Lab Rats 2 - Down to Business (v0.49.1, 2/8/2022)

[dannub]

I'd agree with a lot of that. The sheer drop in stats from asking for oral completely discourages me from ever picking it. It does take days and weeks to get anywhere in the game, especially at first when you can't hire anyone (or you quickly go broke and game over). In the first game, you got to the serum making and dosing the girls pretty quickly. Here, it can take several in-game days to get any kind of serum, let alone one that's worth a damn. Also, in the first game there was a pretty fluid transition from just making out with a girl to handjob to oral to sex. In this game, you basically just make out until you can get a girl's panties off, switch to missionary, and bam, you're done. It's only much later on that you can experiment with other stuff, because you can't even get to the sluttiness required before you cum and it ends. There's not even a point to doing anything but missionary after you've seen all the different scenes, currently, because the other sex variants don't do anything tangible, and when you have to grind sluttiness to get to the final level of serum options, you don't have the luxury of choice.

Another thing: I still don't like how employees in this game are basically blank slates. What I end up doing in every run is hiring a few people to get things going, and then firing them and replacing them once I have the high sluttiness/work stat perks. I have no attachment to them because they're just a collection of numbers that are easily replaced. Granted, it's nice finding ones that are into public sex or slutty outfits, as they're the easiest to passively improve sluttiness, but still, I could drop them and replace them with a different girl without hesitation.

All that said, I know this game is a work in progress, and I look forward to seeing what you add in the next release.

[vrengames]

v0.13.0 is Live! If you're already a patron you can download it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/24378713

Lab Rats 2 v0.13.0 focuses on improving the introduction of the game and better explaining the mechanics of the game. A new, optional introduction to the lab explains the basic tasks that lead to a successful business. New tutorial overlays also explain the key parts of different screens, including the outfit designer and the serum designer. The final main addition are tooltip overlays for the key stats of characters that explain what they influence and how they can be changed.

Beyond the new introductory material there have been several other improvements. A new process for rendering character bodies is being introduced which will improve overall character quality. A new sleeveless top and a suit jacket have been added to the game, and the old suit pants image set has been replaced with a model less prone to clipping. As the game size grows the size of the image gallery was beginning to be a concern. Some minor image compression has been applied to the game images and has resulted in a 50% reduction of file sizes with no noticeable change in quality. Finally, a few events, mainly concerning your sister and mother, have been expanded.

[MaxTheDark]

How long till public?

[vrengames]

Lab Rats 2 v0.13.1 is finished and available to everyone! Get it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/lab-rats-2-v0-13-24555928

The focus of the v0.13 update cycle was improving the new player experience and general UI feedback throughout Lab Rats 2. A new, optional introduction explains the basic tasks needed to get business running. New tutorial overlays now offer additional information about the various game screens. These explain the outfit designer, the serum designer, the employee hiring screen, and the research screen. The last piece of the UI improvements is the introduction of a flexible tooltip system. Hovering over a menu button or character statistic gives more information on what it is, why it's important, and what can be done to change it.

In addition to the improved UI there are a number of other major changes in this version. A new process for rendering the character images for LR2 has been introduced, and it has both improved the quality of the characters and reduced the overall file size. At the same time two new clothing times have been added - a suit jacket and a sleeveless shirt. A couple of new outfits using these items have been added to the default wardrobe, but you can always add more of your own! Finally, there have been tweaks to the seduction mechanic of the game. There is now a wider range of responses a character can give when you succeed or fail to seduce them, and they are more aware of when you're seducing them in an inappropriate location.

I hope you enjoy the update, I'll be back with another one the same time next month!

[MaxTheDark]

I moved Stephanie to Supply Procurement and I have permanent 0/0 supplies, can't get new ones, and cant produce anything. Am I doing something wrong, or is it your fault?

[EDIT]
MY FAULT! I've set the 'keep stock level' at 0 because I wasn't sure what it means, and there was no option to cancel. That's because it uses the phrase 'Serum Supply' instead of 'raw supply'.

[vrengames]

Lab Rats 2 v0.14.0 is live! Patrons can get it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/25044252

Lab Rats 2 v0.14.0 is finished and ready for a week of bug testing by patrons! This month was a productive one, bringing a ton of new additions and changes to the game. Love, as opposed to general sluttiness or obedience, is now a tracked statistic for characters. Girls who love you are more willing to have sex in private, go out on dates, and otherwise be friendly with you. The UI of the game has been updated to give more feedback to players and to provide more information about choices they are going to make.

Large chunks of new content have also been added. New love based interactions allow you to build a relationship with a girl without corrupting her, or use that trust to corrupt her more quickly. Four new sets of underwear and two new bras have been added to the game along with several new default outfits that make use of them. New events that take place at home have also been added.

I hope you enjoy the new update and everything it adds!

[vrengames]

Lab Rats 2 v0.14.1 is finished and ready for its public release! Get it here!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/25224710

v0.14.1 is a major update that introduces a main statistic for girls: love. Love is a measure of a girls individual devotion and relationship with you, as opposed to their general sluttiness or obedience. The higher the love value the more willing a girl is to have a friendly chat, go out on a date, or have sex with you in private. New events and conversation options have been added to give ways to raise a girls love and old events have been modified to make the stat relevant.

In addition to this new mechanic there have been a number of other important changes and improvements. UI improvements continue with new tooltips being added for most actions when their button is hovered. Performance has been improved by removing a highly inefficient drawing method. Girls now have unique, individual houses. These locations are unreachable by default, but can be unlocked by taking the girl on a date and being invited back to her place. Several new events taking place at home have been added. Four new panty sets, two new bras, and a collection of new outfits that make use of them round out the new content in this update.

Enjoy!

Oh, and of course a changelog:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

*CHANGES AND ADDITIONS*
- Added "love" stat for girls. Characters wtih high love will have higher sluttiness when you are in private and be more devoted to you. Characters with low love will have a penalty to sluttiness all the time.
- Family members do not recieve the positive sluttiness modifers from Love.
- Added support for sub maps on the main map screen.
- Added distinct homes for each character.
- Added ability for MC to discover where characters live and visit them.
- Added character home sub map, to let you visit characters who's home you know about.
- Updated "out of uniform" crisis. Characters who love "not wearing anything" now gain love and have no happiness drop when they are told to strip and work naked.
- Updated all existing role events, crises, and actions to affect love when apporpriate.
- Added support for menu tooltips.
- Created "Employee" role, which is given to all employees when they are hired.
- Moved all existing employee based interactions into the "special action" menu.'
- Refactored "Action" class. Added tooltip support and much more comprehensive control over how buttons are displayed.
- Crises involving Mom and Lily now take Love into account when deciding how comfortable they are with you.
- Added 4 new panty clothing items and 2 new bra clothing items.
- Added new random event for Lily.
- Added new outfits using new clothing items.
- Added new "performance review" action for employees. Can be performed once a week.
- Rewrote sections of night time visit crisis to work better with new living arangements.
- Removed mandatory "Talk with" action that was associated with the new serum crisis to avoid double time skips.
- Characters are now more likely to ask for permission when stripping if they are highly obedient.
- Added new nightime crisis involving mom at moderate sluttiness and love.
- Clicking on a text input field in the character creation window now auto clears the default text.

*BUG FIXES*
- Characters who are fired will now stop showing up for work.
- Characters no longer recieve a happiness boost when you insult their work.
- Added clock symbol to menu options that will advance time.
- Expanded small talk option. Knowing a girls opinion on a topic will result in a larger love increase.
- Refactored "Chat with her..." menu screen to make future content additions easier.
- Removed limitations on how often you can chat with a girl.
- Added time advancement to most events where you chat with a girl.

[Briheas]

The game crashed immediately after an employee quit due to being unhappy:

Full traceback:
File "game/script.rpy", line 7341, in script call
call talk_person(person_choice) from _call_talk_person
File "game/script.rpy", line 7419, in script call
call advance_time from _call_advance_time_15
File "game/script.rpy", line 8539, in script call
$ crisis.call_action()
File "game/crises.rpy", line 1242, in script
$ mc.business.remove_employee(the_person)
File "D:\Program Files (x86)\Lab_Rats_2-v0.14.1-pc\renpy\ast.py", line 862, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "D:\Program Files (x86)\Lab_Rats_2-v0.14.1-pc\renpy\python.py", line 1912, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/crises.rpy", line 1242, in <module>
$ mc.business.remove_employee(the_person)
File "game/script.rpy", line 761, in remove_employee
the_person.special_role.remove(employee_role)
File "D:\Program Files (x86)\Lab_Rats_2-v0.14.1-pc\renpy\python.py", line 713, in do_mutation
return method(self, *args, **kwargs)
ValueError: list.remove(x): x not in list

Windows-8-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 7.0.0.196
Lab Rats 2 - Down to Business v0.14.1
Sun Mar 10 16:40:04 2019

[MaxTheDark]

Lab Rats 2 v0.14.1 is finished and ready for its public release! Get it here!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/25224710

v0.14.1 is a major update that introduces a main statistic for girls: love. Love is a measure of a girls individual devotion and relationship with you, as opposed to their general sluttiness or obedience. The higher the love value the more willing a girl is to have a friendly chat, go out on a date, or have sex with you in private. New events and conversation options have been added to give ways to raise a girls love and old events have been modified to make the stat relevant.

In addition to this new mechanic there have been a number of other important changes and improvements. UI improvements continue with new tooltips being added for most actions when their button is hovered. Performance has been improved by removing a highly inefficient drawing method. Girls now have unique, individual houses. These locations are unreachable by default, but can be unlocked by taking the girl on a date and being invited back to her place. Several new events taking place at home have been added. Four new panty sets, two new bras, and a collection of new outfits that make use of them round out the new content in this update.

Enjoy!

Sounds interesting! Is it compatible with old saves, tho?
[EDIT]
Nope.

[RunningAroundInCircles]

- Added new nightime crisis involving mom at moderate sluttiness and love.

Could you define "moderate", please?
The game is grindy to a certain amount and trying to trigger a random event with uncertain variables is quite troublesome, given that love is hard and sluttiness impossible(?) to lower.

[vrengames]

Lab Rats 2 v0.15.0 is finished and out for bug testing! Patrons can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/25782224

Lab Rats 2 v0.15.0 is finished and ready for its week of bug testing by patrons. The major change in this update cycle is a refinement of the serum design system. Each serum trait, the building blocks of the mind altering serums your company produces, now has a mastery level associated with it and a chance to generate a side effect. The higher the mastery level of a trait the lower the chance that trait will introduce a side effect if it is included in a serum. Your mastery of a trait can be improved by your R&D department over time or by testing a serum with that trait on someone and spending time with them to observe the effects. The UI surrounding the serum design system has been updated alongside this new gameplay element. Serum effects are now streamlined and in a more easily understood way.

In addition to the new serum mechanics there have been a number of new events written for the game and a class of events that can trigger. Some random events now take place only in the morning at the start of a new day, when you wake up. These events are written to involve your mother or sister. Two new workplace events provide the chance to dramatically increase your mastery over a serum trait or create a serum design not normally possible. New serum traits have also been added, unlocking new serum possibilities. Finally, a new sex position, "cowgirl", has been added and is used for one of the new random events. It is a test of the new code making girl lead sex possible and other positions and options will be included in the future.

I hope you enjoy the new version!

And of course, a changelog (v0.14.1 to v0.15.0):

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

*CHANGES AND ADDITIONS*
- Refactored and redesigned serum design system.
- Eliminated status effects from game.
- Serum traits now have on_turn effects that are processed directly.
- Added primitive serum production trait that begins the game researched.
- All serums now require a production class trait which dictates how many traits and production points it costs.
- All serum traits now have a chance to generate a side effect when they are included in a serum design.
- All serum traits now have a mastery level. The chance to develop a side effect is divided by the mastery level.
- Added long list of side effects.
- Added new class of morning crises. These only trigger at the beginning of a new day.
- Added new "morning suprise" crisis at home.
- Added new "mom selfies" event.
- Updated research screen to support trait mastery.
- Spending time with a girl who is under the effect of a serum increass mastery with that serum.
- Serums can be studied indefinitely to reduce the side effect creation chance.
- Improved date descriptions for family members
- Added "Cowgirl" image set. Currently used for one event.
- Added internal support for girls taking charge during sex.

*BUG FIXES*
- Serums that change sluttiness no longer contribute to goals that require active corruption.
- Serum completion crisis no longer teleports employee in on the weekend to present you the thing you just made.
- Arousal now resets after having sex on a date.

[MaxTheDark]

Can you just release 0.15 it for free? It's not even finished, why the delay?

Pwetty pwease?

[hoboy]

Let them bug test - releasing things early like you want is what gets a game a bad rep as "buggy"...

[MaxTheDark]

Let them bug test - releasing things early like you want is what gets a game a bad rep as "buggy"...

Normally I would, but it seems the game finally has some fun elements in it

[Yllarius]

Let them bug test - releasing things early like you want is what gets a game a bad rep as "buggy"...

Normally I would, but it seems the game finally has some fun elements in it

I wouldn't quite go that far, while I feel it's a step in the right direction, it's still pretty...meh.
about 10%+ negative status modifiers, which is decreased by research or spending time with them.

While it does give stephanie more things to do (As you can't really remove her as head researcher anyways), since it doesn't seem like the compounds get any more 'effective' it feels more like a gate than something to really play around with.

TBH, The game still feels like a grindfest for some 'meh' porn value.

That said, I'm still keeping an eye on it, as it does have potential, and I don't want to discourage the devs from continuing their work.

[MaxTheDark]

TBH, The game still feels like a grindfest for some 'meh' porn value.

Oh yeah, that reminds me.

Fix the characters faces during blowjob. They look like the fucking Hannibal Lecter:


Also characters seem to be lowering their eyes in angry expression a lot. That's weird.

[vrengames]

Lab Rats 2 v0.15.1 is live! Get it here! https://www.patreon.com/posts/lab-rats-2-v0-15-25956496

Lab Rats 2 v0.15.1 is finished its week of patron bug testing and ready to be released to everyone, absolutely free! Version 0.15.1 brings with it a major overhaul to the serum design system. Each serum trait, the building blocks of the mind altering trait your company produces, now has a chance to generate a side effect. By assigning your R&D division to the task or by testing the serum out on people yourself you can improve your mastery level of a serum trait and reduce the chance it creates a side effect in future serum designs. The serum design UI has been updated to include information about mastery levels and much of other serum related UI has been refined to more conveniently display useful information.

In addition to the new serum mechanics there are a number of new random events and refined old events in the game. New workplace events provide a chance to create serum designs that are normally impossible or to quickly boost your mastery level of a serum trait. At home there are multiple new events that involve your mother and sister, both as loving family members and convenient test subjects.

I hope you enjoy the new version!

Changelog(v0.14.1 to v0.15.1)

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

*CHANGES AND ADDITIONS*
- Refactored and redesigned serum design system.
- Eliminated status effects from game.
- Serum traits now have on_turn effects that are processed directly.
- Added primitive serum production trait that begins the game researched.
- All serums now require a production class trait which dictates how many traits and production points it costs.
- All serum traits now have a chance to generate a side effect when they are included in a serum design.
- All serum traits now have a mastery level. The chance to develop a side effect is divided by the mastery level.
- Added long list of side effects.
- Added new class of morning crises. These only trigger at the beginning of a new day.
- Added new "morning suprise" crisis at home.
- Added new "mom selfies" event.
- Updated research screen to support trait mastery.
- Spending time with a girl who is under the effect of a serum increass mastery with that serum.
- Serums can be studied indefinitely to reduce the side effect creation chance.
- Improved date descriptions for family members
- Added "Cowgirl" image set. Currently used for one event.
- Added internal support for girls taking charge during sex.
- Added presplash image to desktop and mobile versions.
- Added new Mom and Lily morning event.
- Section of date dialogue is now differentiated by personality type.
- Added new tutorial screen explaining serum mastery.
- Added new Lily only morning event.

*BUG FIXES*
- Serums that change sluttiness no longer contribute to goals that require active corruption.
- Serum completion crisis no longer teleports employee in on the weekend to present you the thing you just made.
- Arousal now resets after having sex on a date.
- Corrected Sunday being considered a paid day and Friday being considered a weekend.
- Fixed winner of catfight crisis not having obedience or happiness raised.
- Fixed inverted obedience check when highly aroused and stripping.

[dannub]

Some feedback on this version:

1. It's still WAY too grindy! And somehow even more so, because you can now only talk to people a very limited amount, especially in the beginning (also when it's the most grindy). Happiness is way too hard to accumulate, and in fact seems to go down immediately after I talk to someone. Case in point, Stephanie was at 65 happiness, I complimented her up to 67, talked to her immediately afterward and she was at 65.

2. The new formula system doesn't really make sense. Why does my product have a bad reputation that's killing its profitability (making it literally cost me money to sell it) and how do I recover that? Make a new product? Shut down the business and start a new game (again)?

3. Again, too grindy. Because of the changes to the serum profit system, it takes even longer to reach the point where you can even hire someone without losing a ton of money. In the first game, you could at least count on a reasonable income while you increased your standing with the girls, but in this game I spent weeks going from one department to the other with only Stephanie to do automated research. The one time I managed to get what seemed like a profitable serum, it lasted for a week before getting a bad rep and I went out of business.

[Briheas]

First off, a worker quit on a Saturday. Is that supposed to happen?

Now that the details of each trait are even more important, I think there needs to be a reworking of the descriptions for each trait. For starters, the text saying what the trait actually does (the green and red text) should be much bigger and easier to read than the flavor text. Having flavor text is fine and all, but I shouldn't be having to strain to see what the gameplay functions of the trait do when the flavor is easily readable and taking up 1/2 to 2/3 of the text box.

I'm not quite sure what the point of mastery is for something like basic medical applications. It's only added to increase the value of the serum, so why should I care about side effects? I would suspect no one adds it to a serum they're actually giving characters (it eats up a slot and would cause side effects). If anything, it should also increase the value of the serum, which would give me an incentive to research mastery for it and make sense in-game: a drug with decreased side effects would be worth more money. (This could be applied to the value of all traits as well)

I usually wait until tier 2 or 3 before I start making serums to give to people, so it's going to be a while before I can really test the side effects. But, I will just remind you of the rule of video game probabilities: if it's something bad, and the odds of it happening aren't 0%, assume it's 100%. So I really really hope that every trait can be brought down to 0% side effect with enough mastery, or else serums are going to be essentially useless.

[vrengames]

If you're already a patron you can find the download links here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/lab-rats-2-v0-16-26497451

Lab Rats 2 v0.16 is ready for it's round of patron bug testing! This update cycle had two major components: first, character titles were introduced and integrated with all of the existing dialogue and narration for the game. Second, rendering support and a few initial designs were added for clothing patterns. On top of that there has been a major optimization made for the start up time of the game, new clothing items and a hair style have been added, and a handful of bugs have been tracked down and squashed.

Character titles have replaced all of the direct uses of a characters name in Lab Rats 2. A character title can be thought of as the name you know that person by, or the name you are choosing to call them. For most characters this is the same as their first name, but others may prefer a more formal title such as "Mrs.Girl". As you corrupt a girl there will be more titles she thinks are acceptable for her. Girls also each have a title they use for the main character in a similar way. Your mother might call you "Sweetheart" or "Son", while your employees may call you "Sir", or "Boss". Finally, there are used in narration when talking about a girl in relation to you; "your employee" or "your friend". Character titles are now formatted throughout the game to use the same colour and font as that character's dialogue. While looking through menus or reading through narration it is much easier to remember what character is being talked about.

Rendering support for patterns along an initial test batch has been added to the game. A pattern is a section of an existing piece of clothing that can be drawn as a different colour. Patterns make use of a mask to recolour clothing, which makes them much faster for me to render and a smaller file size when added to the game. Going forward more clothing items will receive pattern variants as a way of increasing the variety in the game without significantly increasing file size. This new functionality called for a redesign of the outfit designer. When selecting a pattern you can now alternate between changing the primary or secondary colour. A colour swatch has also been added to let you store and load colours by right or left clicking on the spaces available. These colours are saved and persistent between games, so you can now match colours for different pieces of clothing or create themed uniforms.

Lastly, the release of the v0.16 update will mark the start of phase 2 of Lab Rats 2 development. Previous updates have been focused on the internal mechanical support for a number of different game mechanics: dynamic outfits, character personalities, goals, etc. Future updates will now focus on introducing new, unique characters and producing a detailed storyline to make use of all of these mechanics and tie the game together. Rendering improvements will also be taking top priority. Facial styles and emotions in particular are going to be reworked completely to achieve better results. New body types/models will also be worked on to widen the variety of base bodies in the game. Lab Rats 2 characters may have a different style than they did in Lab Rats 1, but I want to achieve the same level of quality with them.

I hope you enjoy the update, and here's a changelog going from v0.15.1 to v0.16.0:

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

*CHANGES AND ADDITIONS*
- Initial game startup speed has been massively improved. Startup times reduced to between 5 and 10 seconds.
- Added concept of character titles. Each character has a title for themselves and a title for you.
- Character titles are used inside of dialogue in places where their names would previously have been used.
- MC titles are used inside of dialogue in places where the main character's title would previously have been used.
- Added character possessive titles. Possesive titles are used in narration when describing a character's relationship to you.
- Added initial list of titles for each of the three types.
- Each personality can now add their own titles to the general master list a character picks from.
- Character titles and possessive titles now recieve the same formatting the character's dialogue does during narration.
- Character titles and possessive titles now recieve the same formatting when used inside of menus.
- Added ability to talk to a character and change their titles directly. Requires a minimum of 120 obedience.
- Characters now have a random chance to want to reassess their titles when you talk to them.
- Low obedience characters will demand you use a new title or be unhappy. Moderate obedience give you a choice between two they like, but will keep their old title if you wish. High obedience characters give you complete control and are happy no matter what you pick.
- Added "Business Vest" clothing item.
- Added "Strapless Bra" clothing item.
- Added "Bobbed Hair" hairstyle.
- Added rendering support for "patterns". A pattern is a section of an existing clothing item that can be coloured a secondary colour.
- Six initial patterns added for testing:
- Bra now has "lacy" patern, colours lace separately from entire bra.
- Sports bra has been rerendered to remove clipping and now has "two toned" pattern, which recolours the strapping.
- Sweater dress now has two toned pattern and a star pattern,
- Tshirt now has a striped pattern.
- The tied sweater now has a two toned pattern.
- Added .xml export and import support for patterns. (Add outfit exports to the wardrobe.xml file to add them into your game permanently)
- Outfit creator redesigned.
- Outfit creator now supports patterns. When a pattern is selected you can also select if you are modifying the primary or secondary colour.
- Outfit creator now has a colour swatch. Right click on a colour square to save your currently selected colour. Left click to load the colour loaded in that square. The colour swatch is persistant between games.
- Redid graphics for outfit designer tutorial to match new outfit creator design.

*BUG FIXES*
- Fixed several spelling mistakes throughout the game.
- Libido inhibitor side effect no longer adds far more sluttiness than it should.
- Fixed hair colours of some characters being incorrect when new characters were generated.
- Fixed some serum trait combinations resulting in a final production cost of 0 (And crashing things later)
- Fixed serum designs being allowed to progress when they lacked any production trait.