Course of Temptation Dev Diary #135 (Patreon)

Greetings! Hope you're doing well.

We are currently on version 0.8.3j, with another couple of bugfix updates this week! Unless anything dire comes up, that'll probably do it for this month until the next content update.

This week I completed the system for gaining new roommates. The entire process is basically this:

Advertise on Elkbook if you a) are renting a unit that has at least one spare room available, or b) you have not rented an apartment or a suite and therefore you might in the future.

Set your criteria for new roommates (as shown in last week's dev diary).

Wait for NPCs to respond. Using the background simulation system, they'll evaluate whether they want to move in with you based on their own criteria and potentially decide to contact you.

As responses come in, you can accept or reject them outright, or decide to meet them for a "vibe check."

The interview / vibe check will let you get a look at the NPC and give you a hint of their attitude towards you to begin with. For example, if they take an instant dislike to you or immediately find you attractive, you can probably tell. At the end, you can accept or reject them.

If you've already rented the unit, accepted applicants move in immediately. Otherwise...

When you rent a unit at the location you were advertising for, accepted roommates move in immediately for as long as there's room for them, and they also pay a share of the initial cost.

With that done, I'm now in the midst of writing more roommate-related events! So, I was struggling a little with brainstorming sexy roommate events to add to the general set, but the events I kept thinking of didn't really work well as generic roommate behavior. Then I suddenly remembered how my game is structured and realized generic events were the wrong approach, and that what I was imagining would work better as a specific dynamic the PC builds with a specific person.

So, this event set starts off with a platonic roommate and/or friend who has some trouble containing themselves at times, and if you engage with it, it can develop into a sort of friends-with-benefits, sexual-relationship-of-convenience sort of thing. Or if you'd prefer to cut it off, that's fine too; it'll abort the storyline and remove the NPC from having a storyline role (though they can remain your roommate or friend).

I also still want to expand the roommate and housing events more generally, and I will, but I wanted to get these ideas written first and make sure this update contains a good bit of new erotic content. It's fairly permissive with the NPC that might get picked for it, as long as the initial relationship is platonic yet with some attraction, so most PCs are able to experience it if they wish, particularly with the new ability to get strangers as roommates.

Once these events are more fleshed out, I'll want to start moving away from the roommate/housing stuff for now and do some work on the other well-performing items in the most recent development focus poll. This update will still be pretty housing-heavy, but next month will be some different stuff.

As always, I don't want to share too much about the new event set so that you can experience it on your own. My task for the moment is just a lot of writing!

And that's all for now! Thank you for reading, and, as always, I'm incredibly grateful for your support. Have a good weekend, and you'll hear from me again next Friday!