ALPHA 0.8.3: Meet the Neighbors

This update introduces a wider ecosystem outside the walls of the player's arcology. At game start, a handful of neighboring arcologies within the same Free City as the player's arcology will be generated, and they'll develop as gameplay progresses. This system is in an early state, and mostly exists as something the player can watch, but not manipulate directly. That will change; it's not necessary to request interactions with your neighbors until I've had a some time to implement the ones I've already planned out.

This update does trememdous violence to existing code. Some bugs are inevitable. If you prefer to play FC periodically when a stable build drops, hold off. Also, the number of arcologies present in the Free City is configurable, and the code that handles interactions between arcologies will have to perform a total number of operations in which the number of arcologies present is an exponent. If FC runs slowly, try creating a Free City with a smaller number of arcologies.

The full changelog is available on the blog.

Save compatibility

This update breaks saves. This is true of almost every update, but it is especially true of this one. If you started a game using 0.8.2 or a previous version, do not load that save using 0.8.3+ and expect it to work. It won't. If you're experiencing trouble, check the options screen, which gives the version used to create your save. If the version shown there does not match the version in the filename of the .html you're running, don't report bugs. Using New Game Plus will update the version tag in your save, in addition to everything else, so if you use it on any 0.8+ save, you'll pass this check.

Submitting content

Every 0.8+ update has included mod content. That's outstanding. If you'd like to contribute, email me, at least until I decide what FC's next step is in terms of web platform. With different mod formats and levels of modder expertise, that's the best way for me to offer assistance and feedback to modders. Finally, as a request to all modders and players considering modding: all contributions are great, and I'll consider anything, but what the game needs most is more random events. It would be great if FC's library of random events could have the benefit of creative impulses other than my own. The most beneficial way to do this is to play until you see a placeholder event, and then create a sex scene between the PC and that slave.

Web platform

I've created this subreddit as an experiment. I decided to do so mostly because reddit makes it very easy, so there's little cost in running the experiment for an update or two and seeing how it goes. I'd like to thank everyone who offered input on this; there were some great arguments raised. To give them their due, here's a review of the alternatives and why I don't see them as advantageous right now:

• Continue using Blogspot as FC's primary web platform. Blogspot is cumbersome and unreliable. It lacks basic readability features in its comment sections, and it persistently deletes some users' comments.

• Move to a subforum at an established lewd game's forum. Most western lewd games have their own fan subcultures, and any such forum is not going to be friendly territory for at least some FC players. There are also independence issues.

• Move to a subforum at a broader lewd games forum. This presents the same culture issues as moving to another game's forum, and/or would place severe restrictions on my ability to exercise and delegate necessary mod power.

• Create a forum using a western free forum host. I have not been able to find a decent western forum host that does not ban adult content under its TOS. You have to read the fine print, anons.

• Create a forum using a non-western free forum host. Many western users (including myself) try to avoid any site in Cyrillic out of prudence. I'm sure there are reputable ones, but finding out which is which can be painful.

• Create an FC site with a forum. This is a last resort. I'm sure the funding issue could be addressed through Patreon, but anonymous web hosting is a monstrous pain that I'd rather avoid. As things are, I'd remain on Blogspot over this.

Download: Dropbox, Mega. Saves from previous versions are incompatible, but 0.8+ saves are eligible for New Game Plus. Known bugs in this version include subordinate slavery assignment issues. Last hotfixed to 0.8.3.4 at 1700 PST, August 31.