Dev Update! 10/20/26

Hey, hey friends! Hope all’s well with you and yours, this week! Let’s get into it!

Progress on Ch16 continues, but I don’t have a lot to say about it. I’m still rendering, but pretty soon I’ll need to stop and start working on code for the (overdue) demo for Close Friends. I’m also looking at shuffling a little bit of the story around, to create a gap for some Viola and Molly maid content. But that’s not set in stone, yet.

Since I don’t have anything very interesting to talk about vis a vis Ch16, I wanted to toss out an idea I’ve been kicking around for a while: dates! One thing about Friends Indeed/Friends in Need is that it tends to be very narrative-driven. I’ve always written it a bit like a comic book or a TV show, where there’s an A-plot and a B-plot; or many B-plots. And romance, relationship-building, etc. tend to be kind of incidental to the plots going on.
Like, you might go on a stakeout with Risa, looking for information on Lucien.. But the narrative thrust is really about Lucien and Risa’s relationship to that plot, rather than your relationship with Risa. But, I’ve been getting some feedback concerning how people would like to really feel the developing romantic relationships with certain characters – particularly ones that you’re able to date. And the story is ultimately kind of a relationship simulator.

So, I’ve been mulling over this idea that would allow the player to go on dates, with said dates basically functioning as mini-games. I’m imagining something where you could arrange a date, pick a location, pick an activity, and have a variety of dialogue options, with your choices ultimately affecting how a love interest feels about you.

Maybe you’d tell Nicki you wanted to take her somewhere fancy, causing her to show up in a nice dress.. only to take her to Chesty Cheetahs for dinner, causing her to get annoyed with you. But, based on your relationship with her, maybe you could save the evening! Or maybe you’re planning a park date, and Ashe is into it while Gabby very much isn’t.

I’m also imagining these as being kiiiinda image-light, and being carried by the dialogue. If anyone ever played the old Lesson of Passion games, picture something a bit like that. I think I’d need to experiment with the idea to see how I like it, but I’ve been mulling it for a few weeks now, and it seems like it’d address one of the most common complaints I receive: there’s not enough one-on-one time with the love interests. Let me know what you think!

Finally, I’m a little behind on my Monster Girltober stuff, but I’ll be uploading the new one today.

Alright, that’s it for today! As always, take care of yourselves, and thank you for your support!