Hey everyone, it's Blaboole! Excited to share another devlog with you all today.

First off, glad to be back! We took time to celebrate the holidays and we hope yours were great too. I personally want to say a big thank you to Rome, our project lead, for her outstanding effort this update--she did a ton of the Chapter 4 script coding this update! That's right, she's getting into some coding too now: art, writing, and now code... triple threat alert! Way to go Rome :]

Now, on to the juicy parts. Remember this update will be available immediately for our supporters on Patreon, and available for free for everyone when the next update is released.

What's New in Chapter 4?

This update is without a doubt the most excited I've been to share with you all!! Don't let the minor version bump fool you: This is the biggest update we've had yet! New chapter means new content and characters, but we also spent a lot of time pushing what we could do with renpy and building some unique experiences I haven't seen anything like in other VNs. Not to mention some of the behind-the-scenes updates, like how we revamped our image system to scale better as we continue the VN. I have never wanted to spoil everything as badly as I do now...

Full Changelog (1.2.0 -> 1.3.0)

• Overhauled the main menu screen with clearer art and characters shown as you meet them!
  • With more defined buttons and larger sizes on mobile, we think this might also be better for accessibility.
    
  • Also touched up the game menu screens just a bit.
• Changed our images to use layeredimages instead of just plain exported sprites.
  • Better for us to develop, and because of this change, despite the increased number of character images from the new update, the file size is much smaller. Good for your bandwidth!
• Completed some template background images from the chapter 3 release.
• Added all the content for Chapter 4 of the story.
• Redesigned a certain character's images--you'll see who (mmm... beefier~)
• Created a phone system to receive messages from characters in-game. How you respond to people's texts can be just as important as how you respond to them in person!
• Implemented the auto-highlight system  by Wattson. Shoutout to Wattson for making such a great library public!!
• Added a fun interactive minigame near the end of the chapter. New ground, we hope you like it!
• Built with Ren'py 7.4.11 (was 7.4.10)

We're also bidding a fond farewell to one of our coders, Jacket, with this update. The first programmer to join the team, I don't think this VN would have been possible without his efforts. Thanks a TON Jacket and good luck with your future endeavors!

Thank you!

P.S. Would anyone like to see a devlog about some of the more complicated features this update? If it'd help or interest you I'd be glad to talk about the phone system or the essay minigame. Let us know in the comments.