Hello again, everyone! 👋

I’ve been hard at work on Katawa Shoujo: GBA Edition, and this update focuses on significant improvements to how sprites are handled, new character additions, and good progress on gameplay mechanics.

Sprite Optimization

Previously, each character used two 4bpp palettes (32 colors in total) for their sprites. While this worked, it introduced limitations on how many characters could be displayed at once and added overhead when managing palette updates.

Now, I’ve reworked the system to use a shared palette of 128 colors for all characters. This change has several advantages:

• More Characters On Screen: With a unified palette, multiple characters can now appear simultaneously without palette conflicts.
• Performance Gains: Reduces the load on the GBA when updating palettes during scene changes.
• Consistency: Characters now look more cohesive, with smoother transitions between scenes.

New Characters

I’ve also added more character sprites! The following characters are now available in the game:

• Emi
• Hanako
• Rin
• Lilly
• Misha
• Shizune
• Kenji
• Yuuko
• Nurse

Gameplay Improvements

I’ve begun migrating all in-game variables from the original Ren’Py scripts directly into code. This is a big step forward because it allows:

• Dialogue Progression: You can now make choices during conversations, and your decisions will affect the story as you continue.
• Branching Scenarios: Choices are beginning to have consequences, and this functionality is already available in the latest demo.

While this system is still a Work In Progress, it’s exciting to see the gameplay taking shape!