Hello Everyone! :3

This is the first devlog I've written for the post viewer, mainly because this is such a big update, and I feel like it deserves to be noted for its significance. Whether or not I plan to make more in the future, we'll see, but that's not what's important right now.

Changelog:

1. Gameplay
   1. Added multiple new keyboard controls/shortcuts (viewable in the new "About & Controls" page)
2. Searching
   1. The "view current search results" screen now loads the images one at a time instead of all at once, which should cut back on immense lag spikes whenever it's pressed
   2. The "Posts Found" text now also shows the text "(preloading)" while images are being preloaded
3. UI
   1. Many new UI elements have been implemented in according with new options & settings that have been added :D
   2. The UI buttons and the timer have been vertically shrunk and moved down by a small margin, while the step progress bar (the top one) has been vertically stretched by a small amount
   3. The ability to hide the UI by clicking/tapping on it has been removed; it didn't really free up that much space, and things are easier without it
   4. A fullscreen button has been added to the UI; this feature was designed to replace the hide UI feature, and I believe that it's much better
   5. Changed font-size code so it should (hopefully) resize better for mobile devices
4. Settings Menus
   1. The spacing of buttons and elements within each settings menu has been increased for greater overall clarity (this was implemented for devices with 16:9 or similar screen ratios, as there wasn't a lot of vertical space between options)
   2. Added an "About & Controls" page and a "Presets" page
      1. The about & controls page explains what the post presenter is, as well as all of the controls and shortcuts it offers
      2. The presets page allows you to change multiple settings with the push of just one button
5. Duration Menu
   1. Changed the way full session duration is calculated and managed, leading to more randomness in session duration
   2. Decreased the maximum possible slide duration in settings
   3. Changed settings related to cum phase duration (it now increments by 5 second amounts)
   4. Moved cum phase duration settings to JOI settings
6. JOI Menu
   1. Added 2 new settings related to CUM phases, and moved the cum phase duration settings to the JOI settings
      1. Cum Chance: You can now set the probability that a cum phase will occur for a bit of randomness. It also allows you to select "random" as the probability, which means that the probability of each cum phase occurring will be different (random randomness... randomness squared?)
      2. Total Cum Phases: Do you desire multiple back-to-back rounds? Or maybe you want to push yourself a little? Now you can! This setting allows you to include multiple cum phases in you session
   2. Changed settings related to stop step duration (it now increments by 5 second amounts)
   3. Changed "normal step length" setting to "stop step frequency," and changed how stop steps occur and are managed
   4. Added a stroke speed indicator option, and related options. When turned on, the indicator shows how fast you must stroke throughout the session
      1. Added an option to set the maximum possible speed the stroke speed indicator can reach
      2. Added 5 stroke speed progression modes, which change how the stroke speed increases and decreases over time
         1. Slow to Varying: speed starts slow, increases to max speed, then varies in speed while remaining close to max speed
         2. Slow to Fast: speed starts slow, increases to max speed, then remains at max speed
         3. Varying: speed starts between the min and max speed, then randomly increases and decreases over time
         4. All Fast: speed starts close to max speed, then varies in speed while remaining close to max speed
         5. All Slow: speed starts close to min speed, then varies in speed while remaining close to min speed
      3. Added a "stroke indicator sound" option, which plays an audio queue in sync with the indicator when turned on
      4. Added an option to enable/disable the indicator during the cum phase
      5. Added an option to change between two designs for the indicator
         1. Moving Indicator: displays a circle that moves up and down to indicate stroke speed
         2. Flashing Indicator: displays a circle that fades in and out to indicate stroke speed
      6. Added an instructions options, which adds JOI instructions to the UI
7. Search Menu
   1. Changed the name of video settings to search settings
   2. Added a "lower quality image search" option, which can be toggled to search for lower quality images, decreasing load times and device strain for larger image sets; this option doesn't affect gifs or videos
   3. Changed "override stop step" setting to "override step change"; functions the same as previously, except it now overrides slide changes due to JOI instruction changes, stroke speed changes, or CUM phases
   4. Added a "preload images" option, so now image preloading can be toggled (doesn't affect videos)
8. Bug Fixes
1. Fixed an issue where, when the game was played with randomized post order, then a second game was played with the same posts and unrandomized order, the second game would have the randomized order of the first

Version Name Formatting

As you may have noticed, this version of the post viewer has a different naming format than the others. This update is called "0.8.0" compared to the previous "0.1.7." My reasoning for this is pretty sound, trust me. The reason I've changed this is because I think it just makes more sense to increment the numbers in this fashion. Previously, whenever I made a major update, I would increment the 3rd number and call it a day, and if I posted a minor update or bugfix, the name wouldn't change at all. Now, each update will instead increment the 2nd number, while the 3rd number will increment for minor updates and bug fixes. The first number will probably increment to a 1 if I ever deem this game completed/I decide to fully release it.

Continuing Development

Okay, so, normally, the description on this game's itch.io page has a line that says something along the lines of, "I have no intentions to update this game in the coming months, but I may come back to it." Despite this, it would seem that I've returned to update this game rather consistently. What initially started as a silly personal project that was finished in under 24 hours has now grown into something that I've continued to build upon over many months. I'm proud of the work I've accomplished, but at the same time, this series of intermittent sometimes-minimum-effort programming stints has lead to some very spaghetti-like, unoptimized, and redundant code. Yeah, it's cool that all of this fits in a single file and is still about a tenth of the file size of Heat Control (the phenomenal game that inspired this project, in case you didn't know), but the fact that this code is so poorly maintained is going to continue to bug me. Additionally, continuing to work on this project will become more and more difficult as I have to write more and more mediocre code to fix the issues of previously written mediocre code. All this is to say, the state of the project is rough, so what do I plan to do about it?

Well, I'm going to continue working on this project. As always, I don't know when I'll post an update next, and I don't know how long it's going to be until I work on this project again, but I can say with near-certainty now, I will update this game again. Please, if you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them, and maybe I'll add them in the next update. Some stuff I have planned includes the ability to use local files, as well as some more options in regards to JOI. However, I do hope to eventually rewrite all of the code for this game from the ground up. Restarting will most certainly take some time, and I don't know when I'll start it (probably not any time soon), but I'm planning on it.

That's basically everything I wanted to say :3
Thank you everyone for playing this silly game I made, and thanks for reading through all of this. You may not know, but I actually changed the settings for this game so that it would appear on itch.io searches the same day that all NSFW games were delisted due to Collective Shout's shenanigans, so the fact that you're reading this--that you were able to find this goofy little creation of mine--really means a lot to me.

Again, one last time, thank you <3