Progress Report #142 - April 2025

Hey lads!

Sorry for the late devlog. Things have really piled up and overlapped lately, so I haven’t had much time to work in May, let alone write a devlog. The kids have been kicking my ass lately. Imagine one falling asleep earlier than usual, only to wake up at 3 a.m. ready to start the day... Or like today, when I was just about to upload this devlog and one of them fell down and cut her head badly, so we had to rush to the hospital for stitches (sleepless nights incoming). Stuff like that. If it weren’t for my mom and brothers constantly helping out, working would be a complete nightmare. Really looking forward to the day they finally start kindergarten T_T

As usual, sneakpeak videos are uploaded to Pixeldrain.

One of the main reasons for the delay is that I’ve been trying to find a new background artist while also switching to an isometric view at the same time. And oh boy... I won’t go into the full story of hiring a new artist just yet, as I’m still in the middle of it, but so far, it's taken me dozens of hours, and I’ll probably need another week to sort it all out.

Unfortunately, my current background artist no longer has time for the project, so even finishing up the merged backgrounds would’ve been a challenge. On top of that, there’s still UI, mini-games, and other tasks to take care of, and I can’t let background art bottleneck the whole development. I’m not sure yet how work on the UI and mini-games will go, but background art is now out of the picture. Over time, I had slowly been leaning toward switching to an isometric view, and with the artist situation, it made sense to make the change now. So, I’ve officially decided that Unaware in The City 2: Revisited will use an isometric perspective. It won’t be the typical 60°/45° angle most isometric views use, but I’ll share more details once we’re further along.

Some good news - the loan I took out a year ago to help fund UiTC2:R is fully paid off! That’s one major stress off my shoulders, and I’m finally free. Huge thanks to everyone who supported me and made this possible!

I’ve also been thinking about a better way to thank my patrons on Patreon & SubscribeStar. You know, anyone can buy the game with a one-time payment and keep it forever, yet here you are - supporting me month after month, and you’re the reason UiTC and even UiTC2:R can exist today. So once again, thank you all so much!

Later this year, I’ll be adding a Google Form for patrons to (optionally) fill out. And from the responses, I’ll include a chance for random NPCs to spawn using that data in the game, available to all players. In the future, I’m also adding a feature to save NPCs' phone numbers as a way to "keep" them. Patrons in lower tiers will be able to submit a random name and surname for NPCs, while patrons in higher tiers will be able to fully customize their NPC, making it semi-unique.

Aaand... got rejected by Valve again, so still no Steam page for the upcoming UiTC2:R game. I’ll try submitting it again in June.

On a lighter note, I recently discovered that watching my kids play (nothing destructive, just simple stuff like stacking blocks) actually calms me down. It’s oddly soothing, almost peaceful enough to make me doze off in a chair. That is, until they suddenly throw a tantrum and unleash absolute mayhem because a block didn’t fit or a toy kept falling on uneven ground... Sigh...

First off, as promised, v44 for UiTC will still be released in May. I’ll be starting work on it soon. I already have a list of things I’d like to tackle for the old UiTC, but I’m not exactly sure what will make it in yet. I’ll just go with the flow and see how it turns out - but rest assured, it will be a proper update, not some half-assed crap.

I originally wanted to start rolling out monthly Patreon updates and begin adding content already, but we’re still kind of stuck in the design and core development phase. No worries though, as October’s demo will include actual content. We just need a bit more time before it’s ready to show up in the tech demo, because adding features to the game is time consuming, and getting them scrapped later on is an ultimate waste of time.

Even though I’ve hired a writer and animator to help out (and they’re doing a great job, trust me), I’m still the one handling most of the planning, designing, brainstorming, team coordination, testing, and implementation - and that’s a ton of work. So, for example, if I spend an entire month on the UI, that’s a month without new content or features being added.

You know how when someone says, "open-world RPG with meaningful choices and a lot of freedom", your imagination runs wild with possibilities? Well, there has to be a line drawn somewhere. And I’m not just talking about how long it would take to develop every single idea, but about finding that sweet spot - where the gameplay is enjoyable and the development stays manageable, not overwhelming.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this a lot (and still am), because I’m trying to define the game’s identity, its gameplay loop, flow, and core mechanics. Take the idea of "multiple choices" for example - what does that even really mean? A pop-up window at every corner prompting you to make a decision? Probably not, as that would get annoying fast. Then there’s the idea of quests and events offering multiple paths to completion. But what does "multiple" really mean? Just two choices, like good or bad? That sounds dull. What if there were 5 or more options? Most players probably wouldn’t even bother to explore them all. A fixed number of choices, like always having 4? We’ve all seen how it worked in BioWare games. So, for quest and event choices, the answer is: it depends. Sometimes there will be just 2 meaningful choices, and other times there might be 4 with minor impact. But then again - what’s "minor impact"? Earning $5? $50? And what’s high impact? $500? Would getting that much cash from a single event break the game’s balance? And this kind of questioning applies to every little feature. Ideally, I want to figure this stuff out early, but in some cases, I won’t know what works without thorough testing. So yes, there’s a chance some features might get scrapped, especially after the initial demo in October. But my main focus right now is to avoid that. I’m putting a lot of thought into every detail, experimenting, building drafts, trying to lay down solid groundwork so we don’t have to redo half the game later because of poor early decisions. I can’t afford to screw this up.

I’ve prepared a lot of Word & Excel docs since the project started, covering all kinds of systems and ideas. Now it’s time to weave them into the actual game, designing how stats and skills are used, how systems interact with the story and the world, and making sure everything fits together logically. Basically, I’m trying to hit that golden balance in every part of the game, so everything feels just right or, to quote a classic: "It just works".

With that in mind, I’ve decided to postpone the next tech demo from May to June. I want to spend more time refining the core systems rather than jumping into adding content too early. That said, I do still plan for the June update to begin introducing some actual content (hopefully), because I believe that by then we’ll have a solid enough foundation to build on, even if a lot of things are still missing.

Of course, new features will continue to be added over time, and there’s still a ton of work left, but we’ll focus on rolling out features one by one, alongside content that uses them. For example, when the Stealing Mini-Game is added, it’ll come with some related in-game content. Same goes for the Seduction and Burglary Mini-Games. That way, you won’t be left with placeholder features sitting idle in the game for months, teasing you with hype but offering nothing to actually do.

After thinking it all through, my main focus for the October demo will be the Diner and Jane’s Home, as I want to flesh those areas out properly. Meanwhile, the rest of the team will keep working on their parts, since they’ll definitely finish their tasks faster than I will. I don’t want them stuck waiting for me to catch up.

There’s still a lot left on my plate: I need to finish the trade system, while inventory and wardrobe systems haven’t even been touched yet. The effects for Traits & Perks still need to be scripted. Many systems are missing proper UI. Features like pickpocketing, lockpicking, burglary, world loot, seduction, exhibitionism, and more are also waiting to be completed. The Crime & Law system is another big one. All of these have already been designed and conceptualized (I know how I want them to work) but most of them are still untouched, and likely will remain that way for the rest of the year.

Yeah... it’s pretty clear I’m not going to design and code a big, feature-rich open-world game in just one year.

And I’m slowly starting to feel the stress of just how much work is still left to do. Between managing real-life responsibilities (my disability & the kids), coordinating with multiple freelancers, keeping up with social media, writing devlogs like this one, delivering on promised UiTC v44 and v45 updates, and handling all my core responsibilities (design, programming, bug testing, quality control, etc.), it’s starting to feel overwhelming. Honestly, at this point, I don’t even have the energy to look at the old UiTC anymore, but I made a promise, and I’m going to keep it no matter what. I’ll release 2 more updates for the original UiTC and then shift my focus fully to the UiTC2:R demo for Steam Next Fest in October, while still bug fixing UiTC and adding minor stuff. Somehow. Even working 7 days a week doesn’t feel like enough...

Well, people often tell me I’m doing a lot, and they point to these devlogs and sneakpeaks as proof. They compare it to other projects that rake in more revenue despite having little to no content after years. And sure, when you look at it like that, they’re right. But remember, none of those projects are trying to build a large, open-world RPG with meaningful freedom and player choice. I could easily split this game into multiple smaller games and sell each one at a similar price. But that’s not what I want. I want to create one big, good game - something that stands out from the rest of the NSFW crowd. Not just another chikan simulator, waitress game, or massage parlor clone... But something more ambitious, deeper, and worth your time.

Also with so many choices, character builds, and ways to play, there might be people wondering - "What’s the best way to play? Why choose X over Y?" - Well, it’s not about how you should play, but about how you want to play (though I won’t stop the min-maxers). Working at the diner will never earn you more than prostitution, but this isn’t a game about being a prostitute or making money - it’s about a girl living in the big city, and I’m leaving her in your hand(s).

Most of the work in April was the less exciting kind - improving the codebase, creating drafts, testing concepts, and polishing existing features based on feedback from the last tech demo. There were also a bunch of bug fixes, so this devlog might not be as juicy as I’d hoped. But here we go.

We created a few simple events for Albert & Kevin, but if we’re switching to an isometric view, those will have to be put on hold. That’s because the change in perspective would affect pathing and parts of the game logic, meaning we’d need to redo those events for the new setup. So no new scenes will be added until the isometric versions of those locations are ready.

Also, I’m the kind of person who quickly loses interest in a game or movie when it’s spoiled too much, so I won’t be diving too deeply into event details, quests, or storyline elements in these devlogs.

There are features I’ve started but haven’t finished yet, like the Buff system, which I’ve rewritten from scratch and renamed to the Effects system. Both Jane and NPCs will be affected by temporary or permanent effects. For example, brushing teeth, taking a shower, or doing makeup will give Jane a Charming effect, increasing her Charm stat by X for Y minutes. These effects can stack with others. Performing Seduction on an NPC will apply a Seduced effect to them. Random environmental conditions (like cold temperatures) can trigger a Cold effect for Jane, and so on.

I’ve finished scripting the core logic for the Desire System, but there’s no UI yet to showcase it, so here’s a breakdown of how it works. There will be Desires/Whims/Wants (positive) and Fears (negative), categorized as either minor or major. Minor ones are simple, like "eat at Kevin’s Diner" or "perform oral sex". Major ones are longer-term and more rewarding, like "buy a car", "lose virginity", or "get pregnant".

These are based on a weighted system, so you won’t get food-related desires if Jane isn’t hungry, or sexual ones if she lacks experience or Lust. Desires and fears are also grouped into families to avoid getting, say, 3 food-related whims at once. However, traits can affect this. For instance, a Gluttonous trait may roll multiple food-related desires, and a highly corrupted Jane may have exclusively sex-related whims.

You’ll be able to lock certain desires to prevent them from rerolling until fulfilled, or force others to reroll. The number of active desires and fears depends on Jane’s backstory, traits, and even the difficulty settings. Fulfilling desires grants Perk Experience and improves Mood, while fulfilling fears reduces them instead. I’m still considering additional rewards and penalties to give this system more weight.

Some things are still undecided, like exactly when new desires should roll. Should it be daily? When Jane sleeps? Or maybe there should be an optional way to refresh them manually? Also, should a new desire appear immediately after one is fulfilled? I’ll figure those details out as development continues.

In the original UiTC, dialogue choices were mostly locked behind a specific amount of Lewdness (LW). You either had enough LW and could select the option - or you didn’t. In UiTC2:R, I introduced Skill Checks, so choices will be locked behind a combined sum of various skills and stats. For example, agreeing to prostitution won’t just require 50 LW anymore. Instead, it might depend on a mix of Corruption (the renamed LW stat), Lust, and Jane’s financial situation (being in need of money). So being super horny and mildly corrupted might be enough for a handjob in UiTC2:R, but impossible in old UiTC, etc.

I've set up Skill Checks for various things, and they are already in the game working, like NPC groping chance. I'm trying to make it all more natural and logical, with multiple factors involved to improve the overall flow. For example, Main Street has -25% base grope chance, meaning that if base chance from all calculations won't reach at least 25%, then groping will never happen, making Main Street relatively safe location. Unless Thug with high Libido & Lust spawns, which would be really rare, but of course possible. Making some NSFW content not locked behind Jane's Corruption as it used to be, and also not forcing it upon her, allowing her to avoid it altogether. But let her put some make up, use perfumes and wear mini skirt, and the situation will change. I will need to balance the numbers across the development and make sure that some stuff isn't too hard or too easy to trigger.

Another major addition in UiTC2:R is the introduction of dialogue choices that can fail, leading to different outcomes and consequences. Success or failure will depend on various factors, with an option for players to intentionally fail them if they choose.

There will be 2 types of Skill Checks in UiTC2:R - static and dynamic (still a placeholder name). Static checks have only one outcome and require you to meet the full requirement to trigger them. Dynamic checks have 2 possible outcomes (success or failure) and are resolved either via a random roll or a mini-game, depending on the player’s current skill level.

So, if you see something like [0/25] Skill Check, in a static case it means it’s impossible to trigger and button will be red. In a dynamic case, it just means you have a high chance of failure (but not zero), and you will see some additional buttons.

Another twist is inverted requirements, meaning Jane needs to have a skill below a certain level to pass a skill check. This will be used in scenarios where she can't refuse, like in the Slut backstory from UiTC, where she couldn’t say no to certain sex events. For example, if her Corruption and Lust are too high, she might a have hard time declining sexual advances, so in such cases the skill check would be about trying to avoid the scene instead.

There are 3 mini-game types, each color-coded for easy recognition. They all follow a similar core mechanic: pressing the correct arrow keys (WASD and mouse clicks are also supported). I haven’t yet decided whether the mini-games will be chosen randomly, selectable by the player, or tied to specific skill checks (e.g., using the Red Match Mini-Game for lying). That’ll get sorted as development progresses.

All 3 mini-games are already implemented and fully integrated into the dialogue tool, but I still need to create the data for the skill check database. I won’t be touching the UI or balancing until I’m confident these mini-games are staying in the game. In the future, I plan to add special abilities that make them easier, like: A second chance on failure. Allowing a few mistakes. Reducing the number of keys (from 4 to 2), etc. etc. The goal is to make them engaging, not frustrating.

I’ve experimented with various other mini-game types, but decided to stick with these 3 for now. For example, I tried a memory-based version of the Red Match game, where the arrows disappeared after a few seconds, and you had to recall the order from memory. But that one turned out to be exhausting, especially on higher difficulties.

You can choose whether to play the arrow mini-game or make a random roll based on your stats and difficulty settings, giving you a success chance between 0-100%. This could make some events either impossible to fail or impossible to pass. But it’s your choice: rely on skill or leave it to RNG.

There’s no perfect way to balance skill-based vs RNG-based gameplay, so each approach will feel very different. Like, would you rather have a 1% chance of success or need to rapidly hit 20 arrow keys? Which one do you think is more realistic to succeed?

They’re not properly balanced yet, so don’t judge the difficulty based on what you see on the video. And remember - they’re completely optional!

Here, proudly, I wanted to present to you the working chat bubble feature, which really shines during Kevin's groping mini-game (but also during a seduction mini-game and a few other places), where you can see Kevin's comments and Jane's reactions based on where he touches her and how much lewder the whole situation gets over time. I couldn't make chat bubbles work as intended for the April demo, and damn, what a pain it was. It worked fine on single characters, because the real problems started when I had to display them correctly over characters' heads during 2P animations... Really, you have no idea how much of a headache this gave me, but I finally did it. Basically, all the floating text, chat bubbles, etc., are part of the UI - your camera, your screen - and not part of the game objects like characters. However, all the text data is still stored on the characters. So the text doesn't actually follow the characters, but fakes it, and is also resolved on a different frame than the characters' scripts or animations. What's more, all 2P animations are actually done as part of one character (yeah, I'm copying all the data from the NPC, disabling it, and pasting it onto the player character). Then there's Spine not having a real bone structure in Unity. Or making sure that it's positioned above the character's head, but doesn't move along with them to prevent the text from shaking. Or making the NPC open their mouth... And so on, and so on... Add on top of that my "love" for doing UI... So yeah, that's my little victory - finally making it work as intended :P

I've started working on the Seduction Mini-Game. For now, I’ve completed the initial design and logic, added chat bubbles based on actions, and implemented small details like NPCs temporarily stopping or returning to their responsibilities afterward. Anyway, since it’s not finished yet, I’ll keep it brief. Since this is an NSFW game, I want seduction to play a key role - similar to how Speech works in traditional RPGs. It should be usable in various scenes and accessible to most character builds (although characters with no sex knowledge or corruption won’t be able to use it). A lot of events, dialogues, mini-games, and pricing will be influenced by the NPCs’ Disposition stat. The goal of Seduction is to temporarily increase that stat. But since the game emphasizes meaningful choices, seduction won't be a no-brainer, so you can naturally fail or even overdo it. Failing a seduction attempt will lower the NPC’s Disposition and make them angry. Succeeding will give you what you want - a higher Disposition. However, overdoing it can make the NPC aroused, gropy, or more. I'm also planning some traits/perks to make "over-seducing" more rewarding for certain playstyles, or to allow flirting alone to accomplish goals, but more on that later. Mechanically, Seduction will work similarly to the Prostitution & Masturbation mini-games, where you have a limited number of actions to seduce the NPC. The effectiveness of each action will depend on both Jane’s and the NPC’s stats.

Not much to say here, but the final view (from the back) is currently in development and should be completed for both & and male characters in the coming months. Even though we don’t need to include faces in this view, we still have to set up all the bones, customization options, clothing, and more, so it’s a lot of work. But once it’s done, we can finally begin adding new clothes, faces, and all kinds of animations.

Each shirt & pair of pants (with plans to include skirts & panties as well) will have a pulled-up/down variant. They’ll also be partially animated. For now, only shirts have this implemented. These can be used for exhibitionism, sex scenes, or simply as part of a clothing change animation. It’s quite a bit of extra work, but I believe it fits the game really well.

I'm adding more world interaction and usable environment features, like doing laundry in a washing machine, watching TV, or simply sitting in a chair and chilling. I'm not a fan of entirely "pointless" features, so doing laundry will give you a charm/cleanliness buff, and sitting to pass the time will slightly improve Jane’s well-being. It’s not about forcing the player to "find a chair if you want to pass the time", as you can still do it via the phone, just like in UiTC. But if we have multiple ways to pass time, why not make them a little distinct? It’s not a game-changer, but these small details add a nice touch to the game (like being able to pet animals in other games). Nobody will force you to brush your teeth every day, but if you do, it would be nice to get a little reward for it.

With more interaction, it’s also worth mentioning the upcoming random world loot system. I haven’t really started working on it yet, since I’m waiting for the isometric view to be added. But Jane can already dive into trash bins for loot, and with the burglary feature coming, I plan to expand the looting system with more options, like searchable wardrobes, cardboard boxes, or even picking up randomly spawned litter from the ground. Looting outdoors will count as scavenging and lower Fame if caught (stealth-based), while indoor looting will be considered stealing and tie into the Law & Crime system.

I still need to flesh out the overall design - container respawn times (daily? weekly?), loot chance and amount (frequent but low-quality, or rare and valuable?), whether all containers will be searchable or only those with loot, whether Luck only affects loot chance or also its quality, and so on.

I also created a simple home/furniture upgrade feature. It's just a bonus - an optional, passive boost to the general game loop and a way to sink some money, also used in certain events. You’re going to shower or sleep anyway, so why not make those actions a bit more rewarding? I’m still undecided on whether upgrades will come with visual changes (e.g. new bed pillow art). Each upgrade shares some bonuses with others, but also adds its own unique benefit. For example, a better pillow improves mood after sleeping, while a better mattress improves health instead, but both improve the Well-Rested buff. So far, I’ve added simple upgrades for the bed, shower, fridge, and doors.

In the old UiTC, settings were bound to the player character, meaning they were inaccessible before the player was spawned (like from the main menu). Learning from my past mistakes, I'm now splitting settings into groups, like quality or audio, adding sliders everywhere, and using a dedicated text window instead of tooltips, which should work better on Android & Steam Deck. All game settings are already connected to their corresponding variables and functions, so things like volume, FPS limit, etc., are functional, but not all features are finished yet, like pregnancy. Yeah, I still need to work on the overall UI layout, but for now, I just want to get everything working. It's still a very early test and missing many settings, as it's far from finished.

Thanks a lot for reading!

As a reminder - sneakpeak videos are uploaded to Pixeldrain.

Cheers!