Research Blog

Bunch of updates today:

r24 is released with Transformation Mods!  Create your own species to transform into, including the exact method of transforming into it.  Check out this wiki page to learn how to make your very own transformations.

New login system is also included in the r24 build.  Full details in the previous post, but the big feature is that android users will no longer need to type their password in each time they want to access save/load.

Giraffe TF is the first transformation mod, check it out here if you like giraffes or just want to see how to make a TF mod.

February 1 patrons have been processed and should now have access to the game.  A few people didn’t have their account linked, so check your Patreon inboxes for next steps.

The business model of the game has been updated as per the last couple posts.  BMT payment options have been updated along with Patreon reward tiers.  If you hadn’t seen those posts yet, please take a look for the details.

Thanks to everyone who filled out last week’s survey.  The majority of people polled thought it would be fair for the game to move to a monthly payment model instead of a fixed price, with the leading suggestion being $10.  So, I will be making this change at the end of the week after the Patreon pledges for Feb 1 go through.

I’m appreciative for everyone who supported this plan — as the base game content wraps up, I think this is the simplest and fairest way to support ongoing releases.  I think 10 is the right balance between making it accessible, but also being large enough to support the game as the game’s focus is extremely niche and only appeals to a small number of people.

As a reminder, this doesn’t change anything for people who already bought the game (or buys before Feb 1) — you’ll still have access to updates to the base game as always.  This is only affecting new purchasers, as well as people who want to get DLC later on.

After Patreon finishes the Feb 1 pledges, I’ll be changing the tiers as indicated in the previous blog to reflect the monthly system.  I’ll also be releasing the new private build at that point (so probably Thursday or Friday).

In addition to Transformation Mods, the new build will also have a new login system that can remember your login credentials between sessions — no more constantly typing your password for android players!  Since it’s all automated now, the login screen is now the start-up screen for private build players.  Ideally you won’t even notice this since your credentials are already stored.  If you’re offline, it shouldn’t break anything as long as you’ve previously played online sometime within the last month.  Hopefully this new system will make playing the game a lot more seamless, especially for mobile players.  When the game eventually switches off of Flash, this system will be useful for desktop players as well.

First – transformation mods are coming along well and should be available in a new release in the coming week or so. At least initially, it’ll require LUA coding to make new transformations, but maybe in the future there will be a WYSIWYG editor for it if there’s requests.

Second – there’s only a couple more chapters until the game’s storyline is complete and I can start in on some of the DLC chapter ideas people have suggested. This has gotten me thinking about how these DLC would be priced. As I started thinking more about having to manage a whole set of individual DLC packages, or come up with some sort of ‘Season Pass’ sort of thing, I came to conclusion it would be simpler to just offer everything (base game + dlc) as a monthly Patreon tier (and via BMT subscription also). Even now, I still get comments from people who assume that we’re already on a monthly business model since we have a Patreon.  So it seems simpler and fairer to just have one price and you get everything.

As for what that price point is… it’s TBD and I’m taking input. Please check out the survey and feel free to leave longform comments here also. I’m leaning to $10/month for this, although I think there are compelling arguments for both $5 and $15 as price points, too (I do want it to be accessible to everyone, but I also know that the game’s focus is extremely niche and only appeals to a small number of people. So in order to be able to spend more time on making game updates, a higher price point than average would be necessary).

If this change happens, there’d be no effect to existing purchasers or anyone in the upcoming Patreon cycle for Feb 1 — you would still have access to updates to the base game as always. This is affecting new purchasers, as well as people who want to get DLC whenever that happens.

Also, I’m thinking of removing the custom clothing + cameo tiers from Patreon. Now that modding is available, they’re a bit redundant since you can do it yourself for free.

Your feedback in the survey link above and in the comments below is welcome!

PS – Happy New Year~

r23 broke loading certain saves from r22.01.  At least two cases of this is now fixed in r23.01.  If you can’t load a save file in r23.01 from r22.01, please let me know by posting here or on discord with your account name and save slot number.