HEY EVERY     !!!
Been a long time hasn't It?  Hope you all are well!
It's almost astonishing how much our community has built over just the last few months. I am very grateful for all of your support, without it we wouldn't be able be here right now! So cheers to each and every single one of you wonderful people!

Now lets talk a little bit about development. We had a hurdle in development recently when had to replace our main programmer. As such our new programmer Jumbles had to take quite a bit of time to figure out the chaos that was our original codebase. As such we have been going through and rebuilding several systems to work much more functionally.  One thing you will notice in this update is that the lighting seems a bit different. Originally In Heat just used Unreal's flashlight system  (I don't know why). Which meant that in previous builds each and every light was processing constantly, which definitely isn't optimized. It was a relatively simple switch and oh boy does the lighting actually look a bit spooky now! 







Various cameras have also had their sets cleaned up, giving the admin room a much more congested feel. Hopefully you guys will also like the lighting we are testing on the characters now, it really makes em pop. Please let me know what you think!

We have been collaborating with a couple of musicians to bring you brand new original tracks for IN-HEAT. This will include new tracks for the in-game radio, and the Nightclub Minigame. We also have been prototyping a new main menu theme since the one we have isn't exactly the best. I uploaded it on SC so please listen if you are curious!

Also I am very happy to showcase a new add that will play on the nightclubs PC. I really like CanaryPrimary's work, so I am stoked to have this in!


Want to see it in action? Check this out https://twitter.com/MonsterBoxENT/status/1572378032173875205?s=20&t=W5JC0_ECi4WU...

Now to get to the part you all have been waiting for, ARI's debut! While she will not be roaming the maps yet, as we are doing a rework on the games movement and AI system. You will be able to headpat her in version 0.72! (Fondle her enough and you might even unlock a goodie!

@kekitopu took the time and made her for us, and they will be working on rebuilding every character we have. We love seeing fanart and fan-animations of our characters, and Ari's rig is so very nice to work with compared to the other girls.

We will also be releasing a VR-Chat Avatar really soon!
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It is now time for the changelog!

**Admin Room**

* Sweeping optimization changes for Admin Room.

* Changes the robot so that they stop asking to be let in if the door is already open.

* A secret prop now spawns sometimes in the admin room.

* The vents will now actually gameover you if you fail it, as opposed to simply sitting there forever in limbo.

* Changes several camera angles and lighting in the admin room to make the atmosphere more oppressive.

* Adds particle effects to the Admin room to add some A E S T H E T I C .

* Transitions most of the lighting in Admin to baked lighting for further optimization.

* Fixes\* loss of control in the admin room.

**Night Club**

* Sweeping optimization changes for Nightclub.

* Performing some actions in the nightclub now rewards tickets.

* Finalizes the look of the Vault.

* Adds Prinny. (oh boy a secret character? wow I didn't even talk about this one)

* Adds a drink shaker.

* Makes the lights minigame look correct on lower graphics settings.

**Videos & Unlocks**

* Updates one of nile's videos.

* Forces the unlock board to recompile each time the game is built, preventing orphaned unlocks.

* Alters the unlock board to have some props and spawn the info pane on the viewport instead of in the game world.

* Ari replaces Cassidy as the shopkeep.

* Fixes the customize desk UI.

* Adds a video related to Ari.

**General**

* Fixes audio slider issues with some sounds.

* Partially fixes the gamma slider to not allow complete eye searing levels.

* Alters the lighting in the main menu and changes some props.

* Removes references to world war 2.

* Removes the numpad 5 unlock secret.

* Adds another secret.

* Implements save version tracking. This will wipe your save file, but moving forward, save file wiping will not be required.

* Fixes some strange depth of field issues on the main menu.


KNOWN ISSUES:

(significant) issues:

* Some users cannot accept Maddie's pie

* Borderless fullscreen breaks some widgets

* Tapes in general are needing more tlc

* Loading new maps causes significant freezing due to a lack of transition

* Ari can be clicked rapidly in a single location to spam her cute sounds

* In some 'game over' scenes, it is possible to wait out the night and still win

* If the night ends with the ad playing on your PC, it will continue playing indefinitely without draining sanity.

* You can hover over shop elements while the camera is transitioning from one area to the next.

* Main menu widgets are not flush with their meshes.

* When the lights go out in admin room, the girls can no longer enter your room.

* Gamma controls are backwards with brightest being the lowest value.

* Sound controls are borked and do not initialize properly.

*White Screen Issue persists, looking into ways to cache videos better. Will likely switch to in engine animations once the models are reworked. 

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Thank you guys once again for being so patient with us. Once we finish optimizing the AI systems we will be moving on to a new FOREST level, which should be out around Halloween!  Hope you all have a wonderful night!