Postcards Update 1 Now Live!

Update 1 is the first of four post-release updates I have planned for this game. This update provides a LOT of much needed polish after the initial short development window during Ludum Dare.

Highlights:

• Fixed typos. Like, so many of them it's embarrassing. There's probably a few still in there, just to spite me.
• Dense walls of text were massaged into a more readable state, and many passages were pulled apart to increase both interactivity and readability.
• Tweaks to the story and choices presented to the player with the overall goal of adding even more depth to the story and having choice paths make more sense. A few notable instances of these tweaks:
  • The auction/tour passage mentioning Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
  • One of the bigger choice branches when talking with a stranger in Luxembourg.
  • A few of the options for writing Postcard 2.

• Replaced the single background graphic with a few different backgrounds and images for the postcards.
• Bug fixes. Most notably:
  • Fixed the click-append error when writing Postcard 1.
  • Some of the choices for items to take back from Venice weren't displaying properly. I only caught it this morning, whew!

Known Issues:

• Replaying the game by selecting Go To: Title Screen at the end currently messes up the subsequent playthrough. For now, it is best to close and reopen the game to play through again.
• Playing on a screen less than ~15 inches will have some minor graphical issues. It's an issue with the version of Twine I'm using an will be fixed in a future update.
• The graphics still need more love. I'm not much of an artist, but I'm working on it!

Looking forward, I hope to have Update 2 ready by no later than 11/20/2023 (one month). It may include some additional graphics updates, but otherwise will be focused on further improvements to the story, especially the end, with a deeper dive into the long awaited city of Venice. For more information about Update 2 and other planned updates, please see the Roadmap devlog.