Hi all, it's finally time for the 2nd build of Pulled by Strings! This one has been a bit of an undertaking and this update made many changes to the a lot of aspects of the game, so I hope that people do end up liking it.

So, what's in this update? It includes the first portion of ch2 common route content for all routes, and then goes into the first half of ch2 for Chase and Raphael. This is roughly ~20k words of dialogue between both routes, so I'd suggest reading both.

Also, know that their stories haven't fully taken off yet, and that is only the first half of their ch2s, things are still picking up.

This update also includes all of the ch1 and art updates I've been working on alongside all this.

Art wise, well there's actually a lot more than what is advertised: between now and the last devlog: I've also gone and redrawn Stephen's art from scratch and gave another more finished update to Chase and Eric, and I hope people like their updated art.

Writing wise, I can't promise any significant changes, so if you were expecting say a restructuring of the story, then you'd be very disappointed. But I hope that some parts of the game will flow better than before. (Especially Theodore's introduction.)

Also, I've had this brought up a few times, I'm aware of the fact chapter 1 has a lot of character introductions, I unfortunately cannot really do much about that without significantly restructuring my plans for later parts of the game, which is simply not in the cards for the moment.  In the distant future, it might be something I can work on.

My main goal for build 3 is to get the first half of chapter 2 out for Stephen and 'Vincent', and to push out the next portion of common route content ending at where the next 2nd half of each chapter will pick up. I also want to focus on reducing the file size.

As usual, if have any questions, find any typos or just want to chat: message me on discord @The Final Bear.

Otherwise, I don't have much else to say other than that, if you want a run through of the changes, you can check the changelog, farewell! 

Chapter 2 changelog:

New stuff:

+ First half of chapter 2 for all routes.

+ 5 new character sprites, including 3 brand new characters  (Lloyd, Archie, William.), A redrawn sprite for Stephen, and New sprite set and redesign for Theodore.

+ New expressions for Robin

+ New casual clothing for Raphael.

+ New casual clothing for the yet to be introduced Red Tiger during ch1. This is in preparation for b3.

+ Many new bgs and music. (All royalty free.)

Writing changes:

+ Thanks to Elion33, hopefully every typo during chapter 1 has been fixed. (There is one exception to this, which is a typo on the very first line of the vn, no idea how I missed it, but this'll be fixed next build.)

+ Updated the scene with Chase in the park to have Chase be a bit more clear on what happened to Eric.

+ Robin now properly states how he and Morrison met during ch1 rather than saying he forgot. This was done to keep it consistent with things you learn about them both during ch2.

+ Most of Theodore's dialogue was rewritten, and slightly changed his and Eric's dynamic. The story is for the most part the same, but I'd still suggest rereading it.

+ Made some small changes to the scene with Fergus to better lead into Chase’s ch2.

+ Made some small changes during Stephen's explanation on the memory outbreak to make it sound a little less stupid.

+ Eric's description of the photographs in Stephen's office was changed.

+Made some small changes to the final scene w/ Stephen during chapter 1 to have the conversation flow better. 

+ Made some big changes to the final scene w/ Raphael during chapter 1, it now features significantly better wording and leads better into ch2. So I'd suggest rereading it.

+ Eric now has a bit more to say to Chase during the final scene with him during chapter 1

Art updates: (Characters who received updated art but didn't have their sprites redrawn from scratch.)

+ Generally, every character that showed their chest and didn't have Nipples prior now has Nipples.

+ Made major updates to Eric's art, including changes his pose. These were done in preparation for future clothing in b3.

+ Made major changes to Chase's art, the main thing being that his face hopefully looks much nicer, he hopefully looks more in line with the rest of the cast.

+ Made major changes to Raphael's art alongside his new clothing.

+ Made major changes to the unamed Red Tiger's art alongside his new clothing. This is in preparation for b3.

+ Made major changes to Noland's art. This was also in preparation to b3.

+ Morrison, Robin, Darren & Vincent also received smaller clean ups to their art. 

Hopefully, the game will generally look much nicer to look at across the board. My next priority in terms of updates would be for Fergus and Darren.