Hey folks! Episode 4 is out now. You can play itas well as Episodes 2 and 3by purchasing the game in Early Access. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1609230/Scarlet_Hollow/ We're not charging for individual episodes as DLC rather, you just buy the game for $20 (or whatever your sale price is) and all future episodes are unlocked as free updates when they release. We made some changes to Episode 1 in the process, and have updated the build on this page to reflect those changes as well! Biggest change at this point is a re-work of the Mystical trait. Cheers, Tony and Abby

Hi everyone! We're nearing the home-stretch of Episode 4's development, so we figured it'd be high time to announce a release date and share a new trailer. [previewyoutube=LLfEzv57SjI;full][/previewyoutube] Episode 4 is set to release on November 22nd. I feel like we say this every time there's a new release, but it's also a long one. The full script for the episode is around 800 pages and somewhere around 200,000-250,000 words, bringing the total length of the game past One (1) Lord of the Rings or One (1) Infinite Jest in total content. Episode 4 has a lot of opportunities to revisit the consequences of earlier decisions, as well as even more new mysteries to unravel! And things are going to start to really steam up for certain romance paths. We're extremely proud of how Episode 4 is turning out, and we can't wait to share the full chapter with you next month! A few other notes:

• The game is currently on sale for Steam Scream Fest! If you haven't had the chance to pick up a copy, now's a great time! Scarlet Hollow is never going to dip below 20% off before leaving early access, and there's going to be a price hike before the full release, so if you've been holding out for a steeper discount, this is as steep as it'll get for at least a couple of years!
• If you want to get your hands on part of Episode 4 early, test branches available for Alpha Tester Patrons. A chunk of Episode 4 is available there now, and there'll be an update to the build later this week that brings things up to ~Episode 3's length content-wise.
• We have an ongoing crowd-funding campaign for a Wayne plush with glow in the dark eyes. There's ~two weeks left in the campaign as of the time of this writing, so please check it out if that sort of thing interests you!
• If you haven't had the chance to check out Slay the Princess, it's also participating in Scream Fest and has a free demo with 60-90 minutes of content.

"You don't have to be afraid of me." Tall, dark, and handsomely rotting, all Wayne wants to do is protect you from the horrors of Scarlet Hollow, but someone keeps sneaking off and having near-death experiences (that someone is you.) Now in plush form, Wayne can keep an even closer eye on you and keep you out of trouble. Forever.
We're partnering with Makeship to do a limited run of Wayne plushes, complete with glow in the dark eyes! The campaign is live, and if it does well, there'll be many more Scarlet Hollow plushes to come (Dustin?? Gretchen?? A Ditchling?? The possibilities are ENDLESS) Also, a quick update on Episode 4: development is moving at a breakneck pace, and we're still hoping to have the episode ready for Halloween. As is always the case for new episodes, however, quality is always going to take precedence over rushing a release. We'll be sure to provide an update as soon as we feel comfortable naming an official release date.

Included some code-refactoring present in the full game to make things run better on Steam Deck.

Looks like last Friday's patch introduced a couple of bugs with achievements as well as booting the game from Steam's launcher should be fixed now!

Fixed a bug where flirt variables weren't defined in E1 build Fixed a bug where controllers couldn't autofocus dialogue options when returning from the menu.

Hey folks! It's another between-episodes interlude, so it's time for another balance patch.
There's quite a few changes here, so we'll leave you with the high level ones. Only some of these patch notes apply to Episode 1, but we wanted to include them all here, since many of the bullets reference similar changes that have been made across all 3 currently released episodes. The full game is also 20% off right now, as so far has ~375,000 words of content, so it's as good a time as any to take the leap and get caught up!

• More flirting. The romance in Scarlet Hollow remains at a slow burn, but we figured it could maybe burn a little faster. Players with the Hot trait have even more flirt options in the first three Episodes, and everyone now gets a little something to move things along a bit faster.
• More trait-specific dialogue options and passive narration. Every trait's gotten a little something extra, with an emphasis on providing more unique social benefits to Powerful Build (which remains the least picked trait in the game) and providing additional context to Mystical. One of our original design ideas was to use the existence of special dialogue options as a means to convey additional information to our players, but from watching streams and recordings of Scarlet Hollow, it was clear that this wasn't how players interacted with those options. This was particularly a challenge with Mystical, where a lot of options fell a little flat, so wherever possible, we've provided players with that extra information in advance, and we're leaving it up to them to decide whether or not to share it.
• We've overhauled and/or replaced a few pieces of art from earlier episodes that we felt were either lacking, or that needed changes to better reflect established canon. This includes the hill overlooking the town at the beginning of Episode 1's cryptid hunt, as well as several of Kaneeka's earlier sprites she now has a proper set of sprites when you first meet her in Episode 1, and we've changed the head of her library sprites in Episode 2 to better reflect the final character design we landed on.
  Old Kaneeka library sprite on the left, new sprite on the right!
• We've added a special friend to several backgrounds throughout the first 3 episodes. I think you know who we're talking about ;)
• There's a brand new line of inquiry at the mines in Episode 2.
• A long list of other small changes we've made over the course of the past few months, which I have since lost track of.

Hey folks! Popping in to share a few quick updates. We just launched a mini-crowdfunding campaign for the "I Want to Yeah" shirt worn by bus stranger! It's available over on Topatoco, and if we double our initial goal, everyone who gets a shirt is going to get a sticker thrown in for free :D We have some other neat crowdfunded merch on the horizon, too, so keep your eyes peeled for future updates! (Or follow us on Twitter and/or join the Scarlet Hollow Discord)
Pick up your very cool shirt. 15 days left!

• Episode 4 is coming along well, and unsurprisingly, it's huge. We're still working on the script, but so far it's already at 400 pages (which is significantly more content than Episode 3!) this is the Episode where a lot of your decisions in the first three episodes are really going to start to be felt, so there should be a lot of interesting branching. We're shooting for a fall release, ideally around Halloween, though as always, we're not going to release it until it's ready, even if it takes some extra time.
• We've got a small second game in the works, too, and it'll probably release between Episodes 4 and 5. We've deliberately designed in such a way that it should have minimal impact on Scarlet Hollow's release schedule. The writing hasn't slowed down Scarlet Hollow's script work whatsoever, and we're trying out a pencils-only art style that both looks great and takes a fraction of the time it takes to do full inks and colors. We'll be announcing at some point this summer, so once again, keep your eyes peeled!
• We've got an upcoming balance patch we'll be releasing in June that adds a bit of new art to the first three episodes as well as some new dialogue. It's probably going to be similar in scale to the last balance patch we did a few traits are going to feel a lot better.
• As we continue to make more episodes and add more content to the game, we've been leaning more and more towards raising the price point. We'll give at least a month's heads up before that happens, but if you've been waiting for a discount to pick up the full game, it's definitely a good idea to pick it up the next time it goes on sale!

Hello everyone! After many months of love, blood, sweat, and tears, Scarlet Hollow Episode 3 is finally here for you to enjoy. This episode has been an absolute passion project for us, and we're eternally grateful for the support and patience you've given us. This game wouldn't be possible without you. For the next week, Scarlet Hollow will be 20% off, so there's no better time to plunge into the next two chapters. You can them it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1609230/Scarlet_Hollow/ On top of Episodes 2 and 3, purchasing the game on Early Access also means you'll also get episodes 4, 5, 6, and 7 as free updates as they release! Happy haunting, Abby and Tony

Hi again, everyone! We're nearing Episode 3's completion, so we finally have a release date for y'all: March 7th. We both feel pretty strongly that this new chapter is the best Scarlet Hollow has been to date, and we can't wait to share with you. If you haven't taken the plunge beyond Episode 1 yet, make sure to wishlist the full game on our early access page. Every new episode is releasing there as free updates as they come out, so you only have to buy the game once to get the whole story.
Episode 3 is huge. Like, as much content as Episodes 1 and 2 put together huge. There's close to 200,000 words of new content (of which you'll maybe see about 1/4-1/3 in a given playthrough) and over 1,500 new art assets. For reference, Episodes 1 and 2 were each about 100,000 words of content, bringing the total for all three to around 400k. For further reference, the Lord of the Rings (all of it) is 481,000 words long.
Thank you all again for your patience and support as we continue to make Scarlet Hollow the story we want it to be, and we hope you feel that Episode 3 is worth the wait we certainly think it is!
All the best, ~Tony and Abby

Hiya folks! Scarlet Hollow is up for the overall fan-favorite award at the Game Development World Championship, and with your help, we can totally cinch it! Please head on over to their website and vote for us. Voting should be pretty easy you don't have to make an account or provide any personal info. URL for voting: https://thegdwc.com/fanfav/ Episode 3 is currently chugging along, and should hopefully be ready at the end of February. Our development cycle was a little derailed for a couple of weeks by (thankfully mild) covid, but we're closing in on the final act of the Episode right now. The release version should be quite a bit more content than either previous Episode, though some of that content will, of course, be spread across multiple playthroughs. In case you missed it on twitter the other day, here's a full reveal of Reese's room!
Cheers, Tony and Abby

In some incredibly exciting and entirely unexpected news, Scarlet Hollow wound up topping Kotaku editor John Walker's list of the 10 best games of 2021! It's absolutely wild to think that our still-in-progress game's already gotten this level of recognition! We wouldn't be here without your support and enthusiasm for our game, so thanks so much to each and every one of you from helping us along on this incredible journey.
Absolutely nuts to wake up to this Tweet! As a holiday treat and a celebration of this win, have some more preview art for Episode 3. A garden, but whose???
Also, if you haven't had the chance to pick up the full game on early access and play Episode 2, it's currently on sale! Happy New Year! ~Tony and Abby

Hey folks! While we're hard at work on Episode 3, we didn't want to leave you hanging with no new Scarlet Hollow content in this, the spookiest of all months, so we took some time to make some changes we've wanted to make for quite a while. Also, in case you missed it, Episode 2 came out back in June! You can grab it on our early access page! Buying the early access build gets you Episode 2 now, and Episodes 3-7 as free updates as they come out! If you want a ~full~ list of changes in this update, including updates for Episode 2 specifically, please take a look at that page's patch notes.

• Buffing underpicked traits. One of our goals with this patch was to give some much needed attention to traits that weren't quite hitting the mark for us. While every trait has some changes, we felt that Powerful Build, Street Smart, and Hot needed to feel better to play.
• Added more romance content for Hot. If you're more interested in the dating and romantic side of Scarlet Hollow, there are some fresh incentives to pick it as one of your traits.
• Removed the brick wall barring access to the forbidden wings in Episode 1.
• Powerful Build has more opportunities to live up to its namesake.
• Reworked trait descriptions to make them more accurate to their effects in the game.
• Several new art assets tied to buffed traits.
• Be allergic to peanuts if you want?
• New achievements!
• You can no longer have an empty string as your character name or hometown.
• General edits and typo/style corrections.
• Improved keyboard navigation so that arrow keys simultaneously scroll the choice menu and move between options. Don't forget that the October fan art competition is still going on! And if Discord is your thing, feel free to join the growing Scarlet Hollow community on our server. Episode 3 is coming along really well, and we can pretty comfortably say it should be ready somewhere between late January and early February. And it's gonna be a banger, y'all.

Mild tweaks to menus

Episode 2 is out on our new Steam page. If you haven't had the chance, head on over and check out the new page, and check it out! Episodes 3-7 will be released at free updates on the Early Access page as they release, so it's $19.99 for the full game ^^

As more and more of the Episode 2 build falls into place, we've gotten to the point where we're comfortable naming an ~official release date~ So mark your calendars, Scarlet Hollow Episode 2 is coming out on Friday, June 11th through our new Steam page. If you haven't had the chance, head on over and check out the new page, and wishlist and follow while you're at iteven if you've already pre-ordered the game through Kickstarter or online store.
If you haven't pre-ordered a key from us, buying the game through this new Early Access page will get you a download with Episodes 1 and 2 on release, with the remaining episodes releasing as free updates as they're finished! Your support, as always, means the world to us, and we can't wait to finally share what we've been working on!

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for supporting our work and following/wishlisting our new page! If you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, a wishlist and follow goes a long way towards more people being able to discover Scarlet Hollow for themselves! Since we're just a day away from hitting our second wishlist milestone, we've scheduled a special celebratory livestream for this Saturday afternoon on our Twitch channel. The stream starts at 11:30 EST on May 1st, and Abby'll be taking your requests and drawing them live until she gets tired and can't draw any longer. It should be a fun time for all!
If you want to help us keep our momentum going, be sure to follow, wishlist and share share the new page (and Scarlet Hollow) with folks you know. Thanks again for the support, and we can't wait to see you at Saturday's stream!

Hey folks! We just finished putting out our last big update to Episode 1 before Episode 2's release in a little over a month. Compared to the last version this update:

• Has some new music.
• Has some new sound design.
• Has a fair bit of extra overall polish. Tabitha's car now has keys in the ignition.

• We added a seventh trait to the game on Christmas of last year Talk to Animals. It's fairly self explanatory.
• We replaced all of Stella's sprites with a tweaked design that was closer to our original vision.

Just popping in to give y'all a quick update on our release strategy for the rest of Scarlet Hollow, and to ask for a teensy li'l favor that would mean the world to us (Wishlist our new Steam page!) And dont worry none of this will affect what youre getting and when youre getting it. We were originally planning to release Scarlet Hollows episodes as paid DLC for our free-to-play page on Steam. However, now that weve gotten a better handle on how to market video games, we realize making the full game DLC on a free page wouldnt give us the all-too-valuable visibility Steam titles are able to get from special sales and discounts. So we made a shiny new page for Steam Early Access, where well be releasing our future episodes over time (the game will automatically update as new episodes are released). If you've already backed the game, instead of getting a Steam key for the season pass, youll be getting your key for this new page instead! For those of you who have held onto your Episode 1 saves, never fear-- they should be automatically imported for you. Because this is a new page, its going to start out without any Wishlists, and because Steam shows content algorithmically, getting more Wishlists means that more people will be able to discover our game! Look at all of these Cool rewards!
So if you're able, please take a second to pop over to this new page and add it to your Wishlist (even though youre going to get a key from us anyways.) And if you dont mind, please share the new page with your friends and family and get them to Wishlist us too! And to incentivize these Wishlists weve got a list of rewards for major milestones :O [olist]

We just put out a decent sized patch today that updates all of Stella's 250+ sprites to a new redesign! We also included a couple of minor dialogue tweaks and extra options.
Unless there's something broken, this'll be the last update to Episode 1. See you all in May for Episode 2 (or on our Twitch Steams or Twitter before then.) Patch Notes: - Stella redesigned. 250+ new sprites. - Minor spelling fixes and a couple of new dialogue options.

Hey folks! We've just published a new blog post, this time covering some of the biggest changes we made to both our script and our character designs before publishing Episode 1. [url=https://blacktabbygames.medium.com/5-rewrites-that-made-scarlet-hollow-a-better-game-5e12358b7f55] Check it out here! We also just finished the script for Episode 2, and are solidly on track to meet our May release deadline. Thank you again for all of your support! ~Abby and Tony

Hey folks! We've just posted our second blog post, this time looking at how we've designed Scarlet Hollow's hidden relationship system! Check it out:
https://blacktabbygames.medium.com/creating-a-dynamic-relationship-system-in-scarlet-hollow-eb175aa899a8

Hey folks! We just put up a blog post talking a bit about our game design process and sharing some survey results about players' canon trait and romance choices! Check it out: https://blacktabbygames.medium.com/designing-scarlet-hollows-trait-based-roleplaying-system-24f2b4f4906

Hotfix Notes:

• Fixed a few bugs w/ calling Tabitha at the end of Episode 1.
• Minor dialogue tweaks.

Hey everyone! We're devs of our word, so as soon as we crossed our funding threshold, we immediately got to work on implementing a seventh trait Talk to Animals into Episode 1. This is a BIG patch, and includes the following new content:

• Talk to Animals added as a seventh character trait
• Steam Achievements added for Episode 1
• Cloud Saving
• New art assets that make the woods spookier and exploring the Scarlet Estate more immersive
• Book Smart has been rewritten to be less pretentious and more fun
• You can call a certain someone on the phone if you pick a certain ending path for Episode 1
• Did we mention new art? There is a lot of new art
• Secret Easter Egg added to the woods
• Added a new character moment for Stella after leaving the woods
• Street Smart can pick the lock into the forbidden wings

In case you missed the big news on Twitter last night, Scarlet Hollow took home TWO of the three big prizes from the AT&T Unlocked Games Awards we were the runner up AND the gamer's choice! Thank you so much to each and every one of you who voted for us and to everyone who asked their friends to vote for us as well. As promised, getting this extra funding means that Talk to Animals is happening and it's happening soon. We're hoping to release a patch for Episode 1 by the end of the year that introduces the trait, incorporates a whole slew of new art assets, and that introduces achievements and cloud saving. If you'd like to see us work on some of these new art assets, you can tune in to our stream this morning at 11:30 am EST.

You can now vote for Scarlet Hollow in the AT&T Unlocked Games Awards! Whoever wins the Gamer's Choice Award gets a $10,000 grant, which just so happens to be EXACTLY how much money we still need to hit our Talk to Animals stretch goal... It's just like one of those sports movies where the main character needs however much money to save the house (Gretchen) from foreclosing (never speaking to the player in English) but there's big competition that conveniently has exactly the right amount of money to make things work out! So vote for Scarlet Hollow~ And if you're so inclined, you can copy this link and share it on social media and ask your friends/family/followers to vote for us too: attunlockedgames.com/vote Voting closes at 11pm EST today, so vote and share the link as soon as you can!

Scarlet Hollow is one of six finalists in the #ATTUnlockedGames showcase! Catch the stream here at 9pm EST TONIGHT(12/2): twitch.tv/eleaguetv There are 3 extremely sick prizes, including the grand prize of a whopping $50k to help the winner continue development on their indie game, and the Gamers Choice Award of $10k, which is determined by votes from YALL! Voting will go live starting at the end of the livestream, around 10:30pm, and continue through tomorrow (12/3), and IF Scarlet Hollow wins any one of these prizes, well be able to add the coveted 7th trait Talk To Animals. So get in yer votes! This is where youll be able to vote when it goes live: [url=ATTUnlockedGames.com/VOTE]ATTUnlockedGames.com/VOTE [url=twitch.tv/eleaguetv]Anyway, come check it out tonight it should be a lot of fun!

It's that time of year where the Steam Awards are upon us and we wouldn't hate it if Episode 1 of Scarlet Hollow happened to be nominated. We've set our default category to Outstanding Story-Rich Game, and you can click the button on this page to go straight to the nomination!

Hey folks! Exciting news: Scarlet Hollow is one of six finalists in the AT&T Unlocked Games awards! There's going to be a livestream on December 2nd where we (read: Abby) go head to head with some other great games, and it just so happens that there are THREE cash prizes, any of which would be enough funding to push us over the edge for our Talk to Animals stretch goal. And it ALSO just so happens that one of the three prizes is an AUDIENCE CHOICE prize, which means that each and every one of you, at no monetary cost whatsoever, can help push us over that final edge! Watch the stream! Vote for us once it's over! Call your mom and get her to vote for us too! Ask your mom to call her friends and get THEM to vote for us!!
Do it for Gretchen. Thank you again for all of your support, and for getting us as far as we've already gotten. Let's take this home. ~Abby and Tony

Hiya, folks! We just sent out our surveys through BackerKit, so keep an eye out for an email from us. Any additional sales we get through BackerKit will count towards our remaining stretch goals, so if you're able and interested, consider picking up the physical art book (a brand-new reward available only via backerkit), or maybe some pins or stickers!
If everyone who backed the Kickstarter gets the art book, we'll hit TWO new stretch goals! For folks who missed out on the Kickstarter campaign, you can still pre-order Scarlet Hollow AND get some limited edition merch through our BackerKit store. We'd love to do one last, big push to hit our stretch goals, so whether or not you wind up grabbing some add-ons, feel free to share the link to our pre-order store on social. You can grab the link here: [url=https://scarlet-hollow.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders]https://scarlet-hollow.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders We're less than $17k away from Talk to Animals, which is well within our grasp! Thank you so much for your continual support, and for helping us make this game~ ~Abby and Tony

Hello!! Thank you everyone for helping make Scarlet Hollow's Kickstarter a resounding success! We're so appreciative of everything y'all have done for us, and can't wait to get cracking on Episode 2 (after we return to our crypt to slumber for a week). As we mentioned in the final days, we've made it so any additional funds raised over on BackerKit will count towards our stretch goals, so Talk to Animals is still well within our grasp >:D If you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can head on over to our BackerKit page and pre-order the game (as well as some other goodies!) Unlike Kickstarter, BackerKit will let you use PayPal, so if you've been waiting for that option to pre-order the game and help us hit our stretch goals, now's a good time to lend a hand! And for KS supporters, you'll be able to add all kinds of stuff to your pledge once the surveys go out in late November. That includes merch and two items that weren't a part of the campaign-- a physical art book (to be released around or a little after the final chapter) and a collection of HD Wallpapers with some of our favorite scenes and backgrounds (to be released piecemeal as new episodes come out~). In the meantime, if you want to help us get closer to those final stretch goals, please feel free to share the pre-order page on social: https://scarlet-hollow.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders. Likewise, if you'd like to be part of the Scarlet Hollow community, feel free to follow us on Twitter, or join our Discord to discuss spoilers, share fanart, and post food/pet pics!! (Do it for me... I crave food/pet pics) Thank you once again for all of your support, we can't stress enough how much it's meant to us and we can't wait to show you what we have planned for the rest of the game!! ~Abby and Tony

There's just one day left in the Scarlet Hollow Kickstarter, so if you're on the fence about backing Scarlet Hollow or upgrading to one of those sweet sweet merch (or original art) tiers, the clock is ticking! highlighting the Specialty Tiers, which are half-off their original price (and include the stickers and pins) to help us get as close as we can to that most-desired Talk To Animals trait. (But also no pressure for folks who aren't interested in dropping this kind of dough)
I'll draw art on a 4x6in postcard and Tony and I will sign it! It'll be shipped to you with both the pins and the stickers.
An illustration of you and a character of your choice! Here's an example of what the finished piece might look like:
Drawn for streamer Gab Smolders You'll receive a high-res digital file as well as the original lineart (minus digital coloring, of course!) The image will be featured in the credits of the game with a thank-you.
You get to help decide on a design for the tombstone (which can be as goth and elaborate as you'd like), and it will be featured in the unsettling, eerie Scarlet family plot. The tombstone will be featured in the credits of the game with a thank-you!
You get to decided how you're represented-- whether it be You In Real Life or whatever odd character you imagined running around in Scarlet Hollow. We can decided together how each of the characters would react to being in this group photo, as well! The image will be featured in the credits of the game with a thank-you.
We've gotten some questions about this one-- you can choose to either be a portrait in the halls of the Scarlet Estate (or anyone else's house in town), or your likeness can be translated to a background character, hanging out in the diner or the mine or milling about the general store. Your image will also be featured in the credits of the game with a thank-you!
A pet of your choice will be added to the game. You can work with us to decided on a likeness, and will be able to give input on which character will be your pet's fictional caretaker. A sprite of the pet will also be featured in the game's credits with a thank-you! Anyways, those are the specialty tiers-- but no worries if they're out of your price range. There are still other ways you can help us get to that coveted Talk To Animals stretch goal!

• Share the Kickstarter and game on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, group chats, Reddit, maybe even... LinkedIn?!) You can follow us on Twitter for handy posts you can retweet and share if you haven't followed already. Here's a handy link you can copy and paste to help out: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203079854/scarlet-hollow
• Leave a review of the game of Steam, Itch, or Metacritic.
• If you're of the streaming inclination, stream the game before the Kickstarter ends!

Hey folks! Just three days remain to back Scarlet Hollow and/or up your pledge! Thank you so much to everyone for all of your support and patience over the past few weeks. Marketing and asking people to do stuff isn't something we like to do, but it's something we have to do to make sure we're able to make Scarlet Hollow as good a game as possible! With that being said, if you haven't already, consider:

• Backing the Kickstarter! The full game won't be this cheap again-- and because of the significant cuts that Steam and other distribution platforms take, this is your opportunity to make sure that as much of your purchase goes to the actual development of the game as possible, rather than to a middleman. #SupportIndieDevs, as they say!
• Consider upping your pledge if you can afford to do so! We have all sorts of special reward tiers that'll get you limited edition merch and cool stuff. And, of course, there's plenty of *really* special tiers that'll either get you some original art of *your* character hanging out with the cast of the game, or that'll even put you in the game itself. Every single pledge for those bigger tiers goes a long way towards supporting the development process. (But also no pressure, we don't want anyone to feel like they have to pledge beyond their means!)
• Evangelize the heck outta this Kickstarter (and out of the game itself) over the next few days! Word of mouth is absolutely huge, and a simple share can go a long way towards getting more people interested in the game and in further supporting our ability to make it as good as possible. Plus, who doesn't want a free spooky game in this, the week of All Hallow's Eve? Could be a fun way to celebrate with your friends long-distance~

Hey folks! We're entering the final week of Scarlet Hollow's Kickstarter, and while we've already smashed our first stretch goalwhere the main cast gets different outfits each episodeour eyes are set on the second stretch goal, which will add a seventh trait that lets you talk to animals. If you haven't backed the Kickstarter yet, now would be a great time to jump in not only will backing the game get you a Steam key for future episodes for cheaper than it'll be for years, but you'll also have the opportunity to get limited edition merch like vinyl stickers, enamel pins, and postcards signed by the developers.
If you've already backed the Kickstarter and, like us, you can't stop thinking about how cool it would be to add a talk to animals trait to the game, we can make it happen, but we need your help! If you haven't done so already, please share the game and the Kickstarter with your friends and family to help spread the word! If every backer manages to get just one other person to pledge, we'll hit Talk to Animals in no time! If you need an easy link to share, feel free to grab this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203079854/scarlet-hollow
And if you have the means to go for a bigger tier that puts you in the game or commissions original art, every one of those slots goes a long way towards closing the gap though it is also totally understandable that this isn't within everyone's means!
Thank you again for everyone who's been by our side for every step of this journey. Your support has been incredible and is helping us be well on our way to making Scarlet Hollow the best game it can be.

Over the past couple of months, our team did a series of interviews with Dylan Martin and Stephanie MacDonald, the team behind a new podcast called How Indie Games Get Made. They're both talented journalists and went to incredible depths with their research. The end results covers pretty much every part of our process, from how we first met to the eventual development, release, and marketing of the first episode of Scarlet Hollow. If you're at all curious, please give this a listen: https://indiegamescast.com/2020/10/12/how-indie-games-get-made-premieres/#more-512 And while you're at it, if you haven't already, maybe check out (and maybe even back) our Kickstarter for Scarlet Hollow's remaining chapters. We're but inches away from hitting our first stretch goal! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203079854/scarlet-hollow

We're now halfway through Scarlet Hollow's Kickstarter campaign, and we've been absolutely blown away by the affection and support each and every one of you has shown for our game. To thank all of you, we decided to go through and cut the prices of most of our premium and original art tiers! If you haven't checked out the Kickstarter yet, you can find it through this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203079854/scarlet-hollow?ref=7ripds Each of these tiers comes with access to new episodes as they release, all of the merch in the Ultimate Collector's Edition, AND a unique, hand-drawn post-card signed by both of us. Just some of our fine, fine merch.
We're within a hair's breadth of our first stretch goal, which would give characters different outfits over the course of the week, but what we've really got our eyes on is the $100k stretch goal to add a seventh trait that lets you talk to animals. Ever wondered what Gretchen would have to say if she could talk? What about that spooky deer in the woods? Or maybe that opossum in the dresser. Imagine the possibilities!
If you'd like to see these stretch goals happen and are able to do so, consider upping your pledge to one of these new tiers to help us make Scarlet Hollow as good as possible! And if you haven't shared the game and campaign with your friends and family, it'd mean the world to us if you did! And if you're following the game and haven't played our first episode yet, it's free on Steam! Also, for folks who signed up at lower tiers but are eyeing the physcial goodies (stickers, pins, postcards), they'll be available as add-ons via Backerkit after the end of the campaign :D Thank you again to each and every one of youwe can't possibly describe how much your support has meant to us! One last time for good measure, a link to Scarlet Hollow's Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1203079854/scarlet-hollow?ref=7ripds ~Abby and Tony

Small update today folks Notes: [olist]

From award-winning graphic novelist Abby Howard, Scarlet Hollow is a horror visual novel and adventure game where your choices deeply matter. Hand-drawn backgrounds and sprites work together with a complex relationship system to bring to life an immersive world of charming (and terrifying) characters. Who lives, who dies, and the fate of an entire town rests on your shoulders. Return to the town your mother tried to protect you from and solve a supernatural mystery that spans generations. Features:

• A heavily branching narrative where your choices matter. The relationships you forge and the decisions you make will dramatically alter your journey.
• Good jokes and good spooks.
  
• A complex relationship system that changes how characters act around you. Character's don't just like or dislike you. Become friendly rivals, bitter adversaries, best friends, or mild acquaintances based on how you approach the story.
• Trait-based dialogue and role-playing. Scarlet Hollow's dialogue system is driven by role-playing elements that let you choose who you want to be. Are you quiet and observant? Hot and clueless? Over a dozen different character builds change how you interact with the world and how your story unfolds.
  
• Original monster designs. Every monster and supernatural being in the game is an original Abby Howard design-- you won't find any predictable vampires or zombies here.
  
• Five romance options. Whether you're into goths, dads, plant-lovers, YouTubers, or skeletal boys, we've got all your bases covered.
  
  
• Dozens of meticulously hand-drawn and traditionally inked backgrounds. Every background in the game is meticulously drawn by hand and inked on massive 19x24 inch paper.
  
• Hundreds of hand-drawn, immersive sprites. Each major character has dozens of hand-drawn sprites that interact with backgrounds and capture a full range of lighting and emotion.

Hey folks! Thank you everyone for helping to make Scarlet Hollow's launch such a wonderful success! The Kickstarter continues on, and one of the the things we're introducing to help us meet our stretch goals are special flash sales for some of the premium tiers. Today, from now, until midnight EDT, we have a single slot of an original art tier (the "You and your Pal" tier) up for 50% off! On top of getting a fantastic range of merch, including stickers, pins, and a post card, this tier will also come with an original sketch of YOUR character, how you imagine them, hanging out with a friend (or love interest) of your choice from Scarlet Hollow, hand-drawn and signed by Abby Howard!
Check it out before it's gone, and be sure to follow @abbyhoward and @blacktabbygames on twitter for more flash sale announcements!

We wound up funding Scarlet Hollow in just one day! Thank you everyone for your support and enthusiasm for our little game. If you haven't had the chance to check out the Kickstarter yet, now's a pretty time to take a look! As we look towards our first stretch goal, we wanted to add a couple more tiers with some sleek new physical rewards a pair of enamel pins, and a whole sheet of vinyl stickers.
Right now these rewards are listed in the in new $64 Collector's Edition tier, which comes with a season pass and the art book and soundtrack, as well as the $90 Ultimate Collector's Edition tier, which comes with all of that and the limited edition "Welcome to Scarlet Hollow" signed postcard.
We'll also be shipping these rewards out to any tier above $90, and if you want to hold off before grabbing them, we'll be offering them as add-ons through BackerKit once the Kickstarter ends. We're looking forward to hitting the next stretch goal, which will include new outfits for major characters in future episodes!

Hang out with the developers of Scarlet Hollow and their friends while they perform a fully-voiced run of the first episode, complete with developer insights and commentary.

Hey folks! Scarlet Hollow is now LIVE on Kickstarter. If you'd like to get a discounted season pass for future episodes or maybe some original art, now's a great time to head on over and back the game! Check it out here!

Patch Notes:

• Improved UI for Save/Load menus. Players seemed to not realize that the game autosaves regularly, so we renamed some items in the menu and made each tab more clearly visible.
• Woods are 6% spookier. Remixed some of the audio levels for the woods to make the experience scarier.
• Minor corrections to typos.
• Updated the credits screen.

Release Notes

• Linux players rejoice! You can run Episode 1 of Scarlet Hollow natively in your favorite OS.
• Updated the ending cinematic to be 66.6% spookier.
• Minor typo fixes.

Peanuts Content Update Patch Notes

• You can now share your boiled peanuts with Sybil, Kaneeka, and a secret third option!
• Added a splash screen on startup that includes the Black Tabby Games logo and a content warning
• Minor typo and error fixes.

[olist]

Quick update:

• Made the accessibility menu more accessible.
• Fixed a bug that returned the player to the main menu after telling Stella they were worried about Tabitha.
• Fixed a bug where [player_name] would appear in Stella's dialogue instead of the player's name at the end of of the branches.
• Fixed a bug where Stella's sprite disappears for a line in one of the branches.
• Fixed various typos.