Greetings Counselor,

Since our last update, a lot has been happening behind the scenes. While most of our work has focused on mechanics, systems, and the game's campaign that go beyond this test build, we would also like to give more players a chance to experience the game early. Therefore starting today, the test build is now available on Itch.io as well.

Players can now choose to download the test build directly from Itch.io or continue playing through Steam by requesting a key via our Discord. In our previous post, we mentioned that the test build would be coming to an end, but given the steady flow of new players interested in trying it out, we’ve decided to keep it available for now.

With the Itch.io release, we’ve also updated the test build with some quality-of-life changes and a few new select mechanics. As mentioned before, most of our recent work has been under the hood and is therefore not visible in the test build. But one example worth noting, even though it isn’t available yet, is our work on the Case Editor. Since the campaign is being built in the same editor that players will have access to at launch, we’ve taken every opportunity to smooth out hurdles and improve workflow during the campaign’s case creation. Because of this, the Case Editor has really grown over the past few weeks and is looking better and better.

This means the number of changes is smaller compared to past updates where we overhauled or expanded systems, but you’ll still find some meaningful additions. The most notable change for returning players will be that players can now use Jury Actions to uncover hidden juror traits before jury selection, alongside a few other refinements aimed at smoother gameplay. And while the case’s story remains unchanged, these additions give both new and returning players fresh ways to approach the process of selecting the right jurors for the case.

So without further ado, here’s what’s new in version 0.0.6 - alpha:

Change Log
(Note: this list covers player-facing features and excludes under-the-hood changes made in recent weeks.)

• Added new music tracks for the dossier and courtroom scenes.

• Added facial expressions to dialog creation. Case Creators can now assign character expressions to their lines.

• Enabled Jury Actions (document search, relationship search, internet search, court psychiatrist). These allow players to reveal hidden juror traits before selection. Each action targets specific trait groups with higher discovery chances based on its field. Case Creators can set the number of uses and how many attributes are revealed per action.

• Added a search filter to the evidence page for quicker text-based filtering.

• Enabled the plaintiff polaroid in the dossier’s person tab. It now displays information about the plaintiff (the state in this case), configurable by Case Creators.

• Revamped Judge Strike, Juror/Witness Strike, and Breakdown mechanics so they now function independently.

• Renamed Opening Arguments to Opening Statements for proper terminology.

• Transcripts are no longer split when using the recess option. They now remain as a single continuous log.

• Characters capable of striking out the player or breaking down now have unique dialogue lines defined by Case Creators.

• Added tooltips to witnesses in court to show their traits.

• Fixed various inconsistencies and issues, added new sprites, and improved overall polish.

That’s everything for this round. As always, thank you for testing, providing feedback, and helping us shape the game!

Cheers,