Sickness
Version 1.4.4
If you encounter any issues with the new version, please post them on this thread. Until they are fixed you can switch to the "oldstable" beta which will put you back on version 1.4.3.
Steam deck fix
Version 1.4.3
Changes in this build include:
- Game engine updated from Renpy 7.5.1 to 7.5.3
Small update, I know. The other changes (ARM Linux support, updated Android support) aren't relevant for Steam, so not much to announce here.
Version 1.4.2
Version 1.4.1
Updates to the game
- updates splash screen
- added version number to main menu
- updated game engine from Renpy 6.99.13 to 7.4.11
- re-coded all sprites to take advantage of updated game engine. This removes around 1,000 unnecessary image references
- updated settings screen to split settings into three sections
- added setting to save on quit, and automatically load last save when starting the game. Defaults to disabled
- added setting to disable the colored outline around character dialog. Defaults to enabled
- added setting to add colored outline to character name when they speak. Defaults to disabled
The demo has been updated too with the same changes, in addition to controller fixes.
Steam-specific updates
- the game is now in separate depots for Mac, Windows 32 bit, Windows 64 bit, Linux 32 bit, and Linux 64 bit. This shaves around 100-130MB off the install size.
- implemented cloud saves
If you're unable to start the game after updating, please verify the local files.
You can do this by right clicking on the game in your Steam library and selecting Properties.
Then go to the Local Files tab and click on Verify Integrity Of Game Files.
If you have any problems with Cloud Saves, you can find local backups of the saves on your PC in the following places:
Windows: %APPDATA%/RenPy/Sickness-1392699346/
MacOS: ~/Library/RenPy/Sickness-1392699346/
Linux: ~/.renpy/Sickness-1392699346/
You can copy these files, then right click on the game in your Steam library and go to Manage -> Browse Local Files
Then go into game/saves, and paste the files you want to restore.
If you encounter any other problems, please report them on this thread.
You can also switch to the oldstable beta for the time being, but please note that saves from the new build won't work on the oldstable build.
Sable's Grimoire released
Sable's Grimoire, my new visual novel, has now been released on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/717850/Sables_Grimoire/
Sable's Grimoire is a fantasy visual novel which takes place in a magic academy setting, and centers around the main character's interactions with a variety of demi-humans (monster girls) as he works towards his goal of becoming a renowned researcher.
Sable's Grimoire is mostly comedic. There are some elements of romance, and the occasional depiction of violence, but overall it is a light-hearted game about befriending demi-humans and helping them to resolve the issues they face while attending Amadronia Magic Academy.
The full game is 350k words, contains 13 endings, ~50 choices, and much more.
New visual novel - Sable's Grimoire
Today I am pleased to announce that the demo for my upcoming visual novel, Sable's Grimoire, has been released on Steam!
Sable's Grimoire is a fantasy visual novel which takes place in a magic academy setting, and centers around the main character's interactions with a variety of demi-humans (monster girls) as he works towards his goal of becoming a renowned researcher.
Sable's Grimoire is mostly comedic. There are some elements of romance, and the occasional depiction of violence (not in the demo), but overall it is a light-hearted game about befriending demi-humans and helping them to resolve the issues they face while attending Amadronia Magic Academy.
The full game is expected to launch in July, and is significantly longer than my other games. The demo is 35k words in length (~3 hours, depending on your reading speed), with the full game clocking in at over 10x that length (spread across multiple different routes).
Development is ongoing, but nearing completion. Progress updates will continue to be posted at https://twitter.com/ZetsubouGames
Achievements fix
I issued an update a few days ago (~12MB) which meant achievements could be earned, but unfortunately this didn't appear to work for achievements which were already earned before that update. I've just now released another update (~33KB) which should perform a one-time re-grant of any achievements you've already earned.
Even if you've already uninstalled Sickness, the re-grant should still be possible, as long as you didn't remove all of the save/persistent data for this game from your computer.
The save/persistent directory can be found as follows:
Windows: %APPDATA%/RenPy/
OSX: ~/Library/RenPy/
Linux: ~/.renpy/
You probably wouldn't remove these files on your own without knowing it, but if you use cleaning or special uninstaller software on your computer, you might unknowingly remove it.
Anyway, it was the previous update which broke achievements in Sickness. Moving to a new build environment, with an updated version of the underlying engine, meant that not only was the last update huge, it was also missing the libraries this game uses to sync Steam achievements (they're optional additions, not something built-in). These have now been moved to the new build environment, and I certainly won't be making this mistake again. (Though hopefully no more fixes are needed for Sickness at this point regardless)
Fix for Sara's route
The last update to Sickness introduced a bug which made Sara's good ending inaccessible. Worse, it spoiled another route... for a character who may not have even shown up!
Unfortunately, bug reports and support requests have always gone to Sickness' publisher rather than me (the developer) personally. For the same reason, I haven't been checking the discussions, as they would always identify any issues and pass them along to me. Which worked great... until it didn't.
I was made aware of this bug about 20 minutes before the patch went out, when someone reached out to me directly via Twitter. I was able to find and fix the bug fairly quickly, and it's a very minor change. The bug was caused by a behavior of the Renpy engine I didn't know about with regard to "from _call" statements... not that anyone asked.
While the fix itself is very minor, however, the patch is not. I kept the version of Renpy with which Sickness was made for a year and a half. After the last update, I removed it in favor of the newest build of the engine. The patch I just released was made with this new version of the engine, which means things that haven't been changed within the game still need to be reuploaded because they were recompiled with the new engine.
Anyway, so this doesn't happen again, I've updated the support details for Sickness. They should now lead to me directly rather than going through Sickness' publisher. Please send any bug reports via email or twitter, as I do not tend to check Steam discussions.
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm trying to throw the publisher under the bus, but I thought you deserved a proper explanation rather than me just saying "Fixed!" and moving on.
I should have kept a closer eye on things, but I grew complacent after having someone else deal with these matters in my place for such a long time. This is my mistake, and I apologize for the lack of communication.
Final content update, sale, trading cards & new games
This update focuses on one of Suoh's friends from high school, who was briefly introduced during the Misa extra. The new content covers events prior to the beginning of Sickness, and shows off a very different side of Sara in particular.
With this, development on Sickness has finally come to a close. Any new updates will only be to address bugs or typos. My efforts will now be devoted to releasing new visual novels instead.
Trading cards! Something else that's horribly late. To be honest, I thought these were released over a year ago. This was an oversight on my part, and it will soon be rectified. The trading cards have been submitted for approval by Valve, so I hope to have them out as soon as they are approved.
In case you missed it, I released another game earlier this year. While it's not without conflict, it's certainly far more light-hearted, and you can guess the genres/content by the title: http://store.steampowered.com/app/628920/Tomboys_Need_Love_Too/
I've also released another free game just today. It's a short, comedic game revolving around an android who is responsible for deciding the fate of mankind: http://store.steampowered.com/app/657050/Humanity_Must_Perish/
Finally, I've started development on my next game. I expect to have a demo ready by the end of this year, and I plan on releasing the full game around June 2018. I'll post an announcement here when the demo is out, but for the time being you can receive news about my next game by following me on Twitter, where I will soon start posting information, sprites, screenshots, and so on: https://twitter.com/ZetsubouGames