Future plans

Hello everyone,

I'm working on the next version of Newlife at the moment, but I might not have as much time as usual for it this weekend so I can't show any screenshots yet.
For now, I'm going to post about the development plan for the near future. Of course bugfixes and small 'tweaks' can go in at any time, but I have a good idea of the big changes up to version 0.3. Here's what you have to look forward to:

Version 0.1 - The Internet release
First internet release. Newlife has been in development for over a year, but the final push to get it internet-ready was a massive piece of work that took 3 months and went from Newlife having just 1 screen to where it was a few weeks ago. That's all done now (phew!) and I'll try to avoid putting that many changes into a single version again!

Version 0.2 - The Themeless release
Version 0.2 won't really have a theme - it's a selection of important changes that I couldn't get into the initial release. Key changes:

• Character browser to show details of npcs (done in 0.1.1)
• The romance change : scenes for sleeping together with someone and the morning after if he stays the night. These will be in 0.1.4
• The less-romantic change : Major overhaul of the caress/grope/undress code that will make it much easier to add some important new types of content, including grope-based scenes and new clothing types

0.2 should be finished sometime this year.

Version 0.3 - The Pregnancy release
Version 0.3 is based around increasing the game length to 52 weeks. This means it'll need a proper pregnancy implementation. I also don't want to increase the game length until there's enough content to make it fun to play for that long, so this will be a bigger release than 0.2.

• Contraception improvements
• Enough new content that 52 weeks seems like a reasonable game length (i.e. random events etc)
• Improvements of existing skill-based activities OR a new skill (probably cooking or dance) with associated game effects, activities, events.
• New clothing types
• Rework of nightclub dancing. Probably this'll get put in a separate scene. Clubbing is already the most complicated scene and it would help if it was split up.
• One new big sex scene
• Better feedback regarding male traits. E.g. he'll comment on your appearance at the start of a date in a way that gives clues to his personality
• Improvements of the current job. Probably won't be fully complete for 0.3 but I want it good enough that it will make sense to add a new career in 0.4 or 0.5
• Proper pregnancy system including description, modifications to existing scenes, special pregnancy scenes, giving birth (probably won't be described in detail!) and some sort of 'childcare' skill.
• Childcare. Kids definitely won't appear in any sexual/sexualised context : they'll probably be completely "off-camera" where you spend activity slots to take care of them but they don't appear in scenes.
• Uses for money other than buying clothes & drinks. I have three big plans for money in the future, but probably only one of them will go in for 0.3.
• Extend game length to 52 weeks.

As you can see, 0.3 is a big piece of work and there's no way it'll be done this year, but when it is finished it'll leave Newlife in quite a healthy position without much in the way of 'placeholder' code.
After that, I have a lot of plans for future changes but I don't want to talk about them in detail - after all, by the time 0.3 is finished I may have changed my mind about them!

Thanks for reading, the next version should be ready sometime next week. Have a fun weekend everyone :)

Newlife 0.1.3 now available

Hi all, hope you're enjoying the game so far!

Version 0.1.3 is now available. Changes are:

• Added another special case for when Ivy responds to hearing your female name for the first time.
  
• Fixed a bug where pregnant characters could be concerned about getting knocked up if they invite their bf into their home. Thanks to deathevn from the HF forums for reporting this.
  
• Reduced the impact of Relaxed and Ambitious traits on weekly stress
  
• Some small balance tweaks.
  
• Men will no longer “groan out load” when they're near orgasm : thanks to Cubano from the HF forums for reporting that one. Also fixed the 4 (!) typos I made while typing that sentence into the changelog.
  
• The “Drink Beer” choice on dates now has different text and no longer increases the player's alcohol level if they're pregnant. There are probably still other places where you can drink while pregnant in the game though : a full search will probably need to be done when pregnancy is properly implemented.
  
• Added more variety of underwear.
  
• The Intro has an extra step where the player finds out that their new body is fully biologically female which means they could get pregnant.
  
• Some new actions for makeout scenes.
  
• Upgraded the player's orgasms. If someone sees you smiling after playing this version and asks you why, just tell them that your orgasms were upgraded.
  

As usual this won't work with old saved games or characters.

So far I've only uploaded the Jar file. I'll probably put an exe up at some point unless I'm feeling lazy, but anyone able to run the exe should also be able to get the jar working too.

The big difference is that with the exe you get told if you don't have java installed, while with the jar it'll just be an unrecognised file type.

If you find that your OS doesn't know what to do with jars, you can get java at https://java.com/download

Of course, if you were able to run Newlife 0.1.2 then the 0.1.3 jar should work fine for you, even if you were using the exe before.

Have fun, and please report any bugs or typos!

Download problems

Hello everyone!

People using Chrome are having problems downloading the Newlife exe. I'm going to see what I can do about this, but it's not something I have much expertise in so I can't promise a quick fix.

For now, I'm going to post a link to the Newlife jar. This is the same game code, just before I wrap it into an exe.
The big difference is that the exe is supposed to tell you if you don't have java and give a link where you can download it. With a jar file, if you don't have Java installed then it'll just show up as an unrecognised file type and you won't be able to run it.

So, if you're having download problems, grab the jar and if you don't have Java on your computer you can get it at http://java.com/download

Enjoy the game :)

Newlife 0.1.2 is now available

Hello everyone

Newlife version 0.1.2 is now available - download link to the right as usual. Like last time (and probably every time for quite a while), saved games & characters won't work with the new version.

Changes:

• Slightly increased the font size again in the scene window.
  
• Changed age description for old men to fit better into the character description.
  
• Various small bugfixes
  
• Added a new step in the intro. You now choose controlled/uncontrolled as a separate decision from how much random change you'll be affected by. This means you can enjoy any level of mutation while still being able to modify the resulting character.
  
• The character description won't show attractiveness/cuteness/elegance as numbers any more. Attractiveness has been removed because the value used wasn't very useful. Cute/naughty/elegant/casual is now shown as a text description instead. Thanks to Leera from the Hongfire forums for this suggestion.
  
• Removed the chance of changing for bed deciding to put you in sexy nightwear, considering there was already an action to change into sexy clothes.
  
• Two new random events.
  

Have fun with the new version!

Getting started with 0.1.1

Hello everyone, I thought I'd write a short walkthrough for new players on how to get started with their first game in 0.1.1.
I hope the game is quite user-friendly to get started with even without this post though – if you have comments on how it could be made easier to get into, then post them here or on the forum thread.


First of all, download the Newlife exe, put it in a folder somewhere and run it.


You'll get to the main menu. There's no options to set here or anything, so just click New Game.


Go through the Intro, enjoying the spectacular writing and gripping plot. Eventually you'll get to the male character generator.


Here you can hover over anything to get a description of what it does. Most of the things you put in here will affect how you'll be after becoming a woman, but depending on your choices you might be able to change things later anyway. Choose whatever you like – if you're a man you could try to create yourself in the game, or maybe just make a character you think is interesting.


When you're done, go to the last tab, enter a name and click 'Finish'


Now you have some more of the fascinating intro. Savour it, because never again will you read writing of this quality.
This particular bit of the intro has a few choices. It's actually possible to get a game over here, so try not to do that.
This next bit changed in 0.1.2 - in earlier versions there was just one step, but now you'll be offered a shot by Ivy first. Choose "No Thanks". You'll then get some choices that will affect how much randomness there is in the transformation. The action descriptions will tell you what each one does. Choose whichever you find most interesting.


Now you're in the female character generator. The starting values are based on your male persona but there may be some random changes. Because you chose the controlled start, you can change values however you want. Of course, even with an uncontrolled start some things can still be changed – basically anything which is more of a gameplay choice than a character one.


Change whatever you like, but here are some tips:

• Willpower is an important choice. If you want your character to be in control of the situation all the time then choose Iron Will.
  
• If you want to orgasm easily then take “Hair trigger”, “Sensitive Breasts” and/or “Sensitive Vagina”. Taking two or more of these will have a strong effect, and Hair Trigger makes it much easier to have multiple orgasms. Other traits also have an effect – anything that means you get turned on more easily will make it easier for a man to bring you to climax.
  
• The only job available at the moment is based on the Charm skill. You can start with a large advantage by taking Sales or Customer Service work experience. The Flirty and Outgoing traits also improve your starting skill, but Shy and Bitchy reduce it.
  
• Ambitious girls get stressed out easily. Stress reduction is tricky in 0.1.1 so being ambitious will probably lead to you being on edge all the time. That's not a huge handicap (yet) though, and being stressed out unlocks some events.
  

When you're done, pick a name and click Finish. There's a final part of the intro and then you'll see the Week Planner screen.


First of all you'll notice you're wearing awful borrowed clothing. Change your weekend activity to “Go Shopping” and click “Start Week”


Now you'll see the shopping screen. Time to buy some pretty clothes to go out partying in!
Change the Outfit Type dropdown to “GOING_OUT” and pick out some clothes. The choice will change each time you look in the shops, but you'll always have better stuff available than Ivy's hand-downs. You'll need either a dress or a skirt and a top. It might also be a good idea to buy some underwear.
If you have spare money, you could think about buying some more casual clothes, or maybe better business-wear to look better at work. In later versions you'll need to save money for rent but right now the only use for your money is buying clothes and going out.


When you're done click “Finished” and you'll be back at the week planner for week 2. Select “Manage Outfits”, make sure the outfit type is Going_Out and make a new outfit with the clothes you just bought. Remember to click “Save Outfit” when you're done. You can give your new outfit a name, but if you leave the field blank then one will be automatically generated for you.


Click Finished to go back to the week chooser. You don't want to go shopping again this weekend so change that to “Relax”. You do want to go partying though – change the weekend evening activity to “Go Clubbing”.


Click start week and unless something special happens at work you'll find yourself in a club. Time to have fun! The options available will depend on your personality – if you're shy then you might need a few drinks to loosen up first. As you party, men might come along to chat you up. Remember, drinks are free if a handsome gentleman buys them for you! Click “Describe People” to get a quick description of everyone in the club and you can decide which ones you're most interested in. Try to find someone nice and have a fun adventure with him!


That's the end of the walkthrough. By now you've played a couple of weeks and you might even have ended up in bed with a man. Play on and have fun!

Newlife 0.1.1 released

It's been some long hours for me to quickly get the next version of Newlife released after that nasty save bug was found. It's ready at last, and let's hope nothing quite so bad shows up in this version.

Changes in version 0.1.1

• Added lines to separate the output from different turns in the Scene viewer
  
• Increased the font size in the scene viewer's text window
  
• Pressing enter will now trigger the “take action” button
  
• The list of actions you can take starts selected, which means you don't have to click it to use the up & down arrows to scroll. It should now be possible to fully play through scenes without using the mouse at all.
  
• New 'knowledge' facet to relationships. This increases as you get to know someone by talking to them, going on dates, spending the night together etc.
  
• Character browser which shows information about NPCs based on how well you know them. A basic level of knowledge is needed for an NPC to appear here. The browser can be accessed from the screen where you choose weekly activities, and also during scenes.
  
• Knowledge can't be maxed out in the current version: you will eventually need to live together with someone before you can completely learn all their secrets.
  
• Information that's available about men in the current version includes their physical description, most traits, their basic personality type, how much they like/love/are attracted to you and what sort of relationship you have with them.
  
• The 'B' key can be used as a shortcut to show or hide the character browser. It can also be closed with Esc.
  
• Some traits become visible after having sex with someone even if they'd normally need a much higher level of knowledge.
  
• New trait: Perceptive
  
• Added some extra text to the clubbing scene's intro for characters with low femininity.
  
• Fixed the spelling of “femininity” in-game.
  
• Fixed an error that broke saved games once certain events had happened.
  
• One new random event. This hasn't been extensively tested yet, so keep your eyes open for any bugs or typos.
  

To get the new version, just use the download link to your right.

Saved games and templates from the older version won't work with this one.

0.1.0 Savegame bug

In a splendid development milestone, I've found the first major bug in Newlife 0.1.0. Credit is due to Hongfire users Cubano and Flixerine who gave me the information I needed to track this one down.

Any saved games made after you've had the "persuade your boss to promote you" event will be broken and won't load. This probably also affects other work-related events.

I'll fix this for the next version.
For now the only way of finishing the game is to save each week that you don't get a work event and do the last bunch of turns in one play session. You can stop work events from appearing by keeping your charm skill low (preferably negative) so you won't get promoted, and keeping stress under 50.

Update: This bug was fixed in 0.1.1, so if you get the latest exe then you don't need to worry about it.

Newlife 0.1.0 released

The first version of Newlife is now available for download. Use the link on your right to get it. That's only if you're old enough to access adult material of course, but you shouldn't be reading this blog at all if you aren't.

Newlife is a text-only erotic gender-bender lifesim game set in an rather loose approximation of the real world. You play as a man who gets their sex changed in an improbable accident, and has to start a new life as a woman. 

The first version is quite limited, but you can still play it fully all the way through to a simple ending. I'll be adding a lot of content and features in later releases.

Highlights of version 0.1.0:

• Almost complete character creator for both male and female versions of your character
• Buy and wear different clothes that affect your in-game attractiveness and also may have other effects
• Go clubbing and have sex with random men.
• Get asked out on dates and try to build a romance
• Get a boyfriend (no marriage yet though - sorry!)
• Suffer through a crappy stressful job, but if you do well you can get promoted to a better paid crappy stressful job.
• Be taken advantage of by sleazy men, let things go too far, and accidentally become pregnant
• Lots of bugs!
• First version lasts just 26 weeks because there isn't enough content for longer and also because the current pregnancy system is just a simple placeholder. 

To get started:

• Download the newlife exe using the link to your right
• Put it in a folder somewhere
• Run it

Newlife needs Java and it should prompt for you to install it if you haven't got it on your computer. When the game is first run it'll create a data folder for saved games & characters in the folder you put the exe.

Try the game, report any bugs or typos you find, and have fun!

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. This is where I'll be posting information about adult games I release online. I'll soon be making an early version of my first game available - links and more information to follow.