Delicious Salad

Hello everyone!

It's time for a more normal update because we've been focused on polls and larger development issues lately. I think version 0.35 "the Yummy release" is going to be pretty cool, despite being a little scatterbrained. We were in a bit of limbo while figuring out what you guys wanted, so we've worked on several different things rather than charging full-force into relationships. We will still have plenty of cool relationship stuff for you, but we've also got other things I think you'll enjoy.

One thing that I think everyone will appreciate is the effort I've put into our mental status functions and the "doom clock" system. The status functions in AW are rather complex because they are at the core of the gameplay mechanics. Rather than a simple "Add 5 stress" as you may see elsewhere, the status functions consider the character's personality, contributing factors, and use various math functions to give each stat more complex behavior.

A simple example of that math can be seen with stress. The higher the stress level, the stronger the effect of adding new stress, and the weaker the effect of removing stress. Similarly, while the stress level is low adding more stress is weakened and it is easier to remove stress.

I've improved the way that notifications happen in regard to dangerous status levels, and I've made it more straightforward to remove a doom clock when they occur. I've adjusted the code for  "over status" conditions and actually starting a doom clock. I also made some fixes and improvements to the doom clock code itself so that it is much more reliable, and the player is given the full length of time before a bad end actually happens (the only exception being if you trigger another doom clock while one exists, which causes an immediate bad end). Finally, I've written a rather extensive encyclopedia entry (over 1,000 words) on the doom clock and mental statuses, explaining in a lot more detail how they work.

Hopefully, this will remove a lot of the frustration some players experience with managing their character's mental status and keeping them alive. I know we sometimes like to joke about AW being the Dark Souls of adult games, but that should be more about all the possible ways to die rather than it actually being difficult to survive in Appletree.

I've also tackled a couple other issues, such as modifying SugarCube to improve game save reliability, improving the prologue skip for the male start, adding a prologue skip to the female start, and enabling female character templates.

Our new developer has been working on creating the cheat NPC editor to edit NPCs during the game, which should be ready to edit all the major values in the upcoming release. That's a useful cheat feature, and will probably come in handy for testing as well. It's also a first step toward getting the NPC template feature working (for generating specific npcs instead of using procedural generation).

Besty has been working on relationships, specifically some of the kinky behavior you may expect in a relationship. more dom/sub behavior, bondage, keyholding, and other fun things. Besty also tackled the unpleasant task of converting male avatars into the new format. The male NPC portraits now look similar to the female ones, no more blocky monstrosities! 

Our freelance writers have been working on generic environment/world content to help bring Appletree to life, while our erotica writer has been working on Besty-ality content. There's also plenty of smaller things we've done such as fixes, upgrades, and smaller content items that you'll see in the change log next week. We'll be working on more relationship mechanics and content, as well as testing as we get closer to the release. 

That's all for now... It's time to get back to work!

Thanks as always for all your support, AW wouldn't be possible without you!

o7

ThaumX

Decisions Decisions

It's finally time to discuss the results of the AW Release Poll. For me, this was probably the most nerve-wracking poll I've done, simply because changing the 1.0 release deadline is a huge deal. After collecting the results, I took the time to look at the data in different ways and found the results to be rather consistent. That's a good thing, as it means a specific group isn't pushing the poll in one way or another.

Let's go ahead and look at the result graphs first:

A) Shoehorn marriage into 1.0 with no extension

B) No marriage in 1.0, leave for a possible expansion

C) 6-month extension of 1.0 release for marriage content

D) 12-month extension for marriage and other content

It seems that the majority favorite is option D, to delay the 1.0 release by 12 months. Overall, nearly 2/3 of the vote went toward some form of release delay, while a little more than 1/3 went to leaving marriage out of 1.0 and offering it as a possible expansion. During the poll, there was a lot of feedback on the options. Many of the comments boiled down to saying they picked B but would be okay with D, or that they picked D but would be okay with B. A lot of people seemed to focus on meeting more of the original content goals with option D, while some people expressed overall disinterest in marriage and didn't want to delay for it.

I think that the vote supports extending the 1.0 development time by 12 months, so that's what we're going to do. That said, in recognition of the range of desires people have, I think it would make sense to try and schedule development so that we aren't suddenly putting things on hold to work on marriage for X months.

I think we'll continue working on relationships as planned during this relationship expansion, which will include the beginning of marriage in the game. Then we'll move on to working primarily on things originally planned for 2020 in anticipation of the 1.0 release. This will get us closer to a polished game at the end of the year, and then we can start focusing more on adding in content afterward. That will have us focusing on the main story, end-of-game, and style/polish of the UI for most of the rest of 2020.

We won't officially be at 1.0 by the end of 2020, but we'll have a much better game by that point. Then we can continue by adding in marriage and game content through 2021 and arrive at a solid 1.0 at the end of 2021. I think this makes for the best way to represent everyone's desires, but let us know if you have any ideas for how you'd like us to handle things.

While I have to admit that I'm somewhat disappointed that we aren't hitting that 3-year goal because I've worked so hard to reach it... I think that we'll end up with a better game as a result. I'm happy that I'll be able to add in more of what I wanted to, and I think the game will feel a lot more complete this way too. Thanks for trusting us to continue development; that really means a lot to us!

I think this is enough of an update, for now, it's time to get back to work!

Thanks so much as always for your support, it wouldn't be possible without you!

o7

ThaumX

Matrimony

Hello everyone!

Before I get into the details of the poll results, I wanted to share a little good news. Because you guys are awesome and support AW development with your money, I'm always looking for ways to put that money to effective use for AW. Our income and patrons have been steadily growing, which has opened up some new opportunities for us. First is that we're bringing a junior developer onto the team, which will help us get more done each month. We'll be doing a trial this first month, but I have high hopes.

The second is that we've managed to nab a really good erotic writer to work for us freelance. What's particularly good is that she expands our "kink vocabulary" so that we can make some hot content for things we're not as familiar with. Right now she's working on an expansion of our Besty-ality content that I think many of you will enjoy.

The one thing that's really important to me as the person who started this project is making sure that anyone I hire or pay for freelance work can make a good respectable wage. Being able to offer someone an interesting job with good pay is a great feeling, and it's all thanks to your support that it's possible. We'll all keep working together to make more perverted stuff for you!

The Marriage Poll

I'm really glad that I did the marriage poll because the results weren't what I was expecting at all. Besty thought most people were going to pick "A", the skip marriage option. I was leaning more towards "B", which turned out to be the least popular, lol. We want to take the game in a direction you all will enjoy, so it really is good that we were able to learn more about what you want!

A) Avoid marriage, B) Wedding Ceremony, C) Married Life, D) Everything

These results have been adjusted according to voter pledge tier.

As you can see, every option had at least some support. The winner was option D for everything, with 42% of the vote. Combining categories a bit, we see that 63% view married life as being important, and 56% view the wedding ceremony as being important. 22% of the voters wanted to avoid marriage altogether and focus on other content.

With this poll, we also got a lot of comment feedback as well on Patreon, SubscribeStar, and in the Discord. It seems that a lot of people are concerned about quality and time, which is a legitimate issue. Of course, we want to complete things to the same level of detail as other areas of the game. That takes time, and time is a limited commodity, which is part of the reason for the poll: to focus our efforts. Most of the comments seemed to suggest that they want marriage content, but they don't want it done halfway if there isn't enough time. 

We've been working towards meeting the original 1.0 completion deadline that I set out way back when I started development. That deadline is the end of 2020, which is going to come up fast. Most of what we can cut at this point to make more room for expanded marriage is going to be pretty noticeable, and I'm not sure it'd be right decision to do that and still claim we reached 1.0. I want the 1.0 release to be a fully playable game, after all, and not just an in-progress build that happens to be called 1.0. :D

I think the best option would probably be to extend the deadline and give ourselves more time to reach 1.0 while adding expanded marriage and not cutting back on things. Ultimately, I think that having a result that you're all happy with is more important than meeting that original timeline. However, that's a big decision, and one I think you guys should be a part of. There are some other options we could try as well, such as not including marriage in 1.0 and treating it as the subject of a focused expansion. 

Be sure to check on Patreon or SubscribeStar for the poll dedicated to this decision!

What is this expansion business?

We've had a lot of requests to add mechanics and content that weren't in the plans for 1.0, and that would take too much work to add. We've been trying to limit scope creep and stick to the schedule, so we just can't add those things as much as we'd like to. Letting the player character be a futa is a perfect example; while we've laid out the groundwork in our character data design, letting the player be a futa will require a lot of work.

So our plan for these sorts of ideas was to create expansions. Once we have a nice solid 1.0 game that is perfectly playable by itself, we'd let all of you decide what sort of content expansions you'd like via polls. This way we wouldn't be in a sort of never-ending development status like some games out there. That isn't always a bad thing, of course, but I've always felt like having solid boundaries upfront was the best way to take AW.

The expansions themselves would have a limited development period measured in months to accomplish a specific expansion objective, and we'd share how long adding different things would take when having a vote on what expansion content to pursue. We may also change the way our releases work and other things, but that's something we'll decide together when the time comes.

I think the expansion period is also a good way for you guys to say "okay, that's enough work on AW." As we plan to have that as an option each time we select a content expansion to work on. Eventually, there will be a time when it makes more sense for us to move forward with a new exciting project rather than add on to AW, and this will help us discover when that point arrives.

We won't talk heavily about expansions until we're closer to reaching our 1.0 goal, but I'll share some of the ideas we've had so far. You're more than welcome to suggest your own ideas as well, now or in the future.

• Having a futanari player character with functioning male genitalia.
• Expanding hucow content to make that a full play experience.
• Adding children to the mix at home (though this feels at least partially part of married life, rather than being truly independent).
• Expanding key jobs into management stages, to add more strategy and craziness to employment.
• Expanding crime and prostitution into a full storyline
• etc.

Whew! This has been a huge update, so I'll call it for now.

Thanks as always for your support!

o7

ThaumX

The Occult Release - version 0.34

It's time for version 0.34.0 The Occult Release!

This release has focused primarily on relationships or different things that support relationships. Visiting the homes of your NPC friends and lovers, having a "stay in" date with NPCs, tracking various types of infidelity and suspicion, and more serious topics to talk with your date about. We've also got a sizeable expansion of story thread content (NPC backstory) for more variation there.

We've done a lot of bug fixing thanks to some valuable players doing a lot of testing and reporting the bugs they've found. I've also made some modifications to SugarCube to finally fix the autosave system. Due to some improvements to NPC data and a couple other things, old game saves won't work with version 0.34. We're not expecting any significant data changes in the future, so backward compatibility should be available as normal from here on out.

You'll probably notice the new title screen and content warning when you load the game. Sadly Ganassa has missed his deadline (again), so we don't have that art yet, but I think the changes look good regardless. I'm really glad I took the time to make a title screen image now. You'll also notice a couple other visual changes and fixes, like improved home maps and working week history information.

As usual, we've also added some extra content here and there in between working on larger items. Some people will probably be pleased with the new Besty-ality scene, while others will likely appreciate the addition of cleaning robots and milk savers. Food for cooking can now properly be purchased from Hole Foods, and you can finally feed your cooking with "special ingredients" to NPCs. 

We hope you enjoy this release!

Change Log

Words: 2,288,192 (13,691,513 characters)

Code Lines: 199,061

Body Portraits: 64,880,640 combinations

Changes (In no particular order)

• New setup for adjusting arousal and satisfaction after sex.
• Arousal should drop considerably as long as the PC has an orgasm.
• New NPC Polling functions to rapidly sort through existing NPCs by relationship status.
• Reworked end-of-week comparison to see changes to the player character.
• Social changes are now available in the week review.
• Unnecessary tabs have been removed from week review.
• New Title Screen!
• The layout changed to look more like a finished game than an ongoing project.
• The title art is under commission from Ganassa, but has not yet been delivered.
• The current image is the road to Muschi Valley.
• New content warning and developer screens.
• New tips and messages added to the asset loading page.
• The "testing page" has been removed as it is no longer needed.
• Oppaido school and the school system have been fixed.
• Mod schools will no longer show an error in their standard content (school system bug).
• Shokushu Kendo special event with Hitomi Sensei and tentacles should now appear normally.
• Green Belt award will be awarded as expected during the basic Oppaido class.
• Fixes to the StarSucks Coffee, including renaming "frappuccino" to "fappaccino".
• The hairstyle array will no longer be broken when using backward compatibility.
• The Autosave system has been repaired.
• Autosaves work as you would expect them to.
• You can still disable autosaves from the game settings menu.
• Due to SugarCube limitations and the nature of the fix, the game will no longer autosave on the "name your character" screen.
• Visit Someone menu added to the residential map.
• You can visit friends and romantic interests as long as you know them well enough to know their home address.
• NPCs have their own unique schedules, and may not be home when you visit.
• Ringing the doorbell in the middle of the night is a good way to piss most people off.
• Once a romantic relationship advances far enough, you will gain access to their door code and can enter without them being home.
• The "home exterior" depends on whether the NPC lives in an apartment or townhome, and will have differing descriptions based on quality.
• Lily's home works a little differently in regard to ringing the doorbell.
• Player home maps for all homes have been edited and standardized for ease of use and better appearance.
• EvryDrop milk savers added to purchasable items. Prevents leaking milk from making a mess when lactating.
• NPC homes can now be visited.
• It's possible to sleep at a romantic partner's home.
• Environmental effects still need further adjustment.
• There are 7 quality variations for NPC homes based primarily on the NPC's wealth/employment/income.
• There is a range of available actions in the various rooms.
• Several actions are limited by the type of relationship you have.
• You can now start an interaction conversation with NPCs as long as you are in the same room.
• You can start a home date ("stay in" date) with an NPC while home with them.
• You can "spend time" with an NPC to increase companionship from their living room.
• You can entice your romantic interest to have sex from the bedroom.
• Home cleanliness average has been repaired to actually show the average.
• Four new cleaning robot home items are available for purchase.
• Price increases based on the amount of cleaning they do, ranging from your basic roomba to a full cleaning robot.
• The type of cleaning a robot does depend on the robot itself.
• Woomba: Floors
• Dew-Ball: Floors, Surfaces. (Some Kitchen & Bathroom)
• Douche-Bot: Bathroom.
• Cleanek: Most things, weak with bathroom, deep clean. 
• Adjust your cleaning settings to save time and clean only what is needed.
• Home item effects now work as expected. (posters and paintings will make you happy!)
• Sex acts are now tracked by NPC and overall total for the player.
• The PC cheating on a romantic partner is now tracked.
• It only applies to exclusive relationships.
• You can request an open relationship during a date.
• NPCs will react to this request differently based on their personality.
• The NPC will gain suspicion based on numerous factors, and may eventually confront you on a date.
• You have different options on how to handle this when it occurs.
• NPCs may break up with you if you handle it poorly.
• Cheating is tracked at three levels: sex, oral, and making out.
• NPC suspicion can increase or decrease over time depending on several factors.
• Working as a stripper or masseuse is going to make them extra suspicious.
• Being an uncontrollable slut is going to increase suspicion gain.
• Dumb NPCs aren't going to get suspicious as quickly.
• Being devious will help you avoid suspicion.
• The cheat mode to avoid suspicion keeps them from getting wise to your antics.
• Cum and go shopping cart/checkout but fixed. Check out at the front counter.
• Three new items in the "Read Something" action in the living room.
• NPCs can now cheat on the player.
• The likelihood that an NPC will cheat is based on their personality and the status of your relationship.
• You will become more suspicious of a cheating partner over time
• Your suspicion level is based on your own personality and the NPC.
• You can confront a cheating NPC during a date once you become suspicious enough of them.
• It's usually up to you whether to forgive them or leave them.
• Bimbo and very slutty players won't break up with someone just because of cheating...
• New job content added to Institute jobs (Bureaucratic Corps, SPERM, Services Division) with six voice messages from GLADyS
• Voice messages are audio clips.
• Sex records added to the character details menu.
• Shows various categories of sex acts.
• Currently not 100% accurate because not all non-general sex events are counted yet.
• Creampie addiction has been adjusted downward by making the "effective dose" smaller.
• Serious talk options added to dating.
• Options are currently functional but temporarily lack writing as part of the relationship expansion.
• Basic description of what happens until the writing is added in v35.
• Tell an NPC that you're pregnant.
• You must be pregnant, obviously.
• You can tell them that the baby is theirs.
• NPCs won't appreciate catching you in a lie about that.
• Ask for an open relationship.
• This will piss off some NPCs, while others may react happily.
• It's best to ask for an open relationship early on, it will get harder as the relationship develops.
• You can ask more than once if the first try fails. A failure will negatively affect your date though.
• Accuse the NPC of cheating.
• Break up with the NPC.
• Confess to cheating.
• Confessing to cheating before being suspected is more likely to result in them forgiving you, but you still need to make a moving apology.

Besty's Changes (Besty isn't good at writing these...)

• You can set dates with NPCs at your home or BF's home now.
• You can feed NPC the food you cooked!
• and you can add some drugs to it and then feed the dish to your date, muahaha!
• and not only drugs...
• 82 new story threads for NPC to tell!
• Written by freelance writer
• New small map events
• 'remove clothes' buttons moved to the items tab in sex scene system
• Hole Foods works now. Most of the ingredients are sold there from now on.
• Expanded NPC decision making functions, now they will consider setting up dates with PC in a more conscious manner
• NPC decision on number exchange and dating in convos was changed to reflect PC's stats better
• Pesky NPC now really think if they want to date you, sorry lol
• NPC now tells about their perfect partner's type
• New Besty-ality scene involving a friendly dog.