Cicada Springs, v0.9.1.1

Now back to our regularly scheduled end-of-the-month programming, lol.

This update marks another substantial bump in the right direction. As I introduce custom art assets into the game and continue to tweak the visual components of the game more and more, we're inching ever closer to getting where I want Cicada Springs to land as a finished product. Moving forward, at least for the next few updates, the main focus of these updates is going to be implementing new sprite work.

For those of you who are in my $7.50 tier and higher, you can find the sprite sheets that I have put into the game so far [here]. As more sprites are added into the game or are tweaked, the linked page will be updated. But there will be more discussion on this topic in its dedicated section.

For now, let's get into what's changed since version 9.0.0.

Version 0.9.1.1.

Will I need to start a new playthrough?:
Not at this time, I don't think. However, not doing so may result in:

• The screen won't tint during the evening if you don't. That should be the only major problem continuing an old save. If you experience any game-breaking bugs from continuing an old save file, please let me know.

• Any new assets may not load in. The new player character sprites certainly won't.

Are there any bugs I should be worried about?:

• Sometimes Kendra's random dialogue selector will pick a number that it doesn't like and she'll decide she doesn't want to talk to you. Starting a new day should (assuming that her random number generator picks another number) get her to open up again. This may be in effect for other characters as well, but Kendra's is the only one I ran into. This should go away as I fill up more dialogue options.

• Building off of a bug last time, Margot will mention giving you a Blueberry Frappe, but this item will not show up in your inventory. This is because I'm a lazy boy, and haven't worked out all the kinks in this item's scripting yet. This is more of a PSA than a bug warning, but I figured that I may get some questions about it and would rather be proactive in this regard.

When will you make another Mac version?:
Soon, hopefully! RPG Maker has decided that it doesn't like my Mac book. As such, I cannot playtest it on the model that I currently own and occasionally use when out of the office. In due time, I should have something prepared for my Mac players. In the meantime however, I appreciate your patience.

Graphic Changes:

Custom character sprites have now been implemented in place of ones generated in the in-engine RPG Maker character creator. Eventually, each and every character in this game will be represented by a custom asset, including the townsfolk.

• Currently, Alex, Charlie, Clover, Kendra, and Margot are all represented by custom assets, and are in their "skinny" states. These assets are likely to change around as I get more comfortable with the character designs, but will be represented by these assets moving forward.
  → Coming in the next update, I will begin introducing sprites that represent characters' respective weight progressions. In making these sprites myself, I will be much more able to accurately represent what the character will look like as their gains continue. Characters will have a full walk-cycle of their "chubby", "fat", "huge", and "secret" sizes by the end of this game's development.

• In addition, the Player Character is now also represented by custom assets that differ depending on which gender is chosen at the beginning of the game. Blue representing Male, Pink representing Female, and Yellow representing Nonbinary.
  → These are not the only differences in sprite models. I just think that the colors are neat, and they have a corresponding note below in the QOL Changes.
  → These designs are intentionally featureless at the moment, as they are designed to be more effective self-inserts for players. Their designs may be tweaked over the course of development, similar to the NPCs'.

QOL Changes:

This update, aside from the above asset implementation, is largely rooted in making Cicada Springs feel more fun to play. I wanted to break up the monotony a bit while also making more use of the screen and assets that are already currently in play.

• Character portraits are now zoomed in, closer to their faces.
  → Not only do I think that this makes the conversations feel more "genuine" and less like you're standing further away, but it also will allow me to do some zoom-ins, panning shots, and other fanservicey conventions of the genre. Think zooming in on bellies, showing off how big someone's butt is, etc.
  → These will be implemented as I go in and do more dialogue updates, and are not present at the time. But they are being considered.

• The screen (finally) dims when you talk to the characters.
  → If I may get a little informal, this bug has been bothering me for months, and I'm glad that I finally seem to have fixed partially it. Implementing the Evening meant that the screen was technically always tinting all the time.
  → With some clever work-arounds, the screen effectively stops tinting when you talk to characters, and starts tinting again when the "conversation end" common event occurs at the end of every conversation.
  → For some reason, items do not like this script and refuse to cooperate. Hopefully, their mutiny against me will be swiftly undone. I will not be challenged by them, and I am not afraid to tell them that to their various faces.
  → If this causes any issues, or conflicts please let me know as soon as possible.

• It is now much easier to tell when your character is speaking.
  → Depending on which gender you select at the beginning of the name, your player character will now have differently colored dialogue than the other characters. This was done so that players could more easily follow conversation, as well as see a more direct impact that their choice of personality has on their dialogue.
  → Much the same as the newly reworked player character sprite, Blue represents male pcs, Pink for female pcs, and Yellow for nonbinary pcs.
  → This is a work in progress - this has largely been implemented in the conversation hubs for each character. Eventually, all dialogue involving the player character will be formatted correctly.
  → As a side note, the "narrator" has been changed to a burnt orange to better fit thematically with the color scheme.

Notable Bugfixes:

• There were a few instances in Kendra's dialogue specifically where, rather than the "convo end" common event was called, Charlie's "ask" even was called instead. This has been patched in three separate places, but keep an eye out.

• Margot will now no longer provide you with game-breaking blueberry muffin frappes. Eventually she will provide you with regular blueberry muffin frappes. But for now, she's all talk.

• Y'all weren't getting a whole line of dialogue in the intro because of sloppy scripting. This has been patched.

Other Notes:

In the interest of making it easier for you, my beta testers, to assist me in ongoing development, I have decided to leave the code for the Developer's Room unchanged from the previous version. For more information on how to access this feature, please see the last update [here].

Anyone interested in more substantial bug reporting is welcome to join the discord channel pinned to the top of my Patreon page, as we have a dedicated channel just for Cicada Springs and its development (in addition to a whole bunch of other cool stuff).

As always, I appreciate your continued patronage. Your support means that I get to continue working on this game, and the many works that I provide to both my readers, players, and friends. Without the support from all of you here, there would be no Cicada Springs.

I know that the development of this game has been rocky, and I'd like to take the time to let you know that moving forward, we're about to get into the really, really cool shit.

[Download]