Newlife 0.3.11

Hello everyone!

Version 0.3.11 of Newlife is finished and I've released it on Patreon. Early-access Patrons can find it in the creations section here. The changelog is below.
That also means that the 0.3.10 release has been made public. I've updated the links here on the blog, so you can download it now from here. The 0.3.10 changelog is here.

As usual, saved files & templates from older versions probably won't work with newer ones. 

For new players - just use one of the links to the right to get either the jar or the exe version. You only need one or the other - not both. I recommend trying the jar first.
For either version you'll need to have Java installed. A lot of programs use Java so you might well already have it. If the jar shows up as an unrecognised file type, then you probably don't. In that case you can get it from http://www.java.com/. 
The exe should tell you if you don't have the right version on your computer, but you'll still need to install java to run the game.
There's a guide for new players here which includes some troubleshooting tips for installation & downloading.

0.3.11 adds custom npc creation, which means you can define your own npcs to appear in the game. There's a new section in the in-game help with instructions, and you can also look here.
Edit: 0.3.11 has a bug where blank race fields are being treated as custom ones. This means that you can only leave skin, hair or eye colour blank if you've specified a default race (e.g. "black", "white" etc). This will be fixed in the next version, but for now the workaround is to make sure to populate either the race (with a default value) or all three of skin, eye & hair colours.

Here's the full changelog:

• Fixes to text issues. Thanks to John, Cubano, Centerflag, Plundernoob & Death25 for reporting problems they found.
• Fixed an issue with the striptease action reported by death25. This will now be available as long as your character isn't completely naked.

• Fixed npc descriptions to use “an” where their race string starts with a vowel.
• Fixed an issue reported on Patreon where the second impregnator friend event can lead to an odd sex scene with the player's legs open even though she has shorts or jeans around her thighs.
• Fixed a bug with assigning the BAD_DANCER trait to npcs. This should now be much more common among normal npcs (although still rare), and GOOD_DANCER should be a bit rarer.
• Fixed another situation where impregnators would be shocked to discover that they'd successfully impregnated the pc.
• Men will sometimes be more willing to stay the night if they haven't already had sex with you that evening.
• Added a rare alternative description for “move your hips” during the missionary scene. The conditions for this are very specific, so most characters won't see it.
• Added a new “rough” male orgasm to the missionary scene.
• Added a new trait for npcs, an equivalent to the player's Clever Hands one. It has a fairly limited effect in game – mostly it just modifies certain makeout actions.
• Custom npcs can now be added to the game
• Added a new cheat option, as requested in a comment on Patreon.
• Slightly reduced the chance of men initiating oral, as this was happening a bit too much in testing.
• One new random event.

Enjoy the new version, and let me know if you find any bugs!

Quick update

Hi all, just a quick update. I'm a little under the weather this weekend, so I probably won't release this evening.
I know it's a pain. It's a pain for me too - my goal for this month is to get both 0.3.11 and 0.3.12 out, and this is likely to mean a major scramble to try to release the second one in time.

If my head's clear enough for testing tomorrow then it'll probably be that evening.

Guide to making custom npcs

Hello everyone!

I was asked over on the HF forums about npc traits, and I think this is a good opportunity to share the custom npc reference file which has a lot of information about them. This might change as I finish the next release, but I'm hoping it'll be good enough.
If you think that parts of it are unclear, then let me know and I'll update it before the next version comes out.

It's in the form of a heavily-commented yml file which you can get at http://splendidostrich.blogspot.co.uk/p/custom-npcs.html
Just open it up in a text editor to read it.

I'll be putting together some sort of blog page about custom npcs which the in-game help will link to, but I intend this file to be the main one that teaches people how to use the feature so the new page will mostly be a place for people to get hold of it.
Enjoy, and I hope you're all having a good week :)

An early example file for custom npcs

Hello everyone!

Here's a link to a file that you might find interesting - just open it up in a text editor:
https://mega.nz/#!tUBGRJbS!5OpqXCwZlKiqdiWVrqn4jh3Ef-Ccwh3bYmC551gm2n4

I don't expect this to give you enough information to properly start writing your own ones yet. I'll put out a much more detailed example file closer to release with proper instructions on how to fill in each field.
For now though, I hope you'll find this interesting. You can probably see that making your own npcs won't be too difficult once you have all the information about valid trait names and so on.
This one is an npc designed to activate a certain rare event. I know quite a few of you will be wanting to make one, so I'll save you some time and put it out as the first example.


Edit: I forgot to mention, I've decided on YAML as the custom npc file format. That's because JSON doesn't support comments, and you can see in the ephraim.yml file how I like to use them. XML does allow comments, but I think it's a bit more fiddly both to read and to write compared to YAML.

Newlife 0.3.10

Hello everyone!

First, some Patreon news. I've decided to remove the "twice as wrong" milestone for now. This is because I currently have a bit of a backlog of patron additions, and I don't want to end up with the core Friendship update taking excessively long.
I might re-add the twice as wrong milestone, but I'll see how long it takes to get 0.4.0 out and decide then.

Feel free to submit suggestions for alternative milestones. Ideally they'd be ones that wouldn't slow the addition of core content. 

I have considered adding a milestone where I'd contact some people with a good record of quality erotic writing and see if they'd do commissions. However, I generally like working alone and I can see some potential pitfalls with that sort of thing. Still, it might be something to investigate. 

Well, now that I've spoken about Patreon milestones, there's some minor unimportant news that you probably won't care much about:

Version 0.3.10 of Newlife is finished and I've released it on Patreon. Early-access Patrons can find it in the creations section here. The changelog is below.
That also means that the 0.3.9 release has been made public. I've updated the links here on the blog, so you can download it now from here. The 0.3.9 changelog is here.

As usual, saved files & templates from older versions probably won't work with newer ones. 

For new players - just use one of the links to the right to get either the jar or the exe version. You only need one or the other - not both. I recommend trying the jar first.
For either version you'll need to have Java installed. A lot of programs use Java so you might well already have it. If the jar shows up as an unrecognised file type, then you probably don't. In that case you can get it from http://www.java.com/. 
The exe should tell you if you don't have the right version on your computer, but you'll still need to install java to run the game.
There's a guide for new players here which includes some troubleshooting tips for installation & downloading.

0.3.10 is the "Prove me wrong" release. This means that apart from bugfixes, all the new content is based on the recent PMW vote on Patreon. If you like this release, then you owe thanks to the Patron voters who chose the content.
The winning choice was "Consensual submissive/masochistic content (e.g. rough sex, humiliation etc)". That's quite a broad one so I spent the entire release on it. In fact, I could have spent months more on this release, but eventually I had to call a halt and actually do the release. 

The new content is mostly focused on the date/makeout/sex scenes. Some men will take certain actions even if you haven't asked them, but for the most part it's enabled by asking your partner to treat you mean. 
There may be some changes that aren't in the log because I forgot to update it for a few days, but I think everything significant is in there.

Here's the full changelog:

• Fixes to text issues. Thanks to Cubano, Atc, Death25, BabyJ and Jononamous for reporting problems they found, as well as a whole bunch of patrons who helped me out with finding problems in a dev version a few days ago. Without you girls and guys there'd be just so many typos and text problems with the release version, thank you so much for helping out!
• The most important change ever – fixed “who to befriend” to correctly read “whom to befriend”. Thanks to Cubano for reporting this problem. With such a big change, it seems almost pointless to do anything else this release. Surely no-one will even notice any other changes after their bedazzlement with the proper use of the objective pronoun.
• Going to have sex in the gym showers will now correctly strip your character naked, thanks to Cubano for reporting this issue.
• Fixed a silly bug reported by cubano where the pc could have an orgasm while leaving the changing room.
• Added some alternative text to fix the odd situation where impregnators can be shocked at the player's pregnancy, even though they were trying to knock her up.
• Fixed some issues reported over pm on patreon with controls being incorrectly enabled or disabled in character generation.
• Added a trait “likes rough”. This lets the player ask her partners to be rough with her in some situations, which unlocks a lot of the humiliation/rough-sex content that's added in this release. Some of this content can still be chosen autonomously by jerk npcs though. In the current version men will always agreed to this, but in future I might add traits that give a failure chance.
• You can also change your mind and ask your partner to stop being rough. In some situations he's able to refuse this request.
• The "treat me mean" action normally lasts for one date, but you can have a serious talk with your man if you want to be his bitch all the time.
• Modified many willpower checks, conditions and so on based on the above condition.
• Improved the npc logic for deciding how they'll behave. Some men can now fake their behaviour in certain circumstances if they want something from the player (usually sex). However, once they've got what they want their true douchebag nature will assert itself.
• Updated the existing logic behind men choosing which pace to use for sex to take this new trait into account.
• Made some changes to enjoyment & arousal in sex, mostly to take the new trait into account. Also, having sex at extremely low arousal levels will now quickly drain your enjoyment, with negative consequences both to stress relief and to how your character views her partner.
• The cowgirl sex position will be unavailable when you've asked him to be rough with you. Also added an action that men can take during non-rough makeouts that lets them initiate sex while you're on top of them.
• Reworked the conditions & probability of the npc's action where they go back on top of you.
• Men get a new action in the doggystyle position, which they can take if the pc has asked them to be rough with her, or if their preferences lie in that direction.
• New content for the oral sex scene.
• New makeout actions and updated conditions for existing ones.
• Added a new orgasm possibility to the standing and missionary sex scenes.
• New npc speech actions for makeout & sex scenes, excluding the cowgirl one.
• Agreeing to be treated roughly unlocks a new action for the man when you're in your home.
• Men won't cook breakfast for you if you've asked them to treat you mean, but have another action available instead.
• Added an alternative text message for booty calls.
• Say you're uncertain now works differently if you've asked him to be rough. In that situation it's only available for ''cute' girls and represents a clearly fake request that he slow down. You can still use the strong rejection if you actually want him to stop.

Enjoy the new version, and let me know if you find any bugs!

Myles Jackman

Hello everyone!

The next release will be soon - probably tomorrow evening. This post isn't about that though.

As you'll know, this blog is very much focused on Newlife and I don't often post about other matters or link to other sites. However, I've found out about a Patreon account that I think people should know about, especially if you're in the UK.

This is for Myles Jackman, a lawyer in the UK who focuses on obscenity law and helps people unfairly targeted by repressive anti-sex laws on a pro bono basis.

I've never met Mr Jackman or had need to call on his services, but I think it's very good news that he's out there fighting against censorship and so I'm supporting him on Patreon.

You can see his Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/MylesJackman. It has a video and a link to a Guardian article explaining more about what he does.
If you're concerned by our government's recent move towards censorship in the UK and want to support one of free speech and sexual freedom's most tireless champions, then I urge you to check it out and consider contributing.

Newlife 0.3.9

Hello everyone!

Version 0.3.9 of Newlife is finished and I've released it on Patreon. Early-access Patrons can find it in the creations section here. The changelog is below.
That also means that the 0.3.8 release has been made public. I've updated the links here on the blog, so you can download it now from here. The 0.3.8 changelog is here.

As usual, saved files & templates from older versions probably won't work with newer ones. 

For new players - just use one of the links to the right to get either the jar or the exe version. You only need one or the other - not both. I recommend trying the jar first.
For either version you'll need to have Java installed. A lot of programs use Java so you might well already have it. If the jar shows up as an unrecognised file type, then you probably don't. In that case you can get it from http://www.java.com/. 
The exe should tell you if you don't have the right version on your computer, but you'll still need to install java to run the game.
There's a guide for new players here which includes some troubleshooting tips for installation & downloading.


Here's the full changelog for 0.3.9:

• Fixes to text issues. Thanks to Cubano, Bagashi, Jenneke, atc, antage and OrangeJuice for reporting problems they found.
• Added an option to sell your home decorations from the scene where you shop for your flat. You recoup half the money, and can then buy a different decoration if you want. This was suggested by The Observer on Fenoxo's forum.
• Men can now always push you to your knees if you're too pregnant to have sex while standing – this should fix an issue reported by OrangeJuice where pregnant standing makeouts could go on forever if the player didn't take appropriate action to get the guy off. I also improved the logic a little for impregnator npcs and oral sex.
• Fixed a bug I found while answering a forum question from freyja where stress reduction from taking care of your children with high childcare skill wasn't being properly handled and in some cases could actually increase stress. While there is still a random element, you will now never suffer a stress increase if you have a childcare skill of 80 or more.
• Added a change requested by Herrzimm where you can lean over and use your mouth in the porn theatre. This requires your partner to have his cock out, and there are other requirements based on traits & behaviour.
• Halved the duration of the nightclub dancing scene and rebalanced action effects & weights to compensate.
• Changed the chance of an npc initiating nightclub dancing to be based on his dance traits. The probability for good dancers is the same as before, for average ones slightly lower, and for bad dancers very low.
• Men who are bad dancers now have a chance of refusing when the player asks them to dance in a nightclub.
• Fixed a bug reported by Secondarian in one of the last version's new scenes, where refusing to open your legs would cause an error.
• Following a request from Zia, the escape key now lets you quit to the main menu from the week planner screen. This ends the current game without the possibility of returning so save first if you plan to continue it later.
• Following another suggestion from Zia, your breasts will now be one size larger when you're in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.
• Following a suggestion on Patreon, added a Charmless option in character creation which gives you -40 to your starting & maximum charm skill.
• Added some new text for the “cup his balls” action when the player has the maternal trait and is pregnant with the man's child, or if she's fertile and he's already fathered a child on her before.
• Added a new npc trait 'Misanthrope' which will sometimes appear for men with the Jerk personality – the chance is currently 50%. This puts a (fairly low) cap on the maximum he can like you – a change that may need balancing in the future. This should be interesting for people who want Jerks to continue being jerkish long-term, but it does mean that you're no longer guaranteed to be able to “win over” a man who treats you badly at first. It is still possible for him to fall in love with you, although liking does have some input into love calculations so there may be some cases where this is prevented.
• Added a new friendship effect that can appear for misanthropes, although it'll be quite rare for them to actually become someone's friend.
• One new breakfast option, as suggested by Cubano.
• Fixed a bug reported over PM on Patreon where some of your clothing wasn't being removed properly in the impregnator's seduction story even when the text said he was taking it off.
• Fixed the relationship browser not considering any men to be present in the gym scene.
• Added a sexy new scene which can be accessed by going to the gym.
• Added a different second scene which is also accessed by going to the gym. Get your sports kit on!

Enjoy the new version, and let me know if you find any bugs!