Welcome back, fellow Couch Lions! As we start rolling into autumn we’ve made some pretty awesome progress with Dream & Sugar. Dating Bennett is in full testing mode, and we’ve fully completed implementing the ability to date Hugo as well! Our crack team of coders keeps knocking down those bugs as we find them, and we’re running through the game as much as we can to test it. Don’t forget if you want to be in on the playtest action, you can still download the demo on our website, CouchLionStudios.com. Get a taste for the beginning of the game and help us really iron out any kinks you find!

On the art front, we’re redesigning our text box sizes. Accessibility is something we take very seriously, so we’re completely reworking our text boxes and font size options to make sure that everyone can enjoy the story we’re crafting. With the resized art asset, we’re also revisiting longer strands of text to make sure that we don’t see any strange cutoffs or overflow with the various sizes of text. Which means when it’s released, Dream & Sugar will have text size options that you can choose between for your specific comfort level!

Alongside accessibility, we’ve also been hard at work making sure that our game is as inclusive as possible. While we have a story that we want to tell, the nature of our game also opens the door for people to explore themselves. The coding team have successfully implemented the ability for you to put your own name in for the protagonist, and perhaps even more exciting we’ve adjusted the story to work with female, male, and neutral pronouns! That’s right, loading up Dream & Sugar will give you the option to be Nora, Noah, or whatever name you like! Along with choosing your visual appearance and whether you’d prefer to be a them, her, or him!

Your bachelor and bachelorette options will welcome you as you are, however that may be. The default option will still be to play as Nora, the character you’ve all come to know through the demo and our social medias (speaking of which, check us out on Instagram @couchlionstudios! We post Screenshot Saturdays every week!), but now you’ll have the choice to take on Dream & Sugar your way, not just ours. The change was a unanimous one by the Couch Lion team, who feel that accessibility and representation are important pillars of character that we want to make sure we’re actively pursuing. Our world is made of rich and varied peoples, and we want our games to celebrate that.

That’s the big news for this update on Dream & Sugar! Soon we’ll be back with more updates and more news. If you simply can’t wait that long, check our Instagram @couchlionstudios for weekly sneak peeks at what the art team has been working on. Maybe you’ll even get a glimpse of our male-presenting protagonist, Noah! As always, if you have any comments or find any of those pesky bugs hiding in the game, feel free to reach out to us on CouchLionStudios.com and let us know. We love hearing from you guys and we’re happy to keep moving forward as we bring Dream & Sugar ever closer to its grand debut!

Until next time, stay frosty Couch Lions!