Release 1.1

The new release is here! Release 1.1 is available to download here.

The first thing you need to know is that we have incorporated account lockdown. So you will need to create an account – that's what the little button at the bottom of the login screen says. Press this, and then in the top line enter the e-mail address to which this newsletter was sent. This is important, as it's the only address we have listed for you, and the release won't recognise you otherwise. Obviously we will in due course be incorporating a facility to change your e-mail address, but that's in the future.

Then enter your preferred username and a password. We will include a way to confirm your password, and also a link to click if you forget it, but these are not there yet – if you should forget your password, e-mail info@3turnproductions.com and we'll reset your account.

You should then see a button marked “Enter”, as normal.

Forgive the characters – this is positively their last appearance and next release they will, we hope, be more customisable. So we have done very little to them for now, and they are not ideal. You may play up to six characters, if you wish.

You will see the village (still Tyrhampton, or should we rename it?) is set round a tree-lined village green on which there is a smithy (alas, no hunky blacksmith, but maybe one day!). You may enter any of the terraced houses and change the wallpaper in any room to suit yourself (not in the Parlour or that house). To change the wallpaper in the room in which you are standing, click on the icon that looks like a lot of paint samples. This will bring up a screen with a variety of wallpaper samples, click on one to change the colour. If you wish to save it, click SAVE or you can just close and leave it for the next person to play.

Each house has its address, so you can ask people to visit them, or say that you are “At home” at a given address on a given date and time. Actual home ownership will also come at a later date.

There is also a church, although it doesn't have anything inside it, and various “big houses” that are no more than sketched out at the moment. These will follow in a later release, as will furnishings and proper staircases. But we would like you to use these rooms, if you would be so kind, and tell us how many people fit comfortably, and that sort of thing.

Also, as always, please try your hardest to break the game! Any and all feedback is gratefully received, and if you find a bug, or it doesn't work on your system, as much detail as possible would be welcome. And we'd love to hear your reactions.

The village will be “fleshed out” a lot more in later releases – a duckpond on the green, we hope; maybe some sheep grazing; a mill; gardens, furniture and so on. So you are seeing it as it is at the very beginning of things. It is an improvement over the previous release, and will only get better in subsequent ones.

Meanwhile, we are going to have to remove the Kickstarter release – we're really sorry about this, but we need the servers! So please pack up your bags and transfer over to the new incarnation!