You've been patient: the next build - version 0.2 - is finally out! With this build, I am removing the "demo" tag and declaring the project is in "alpha". I aim to update every 2 months, but that's always subject to change. The novel will be out of 'alpha' once the main character story routes are well-established and the infrastructure of the VN is confirmed to be stable.

Two months per update is LONG... At this rate, it'll be a multi-year development cycle. My response to that is - initially, maybe. Yeah. But it'll go faster, especially after the visual content (like sprites, backgrounds) are concrete. 

We will publish devlogs between every dot-release to keep you abreast of our work, changes, and so forth. That way, you can decide whether it's worth downloading it, or waiting till the next release. To me, you should download dot-releases (like 0.2), whereas dot-dot releases are optional (ex: 0.x.x, if we have to release them). In 0.2, there's loads of new content, updated art, and quality-of-life fixes that make the reading experience easier.

If you are familiar with RenPy, there are new variables that didn't exist in the demo which may break older saves (It shouldn't, but if it does, some code I've added should address this problem for future releases. It would be worthwhile to restart the novel anyway.)

Here is a list of changes from the last release (0.1).

NEW CONTENT:

• Rodrigo and Danny storylines were expanded. You will gain some insight on Rodrigo's behavior, and consider where things really stand between you and Danny.
  • To support their path updates, Danny and Rodrigo's art has been updated. Lemme know what you think!

• Exploration events were introduced in this build. Explorations are a central feature to "Aaron & The Void" (it's a tag in our VN's description for a reason!). It's bare-bones right now, but additional content and functionality is planned.
  • Explorations teach you about Aaron's world and history. Interact with objects in his bedroom (and, later, his phone and house). The things you explore teach you something new, help you progress, and unlock additional content.
  • These segments will pop-up a few times throughout the VN. Their impact will be felt more later than in this build.
  • Explorations impact conversations you have during your routes, what you'll be able to do with your character of interest – and, most likely, the story's ending.
• If you follow any path other than Rodrigo or Danny, most of the new content you see in this version is the Explorations section. The build will end after exploring 2 things in Aaron's bedroom.
• We have added +22k words (46k -> 68k) of dialogue.

KNOWN LIMITS:

• You can't choose Byron from the Route menu.
• You can't choose to go to the patio after entering the lounge with Mike.
• The Character Sheet gallery is inaccessible from all game menus.

STORY EDITS/CHANGES FROM LAST BUILD:

• Revisions to the Prologue to make it flow better/cut down on arbitrary conversation.
• Minor one-sentence additions or one-word changes to other parts of the story. For example, plumbing and plugging story loopholes and contradictions (ex's: Chet's relationship with Marty, Joel's job role, in-universe names for real-life products)
• A couple background imagery updates.
• Art updates to the Donchito's waiting staff.

ENHANCEMENTS & FIXES:

• If you downloaded 0.1 (Desktop or Mac), you may have been treated to an unintended "gift": the ability to choose any character path regardless of the choices you made in the club. The .rpy file was corrupted but not throwing any errors; this has been amended for 0.2. Consider this a reward for being an early player ;3
• Quality-of-life fixes:
  • On the Android build, text size has been slightly increased, and the GUI text is much larger.
  • A 'hoof' symbol appears at the end of each line of dialogue to indicate when it is safe to click to the next line. 
  • Character repositioning when zooming in and out has been improved (still a WIP, but the xalign beast could still be lurking…)
  • The text window doesn't flicker off and on after every character's pose changes, unless it is necessary for the scene.
  • Added links to the end of build to the feedback form and social accounts. I want feedback!
• Byron now reacts more specifically to your Zodiac sign.
• Fix for all platforms for the Dream sequence, if your name starts with a number.
• Options in the Zeke and Malik routes that were missing animations have been repaired.
• Fix for Malik path; it is not assumed that Zeke will make you text him in advance
• Bug fix for the Android build to repair a mismatched audio file at the DJ's booth scene.
• Copy editing / spelling and grammatical error fixes

With that, I hope you enjoy reading! Admittedly I didn't get to everything, and some parts of this update will feel characteristic of every slice-of-life FVN under the sun. But it's our first full day of progression!

Now we proceed right into 0.3 development, which is likely to be for Chet and Mike. Subject to change, but we'll see! I also want to either work on the Character Sheet page (it may become a Glossary instead) because it would add some depth to the experience, or commit to working on Byron's starting path. What say you?

Lastly, I'm humbled by the positive feedback I've received. I don't go out of my way to advertise this project, people didn't really know about it until I was literally releasing the demo (oops), and I'm definitely not a 'popu-fur' or a future novelist. Despite all that, you guys are commenting and following, and it motivates me to continue working hard - so thank you, thank you, thank you!!! 

That's it for now. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your February. Let me know if you want one of these guys to be your Valentine!