re:Dreamer Alpha 0.14.1

Click here for the download links.

Hey folks, sorry for the delay! I... wait, no, I actually released on time for once!

re:Dreamer (0.14.1) shows what happens to Zach's first day of college classes as a woman if he contacted Britney for help disguising his body instead of Keisuke. It's got a bit of overlapping writing here and there, but it's mostly brand-new stuff even if the framework of events is (loosely) the same. It also polishes existing content and fixes a few minor bugs.

Changelog:

• Britney's route has a decent amount of "new" writing (30 minutes, if not a bit more) on Day 4, which is Monday and Zach's first day of school as a woman while disguising his new body. It's got a bit of overlap with Keisuke's route (mostly much of the psychology lecture being the same), but outside of the schedule being the same, almost all of the writing is new. Chiefly, Zach actually did his engineering orientation class final project with the chest binder rather than having to beg his mom for a design to steal, and his break period between PYSC 100 and ENG 100 involves Zach calling his mom for advice on the project and having a pretty detailed talk with her... before things go south.
• Keisuke's Day 4 has also been fully polished with the higher standards I have now. Not much of the writing changed, but the expressions are much better, as are the animations.
• The very start of Britney's route has been cleaned up with better expressions, more animation polish, and a bit clearer writing about Zach's opinion of Britney to Ai. I still have to do until the middle of the Day 2 mall date, but a release needs to get out the door on time for once.
• This means I have unfortunately cut the other start to the route (demanding Britney come over to explain everything in-person instead of texting and being misunderstood). I like the writing there, but as it's really not needed and retroactively patching it in doesn't make much sense at this point when I should be trying to avoid revision hell and move the game forward.
• I fixed an animation issue or two in the Britney arcade date.
• The phone now uses date and time stamps in certain locations, better mimicking a real phone screen.
• There's another file structure change, but many of the labels stayed intact so maybe the saves are going to work still? If they break, use the jump menu to get to where you need to go and rebuild your saves, as it is once again fully unlocked.
• Ai's pink phone text background has been returned after breaking.
• Thanks to P.Bird's script checks (a former Magical Camp dev), the intro day is a lot better and clearer grammatically.

As usual, the full changelog for every release can be found at https://justpaste.it/rdchangelog

So... you might have heard that Magical Camp has shut down. The highly ambitious RPG Maker game stood as one of the crown jewels of TFGames.Site and it is a bittersweet loss to see such an amazing gender bender transformation game join the hordes of far less enjoyable titles under the sad "unfinished/ceased development" label.

While not technically dead and merely on hiatus, the severe limitations of the RPG Maker VX Ace have made collaborative work on this an absolute nightmare, as almost none of the project can be worked on piecemeal à la Student Transfer's use of Git. The band very well could get back together at some point to finish the song, but many are talking about moving onto greener pastures with a new project on engine that isn't as limited and that doesn't actively sabotage group efforts.

One of these people, P.Bird (I do not have a social media to link to), expressed interest in writing creatively on a collaborative and had prior experience with Ren'Py (the engine re:Dreamer uses). Upon the suggestion/recommendation of another "former" Magical Camp developer, I offered him a paid "test" of evaluating parts of current script for errors for a few hundred dollars, with the hopes that he might be able to help with actual writing in the future (my health isn't the greatest and could take a decline fairly quickly and I do not want to leave this visual novel unfinished).

He agreed and did a phenomenal job on that, but had to decline doing more as he had realized how much of a sprawling passion project re:Dreamer was and he had doubts over emulating my personal style of writing (and also calling C.H.E.A.T.S. "the stuff of his nightmares").

Surprisingly, he declined payment as well, but he considered the chance to look under the hood at "some fascinating Ren'Py ideas I hadn't considered before" as payment for his partial work.

I insisted on paying him anyways, but he refused, so it's only fair that I shout him out so much to state that he is looking to do a project of his own someday soon. Details remain sparse, but he's expressed interest in that direction, so be on the look out for something from him to be announced or even contact him if someone with that game experience seems like someone you'd want to work with.

I can't overstate how much I loved Magical Camp and will mourn its hospice check-in. Beyond losing a great game I absolutely recommend you play despite its unfinished state, I might have to plan a planned tie-in between re:Dreamer and Magical Camp (both of which are canon in the other's universe).

As you almost certainly know very well by now, Britney does cosplay, and after learning that her "boyfriend" (and possible repressed trans woman who needs the help and support of a female friend) likes gender bender content, she would have downloaded manga, anime, and games related to the genre in a way to better relate to Zach and understand his erotic tastes.

One of these pieces of media was planned as Magical Camp, which I had been praying would be finished by the time the re:Dreamer reached this point in Britney's route (very late winter).

And Britney, of course, would be trying to get Zach to cosplay as one of the cast members from it, because that's just what good girlfriends do...

Chibi, the artist behind the title screen and custom sprites Magical Camp uses, drew Zoey in Alice and Veronica's outfits (the former was commissioned by me, while the latter was commissioned by a fan who saw the Alice cosplay and wanted the runner-up on a vote to be done).

The day could still come that this reference gets used, but until then, I wish the Magical Camp devs the best of luck. They're an immensely talented group of people who I hope don't give up on creative works just because of this setback and come together again to make something even greater.

re:Dreamer (0.15.0) drops on Friday, May 5th, with Samantha's completed sprites and the extension of the blursed Mom Route.

While she's not quite done yet (her held items are still line art, for instance), she's on the very last stretch with ETA to completion in less than a week.

The Friday update this month will cover everything involved in Zoey's breast size standardization and a vote of what to do about it, but my own developing breasts have really hurt as of late and it's been sapping my energy to focus on her undoubtedly greater chest pain.

Until then!