From the Developer
The biggest additions include several Japanese classic stories in the Library, Kanji Tower Floor 2, a brand-new on-screen HUD, and many quality-of-life improvements requested by the community.
Thank you again for all of your Steam reviews, bug reports, suggestions, and encouragement. Every update helps shape PLAYNESE into a better Japanese learning experience :)
Library Improvements
The Library has received several improvements to make reading much more enjoyable.
Copy & Paste Support
You can now select text inside the Library to easily copy and paste it into other applications if you'd like to look up words or study elsewhere.
(The Bible currently does not support this while additional improvements are being developed)
Keyboard shortcuts:
Ctrl + A - Select all text
Ctrl + C - Copy selected text
Feel free to paste stories into Word or other documents for offline reading or study.
Other Library Improvements
Larger reading area with more text displayed per page
Improved colors instead of the previous solid black background
Removed the bottom transparent prompt box for a cleaner reading experience
Improved lighting within the library with small performance optimizations
New Library Stories
Four Japanese classics have been added to the Library.
Story 1
走れメロス (Hashire Merosu) - 1940 Japanese Classic
No graphic violence
No explicit sexual content
Themes: Friendship, trust, loyalty, sacrifice, justice, and human nature
Recommended Age: 12+
Difficulty: JLPT N3 / N2
Story 2
桃太郎 (Momotarou) - Traditional Japanese Folktale
Mild fantasy violence
No explicit sexual content
Themes: Courage, kindness, teamwork, justice, and overcoming evil
Recommended Age: 7+
Difficulty: JLPT N5 / N4
Story 3
坊っちゃん (Bocchan) - 1906 Japanese Classic
by 夏目漱石 (Natsume Soseki)
Mild violence
No explicit sexual content
Themes: Honesty, pride, justice, social criticism, and standing up for what is right
Recommended Age: 12+
Difficulty: JLPT N2
Story 4
鼻 (The Nose) - 1916 Japanese Classic
by 芥川龍之介 (Ryunosuke Akutagawa)
No graphic violence
No explicit sexual content
Themes: Vanity, pride, insecurity, appearance, and human nature
Recommended Age: 13+
Difficulty: JLPT N2
Main Menu Improvements
The Phrase of the Day system has been improved.
Added furigana to every phrase
Using the おみくじ (Omikuji) shuffle will no longer repeat the same phrase consecutively
Music Room
Two new songs have been added.
コーヒー中毒 (コーヒーちゅうどく) - Coffee Addiction
ヒーローになろう - Let's Become Heroes
The Bible (Library)
Added:
Hundreds of English translations covering the first 40 chapters of Exodus
More books and quality-of-life improvements are planned, including much faster chapter navigation.
Kanji Tower Floor 2
Floor 2 is now open.
Added:
The next 50 kanji quizzes (100 randomized)
Three new background music tracks
A new Card Battle Gym Trainer with new dialogue and voice acting
Earn the Floor 2 Badge after victory (replacing your Floor 1 badge)
New On-Screen HUD
A completely new HUD has been added during gameplay.
New features include:
HP, MP and Level displayed on screen
HP and MP bottles glow briefly when restored
Bottle liquid decreases visually as HP or MP is lost
Better number visibility with background bars
HP and MP labels beneath each bottle
Player level with experience progress shown underneath on the left
New Shield icon displays your current shield amount during battle
General Improvements
Visual Improvements
Money now appears as realistic Japanese yen notes instead of pixel art
Improved outdoor mineable stone graphics
Improved art for several small outdoor trees
Warmer daytime screen tint
Redesigned on-screen date/time display with a glass-style interface
Time-of-day color indicator:
Light Blue - Dawn
Orange - Day
Maroon - Dusk
Purple - Night
Gameplay Improvements
Characters and events behave more naturally in Performance Mode
NPCs, animals, and other moving objects continue moving more frequently even at longer distances
Outdoor flowers no longer unnecessarily block player movement. Walk over them!
Bug Fixes & Improvements
Thank you to everyone continuing to report bugs!
Fixed
Fixed a battle bug that incorrectly increased your SHIELD by +1 or +2 depending on equipped items. This now correctly matches the value shown on the new HUD.
Fixed JLPT N1 Quiz #1 typo
Corrected card description typo:
Shiriken → Shuriken
Kanji Tower Floor 1 Quiz #47:
Furigana changed from じゅ to じゅっ
Important Notes
JLPT N1 quizzes were originally planned for this update but didn't quite make it. I hope to release a batch next week.
Many players have asked whether grammar will be included in PLAYNESE. The answer is yes! Grammar lessons and in-game practice exercises are planned for every JLPT level. They need a little more development time.
ありがとうございます！
As always, thank you for supporting PLAYNESE during Early Access.
Every Steam review, bug report, Discord message, and suggestion helps improve the game.
I hope you enjoy exploring the expanded Library, climbing Kanji Tower Floor 2, and all of this week's improvements.
よろしくお願いします！
ライト = Light 🎮