Ah, wait. Question 1 answered. Never mind. :)
Domitia:
Thanks for writing!
1.) I was actually planning to make travel cost nothing tonight… but then I got sidetracked. BUT now I’ve found a spare half hour, so expect to see those changes soon.
2.) As per the text at the end of the relevant Catastrophe: “Sacred and Profane continues at St. Francis’s once you’ve been release from the Clinic.” Is there nothing there? If not: what is your level of Sacred and Profane?
Nothin’. Sacred and Profane 11. I believe that may be the storyline I’m waiting for a contact on? So it may all be good.
Also yay free movement! Thanks very much for this.
Do you have A Letter From the Society of Galahad in your inventory?
Not yet! I met the Jackal Caller and I am leaning toward a particular option (because I love tragedies, this guy is going to be eternally sad that I play him) but I’m waiting to see what the Mark actually does first.
Just went into “A Doc on the Town” grind card and the options are as follows:
The Lonestar Pawn Shop
A Rag and Bone Trade
Perhaps Not
The Lonestar Pawn Shop
A Rag and Bone Trade
I have an unsigned letter in my StoryNexus inbox with some good ol’ Bible imagery in it… nothing in my inventory, though.
edited by Domitia Silvina on 1/23/2013
On Billy Brownson’s Card, the “Following Up On A Promise” branch reports “This will cost 1 reputation” after selecting it, when it should probably be on the branch as displayed on the card.
@Domitia: I see what happened. You must have played through a card whereby you left the Letter in the collection plate at St. Francis’s. All the qualities fit, plus the living story in your inv (which can only be accessed by completing the relevant St. Francis card). Does that sound familiar?
@Darael: quite right. We’ll fix. :)
@lorienleaflady: we’ll get our best mechanic on it, thanks!
Re: Pony Express: we haven’t yet released the branches to do so. We’ll be releasing Pony Express 2 and 3 before Day 2/Afternoon. They’ll cost something in the neighborhood of 200 and 300 Reputation respectively. Each will unlock a new Job with larger Reputation rewards (expect an extra 5-10 Reputation per level of Pony Express they require, along with a commensurate difficulty increase).
Yes, that sounds right. Is everything copacetic, then?
(By the way, can’t get this out of my head – feels very Zero Summerish, in a Sermon on the Mount sort of way. The Wailin' Jennys | Storm Comin' - YouTube )
@Domitia: Everything is totally groovy. :)
Funny you should post that. I don’t know whether Becks (who writes Hallowed Ground) is a Wailin’ Jennys fan, but I certainly am – and have been strongly influenced by them in Zero Summer, especially in the main plot and “Fifty Miles South of Lexington.” Good times!
[quote=Domitia Silvina]
(By the way, can’t get this out of my head – feels very Zero Summerish, in a Sermon on the Mount sort of way. The Wailin' Jennys | Storm Comin' - YouTube )[/quote]
My musical influences for the game combine into a strange and baroque creature - Hip hop a lot of bluegrass or old spirituals. Gordon has attempted to get me into the Wailin’ Jennys before (ha, you know full well, sir), but this one’s got my attention!
I know nossing. I see nossing.
Amarillo’s Own Tea House, a new Job for characters with Pony Express 2+, is now available! (Pony Express 2 is also now available.)
Harvest one of Amarillo’s few luxuries. Have a taste of the good life.
You may also notice we’ve removed the action costs from several more cards in the Bazaar and Pony Express. Our eventual goal is to strip action costs from all of our mechanical branches – those that involve travel or purchases.
Let us know what you think!
“Hunting Varmits” has a few errors:
-The “On the Trail” branch has a rare and specific dialogue error at [The gophers have been running warrens under the crops for months now and well," he nods to the .22 “I’ve about had it with them.”] When a sentence of dialogue is split using a non-speaking verb, it’s cut off/reconnected with a dash, and the non-dialogue section is its own sentence (so, capitalized and with punctuation). I believe the correct form for this would therefore be [and well --" He nods to the .22. “-- I’ve about had it with them.”]
-Tense error in the result text for the “A Beast Among the Nuisances” branch: [or the creature – heaves forbid – had some kind of dire intelligence]
-“A Killing Blow” branch: [It’s head]
–“A Successful Outing” result: [“Well then,” he says, and nothing more before he sets to work.] I feel like there should be an additional comma in there somewhere – possibly after “more”?
(By the way, are the later branches supposed to test the Job quality instead of the Pony Express quality?)
The Hunting Varmits story is pretty interesting in general. I like how even the generic grind sidequests have a great deal of story and variety to them. Setting breadth, like you said with the opportunity cards.
Edit: Hm…now that I can see the “Petty Cash” card and see the reputation-per-dollars ratio…I’m sorry if I come across as an entitled munchkin or something, but the “evasion” cost for the Thin Man nemesis card seems much, much pricier in comparison to the Harvestmen. The Harvestmen cost a mere 1 Reputation (and playing a branch on a separate card, in fairness), while the Thin Man costs the equivalent of 30 Reputation. Seems a bit disparate. Maybe increase the cost of the dog whistle as well to balance it out? I know it’s kind of silly to be obsessing over the exact gameplay mechanics of an interactive novel, but my overly-systemic mind can’t help but notice these things.
Edit 2: Which also makes me think the 8 bonus Reputation in the rare success for the final Doc grind option doesn’t quite equate to the standard of 3 currency items, but whatever. Also, typo in “Proving Your Mettle” branch of Amarillo’s Own Tea Shop: [“A bit dusty, you.” the Ardent Teamaster]
-Also, “Fixing the Irrigation” branch: hear/here mixup.
And wow, the main character is one poor guy. With all the abuse that happens to him when Ailments increase, it’s a miracle Doc Roslyn can stitch him back together. I guess she’s a chiropractor too? Otherwise he’d better keep an eye on all those lingering aches in his back.
edited by Little The on 1/27/2013
[color=FFFFFF][color=FFFFFF]Working my way through Sacred and Profane; really e[color=FFFFFF]njoying it but a little annoyed about
(spoiler)[color=000000] [/color][color=000033][color=99CC00][color=000000]the burning of the library - [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]it would be nice to have a warning that your ailments can’t rise above five before [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]losing the ability to do anything about it. [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]I [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]clicked the paladin option without [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]checking my ailments level (it was six) and wound up [/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]getting shuttled to D[/color][color=99CC00][color=000000]oc’s right away. I s[/color][color=99CC00][color=000033][color=000000]uppose I should have thought that through before going into a burning building but still.) [/color] [color=FFFFFF]
Also Hallowed Ground 30 seems like [color=FFFFFF]it’s headed to[color=FFFFFF] the [color=FFFFFF]Scrublands but no pinned card[/color][/color][/color] - is this just waiting on an opportunity card?[/color][/color]
[color=FFFFFF]edit: sorry, I tried to change the text color to hide that spoiler but doesn’t seem to work[/color]
[/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color][/color] [/color][/color][/color][/color]
edited by jenali on 1/27/2013
I don’t know if the text has changed since I did it (there was an error with cards when I ran that section) but at that time there was a warning just as you got downtown that you should have your Ailments as low as possible. I was actually almost dead at that point and had to run and buy a Gilead Balm, heh.
Nope. Good catch.
We do try! Glad you enjoyed.
Mechanical balance is tricky in a game like this, but it’s certainly still a goal. Please keep making suggestions like this. It’s not any of our strong suits, so this kind of feedback is helpful.
I certainly wouldn’t want to be the Protagonist. The physical downsides aren’t the half of it.
Glad you’re enjoying it! Was a pleasure to write.
[quote=jenali]it would be nice to have a warning that your ailments can’t rise above five before losing the ability to do anything about it.[/quote]
I see the problem here: we changed the Menace threshold everywhere but in Sacred and Profane. I’ll think about a downstream fix and implement it today. In the meantime, I’d like to compensate you with some Reputation. What’s your character name?
Hallowed Ground 30 is the end of HG for Day 2/Morning, as per picking up Time to Move On for it. :)
edited by levineg85 on 1/27/2013
Thanks for type/grammar hunting! I really appreciate it. Also, I’m really glad that you found it interesting. It was a blast to write, and keep an eye out for opportunities that the pelt of The Creature might open for you!