Getting Started

Hello! Here's a guide on how to get started with Newlife.

Downloading the game
Just use one of the links to your right to download the game.
Newlife is distributed as a zip file that contains jar and exe versions as well as some libraries needed to run the game. Just unzip it and run either the jar or the exe. For most people you can run either and it will work, but the exe won't work on non-windows systems so they'll have to go with the jar. Both are the same game so it shouldn't matter which you use.
Both versions are uploaded to Mega and Mediafire, so you can use your filehost of choice to get it.

Both versions need Java to run properly. The jar will just be an unrecognised file type if you don't have it. The exe will tell you that you need Java. Many people have Java already because it's used by a lot of different programs. If you don't have it yet, you can get a free download from the official site at http://www.java.com/ .




Running the game


Once you've downloaded your file you should be able to just double-click it to run it. If that doesn't work then check the troubleshooting section below.


When first run, Newlife will create an empty folder called newlife_gamedata for saved games & templates.

Starting a game – gameplay walkthrough



On opening the game, you'll see the main menu screen. The buttons should all be fairly obvious, and you can click help to get an overview of what the controls do on each screen.

I'm going to play through the first week of a game on version 0.3.2. There's a lot of variation between games so plenty of things will be different on your playthrough, but this should give you an idea of how to get started.






To start, I click New Game and I get to the first intro scene.







The first scene's quite linear – don't worry, you'll have much more choice in the game proper! I just play through by clicking the Take Action button until I get to the end – here you can see the 'Finish' option, which means the scene is finished.







Selecting that gets me to the male character creation screen. I use it to set up a character – here's all three tabs:













At this point I could save the character so I can go back to the same one, but for now I'm going to just continue the game with the Finish button.

Now I'm continuing with the intro. It's possible to get a game over here, by refusing to help Ivy. I'm going to pick the top option here so that doesn't happen:






Now Ivy asks if I want to have a shot. I'll select no. That means I'll get to modify the female character if I want to.







The next choice is also important. Usually I think tweaked character creation (“just let it happen”) is the most interesting option here, but for this game I'm going to choose chaos.







Now we get to the female character. Here's what chaos has picked for me. Quite a lot of traits there. It's not going to be easy to come in bed with a man – having a tight pussy will make him finish faster, and being hard to please means I need more attention to get off.

I also got low self esteem, which means I'm inclined to let wicked men take advantage of me. I guess the chaos start just doesn't want me to be happy!










You can ignore the advanced tab. It contains cheat & customisation options that I don't recommend for your first game. Also, it's only available in the patron version, and you're probably using the public one if you've just started out!



Next there's a final part of the intro, which includes a few more “interesting” things you can do.

Here you can see that I'm given the option to explore my new body. I'm just going to go to sleep though – this is a serious gameplay guide and no place for naughty shenanigans!






I finish playing through that scene, and I get to the shopping screen. Normally you access this by choosing the “go shopping” action on weekends, but it pops up at the very start so you aren't forced to spend a whole week in Ivy's rubbish hand-me-downs.







I want to buy an outfit to go out in. I can't go clubbing in badly-fitting borrowed clothes, after all.

I want to make it clear though, I'm going to go out to de-stress. It has nothing to do with having enthusiastic sex with whichever man decides to chat me up.


I change the outfit type filter to Going Out. As a minimum, I need upper and lower-body clothing, but a dress will fit both categories.

The exact clothes in the shop will vary between visits, so you'll see different ones. I'm going to buy the dress I have selected as well as some underwear.






Before wearing my new clothes, I need to put together an outfit with them. I select the outfit tab:







Next I select Going Out from the outfit type tab. I can now create a new outfit of this type. You can see I'm working on a new one instead of modifying an existing outfit because the outfit summary tells me it hasn't been saved yet.







I add the dress and underwear I bought by double-clicking each item. You can also press the “Add to outfit” button when it's selected in the list, or just pick it from the drop-down lists in the bottom right. All three methods do the same thing.

You'll notice that the clothes don't get removed from the list to the left. That's because you can have the same piece of clothing in more than one outfit.






Finally, an important step – I need to click the Save button to finish creating the outfit!







You can see that the outfit's been created and added to the outfit list. I left the outfit name field empty, so it uses an auto-generated name.

When an outfit is created, it automatically starts a new one – this is to make it easy to create a bunch of new ones all at once.
I can click the outfit in the list to see its details, and this also lets me modify it if I want.






Next I hit the Finished button in the top left. That's the end of the intro, and I get to the week planner for my first proper week. Yes, the first week is number two. There's a good reason for that which I forget because it's about nine months since I touched that part of the code.







Before I start planning the week, I'm going to press C to check the character screen.


  


As you can see, I don't really have anything in my flat at all. That's something I need to change! I go back to the week planner and set my weekend activity to “Shop for your flat”.
I leave the outfit as random. In this case the choice isn't actually all that random though because I only have one casual outfit – Ivy's spare clothes. That's fine for just shopping, although I'll want better clothes soon.
For the weekend evening, I choose to go clubbing. This uses Going Out clothes, so when I look in the outfit list I see the one I just created. I could leave that as random too, seeing as I still have just one outfit of that type. I've changed it to use that specific outfit though just to show you how it works.
It's also possible in the outfit screen to mark an outfit so it won't be chosen randomly. I could do that if there were clothes I wanted to only wear for special situations – perhaps an outfit I only wear for dance competitions.



The default action for the evenings is just relaxing. That's not a great choice to start though because I don't have anything to entertain myself with. I can spend more time relaxing after my shopping trip. For now, I choose to study fashion.




I start the week, and don't get a random event before arriving at the nightclub.



I click “describe characters” to see who else is there, and then wait to see if anyone will approach me. 

I decide to let this guy try and chat me up, and I'm presented with a choice of how to behave towards him. This time, I only have one option – based on your personality you might have others when you play.



I just let him decide what to do for a bit, and follow his lead. The first time he does is ask for my number, but that's way too early so I turn him down. Then he starts buying me drinks. Is he trying to get me tipsy?



Ryan takes me to the dance floor, which seems to be a bit of an excuse to feel me up a bit. My character is obviously a bit interested in him, because I have the option to kiss him if I want to.



We've finished dancing, and can't dance again until we've had a drink. Ryan seems to think I'm game for getting intimate in the club toilets, but once again he is being over-optimistic!




The night comes to an end, and I have the choice of going home alone or walking home with Ryan.
Considering his behaviour so far, I suspect being walked home might lead to me losing my virginity. I'm not that kind of girl, so I'll go home alone this time!



Next up is my shopping trip. Some of these things unlock new things to do when I invite a man back to my flat. Some of them make it easier to relax. Some have other effects. I've just taken the window shop action to get descriptions of everything.



I buy a kettle, cooking gear and a TV, and then go back home.



The week's finished and it's back to planning the next one. I suffered quite a bit of stress – that's a problem that Ymous is going to have as an ambitious girl.
It's a “safe” time in my cycle. That means I'm unlikely to get pregnant even if I have unprotected sex this week – although there's still a small risk. To really be safe I could go on the pill by visiting the doctor on the weekend, although Ymous' forgetful nature means even the pill is no guarantee.


I'd also like to buy more clothes and have better work and casual outfits, but I don't have the money yet. I need to work for a few more weeks first.



I'll save here, and maybe do another week or so soon. I hope this gives you some ideas on how to get started with your own game :)


Troubleshooting


The jar is an unrecognised file type!


This means you don't have Java installed. You can get it (for free) from the official Java site at http://www.java.com/


The jar opens up like a zip file!

First of all, check the file name. I've had reports that jar downloads from mediafire sometimes get ".zip" appended to their name, so they'd appear as e.g. "newlife_0_3_6_public.jar.zip".
If that happens then just rename the file and remove the .zip part so it's just "filename.jar".
If you're still getting the problem after doing that, then read on:

Jars are very similar to zip files, and it's possible to extract the contents. Sometimes people with odd file associations find jars being opened by their zip program instead of Java. This is entirely unhelpful and will not let you run it. Don't extract the contents, just try using the command-line to run the file with Java - see below for tips on how to do that.
If you got the file from mediafire, then it might help to try getting it from Mega instead. Although the jar files I upload are exactly the same to each of them, I've had reports that it's the Mediafire download specifically that gets treated as a zip file.


How to run the file from the command line?


If you're having trouble, then running the game from the command line can be very useful. If the game isn't launching, then this will let you see any error messages. It can also sometimes be helpful for people who're having trouble with file associations.
To do this:
  • Click Start
  • Enter cmd in the “search programs” bar
  • Open the cmd program – this is the command line
  • Navigate to the folder where Newlife is stored using the cd command (this stands for “change directory”). For example, “cd C:\users\<your_username>\downloads\newlife
  • Enter java -jar followed by the newlife jar name. This will be, without quotes, “java -jar newlife.jar”


This will either run the game, or give you an error message which will help track down your problem.



I got an error like Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException at org.eclipse.jdt.internal.jarinjarloader.JarRsrcLoader.main


I think that this problem happens if you're using the 32-bit version of Java with a 64-bit operating system.
You can see what version of java you're using by typing “java -version” into the command line. The 64-bit one should include something like “Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM”


For windows, if you don't know whether your OS is 32 or 64-bit, check out this short guide from Microsoft:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/32-bit-and-64-bit-windows


I've found a bug!


Great! Please report it so I can get it fixed. Make sure to provide enough information that I can track it down on my system. You can report bugs by posting in a thread on one of the forums I visit or just commenting on a blog post.
I've disabled comments on this page because I'm expecting it to stick around for a long time and I'd rather not have old reports for long-fixed bugs on it, but you can report bugs on any post on the main blog feed.


I've found a typo!


Great! I love fixing text problems because as long as you copy & paste a sentence or so of the offending text, I can easily track it down and sort it out.
Please report typos, spelling mistakes and grammar problems. You can even report general bad writing if you like, especially if it's egregiously bad or there's an obvious way of improving it.


I've started getting catcalls on the street!



Sorry, increased sexiness is one of the possible side-effects of playing Newlife. Try borrowing badly-fitting clothes from your most insane friend.


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