Happy New Year, B.E.S.T.I.E.S! I truly hope you're enjoying this festive season! Lots of gifts and new games to try out, right? As for us, things are speeding up! The first part of Episode 4 is complete and will move into testing once we've ironed out the coding issues with the new challenge weve prepared for you! Weve also made plenty of UI adjustments to the in-game phone to offer you more interactions. Since its a foundational update, weve done our best to get it right so we wont need to revisit it later, allowing us to focus on advancing the story. Youve already seen our new application, OnlyStan. Weve also added a "biography" section for the games characters. You saw the initial version last timenow heres the "final" version:



Initially, we had a white background... but several players suggested a "dark mode" or a less bright color to reduce eye strain. So, weve tried a few options, and this is where you come in: WHICH COLOR DO YOU PREFER? The original white? The more formal gray? The blue that matches the games color scheme? Or the retro-style pink? Let us know your choice in the comments! Heres the "final" design for the character profile page:
The little hearts update dynamically based on your relationship progress with each character. These features lay the groundwork for the characters, so please share your thoughts! Were excited to hear from you.
Now, were moving on to the second part of Episode 4, which will be far less "technical" and much more visual. Part 2 will focus on visuals, renders, animations, and the second match. While Part 1 undergoes testing to ensure all the changes to the phone and the new challenge function smoothly and dont corrupt your saves, well be advancing Part 2. Our main goal is to deliver the full episode before the next Visual Novel Festival in March. As for our roadmap this year, heres the plan:

• Complete Episode 4 by early March at the latest.
• Episode 5 by July at the latest.
• Episode 6 by December at the latest (including a rework of Episode 1s translation).