Quarters and Calls - Build Update #441

This week we felt like working on some more opportunities to hang out with the other authors, as it's one of the elements about the game that's most fun for most players. A new commentary system has been developed that's going to make it even easier to add little sit-down conversations with your fellow scribes, and (apart from the breadth of writing) they can be implemented with relative ease. In coming updates this is likely to manifest as opportunities to chat over coffee, or other similar situations.

We also resolved a common request to summon authors to you via phone call. The feature has been tested fairly thoroughly on the public beta over the past week, but it is a game-wide change and so it's possible there may still be some situations where authors can be inappropriately accessed. If you run into any weird, just let us know. We've got a clever setup for quick fixes on this particular feature.

Arcade Upgrades

Golden City Arcade in Portsmith has had a minor remodel, and some new features added. Players can now take manual control of the air hockey table, and can challenge the other authors to a game. Authors have variable skill, and commentary on the game. There's a new seating area that players can chill at, and bringing another author with you will trigger a conversation about their ideas on video games.

Phone a Friend

Calling your fellow authors while out and about will now sometimes trigger the option to invite them to join you, wherever you are. This will let you have more freedom, as you won't need to walk back to the bus to switch active party members. Your current party member will always return to the bus if you switch, but this should allow you

Here's what else is in the update:

• Trying to call an Unter car from 2ELF now concludes properly.
• When calling authors before the finale, it'll no longer suggest that they're on the bus.
• Updated the "Same Old Song" achievement in Gator Bay to pop for all possible cases
• Added better explanation for how to use the gun range, and added numbers to the gun bays
• Cleared an improper portrait of the spouse appearing inappropriately in Pancha's Plancha
• Guaranteed that the Sisyphus achievement will pop after 1000 levels completed
• Replaced a duplicate dialogue line for Alexa in the Haunted Mansion
• Updated some door triggers for the author's toasting at the Quarry Bar in Slab Town
• Changed inventory graphics for clothing / towels to help clarify them at first glance a little better
• Revamped the laundry cycle system (again) to better guarantee the system cycles properly
• Casey will no longer misgender their child when the player calls
• Your spouse will no longer misgender their parent while playing Never Have I Ever
• Added better conditional checks for save scumm accusations in the finale
• Spouse will no longer ask to read the Stalker Media article if they're with you when you read it
• Prison portraits will now appropriately show in relevant save files game data
• Being in jail will no longer turn all your save file game data to prison portraits
• Cancelling out of handing the librarian a book will no longer recall the last book accessed
• Hung Chan will no longer try to invite himself to hang out at the alien museum
• Detective Ricky will now call the player one day later
• Detective Ricky will no longer call the player while they're in jail
• Improved the dialogue of folks exercising on the machines, and prevented them from misgendering
• Prevented players from attempting to re-enter Pancha's Plancha after they've been through once
• Wives will no longer suggest that their husbands get pregnant
• Updated some art for a bunch of food items
• Various additions to character mode dialogues
• Various typo and dialogue updates

Going forward this week we'll hopefully finish the jigsaw puzzle activity / quest that was started on our last development stream, as well as some progress on a few new lengthy NPC side-quests that we've been working on. As of now there's plans to inject a new character with extensive interactions into New Creole, and unlock one of the buildings in Sequoia. These additions should help get the early-mid game feel a little more full, before folks get to Gator Bay (which is absolutely packed with content).

Progress on Character Mode has continued, as all new and retouched content has been made to work with the feature. Though, it's still going to take a very long time to get it operational across the entirety of the game. It's a very daunting task for a single writer.

Lastly, we expanded out presence on Twitch this week with a new schedule, and also enabled a bunch of fun new features. This means that in addition to the development streams airing on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 PM EST, you can now watch The Devs battle in Dog Gone Golfing every Monday at 7:00 PM.

You can also tune in to a casual industry chat with various guests Thursdays at 7:00 PM EST. Our most recent was with Shaun Hatton and Keith Thompson of LASER DESTROYER TEAM who produced both of the soundtracks for Sometimes Always Monsters and Always Sometimes Monsters. You can catch the VOD of it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90xJpo96Yn0

Hope you guys enjoy the new content. Feel free to stop in the Community Discord to make a request and we'll catch you on the next one!

- VD