I have added a few new NPCs and locations to the map, and finally got the technical translation to UE5.1 finished (I hope at least). There were a LOT of problems with the Breadworms' root motion animation not working consistently with my animation blendspace, but I think I've got it bandaged enough to work; if not, then oh well, I can always hack an alternative in until it gets fixed. I wasted at least 20 hours dicking around with that, and I regret it 95%.

Looking forward to getting the actual game loop finished in a few weeks, with all main items collectible and functional towards the main game loop mechanism. From there, I plan to expand out the dialog, and bump up the randomness of dialog trees and spawn locations, then finally fluff out the dialog and start introducing some actual dating simulator statistics.

The biggest technical pieces are almost all in place, and then I can start turning this glorified tech demo into an actual gaming experience!