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Hi guys, v5.5 is out now for $5 patrons!
But please note that v5.5 is just a functional update before the major update v6 which will come next month. The reason we make v5.5 is that we want to separate the functional updates from the story updates. In our previous regular 2-month update cycles, we would work on both functional and story stuff simultaneously, and implement them together into the game at the end of the cycle, leaving a small window for debugging. However, that schedule has proven problematic. We realized that it was hard to predict how many bugs a functional change could produce. Sometimes that ‘window for debugging’ was just not enough and eventually we had to delay the release.
Therefore, we think it might be better if we just shift the debugging phase from the end of each update cycle to the mid-point. In this way we could have more time and a more relaxed demeanor to deal with any bugs, no need to worry about delaying the release date of a major update anymore.
So we decided to use the first half of the update cycle to do the functional update and focus only on creating new plots, which is more unlikely to create bugs, in the second half. But I have to say it was just a theory. I am not really sure if this new schedule will make things better or not. We will find it out next month, at the end of the v5-v6 update cycle.
Anyway, again, this v5.5 update is not a major update. It is more like a ‘playable mid-update report’ or a test version for the new functional stuff that will be in v6. If you don’t have time for this, please feel free to ignore this update and wait for v6. If you are willing to help us test it, we cannot thank you enough.
Now, let’s take a look at what’s new in this update:
- Remade the city map
Honestly, for us, making the city map has been the MOST difficult part of developing PHOENIXES so far. It was something we had never explored before and it didn’t really relate to any of our existing skills. We could write stories and codes, render pictures, draw anime girls, and even compose music. But designing a city map? That’s just something else. We tried a lot of ways, and eventually we decided to program a simple city generator and create a city map with it.
This picture, which you have seen since the first version of the game, was the work of our generator. It pretty much did its job, which was to 'at least look like a city'. However I have to admit that it looks rather crude and unappealing from an aesthetic perspective.
Furthermore, there was another huge thing we don’t like about this picture: half of the picture is sky, mountains, and water, which are ‘unusable.’ Only the narrow area in the middle can be used to place locations, which seriously limits the possibilities of the story.
We’ve been wanting to make a new map for a long time, and we’ve been learning new techniques for map-making in our spare time. Thanks to the recent technology revolution, it’s much easier to make a map now than it was a year ago.
This new map still has many areas that are worth optimizing. We will continue to improve it and the UI in the next few updates.
- Reworked more than 300 images
Although the first version of PHOENIXES was released a year ago, we actually started working on it one year prior to that. Many of the images in v0.1 were created two years ago. However, back then I had almost no experience in using HS2 for artwork. The lighting was a disaster, and the appearance of the characters in the images also couldn’t compare to their current versions after two years of continuous improvements. Therefore I think it is necessary to rework those poorly executed images now, with better light, color, and modeling.
The animated scenes in Heather’s first sex scene (during the Alnilam crisis) got reworked too.
- Other improvements
For patron rewards:
- Reworked the $5 wallpaper: Good new days. Added Sorring in the picture.
- You can now choose your wallpapers to display randomly every time you enter your room.
For Android version:
- Now it will be much easier to swipe up and down the gallery menu and the load menu.
- Better loading speed.
- Greatly reduced the size of the Android version.
For Mac version:
- Enhanced the graphic quality.
For the story:
- Rewrote some texts and added a few pictures to foreshadow the new plots in the upcoming major update.
Error fix:
- Now when entering the club, you will be correctly directed to the club’s main interface instead of the club upgrades screen.