The second major update to Love Exalt 8372, update 0.3.0, is HERE!!
If you like the game, please check out our Discord and follow us at @team_veki!
First we’re gonna go over the small things we added, then the big things:
Small New Things
Fix some issues with clickable portraits
You can now pet Pet more consistently.
Better minigame RNG
Previously you could roll the same minigame three or four times in a row, which was boring– now, with our new “Pseudorandominus Hardswitch Cycling System” they should be more diverse!
New minigame timer
Instead of a basic blue rectangle, we’ve added some fancy spritework:
Added lore bits tutorial
The very first lore bit is now fully visible, so you can know what to look for! We also added a little tutorial for gamepad users, and changed the “pick up lore bit” binding from LB to Y or triangle on controller.
Added 50+ class titles to the Quiz minigame
It’ll now offer you a ton of different classes as possible answers! It’s nothing crazy yet, but we plan to add more badges to the minigame as well.
Support for multiple gamepads
If you have more than one gamepad connected, you can set a default in the options and the game will remember it.
Photosensitivity and color blindness options
The photosensitivity option slows the animation speed of the Deadghost’s X text and the speed of white screen flashes when characters are surprised. We also applied a high contrast option for certain assets. We hope this helps more people experience the game comfortably!
Reverse text direction in a certain Act 1 Scene 2 animation
Used to be you’d see the last word of the text first, and have to read it backwards… hopefully now it should be more readable!
Fixed being able to open menus on top of each other
You can no longer stack a bunch of options menus on top of each other. It hadn’t caused any big problems yet, but it was probably going to eventually…
Changed minigame transition from fade out to slide in
Full-screen minigames now have a sick animation where they slide in from outside, pushing the UI out of the way.
Keycharm pixel image added to Act 1 Scene 3
The keycharms mentioned in text are now also shown as an image on that same line.
Added collision to main menu buttons
The badges now cavort around a lot more, and they won’t be able to obstruct anything!
Improved tutorial
There was a lot of confusion about what the blue thought button does, and sometimes even some initial confusion on how to progress the text in the game, so we tried to make it clearer with some fancier tutorial images at the start.
Graphical upgrades for the golf minigame
Most of the tiles were recolored and some completely changed. Upgraded the sprites for in vs out portals, too.
Added text to loading menu if there’s nothing to load yet
If you clicked REMEMBER with no save files, it was empty and desultory– now there’s some cheeky text there to keep it warm while you cook up your first playthrough.
Fixed typos, stray pixels on Healer and Mimi sprites, rotten tiles on some golf maps, and incorrect miss chance for Deadghost’s ability INDEBTEN
And probably dozens of other little things like that!!
Improved off-key golf music
The brass section was up to 10% lower in frequency than it was intended to be. It’s all better now.
Big New Things
Pause menu
Where before you could only return to main menu, you can now access the conversation log, inventory, settings, and scene select!
Conversation log
Love Exalt 8372 is officially a real visual novel now that we’ve added a log!! Everyone begged us for this… not being able to rewind was painful if you accidentally skipped a line, and frustrating if you zoned out while reading. Now, you can refresh yourself on the last 10 lines of dialogue.
Log lines have correct color highlighting and even show thought lines, which appear in { curly brackets. }
Inventory and item drops
There are now items that drop when playing the game!! The more minigames you win without failing, the higher your drop chance! You can pick them up same as you would pick up a lore bit. Items and lore bits can now be browsed from the new inventory, accessible at your leisure from the pause menu. Certain items are also stackable, revealing more and more of their lore as you gather them.
Scene select reworked in a big way
From drab beige to a slick dark gray in line with the rest of the UI, and also new scene select dropdowns which should make it a lot more clear how to continue the story after you finish a scene.
Here’s a peek at how the golf track selection looks:
The scene select part is similar– we replaced the confusing “next chapter” with a list of teleports to different parts of each scene, and we’ve added little notification dots to show what you’ve completed and what’s new!
New minigame with 2 variants
Epic new minigame with 2 different variants, where you need to press buttons in quick succession. The first variant is just that, press the buttons shown quickly. The second is a randomly generated track that you need to guide a little ball through. Aim for precision, cause if you make mistakes, you’ll get stunned. The inputs required will also adapt to gamepads!
New Timed minigame variant
Multiple green zones can now appear in the timing minigame! You’ve gotta hit all of em to win, but as a trade-off, misses are just a stun, instead of a loss. Even if you miss, you still have the chance to clutch.
5 new golf tracks
That’s right, FIVE new tracks. Some of them are in the random rotation, some you can only play from the intermission (because, frankly, it would be unfair to put them in the random rotation… they’re quite tricky). We’ve now got 23 tracks in total, and more to come!
Minigame combos
After each minigame win, your combo counter will go up! So hype!! There’s an achievement for getting the highest possible combo, too… good luck.
Cool new animation
There’s a new animation for a key story moment in the middle of Act 1 Scene 4, akin to what we’ve had in Act 1 Scene 2. Can’t add a gif here, of course, cause that would be spoilers…
Several CG fullscreen arts
Scenes 3 and 4 now have several full-screen arts for certain special occasions. Can’t tell you anything else, because that’d be a spoiler too… a big one.
Choice buttons
During group discussions, several people will offer something to say, and it’s your choice who takes the floor. Usually only one answer moves the conversation forward… so choose carefully! Or choose wrong on purpose if you wanna see all the content, lol.
Five new tracks by Veki and two from Taycat!
Veki
- Deixie
- Homelord
- Johnny
- Sycalia
Taycat
- Fight Fight Fight
- Godstepper
Act 1 Scene 4
Huge new scene that incorporates everything described above: new music, new portraits, new mechanics, CGs, and the new animation.
Steam VN Fest
We’re participating in steam’s visual novel festival, which just started! The game is 20% off during the event.
What’s next
During the next month or so, we’re hoping to rework Scene 1 and bring it up to par with the rest of the scenes; so much has changed since it was first added, and it deserves a makeover. We’re also gonna add another little minigame to the rotation. After that, we aim to end the first act with its final scene: Act 1 Scene 5.
Thank you all so much for playing and supporting this project. Stay tuned for our Dev Thoughts post for this update, coming soon! More amazing stuff is on the way!!! <3
– Veki and Vaartis