With this update, the biggest change is one to the Hidden Diary puzzle. I'll write a short dev log about it below the bullets. Here are the other changes:
Added Airman Elite character.
Fixed bug in speech room that allowed early access the Herd Mentality.
Fixed bug in Music Lessons where you can challenge MUS songs that you shouldn't be able to.
This bullet point is just a reminder to leave a review please. :)
Moved location of "Delivery" and "Leftovers".
Changed information received after solving the "Fridge Logic" clue.
Removed Audio puzzle in Hidden Diary and replaced it with a triple code entry.
Simplified the music code generated at the keyboard.
Altered the visuals of one of the types of images you can generate in Love Muscle.
Graphical update to PupaBoys.
Note that if you are using an old save file, these changes will all work, but there may be some new clues that don't appear in your computer in your room. This shouldn't have any adverse effects on your file or its progress.
DEV LOG
I just want to write some of my process about the changes here, for my future self, but also in case anyone is curious.
One small aspect of a game with many diverse types of puzzles is that some puzzles will play to strengths, and others to weakness. This is why something like Inconvenient Store is very different from Divvy Deal, and so one. Among these types of puzzles, I figured a natural fit would be using relative pitch.
Growing up, I always considered (and still consider) musical intelligence to be one of the types of thinking that can be practiced and honed, just as much as spatial recognition, pattern recognition, or arithmetic. So I'll admit that I was a bit surprised to find that a not-insignificant amount of puzzle solvers found the four-tone Hidden Diary puzzle to be frustrating rather than simply difficult.
The intention there was always to be a hard wall, because the Hidden Diary doesn't really lead to anything "tangible" in the game. It's mostly used as a path to a much more involved meta-puzzle hunt that I expect very, very few people to engage with. To add to this difficulty, the four tones themselves were generated based on the combination of your Pupil Form and Mentor Form choices at the beginning of the game, meaning you had to be creative in solving it with outside help—what I feel is a gentle nudge in a line of puzzles that would urge players to eventually work together in the long run. But what happens in practice is not always what we predicted!
Instead I found many people spending too much time on that particular puzzle, which stopped their forward momentum and got their blood hot. Since this wasn't my intention, I decided that if I could figure out a more interesting puzzle for that spot, I would.
And so I have!
This new puzzle is more difficult in every way except relative pitch. It's also more thematic, playing in to the private nature of your in-game partner. It requires three distinct inputs, various clues, and one piece of information that is locked behind two separate puzzles. You are supposed to work out what are your partner's "guilty pleasures" and use that info to open their diary. Nefarious!
When and if players reach the Hidden Diary, not only will it be tougher to work with, but it will also be clear from the input section that there is no use sticking around butting their head against it until it breaks.
I'm glad I got the feedback, and I think the new puzzles are better for it! Sometimes it takes getting more eyes on an idea to see what the cracks are, so thanks for everyone's engagement!