Hey there! I hope you're having a great day.

I've been working hard on the next update and the release shouldn't be too far off. In the meantime, I want to keep you in the loop by discussing some of the changes coming in version 0.1.5 and the reasoning behind them.

This update is a big step toward making your characters' lives feel like they continue even when you're not interacting with them. But this raises an important design question: how do you keep players informed about what's happening in the background without overwhelming them with information?

We've had Event Popups since version 0.0.5. They work well for local events that give players the opportunity to react, but having too many could quickly become annoying. Imagine getting 20 popups about things like "Alexia is feeling lonely" or "Dave is struggling to complete his daily tasks with his hands tied".

With that in mind, I decided to keep Event Popups focused on things that need your immediate attention, like opportunities for the player to act and major world events.

The solution I settled on is a notification system. It's a tried-and-tested way to keep someone informed about events without interrupting their gameplay, just like notifications on your phone.

Notifications will be separated by importance, allowing players to choose what they want to see. They can focus only on events with a direct gameplay impact or also read flavor text for extra context and immersion.

Adding notifications was essential to making BDSM devices and bondage affect your characters in the background, which will be an important part of the game.

Another major benefit of notifications is that they'll make it easier to keep track of your submissives working as prostitutes. Previously, you'd have to visit the city and check the log to see what was happening. This made it easy to lose track of your submissives while they were out earning money for you.

On a different topic, I've been wanting characters to have a more visible presence throughout the game, rather than appearing only in scenes and during interactions. I think this would help players feel more connected to their avatar and the other characters in their entourage.

I won't be able to implement everything I have in mind, but one change I'm making this update is displaying your character model in the Location window. I hope this helps you feel more connected to your character and the world around them. More changes like this are planned for future updates.

I hope you found this devlog interesting. I'd love to hear your thoughts on these changes, as well as any other aspect of the project. Your feedback is always welcome.

Thank you for your interest in the game and I hope you're looking forward to the next release!
Orane