Hey lads!
Long time no see. I know, I know - these devlogs are coming out slower and slower, but that’s because I’ve been so busy with work that I’m trying to minimize any wasted time wherever I can. There are also personal complications, such as having a fever for the past week. As a result, all my social media activity took a hit. I still try to read all comments (even the long essays), but I don’t always have time to reply. As always, I’m mainly active on Discord and Twitter, so if you’re interested in more real-time updates and sneakpeaks, you know where to look.
I've lost count of how many times I've come back to writing this devlog. Usually, my daily life gets in the way (kids, to be precise), and I'm sick for the 3rd or 4th time this season because my kid keeps bringing a new virus home from kindergarten. I also tend to remember something I'm supposed to change, or I suddenly have an idea that sends me straight back to Unity. This is why some parts end up being deleted or outdated, so please bear with me.
Here's a link to sneakpeak videos. If you gonna skip reading and just check videos - just keep in mind that some of those are rather outdated, as they were recorded like 3 months ago, and that's a lot of time in early development stage.
I’ll start with a personal rant, so feel free to scroll down if you don’t care:
A lot has happened over this long period, but I’ll try to keep it brief.
The most important thing (both for me and the project) is that my older kid has finally settled into kindergarten. She goes there and comes back with a smile every day, causes no trouble, and both the teachers and other kids like her - which makes me super happy. Thanks to that, I can (usually) work in peace and without interruptions in the mornings, so my progress speed has improved recently. No worries, I try to work through the entire day - I just don't have specific work hours, as my daily life is pure chaos, full of all kinds of interruptions & surprises. Well, "peaceful work" might be a bit of an overstatement since the younger one is still at home, lol. And of course, the older one has already brought home some crap a few times from kindergarten (I’ve been hit hard twice so far). Perks of having a kid in kindergarten, I guess.
Since we’re on the kid topic - some of you know she’s waiting for surgery, but after meeting with her doctors in Warsaw, they confirmed it definitely won’t happen next year. So that’s one less thing to stress about for the coming months.
Another big thing is my home renovation. I was supposed to move out on November, but I had to beg my landlord to let us stay until the end of the year because everything went off the rails. Renovating an old house is a completely different beast compared to fixing up a small apartment. I expected problems, but not this many. It’s eaten up a huge amount of my time and money, so all my emergency savings are basically gone. That’s one of the reasons I haven’t hired a background artist yet (more on that below).
And lastly, another family crisis hit us last month (perks of having a huge family). Things have calmed down since then, but I’m still feeling pretty drained. Yeah, there's always something.
Sorry for the rant.
Let's talk about the project next:
And I’ll start with something pretty important and troublesome. As you all know, the world is shunning adult games more and more. We’ve got things like Visa and Mastercard giving NSFW games the middle finger, Valve banning Early Access and DLCs for adult content, and so on. So by the time I get close to releasing UiTC2:R on Steam, NSFW games might already be banned altogether. At this point, I don’t believe I’ll be allowed to participate in Steam Next Fest in February 2026 either, which complicates my plans and funding even more. And who knows, maybe they’ll remove UiTC from Steam too. This makes it incredibly hard to plan the project’s future around Steam when there are so many unknown variables.
Without Steam Next Fest, there’s no real point in doing a public demo in February, since that was the main reason. Without Early Access, there’s no point releasing the game on Steam next year, because it would be way too early to release it as a "finished" product. And without DLCs, I’d have to raise the base price and include all bonus content, or skip bonuses entirely on Steam. So what am I going to do about it? Honestly, no fucking clue right now. I’ll observe the situation and keep you updated as things evolve. Don’t get me wrong, if I can release it on Steam, I will. It’s just becoming too stressful and basically impossible to plan anything related to a Steam release (or the project’s long-term roadmap in general).
Not much changes for Patreon and SubscribeStar. I’ll keep working and releasing content the same way I always have. As for itch, well… They already delisted my game from search, so even if I released anything there, I doubt even a hundred people would notice (I sold 6 copies during Black Friday Week). So UiTC2:R will remain exclusive to Patreon and SubscribeStar until further notice. And I’m still not paywalling it behind different tiers this year, thus it’ll stay available to all patrons, because I still don’t feel it’s right to split access yet, even though UiTC2:R already has way more content than my first project, UotW, did in its v0.01 release, lol.
I’m still planning on having free versions eventually, but I don’t know when or under what rules. It needs more time, more substance, and probably updated background art first, so I can avoid seeing the Project Zomboid jokes every time I share a screenshot. I can’t tease a polished game without it actually being polished, and I can’t hide the project forever because it’s too early to show. The more "broken-state" sneakpeaks will stay reserved for supporters on my Discord.
For UiTC2:R development, I’m following the pattern of "make it exist first, then make it good later". I know a lot of you wonder, "Why the fuck is he working on so many features instead of focusing on porn content?" The workflow is completely different when you spend a month perfecting one feature versus spending a few days making a basic functional version that you can build on later. Some of you probably remember how difficult it was to add new systems to the old UiTC, and how updates stalled whenever a large feature was in progress. That’s what doomed several ideas, like pregnancy (I suddenly needed to tag events, update animations, write new dialogue everywhere) or lesbians (impossible to add because the game never supported two characters of the same gender interacting). These things were added too late and didn’t fit anymore.
If I’d built the groundwork for pregnancy early (just the basics) it would’ve worked so much better in the finished game. That’s why I’m adding all the features I want in the final version now: stealing, lockpicking, exhibitionism, minigames, interactions, and more. I want to avoid the spaghetti code hell of the original UiTC, because that shit seriously burned me out. Keep in mind - this is a development pattern, not a release plan.
I wanted to release the next UiTC2:R tech demo in November and UiTC v46 in December. But it wasn’t enough time to polish things or wrap up the features I started. Even for an early tech demo, I want you to have a smooth, playable experience, though of course you’ll still run into unfinished and buggy stuff. I was more focused on getting everything ready for Steam Next Fest in February, not the in-between release. But since things changed, my focus is shifting back toward substantial Patreon/SubscribeStar releases.
The actual plan now is to give you something reasonably playable (some scenes and events with the Diner and Albert). I’m going to TRY to release the next tech demo before Christmas (though that’s only about 3 weeks away). As usual, I take a break during Christmas and return to work on January 2nd, aiming to release UiTC v46 in January. I also want to release a short devlog at the end of the year, so I’ll probably write it during my Christmas break. If you were subscribed before but canceled recently, no worries - just contact me and I’ll give you access.
The renovation screwed me both financially and time-wise. I’m also moving in about 2 weeks, and there are too many loose ends and unfinished things to release anything while packing, cleaning, moving, and settling into a new place. So the next UiTC2:R tech demo might be delayed until January. I also can’t predict how many issues will come up after moving or how quickly the kids will adjust, so more delays are possible, but I still want to make it before Christmas.
Monthly updates for UiTC2:R are basically impossible right now. There’s too much work everywhere, and a monthly deadline would make it impossible to add any bigger features (since I’d never have enough time to start anything time-consuming). So I’m switching to bimonthly updates. After the upcoming release, we’ll shift more toward actual game content. A lot of the groundwork is already done, and I don’t need to add every major future feature yet (like lesbians or prison). So 2026 should be a fappable year for UiTC2:R.
As for the background artist, well, to be honest, I don’t currently have the money to hire one. Character art and animations are the priority. So locations will have to look like Project Zomboid a bit longer while I rely on placeholder backgrounds. I need to finish the renovation and move so I don’t have so many expenses. I’m hoping the winter sale will give me enough of a small financial boost to fund a background artist. If things go well, I should be able to hire one around January-February.
Before, I wanted a background artist to create entire locations from scratch, which would be expensive and very time-consuming (and also hard to find someone willing to commit that much to an adult game, as the NSFW scene is way more unstable and unreliable than SFW). But since I’m now building all locations myself from tiles, it means less work for the future background artist, though more work for me. On the plus side, I’ll have more control, and changing or expanding locations will be much easier.
Also, we now have over 7,000 members on Patreon, 4,000 on Discord, and 700 followers on Twitter, and the old UiTC has just reached 25,000 sales on Steam. So huge thanks to everyone who supported the project, spread the word, shared posts, and contributed in any way. It’s really cool and motivating to see more and more people interested in my games.
Whenever I’m in a foul mood or feel myself slowing down, it reminds me that there are a ton of people enjoying my work and waiting for more, and I can’t let them down. I have to keep going. So once again, thank you all so much! I’ll keep doing my best and try not to disappoint you, lads.
Regarding development:
You know, games usually have a main concept they want to build around - maybe a cool story they want to tell, a fully destructible world, or hyper-realistic shooting mechanics. For my game, it’s ultimate freedom and meaningful choices. I try to follow that pattern in every aspect of development.
For example: Kevin’s safe. Even though it’s in an early location, it won’t be unlockable early on. First you’ll need to figure out how to enter Kevin’s office, and even then unlocking the safe won’t be easy. But it’s right there. It’s up to you whether you want to commit a crime, whether your character is built around stealing, and so on. Or if someone asks you to collect a debt, there will be more ways to resolve it than simply walking up and asking the debtor to pay. It all depends on your character build and playstyle.
It’s an NSFW game, so of course many paths may lead to sexual content. Whoring will often be the easiest way forward, but the game won’t force you to whore your way through the content. I’m not saying that writing or storytelling will be ignored or treated as an afterthought - after all, I hired a writer who handles about 95% of the writing in UiTC2:R (so if the writing sucks, mostly blame him, not me, lol). I also hired a professional character artist and animator who uses Spine, so character customization and animations will be much better than in the old UiTC (as you can already see from the sneakpeaks).
BUT I’m not making this game to tell some cool story I had in mind. It’s not a slow corruption game. It’s not about NTR. It’s not about waitressing, chikan, whoring, or any other specific kink - even though all of those will be in the game. It’s also not Insexsity or a clone of any other title. It’s my own vision. It’s an RPG about freedom and choices. That’s my priority, and that’s why I’m creating this game.
You can play it for the waitressing content. You can enjoy the NTR, the chikan, or any of the other features and kinks. But it’s always up to you which elements you engage with; the game will never force you into every single feature. Even the main storyline isn’t forced and will resolve itself without your input, and you can keep playing after it ends.
No, I’m not saying a good FPS can’t also have a good story, but it’s rare for any game to nail multiple aspects at once. When it happens, you hear about those games for years, while 99.99% of games fade away. It’s not for me to judge whether my game has good writing or story. I honestly doubt it’ll make it onto any "hot" rankings or that people will talk about it for decades. But I’m giving this project everything I have, and I just hope that the people who give it a chance enjoy their time with it.
Believe it or not, I’d rather see a handful of 5/5 reviews than 100,000 copies sold, because that’s a better indicator of a good game. I have no ambition to become rich or famous - I just want peace, without dramas, shitstorms, or a new person trying to ruin my project or blackmail me every other month. That’s all.
Also, there won’t be any hand-holding from me. Yes, there will be hints, but not giant arrows like in modern games. You’ll have to explore and figure things out on your own. That doesn’t mean I’m ignoring accessibility, as I’m putting a lot of extra time into QoL features like skipping content, fast travel, saving anywhere, and making gameplay smooth and optimized (saving anywhere and solid optimization are still surprisingly rare in Unity games).
While I do enjoy crafting mechanics in games (I'm a survival and prepping fan, so I do love games like Neo Scavenger, UnderRail or Stalker), I know too many crafting materials and such can be overwhelming and lead to micro-managing all the time instead of enjoying the game. That's why I'm not gonna do any crafting system for UiTC2:R. There will be simple cooking system that will use a few general ingredients to cook a few homemade foods. So there won't be an option to cook lasagne or spaghetti at home like in The Sims games, and it won't be much different from the old UITC. You will have a few cooking options, like healthy food or something to cheer you up (stat boosters), and it will scale with Jane's cooking skill, so simple dish with level 5 Cooking will be better than the same dish with 0 Cooking skill. Homemade food won't be obtainable any other way, and will always be superior and cheaper than any other food, but it's your call if you gonna bother with teaching Jane how to cook. Of course, it will come with a few other uses, like helping hobos.
I want you to get more connected with Jane, as she's not just some random soulless doll. She has health/mood stats, her desires get rolled based on her current state, and dialogues and thoughts change based on her corruption or situation. But if you want to take it further, I'm adding optional Iron Maiden mode which limits you to one save slot and either automatically saves everything you do, or limits you to saving at designed locations only (still didn't get to working on save system, so I don't know how problematic it will be to let you save the game in the middle of busy street). This way you are with your character for good or bad. And for doing harder challenges you will get better rewards, like more experience points or unlocking powerful variants of backstories/traits in new playthroughs. But again, it's optional.
What about NSFW stuff? Well, it’s hard to add content without first having the necessary features, animations, and systems in place, and right now we’re mostly stuck on technical work, as you’ve seen in the devlogs. BUT we are already working on events, scenes, quests, story, future content, etc. - it just takes time. Not all of it can be NSFW, and we can’t introduce Kevin or Albert to the game with an NSFW scene. Unique NPCs need to be introduced properly before they can have any sexual content. And I can’t split myself - working on technical systems, fixing bugs, designing scenes and events, and scripting them, since I’m doing the majority of the work on my own. It’s a shitload of work.
For now, we’re focusing mainly on Jane’s home (Albert) and the diner (Kevin), while also working on random encounters with random NPCs. New NPCs and locations will be introduced gradually.
If you ask me about the general vision for the gameplay, it’s something like this:
Unique NPCs will have progressing stories tied to their themes. For example, Kevin’s events, quests, and related content will be diner-themed and will unlock more diner features. The diner mini-game will be directly connected to Kevin, and they will influence each other. To see Kevin’s groping scenes, you’ll need to progress his story first, while serving diner customers will increase Kevin’s reputation and speed up his progression (e.g., getting promoted earlier to unlock more of his story). In Albert’s case, his content revolves around rent and flat-related issues, so since Jane lives there, she will have to deal with him constantly. Scenes also play out differently depending on whether you’re good or bad to diner customers, and whether you pay or don’t pay Albert’s rent.
In addition to story content, unique NPCs will have repeatable events (Kevin’s groping, ending a shift in his office, Albert’s weekly rent collection, etc.). So even after you finish their questlines, there will still be things to do with them.
The main storyline is about winning the elections. Jane can help one of the candidates win by running errands for them and sabotaging the others. It’s the main storyline, but it’s optional, and it resolves itself after 100 days. There’s no game over or bad ending - just different outcomes depending on who wins and whether Jane actually helped.
There’s also a personal storyline based on the chosen backstory (currently 4 concepts exist, with 6 planned for the full game). Each backstory is connected to Jane’s past. Some of these can’t be failed, while others can lead to a game over.
Random NPC events and quests exist, but they must be interacted with manually, though in some cases, NPCs may approach Jane on their own.
There are custom activities such as streaming, desires, stealing, lockpicking, exhibitionism, glory holes, prostitution, and more. You can spend entire days dumpster diving or sucking dicks in a glory hole without caring about anything else. I will never tell you how to play or force you into seeing some weird kinks.
Each "theme" comes with its own mini-game, vibe, and related NSFW scenes. The diner has cooking & waitressing, Albert has demands based on rent debt, dating involves choosing the right dialogue options, masturbation involves switching hands and body parts based on Jane’s desires, prostitution is about fulfilling NPCs’ desires, and so on. Each upcoming full-time or part-time job will also introduce something new (nurse, secretary, food delivery, etc.).
Dialogue choices depend on stats, backstories & traits. A muscular Jane can intimidate people, while a prostitute Jane can seduce them. Even if some outcomes happen to be the same, the rewards can still be different.
You improve skills by using them (e.g., walk without underwear first before you can walk fully naked at night in the park). Skills will have multiple ranks, and as they level up, they will provide unique bonuses and more uses. Skills can also be improved by reading books in the library or paying NPCs for training.
Jane has vital stats she must manage, such as health or mood. She has to eat, sleep, wash, etc., on a daily basis, but these won’t deplete quickly (skipping one night of sleep won’t make Jane collapse in the street), won’t be severe (being dirty won’t prevent NPCs from talking to you), and can be "cheesed" with items (eat snacks from inventory, use deodorant without showering, drink an energy drink instead of sleeping, etc.). However, taking a proper shower, eating homemade food, and sleeping in a bed will always be cheaper and more beneficial than the quick alternatives.
There are two main currencies: money and experience points. Money can be used for everything, and there are many ways to earn it. Experience points unlock perks that improve various aspects of gameplay, and you gain EXP for practically everything - from trivial actions like sleeping to completing quests. Everything is an experience in The City!
So basically, you chose a reputation-oriented backstory and picked perks related to disposition & NPC interactions. Now you want to help one of the candidates win while simultaneously uncovering your past, working daily at Kevin’s Diner and climbing the ranks, dealing with Albert at home and trying to pay rent on time, then (wearing a face mask) streaming nude and walking naked in the park at night. You go to the gym & spend money on clothes to further boost your charm and be liked, then pretend to be a good citizen by cooking homemade meals for hobos, etc., etc.
As more features and activities get added over time, the more freedom and choices you’ll have. That said, don’t expect everything described here to be in the game by 2026, as features will be added gradually, but this time much faster thanks to 1.5 years of hard work building a solid foundation and avoiding spaghetti code.
That’s what I’m aiming for, and what was impossible to achieve in the old UiTC.
Work done since the last devlog:
After spending a few months working on the isometric view - and figuring out my workflow, what I’m missing, what’s annoying, and so on - I decided to build locations (floors + walls) from small fragments. Since it would be really ridiculous to do all that by hand, snapping everything to pixels manually, I created a small script that generates rooms of any desired dimensions. This not only removes human error but also helps with scaling the project later if needed. All furniture placement and overall location setup will still need to be done by hand, as I'm not going for procedural generation, but they can still be synced with tiles. I believe I’ve covered everything I needed for the core features & mechanics of indoor isometric locations. Of course, there’s still a lot of polishing to do and some future features that might be needed later (like if I ever decide to let NPCs naturally walk in and out of buildings, etc.). Outdoor locations, like Main Street, are a completely different story, since I have several possible approaches there, each with its own pros and cons, but I would need to discuss it with my future background artist, so I won't talk about it now. What’s more, I made locations quite flexible & adaptable, so if I need to move, resize, change, or add rooms & furniture, it won’t break anything and will be easy to do. This is unlike the old UiTC, where every move or spawn point was a static position on the background (one of the reasons for multiple position glitches), and any change could break a lot of stuff. At this point, I could add multiple different locations to the game, even small rooms, alleys etc. just for the sake of random events (like waking up a in random place after drinking), but I will still need to spend time on swapping art files later, so for now I'll stick to adding what I really need for quests & events. I know most of you don’t care much about technical stuff, but there’s been a ton of fixes and QoL changes everywhere. To name a few:
Interactable environment is now titled (cabinets, doors), while hidden treasures are not, so finding them feels more rewarding. There will be unique abilities that highlight them.
Stuff from different rooms is disabled so it doesn’t get in the way (interactable elements, NPC chat bubbles, walls, etc.). You can see interaction and interact only within the same room.
Many messages (like errors) were moved from the dialogue window to overhead text, without pausing the game.
All interactable objects, doors, etc. now have their corresponding interaction/move points, colliders, icons, etc. calculated directly from their data & position, thus can be easily duplicated and moved around.
Pathfinding, collision detection, and draw order all update automatically, work with every character and background, and are already optimized, so no heavy calculations while playing.
Yes, you can still zoom in so the characters cover the whole screen. You don't need to play on zoomed out camera. Also, there are multiple camera settings.
You can edit background transparency or even hide all walls in the settings. There are many settings, so you can adjust the game to your preferences.
Diner & Home locations with placeholder assets below.
The NPC Detection System (or rather more like "Behavior System") is one of the game’s core features - the beating heart of everything. It ties multiple systems together, making them all interact and influence each other. Normally, Jane is just one of many commoners in The City - nothing special (it’s your job to make her stand out). So, by default, NPCs don’t pay much attention to her. Her visibility to the world is influenced by several factors, such as Fame, Infamy, Charm, and her current actions (being a well-known criminal doesn’t help with avoiding getting caught, obviously). These variables determine how NPCs react to her.
It’s still rough and far from finished, as outcomes like getting reported or arrested are missing, NPC behavior needs more work, and proper remarks and reactions still have to be added.
If she starts doing something illegal, NPCs will begin calculating their detection chance based on various parameters. It takes them a moment to "process" what’s happening before they decide how to respond. For instance, walking around without a shirt is very different from being fully naked. Basically, Jane’s actions lead to NPC reactions. Whether she’s stealing, breaking in, or flashing - somebody might notice. Depending on who that is, they might ignore her, report her, start masturbating (if aroused and morally loose), record her (if she’s famous), approach her and exploit the situation (thugs and gang members are especially eager), or even try to arrest her (if they’re law enforcement).
There are 7 NPC classes (Commoner, Thug, Homeless, Citizen, Gang, Law, Elite) and 2 genders, each with different behavioral weights. For example, males are more likely to be touchy, while females might run away or call the cops more often.
While Jane is in an Immoral State (flashing, masturbating, etc.) and visible to NPCs, they start building Lust. As their Lust rises, the chance of them acting sexually increases. The more exposed Jane is, and the higher her stats like Charm, the faster those meters fill. A high Charm also increases the odds of being groped when bumping into someone.
The number of NPCs reacting depends on how many are nearby. More NPCs mean a higher chance some will ignore Jane, so you won’t have 50 of them swarming her (which would break both performance and gameplay). 10 NPCs vs 20 won’t double the difficulty or the number of sexual acts, but it will increase them slightly, so even people with weaker PCs/phones can enjoy the game.
One of key differences between UiTC and UiTC2:R is that the remake is more interactive and action-based. For example, entering a dark alley in the RLD won’t automatically trigger an event - instead, event-related NPCs may spawn or nearby NPCs start approaching Jane once she gets too close and becomes their target (as their detection meter fills). When one of them gets close enough, a scene triggers. In other words - if you want to stay unnoticed, keep Jane’s profile low and avoid getting too close to strangers. Or, if things go bad, try running. Similarly, if you start undressing in a crowded RLD street... Well, good luck getting out of that one. Of course, you can always build your character around that kind of playstyle. All of this is affected by difficulty settings. Freedom, choices, consequences.
Now, the Exhibitionism System - one of the most requested features - consists of both passive & active elements.
Passively, it allows Jane to wear more revealing clothes or go without underwear (yes, you don’t need high Corruption to skip underwear). While the passive part increases her Charm and Visibility, it won’t trigger the NPC Detection System on its own, since it’s not illegal.
The active part, however, is where Jane performs immoral or illegal acts of exhibitionism. This works as a mini-game within the current location. I plan 2 versions:
Goal Mode - Move from point A to B without getting caught. NPCs will patrol or stand around, and each location will have different difficulty and rewards.
Free Roam Mode - Like what you see in the attached video. Jane undresses in an area that allows exhibitionism and can walk around freely, provoking nearby NPCs.
During exhibitionism, Jane gains exhibitionism experience per second while avoiding detection - the closer she is to NPCs and the more exposed she is, the faster she levels up. Her Stress gradually builds as a soft time limit (you can’t just wander naked for hours, especially early on).
Certain options, like opening the phone or entering buildings, will be disabled during exhibitionism. If her Corruption is high enough, she’ll also be able to masturbate or initiate sexual acts herself. As with everything in the game, Jane can specialize in exhibitionism, and with the right backstories, traits, and perks, push it to absurd levels.
Another small feature worth mentioning (shown in the video) is pausing the game without freezing the world completely. Jane’s animations never stop, even when time around her is frozen (I find that more immersive). In some cases, time briefly resumes. For example, when Jane starts undressing during exhibitionism, so it feels like she’s actually moving rather than instantly changing clothes while the world stands still.
Committing crimes and getting into trouble with the law is one of the planned ways to play in UiTC2:R, so of course, it needs a proper stealing mechanic.
I really couldn’t come up with a satisfying mini-game for stealing and lockpicking (and oh boy, I brainstormed a lot), but I eventually decided to go with something inspired by fishing mini-games, and I believe it fits both gameplay-wise and vibe-wise, as you’re essentially "fishing" for the wallet in the stealing mini-game. As with most things I create, it’s complex under the hood, but simple on the surface. A lot of factors are calculated behind the scenes to determine the difficulty, making it feel more natural to steal in crowded places or at night.
Despite being skill-based, it’s still an RPG, so both Jane’s and the NPCs’ stats will matter. Of course, you can expect various traits, perks, items, and backstories to influence stealing success as well. There will also be an optional way to skip the mini-game using a dice roll (again, calculated from all the relevant data). However, it’s not yet properly balanced.
How it works? It’s very straightforward - you hold the mouse button until the progress bar reaches 100%. The green bar greatly increases progress. The blue bar increases the amount stolen. The red bar increases the NPC’s alertness. If alertness reaches 100%, Jane gets caught, triggering a short mini-event. The mini-game also fails if Jane runs out of time (but without triggering an event). There are 3 risk modes - Low, Medium, and High - allowing you to decide whether to aim for more loot & experience at the cost of greater difficulty. Everything NPCs carry in their inventory (including unique items) can be stolen, but each NPC can only be pickpocketed once per day. I’m trying to avoid hard player limits (like pickpocket 3 times per day), so instead, Jane’s stress increases, her stats degrade, and pickpocketing difficulty rises with each attempt - though the penalties decrease as her skill improves. Since it’s an NSFW game, I also added a small twist, and Jane can touch the NPC, making the mini-game easier or more rewarding (though it's not ready as there are no animations for it yet).
I experimented a lot with how stolen items should be determined, and in the end, I decided the simplest approach was also the fairest. If Jane has 42% Steal Power, then each item has a 42% chance of being stolen. So, if an NPC has 3 tissues, each tissue gets its own 42% roll - meaning you might steal all 3 if you’re lucky, or none if you’re not (usually one in this case). Steal difficulty mainly depends on the NPC’s inventory value, so robbing someone with a few bucks is easy, but targeting someone with a $1000 item is much harder.
Some features are still in progress, such as NPC traits, a visible inventory window (so you don’t have to initiate trade to see what can be stolen), proper animations (Jane currently just moves behind her target), and the caught event. I don’t plan to dynamically change the mini-game visuals based on the NPC’s clothing, as that would waste my already limited resources. However, I’ll at least make the mini-game pants color match the NPC’s, and swap the male pocket art for a female bag when the NPC is a woman. All art shown is placeholder until I have a proper artist.
I originally wanted to go with something inspired by TES: Oblivion’s lockpicking system since it felt more "appropriate", but everyone seems to love TES: Skyrim’s one more, so I went for something similar. After all, the point of mini-games isn’t to make them annoying.
As with most mini-games in UiTC2:R, lockpicking can be skipped entirely. You don’t even need to use it to play the game - and even if you do, you can skip the mini-game with a dice roll. Of course, you’ll miss a bit of content, but nobody’s going to force you to use it.
The old UiTC didn’t have many locks, so there was no point in making a dedicated mini-game for it. This time, however, criminal acts play a big role, as Jane will be able to break into buildings, and NPC valuables will be locked in containers. Since every building and room is enterable, breaking in and looting finally makes sense (and getting caught). Some containers and loot will respawn or reroll. I’m not going to use procedural generation for locations (that would be overkill), but I’ll talk more about that in another post.
How it works:
- Gameplay is simple - you hold the left mouse button for a short moment at the correct spot until the lock fully rotates. The more it rotates, the closer you are to the correct spot. If it stops rotating before that, the spot is wrong, and the lockpick will start taking damage until it breaks.
- To use a lockpick, Jane will first need to learn how, just like in the old UiTC. There’ll be multiple ways to do that; some backstories will know it by default.
- She won’t need a specific skill level to unlock "Very Hard" locks - I’m trying to avoid any hard locks (pun intended).
- Opening any lock with 0 skill is technically possible, just extremely unlikely. Every 50 difficulty points, the lock gains an additional level that Jane must pick again successfully.
- Breaking a lockpick drops her progress by one level and rerolls the correct spot (for balance reasons).
- Opening a lock always consumes a lockpick (again, balance reasons), so it’s smarter to use cheaper lockpicks for easier locks. There are currently two types - default and super lockpicks. Super lockpicks are rarer and more expensive but also more durable and make lockpicking easier.
- As Jane improves her lockpicking skill, she’ll gain bonuses like lower chances of breaking lockpicks or losing progress. Related perks, traits, items, and backstories will exist - ranging from simple bonuses to more advanced effects like preventing the correct spot from rerolling after failure.
- With 0 skill, Jane will obviously suck at it, but as she gains related abilities or items, it’ll get much easier.
- A successful "Try Luck" dice roll will progress one lock level rather than opening the whole lock (sorry, save-scumming enjoyers). It’s just a quality-of-life feature for players who dislike the mini-game and are more into rolling a dice.
- For those who hate sneaky playstyles and prefer pure chaos, there’s also an alternate way to break locks using sheer force (like with a crowbar), but it draws a lot more attention.
- Having double the skill compared to the lock’s difficulty guarantees 100% success.
- Unlocking harder locks grants more experience, while failing gives a small amount - just enough to reward you without making failure the optimal strategy for fast EXP gain.
- Looting containers can be legal (no penalties), immoral (socially shunned, like trash diving, which only affects reputation), or illegal (raising crime gauge, alerting NPCs, etc.).
- An NPC noticing Jane picking a lock has a chance to approach her while she’s in this "vulnerable" state.
- Leaving a location after committing a crime will reset alerted NPCs, but it will prevent Jane from returning for a while. The Crime gauge will also linger and slowly decrease over a longer period of time.
- How you approach the Crime system is entirely up to you. You can avoid committing crimes altogether, commit them without anyone noticing, commit them and run away to avoid consequences, or keep getting caught and enjoy the aftermath.
I still need to balance how lock difficulty scales, but it’s tricky to decide what feels "right". Super hard locks with 250+ difficulty will be reserved for unique containers not meant to be opened early in the game, so they won't be common.
Her crawling pose is intentional, as it’s meant to attract NPCs and trigger animations tied to that pose. It’ll use the same system as exhibitionism: passing NPCs can notice Jane and react. Being spotted doesn’t instantly mean being interrupted or arrested, as it depends on who notices her and how they respond. Committing crimes quickly draws less attention, so it matters how fast she is.
Jane's Visibility and NPC Detection still aren’t implemented for lockpicking, and animations are missing too. That’s why they didn’t appear in the sneakpeak. But conceptually, it’s very similar to what I showed earlier with the exhibitionism system.
We have pretty much finished working on character attachment and accessory slots. This means items like piercings, tattoos, bracelets, necklaces, and rings are already implemented and supported by the game.
This doesn't mean we've finished adding all the variants, as we've only added one or two per slot so far. Obviously, new accessories and clothes will be added over time. However, we won't be adding any new slots (for example, for ankle tattoos or lip piercings). Each time we add a new slot, it breaks a lot of existing systems. Let's be honest, we already have a huge amount of customization, and all of it needs to work properly with other settings and animations.
Keep in mind that slots are shared among multiple accessories. For example, you can wear either a necklace or a scarf on the neck, but not both. The same goes for tattoos: you can only have one tattoo on the torso, regardless of its position, so you can't have one in both the pelvic and belly areas. These are the necessary limitations we had to implement.
Shifted panties will be visible, and scenes will use those more often instead of just mentioning it in the dialogues.
We weren’t sure if customizable hair length would even be possible in this project, but we believe we’ve finally found a way to make it work without breaking the game. So here’s a little preview of it in action!
Face masks were also pretty tricky to add safely. However, with some workarounds, we managed to do it. Like all clothes, they scale with body customization settings. And they will play a key role in hiding Jane's identity during some scenes.
Ok, this one was a real bitch to get working. I had to scrap my original idea for programming the clothing system to make it a seamless part of the inventory (so you can view every item, check its stats, icons, and trade with NPCs just like any other item). If I need to block other tabs in certain situations (like while changing clothes at the gym) that’s also easy to handle, instead of using dialogue window like in the old UiTC. I still need to add the appropriate animations for using consumable items (drinking, smoking) and for changing clothes directly from the inventory panel. Later, once there are tons of items and things get cluttered, I’ll probably add search & sorting functions.
As for clothing colors, I went through multiple ideas. For example, making each clothing piece a unique variant with its own RGB color, but then if you wanted the same shirt in different colors, it would mean a ridiculous number of items and a lot of wasted money rebuying them. I’m also not bringing back pre-defined color schemes like in the old UiTC, so in UiTC2:R you’ll create your own color presets.
That said, I’m not a fan of the "change color whenever you want" approach since it feels anticlimactic. So, I’ll be adding buyable consumable dye items that let you re-color clothes (but only in designated places, of course). But more about it later once I start working on it.
I’ve also been working on skin shaders, and this is what I managed to achieve. Being color-blind definitely didn’t help, but it’s not like I have much of a choice, lol.
Anyway, I’ll most likely stick to RGB values for colors in UiTC2:R, but it’s pretty obvious that 255, 255, 255 or 0, 0, 0 will never look realistic. I kind of have to "fake" it, since pure white or black breaks proper calculations, as the closer you get to those extremes, the less natural it looks.
Feedback is always appreciated!
And since I updated the character shaders, I decided to go back and finish the color presets, which were mostly done but still lacked a proper UI to be used.
Rolling random colors will now use these presets instead of completely random RGB values, so no more green or pink monsters. I also added a preview for easier shader debugging and decided to leave it in the game. I'm not sure if it makes sense to add presets for nails or nipples, so I skipped those. Along the way, I also fixed some bugs from July's tech demo.
Ok, that was a lot of fighting, but I believe I’ve finally created something compatible with future changes - something you won’t be able to break easily - so I (hopefully) won’t have to revisit it too often. I tested it thoroughly, though I probably still missed a thing or two.
I had to remake the preset window UI from scratch. Back in the early days of UiTC2:R, I was building UI elements through the editor, but these days I find it so much easier to generate everything through code, especially since I can just copy chunks from other scripts instead of spending hours trying to figure out which random checkbox got toggled and broke everything. God, I hate creating UI, but doing it programmatically at least makes it bearable.
I want presets to be easy for players, so simple that even your average grandma with zero computer knowledge could handle it. The text lines match what you see in the game, not weird IDs or codes, so you should know what’s what. You can create presets manually via the in-game character creator, and they’ll be stored similarly to save files.
It uses .txt files that load data line by line. Each line is applied only if it’s loaded successfully, so the process won’t break on errors. Instead, it’ll just display an error on screen. So, if you write "eyez" instead of "eyes" a popup will appear saying it can’t find the variable "eyez". If you duplicate a line, it’ll just execute it multiple times (which also works). The same goes for traits: the system won’t load a trait if it’s not unlocked yet, since it triggers in-game commands rather than overwriting rules. This means you can’t use presets to do anything impossible in-game, like picking multiple traits from the same family or perks beyond your available points. Line order in the .txt file doesn’t matter either, thus adding traits first or last makes no difference.
The system saves all settings except for Difficulty, Pee, and Pregnancy options from the General tab, since those vary a lot from player to player. Everything else - body, backstory, general, trait, and perk settings - will be saved. You can also choose whether to save everything or only the things you’ve changed (for example, just the face or traits). It’s completely safe to manually edit the .txt file, so you can add new lines or delete existing ones without breaking anything.
New customization options are added as we go, and their IDs don't shift. So "hairs_8" will always come after "hairs_7", regardless of style grouping. The only potential issue would be if we ever had to rename or delete an existing customization option. Of course, traits and perks will keep evolving over time, but that won’t break preset loading, as fixing those will just mean editing their names in the .txt file or generating/overwriting a preset.
This approach also means you can share very specific presets, for example, only the face, or only the traits, and nothing else will change when someone loads it. Sharing is as easy as sending the raw text for someone to paste in (or just sending the file itself). You can even load the face from one preset, the body from another, and traits/perks from a third, then save the entire combination as a new preset. And yes, there’ll be a dedicated Discord channel for that.
Many people had issues with the black screens in the original UiTC. It's true; black screens were overused in all kinds of situations, which confused players about whether they were seeing a glitch or a feature. In UiTC2:R, I'm addressing this in two ways:
Smoother Transitions: Many actions will no longer be skipped. Characters will move instead of teleporting, and when actions are skipped, a screen fade transition will play. This makes it more obvious what is happening on-screen.
Clearer Time Progression: In both games, locations refresh every hour (e.g., NPCs respawn). In the remake, a short clock animation will play to clearly signal that an hour has passed and the world has updated.
And yet another feature I wasn’t sure I’d be able to successfully add to UiTC2:R was the tooltip system, since my UI tools have changed a lot since the old UiTC. But after updating to Unity 6.2, I decided to give it another try, and I found a way. Just like in the original UiTC, the tooltip window scales with the amount of text, follows the cursor, and stays within the screen bounds. I’ve also added a quick-message system. Everything is easy to use and optimized, so it won’t affect game performance.
I mentioned 7 NPC classes before, and I don’t think I ever really explained them, so here they are:
Commoner - Commoners are The City’s fuel: the struggling mass of average Joes. Lacking any real rights or privileges, they are the most numerous class, caught in the endless grind of keeping The City’s gears turning.
Hobo - Whenever a Commoner breaks under The City’s hardships, they fall and become Hobos. Having lost everything, they become The System’s rejects - numerous, invisible, stripped of all status, and left to rot in alleys and slums.
Thug - Thugs are those who refuse to play by The System’s rules. Instead of fading away after falling, they choose violence, creating their own brutal form of survival. They are most common in dark, dangerous places where The Law has a hard time reaching.
Citizen - Citizens are those who have successfully climbed the first rung of the ladder. Through effort and loyalty to The System, they’ve earned their coveted status - granting them rights and privileges that mere Commoners can only dream of. They work hard to be decent and follow the rules, typically residing in The City’s safer central districts.
Gang - These are Citizens who leverage their newfound status for a different kind of safety: power. As members of organized syndicates, they exploit The System’s flaws to break the law and commit crimes. They usually gather around the most dangerous and charismatic leaders - those who offer the greatest chance of improving their lives.
Law - An ambitious Citizen may choose a different path and become an official enforcer of The System. By following the law and fighting crime, they hope to improve The City. They are mostly found in the more secure, regulated areas and serve as the authorized fist of The System.
Elite - The Elite are the absolute peak of The City’s food chain - the untouchables, the one percent who hoard most of its wealth and power. The least numerous of all classes, they live in insulated luxury, rarely seen even in the most exclusive areas, while their unseen hands guide the entire machine.
There’s also a lot of stuff I’ve been working on that isn’t really finished or presentable yet; things I’d rather show in the next devlog instead.
Overall, without spaghetti code and without constant morning interruptions, I have to say I genuinely enjoy working on UiTC2:R, which you can probably tell from the increased development speed lately. But now I need to finish the renovation, pack and move to the new home, get settled, release the next tech demo on Patreon - basically get everything done before Christmas. And after New Year’s Eve, I also need to release the next UiTC update.
Meanwhile, as I’m writing this, I’ve got a fever and a massive headache. So yeah… Wish me luck. And a fuckton of it.
And as a bonus - since some people find it "weird" that after 1.5 years of mostly solo development my game still isn’t polished, finished, or released with tons of content. Well, here you go. This is what World of Warcraft looked like in pre-alpha, 5 years before its official release:
View game pageThanks a lot if you survived until the very end!
Again - Here's a link to sneakpeak videos.
Cheers!