X-Change Life 0.23.5 - Tech Update

Hi All! I've fast-tracked X-Change Life 0.23.5 as a public build after reports that some mods were using new features in the engine, and I think the best thing to do is just to get everyone up to speed, since many of these changes have already been in playtesting for a bit.

X-Change Life 0.23.5 is a tech update first and foremost. The next one is going to be a pure story update, so just temper your expectations in terms of new scenes and stuff - this is all about improving quality of life, gameplay and mechanics. I apologize if it's not as exciting as new scenes, but I promise it enables the goodness to come and is super important for this project's long-term health.

🎮 Minigame Updates

• Sperm Defense — New animations, sound effects, powerups, enemy tutorials, and health bars for multi-hit enemies. Now with toy integration!
• Tower Blocks — Smoother mobile controls, perfect-drop toasts, bonus points for precision, snappier 3D effects.
• Titris — Character-driven blocks (E blocks hinder, J blocks help), new "Show Off" mechanic, sparkly gold pieces, full tutorial built in now to explain the new mechanics
• Milktris — Overhauled GUI, milkier visuals, satisfying screen shake on drops.
• Don't Cum — Rebalanced difficulty, now rhythm-based instead of strict beat-matching. Less visual clutter, more vibes
• Summer City Blackjack has been completely rebuilt from the ground up — new point-based scoring system, streak mechanics, dealer personalities with readable tells, and strategic meta-moves like Read and Pressure that use your character's stats. This isn't your grandma's casino game anymore. Full rules & strategy guide: https://x-change.life/wiki/docs/summer-city-blackjack/

⚡ Engine — Harlowe → X-Lowe

• Harlowe has been half-gutted and replaced with 'X-Lowe', the name of our custom fork built specifically for XCL with aggressive performance optimizations, new macros, and deep JavaScript integration to support XCL's upcoming open world features.
• All known slowdowns have been resolved, except on very niche / old devices. My "white whale" was getting Togashi to be able to play the Jade gym scene for 100 orgasms, which now can happen without any memory-leak related slowdowns.

🛠️ Mod Loader & Modding Tools

• Mod Loader now ships as a native installer — no more .jar files, no more installing Java. Just download and run. https://gitgud.io/xchange-life/mod-loader/-/releases
• New in-game modding guide walks you through installing / creating content. I'm hoping this gets more people interested in modding!
• New VS Code extension for writing mods with syntax highlighting and autocomplete: https://open-vsx.org/extension/aphrodite/xcl-twee-xlowe

⚙️ Settings & Menu Overhaul

• Brand new unified settings menu accessible from anywhere (press 3 or 4).
• Settings now sync across all save files instead of resetting between saves.
• Color palette previews, organized tabs, autosave frequency controls, and cleaner toggles throughout.

🐛 Bug Fixes

• Dozens of bug fixes across the board. A large part of this is thanks to @bransta61 who has done absolutely HEROIC work with optimizations and quick fixes.
• New in-game bug reporter that logs issues directly to GitLab with full context — mod status, game version, error fingerprinting, the works. I set up a Cloudflare API relay that receives anonymous reports, so that people do not have to share their details or make accounts anywhere in order to report bugs.