News: Release 17.3

We are inching steadily closer to our beta release, and that means that basically almost all the features we want in there are in this latest release. Some of them are not yet complete, others are not yet pretty, but they are there. And we will be spending lots of time polishing them and making absolutely sure everything works and looks fantastic before the launch of the main game early in 2016.

The main “hub” of the game is now the writing desk. Click on it and up will come a list of options. From here, you can write and respond to invitations and letters, review your calendar and update your journal. You can read the newspaper, but the only stories at the moment are who has moved to the village, and any global events that the developers have established. Unfortunately, not all features are quite working yet – the task list, for instance, has only been outlined in and doesn't yet fill up with your tasks. The obligations, similarly, aren't yet implemented, and only the first two stories are working as yet, but we hope to add the remainder, and any you think up, very soon.

Meanwhile, you can play with the houses, unless they belong to someone (in which case, there will be a pop-up to tell you so) – move around the furniture, redecorate, and so on. We will issue home ownership certificates to anybody who wants one at this stage – just let us know. We hope, if we can get the logistics organised, to have a party to give them out. Which reminds me, when you look in your engagement book, if you want to correlate the time with the real world, click on the watch button in the top right hand corner of the page, and it should come up with the date and time in the real world.

We have a rudimentary family system – you can propose to, marry, adopt or hire someone else (or, indeed, break it off with them, disown them or fire them), with their consent. Just click on the person, and the bottom left button, and then on the action list that comes up.

And, of course, you can continue to role-play with your friends, dance with them, dance with the AIs, and all the other game features. We have fixed the “change password” bug, and the login screen should work no matter how small your screen size. Also, you no longer have to click “Enter” to chat (although you can); just click on the chat window. You will need to click on a blank piece of screen in order to move, after having clicked on any other event in the game.

As always, please let us know of any bugs or other horrors you find, and any features you wish we'd implement sooner, rather than later.