November Update + An Insight into Research Trees

If you haven't already seen the news over on our Patreon page, the writing and coding has been completed for the v0.3.0 update! At this point we are waiting on art and translations to come in. I anticipate a 2024 release of v0.3.0 at this time unless the team really goes hard over the holidays. The update will cover up until Day 9. That means the final update (v0.4.0 or v1.0) will handle Day 9 through Night 14. That will definitely take some time, so I'm pretty confident in saying Q4 2024 (or more) for that. Of course, there's always a chance things get released early!

The next thing I want to talk about is how the Research Trees work in the game. Don't worry about spoilers - I'll keep things high level enough while reducing some of the confusion I've seen about how Research works. For starters, refer to this graphic:

For every tree except the Missing Persons tree, the process is simple: First, you get an initial research dialogue that plays whenever you research a tree for the first time. Then you get the interim dialogue until you acquire enough points in that tree to surpass a threshold. At that point the threshold dialogue plays, and you start working towards the next threshold. Once you max out your points, you get one final bit of dialogue and the tree removes itself from future research opportunities so you don't waste any points.

The Missing Persons tree works differently. It starts the same with the initial research dialogue, but there's also a first threshold you have to reach before you can trigger any revelations about a girl's past life. Each girl has a "flag" that represents you discovering a secret about them in the course of play. These secrets can be the result of choices or even odd throwaway lines that you might not think much on at the time. If you have the appropriate secret for a girl, their flag is set. So long as you have both their flag and the requisite threshold of points for them, you get to find out their past life.

Unlike the other trees, the Missing Persons tree remains available even after the points have been filled up. This allows you to revisit the tree when you discover something new or to see if you've missed anything. Points are lost, however, so be careful! I should also say that some of the girls might require you to also dip into other research trees to reach their threshold in the Missing Persons one.

Complicated, ain't it? But that what makes it fun to play and code!