash' in the image... also, I really should make some nice transition images in the visual novel someday!

My week

Audio to-dos finished

I finished the audio stuff that I mentioned last week—there's a working master volume slider now, and so there are a total of 5 volume sliders now in the game...
It might be a bit overkill, but hey, it gives the player more control!

Hints and walkthrough for the minigames and secret scenes

I heard that the minigames (and finding the secret scenes) have given some people trouble.

So, I've now written up hints and a walkthrough for the minigames and secret scenes. It's a 'progressive hint system' of sorts, meaning, the first hints are only supposed to nudge you in the correct direction without giving everything away, while the last hints are basically a walkthrough.

Currently, those hints/walkthroughs are available to paid Patreon members, but I plan to make the hints for the games/scenes for the public version of the game available to everyone... but I'm still not sure where the best place to 'host' that write-up would be.

So, in the meantime, just message me on Discord or write a comment here if you want help with some of the minigames or secret scenes! 🙂

Planning out the story and starting with v0.5.0

I've been thinking and planning how I want the overall story to play out—I had a rough idea before, but certain details and scenes weren't fully clear. Now, that's taken care of! ✨

I also started working on the script and some CGs for v0.5.0.

v0.5.0 will be more story-focused compared to v0.4.0, so I have a few non-H CGs in mind... let's hope the AI model is able to create those ideas properly 👀

Plans for next week

v0.3.0 minigame assist mode and other QoL features

There have been a few requests to show the current location on the map for the forest navigation minigame.

While the intended way of that minigame was different, I ultimately agree on the inspiring difficulty philosophy of Celeste, which is about ensuring players have a good experience, even if it means letting go of a few things.

So yeah, for players who prefer a more traditional video game approach to the navigation minigame, I plan to add a choice at the start of the minigame that lets you decide whether you want the player's location to be shown on the map or not.
The game will make clear that this is not the recommended way, but the option will be there, and if you decide to turn it off or on later—that option will be in the preferences as well.
I still need to research how to implement this, though 👀

In addition to that, I still have a few QoL feature ideas I want to explore for v0.4.1, the non-content update, which I plan to work on next week (if I have time).

Continuing with v0.5.0

My main focus for the next week will be progressing v0.5.0... I have some fun ideas, and I'll need to experiment to see if they can work in the game 👀

That's all from me for this week!
Have a great next week and see you all again next Sunday! 👋😊