Cicada Springs, v0.9.2.1

I hope that April has been well for all of you! It's been a very fast month for me. I've been searching for another part-time job that pays me better so that I can better supplement my earnings from Patreon. And while that, and my average commission slate, has taken me out of the office more than usual this month, I still have some things here that I think you're going to like.

This update marks a more definitive look for the townsfolk of Cicada Springs. Each NPC now has a distinctive, in-house design that isn't made by RPG Maker MZ's character generator (or default sprites) and that allows me for much more creative control over the sorts of stories that I get to tell with them.

For those of you who are in my $7.50 and higher tier, you'll have access to the full walk cycles and sprite sheets of these characters. I have added the characters above slowly over the course of the month, with that post being available [here]

Let's get into what I've been working on, and where this is all going to go.

Version v0.9.2.1

Fixed the issue mentioned below in the comment section. The game apparently needs a vehicle set even if there are no vehicles in the game and the game is set in-UI to not require them. File is essentially the same as before, just with a few things recovered from the trash bin.

This has been tested both in-UI and as a package, and I can confirm that it works.

Version v0.9.2.0

Will I need to start a new playthrough?: 

If you're porting over save files, a new playthrough should not be necessary. However, as always, starting a New Day as soon as possible is recommended due to changes in item scripting (see below)

Are there any bugs I should be worried about?:

Margot's Blueberry Frappe is still imaginary. This is not a bug, I just haven't worked out all the kinks regarding that item yet. That's coming, but it wasn't the focus of this update.

Graphic Changes:

All NPCs now have custom assets. This was done not only to help them blend in better with the main characters (Alex, Charlie, Clover, Kendra, and Margot) in their new style. Seven sprite sheets, a complete walk cycle for each one, have been implemented into the game. This includes:

• the Barfly *

• the Uptown Girl

• the Downtown Man

• the Jogger *

• the Cutie Pie's Patron *

• the Fiction Addiction Shopper *

• and Alex's Coworker, the Bookworm.

This will not be the last custom asset made for a lot of these characters. I intend to work in little "side" gains for key characters among them, denoted by the (*) by their name.

They will not have as in-depth of a progression as any of the main characters, but there will be opportunities to fatten them up to varying degrees. After this update, the main characters will be the main priority, but I will be sneaking their progression in when I can.

QOL Changes:

I realized that a "trash can" feature would be far more useful in the main game than it would be locked behind the dev room. Currently, there is now a trash can in the player apartment that should purge player inventory, should you want to get rid of items or deal with unruly inventory bugs that may crop up.

• Due to the intricacy of the inventory system, right now it's a simple "purge all".
  → I have lofty ambitions of turning it into a targeted "purge slot (x)" system, but am quite certain that y'all would rather me focus on making the characters and their sprites fat than figure out how to feed the trash can properly.

• Other trash cans will be placed around Cicada Springs, but only sparingly in order to keep some challenge.

Last time, I missed a few instances of replacing the main characters' sprites. Those have been fixed.

The file for this game should be much smaller. I removed a lot of redundant, unused files that come pre-installed on every RPG Maker project. As things get more solid and I hone in on which files I'm never going to use, this will only continue.

Notable Bug Fixes:

There was a really gnarly bug last time that basically "doubled" certain item counts in your inventory. Basically, you'd have 3 items, but it was entirely possible for your backpack to think you had 5 or more. Giving stuff away only clears one inventory value, so it'd be possible to have an empty backpack but not be able to get items. This was due to a redundancy on my part going unchecked when I was screwing around with the "screen fading" system from last update, and has been patched.

• If you are using an old save file ported into the new version, please simply purge your inventory using the trash can. This should set your inventory value to 0, and allow you to get more stuff.

As always, I encourage you to report bugs to me here on Patreon (via DMs or in the comments below) or through Discord. The Itch.io page where the demo is currently hosted is run by a good friend and partner, but not me. The fastest way to get an answer is to reach out to me using either of those two methods.

Without further ado, here is the latest version of Cicada Springs.

[Download.]