Dev Blog #108 – Forward Momentum

Greetings everyone!

We’ve spent an awfully long time expanding outward over the last several months, and it’s long past time we started looking to the future! Today’s devblog will be focusing solely on the upcoming Chapter 4 updates, so let’s get right into it!

Oh The Places You’ll Go

It’s finally time to talk about the Chapter 4 updates! That’s right, plural, this is gonna be a big one…

Update 4.0.0 will be the first of three major content updates that all encompass Chapter 4, which itself runs from November through January in game time. Each updates will be introducing several new story events to move the game along, as well as a number of additional random events and new activities to try out on your downtime. Each month within the chapter functions as its own somewhat self-contained story, and as such each update within the 4.0 development cycle will focus on a single month of content, including all applicable mechanics, events, and content.

As far as general synopsis goes, I don’t want to give too much away too far ahead, but I can share a little!

Update 4.0 will pick up right where Chapter 3 left off. Diana’s back, but something’s not quite right with her, and more and more bigwigs from Company HQ are starting to show up, just to check on things. Meanwhile, Craig’s got his old job back and The Pit’s open for business! A new system is being added to The Pit that will let players get a little more creative with their serum options thanks to the more controlled environment, and Lauren can’t wait to be your first subject! Lisa’s back in town to keep an eye on Sophie, who herself is gonna need another steak dinner… and if you’ve been diligent with her doses there’s a good chance you may finally get to see your boss’ bedroom! Oh, and let’s not forget Thanksgiving is coming up… Ava tells you there’s some family visiting from out of the country… which is a surprisingly strange thing to be typing in 2020…

There’s gonna be a lot going on in this update, and you might start to feel a little overwhelmed and wishing you could share your thoughts or just check in with a friend of acquaintance. I mean, you have that fancy smart phone, have you ever considered maybe, like, sending a text message? Oh you have, but the game won’t let you? Hunh, that’s weird… Well let’s fix that! Starting in Update 4.0, getting a character’s phone contact will now allow you to send text messages to those characters! Consider this an additional avenue to interact with your favorite characters, get some flavorful dialogue, score some points, and maybe even collect a nude or two. We’ll share more details of the system as it’s developed, but I think it’ll be a very cool little window into The Company’s cast that you otherwise might not get.

As you can see there’s going to be a ton of content jammed into this one update, which is why we’ve decided to take just a little more time with it. Update 4.0 is going to release to backers in November so as to ensure all planned content can be added completely, as well as properly tested and debugged. This time will also be used to address any lingering issues from Update 3.3.3. We know it’s not fun to have to wait a little longer, but we think it’ll be worth it!

More Chapter 4!

As stated above, Update 4.0 is only the first of three updates planned to cover Chapter 4! While I can’t give away too much just yet with the current update still underway, I can still give a little bit of a preview…

Update 4.1 will run from the very end of November through the end of December in game. In addition to the Christmas event which will allow you to invite a person of your choosing over for dinner based on relationship status, you’ll also get your first peak at the highest echelons of The Company’s management. You can also expect to be able to collect a new pet or two for The Pit!

Update 4.2 will focus on setting up for Chapter 5,  which basically means a gradual buildup to Chapter 4’s major climax. This one’s for all the marbles, as the events at the end of this update will permanently shake up the status quo, leaving many characters in new positions, or even completely inaccessible! With all those changes going into effect as a result of the main story, you might want to take this opportunity to play the new Free Mode, completely removing the main story from the game and opening up all mechanics and serums right from the get-go! Information on exactly how this mode gets implemented will be released during the update’s development, but I can imagine it will become many peoples’ default way of playing!

While we’re talking about the future, I’ve been getting a lot of questions concerning Ava’s MCS-X route endings as well as serum revamps for Tasha and Diana, and Dom John’s interactions with Sophie and/or Ava and Dakota. All these things are contingent on Chapter 4’s completion, so they’ll be scheduled for after that’s in the books. As for the order of development, well, that smells like another community vote!

I hope this has everyone excited for the upcoming series of updates. We’re working hard to pack as much content into this update as we can, and I think the result will speak for itself! I’ll be sharing more as development commences, so look forward to it! As always, thank you all for your continued feedback and support!