Backend Overhaul + General Design Changes

What's up, guys!
I hope you all had a wonderful new year!
Today I bring you a simple but important update: the backend has been completely revised and there have been several changes to the game's design.

New Music: Mastur Bar - I'm Not Understanding

Before we start talking about the central themes of this post, let me tell you about a little news first.
I created a new song called "I'm Not Understanding" after the last post, so I decided to bring it to you in this one.

We were just one song away from reaching the milestone of 70 different songs on the game's soundtrack, and with this one, we finally hit the mark.

To be quite honest, I feel that, with this, we have the complete soundtrack of the game.
I won't stop myself from creating new songs if inspiration strikes in the future, but I feel that 70 songs is more than enough, so this will probably be the last song on the game's soundtrack.
70 is a considerable number, especially considering that other Adult Visual Novels often don't even have songs.

I still don't know if I'll be able to include all the new songs in this episode or if I'll have to save some of them for the next one, but all the work involving the soundtrack is complete for the entire game.

You can listen to the song at the end of this post, if you want to.

That's said, let's return to the main topics of this post.
Since there are 2 topics in a single post, let's start with the backend:

Backend Overhaul

I know that talking about updates to the game's backend isn't very exciting for the audience, but it was important to carry out this type of revision.
This game has gone through several development phases, and I confess that the code I used in some of the game's screens, while functional, was implemented in an amateurish way.
At first, this didn't cause many problems, but over time I found some bugs, and they needed to be fixed.

I did a complete overhaul of the backend of all the game's screens, improving them where possible.
There was optimization, simplification, and improvement of the code in general.
This was done to fix some bugs found, such as:

1. Some replays disappearing improperly from the replay menu even after being unlocked.
   This problem started happening due to a recent change in Ren'py, so you probably didn't see it in the version you're playing (0.4.1).

   But it's interesting for me as a developer to always be on the latest version of Ren'py, since this brings improvements, bug fixes, optimizations, etc.
   When updating to the latest version, Ren'py broke this feature, and I had to redo it.

   Due to this change, unfortunately, your progress regarding unlocking replays will be lost in the next version.

   The update has also been applied to the demo, which will receive a new version (0.1.9), so that from the new version onwards, the replays unlocked in the new demo can continue to work in conjunction with the paid version.

   I know it's annoying, but the game has received a lot of changes, especially in the soundtrack, so it will be worth revisiting the game from the beginning, I guarantee it.



2. I discovered that on some specific devices, such as small-screen mobiles, the Main Character dialogue in phone conversations was not appearing. This bug has been fixed and the dialogues will be working correctly in the next version.


3. Some interface buttons, such as the Shop Button and the Item Button, as well as the Social Media buttons on the Title Screen, have had their alignment and captions redone.

   The way the alignment was done in previous versions was manual.
   At first glance, there seems to be no problem, but if the text of these buttons were to be changed (e.g., in a future translation to a new language), the text would be completely misaligned with the buttons. Now, with the alignment redone, the caption text should remain correctly aligned to the center of the button, regardless of the word typed.
   Yes, this is a preparation for future translations into other languages, something I intend to do when I release the full version of the game.

   As for the alignment of the Social Media buttons on the Title Screen, their captions have also been correctly realigned, but not only that, now the game automatically calculates the correct positioning of each button and applies them, depending on the number of buttons to be displayed on the screen.
   In summary: We now have dynamic alignment of the Title Screen buttons, allowing us to add new Social Media buttons in the future effortlessly.



4. The Game Menu alignment has been redone.

   There was a bug where, depending on the option clicked (especially if the option opened the Confirm screen, such as the "Title Screen" or "Quit" option), the Game Menu buttons would change alignment.

   This may seem like a small problem, but this bug prevented us from adding new options to it, as it misaligned the entire Game Menu.
   With this fix, I was finally able to add more options to the Game Menu without misalignment issues, which led to another change that you will see below.



5. There are several functions in the backend of the screens that are not visible to the player, but are important for everything to work.
   These functions have been simplified and optimized.

   This avoids bugs and wasted resources, as well as making it possible to perform the same functions using far fewer lines of code.

   In addition, exclusive developer functions have been created and added to the screens, which helps prepare the game to record videos for YouTube, for example.

   (e.g. I need to record a video that cannot show nudity, since it will go to YouTube, with the change of a simple variable, the game self-organizes for me, hiding everything that cannot be shown).

   Yes, this is an update that matters more to the developer than to the players, but it also has positive impacts on the final product.

Now that we've covered the backend aspect of the update, let's move on to the cool part.
There have been some design changes to the game that improve various aspects.
You can see these changes in the video, but I'll talk more about them, so you can read and watch the video.

General Design Changes

Game Menu changes

With the Game Menu alignment issue fixed, I was finally able to include the Achievement and Tutorial screens directly in it.
This led to the next 2 design changes.

Achievement and Tutorial screens

Those screens can now be accessed directly from the Game Menu.
This means total independence, no longer depending on being on page 1 of the Gallery or Replays and clicking Page Left to access them.
With this, there is no longer a need for pagination buttons on these screens, so they have been completely removed from them.

Gallery and Replay screens

Since the screens mentioned above are no longer dependent on these screens, now, by clicking Page Left on page 1 of these screens, the game will take the player to the last page of these respective screens, allowing the player to freely cycle between the first and last page.
By clicking Page Right on the last page, the player will return to page 1 of the respective screen.

Wider variety of Icon Sets

In the last post, I showed that, on the Controls screen, it was possible to cycle between 5 different Icon Sets: Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Steam, and Generic.

But I felt that wasn't enough, so I implemented a wider range of different Icon Sets, now totaling 12, including: 3 Xbox variations, 3 Playstation variations, 3 Nintendo variations and 3 Steam variations.

Explaining each one in more detail:

1. Xbox - Color 1: This is not inspired by any specific controller; it simply follows the correct button layout of the Xbox model.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and black lettering.
   The other buttons also have the same colors.

   If the game fails to identify your controller type, it will treat your controller as generic and apply this Icon Set.



2. Xbox - Color 2: This Icon Set is inspired by the Xbox 360 model.
   The Xbox Classic model may also resemble it.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a colored background and white lettering, being the color scheme based on the Xbox controller's color patterns.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   If the game identifies your controller as an Xbox model, it will automatically apply this Icon Set.



3. Xbox - Color 3: This Icon Set is inspired by the Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S models.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and colored lettering, being the color scheme based on the Xbox controller's color patterns.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   You can manually select it if you don't like either of the other two options.



4. Playstation - Color 1: This Icon Set was inspired by the Playstation 5 model.

   The ✖, ○, □, and △ buttons have a white background and black lettering.
   The other buttons also have the same colors.

   You can manually select it if you don't like either of the other two options.



5. Playstation - Color 2: This Icon Set wasn't inspired by any specific model, but we decided to create this Icon Set based on the Xbox Color 2 design, just to give the player another option.

   The ✖, ○, □, and △ buttons have a colored background and black lettering, being the color scheme based on the Dualshock controller's color patterns.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   You can manually select it if you wish.



6. Playstation - Color 3: This Icon Set was inspired by most Dualshock models, having similar patterns to the Playstation 1, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, and Playstation 4.

   The ✖, ○, □, and △ buttons have a white background and colored letters, being the color scheme based on the Dualshock controller's color patterns.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   If the game identifies your controller as an Playstation model, it will automatically apply this Icon Set.



7. Nintendo - Color 1: This Icon Set is inspired by the Nintendo Switch model.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and black lettering.
   The A and B buttons & the X and Y buttons are reversed, just like on Nintendo consoles.
   The other buttons also have the same colors.

   If the game identifies your controller as an Nintendo model, it will automatically apply this Icon Set.



8. Nintendo - Color 2: This Icon Set is inspired by the Super Famicom model.
   Other consoles based on Nintendo's button layout, such as the Ayn Thor Rainbow, may also resemble it.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a colored background and white lettering, being the color scheme based on the Super Famicom controller's color patterns.
   The A and B buttons & the X and Y buttons are reversed, just like on Nintendo consoles.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   You can manually select it if you have a controller that follows the Super Famicom pattern.



9. Nintendo - Color 3: This Icon Set wasn't inspired by any specific model, but we decided to create this Icon Set based on the Xbox Color 3 design, just to give the player another option.

   The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and colored lettering, being the color scheme based on the Super Famicom controller's color patterns.
   The A and B buttons & the X and Y buttons are reversed, just like on Nintendo consoles.
   The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

   You can manually select it if you don't like either of the other two options.



10. Steam - Color 1: This Icon Set is inspired by the Steam Deck model.

    The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and black lettering.
    The other buttons also have the same colors.

    If the game identifies your controller as an Steam model or if you're playing on a Steam Deck, it will automatically apply this Icon Set.



11. Steam - Color 2: This Icon Set wasn't inspired by any specific model, but we decided to create this Icon Set based on the Xbox Color 2 design, just to give the player another option.

    The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a colored background and white lettering, being the color scheme based on the Steam controller's color patterns.
    The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

    You can manually select it if you don't like either of the other two options.



12. Steam - Color 3: This Icon Set is inspired by the Steam Controller model.

    The A, B, X, and Y buttons have a white background and colored lettering, being the color scheme based on the Steam controller's color patterns.
    The other buttons have a white background and black lettering.

    You can manually select it if you're using a Steam Controller.

With this wider variety of Icon Sets, the game manages to cover the vast majority of existing controller types, although there may be one or two controllers that deviate from all 12 implemented patterns.

I know it's nice to play with the button icons on the screen looking similar to the controller you're holding, so I decided to implement these extra options.

Of course, you don't necessarily have to follow the patterns.
You can be playing with an Xbox controller and use the Nintendo - Color 2 Icon Set (Super Famicom pattern).
You're free to choose the pattern you prefer!

Icon Buttons Alignment

The Icon Buttons and their respective captions, both those on the Title Screen and those in Exploration Mode, have had their alignments corrected.

Starting with the Title Screen, the Icon Buttons now auto-organize on the screen, distributing themselves with uniform spacing between them depending on the number of Icon Buttons being displayed.

This means that, if a new Icon Button is added, it will not require any effort from the developer to align them on the screen.

This change was made so that the buttons auto-organize if the player has the walkthrough DLC downloaded, because in this case the game displays 7 Icon Buttons on the Title Screen instead of 6.
In the case of Steam, it displays 3 Icon Buttons on the Title Screen instead of 2.

Regarding the Icon Buttons displayed in Exploration Mode (Shop Menu and Item Menu), what was aligned were their respective captions.

As mentioned before, if a new translation were added, which would change the displayed caption, it would not be properly centered over the button.

Now the game is prepared for this, because regardless of the word that is adopted as the caption, it will always be properly centered over the button.
This change in caption alignment was also applied to the Icon Buttons on the Title Screen.

Outlined Letters and Labels

There was a simple but important change:
Now all the letters and labels in the game have an outline composed of light in the upper left and shadow in the lower right.

This change gives the player a greater sense of depth when reading.

The reason I implemented this change is that, depending on the background image, since the letters are white, they would blend into the background, hindering readability in some cases.

Now that the letters have light and shadow, even when they are on a background of the same color, they will be legible.

It's possible to notice the changes in all the letters in the game, including the letters that make up the buttons.
On the buttons, this change creates an interesting effect, making it seem like a panel is lighting up when you hover the mouse over them.

Button Press Effect in Game Menu

This is another change that was made to provide clarity to the player.

When selecting an option in the Game Menu, the letters on this button are now further in the background and darkened, as if they were buttons pressed on a radio.

This helps the player identify the currently selected option in the Game Menu immediately upon looking at it.

That's all I had to show you today.
With that, we've reached the end of everything that needed to be revamped in terms of functionality.
The next step is to adapt the tutorials to the new features, considering the changes caused by the implementation of gamepad support.

I hope you enjoyed the news.
That's all for today,
Cheers! 🍻

Check out the Video Preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq_s4DmHksk

Native Gamepad Support + Full Controls Overhaul

What's up, guys!
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I take this opportunity to wish you all a wonderful New Year!
Considering the magnitude of these end-of-year dates, I've come to bring you an update worthy of them, almost like a Christmas/New Year's gift.
Today I bring you an important update: We now have Native Gamepad Support, in addition to a Full Controls Overhaul.

It took me a little longer than usual to bring you this update, as it's more complex than normal, but I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.

When I say Native Gamepad Support, I mean that ALL PC versions (Steam, Itch, OppaiMan, Patreon, SubscribeStar) will now have gamepad support.
No more reliance on the Steam API for this!

When I say Full Controls Overhaul, I mean that ALL PC versions (Steam, Itch, OppaiMan, Patreon, SubscribeStar) have had their gameplay improved.

I remade all the screens to include direct commands via the gamepad buttons.
These commands also have buttons for the same function on the keyboard and, some of them, even on the mouse.

Now the game has 3 controller modes: Gamepad, Keyboard, and Mouse.
The game will dynamically alternate the buttons on the screen according to the player's last input, allowing switching between these 3 controllers in real time.

Well, I think the introduction is already too long and we really have a lot to talk about today, so let's go through it topic by topic.

I recorded the video in the footer of this post to demonstrate the gameplay changes and all the new features.
I will use the order in which they appear in the video to talk about them.
I invite you to watch the video while you read this.

New Music: Mastur Bar - It's Party Time

Before we actually start talking about the changes to the controls, let's talk about the first detail you see (or rather, hear) as soon as the video starts.

I created a new song called "It's Party Time" after the post about the Music Menu, so this one didn't appear before.
I'm taking advantage of today's post to introduce this new addition to you.

You can listen to the song at the end of this post, if you want to.

Cursors

The first detail regarding the controls that you see in the video is that we finally have a cursor for the game Living in a Brothel.

I chose to use the red arrow that had already appeared in the Tutorials, finally bringing our old friend the red arrow back to life.

But that's not all.
Now comes the most important part: We have a second cursor, called the virtual cursor, which is controlled by the left analog stick or the arrow keys on the keyboard.

With the implementation of this new cursor, you'll be able to interact with all aspects of the game using only your gamepad (or only your keyboard, if you prefer), making the use of a mouse an option and no longer an obligation as it was before.

It may seem trivial, but this was the main obstacle to native gamepad support before, which led us to have to implement gamepad support using the Steam API, as it was able to simulate the operation of the mouse with the gamepad's analog sticks.

Native gamepad support was one of the aspects that was planned from the beginning, but I had never been able to implement it until now, given the complexity involved.

Although it has a complex implementation that led me to have to change all the game screens, we finally have a native way to do this directly in Ren'py, which paves the way for gamepad support to be available for all versions, as it no longer depends on the Steam API to function.

Now you can finish the game from beginning to end sitting on your living room couch and playing directly on your TV if you want (if there's no one around, of course 🤣).

Controls Screen (Old Help Screen)

This is perhaps the most important change in the entire update.
The old Help screen has become the Controls screen.

I decided to change the name because it's no longer limited to simply showing the functions of each key to the player, but also allows the player to remap buttons, being able to choose the configuration that is most comfortable for them (Applies only to the gamepad).

When you enter this screen, the game will automatically decide which tab to show based on your last input.

• If you are playing with a gamepad, it'll show you the gamepad tab;
• If you are playing with a keyboard, it'll show you the keyboard tab;
• If you are playing with a mouse, it'll show you the mouse tab.

As you can see in the image, all the button icons are displayed (Yes, now the buttons have icons and not just generic names) and their respective functions;
If you go to the keyboard screen, there will be icons for all the keys and their respective functions;
And if you go to the mouse screen, there will also be icons showing what each mouse button does (including the mouse wheel).

You'll notice that, next to the tabs, there are also pagination buttons, which allow you to move the menu to the left or right tab without having to click on them.
Now you can move between pages/tabs with just the press of a button, which makes navigation much more practical and faster.

In addition, you'll also notice a "key footer," with captions showing what each button does on this specific screen.
This pattern will be repeated on all other screens, with different functions for each button, according to the specifics of each screen.

Looking more closely at the key footer, you'll notice that the right analog stick is used to scroll the viewport.
And looking at the explanations of the button functions in the Controls screen, you'll see that the left analog stick controls the cursor.
These are the only functions that cannot be changed in any way.

By pressing the X button (Xbox layout), you can change the Icon Set.
To explain in more detail, the game has 5 different Icon Sets: Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, Steam, and Generic.
The game will try to figure out which gamepad you have based on its name.

Since my gamepad is an Xbox Series X controller, the game automatically set all the button icons to the Xbox layout, but it is possible to change the button icons displayed on the screen by pressing the "Change Icon Set" button.

This feature is essential for Steam Deck players, since once the game detects the controller name as Steam Deck (or its variants), it'll automatically apply the Steam Deck layout.

Obviously, this is also convenient if you are playing the PC version with your Dualshock, your Nintendo Pro Controller, etc.

If the game cannot identify your gamepad by name, it'll adopt the "Generic" Icon Set by default, but nothing that you can't change if you're not satisfied with the choice.

Last but not least, we have Remap screen, which allows you to change the button configuration of your gamepad, letting you freely decide which button you prefer to use for each action.

As you can see in this image, there's a list containing all the game's actions (and there are a ton of actions!) and each button associated with them.
There are actions of all types: menu actions; actions that happen during gameplay; actions that happen specifically in certain game modes, such as Photo Studio or Slot Machine Minigame, etc.
It's possible to assign up to 3 different buttons to the same action.

The default configuration contains the buttons I chose as the best option for each action, but you can change them as you wish.
If you regret the changes you made and want to revert to the developer's choice, simply press the Y button: Reset to Defaults. (Yes, I'm going to use the Xbox layout as a reference in this post, okay?)

On the Remap screen, we also have a button to Calibrate the gamepad buttons. If you select this option, you will see a screen like this:

It's quite simple, similar to calibrating your gamepad on Windows.
Just follow the on-screen instructions to complete the calibration and have your gamepad calibrated.

Save/Load Screen

The save and load screens share the same structure, so I'll address them together, okay?

The Save/Load screen has undergone simple yet significant changes that improve and speed up navigation.

The first detail to note is that this screen now has navigation arrows and pagination buttons.
The navigation arrows used to be next to the page numbers in the footer, but I decided to move them to the top of the page to maintain a more uniform design with the other screens.
As for the pagination buttons, the principle is identical to what we saw in the Controls Screen, allowing for quick and easy switching between pages without having to click on them.
Another new feature is that, upon reaching a page limit (1 - minimum limit, 99 - maximum limit), the player can "go around the world," going directly from page 1 to page 99 and vice versa with the press of a simple pagination button.
This allows for more dynamic pagination.

Regarding the footer containing the page numbers, we have a new feature: Now, if the player goes to a page that is not being shown in the footer (e.g., the footer is showing pages 1 to 25, and the player goes to page 26), the footer will now show the new block of pages, containing the page you are currently on (in our example, it would show pages 26 to 50).
This allows you to quickly travel from page 26 to 43 with a simple click on the screen, unlike before when you had to go page by page until you reached the target page (43 in our example).

Furthermore, in order to keep the layout functioning properly, I limited the maximum number of pages to 99, so I can apply the new feature with the certainty that nothing will break if the player goes to page 100000, for example.
Despite this limitation, if we calculate 12 saves * 99 pages, we have a total of 1188 save slots. A player will hardly need more save slots than that.

Finally, when we look at the key footer, we have the standard Save/Load screen functions: Delete (save), Select and Back.
The novelty is that now you can do this directly with your gamepad, in addition to the explicit reminder of what each button does, which will help novice players.

Gallery Screen

The changes to the Gallery screen were simple, yet functional.

At this point, I think you're already used to the changes, so I'll be briefer.

The Gallery screen received larger and easier-to-click navigation arrows (← and →), which are more responsive to cursors than the old ones (<< and >>).

In addition, it also received pagination buttons, just like on the screens shown before.

It's now also possible to cycle between the Achievements screen and the Gallery screen last page and vice versa. If you don't know, clicking the left navigation arrow while on page 1 takes you to the Achievement Screen.
It's now also possible to "go around the world," making navigation between these screens easier.

Finally, the key footer displays only the basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.

We can't talk about the Gallery screen without showing what happens when we're viewing a Gallery Image, so let's get to it.

When examining a typical Gallery Image, the key footer displays the Back button.
It can be accessed by clicking or simply by pressing the button on the gamepad.

By the way, I had forgotten to mention until now, the buttons on the key footer and the pagination buttons are mostly clickable.

When examining a poster, the key footer displays the following buttons: Change Orientation, Scroll, and Back.

• Change Orientation allows you to change the orientation between portrait and landscape.
• Scroll reminds you that you should use the right analog stick to scroll the poster up and down.
• Back returns to the previous screen.

When viewing a poster in Landscape Orientation, the key footer displays the buttons: Change Orientation and Back.

Since this orientation was created assuming that you'll rotate your monitor 90º, the key footer will be located on the right side of the screen, because if you rotate your monitor, the side will become the new bottom.

Achievement Screen

The Achievements screen functions as an extension of the Gallery screen, so it received similar updates.

In summary, the Achievement screen received:

• Better navigation arrows;
• Pagination buttons;
• The ability to cycle between the Achievements screen and the Gallery screen last page and vice versa;
• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.

Replay Screen

The Replay screen received basic navigation improvements, just like the other screens.

In summary, the Replay screen received:

• Better navigation arrows;
• Pagination buttons;
• The ability to cycle between the Tutorial screen and the Replay screen last page and vice versa.
• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.

Tutorial Screen

The Tutorial screen functions as an extension of the Replay screen, so it received similar updates.

In summary, the Tutorial screen received:

• Better navigation arrows;
• Pagination buttons;
• The ability to cycle between the Tutorial screen and the Replay screen last page and vice versa;
• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.

Music Screen

The Music screen hasn't changed much since the post that specifically discussed it.

In summary, the Music screen received:

• Key footer displaying basic navigation buttons: Scroll and Select (Screen Left Side) and Back (Screen Right Side).
• X button to mute the game (Screen Right Side).

Options Screen

We've had some significant changes to the Options screen.

In summary, the Options screen received:

• X button to mute the game.
• Y button resets the options screen settings to their default values.
  Previously, this was a clickable option, similar to Mute, but I decided to make it a button to save screen space.
• Basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.
• Virtual cursor speed slider bar that allows you to configure the sensitivity of the virtual cursor, which is controlled by the gamepad's left analog stick or keyboard's arrow keys.

There was also a slight change to the layout to better accommodate the changes we implemented, so that it would fit on the screen.

Credits Screen

The Credits screen received basic navigation improvements, just like the other screens.

In summary, the Credits screen received:

• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Scroll, Select and Back.

Changelog Screen (Old Patch Notes Screen)

The Changelog screen received basic navigation improvements, just like the other screens.

In summary, the Changelog screen received:

• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Scroll, Select and Back.

Interestingly, the biggest change the Changelog screen underwent was its name, which was previously Patch Notes screen.

The change occurred simply because I needed more screen space to fit the Music option, so I opted to use a shorter word.

History Screen

The History screen received basic navigation improvements, just like the other screens.

In summary, the History screen received:

• Key footer displaying only the basic navigation buttons: Scroll and Back.

Confirm Screen

The Confirm screen is a different one.

It won't let you use the virtual cursor.
It'll present you with a question and two possible answers: Confirm (A button) and Cancel (B button).
These answers must be given by pressing the button shown.

Quick Menu

The Quick Menu, those small text-shaped buttons at the bottom of the screen, has received important changes.

Before there was only the Menu button, now I implemented the Shop and Item buttons, which are used to open these respective menus, just like the green and blue buttons in the top right corner of the screen.

It may seem like unnecessary redundancy, but the real reason I included them in the Quick Menu is so that the player can access them via controller buttons.

In the example in the screenshot above, pressing the LB Button will open the Shop Menu and pressing the RB Button will open the Item Menu.

Shop Menu

The Shop Menu received similar changes to the Quick Menu:

• The Item button can be used to open the Item Menu.
• What was previously the Shop button has become the Close button, whose function is to close the Shop Menu, in the same way that the green button in the upper right corner of the screen works.

These changes were implemented for faster navigation between these menus when playing on the gamepad.
This improvement in navigation also affects gameplay with the keyboard, which has gained keys with the same function.

Item Menu

The Item Menu received similar changes to the Quick Menu:

• The Shop button can be used to open the Shop Menu.
• What was previously the Item button has become the Close button, whose function is to close the Item Menu, in the same way that the blue button in the upper right corner of the screen works.

These changes were implemented for faster navigation between these menus when playing on the gamepad.
This improvement in navigation also affects gameplay with the keyboard, which has gained keys with the same function.

Posters

Posters, which previously only had Back and Menu buttons, now also have Scroll and Advance buttons.

They are simple navigation buttons, and the purpose of having them added there is to provide greater clarity to the player as to how to interact with this screen.

Previously, some players reported feeling confused about how to interact with the posters, so I thought it was important to add them to the quick menu for clarity.

Furthermore, these functions now have corresponding buttons on the controllers, which makes navigation faster.

Posters (Exploration Mode)

Some sections of Exploration Mode are also in the form of Posters.
These sections work a little differently than regular Posters.

Previously, only the Menu button was displayed at the bottom of the screen;
Now we have the Scroll button, indicating which button the player should press to scroll the viewport up and down, thus providing greater clarity to the player.

As you can see in the screenshot, in these cases, the Back and Advance buttons are unavailable, and the player has to interact with some section of the screen, such as the doors, to exit this screen.

Quick Menu - Shop

When the player is in a store, the Quick Menu works a little differently.

The Item button remains available and functions similarly to the Quick Menu Item button when the player is in an Exploration Mode environment.

On the other hand, as the player is in a store, the Shop button becomes the Leave button, indicating that, by pressing it, the player can leave the store immediately and return to the last environment they were in before accessing the store.

Quick Menu - Dialog and Auto-Forward Indicator

The Quick Menu has the exact same functions as before in the dialogs, but now has buttons assigned to these functions.

As we can see in the screenshot, the Quick Menu has:

• LB Button to roll back to the last dialog.
• RT Button to skip dialogs.
• Y Button to auto-advance dialogs.
• Start Button to open the Menu.

The operation is exactly the same as always, but now it can be done more quickly, with the simple press of a button on the gamepad.

The icing on the cake is that now, when activating the Auto option, the Auto-Forward Indicator will be displayed in the top left corner of the screen, improving clarity as to whether Auto mode is activated or not.
Previously this was a bit confusing, as sometimes the player would activate Auto mode, but as there was no feedback on the screen, they would be unsure whether they had activated it or not. Now the problem is solved.

Skip Cutscene Buttons

There are some cutscenes in this game that can become boring after watching them a few times, like the cutscene with the main character riding in the elevator.

Previously there was a "Press Enter to Skip" screen that was displayed in the top right corner of the screen, but we preferred to remake it in the new way, displaying 2 new buttons on the key footer instead.

The new buttons are:

• A button to Pass the cutscene, advancing the elevator waiting periods.
• RT button to Skip the cutscene in the blink of an eye.

You can advance the cutscene the way you prefer now.

Slot Machine Minigame

The Minigame Slot Machine received basic navigation improvements plus a new function.

In summary, the Slot Machine Minigame received:

• Pagination buttons, which are now used to change difficulty:
  RB button decreases difficulty by 1 level.
  LB button increases difficulty by 1 level.
• The ability to cycle between the hardest difficulty (Insane) and the easier difficulty (Easy) and vice versa.
• Key footer displaying basic navigation buttons: Select and Back.
• RT Button now has the Play function, which automatically spins the wheel following the order from left to right in the slot machine.
  This is different from A Button (Select) as you need to click the slot machine buttons on the screen to interact with it.
• The new function is the "Change Music" button, which is the icon of a musical note (♪) in the top left corner of the slot machine.
  The Slot Machine Minigame now has two interchangeable songs, which you can swap between by pressing this button.
  You can only interact with the "Change Music" button by clicking on it.
  I chose to leave it this way, as assigning a controller button to it could make the player accidentally change the song by bumping the button.
  Having to go to a specific point on the screen and click on it prevents the player from changing the song by accident.

These changes allow for quicker gameplay of this minigame, both when changing the difficulty and when spinning the wheel.
This increases the player's accuracy, making it easier to hit jackpots.

Photo Studio

The Photo Studio was the screen that had the most significant changes, making use of the entire gamepad to extract the best possible gameplay from it.

All functions in this mode received gamepad buttons associated with them, making gameplay in this mode much more fluid.
In addition, buttons with new features were created to better adapt the gamepad's way of playing.

Let's explain more about each one:

• The LT button received the "Change Camera" function, which is used to change the camera angle displayed on the screen.
  Previously, you had to click the "Top Camera", "Middle Camera" and "Bottom Camera" buttons with the mouse to select the respective camera angle.
  In cases where the character has to be photographed from the back, in addition to the aforementioned buttons, it was necessary to click the "Turn Around" button.
  Now, with the "Change Camera" function, the game will transition between the following camera angles: 0 - Neutral Camera, 1 - Top Camera, 2 - Middle Camera, 3 - Bottom Camera, 4 - Top Camera (Back View), 5 - Middle Camera (Back View), 6 - Bottom Camera (Back View).
  Activating the same function again will return the game to camera angle 0, starting the cycle again.
  Now, with this new function, gameplay is much more fluid when playing on the gamepad.
• The RT Button received the "Take a Photo" function.
  It works exactly the same as before, you take the photo from a camera angle you haven't taken yet and, after taking the photo, the button becomes unavailable at that camera angle, having to change the angle to be able to activate the button again.
• LB Button and RB Button received the "Move Window" function.
  Previously, as there was only one button, the window could only be moved to the right.
  The new thing is that, as there are two pagination buttons, you can now move the window left and right.
  This is one of the new functions and should improve gameplay in this mode.
• The Y Button has received the "Change Clothes" function, and it works exactly the same way as it used to.
  If the player is in specific camera angles that allow the girl to undress, the "Change Clothes" button will be enabled, allowing the player to ask the girl to take off her clothes, being able to photograph her naked.
• The X Button received the "Hide Window" function.
  This button has the function of hiding the User Interface in the entire game, and here in this mode it was no different.
• The A button has a basic "Select" navigation function.
  It's similar to a mouse click, allowing the player to interact with the interface buttons using the virtual cursor.
• The B button received the "Turn Around" function, which works exactly the same as before.
  When activating this function, the player will ask the girl to turn her back, allowing photos to be taken from new camera angles.

This was the screen with the most extensive description so far and, after the changes implemented, the mode that became more dynamic with the gamepad buttons.

It is much faster and more practical to press a button on your controller than to move the mouse to a certain point on the screen and click on the button.
These improvements can also be noticed when playing on the keyboard.

This resulted in more fluid and enjoyable gameplay.

Input Screen

The Input Screen was the second screen with the most significant changes, after the previous screen.

Instead of simply asking you to type text on your keyboard, or displaying Ren'py's virtual keyboard (which is not as responsive), the game will display a native Input screen, created especially for better responsiveness on the gamepad.

The cursor dynamically moves through the letters, allowing the player to quickly write the MC's name using the D-Pad or Analog Stick.

Shortcut buttons were also added for greater fluidity when writing the name, including:

• LT Button (Hold) to make all letters capital letters;
• Left Analog Stick (Press) to transition between keyboard types. (Go to symbols, back to letters, etc.);
• LB and RB Buttons to move the input cursor left and right.
  This allows the players to correct a letter that they may have mistyped without having to erase the entire name.
• Y Button to add a space.
• X Button to erase a letter.
• RT Button to done writing and proceed.
• A Button to perform the basic navigation function "Select".
  This allows the player to interact with the interface using the virtual cursor, if preferred.

Don't get me wrong, you can still type directly on your keyboard if you want, but this is now just an option and not mandatory.

This change is essential for anyone who is playing sitting on the living room's couch with just the gamepad in their hand, without a keyboard nearby to type the MC's name on the Input screen.

Results Screen

The Results screen is only displayed at the end of the game to give feedback to the player regarding their progress at the end of the game, encouraging them to revisit parts of the game to find what they ended up leaving behind.

This screen had the simplest implementations of all:

• Key footer displaying the A Button and the B Button doing the same basic function: Continue, used to pass this screen.

Phone Screen

The Phone screen had simple but functional changes, similar to the Quick Menu used during dialogues, but with its due differences.

The Quick Menu, when using the phone, has:

• Right Analog Stick to scroll the phone screen up and down.
• LB Button to roll back to the last dialog.
• RT Button to skip dialogs.
• A Button to advance dialog.

Although simple, these changes allow for more fluid gameplay with the gamepad in the parts where the player interact with the mobile.

Conclusion

Phew, I feel like I'm done writing a book of the Bible after I finish writing this post.
This was probably the biggest post I wrote this year and, perhaps, since the beginning of the project.

Believe it or not, implementing these changes was even more work than writing this post, but the result was worth it, as from now on all players will be able to enjoy the game with their respective gamepads.

Considering that this game was officially released on the Steam Deck, the native implementation of gamepad support also improves compatibility and responsiveness on the Valve console, so we have another important gain with all of this.

I hope you are looking forward to enjoying this game with your respective Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo controllers or on the Steam Deck itself.

Sorry for the gigantic post, but I had a lot to talk about today.
Until next time, folks.
Cheers! 🍻

Check out the Video Preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7AIpoqBICs

New Feature - Music Menu + Musical Revolution

What's up, guys!
A different but important update today: We have a new feature, Music Menu!
In addition, 19 songs by other composers received an original arrangement made exclusively for the game Living in a Brothel.
If that wasn't enough, 12 songs were also composed by our team exclusively for the game Living in a Brothel.
The headline was a bit long today, but we have a lot to talk about all at once, so let's get to it:

MUSIC MENU

In the current version of the game (v0.4.1), there is an achievement called "Radio Director," which is obtained after the player listens to all the songs in the game.

However, there is a problem: it is not possible to check how many songs have been listened to so far, except on the Results screen at the end of the game, nor is it possible to freely listen to songs that have already been unlocked, should the player like a song they heard during gameplay and want to listen to it again.

Because of this, we always felt the game should have a Music Mode, which would solve both problems: allowing the player to listen again to songs they liked and demonstrating progress towards the "Radio Director" achievement. However, we had never implemented this until now due to the high complexity and time required to create such a feature.

This time, in version 0.5.0, we finally decided to tackle this project, as we want to bring to reality what had been planned previously, but we never had the opportunity to do so.

Speaking a little about the Music Menu itself, it's like a Media Player commonly used in our operating systems.

It has the following functions:

• Pause / Play
• Next track
• Previous track
• 3 Loop Modes: No Loop / Repeat All / Repeat One
• Shuffle: Plays the playlist in a randomly defined order
• Advance 10 seconds
• Rewind 10 seconds
• Volume Slider
• You can click anywhere on the progress bar to jump to a specific part of the song.

In addition to the features mentioned, you can also see information about the currently playing music, such as:

• Song title
• Artist name
• Whether it's an original arrangement or an original song composed for the game's soundtrack
• Album/single cover art to which the song belongs

Although not shown in the video, it is also possible to temporarily change the music on the game's Title Screen, according to the music selected in the Music Menu.

You can see a demonstration of the Music Menu features in the video: 0:00 to 1:07.

MUSICAL REVOLUTION

In addition to the beauty and functionality of the Music Menu itself, we also decided to give the game's sound design the attention it deserves.
We decided to put more effort into the game's music, given the importance of good music in setting the right atmosphere for the scenes.

We chose to call this musical evolution "Musical Revolution" because it's the watershed moment for this project in terms of music.
We divided "Musical Revolution" into two topics: Original Arrangements and Original Soundtrack. Let's look at them:

Original Arrangements

Up to the current version (v0.4.1), we've used music composed by major royalty-free music producers, such as: Kevin Macleod, Bryan Teoh, Alexander Nakarada, and Rafael Krux.

Their music is of excellent quality, but because it's royalty-free, you've probably already heard it somewhere on the internet.

Because of this, we felt that the sound aspect of our game lacked a bit of originality, so we decided to create our own arrangements for these songs, in order to bring the spirit of our game to the soundtracks, while still maintaining the original concept of the composers.

We didn't create original arrangements for all the game's music; some tracks are of extremely high quality in their original state, just as the composer released them. But for some of these tracks, we felt that an original arrangement would be welcome, and we made our own version.

In total, 19 songs received original arrangements:

1. Acid Trumpet - Kevin Macleod
2. Bass Vibes - Kevin Macleod
3. Cool Blast - Kevin Macleod
4. Covert Affair - Kevin Macleod
5. Deuces - Kevin Macleod
6. Dirt Rhodes - Kevin Macleod
7. Disco Medusae - Kevin Macleod
8. Disco Con Tutti - Kevin Macleod
9. Eighties Action - Kevin Macleod
10. Fantasia Fantasia - Kevin Macleod
11. Finally See The Light - Bryan Teoh
12. Get Fabulous - Bryan Teoh
13. Loopster - Kevin Macleod
14. Overcast - Kevin Macleod
15. Secret of Tiki Island - Bryan Teoh & Kevin Macleod
16. Semi-Funk - Kevin Macleod
17. Shenzhen Nightlife - Kevin Macleod
18. Sidewalk Shade - Kevin Macleod
19. Slice of Life - Bryan Teoh

Before we are developers, we are gamers, and we are big fans of SEGA when it comes to the soundtracks in their games.

We took inspiration from the Persona series, due to its musical richness, and we believe that a good soundtrack composed of good musical genres increases the player's immersion during gameplay.

That's why we chose to use musical genres such as Funk (Soul), Blues, Jazz, Samba, Rock, Disco, and Electronic.

Original Soundtrack

If all these original arrangements weren't enough, we also decided to compose our own music exclusively for this game.

If what we were looking for was originality, there's nothing more original than creating your own compositions, right?

In the case of our songs, since we've never released them before, they don't have an album/single they belong to, so we also decided to create unique artwork for each song, simulating what their album cover art would look like.

Modesty aside, although the work of these authors is exceptional, we believe that we are in no way inferior in terms of quality when it comes to our own compositions. We believe we composed songs with personality to create the original soundtrack for the game.

In total, 12 original songs were composed exclusively for this game:

1. Bar's Rock and Roll - Mastur Bar
2. Big Crazy Guy - Mastur Bar
3. Dawn of a New Day - Mastur Bar
4. Feeling Blues - Mastur Bar
5. Funky Samba Blues - Mastur Bar
6. Here Comes the Shark - Mastur Bar
7. Lady Killer - Mastur Bar
8. Lost in the Wind - Mastur Bar
9. Night in the City - Mastur Bar
10. Samba Blues - Mastur Bar
11. Sentimental Blues - Mastur Bar
12. Vegas Night - Mastur Bar

You can hear a snippet of all the songs listed in this post, both the original arrangements and the original soundtrack, in the video attached to this post, from 1:07 to 29:03.

The timestamps for each song are also available in a YouTube comment on this video.

The post ended up being a bit long, but we really had a lot to show you this time.
We hope you enjoy the new feature and the music.
Be careful not to start dancing! 😉
That's all for today, folks!
Cheers! 🍻

Check out the Video Preview

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbPGfHkqlOc