Hello, and happy Friday.

I’d like to share the schedule for our March update.

The update is scheduled for Thursday, March 26, at 06:00 UTC.

As I was preparing for this March update, I took a moment to look back and realized that we’ve accomplished most of the key points from the “Fundamentals First” direction and roadmap that I shared earlier this year. We set out with the goal of delivering what we had planned, but looking back now, I think we may have actually developed a little more than expected.

With the deadline getting closer, there’s been quite a lot I’ve been able to show you every Friday lately.

As many of you probably already know, once the deadline has passed, it may become a bit harder for me to share things this often and in this much detail like I do now.

When that time comes, I’d really appreciate your kind understanding.

For the March update, we’ve been working on improvements to the flower shop content.

New features are planned, including bouquet making, flower farming, adding fragrance to flowers, and gifting bouquets.

Some of these elements are also included in the video released today, so I think you’ll be able to get a small preview of them there.

As I was writing this post, the view beside my desk in the development room suddenly came to mind.

So I decided to share a photo as well, with that feeling in mind.

(It’s a small dried bouquet.)

To everyone who has waited so patiently for inZOI despite its many shortcomings, and who continues to follow and support us, I want to sincerely thank you.

It makes me wish I could personally hand each of you one of these bouquets.

Thank you as always for enjoying this week’s update.

I hope you all have a relaxing and happy weekend ahead.

Thank you.

kjun

🔗 Discord: Link

🔗 Forum: Link

Kjun’s Reply to Your Comments

Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday.

As always, I spent this week reading your posts and discussing them with the development team, and I’d like to share a summary of what we gathered.

Once again, we received a wide range of feedback and suggestions related to inZOI. The main topics included feature improvements, new content ideas, bug fixes, and many suggestions aimed at making the game feel more immersive and realistic.

Before getting into the main update, I want to clarify something from my previous post because I made a mistake in English. Last Friday, when I used the word “deadline,” I meant the inZOI team’s internal March development cutoff. What I was trying to say is that development usually moves in cycles of planning and implementation, and after the March update, there may be a few weeks where we are not able to include as much new content in our videos. It did not mean that we would stop brainstorming, so please don’t worry about that.

As long as you don’t get tired of it, I’ll keep posting updates and videos.

Let’s see who gives up first.

Major Updates and Feature Suggestions

Minimap and Navigation

Many of you said that a minimap would make getting around the city much easier, and there were also requests for GPS-style navigation and destination markers.

Thanks to your feedback, some of these ideas have already been reflected in development. We also quickly added a feature that lets you toggle your home and owned lots on and off.

Memory System

A lot of you mentioned wanting a system where Zoi characters remember the events they experience, including trauma and emotions, and where those memories influence their behavior and personality. There was a lot of excitement around how this could improve psychological depth and autonomy.

Honestly, this is something I should reflect on. We’ve been working in this genre for a long time, and I added a gameplay log / record-style system much later than I should have. But it’s here now, so please forgive me. haha

Calendar System and Events

Many of you also shared that in-game festivals, holidays, seasonal decorations, and date-based events could make the world feel much more alive. I agree that this kind of system would add a lot to the atmosphere of the game.

New Jobs and Activities

There were also many requests for more jobs and activities, such as delivery work, running a flower shop, owning a salon, or managing a restaurant. A lot of you want more ways to shape your own playstyle, and that makes a lot of sense.

Family and Parenting Systems

We also received many suggestions for improving family gameplay, including baby car seats, cribs, toys, and more interactions with children. We are continuing to expand these features little by little, so please give us a bit more time.

Social Interaction and Autonomy

Many of you asked for more natural conversations between NPCs and player characters, deeper relationship development, systems for secrets and rumors, and more complex personalities and autonomous behavior.

We are currently planning ways to strengthen rumor-related systems, so your feedback has been very helpful. Thank you.

Graphics and Animation Improvements

There were also many requests related to shadow issues, shadow ghosting, low-spec graphics quality, and smoother animations.

We do have a graphics update coming in March. We improved visuals for lower-spec settings, but we also worked on making high-end graphics look better again, more in line with how they used to feel. We improved distant scenery, made indoor furniture cast shadows on the floor, and prevented unnatural blue sky lighting from appearing indoors. Some of these shadow features are enabled only on higher-end settings.

That said, I think even players on lower-spec settings will be able to feel the improvements once the March build arrives.

We also received requests for cloth physics, hair physics, and more natural motion transitions. We’ll review ways to support some of these improvements, even if only on higher-end systems.

Bug Fixes and Core Feature Improvements

Many of you strongly emphasized that bug fixes and improvements to core systems should come first. This included systems like vacations, moving between cities, traveling while managing a business, NPC behavior and autonomy, and adjusting routines and schedules.

Because of that, we are currently thinking seriously about whether we should significantly reduce new feature development during the summer and focus more on stabilization.

To be honest, we are finding it challenging to stabilize the build while also continuing new development. This was already reflected in the plans I shared earlier this year. Even so, I want you to know that we are committed to improving stability.

There were also requests for quality-of-life features such as an age adjustment slider, less forced control over daily routines, and expanded save space. I think these may be possible.

Community Suggestions and Future Direction

The community also shared many interesting ideas, including social classes, club systems, crime and police careers, online dating, counseling systems, pets, and more interaction with the city environment, such as footprints and natural environmental reactions. Some of these are already things we are actively discussing internally.

We also found the ideas about connecting AI-based storytelling with the memory system, and strengthening each character’s individuality, especially interesting. Thank you for those suggestions.

UI and User Experience

There were also many suggestions regarding UI and usability, such as bringing back the previous UI as an option, adjusting the frequency of small talk during conversations, making the minimap optional, and improving the notification system.

Because we’ve received so many requests about the old UI, we are currently working on that as well. Our goal is to let players choose between the old and new UI through preset options.

Thank you again for all of your feedback this week.

This month is especially meaningful because it marks the first anniversary of inZOI. In some ways, that feels exciting, but it also reminds me how quickly time passes.

More than anything, I feel sorry that we still haven’t fully resolved some of the core feature issues and bugs. I know that this is the part many of you are most frustrated about.

But please know this: we have not forgotten these problems.

I’ll be back on Friday with another video.

Thank you, as always.

kjun