I wanted to give people a heads up on what to expect with Our Apartment come the Early Acess launch. Right now, the game is still in very active development, and we’re holding off the steam release until content reaches an acceptable level. On top of this there’s many “Quality of Life” features and functions needed and we don’t want people to potentially wait months for those features to be added post EA launch. So, we won’t have a definitive EA launch date until that content is in and we’re confident in a stable user-friendly release. There’s a different standard applied here than other sites and services the game is currently on, and I thank you for your patience on this. All that out the way, the following represents the current plan for the EA release. Things may change a little, but I think the current plan is well above whats needed for the release. So even if something doesn’t make it to launch it should still be a solid release and said content can come shortly after. A lot of this is stuff I’ve written elsewhere, but because I haven’t really made an update on steam before I want to give a full picture. If you’re familiar with my posts on other sites previously you’ll know this is gonna be a long one. [Note all screenshots are from the most recent build and represent in development visuals and especially UI which is getting a major overhaul shortly] [h1]Story, Function, Quality of Life[/h1] [img]https://i.ibb.co/djSMFfQ/image.png[/img] So, as you may have read “Our Apartment” is a Slice of Life Simulation Game, where you interact with Naomi a girl who, thanks to bad timing on your part, is homeless and has to live with you. The current ideal plan is to have the full story introduction to be implemented. This might sound like a simple task but most dialogue is intended to be presented in a at least somewhat cinematic manner. So, it’s not a simple matter as implementing dialogue with some basic dialogue animations. There’s context, and variety most of the time, with a more standard VN setup used when a cinematic setup doesn’t make sense to do. If that doesn’t happen expect a skip to somewhere later in the relationship until that content is added. After that story introduction, the “Daily System” represents the core gameplay loop. While some functions are still in the air. You can expect to interact with Naomi freely through various Lewd and Non-Lewd options, while various story events play based on the time and highlighted activities. You’ll get to know Naomi, obtain new outfits (of which there are 100’s of items and variations currently), do everything from watch TV together to having sex in a variety of positions and much more over time. (Note "Web Store" is not a real web store, thats just the canon way clothing is obtained.) [img]https://i.ibb.co/5KjJbLy/image.png[/img] This daily system is infinite, meaning it’s designed to let you play it as much as you want until you’re ready to continue the story or until new story content is added. Ideally this means your save is persistent through updates but this may be a problem at times given the nature of active development. I can only say we’ll do our best to avoid problems here. During the daily system Naomi and the player (which you can name) will do their thing, and various random and contextual dialogue will trigger based on story progression and other factors. Naomi will change outfits daily, and may even initiate options for events herself. Obviously, some daily dialogue may repeat when more story related events have dried up but still, we intend for there to be a solid variety. Which brings me to the “Quality of Life” that I mentioned before. Due to the nature of the game, with dress up features and such, some QoL features have been noted as needed. So, functions like turning off Naomi changing outfits in most cases, or quickly saving the last outfit so it can be quickly reapplied is needed. Additionally, a “Quickie” mode for players just wanting a quick session would also probably be ideal. [img]https://i.ibb.co/2880CR8/image.png[/img] I do want to note, besides Naomi’s outfits and customization, Player customization is important but does not affect the story or gameplay. It is intended to look largely symbolic rather than detailed. There will be many things you can look like, and various dicks human and non-human. Some aspects of the character are static (like overall size), but appearance I want to give a good amount of freedom when it comes to variety. [h1]Content[/h1] As I mentioned before were holding off release until there’s more of a solid content offering. That mostly pertains to lewd content and some outfits. Reminder this is current objectives and may shift. To specify: [list] [*] At least 8 Sex Sim positions, 10 Ideal or at least including major dialogue driven cinematic scenes [*] More casual clothing, sleep clothing, and underwear mostly needed for daily mode. Later swim suits. [*] A solid offering of daily mode events outside the main story. [/list] It’s worth noting each sex sim position includes a variety of sub animations including gropes and holds, various cumming, and various dynamic conditional dialogue triggers and ending scenes. And each compatible with all clothing items for both the Player and Naomi, and other adjustment options like free camera and x-ray. Upon assessment the final number may be less possibly due to pushing for higher quality in existing scenes. There’s a lot of factors, but obviously more will come even if it doesn’t make it to the EA launch. It might not seem like it, but 8 sex sim positions, given the sim functions, outfits and other variants, can be a good deal of play time. The goal is single position won’t be the same every time you play it. And given that’s at least 102 additional animations needed from [url=https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/776429]whats currently in the Preview[/url] (2 positions, 17+ animations per position) it may be more work than we expect. But as stated this is the current goal. I hope reaching this goal is more than satisfactory to new players of Our Apartment. [h1]Price[/h1] The Early Acess launch price will be $10, and the price will increase over time as the game reaches closer to completion. The target final price exiting EA is a minimum of $20 aiming higher based on content and quality achieved. As such the final price is undetermined, we’re just doing our best until then. To better understand this target I’ll briefly go into some long-term content goals. [h1]The Long Term[/h1] [img]https://i.ibb.co/qyP0676/image.png[/img] Forgive me if I keep this vague, I mostly just want you to understand more of what we’re aiming for. Our Apartment is largely a vanilla relationship game, and the current plan for the story is for it to take place over the course of around a year in the relationship ending at a final climax. The story is intended to be fairly long, with the pacing of the relationship feeling natural. Additionally, the games interaction does not take place only in the apartment, down the line you can take Naomi out to various locations. BUT while it is a largely vanilla game there is fetish content of various kinds planned. There is a certain planned point in the story where they experiment more. So, for example, fetishes like foot job, mild exhibitionism, mild BSDM, anal, etc. should find their way in to the game when that makes sense for their progress in the relationship and character. But what exactly that content will be is not determined right now. It also should be mostly optional. [img]https://i.ibb.co/QCtCntS/image.png[/img] Secondly “Role play” is intended to be an option, as there’s a lot of outfits in the game and customization options for the player. I’ll explain more about these in the future, but this concept leaves things open for a much broader variety of content than the current more real-world setting. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] I hope reading through all this gave you some clarity on the game. If you have any questions by all means post on the forums or in the comments here. And I’ll try and keep up with making news posts here so the status of development, and the eventual EA launch is clearer. We’ve had A LOT of wish lists, and that really motivates me to make sure Our Apartment reaches yours and my own expectations. Additionally [url=https://picarto.tv/SacB0y]I will be streaming some dev this month on Picarto,[/url] so be sure to follow there to see some live animation creation. Thanks again! ~Sacb0y