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Things that happened on my latest playthrough, last night: 

1) Talked to Esmarai, visited the Blind Eye, engaged a Logothete of Science. 

2) Tbg ratntrq gb Wnkbe naq tbg trargvpnyyl grfgrq. 

3) Fbyirq gur chmmyr obk naq zrg jvgu Ibfuxbg. 

4) Pbzcyrgrq Xebibf'f dhrfg naq yrnearq nobhg Yhzra. 

5) Vairfgvtngrq Qentbapra'f qvfnccrnenapr naq pbapyhqrq gung ur snxrq uvf qrngu. 

6) Opera. 

I'm gonna take a break and pursue some other achievements for a while, such as trying to get assassinated in new and innovative ways. 

I eventually figured out why I didn't get the option to investigate. Funnily enough, I think it was because I passed a certain skill check, which led me to miss out on some vital intelligence. 

Ethexae turned against my Zorana once, for reasons I'm not 100% on, and while playing the right combination of teams and roles in starfall could bring her disposition up or down, I wasn't able to mitigate the effect altogether. Every other playthrough, successfully playing for the winning team got me her as an advisor. Because it was just the one playthrough, I still don't know if it's a flat disposition score with flavor text ("the gods want me to defeat you"), or if there's a full branch that makes winning Ethexae's approval a non-starter. 

I also had a game where I went from "murmurs of discontent" to "multiple threats", seemingly overnight. I think that might have been the game with the most abstentions in the vote, actually. 

The first factor in approval, I think, is showing up to their sector/planet to begin with, although some electors are more affected by that than others. Like, everything about One Bite screams "I am a late-game challenge", so showing up at Heru I first thing is totally possible, but maybe not the best strategic choice. Though, admittedly, making One Bite Chancellor is a pretty bold maneuver, from a roleplaying perspective. 

Hmm, okay. I am struggling with this a bit. 

In a previous playthrough, I had managed to get the scene where you can hfr fpvrapr xabjyrqtr gb vairfgvtngr Qentbpra'f qvfnccrnenapr, but since I didn't have the necessary hints, all of the possible responses were wrong (as outlined above). I had also managed to eraqrmibhf jvgu Infuxbg, but I'm not sure how to orpbzr n Yhzra orsber gur rcvybthr. 

In my current playthrough, I did qvfpbirevat gung Mbenan vf n Abina pybar, but because I didn't get the chance to vairfgvtngr uvf qrngu, I got no closer to activating whatever's supposed to happen on turn 27. I got the opera, as usual. 

What turn does the missing event happen in? What are the prerequisites? Is it affected by Mazarin or Esmarai? I'm not sure why that option didn't even come up. 

Last night, I was playing Ethexae's quest, and for the first time, I finished the starfall match somewhat successfully, but didn't get her approval in the follow-up dialogue. I reloaded and made some different choices, and got still more new dialogue, which means there's more than one type of rejection. I also got impaled in one version, but that's beside the point. 

This negative result seems, on the face of it, to derive from a combination of which team Zorana played for (I chose Mirzanna for the first time) and the position/tactics she played. However, this was also a playthrough in which I not only zrg jvgu Ibfuxbg but also confronted Korundi about Zvynavn orvat nyvir. So I'm wondering whether information about that might have leaked, and caused Ethexae to have doubts about Zorana's worthiness. 

Of course, there's a lot of extra dialogue/narration that's locked behind higher spirituality checks, which I've so far been reluctant to pursue. Not to mention, the theological implications of Myrkkan constellation tattoos... 

How deep does the rabbithole go? How deep have you gotten, other players? 

Ohhh, that's really interesting... but definitey an "opt-in" type of feature. Probably good for testing, though. 

Fourth playthrough Zorana died multiple times when she got locked into a mood cycle where both mood activities were fatal (negative -> stabbed, determined -> smothered in her own hand-me-down clothes, mortifying). This was right after she successfully eraqrmibhfrq jvgu ure oebgure nobhg gur Rgreany Enqvnapr, too, so I was miffed. I didn't even select her starting mood. It was a consequence of not gryyvat Xbehaqv nobhg gur pelfgny. I'd go back and choose the opposite, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it might end badly. Enough warnings are given in the game that the people involved are dangerous. 

Fifth playthrough Zorana survived and won her election, but she failed to follow through on that thread of plot altogether. She also repeatedly failed One Bite's quest. It's quite difficult! Many of the electors' quests have all sorts of unexpected skill checks. So far, though, failing them has only led to me reloading and then skipping or retrying with better skills. I've yet to die on a quest, so I don't know if it's possible. 

Sixth playthrough pending. I'm going back for the Rgreany Enqvnapr story, but this time, I have a much better idea of what sorts of skills I might need. Also, narrowing down the list of my favorite ministers/advisors. Admittedly, I haven't chosen a proper replacement for Kxenia's role, yet, but I'm still trying. Maybe it's time for a high Intrigue playthrough. That seems like it will reveal a lot. Last time I tried it, I didn't get very far, but that's because I hadn't figured out that knowledge stats don't stack with the advisors. 

Playing this game without a wiki is proving to be a challenge. 

I actually updated my itch installer just today, so now I'll always have the most up-to-date version. 

I've been playing the beta for3-4 days, now, and here are my impressions, so far: 

First run: 

I chose the snake as a pet, focused (somewhat) on emotion and interaction skills, and visited Myrkka I first, followed by Myrkka II and Mau. Let the spymaster guard Zorana's bedroom, even though I suspected her of suspecting the princess, and maybe keeping tabs/searching her belongings. When she's woken by an assassin, I immediately became suspicious that it was actually someone trying to pass along a secret warning or message. 

I struggled to figure out the ways to investigate and befriend the various electors, and especially with recruiting too few advisors, which left Zorana ill-equipped to deal with the (ROT13) rcvqrzvp gung rehcgrq va Uneh, or rather, with the media aftermath. Because I didn't have a science advisor, I never managed to make it to some of the planets. By the time of the jubilee holiday, she was unpopular enough to be attacked by an assassin, and she died by electric dart. 

First death. 

Second run: 

I wanted to do everything differently. Chose the bird as a pet and leaned into mechanical stuff for skills. I really wanted to unlock that damn puzzle box. I also had a feeling that it might be related to the alien snow globe, and/or to the alleged spy that the Novans had captured. 

This time, I made the connection that yrggvat gur fpvrapr zvavfgre qb nf ur cyrnfrq zvtug or gur pnhfr bs gur Uneh rcvqrzvp, so I nixed that. Letting Esmarai live led to a complicated situation where fur zneevrq n jbzna jub pynvzrq ure onol jnf gur rzcrebe'f vyyrtvgvzngr puvyq. I'm still curious to know how the guerr-jnl pnaqvqnpl might evolve, but I didn't get that far. 

This Zorana had such pitifully low empathy and etiquette that her popularity tanked pretty fast. I was trying to change her mood when she was knifed in a dark alley aboard her own palace. Rip in peace, Zorana. 

Third run: 

By now, I'd learned a few things and realized that empathy is absolutely essential, and etiquette and rhetoric are also vital. I hung on to both Vasily and Kxenia, which helped a lot with some of the lower knowledge checks, and I put a ton of studying into interaction and emotion. Putting a lot into menace backfired, because I got a Ren'py exception whenever I successfully blackmailed someone. 

However, I did manage to recruit several interesting advisors. I've started on a spreadsheet to keep track of who's good at what. Near the end, Vasily even offers to step down so that Zorana can recruit someone in his place, but based on where I was situated, I couldn't find someone who was good at media on time. In retrospect, I should have immediately started testing who might do better in that role, especially (Kxenia has some special content that intrigues me; if Vasily has any, I've yet to find it). 

This Zorana was fairly popular and managed to secure eight votes in advance. She won over both Ethexae and Yakau. I got her intrigue skill high enough to investigate Korundi, but I think there's a lot more to be learned there. Threats against her were especially low, even after she tried to sbhaq n pbybal va nyvra fcnpr naq tbg fperjrq bire ol gur nyvraf. 

Surviving until the election was my main goal, and I succeeded at that. 

Won the election 23 to 7. Humiliating for Lukomir, hope he's crying into his silken pillow after getting his ass handed to him by a teenager. 

After the victorious election... well. The idea that gur rzcrebe unq snxrq uvf qrngu va beqre gb grfg gur urve had crossed my mind. The existing characterization seemed to imply that sort of thing, to my mind. I'm not terribly impressed with this character, I must admit. 

The epilogue slides give some intriguing hints about achievements to attempt in my next playthrough. I think I might try focusing on engineering again, but with a certain amount of baseline empathy and such. I still want to unlock that puzzle box. 

There are also many, many personal quests that I never got the chance to attempt. I've yet to try for a marriage alliance, other than one attempt (with Fire) that I rolled back, just to see how it panned out. I think spirituality and engineering might make an intriguing combination of skill/knowledge to advance. And, of course, in my next game, I want to optimize my advisors a lot more. Oh, and I've yet to try playing with high art skills. I feel like that might reveal a lot. 

I know there are guides. I wrote some of those guides. I've put hundreds of hours into alpha testing this game over the years. 

This feels like a punishment for choosing my favorite background. It takes the fun out of the game. I don't even want to play anymore. 

I wish you the best of luck going forward, but I'm done.

I've never had difficulty getting Sayra's confession on week 6 before. I was on a widow build that was designed to unlock all secrets, so I had every secret from weeks 1-5. I remember that I didn't get Ria and Sayra's gift, and I thought perhaps that was because I had her declare the wrong ambition (making history instead of Katyia's legacy) since I'm convinced I did everything else right. Aced the trial in week 4. Friendship and respect were fairly high, but not high enough. 

However, my main widow has the same ambition, and she definitely unlocked Sayra's confession when I played her last (...about five years ago). She didn't invite her to an event, either. I'm pretty sure her second event was the midnight picnic, which Sayra never accepts. That's usually my default week 3 event for Corval and Revaire MCs. I guess I could try and load my oild saves to check, but I imagine that too much has changed between now and then.

Can anyone help me solve this mystery? 

I see, I didn't realize that Sayra's friendship was mandatory. I'll have to go back and figure out why I wasn't able to raise it.

I'm not sure this is a bug, but also, I can't see how it could possibly be deliberate: 

My MC was a Revaire widow who uncovered many secrets, including unlocking the rebels secret chain. She did not have high enough friendship/respect to unlock Sayra's confession in week 6, though. Come week 7, on the night after the Arland/Jiyel negotiations, Gisette's event triggered like normal. However, she only had one choice available, and that was the choice to collaborate with the new royals against the rebellion. 

This is a highly ethical widow, and there was never any chance of her betraying Clarmont and the others.

I'm going over my achievement pages and there are two that I'm stumped on. From week 6, what's the achievement after "A Political Affair" and before the romance ones? And, what's the final achievement on the last page, after "Behind the Ball"? Is it the one for getting all the secrets, and if so, is it still bugged?

I like the look of this. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out. 

Hey, everyone, I just posted a demo of the game where you can play the intro sequence. It's just a demo so there are very few features yet included, but it'll give you a taste of what to expect from the full game. 

Thank you both for your comments! I really love the visual design, too, especially Raven's. 

God, I love women in hats.

Apologies for the radio silence! I was meaning to do week 3's update on Sunday but some real life matters got in the way. Anyway, blankd has agreed to share these images of our major characters, so now you can get a better idea of the game's look and feel. 

First, Lavinia, our game's socially anxious but brilliant protagonist: 

Next, the three different models of robot girlfriend. As I've mentioned, in any playthrough you'll be able to build just one of these three models: 

Blueberry (a.k.a. Blue, BB) is gentle, cheerful and supportive. 

Georgiana is clever, curious and challenging. 

Raven is enigmatic and aloof. 

Would love to hear your thoughts on the characters, now you've seen their visual design. 

Update for the end of week 2: 

• Programming is progressing nicely, now we have a progress journal and a character journal. 
• Story has gone into writing stages, with both writers now working on the prologue section. 
• We're looking at nine character sprites at this point, of which four have finished line art. 

All in all not bad for two weeks' work.

Oh, hey! A reply. 

I'll let blankd know about the art, we can decide at what stage we want to start sharing it. 

Girlfriend Material is the story of Lavinia von Adeline, an eccentric and socially anxious inventor who decides to rescue her love-life by building herself a robot girlfriend. The game is being written in Ren'py and is primarily a visual novel, with a time management and stat building component that controls the process of building the robot itself. 

I'm Hazel, I'm the lead writer and programmer, and this is my first time managing a project like this. Our sprite artist is blankd and our second writer is TellerFarsight. 

Progress as of jam day 6: 

• Programming is advancing slowly but surely, with the main game menu mostly complete. 
• Character sprites are in concept stage. 
• The story is in late plotting  and outlining stages. 

Follow our progress here, on Tumblr, or on Discord.

I enjoyed throwing bricks at people. This probably says more about me than the game.

Mysteriously won't run on my laptop. I'll try it again on another computer tomorrow.

It's a cute theme and a fun game. I enjoyed playing it, even though this isn't a type of game I'm usually any good at.

I didn't know whether I would be able to submit my game at the end, which made it a little harder, but the jam still motivated me to finish writing the alpha of my 20K word text game. I wrote the last passage this afternoon and I keep having to remind myself that it's a huge milestone, even if the results aren't very tangibly impressive.