Hello employees! Welcome to patch version 0.4.5! Our focus for this build is based on the massive amount of feedback our team received after our launch on Steam’s Early Access platform. So let’s jump into it! [h2]A Gallery for Smut[/h2] By far the biggest critical piece of feedback we received was on the missing gallery system for viewing unlocked reward scenes. Those of you with already unlocked scenes will have them ready to access the moment you boot up the new patch. The Gallery right now can only be accessed from the Main Menu of Under Contract, however, it will pull from all four save files to find which scenes have been unlocked. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42283054/c0f29f7d7ef4b988c118a1218f281f6ff5e52fe4.png[/img] This system actually took a bit of time to nail down, and we consider this our first iteration of the mechanic. Later we would like to have an individual save Gallery as well that will be accessible from the overworld map, and a degree of filtering on the scenes you have available. [h2]Visibility Improvements[/h2] The next upgrade is to the main cutscene system. Pressing the “H” key will now hide the UI during all cutscenes making it possible to view the full background or animation without anything being covered. Hitting any other button will bring the UI back. This key can also be rebound in the options menu if you’d like to use something else. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42283054/863ec0b217274c6b93dda010924d17f98e65f6cb.png[/img] [h2]Unlock Notifications[/h2] Finally, the last major improvement that compliments the new Gallery system is the notifications on unlock. If you unlock lewd reward scenes or quest items the game will now notify you of something new being available. This should help players understand the mechanics a little easier. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/42283054/ac8e8c2f2b7cae66429a4412d3095ca5893b4646.png[/img] [h2]Future Content and Patches[/h2] The first few content patches after the Early Access launch are tied directly to user feedback, what our customers judge to be the most vital components needing to be addressed and updated. We will be keeping our eyes peeled for anything new you all want to see. However, I wanted to discuss what else we will be working on before building the second gameplay area otherwise known as the “Finance Department”. [h3]Computer Access Node for accessing emails and unlocking companion selfies.[/h3] This is quite an interesting one for us, we wanted to use the current “free” nodes on the map to act as computer terminals, that the player could access to read their emails. Inside would be world-building narratives, comedy spam with hell+office related mixed jokes, and the Managers writing Richard annoying things. On top of this having coworkers send lewd selfies as you play the game with them as your active companion. [h3]Leveling/exp system for companions.[/h3] Our goal with this is to make your active companion gain exp as you beat nodes with them, doing so will unlock powers and other things with them. Not sure on the specifics of this so far and it will likely get a lot of changes based on customer feedback. [h3]Companion dating system.[/h3] When you level up an active companion you’ll be able to go on dates with them, we will likely lock this content off until you beat the first Boss and get some of the company shares in your possession. For narrative reasons, it gives the first area a limited growth pool for companions as well. During the dates, you’ll be able to have a dialogue tree with the coworker, see them in their casual clothing, and generally do lewd things with them in unique places. [h3]Fast travel nodes.[/h3] At computer terminals, we want to make them double as fast travel points. This will become very handy once we get more departments in the game, as travel times will become long if you missed content in an earlier area of the game. [h3]Gameplay Updates and Improvements.[/h3] A big focus for us to hit our Early Access release milestones was to make sure the cutscene and rewards system was amazing and smooth. Because of this, we left a lot of gameplay improvements and optimizations on the table for later development. We will be working on bringing those into the game going forward. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1972470/Under_Contract/ We hope you all will enjoy the new update with the Gallery content unlocked! It was an absolute pleasure to read all the feedback and suggestions you all had. Under Contract will become an amazing gem in the Adult Game scene!