Hey everyone! Obviously, I wasn’t able to finish everything I set out to do. There’s no word count for this update, because with all the material being added and removed, it obviously wouldn’t make sense to tally it up. I hope, however, that the detailed devlog will give you an idea of the work that went into it (I probably forgot something, oh well).
DEVLOG
Overhauled the endurance system and added related checks.
Overhauled the weapons system, with changes reflected across all combat scenes (stats and, to a lesser extent, text).
Reworked combat logic determining whether the enemy gets hit and the resulting effects.
Standardized variable behavior across similar scenes; fixed variable types, weights, and related checks throughout the game.
Cleaned up code from the prologue through the end of Chapter 2 (end of Day 4).
Fixed the autosave system, which wasn’t always triggering correctly, and reworded save points.
Improved overall stat handling: fixed multiple errors in stat checks, relationship calculations, and cases where stress and other stats weren’t displaying correctly.
Reworked choices, stat changes, and outcomes for Day 4 guard duty (including a few tweaks to the related dialogue).
Updated choices and consequences in the combat scenes up to the end of the second chapter.
Modified the conversation about Abby that MC has in the shed with Michael; it now includes stat checks and different outcomes.
Adjusted stat changes tied to Divya and Max’s encounter and updated their intro text (now includes Max’s age).
Tweaked the Day 4 “entering the house” scene (stats and text).
Improved Michael and (to a less extent) Kay’s romantic autonomy: if enabled, they’re now more likely to develop feelings for the MC based on values and choices alone, even without player input, and (in Michael’s case) even if the MC isn’t attracted to men.
Fixed a game-breaking bug when attempting to kiss Divya; her romance path now works correctly.
Potentially fixed an issue with overlapping crushes on Kay and Michael when committing to Michael (further testing needed, though).
Fixed a bug where MC could avoid lying despite selecting the “lie” option when Michael asks MC about their food supplies.
MC can now arm themselves independently before facing the raiders on Day 4.
Fixed a bug where weapon durability wasn’t resetting correctly.
Fixed a bug where a nearly full backpack wasn’t properly recognized when taking water bottles from Abby’s shed.
Fixed a bug where going back and choosing a different malus would retain the stats changes.
Added food consumption to all mandatory shared meal scenes (previously missing in some cases).
If MC eats their group members’ food during mandatory shared meal scenes, now group relationships decrease slightly.
MC can now reflect on their religion (or lack thereof) during the first night out l; later dialogue now reflects those beliefs. The diner scene now acts as a confirmation instead.
MC now specifies the number of trading cards when listing the first ones found.
Michael can now react negatively to MC’s attentions.
Added the option to choose a custom term for the infected/zombies.
Added more notifications for players with warnings enabled, including alerts during time management scenes (i.e. at the start of the day) with stat checks and critical hunger/thirst warnings.
Added image descriptions for screen readers.
Added more reactions related to MC’s full name when talking to Abigail.
Split overly long scenes into multiple pages.
Reworded various scenes for clarity and flow.
Fixed spacing and line break issues.
Fixed an issue at the start of Day 4 where a malus-related text string didn’t display correctly.
Fixed incorrect article display when choosing a weapon for Divya.
Fixed some rare name-related bugs during conversations with Divya.
Fixed a bug where a conversation with Max during guard duty on Night 4 wasn’t properly recognized.
Fixed several minor bugs in the burial scene.
Various bug fixes and polish across various scenes.
My MC never flirted with Max, barely even talked with him but somehow Abby commented on that. Since MC was already in a relationship with Michael it felt really weird, since they’re talking about MC flirting with someone outside their relationship like it’s the most normal thing ever. I wonder if someone else experienced the same thing?
First time someone has reported a bug like that. Please send me a DM with whatever you remember about your interactions with Max, and we’ll see together whether there was some kind of bug.
There could never be an option like that, given the number of variables involved. However, there is a save/load feature that, if used correctly, shouldn’t require you to start over from the beginning with every update. It can happen when there are major changes to the code, but not every time.
It starts again at the the first page of the last chapter because that’s the start of the scene, the file I’m editing with new content. There’s no workaround, I’m afraid.
I’m happy to announce that this was the last Code Revamp, at least for now. I couldn’t add new scenes, but the notebook is finally functional, and there’s been quite a lot of rewording and reworking. As always, corrections and suggestions are welcome!
If you thought last month’s devlog was long, you haven’t seen anything yet… Please read it, there are a ton of important changes and bug fixes listed!
DEVLOG
Fixed a major issue with the internal save system that could lead to irreversible corruption after loading twice.
Fixed a bug in the internal save system when loading after a specific type of death.
Refined some wording in the internal save system.
Added a fallback to prevent a potential game-breaking issue in the collectibles system.
Added a fallback to prevent a potential game-breaking bug while reading news.
Reduced the hunger threshold required for MC to agree to stop and eat lunch while traveling.
Adjusted the amount of energy restored by resting on Day 1 due to a duplicated value.
Restored a timer in an early-game conversation that was never properly initialized.
Fixed an issue where relationship rejection was not properly recorded when both Kay and Divya turned MC down.
Fixed (hopefully) an issue affecting Michael’s romance path.
Attempted to further bulletproof the Michael romance bug. Hopefully this fix finally did the trick!
Reworded various scenes and choices.
Revised one of the short clue scenes during online browsing.
Fixed a bug that prevented MC from entering two of the cars in the parking lot.
Fixed a mismatch between Michael’s described action and the item received when the player lies about having water.
Fixed variables that incorrectly read the phone’s battery percentage, previously allowing the time to be checked even when the phone was fully discharged.
Fixed an issue with the battery icon at specific charge percentages.
Fixed a potential over-drain issue with portable chargers.
Updated the warning message regarding images.
Fixed a bug that prevented images from being disabled after being enabled through the settings menu.
Fixed a bug where an MtF MC could not correctly display certain text strings due to incorrect flag usage.
Fixed several bugs related to the Few of Aorta card game.
Fixed a bug where the card Korrigans (f2c_5) was not properly removed from the deck after being played.
Fixed a possible high-score tracking issue in the mobile spelling bee game.
Corrected an incorrect score assignment for a word in spelling bee variant #2.
Added tracking for incorrect inputs in the spelling bee game so that the game now correctly progresses after wrong answers.
Fixed an issue involving correct answers in the spelling bee game.
Fixed a phone number randomization error.
Fixed a bug that allowed MC of any orientation to kiss Divya (under the right astral alignment, perhaps.)
Fixed a bug that gave Divya a duplicate line of dialogue after a potential kiss. (You flustered her too much.)
Fixed a bug where MC couldn’t properly share their hearing issue with Divya and Max during Day 5 if they hadn’t previously discussed it with Abigail, Michael, or Kay.
It is now more difficult to satisfy Michael during his assessment of MC’s personality on Day 5.
Fixed an issue where MC’s explanation of their hearing condition wasn’t always correct.
Fixed a bug that prevented returning to the main submenu after selecting certain lunch options on Day 5.
Fixed several instances where object interaction descriptions were reversed depending on whether MC was carrying the backpack.
Fixed several bugs related to Charisma trait checks.
Fixed several string interpolation bugs.
If MC abandons the backpack, they will now automatically keep their wallet, documents, and other paper items. (They’re all stored in a waterproof pouch, after all! Aren’t they?)
Fixed a critical bug where a specific backpack weight could turn the first post-river fight into a near-instakill.
Fixed a bug where MC’s attack description failed to display during the post-river encounter if MC was armed while Divya was not.
Fixed a bug where choosing certain characters in the wrong order during the courtyard escape caused the available time to increase instead of decrease.
Fixed several overlapping stat checks that could produce unintentionally awkward paragraphs under specific relationship values.
Reduced the amount of affection Michael can gain toward MC in certain situations.
During the courtyard escape, MC could previously send Michael away and stay behind to fight even while unarmed. This was obviously a bug! MC can now only do so while armed, though a new option has been added for reluctantly leaving Michael behind due to lacking a weapon.
Fixed a bug where discussing MC’s hearing or vision issue with Kay was no longer properly remembered during Day 5.
Fixed a bug that prevented proper conversation progression during the guard shifts at the end of Day 5.
Fixed a bug that prevented the timer from progressing correctly if MC claimed to have never used a payphone before.
Fixed several fog-navigation bugs during Day 6.
Fixed a bug where MC’s analysis of the diner exterior would not display correctly when approaching from the west without a scouting background.
Fixed several string display bugs involving specific rounded numerical values.
Abigail’s responses during Day 6 are no longer purely random and are now influenced by her relationship with MC (unless a critical failure occurs, in which case she will always refuse).
Fixed an issue where it was impossible to become atheist or agnostic after previously identifying as religious.
Fixed a bug in the corpse-cleaning duty drawing scene where MC’s reaction wasn’t displayed correctly when Kay started the draw.
Fixed a game-breaking bug that could occur if MC had fewer than 50 Heart when Kay returned.
Fixed a large number of verb and pronoun issues involving nonbinary Max.
Slightly adjusted the visibility threshold for certain scenes when physical education is MC’s favorite subject.
Fixed several bugs in the diner kitchen scene; now MC can’t bypass food-carrying restrictions anymore.
Fixed several bugs related to the potential love confession during Day 6.
Fixed a critical bug that could break the game if MC offered Kay 10 cigarettes on Day 6 without actually having enough.
Changed the unlock conditions for Divya’s “about us” conversation at the end of Day 6 and reworded some of her responses.
If MC is passionate about cars, this is now mentioned in the Stats screen.
Heyyy just letting u know that loading a save (not in game save mode) is causing me to not access the articles nmw, and scavenging keeps coming up empty
If the issue is with cogdemo’s save system (not the one within the game, that is), then it’s likely a corrupted save file. I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do about it; at best, you could try contacting the website’s admin, but I doubt there’s much that can be done.
Michael says that simply because your MC has different stats from one playthrough to the next. In one, they’re valuable; in another, they’re a liability.
As for the payphone, no, it shouldn’t cause a loop. What’s happening? Could you post a screenshot, please?
Yeah, this annoyed me too. My MC has high strength, wits, empathy and guts, and has done everything perfectly so the group is safe and no one is starved, burned or hurt–and yet bro says she’s “not an asset or a liability”. I’m so ready to leave this guy to be eaten at this point.
The neutral form has a bug that will be addressed in the next update (I can’t remember the reason for the bug, though—I’m from my smartphone right now).
It doesn’t change much for gameplay purposes. I was only answering to explain that any changes in the dialogue derive from different stats
Okay, I wanted to romance Michael, but got locked out of it ? I don’t understand why, I never said I dislike him or anything when I got a choice to do it… I’m not even seeing the stat about Michael’s Love anymore ? I really don’t get it…
