The Lab Release - v1.15

 

Oh wow.

There is so much stuff in this release.

It's gonna take some work to write everything down here in the change log. I'll probably just simplify where possible. Change logs and I have always been at odds. On one hand, I get to show everyone all the stuff we did over the last month. On the other hand, I have to remember all the stuff we did, and write it in a way that makes some kind of sense. Takes forever.

Well, that silliness aside, we've got a pretty big release this month. We made all sorts of improvements, reworked some systems, added new convenience features, and even added some content. Lot of sprucing up, fixing minor things, improving minor things. I think the sex skipper in particular will be appreciated by many of you.  

Next month we're starting in on the Hucow expansion. Maybe a slight detour to add the new Procreative AI to the full sex system, which should only take a few days for one of us. We'll still be doing regular releases of course, but you can expect to see some wonky shit for hucows in the next few releases. We'll be sure to cover what that is, and just how wonky, in the change logs. It's just a normal part of the process.

That feels like enough words for now, I've got a lot to cover below. Thanks for all your support!

ThaumX

Change Log

Words: 3,145,840 (21,464,200 characters)

TypeScript: 158,292 lines

AI Portraits: 2,466

Minor Issues: loading page progress bar completes a little too early because the additional work from loading in the 2,466 portraits. It's just a couple seconds, but we'll have to add some buffer to the progress bar to be more representative. wasn't going to play with this immediately before the release!
NPCs from older saves will not automatically update to new portraits. Newly generated NPCs while playing those older saves will.

• All the "white" women and some of the Asian women now have AI portraits to replace the SVG version. We're gonna keep adding these, eventually moving over to the male portraits.
• If you load an save from 1.14, some of the NPCs you bring with you may not utilize some of the portraits due to a minor bug. Newly generated NPCs will, however.
• aw-wiki.com now has something there. We killed the old wiki software because bots just loved it too much, and they can fool the captchas we tried.
• Now has some FAQ type stuff, some tips, tricks, and spoilers. Will expand more as we go.
• The actual wiki never had much in the way of contributions anyway, and all the important information about playing the game is in the in-game encyclopedia.
• Improvements to the UI status bars in the top right of the main game screen.
• Colors are now more responsive to your status, with colors changing to orange when the level of the stat is getting bad.
• When a stat enters a spiral state, the label on that stat in the status bar will turn red, making it easier to notice that your character is in trouble.
• Overhaul of vaginal wetness mechanic.
• Originally, the current wetness status was supposed to change with events based on your body's wetness level. In practice, this didn't work great, so we overhauled it.
• New current wetness status is dynamically driven by arousal, using your body's propensity for wetness to decide just how wet you are at any given moment. which is pretty much how it works in real life. Get aroused => get wet. Lose arousal => dry out.
• While this mechanic doesn't allow for random current wetness bonuses from events, those were pretty rare anyway.
• Added a time-based system that combines with your current wetness to add fluids to your genitals using the body condition system. This will allow characters to soak their panties when they're turned on, with normal mechanics such as femlube running down the thighs, staining clothes, etc. (depends on how wet of a character you are, and how long you stay aroused)
• minor adjustment to PC description.
• Overhaul of the Arousal system, including mindbreak and penalties.
• Characters no longer have a max arousal calculated based on libido and certain traits/kinks. The highest value is now fixed at 12.
• Sluts have a max libido of 13, and hypersluts have 14. The parser is coordinated however, so that the terms used to describe arousal matches normal characters. They have a larger window where they are considered "unaroused". This was done primarily because these characters gain arousal much faster, and this gives a little extra buffer.
• Parser for arousal terms standardized with more descriptive terms. Parser terms also signal when arousal is at an unhealthy level, which wasn't obvious before. ("dangerous" for 10 and 11, "dissociative" for 12).
• Guide entries in the encyclopedia for arousal updated to match new mechanics.
• The phone display text of your arousal will now turn red when arousal reaches the dangerous level as an additional warning. This will only happen for non-sluts!
• Penalties no longer happen for exceeding max safe arousal!
• You can now reach any arousal level up to the max.
• Penalties now occur when you sustain your arousal for long periods of time. This means that you need to lower your arousal via sex, masturbation, or some other means once it gets that high.
• Going to work or to any event/activity that takes a long amount of time could be dangerous if your arousal is already high! Remember to schlick before you click!
• Maintaining an arousal of 10 (dangerous) for 90 minutes will cause light negative effects including an increase in bimbo/brain damage, increased stress, and decreased satisfaction for each 15 minutes you spend in that state.
• Maintaining an arousal of 11 (dangerous) for 60 minutes will start moderate negative effects, the same as above.
• Maintaining an arousal of 12 (dissociative) for 60 minutes will start strong negative effects as above and will cause the mind break spiral status. Once you are mindbroken, negative effects become severe. This includes if you stay at arousal 12 for longer than 75 minutes (being mindbroken after 60).
• Mind break continues to have negative consequences on other mental status as before.
• Mind break still causes arousal to increase more quickly and drop more slowly.
• After initially getting the mind break status, you have a 12 hour safe window before additional episodes of prolonged high arousal can give you a doom flag (or bad end you immediately on hard difficulty)
• If you sustain 12 arousal for more than 60 minutes and are already mindbroken (and past the safe window) you will gain a doom flag as with other stats, and will bad-end if you don't fix your mindbroken state.
• Fixed a bug where players with the Fairy Tail job could be promoted higher than allowed level, causing job crashes.
• Added the Big Buddy scene at the pool in the residential common area. Eavesdrop and learn what some Institute divisions have been up to!
• Fixed a bug in belly burst code that gave the large safety bonus to all players except Fecundate Division employees, who were the ones actually supposed to get it. This should resolve the early game burst issues at Progenerate, and make that job and peak fertility easier.
• Fixed a bug in the nightly goddess check code that incorrectly boosted fertility to 9, and caused a couple other odd effects. Max baseline fertility WITH the fertility goddess mutation should be 8. Fertility 9 should only be reachable by taking Bovinex under the correct conditions (expect Bovinex rework as part of hucow expansion), and a new event at the Progenerate job.
• Progenerate Mega Update!
• Thanks to the magic of AI, it was finally possible to create images representative of what the Fecundate Division looks like. A bunch of barely clothed super pregnant women in an office building isn't something you can really find with Google image search. ;)
• Daily content doubled, showing images of coworkers and expanding on the everyday feeling/vibe of working there.
• New "Everyday Life" type event series with seven unique variations that give a better idea of what it's like on floor seven. 
• Performance reviews with your boss
• Chatting with lots of pregnant ladies in various situations about various things, all accompanied by images.
• New "Elite" fertility boost scene.
• Can only happen if your fertility is already at the goddess level (8).
• Meet a nurse who works with the R&D folks who has a special opportunity.
• Choose whether or not to get the special treatment. 
• Treatment increases fertility to 9 and increases libido to a minimum of 6.
• Refusing has no negative consequences, and the offer will eventually come again.
• New Phone UI Function: The Time Skipper!
• Press the timeskip button on your phone, and a new UI will pop up.
• UI sits in the corner so you can keep an eye on your character's status as you move time forward.
• Buttons allow you to skip 15, 30, and 60 minutes forward.
• All usual time mechanics still operate, which is why you should keep an eye on them if you intend to skip more than a short period.
• Usable everywhere you can use your phone freely. Skip forward to date time. Skip forward until it's time for your class. Skip forward until the shop you want opens. 
• Condom Mechanics Rework
• Condoms were way too dodgy. Their low reliability largely defeated the purpose of using them. This has been fixed.
• Condom-break function rewritten to have more realistic functionality in the condoms, and condoms will work a vast majority of the time. The Duramax Safe Premature Ejaculator edition condoms will only break in 3 out of 1000 uses.
• Also included rebalancing of condom data to meet intended expectations for the condom types.
• All condoms except the pleasureburst have a very high level of effectiveness, in the upper 90% range, the worst being 97%. Even the pleasureburst will work nearly 4 out of 5 times.
• Condom sabotage effectiveness rewritten to give a wider spread of results across the 5 levels of possible sabotage. 
• Acid vagina and acid precum mutations will not be so strong at destroying condoms.
• Effects still dependent of the amount of time the condom is in use.
• Diaphragm Mechanics Rework
• Diaphragms are far more effective than previously. 
• Unlike condoms that are only checked once, diaphragms are checked each time semen in the vagina tries to move onto the cervix as part of the vaginal fluid simulation.
• Diaphragms automatically block all sperm sprayed into the vagina from hitting the cervix while setting the cum's initial positions.
• Unlike a condom, when a diaphragm fails, it still prevents the majority of the semen in that check from reaching the cervix, and the amount that makes it is quite small compared to a normal creampie volume.
• Diaphragms in general are still less effective than condoms, but are a good second (or doubled-up) option at max apx 95% efficacy for blocking any sperm from reaching the cervix. 
• Finally added a spermicide item that can be used to get the diaphragm up to full effectiveness.
• Can be purchased at a pharmacy after asking about birth control.
• Player can still use ProSeed lube with diaphram if they own it and not spermicide.
• The menstrual cup has been redone. It now functions as a 5 pack of disposable diaphragms. These aren't as effective as a new diaphragm, but still function respectably. 
• They happen to be *extra* good when used as a fertility aid to trap semen next to the cervix.
• Descriptive text of all the diaphragm use actions has been improved.
• Diaphragms now age more slowly, though still dependent on your luck with the RNG.
• Removing a diaphragm has a 25% chance of moving it to a higher age category.
• Diaphragm effectiveness decreases with its age category (used, old). Used diaphragms are still pretty good, but no longer have peak performance and a small level of variability is introduced when inserted that reduces effectiveness from peak.
• Extra location for options to configure your phone's shortcut buttons has been added to the game settings menu. Many people seemed unaware of this functionality.
• Male NPCs have had their mutation frequency tuned fairly strongly when not under the effect of NPC generator settings. 
• Certain mutations are much more frequent, some are more frequent, and many remain at about the same frequency. 
• Mega nuts and power ejaculation are the "much more frequent" ones.
• New Procreative AI
• Originally, we used the procreation and certain other components of the AW NPC neural network (such as loyalty, willingness to betray, etc) to determine if an NPC would make an extra effort to try and impregnate you, by not pulling out quite right, or using a sabotaged condom, that sort of thing.
• When the neural network was pulled, we replaced all that with "Coconut Brain" logic with help from the RNG. It works in theory, at least statistically, but really doesn't match behavior with specific NPCs well.
• Created a new deterministic output that will calculate an NPCs desire to get you pregnant into 8 discrete steps based on all the data we were previously feeding the neural network.
• This is specifically for procreation, and can be used with other code to answer questions like: Will a dude insist on a condom? how likely is he to refuse wearing your extra-thick no-sensation one? Would he deliberately cum inside you when you asked him not to, or maybe sabotage a condom?
• The new AI is in full use in the sex skip system (and will eventually make its way into sex.)
• It links NPC attitudes to behavior and allows you to predict an NPC's behavior if you know them well enough. They will behave consistently in the bedroom, though all decisions will generally have a small level of limited randomness to account for mood. 
• Complete Sex Skip System (SSS) now implemented!
• Becomes available after your first sex scene in the game, unless you have tutorials disabled in your game settings (then it'll be available immediately).
• When starting a sex scene, you will now see the sex skip window. You can click a button to play the scene normally, or you can choose your options and skip the scene.
• You can choose actions along with risk or impregnation thresholds. Available actions and risk/impregnation depends on if your PC is futa, and whether your partner has a cock or not.
• NPCs have their own opinions on what they want to do, and how much risk they want to take.
• Male NPC behavior closely follows their Procreative AI outlook, in terms of refusing condoms, or doing some shady shit.
• Female NPCs are much more flexible as a result of the barrage of pro-pregnancy propaganda throughout the world. While they may normally insist the player wears a condom, there is a chance that they had a rough day and just said "fuck it, creampie me".
• There's a large degree of player control over risk thresholds for vaginal sex. 9 different threshold settings for using a player's vagina ranging from "take no chances" to "breed me". Each option results in intelligent behavior to meet those goals.
• Impregnation control is limited to 5 levels, as the female NPC has more say in what happens. Ranges from "I'll wear a condom whether she wants me to or not" to "I'm gonna breed her"
• Output follows a standard output format.
• description of your activities
• description of your orgasm
• description of the NPC's orgasm.
• Time, PC satisfaction gain, stress loss, creampies, cum eating, etc. etc. all operate very similarly to a full sex scene, allowing you to skip them without consequence.
• Overall, the thing is pretty good. Possibly even better than full sex for people playing a roleplay mode that prevents pregnancy, or just trying to avoid it while taking risks. (Because of the new AI and clear risk thresholds)
• Tingler and CoerceMe have been spruced up.
• Fixed the bizarre bugs that would crop up, turned out the macro combination didn't like printing a "/" symbol.
• Sending an image will now result in sending an actual selfie image.
• some minor improvements to appearance/function.
• Home Cleaning Mechanic Simplification!
• Dramatically simplifies cleaning to remove micromanaging different aspects of home cleanliness. Now there's just a single value, and you clean to improve that value. Simple.
• Doesn't apply to hard difficulty, because hard difficulty is supposed to be more realistic.
• Accidental Genocide!
• "Fake" Temporary NPCs were subjected to the final solution.
• This setup was an attempt at keeping the world more populated while still respecting individual NPC's realistic schedule. (would Joe be in the mall at 2pm? no, he has a job scrubbing test chambers at the Institute)
• The problem is that NPCs are big complex simulated things, and just generating more of them to have more running about isn't a great solution for performance and save-size reasons.
• So I invented "Fake NPCs", something I've regretted ever since.
• They run around places to make it seem like there are more people.
• They cause all sorts of bugs because Cats and Capybaras tend not to use them right.
• They can turn into real NPCs in certain special conditions that we didn't really plan on happening much at all...
• Except a subset of players go around forcing this to happen all the time
• And the process to turn them into real NPCs doesn't always work great, because it's right in the middle of using them.
• Now we make the real NPCs run around twice as fast.
• We just respect their schedule a lot less. The day you happened to see Joe at the mall was the day he got off work because of an escaped cockasaurus.
• We still respect schedules, just not as much. Populations will still naturally change by location and time.
• No fake NPCs were actually killed. We just relocated them... to another valley.
• They are happy there, not having been murdered at all.
• Dialog modal window was made a little prettier, since you see it so often.
• New scene was added to the Reisewoods trail, a nice BDSM couple.
• The scene for getting pierced was finally written, after being forgotten with [placeholder] for the text.
• It's been years... damn.
• When you add any NPC to your contacts you can immediately see their basic body info in the NPC Display window.
• There were some circumstances where they could be added and the event to unlock this never happens, so you'd have a boyfriend and not know what he looks like :P
• We just assume that if you meet them, you know what their body looks like well enough to unlock the info.
• Besty fixed the bug with shifted school schedules/reminders.
• He swears.
• He insists that he was a good cat this time.
• Lots of other fixes and shit like that that weren't big enough to write/down or note in the commit. This thing is seriously already long enough. 

Thanks for reading, have an alternate lab girl, this time at Progenerate Technologies!