Hazelnut Latte Progress Report 6/24/25

Howdy everyone! Now that we are past the release of v0.13, we can do a big progress report.

v0.13 Post Mortem

As a team, we learned a LOT from v0.13. It was an incredibly tough build for us to get through, as we had to learn what to leave on the cutting room floor and what we need to restructure for the betterment of our game/studio in the future.

The entire concept of Episodes 6, specifically v0.12-v0.14, was to implement systems that would be utilized throughout the rest of the game. Things like the map, phone, cafe rank, consultations, money, Noto's servers, etc. It was essentially a building block for the gameplay loop. Start an episode, chat up characters, go on dates, do activities, build up the cafe rank, and earn money. So it wasn't focused on "content" but would enhance future content.

We realized that our game engine, Ren'Py, was not versatile or powerful enough for that. We cut and trimmed down a significant amount of planned content, essentially scrapping months of work. It sucked and was a bit demoralizing but we persevered.

The good news is that we are hard at work on revamping our game in Unity! There will be more news on that in the future, as we are still trying to set things up.

v0.13.5?

We are debating doing one more version of this build to make the end-of-content message more straightforward. The problem with that is creating a new post with a new build that only contains bug fixes tends to annoy people, which is why we try to limit how often we do this.

We are monitoring the feedback on this, and if necessary, we will make one final update.

So, what is v0.14?

v0.14 is the final Ren'Py build of the game.

We are doing this because many assets for v0.14 are already complete, and it is the final third of Episode 6. We thought it would be best to finish Episode 6 before doing an engine switch. This gives the team more time to work on Unity, as we are devoting some of the upcoming development time to Unity, in addition to the final Ren'Py build.

The update has:

• Lewd Scenes for Hazel, Robbie, and a new Hookup character who we are keeping a secret for now.

• Story scenes for Hazel, Robbie, Vera, and Jeze.

• Hazel/Robbie's apartment becomes a location you can visit.

• New small talks for Hazel and Robbie for when they are at home.

• The end of Episode 6.

We have removed any new features we had planned, as we are switching to Unity in v0.15.

Regarding work on v0.14, all the art has been completed. Kokman is now working on art for v0.15. We haven't started coding it seriously yet, as we spent the past month fixing bugs for v0.13 and working in Unity.

It is mostly written; I just need to finish a lewd scene. Then, when we build a playable version, I will find areas of opportunity to add more writing—polishing scenes, finding where the story is lacking, adding moments, and always more texts/small talks.

Unity and v0.15

We have two new team members joining us who will focus on Unity: Lotus and Koth. Koth has already been working this past month, while Lotus will take on a more active role next month. Lotus will join Noba in programming the game while Koth is working on some special animations. Noba has spent a considerable amount of time over the past two months setting up Unity. He's been doing fantastic work.

You will not be able to transfer saves over to Unity. To begin with, it is a considerable amount of work. The Unity build will feature numerous changes, making the two playthroughs incompatible. As we progress further in development, we will revise the roadmap and make significant announcements about the Unity build.

What I will say is, it is not going to be a simple "Just port the game over to a new engine." We are taking this opportunity to improve Hazelnut Latte in every way, and it will be a better game because of this.

Wrap Up

We learned a lot from v0.13; we're now pivoting to v0.14, and we're also working on v0.15. We are using the success of v0.13 to hire more people and expand the company with real people. Seriously, the release of v0.13 saw an insane spike in revenue, which I immediately used to make offers to get more people on board.

We have a lot of info we're sitting on while we figure out specifics, so be on the lookout for an eventual huge post discussing Unity. Maybe we'll dust off the Youtube channel.

For now, get hyped for v0.14!

(Also, Noba is taking some time off finally, so don't expect that Coding bar to move, because our boy is going to have fun.)

And wow, that is the update! If you have any questions, you can drop them here or on Discord :D Thank you all for the incredible support, and Stay Rad!