From the announcement post on Patreon.

Why 0.99?

Because with so many changes to the code and the addition of new content and features, there's a good chance that something doesn't work as intended. And, no amount of testing over and over will do anything more than delay the release further. So, we anticipate there being the need for a FINAL FINAL version purely as a bug-fix.

So, what's new to the Director's Cut?

While the main story and experience for Now & Then will remain the same, there's a lot of new and revised content to experience. 

Re-coding

Since we were just learning Ren'py as we started up, there's a lot of excess code and redundant content in the early portion of the game. Stuff that was duplicated rather than streamlined with code we didn't know how to implement at the time. Most of this effort was to clean that up. Also, there were a few spots where we adjusted points gained by the girls or story flags that weren't set correctly. Both should accurately portray the original intent of the scenes now. Thirdly, we kept the entire main story in a single file, which became massively cumbersome by the end. This has been split into the three acts, with the Endings and Alternative content still as their own files. Between that and setting up code for the Chapter Select option (see below) most of the main script files have gotten a serious rework.

Saves

Because of the re-coding, your old saves won't work. There's just too many new scenes and way too much redone code here for that to be possible. And, let's be honest: With some of the "learning opportunities" that came up during development, I won't be surprised if some of those old saves aren't iffy as it is. It's part of the reason we wanted to do the Chapter Select (see below), so you could jump into the game at later points and retry how choices play out. The good news is that your unlockables (via the persistent data file) will carry over. So, if you finished the main game already, you'll have access to all of the new features. 

Reshoots

Much like our inexperience with Ren'py, it took a while for us to gain both our footing in Honey Select and the directorial eye of how scenes should be shot. A lot of scenes in the early portion have some issues with lighting or way too camera changes. I mean, there's a sequence early on with either Jack or Carol in the apartment hallway that I swear has six angle changes in seven renders. So, early reshoots were meant to clean these up, while also addressing some clipping that likewise shows up in a few moments. When you have over 18k renders, some of them may not all be winners.

Script cleanup

549,078 words in the original game. 597,511 words in the final build of the Director's Cut. No matter the number of times you spellcheck and have players point out things, stuff slips through the cracks. I won't even pretend the final game will be perfect, but it'll be closer to what we want. Plus, there were a few lines that upon reflection needed rewrites because they didn't make the sense that I'm sure I thought they did then.

New content

What's the point of going back into the game if you aren't going to add new stuff? Additions and updates run the gamut, from extending scenes to dropping in new small moments to fill out the experience to straight-up new romantic scenes inserted where there's a lull in the action. There are fourteen new scenes to unlock in the gallery, including ending content. There are a handful of new Then scenes and a fair number of added moments, some of which were requested by patrons to bulk up the story. Of course, a fair bit of this added content was necessary for...

New endings

At the time of the original release for the endings, we got a lot of feedback from people asking if Julie and Hana would ever get their own chance as the main love interest. Neither had really been intended to be anything more than side girls. So, it took some time to consider how to implement both. In the end, Hana's ending just requires a stat check at the end of the game and making a certain choice before Chapter 25 ends. Of course, you have to actively court her through the game. Julie? There's a series of choices you must make to get the option to unlock her that I'm sure a walkthrough will help (or not, they're a little obvious).

New choices

As we worked on the original game, it occurred to us that some scenes occurred without player input. While the early elements of Jack and Carol's romance are necessary for the story (it frames their relationship throughout and gives Naomi opportunity to discover what's going on), after a certain point, we wanted those choices to be in the hands of the player. To that end, there are two moments in Part two where we added the option to avoid intimacy. For those people who really want to try a specific type of run (like the possibility of a Carol No Love run).

Chapter Select

One of the big additions to this build is the option to replay the game starting from any chapter. Because the story leans heavily on the girls stats and previous choices, using this option will start you with a common baseline. Each chapter's base starting stats will assume you're doing a normal runthrough (romancing Carol, Naomi, Alice, and Sydney) and that you've selected mostly default choices along the way. This will remove some of the more nuanced experience that you would get by making these specific choices yourself, but if you want to start later in the story, this is the best option.

Note: This is locked behind a Game Complete data flag.

Ending Viewer

Much like the Chapter Select, this allows players to start the Endings/Epilogues chapter with one girl or another as the main love interst. It also assumes a normal playthrough with most of the default choices already selected. As with the main story, you may miss out on the story reflecting all of your micro-decisions, but you'll get to see the extended content for each girl's Ending.

Note: This is locked behind a Game Complete data flag.

Unlock All option

Once you finish the game (or have the finished game flag in your persistence data), you'll have the option to unlock all the gallery scenes you may have missed. So, for those people who worry they've missed something as they play through: Now you won't.

Note: This is locked behind a Game Complete data flag.

Outtakes

Also unlockable are some bonus scenes that didn't make it into the final game. A few are just original takes on scenes that got reworked for what made it into the final game. And others will show off content that didn't make it in due to various reasons.

Note: This is locked behind a Game Complete data flag.

Righting some wrongs

Upon reflection as we looked over the final game, we realized that some scenarios played out in unintended ways. With Naomi getting a lot of content in the unlockable Alternative scenes, it's actually easier for her to end as the Main Girl. The original intent was for that to be Carol, with Naomi being pretty easy to get based on making a few different choices. This has been fixed in the new build. Also, Sydney is hugely shortchanged in the Ending content, so we added some more, including a pregnant scenario like the one for Carol. 

Things you may have to look for

It wouldn't be an ILS Productions release without sneaking some stuff in there that might require some effort to see. We've slipped in a scene variant for Carol that requires seeing two earlier scenes with Naomi. And both Julie and Hana have moments that only trigger if you're on the path to unlock their endings. 

Where are we at?

Right now, we're doing a full scrubbing of the script to clean up a number of lingering typos and sentences that just don't make sense in retrospect. All of the new content is done. All of the bonus coding is done. Once the script is done, we'll need to do a fresh processing of the images/videos to produce a clean final build. The last android build had some images that didn't compress right, so we're keen to make sure that doesn't happen again. There'll be some testing of the final builds before we upload. At that point, we'll be sending out IT'S COMING notifications. So, soon. 

Thanks for your interest!

-Kinderfeld