Version 0.2.0 went out this morning. The rest of the day went to the notes you sent me. Here is what changed after the release.
Settings in tabs
The settings are now in five tabs: General, Audio, Graphics, Controls and Accessibility. Q and E (or L1 and R1) step through them. On and off settings are checkboxes. Quality is a slider with a name for each step. Auto-run is on by default, and Text size is the first thing under Accessibility.
Hearts for every friend
The People page of the journal has a row of hearts for each friend. A small icon sits under the heart where something happens, such as a letter, a favour or a scene. The icon is faded until you get there. Each friend has their own letter paper behind their entry, softened so the words stay easy to read.
Portraits are stamps now, with a perforated edge. You are no longer on the People page. Your face is on the Status page, and Grandpa comes last.
Plainer screens
- No close X. Every window still closes with Esc, its own key, a Done or Leave button, or a click outside.
- One kind of progress bar on the loan card, the boards, the journal and the scenes.
- Levels have names. The journal says “Sailing range: Lv 2 of 5” and “Post office: Lv 1 of 4”.
- Six kinds of goal, each with its own colour: Story, Find, Deliver, Ride, and more. Digging and looking are both Find now, and each keeps its own icon.
- The good night card is simpler. It lists the tasks you finished that day, and the hearts you won as hearts.
Pip’s desk and the post office
Pip’s desk is a square now, six by six, and it grows only when the day’s parcels need more room. A parcel never pays more than about 12 coins before Pip’s next rank, so a long trip to the far islands pays what you would expect. Staying up past midnight no longer gives you a second chat heart. The night counts as the same day until 5 AM.
A sea with more to find
Every island has something to find now. There are shells on Long Sands, Crescent Sands, Bottle Isle and Feather Sands, and a giant hermit crab on Crescent Sands, as tall as you. The sea stacks and the lava rocks are cut in a few big, calm faces. The Broken Temple is half its old size.
Loads sooner
The game starts about half a second sooner. The far reefs and beach pieces now grow in quiet moments after the load, so the first screen does not wait for them. The demo also comes back at once when you visit it again.
Warmer sunsets, a quieter sea
Sunrise and sunset have a stronger orange glow now, with a darker sea that mirrors the sky. Sailing is much quieter. The hull wash and the wind are about 10 dB softer, and the music is a little lower. I took out the sea hiss that played at sea and on the title screen.
Thank you for all the notes. They shape every one of these changes.
