v0.2.1 Release!

Bear in mind that this release is essentially a technology demo. Vren is focusing on the basics, and not yet spending much energy on the gameplay experience- i.e. tedium is to be expected at this stage. I'd suggest you throw a buck to Vren on Patreon for one month per dollar you thought LR1 was worth, and then when "time is up" take a second look at the game. If it's still not your thing, walk knowing you are square with Vren; if it turned into something you dig, then hey, you're better off knowing.

Dubsington

Something the UI badly needs is, when talking to employees, a way to see their current salary and what job they are doing. Some sort of tabular view showing the names, jobs, and stats of the girls in the room would be very welcome as well.

Dubsington

I ADORED lab rats, but that was because it was simple and I liked the strong characters. In this one though, I find the corporation building to be too tedious, and the characters here just seem like paper dolls, which do nothing for me. I think I'll give this one a pass. P.S. do you have a paypal or something? I would love to give you a one off for what I thought Lab Rats was worth

Sally Fields

I feel a schedule UI (similar to a calendar) might fit better for many VNs with simulation. THe UI allows you to preplan out your schedule for the week, make changes as needed, maybe even save them and alternate. That way you can get rid of busywork of navigating and repeating the same pattern. The UI could show you who shows up on what days at what locations (for people of interest you marked, to avoid the clutter of HHS where every no-name showed up) After you setup the calendar you can click a button to advance to the next day and it'll play through your actions, having "random/unique/interesting" events interrupt as needed. This idea is based on a really old newgrounds flash game from the early 2000s that I played before (don't remember the name of it anymore). Although such a UI is difficult to properly implement with Ren'py as what I'm envisioning makes use of character icons, hoverover showing up sub-location options, etc etc.

Mylen Ploa

Here's a small issue (I mentioned it before, but maybe the extra detail will help): - I'm still seeing "sluttiness" values with tons of decimal places. More specifically, these happen when I compliment the girls on their outfits, which I do repeatedly until it stops giving a bonus. On that note, the way that these bonuses currently increase seems weird to me. Basically, at the moment it seems I'm getting exponentially increasing "sluttiness" bonuses for repeated compliments until I stop getting a bonus at all.

Bingbong

Some initial thoughts: - I love autosell. The whole having to mark serums for sale was tedious. - Speaking of tedious, movement is still a grind. I get your thinking on it, but considering you have to move every single day, multiple times a day, it would probably be better to be able to simply click on the location and, if needed, just have the "clock" move as needed. - Production intrigues me. I'm not sure it's within your coding plans, but having different production employees being able to work on different products at the same time would be spiffy keen (and more closely match actual lab functions). - Obviously, you have real plot intentions for this game. At this stage, once you get staffed, there's really not much to do other than try and get every female in the game to drink serum. - Regarding outfits, it would be nice if you could just work off the list menus. For example. I click on "lace bra" as I test an outfit and, if I don't like it, I just click on it again to remove it (rather than locating it in the outfit list to the right) That's it for now. Back to investigating.

Ignatz

Thanks for the game, love your progress 👍

xRed Games

Thank you for the continued support, it's only going to get better from here! Inventory will certainly need a look, I'll see if I can find a day or two to devote to fixing that entire thing up and making it much more user friendly. The thumbnail idea for the outfit manager is a very good one, I'll play around with that too, maybe just hovering over an item should temporarily add it to the mannequin so you can get a peek at it without committing.

Vren

Check out the FAQ in game, it contains a How-To for making serum and selling it. You can view it at the start of the game, or any time from your bedroom.

Vren

Currently your company efficiency score drops by 1 per person you employ per day. That efficiency modifier is used as a multiplier to every other job that is done, so at 80% efficiency you only generate 80% as many research points and production points. People working in HR boost your efficiency. Later on there will be more to do with them (they may end up responsible for company improvement research, but that hasn't been finalised yet).

Vren

how do you produce the potions to sell

robert story

I'm still not clear on what, if anything Human Resources are supposed to do at this stage of the game, and if currently nothing, then what are they ultimately supposed to do once the game has advanced a bit?

onen

Well, it's really starting to come together! Definitely more stable and better game mechanics. The UI is much improved as well! I played 60 days worth and turned the corner on research and cash flow. The whole inventory, personal stock, amount reserved for sales, etc still feels awkward. I think the inventory should be the inventory. I own it all anyway?? Same with money. I went to offer a cash bonus but had no personal money. Why can't all money be in one account? It would be easier, instead of doing transfers for no important reason. Lastly, how about thumbnails for the outfit manager? I shouldn't have to click an item to make it part of an outfit, see it, not like it and then click to remove it? Maybe if I clicked on "Dresses" I could see a thumbnail for each dress and click the one I want? And lastly, please please can we have a second female model? I was starting to get discouraged, but decided to quietly be patient. I'm glad I did. Progress is looking great!