A (hopefully) minor change for the mac version of the game, updating the back end in a way that will make it run smoothly on modern machines. Due to the engine I use interacting strangely with windowed mode, I had to remove that option on the Mac version of the game.

Added a Consult Notes quick-link to Geisthome that takes you right to only the Troll Notes. Removed Pisces explicitly stating that she is not Muslim, inviting the possibility that her scarf is a hijab. Added a detail to Hani's shop. Added check to prevent saving before you start the game for the first time. Prevented text from being HUGE during tarot game, as that breaks the formatting. Prevented text from being HUGE during hell race, as that breaks the formatting. Fixed error on first becoming able to see. Made text always revert to custom size after traveling. Fixed many minor typos.

Fixed bugs introduced by last fix. Fiddlers now chill out when they should. Eliminated errors getting Nightmare from the bottom of the wailing pit.

Lots of typo fixes. You can now completely skip the bottom of the wailing pit, but still get all the benefits. Because that shit is fraught. Changed the line in the Plan that everyone always trips over to be more explicit. You can no longer use the teapot with the oven if you don't have the teapot. Ares and Poseidon now accept the spiral tusk as an offering. If you enter the throttler area from the south it now forces you back south, similar to all the other directions. Pisces will now sensibly refuse to trap herself in the Fiddler's Cave by casting Mute near the blue orb that's holding the waterfall open. Giving dreams to the sleeping fiddler now never results in blanks. Prevented a softlock in fairyland by making the troll bribable with Water instead of Light. You should be physically incapable of spending all the water you can find in fairyland before getting to him. Made the Fiddler audio logic more robust--they now scatter based on the noise level detectable by Listening. Note: The elf won't accept forms at the last minute of business hours for the same reason retail workers won't let you into a store the moment it's closing. Note: I tried to figure out if I could make it any clearer that Pisces thinks Alan Turing is great, just objects to him being portrayed as the inventor of programming because it's chronologically inaccurate and erases Ada Lovelace. Realized she already expresses that pretty explicitly. Oh well. Made the first donation to the Navajo Water Project yesterday! First donation is $929.475

**REMINDER** Bugfix lists contain spoilers! Added text-to-speech options. They are VERY buggy. No need to tell me when they don't work--I know. Hermes now offers mote-based currency exchange. I've made it so that you can use the directional buttons to navigate (up is north, right is east, etc). Added an option to increase the font size of everything. You can now use Freeze to harvest fire from the Hydrothermal Vents. The Goblin Market ban on magic now allows for assistive cantrips like Textilekinesis. Added a line to make it very clear that if you can hear the troll from a direction and you walk in that direction then you will encounter the troll. The troll nows spends longer doing things, making it a bit easier to maneuver around him. By popular demand and because fictional programs are more compatible with Linux, Notepad++ is now Motepad++. More possible riddle answers. The octopus is now a solution to the travel-angler phish. Added spoiler warning to achievements area. The octopus no longer procs the packet rat's "no pets!" policy if it is present outside the shop, but not following you. Susan no longer appears to help you with general travel. She is in hell. Lirana will no longer block you from taking her scroll when she is not present. Fixed angler phish glitch where going to and from the main description speeds up the text. You can now use matters and motives on the search engine. Added a touch of chaos to the tiny whirlpool. Oxirane is appropriately honored. Fixed a flickering screen new The One Below. You can no longer empower SalveMundi with light to rescue Mathias if you have no light. Made the octopus' potential assistance with the search engine clearer. Made searching for ship parts prettier and more audibly satisfying. Fixed display error when you die during travel. The services in the goblin market are now easily accessible. Added timestamps to saves. The process was harder than it needed to be. You can now get your river memory with a mote of water. On the abyssal plain you can now see large landmarks from a distance, hopefully making the area more navigable if you don't want to map it. The goat no longer charges you twice.

If you'd like to play and give me feedback and bug reports: 1. I'd love that. 2. You can do it on the Open Sorcery Discord. 3. Or you can do it in the Sea++ Forums. On you can wait until January 25th when I plan to exit Early Access--for a more polished experience.

Open Sorcery: Sea++ is going to enter Early Access on Steam on: Jan 05, 2021 @ 12:00pm EST I anticipate the game will be playable, but quite buggy. [hr][/hr] Barring disaster, Open Sorcery: Sea++ will release formally on Steam on: Jan 25, 2021 @ 12:00pm EST [hr][/hr] I'd love a lot of testers to make sure the game is solid for the formal release. To express my gratitude: anyone who plays the game and gives me feedback between the 5th and the 25th will get their name in the credits as a tester. People who go above and beyond will get a special OS-themed title.

A text-based adventure game about reclaiming magic. Compile the remnants of enchanted code or drown in an ocean of dreams. Have you played Zork or read Terry Pratchett? If you liked the experience, you'll like this game. ---- This event will occur on the Northhouse Twitch Channel. Northhouse will be playing the game. They are a regular Streamer and came up with the name "Open Sorcery." Abigail (the developer) will be also be on the Stream to provide commentary and banter. ---- Note: This is a rescheduled event. The previous event under this name has been changed to this time.

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Sufficiently explained magic is indistinguishable from technology. Discuss. Will take place in the new Open Sorcery Discord Server. ---- Note: This is a rescheduled event. The previous event under this name has been changed to this time.

I finished another area in Sea++. I think I've gotten over the middle hump of the project and the end is in sight. I feel comfortable setting a release date again, so here it is: Winter 2021 I'm aiming for after the Christmas rush in the quiet months of January and February. (Not that I really need to worry about market trends. I'm so tiny.) I'm going to start simultaneously working on promotion. ... BLEAH Oh well. Gotta do it. Want people to see my art. Does anyone know any influencers who like to talk about text-based games?

I finished Fairyland. I estimate that that area in itself is about as large as the original Open Sorcery. This puts me considerably past the halfway point of finishing the game, which is neat.

Still working on Sea++. I'm implementing Fairyland! In the meantime, I made a much smaller fan game for Detroit: Become Human, one of my favorite fish-saving and housework simulators of 2018. As a fan game obviously it's free, and it's also one of the most complicated bits of programming I've ever made. If you've played Detroit, you may enjoy it. Content warning: Nihilism, Potential Major Character Death, Forgetting Hank Here's a link: Detroit: Become Nothing

Just finished putting the final polish on Sea++ before putting it to sleep for a little while. Now working on some original Open Sorcery DLC. It's gonna be called: Jingle BEL/S BEL/S has been aware for a year, and is about to experience her first holiday season. It's a game about magic, technology, and presents.

Geisthome is done. I thought it would take one month, and it took two. It's super complex, and I'm sure it needs a lot of user testing to make sure it's workable, but I'm very pleased with it. It has three areas all with different mechanics for interacting with them, and they interact with each other in a a sort of scavenger hunt for alchemy information and supplies. The troll is a pretty complex and responsive AI. There's a puzzle that teaches you how to properly pay respect at Shinto shrines. You can choose to murder everything, or cleverly manipulate everything to your advantage. (That's my version of Renegade-Paragon. Ruthless-Persuasive. And they're not muturally exclusive.) I'm pretty pleased. ---- Now that the Deep Web is done, I'm probably going to take a break from Sea++ development to make that Open Sorcery DLC I mentioned in my last post. It's a much smaller project, and I think it would feel good to actually finish something. Plus I really want to have something ready for April. That will make me feel so much more secure about life.

So I have very good but slightly inconvenient news! I have been hired to do contract work as a narrative designer! It's for an exciting project that I can say absolutely nothing about. This is good for me because it means I'm getting consistently paid for doing remote, creative work. Which is the best. This is long-term good for Open Sorcery, because it makes it increasingly unlikely that I will have to go back to a distracting 9-5. This is short-term HIGHLY INCONVENIENT for Open Sorcery, as it means I now have three major projects competing for my attention. (Open Sorcery: Sea++, EMERGENT, and Mystery Contract Work, for those keeping score) ---- I'm probably going to have to push back the release of Sea++ again because of the added workload. But I feel bad about doing that, so what I'll probably do is create some DLC for the original Open Sorcery and release it when I WOULD HAVE released Sea++. So there will be some sort of new content for the OS universe in April 2019. And I will try to get better about the planning fallacy.

Still working on Geisthome! It's pretty elaborate, since it's one of the main areas you have to go through, and the last area before you rise from the Deep Web to the Web, and emotionally important to the main character. I've implemented an AI for a troll whose house you have to go through to reclaim one of your memories. You can deal with him by avoiding him, poisoning him, or convincing him to be a pescatarian. I've just about finished that and am moving on to sea-monster fishing and a Dark Reef of coral and monsters you can collect to do alchemy.

Still working on Geisthome! It's pretty elaborate, since it's one of the main areas you have to go through, and the last area before you rise from the Deep Web to the Web, and emotionally important to the main character. I've implemented an AI for a troll whose house you have to go through to reclaim one of your memories. You can deal with him by avoiding him, poisoning him, or convincing him to be a pescatarian. I've just about finished that and am moving on to sea-monster fishing and a Dark Reef of coral and monsters you can collect to do alchemy.

It is time. It is time, my dear friends. To visit the birthplace of the Hungry Ghost. This month I'm working on Geisthome.

It is time. It is time, my dear friends. To visit the birthplace of the Hungry Ghost. This month I'm working on Geisthome.

This month was mostly catch up and clean up work in the Deep Web. I did a number of interesting things: - Implemented a puzzle for fixing a neon sign. - Implemented a puzzle for luring a shy fairy child out from under a table. - Bug-checked an area called Awash in Gibbering Madness. - Implemented assembling a Prophesy of Light. - Fixed various problems with helping the Lost Colony of Roanoke settle on the ocean floor. - Implemented how to murder people. - Implemented adopting an octopus. Almost done with the Deep Web--only one location left.

This month was mostly catch up and clean up work in the Deep Web. I did a number of interesting things: - Implemented a puzzle for fixing a neon sign. - Implemented a puzzle for luring a shy fairy child out from under a table. - Bug-checked an area called Awash in Gibbering Madness. - Implemented assembling a Prophesy of Light. - Fixed various problems with helping the Lost Colony of Roanoke settle on the ocean floor. - Implemented how to murder people. - Implemented adopting an octopus. Almost done with the Deep Web--only one location left.

I keep all of the versions of Sea++ saved, in case I need to go back to an earlier version. I just reached version 100. It's about a third done, and already 80,000 words. (Writing and code) Open Sorcery was about 61,000 words, and a lot simpler. So big.

I keep all of the versions of Sea++ saved, in case I need to go back to an earlier version. I just reached version 100. It's about a third done, and already 80,000 words. (Writing and code) Open Sorcery was about 61,000 words, and a lot simpler. So big.

Okay. So pretty much since posting my timeline for Open Sorcery: Sea++ I have been behind that timeline. It is driving me slowly insane. It is because I am also working on EMERGENT, which was unanticipated. I'm updating the schedule to account for EMERGENT work. And to increase wiggle room. Now I am planning to finish up in April. Hopefully I'll get to it earlier, but this way unmet deadlines won't gnaw at my brain. --January Finish The Wailing Pit Update Lost Soul's Make EMERGENT twine -- February Geisthome -- March Fairyland -- April Fiddler's Green -- May Hell (drag race) -- June Dream Weavers' Olympus -- July Dreamlands Web Cafe -- August Atlantix University of Phoenix -- September Depression Swamp --October SECRET PROJECT --November SECRET PROJECT --December Release SECRET PROJECT Anxiety Straights --January Real World --February Lots of testing --March Setup for Sea++ Lots of testing --April Release Sea++ (probably early access for more testing)

Okay. So pretty much since posting my timeline for Open Sorcery: Sea++ I have been behind that timeline. It is driving me slowly insane. It is because I am also working on EMERGENT, which was unanticipated. I'm updating the schedule to account for EMERGENT work. And to increase wiggle room. Now I am planning to finish up in April. Hopefully I'll get to it earlier, but this way unmet deadlines won't gnaw at my brain. --January Finish The Wailing Pit Update Lost Soul's Make EMERGENT twine -- February Geisthome -- March Fairyland -- April Fiddler's Green -- May Hell (drag race) -- June Dream Weavers' Olympus -- July Dreamlands Web Cafe -- August Atlantix University of Phoenix -- September Depression Swamp --October SECRET PROJECT --November SECRET PROJECT --December Release SECRET PROJECT Anxiety Straights --January Real World --February Lots of testing --March Setup for Sea++ Lots of testing --April Release Sea++ (probably early access for more testing)

I have decided to remove an area called The Reef from the game. This is because I'm a little behind schedule in finishing the Deep Web. And because I only have a tenuous idea of what it would contain. That tenuous idea can be summarized as: Underwater Harvest Moon. And honestly, that's probably its own game. I shouldn't try to shoehorn it into this one. ---- Also implemented the ability to hug fairy royalty. ---- "In this game you'll be attacked by gibbering horrors from beyond space and time, and just like you usually do when that happens, you'll have to solve word puzzles to stay safe." - Josh Harrison