Hello, everyone!

Highway Blossoms 1.2.3 has just been released, which fixes a few issues of varying severity!

Of particular note, this release fixes the "FTFont NoneType" crash that was affecting certain users — thank you to everyone that reported and helped test this elusive issue, as we were completely unable to reproduce this on our local testing environments without your help! And our apologies for all the inconvenience that was experienced.

Additionally, using the Steam "Betas" feature to downgrade to 1.1.1, 1.1, and 1.0 should now work correctly, fixing the "unsupported pickle protocol: 5" error. (※ You may need to restart your Steam client for the changes to take effect, as the changes were made to Steamworks metadata and not to any actual game code or data.)

Thank you all for remaining patient, and as always, thank you for continuing to support Studio Élan!

〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa
On PC, it targets Ren'Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.5.3.22090809.

• Fixed the infamous "FTFont NoneType" crash that would occur only for certain users when attempting to draw a text box.
  • Running Highway Blossoms 1.2.3 at least once will apply modifications to your persistent save data in such a way that downgrading back to any version that was previously affected by the crash (1.2.2 〜 1.2) will now work on system configurations that were previously crashing.
    • ※ Note for people running downgraded versions: Fully deleting your persistent save data while on an affected version above will cause the crash to come back until 1.2.3 or newer is run at least once again to fix up your persistent save data.
• Fixed a crash that would occur if the user navigated to Marina's Thoughts, then to either the CG Gallery or the Guest Art sections in that specific order.
• Fixed the wrong item name being used for the "Miner's Journal" (as "Hiker's Journal") in Marina's Thoughts.
• Fixed a typo in the "Cassette" item (as "Casette") in Marina's Thoughts.
• Made various other internal refactors and improvements.

Hello, everyone!

We've just released a major update to Highway Blossoms!

… In fact, we released three versions in rapid succession just now — 1.2.2, 1.2.1, and 1.2! (※ More on this below.)

Our apologies for the large delay in getting these versions out — various external factors beyond our control prevented us from properly releasing these updates, despite them being feature-complete for the longest time.

This release fixes many long-standing issues of varying severity including achievements / trophies, vastly improves controller navigation support, and adds native Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) support for macOS, as well as ARM Linux (arm64 / AArch64, armv7) — notably including Asahi Linux (arm64e / Apple Silicon)!

All that being said, we thank you all for remaining patient, and as always, for supporting Studio Élan across these many years!

※ If for some reason you want to downgrade the game to an earlier version, you can now do this using Steam's "Betas" tab, accessible via right-clicking on the game in Steam and selecting "Properties". Please note that save data from newer versions, including your persistent save data, may cause crashing or other erratic behaviour when downgrading versions.

〜 Karen/あけみ (akemin_dayo) and adirosa
※ This is the most recent version.

On PC, it targets Ren'Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.5.3.22090809.

• Fixed an issue where the font path validator could potentially cause a crash when reading values from some users' persistent save data.

※ This version combines Highway Blossoms 1.2 with changes and improvements made in common code shared with Heart of the Woods 2.1.3.

On PC, it targets Ren'Py SDK versions 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.5.3.22090809.

• Merged changes and improvements made in common code shared with Heart of the Woods 2.1.3.
• Fixed an issue where the patch validator would erroneously assign the wrong version number to a specific version of a certain patch.
• Highway Blossom now officially supports Ren'Py SDK version targets 8.1.3.23091805 〜 7.5.3.22090809.

※ This is the version that is used in the physical PC releases that are currently being sold on our webstore and were offered as backer rewards on Kickstarter.

On PC, it targets Ren'Py SDK versions 8.1.0.23051307 〜 7.5.3.22090809.

• Added a detailed README found in the game directory — please give it a read!
• Added a macOS DMG background. It is also available as bonus content in the game directory.
  • Of particular note, the DMG background artwork used for the physical "Gold Rush Edition" release is also included for everyone to enjoy!
• Apple Silicon (arm64 / AArch64) is now natively supported on macOS, without any need for Apple's Rosetta 2 x86_64 translation layer!
• Added native support for ARM Linux (arm64 / AArch64, armv7) — notably including Asahi Linux (arm64e / Apple Silicon)!
  • ※ Note for ARM Linux users: You will not be able to earn Steam achievements / trophies while running native ARM Linux builds of the game, as Valve currently only provides an x86_64 version of the Steamworks dynamic library for Linux (libsteam_api.so).
    • ※ If you run the x86_64 build of the game via a translation layer such as Box64 or FEX, Steam achievements / trophies should work as expected.
• Vastly improved controller support as well as general keybinds for both controller and keyboard. A full list of all bindings can be found in the Help menu.
• Updated the Help screen to be more complete.
  • Controller bindings are now always displayed for easier reference.
  • Clarified and localised all controller button names.
  • Completely reworded many of the binding descriptions.
  • Made the Super Secret Ability™ and 「DUWANG」 mode easier to discover from the Help screen.
  • Added all new bindings introduced in 1.2, in addition to documenting existing ones that were previously not included.
• All videos are now encoded using the VP9 (libvpx-vp9) codec, muxed into MKV containers. Audio quality in videos have also been improved, as we now use lossless FLAC audio tracks for your listening pleasure.
  • This also fixes an issue where the audio track in the OP/ED videos would play faster than Mariah driving her RV for some people with very specific Linux system configurations.
• Added a brand new Studio Élan bootlogo in the same style as our other games!
• Added updated OP and ED videos.
• Made changes to how Unified builds are generated to facilitate for easier conversion between Unified and macOS Standalone builds.
• Updated the developer console UI.
• Added missing transitions to some scenes.
• Updated some UI assets.
• Updated all fonts to the latest versions.
• Created proper iconsets and updated the game icon across all locations.
• The large text size option is now enabled by default on the Steam Deck.
• The game now supports arbitrarily high framerates for super smooth animations!
• Added a patch API and content compatibility validator that runs at boot for certain user-installed patches and mods.
• Added a proper bundle identifier: com.vnstudioelan.highwayblossoms
  • ※ This will be our standardised bundle identifier format going forward for all of our games.
• Added all missing Info.plist keys to the macOS app bundle.
• Assets for the upcoming controller UI have been added.
  • Our new controller buttons (which will be used in all mainline Élan games going forward) are slightly modified versions of Nicolae (Xelu) Berbece's controller buttons, which are CC0-licensed (※ public domain).
  • You can obtain a fresh copy of the original unmodified assets here: https://thoseawesomeguys.com/prompts/
  • ※ If you'd like to use the exact files and/or naming scheme found in our games, feel free to do so.
• Highway Blossoms now officially supports Ren'Py SDK version targets 8.1.0.23051307 〜 7.5.3.22090809.
  • ※ Note regarding older Ren'Py SDKs that are not listed here: By virtue of Highway Blossoms using the new unified MelanieKit framework, there is some compatibility with Ren'Py SDK runtime versions older than 7.5.3.22090809, down to 7.3.5.606, just like Heart of the Woods. However, this will only get you as far as the menu — trying to go ingame will lead to a crash.

• Completely rewrote Steam achievement / trophy functionality. Issues fixed by this change are listed below.
  • Fixed all known issues related to difficulties earning achievements / trophies.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing the self-voicing accessibility (AX TTS) feature from working correctly.
• The current version of the game is now shown in the top left corner of the preference pane.
• Completely changed how fonts work. This fully fixes the rendering of bold, italics, and bold italics which were all previously rendered incorrectly.
• Use the correct name for Source Han Sans / 源ノ角ゴシック.
• Use the correct name for OpenDyslexic.
• Fixed an issue where some character facial expressions would not display correctly.
• Fixed some text formatting issues.
• Fixed some minor typos.
• Fixed an issue where the developer console would not be able to be opened using the standard ` key.
• Corrected previously-incorrect DPI values.
• Removed persistent save data that was previously erroneously included.
• Fixed inconsistent line endings.
• Fixed a crash that would occur upon reaching the end of Desert RV mode.
• Fixed a crash that would occur upon reaching the end of the game if the player modifies the game to restore some old content.
• Fixed an issue that would cause Joseph's headband to erroneously show when it should not.
• Updated and improved 3D camera framework.
• Improved the Super Secret Ability™, making it faster by 2 seconds.
• Made various improvements to EXTREME MODE (Desert RV Mode).
• Fixed an issue where the bootlogo audio could possibly end up being muted in certain cases.
• Fixed an issue where HIGH SPEED FLOWER BLOOM would not appear when it should.
• Added a font path validator that makes sure the font path in persistent data is correct.
• Re-centred and re-aligned certain UI elements that were previously incorrectly aligned.
• Adjusted and improved padding on UI elements.
• Sped up some UI transitions.
• Fixed an issue where the auto mode delay value can sometimes default to an incorrect value of 0 (instead of 15), leading to auto mode effectively not working.
• Improved text legibility of many UI elements.
• Allow keyboard / gamepad cancel button to work as expected in all applicable areas.
• Made many improvements to the save screen / load screen UI layout.
• Save screen / load screen pages now properly end at the correct maximum page value bounds, instead of continuing on forever.
• The save screen / load screen pages now wrap around when you hit each end.
• Disabled the autosave pages in the save screen to prevent players from accidentally overwriting their autosaves.
• Fixed the date formats used in save data.
• Fast-skipping will now always show a confirmation prompt.
• Improved developer console layout.
• Improved the appearance of the accessibility self-voicing overlay.
• Updated credits.

• Fixed an issue where some strings and dialogue in the Simplified Chinese (简体中文) and Russian (русский) localisations would erroneously display completely empty.
• MelanieKit warning screens are now fully localisable.
• Noto Sans JP is now used for Japanese (日本語) support. Source Han Sans / 源ノ角ゴシック is also available.
• Source Sans 3.046R is now used for Cyrillic support, used in the Russian (русский) localisation.
• Fixed all known lines that would erroneously still appear in English despite having another localisation enabled.
• Fixed an issue where certain lines would have incorrect formatting whenever a non-English localisation was enabled.
• Fixed an issue where the error handler would not render correctly when using the Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) or Simplified Chinese (简体中文) localisations.
• Fixed a UI layout issue in the Help screen when using some localisations that have longer strings for the bindings.

• Fixed a typo in Scene 02.
• Fixed incorrect formatting in Scene 05.
• Fixed a potential crash in Scene 10c.
• Fixed inconsistent capitalisation in Scene 15a.
• Fixed inconsistent wording in Scene 20.
• Fixed inconsistent capitalisation in Scene 22b.
• Fixed inconsistent capitalisation in Scene 24b.
• Fixed inconsistent capitalisation in Scene 26b.
• Fixed a potential crash in Scene 26c.
• Improved word choice in Scene 26c.
• Improved word choice in Scene 36.
• Fixed a text layout issue in Next Exit Scene 01.
• Fixed a scene layout issue in Next Exit Scene 10.
• Fixed a missing comma in Next Exit Scene 14.
• Fixed incorrect formatting in Next Exit Scene 17.

• Highway Blossoms (as well as all mainline Élan Ren'Py games going forward) no longer excludes plaintext scripts from the build archives! (There was never much of a point in doing so anyway, considering that unrpyc exists ;P)
• Added the ability to open the README, game data root directory, and game root directory from within the game itself. Look inside MelanieKit for the relevant URL schemes.
• Wondering where some defines went? They've probably been moved inside MarinaKit.
• Highway Blossoms now uses MelanieKit, just like Heart of the Woods.
• Rearranged many assets internally and removed all erroneously duplicated assets.
• Removed unused font assets.
• Changed the way how unused, non-canonical cut content content is stored. This means that you can no longer view cut content the old way.
  • ※ To get around this, you can set the console variable showNonCanonicalCutContent = 1 while ingame. Please note that this is an unsupported configuration!
• Made various internal improvements to the codebase, including large-scale refactoring.

Thanks to our last Kickstarter, we were able to fund physical editions[vnstudioelan.com] of PC game copies, soundtracks, and artbooks for each of our yuri games, including Highway Blossoms!

We have plenty of extras that are ready to ship. The PC copies of Highway Blossoms are the Gold Rush edition, meaning it also includes Highway Blossoms: Next Exit, the sequel side story to Highway Blossoms.

You can pick up the physical copies of the game, soundtrack, and artbook on our store[vnstudioelan.com]!

To help celebrate the recent 7th anniversary of Highway Blossoms, we also added some new merch and some older merch featuring the cast! (yes you can carry Tess around as a keychain)

You can find all of our Highway Blossoms merch on our website[vnstudioelan.com].

Thank you everyone who's played Highway Blossoms these past 7 years! You can keep up to date on our ongoing games by signing up for our newsletter[tinyletter.com], following our Tumblr[vnstudioelan.tumblr.com] or supporting us on Patreon[www.patreon.com].

We just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund disc-based physical copies of our first three visual novels, "Highway Blossoms," "Heart of the Woods," and "Please Be Happy." We're also printing the artbook and soundtrack too! The game copies are disc-based and compatible with PC/Mac/Linux.

The games are available in two versions: the Webstore Editions and Classic Editions. The Classic editions come in a DVD-sized case, and the Webstore editions come in a CD-sized case and have a reversible cover with a new illustration. There's also a special postcard and sticker sheet exclusive to the campaign, illustrated by some special guest artists.

The campaign will run for 4 weeks starting from today, meaning you have until April 9th to order! After the campaign ends, the games, books, and soundtracks will be available on our webstore and at IRL events. The sticker sheet and postcard will be sent to the vault, forever exclusive to this campaign.

Please give it a look if you're interested, and thanks for your support!

《花开公路：下一站出口》终于更新了官方中文！谢谢各位玩家的耐心等待，我们也十分感谢参与汉化的几位翻译和校对。希望大家会喜欢安铂和玛丽娜的新冒险！

如果DLC没有显示中文，请重装DLC或验证游戏文件的完整性。

At long last, we're excited to release the Chinese translation for Highway Blossoms: Next Exit. Thank you for your patience, and a big thanks to the translators and editors who worked on the patch to make it a reality. We hope you enjoy this extension of Amber and Marina's story!

It took us a couple tries to update properly, so if you saw multiple downloads for the game over the past couple days, that's why no you didn't.

Heyo everyone,

Lots of big news today. The main ones, of course, are the releases of Highway Blossoms: Next Exit and the artbook! I've talked about those a bunch before, so I won't repeat myself too much here. Go pick them up!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/490270/Highway_Blossoms_Next_Exit/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1412300/Highway_Blossoms__Official_Artbook/

To access Highway Blossoms: Next Exit, go to the "Extras" tab from the main menu (which may require beating the game once to unlock) and then go to "DLC Content." You'll be able to start the DLC story from there!

Alongside that, we've got a big update for the base Highway Blossoms game again, arguably even bigger than the Remastered update a couple years ago. Buckle in, because it's about to get bumpy.

Longtime HB fans might not be surprised to see this, but unfortunately, this update is likely going to break your saves. It's an unfortunate result of the engine that we use for Highway Blossoms (more specifically some custom modifications to it) and there's not really a way to avoid it. We're sorry for the inconvenience 😔 You can hold down ctrl to quickly skip through text to get back to where you were before.

Broken saves is the only bad news, though. Now onto the good!

The first change you'll probably notice is the new GUI in the game. We've totally renovated all of the menus and interface, and added some extra features. For one, there are new accessibility options, and a light/dark mode for the game. Now you can play Good Highway Blossoms and Evil Highway Blossoms. There's also a new music player and improved art gallery (make sure to check out the Next Exit guest art too!).

In the gallery, you might notice a new section called "Marina's Thoughts." We've added a number of cut-in illustrations throughout the game for certain items that come up in the story - stuff like the journal, the gold, meals the girls eat, and more. In addition to seeing them in-game, you can check them out in the gallery as well, for a quick opinion from Marina on each item.

There are a couple other new sections that you can find under "Extras" in the Legacy Content area. For one thing, you can now find all things Goofball mode here: EZ Mode, Extreme Mode, and the new form of Goofball mode itself: rather than requiring a whole other playthrough with a couple changed lines, Goofball mode is now in more of a highlight reel format that simply features The Jokes. We did remove a couple jokes that we felt weren't in good taste, though.

On that note, the Jumbo Scene from the original game has also been moved to the Legacy Content area. This means that the scene is no longer part of a playthrough of the regular game. However, you can reread that scene in its entirety from the menu.

Finally, we made the slightest of changes to music in the game, by adding one new track. It's a song that was written for Next Exit, but we chose to add it into the base game too. If you own the soundtrack DLC here on Steam, you'll automatically get the new tracks from Next Exit - even if you don't own Next Exit itself. Instead you can listen to the songs and imagine how they might be used, I suppose.

A Chinese translation for Next Exit is in the works, and will be added as soon as it's completed. Also, 'cause I've seen a few people asking: there's no new adult content or new Goofball Mode content in Next Exit.

Whether you play NE or not, we hope you enjoy these newest improvements to Highway Blossoms. Can't wait to be on my deathbed in a few decades and still rolling out updates to the game then.

Hey gamers,

As the event title, subtitle, and summary all probably told you: both Highway Blossoms: Next Exit and the Official Artbook will be releasing as DLC on September 25th.

If you don't know what those are then cool, because I'll explain. If you do then skip to the bottom of this or something.

Next Exit is a brand new story DLC set just a little while after the base game. Amber and Marina return to Las Vegas and to meet up with Tess for her birthday. Coincidentally, Tess' birthday is September 25. See what we did there? As you might expect, not everything goes as planned. There's laughter, there's tears, there's Cassi the candy shop girl. All that good stuff you want from a Highway Blossoms game. Or at least, so we hope.

It's a little over half the length of the original game. It's got brand new CG's and backgrounds, and even some new/improved sprites. It's got a brand new GUI that will also be replacing the GUI in the main game. It's got new item cut-ins, including some for the base game too. It's fully voice acted by the original cast. It's got new music* from all the original composers. It's pretty cool.

Highway Blossoms: Next Exit will cost $9.99 and will require the base game to play. Add it to your wishlist here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/490270/Highway_Blossoms_Next_Exit

You can check out the official trailer right here:

*The new tracks from Next Exit will be added to the existing soundtrack DLC, so you won't need to purchase them separately. We <3 you.

At the same time as Next Exit, we're also releasing the Highway Blossoms Official Artbook. It's in .pdf format and includes all the art from the game, concept art, merch designs and bonus illustrations, plus commentary from a bunch of us developers. It's like reading a whole book of patch notes! But more exciting and with more pretty pictures. One thing: the artbook does NOT contain the images from the 18+ DLC.

Normally in this kind of book we'd also include a walkthrough on how to get every ending in the game but uh... Guess that's not really needed here.

The artbook will cost $4.99. You can go ahead and add it to your wishlist already, and be notified as soon as it goes up for sale.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1412300/Highway_Blossoms__Official_Artbook/

That's everything for now! I've said it before, but thanks for sticking around. It's cool that we can release this stuff 4 years after the original game and people are still excited for it. These last two weeks of waiting until release already feel like playing on Extreme Mode. Hopefully it'll all be worth the sense of achievement at the end.

Josh

Hey guys,

Long time no posting an announcement for y'all to read. That changes today, with the exciting news that many of you may have already known: Highway Blossoms: Next Exit is coming soon, and available to wishlist right now.

HB:NE is a new story set shortly after the original game. It sees the main cast return to Las Vegas to celebrate Tess' birthday, at an alien-themed convention at the Stratosphere. There's tension, humor, crying, etc. You guys know the drill, right? Most importantly, Cassi, the candy shop girl, is back. Somehow, she ended up being a fan favorite character, which was really cool, because she had my favorite design in the game. This whole DLC may or may not have been an excuse to write about her more.

Anyway, the game. It's written by Syon and I again, and is a collaboration between Studio Élan and Studio Coattails. All of the original voice actors will be back, and we're also getting new music from each of the composers. The character art in the DLC is by moekki and Kamifish, both of whom previously worked on Katawa Shoujo.

The DLC will require the base game to install (as DLC's tend to do). It should run a little under half the length of the original game, yet features just about the same number of CGs. Full voice acting will be available on launch. There will also be certain points in the story where you can choose to read from Amber or Marina's perspective.

We're still working on finishing up the DLC, but we're in the scripting and voice acting stage, which means we're pretty close to the end. While it's still too early to name an exact release date, we're hoping to have it out near the end of Summer.

In the meantime, the store page is already up on Steam, so please add the DLC to your wishlist - it'll help us out a lot, and you'll also get notified as soon as it's up for sale~ https://store.steampowered.com/app/490270/Highway_Blossoms_Next_Exit

Finally, to end things with, please check out these gorgeous character cards that the Studio Élan designer adirosa put together. They're meant to be a little update about the characters since the end of the original game.

We know it's been a while since the original game came out, so thanks to all of y'all still sticking with us here. We hope you're excited!

Josh

Hey everyone, Syon here. I'm one of the co-creators of Highway Blossoms and founder of Studio Coattails. Just wanted to let you guys know we released a new project. It's called National Park Girls, and in a lot of ways, it's a bit of a spiritual successor to Highway Blossoms, with its focus on Americana, rustic music, and also having a cutely cynical protagonist. Here's the rundown if you're interested:

All Eve ever wanted was to protect and preserve the land, but after five years of being a ranger in Yosemite National Park, she’s just about ready to throw in the towel. The people are careless, her co-workers are annoying, and thanks to an increasingly tight budget she can hardly do her job. Fed up and burned out, Eve lashes out, but after being transferred to a remote cabin post in return, she only finds herself more uncertain of the value of being a ranger. Soon after arriving, three strange girls corner her in the cabin. Not only do they claim to live there, but they also say they’re the manifestations of Zion, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks! Are these girls really who they say they are? Why is Yosemite so obsessed with her research? And why does one of them have a volcano on their head? Follow Eve as she gets closer with these spritely cuties that put the “natural” in “supernatural,” and maybe even discovers a new kind of love for the parks.

Both me and Josh are working on this (just like Highway Blossoms), so you can expect a familiar tone and atmosphere. Hope you decide to check it out!