Hello!
Thanks so much for your feedback. Here's a big update with many improvements! Hopefully this will be the last update for a while. IMPORTANT: Your save games should work fine with this update!
If you don't see your bug listed at the end of this message, I either couldn't recreate it, it may have been fixed in a previous build, or it was submitted after this update was completed. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Thanks so much for playing my game. I hope you enjoy it. Please leave a review if you did, it helps a lot!
Best wishes,
Julia
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The biggest changes:
1) NEW DEFAULT FONT: Crimsonite Sans, for improved legibility! To toggle back to the original font, click the "Font" button in the main menu or type "font" into the text parser.
2) All game settings in the main menu should now get saved properly.
3) Mac achievements should now work on Apple Silicon Macs, as well as Intel Macs.
4) The "9" key will now unpause the game, along with the "\" key. This was done to accommodate non-English keyboards.
5)Redesigned and updated the "help" window"
6) New death added, in response to some players trying an unwise thing and being disappointed that there were no consequences :D
FULL LIST OF BUG FIXES. WARNING: SPOILERS
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if you type "quit" during the ranger interview or bed quiz, the "Really quit?" prompt will quit to OS if you choose yes, and quit to main menu if you choose no options are only partially remembered - control method, auto-saving, inventory style, visual cue for notes etc. revert to default on every new playthrough, while volume and speed do not
Margot's bonus ending wasn't triggering.
Save Game option in the menu is greyed out if the menu is opened from the intro screen with keyboard, but not if it's opened with mouse (if it's opened with keyboard first, it stays greyed out even if it's subsequently opened with the mouse)
You can help Jack with the trowel as many times as you like
If you cite an item you don't actually have as evidence against Albert, Murdoch will pivot to the telegraph tape out of nowhere.
"ask about kit" can still spoil the existence of the kit in Margot's vanity drawers (and it's a very natural question to ask, as it could equally apply to Albert's kit or even Nancy's lost kit).
When you're in the study in ch 5 with JJ and NN, if you "ask about stein" as your first command, it *only* asks Jack and misses Nathan. If you ask a second time, or ask about something else before asking about the steins, *then* it asks both Jack and Nathan and you learn about Nathan's role in helping Margot.
I wonder if Albert will let me borrow one if his Mohs hardness picks" message shows up (when looking through samples in your inventory) even after Albert is gone (because he's a spy) and after he has refused to help Nancy.
"put mug over fire" doesn't work even though the wax is inside, vs "put wax over fire". Also "put mug on mantle", "put wax on mantle" don't work.
Autosave function should check to see if that player is at 50 saves or greater.
"examine ground" when Nessa is on all fours by the wheelbarrow results in softlock
If you leave lodge before Ch2 dinner via mudroom and re-enter via different door, player can leave lodge through most doors (not kitchen door).
"kick Evan" while he's in the billiards room will result in Nancy opening the exterior door and leaving the lodge
Streamer didn't find evidence for diamonds (as was said at breakfast) but the final scenes say that Nancy knows there are diamonds in Crimson?
you can dig multiple times with the shovel, and get points for it each time
When you go back to Corvus' and Jack's room after Nessa and Corvus have fled, and you examine something that can be examined during the search for the key that you didn't examine during that search for the key, the game will act as if your examination is part of the searching for satchel key sequence.
At the end of Chapter 3, after I collected all of the necessary fingerprints, I tried the "Compare fingerprints" command, and nothing happens. (There is no response from the text parser)
I encountered a typo when typing "Look at Corvus" during the final confrontation in the mines. I have attached a photo. Just passing it along for future patches.
After you give Albert almonds you get a message at the end saying “you don’t have any almonds” (but I just gave him some and of course I still have some in my inventory!). Note: this will also now make Albert thirsty and you can get his fingerprint.
When Nessa is sneaking in your bedroom looking at the steins I tried to blow the duck whistle to startle her but instead I got dialogue from Kimi who isn’t there. Even when Kimi is not there in your bedroom you get Kimi’s surprised dialogue.
When Kimi is in the bedroom sleeping and you blow the whistle you get dialogue from her being startled but she’s asleep (need a message stopping you from blowing the whistle?)
When you’re hiding from Jack and Nathan who are sneaking about on the riverbank you can blow the whistle and they respond, but that then doesn’t trigger them spotting you.
Tell jack about mineralogy. His response has a typo, a missing space after the first period: "Nah, I'm afraid not.I'm not that interested in stuff like that."
After melting the wax, the game tells me "Sorry, you can't do that," even though the wax melted successfully.
The animation of filling the mug with water from the bathroom sink will display a closed medicine cabinet, even if the cabinet is open. Wasn't sure if this was intentional or if Nancy closes it to reach the taps.
If you ask Nathan for fingerprint Nancy also asks Kimi even though she already has Kimi's fingerprint from solving ice in mug puzzle.
using loupe on button in ch5 gives repeated responses.
When Evan is drinking at the jetty, he will answer "ask about " (Margot, for example) despite being too despondent to answer or react to anything else.
I found something strange that I am going to attach in video, it is in Kimi's room once she is asleep at the end of chapter 5. Keep in mind, I never saw her and Albert's confrontation. Typing "look" in Nancy's bedroom says "Albert is here"and you can talk to him.
Looking at binoculars when they're not on the nightstand says that they're there. (Chapter 5, for example)
While trying out the duck call in various rooms within the lodge, I discovered using it in Nancy and Kimi's room produced Kimi's response with some red text, even though she wasn't there. Did not experience this in any other rooms and did not try it outside beyond the screen with the log and where you use it on Kimi for the sample puzzle.
in the third chapter, Jack is sitting at the kitchen table, where an empty jar lies. If Nancy walks in front of the table, the jar stays in foreground, so Nancy appears to walk between the table and he 'floating' jar.
Just after dinner at the first day, Nancy appears behind the whiskey glass of Mr. Richard.
Ch 5 - Al was the last person I got shoe size from. "a ab shoes" to Al resulted in repeated dialogue
For no particular reason other than I noticed that they kept popping up, I started looking at shoes and boots. When I looked at the shoes in Albert's room, it says that a note has been added to my notebook--but there is no note.
In trying to figure out what I could do in the kitchen, I picked up the saucepan and the kettle. However, if I look in the cupboard where I got the saucepan, it says that the cupboard contains the saucepan and the kettle (but it doesn't; I'm holding both of them).
If you try to empty the glass in the dining room, you get the “That achieves little effect” message
Ask Nathan about the steins. Then show him the will. If Nancy knows they were looking for the brooch (I'm assuming this is the trigger), Nathan will tell Nancy about the steins. Nancy acts surprised that Nathan knows about them. She shouldn't be surprised, because they've already talked about it and Nathan has already admitted to helping take them.
Minor thing, but if you ask Jack about the samples in the beginning of Ch. 6, he still says "I could bring those to Albert." By this point, Jack should probably know he won't be doing that.
Nancy is overlapping with the water plant, in the boat house-It should be displayed AFTER her and therefore should be hidden.
Smokehouse: The description about the sparkles mentions them being less sparkly due to the lack of moonlight, but that description shows up even in the daytime.
in chapter 4 when listening to the conversation in the carriage house between Jack and the Ranger, he says “discrete”, when I think he should say “discreet”, since he’s talking about being unobtrusive rather than separate.
typo ("fervantly") in description of the hole in Act 6
carriage house door lacks collision after it's opened from the inside in Act 4
After Corvus and Nessa go missing, the game still thinks Corvus's luggage is in his room when using look and open, etc., instead of acknowledging that it's gone like Nessa's luggage
After saving Nessa, her hair is no longer disheveled when she talks in the scenes afterward in/out of the mine and at the train station.
Incorrect word when Nathan and Ranger Murdoch arrive: should be "his gaze" instead of "he gaze."
At the train station, there is a missing period in the documentation when referring to Nessa the second time: "Ms Crabbe" instead of "Ms. Crabbe."
I wanted to write to suggest providing an option for a more readable font, for users (like me!) who are having difficulty parsing the fonts used in the game, most especially for description/conversation text.
When Evan is drowning his sorrows on the jetty, he doesn't feel like talking, and stubbornly ignores all "ask about" and "talk about"... unless you use the "tell about" command, then he'll happily talk about anything.
When Jack is trying to dig out the mine entrance, when asked about the ranger, he'll say that "he must have gone to the bathroom," or something like that.
I kept trying to do the ”dig with spade” command or ”dig with garden spade” in order to get into the tunnel with jack in chapter six but it did not work. I had to look it up and Imused the ”dig with trowel command” i order to get in.
"o dr" will open the vanity drawers even if the vanity drawers are already open.
If you examine the trunk in ch 5, it has the same effect as looking in the trunk would, except that there's an extra message at the end about it not requiring closer examination.
The scores for all three end investigations pluralize "points" even if you scored 1 point.
"look at head" in the study room (with the deer head) does nothing, not even a "This doesn't work" message.
"c cu" (close the open cupboard with the saucepan in the kitchen) if you're far away from said cupboard doesn't do anything and doesn't trigger any message
ww e" with a closed door at the study, while Nessa is searching it, leads to a comment from Nessa that you shouldn't look at or touch anything.
After taking the detonator back, when looking at the debris, the message "You can see an old, discarded plunger detonator amongst the debris." still shows up.
String with missing preposition: "According to what I've deduced, Nessa and Corvus attacked Mr. Richards the jetty and dragged him into the smokehouse."
Nancy says an out of place "Gee, thank you" while presenting evidence about Karl to the ranger at the end
A typo during the train station final scene, the ranger says: "perished a in cave-in at the mine."
When kettle stored in cupboard -- With that cupboard open, when type "pour water in mug" Nancy goes for phantom kettle on stove, fills mug that way.
"what was Jack and Nathan trying to conceal"
"hidden in one of Crimson Ontario's" could use a comma after Crimson
"you be careful you hear" said by Jack could use a comma
examine the Nancy-sized hole made with the trowel, it should say "fervently"
"wound round it" should be "wound around it"
"I'm glad I checked though" should have a comma
"desiccated and splitting and the screws" could use a comma
asking Jack about Karl and Albert in Chapter 6 should yield different responses
"Kimi had a map with Soo Locks circled" needs WITH
"uh..." Said by Jack needs an uppercase U
When you try to examine/search left desk to re-examine after already getting the butt, there is no parser/game response. Same when you try to examine/search the right drawers after finding nothing in there the first time, no parser/game response.
"applicationo"
"butt smells familiar" needs a period
When you try to examine drawer of the wardrobe in Albert's room after he's fled, you don't get a response from parser/game
This fingerprint belongs to Albert" should have a small t
"it is said to 'no streak'" sentence needs to be rewritten
After Murdoch & co. rescue Nancy (and potentially Evan), there is a fade to black, then a text box, and then it's supposed to fade in to the cave entrance. However, the fade in starts with the full picture flashing in, and then becoming almost-black and then fading in.
"tell about" will alternately display "You have nothing compelling to say about that." and then not display anything at all.
If you ask ee about "sole", Nancy will start talking about examining the jetty, even in Ch. 1.
It mentioned that I didn't tell ranger Murdoch about Margot's illness, but I couldn't get any keywords to work- "illness" "sick" "lesions" "medicine" etc etc didn't work. I also wasn't quite sure *how* to tell him- You use an "ask" format for most of the game, so I wasn't sure if "tell" was the wrong word or if I was using the wrong keyword.
Nessa is not responding to "Talk Nessa" or "Talk woman", not even a "I don't want to talk". after getting all 3 samples and checking them. I talked to Albert in the kitchen and Jack told him about the brokencar. Then i didn't go to the dinning room, but instead went around abit and up to my room. Found Nessa, then went back in her room.
If you type “review” during the tutorial, Nancy says that she should introduce herself to the other characters.
Nothing happens if you try to empty the glass in the kitchen.
When you are trying to dust the curio cabinet for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust cabinet for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust curio for fingerprints”.)
When you are trying to dust Margot’s glass for fingerprints, the game does not recognise it if you type “dust glass for fingerprints”. (You must type “dust glass”.)
When you are trying to give the mug to Kimi, the game does not recognise it if you type “give mug to woman”. (You must type “give mug to Kimi”.)
If you examine Albert’s glass after you have lifted his fingerprint, Nancy still says, “Now to lift the fingerprint from the glass!”
You cannot dust the button for fingerprints while you are at the jetty.
If you investigate the smokehouse interior before looking at Corvus or his clothes, when Nancy notices that his buttons match the one that she found, she will say that she should go inside the smokehouse and share what she has learned with Nathan (even though she has already done so).
If you type “review” after investigating the smokehouse interior but before figuring out where Evan was taken, Nancy says, “I should talk to Nathan and Jack about all of this!” (However, if you talk to Nathan or Jack, Nancy says that she must find out what “hallongrotta” means.)
If you try to tell the ranger about a piece of evidence that you have discovered more than once, Nancy will act like she did not find it.
After blasting the dynamite in Ch. 6, ask Jack about his wirecutters. Nancy says, "It seems that the only way I'll be able to get into this mine is by helping Jack clear this rubble the hard way! *I wonder if I missed anything back at the lodge?*" As if Nancy hasn't already created the hole.
In the final confrontation, these seemingly similar commands work differently, starting from when you hide behind the boulder: "throw rock passage" will make Nancy pick up the rock and throw it down the passage. "throw rock entrance" will make Nancy pick up the rock, but she won't throw it and the textbox reads: "You're in a good place to do SOMETHING, but be more specific!" "throw rock exit" gives the description "You don't have a plain rock right now." And Nancy doesn't do anything. If you already have the plain rock, all three of these will make Nancy throw the rock.
Just wanted to report a small bug I found in Chapter 5. Corvus responds when knocking on his and Jack's door, but the room is empty upon entering it. I later found Corvus and Nessa in Margot's closet. This happened to me after eavesdropping on Albert and Ranger Murdoch.
Guest Bedroom 1: If I type “take glass” I get a response about not picking up the broken glass as it might cut me. This is before the curio cabinet has been broken (in chapter 1).
Asking about Margo or the brooch/steins after Margo's death sometimes produces the previous response, instead of the expected response after certain events. For example, asking Kimi about the steins when she's hiding in the bushes looking for owls gave a response about how nice they were.
Asking Nessa about Margot after her death gave a message to stay away from her.
even if you find out about Corvus and the bench by asking people, and never see him sit there, you still get the message about seeing Corvus there yourself on examining the shoeprints
in Act 6, if you talk to Jack after helping him with the trowel, he still mentions wanting your help
Nancy not coming to the garnet mines conclusion is only if you ask about cookie at the end of Ch5, as opposed to ask about hallongrotta at the end of Ch5. If you ask about hallongrotta she does explain her thinking properly
after Nancy meets Nathan in the smokehouse, follow up text messages and dialogue even into subsequent chapters periodically tell her she is ready to meet Nathan in the somehouse.
Any time I type "powder mug" or "dust mug" I get the response "you don't have Kimi's mug." I didn't even know she had a mug. (The only mug I have is the AGS blue mug that has so far kept my wax liquid overnight.)
If you examine Kimi’s mug while it is on the table and you have lifted her fingerprint, the messages do not seem right. The second message says, “You think you can see some faint oily smudges on Kimi’s mug.” Then Nancy says (in the third message), “… Which I’ve already done!”
You get the “well done” message each time you get the ice.
In chapter four, if you go south from the lodge’s main entrance to the overlook screen when Essa is walking east, Nancy appears on the bridge screen once Essa has left the overlook screen. Then the next time you go to the overlook screen, Nancy enters from the north regardless of which direction she came from.
Also in chapter four, Nathan still responds normally if you ask him about things or try to give him things immediately after the cutscene with Jack in the carriage house. Then Nathan will act surprised when you talk to him or climb down the ladder.
If you blow the duck call while tied to the tree, the rope disappears visually (although as far as the game's concerned, Nancy remains tethered and needs to untie before she can move).
The ranger says "we took prints of Nessa's shoes when we took her into custody" even when Nessa is supposedly dead and her body - unrecoverable in the mine.
In the dialogue in which ranger Murdoch asks Nancy if she and Margot were close, and Nancy says it doesn't matter, what matters is that what happened was wrong - the messages display her avatar, unlike all of her other lines in this closeup / cut-scene. The same inconsistency is present when she talks about the telegraph paper that mentions Karl.
After chilled raw cookie is eaten it reappears on the tray
Nancy still automatically knows about "hallongrotta" in the smokehouse after investigating the symbol, even if she never heard of it before
After Nessa has bolted and took her jewelry box with her, looking at the room still mentions the box.
Chapter 5 - Tried to open Kimi's luggage, but it does not show in the screen. Last I saw her luggage, it was when she was looking at the cormorants.
Ch 3 - "melt wax" shows this in the kitchen: "you don't have any wax right now" The wax is in the mug.
Ch 5: "review" tells me I'm satisfied and should talk to Nathan, but he still boots me out of the smokehouse; I'm missing Corvus shoeprint although I think (..?) I did examine his shoes in an earlier chapter; getting his shoe size again progresses; the preceding box in "review" does hint at shoe sizes, so this might be passable (edited)
Ch 4 - "a ab margot" shows the dialogue that Nessa had already mentioned after the soup incident:
Looks like this issue occurs in Nancy's a nd Kimi's room. So far, doing this in other rooms seems to get a response.
the notebook doesn't update with a "obtained wirecutters!"
After you clear rubble using the shovel and then talk to Jack, he talks as if he's still digging. "I'm trying to dig out this rubble:
When you ask Jack about himself at ch6 start, this response is clearly very outdated
Corvus' luggage can still be looked at, searched, opened, unlocked ... the usual interactions, even though it's actually no longer in the bedroom at this point
I've decided to randomly try dusting all my inventory items, and when I try to "dust mug" it assumes I'm referring to Kimi's mug instead of the blue mug I have.
When you enter the spare room after "talk to Nathan", the game shows this message ("Jack has set up a spare room..."), which 1. seems to not be what should be shown here at this point 2. I already saw earlier in the game when I visited him in this room before, I think
Need a line from Nancy that makes it clear that the pick needs to be found elsewhere, not in Albert's kit. Also maybe make asking about Albert's kit not a thing until after all 3 samples are collected. When Albert's in the kitchen Nancy won't ask about the kit, it seems like a bug.
I was wondering if you would consider adding a more modern, dyslexia friendly font as an option. I realize high resolution text is not in keeping with the style of the game, but I hope you let accessibility take priority here.
pour/put blue mug/wax/hot wax into/onto/in/on raw cookie" doesn't work, only "raw cookie" works
"I will be discrete with my investigation." I think "discreet" is the word that should be used here.
At the beginning of Chapter 6, you can ask Jack about Margot's kit and his dialogue will still talk about the ranger's meeting as if it's yet to occur.
In the mine, when examining the machinery, one sentence says "It would coarsely grinds up the garnets." It should be "grind" here.
Corvus got away (easiest catch) and Nessa gets away -- Newspaper closeup at musuem says "WANTED" but the Bedtime closeup says "JAILED" still. AND that Corvus was caught, not that he got away
AGS reports scripting error if you try to 'close' the already closed study door.
To resume the game when paused, you’re supposed to press the / but reversed key, I think the English word is backslash. I guess this might be a separate key on an English/American keyboard, but it’s not on my Swedish keyboard and I believe there are many keyboards out there that doesn’t have the key as well. So… maybe an alternate key or an alternate way to unpause could be added? I had to force quit my game.
During Ranger interview, during the Albert portion, if you answer "dynamite" and THEN "blasting cap", that line of questioning repeats, but this time without the inventory items. Other questions do the same.
I noticed this after Nat and Jack were shown Nessa and Corvus' new will, I'm not sure if it can be triggered earlier. I have the objective of finding Nessa's brooch (not that I haven't been looking for it since it was stolen!) The command 'shake yellow hat' results in a response of 'you don't have any water right now'On closer inspection, it appears that simply typing 'shake' will result in the same dialog response.
Nancy says (or thinks) “Nessa could seriously threaten Mr Richards’ life with thos Jordan almonds…would she go that far?” where “thos” should be “those”.
Kimi's luggage is missing from her room after chapter 2?
Tried to eliminate the bug of the melted wax stuck in the mug. 1) the wax shouldn't be obtainable a second time and 2) if it IS, it can be removed with "take wax" or "dump mug" or similar commands.
Close-up of Nessa has non-EGA colours?
Every time I am at the waterfall and type "look" a new note is added to my notebook, and it's identical each time - "looked around river for clues". I can do this multiple times without leaving the screen. I'm currently finding everyone's footprints (just Nessa's to go!) before I can examine the smokehouse, and the glass jar is still in the river.
"look flypaper" command in Chapter 2 duplicated the pair of description text boxes (1st general description, 2nd lightness remark, 3rd general desc, 4th lightness remark)
At the end of the fifth chapter, when you're given the opportunity to chat about various aspects of the game thus far with Nathan and Jack, I asked Nathan about the report; however, nothing happened. No response from the game - nothing. Now, what might be triggering this is that I consulted the hints beforehand, and asked Nathan about the report BEFORE I actually found the report in Corvus's satchel. At that point, there was a response, but no goal.
I was trying to get the fingerprint from Jack, and my thought was to try freezing the jam-filled baked cookie, removing the frozen jam, then getting the print from that. Freezing the raw and baked cookies didn't work, and then I tried taking some ice chips and putting them in the raw cookie. {Put ice in raw cookie} The text I got was:"I need to find a different way to chill the wax."
Feeding Albert almonds when trying to get him thirsty succeds, but then shows an error along the lines of "you have no almonds".
"sprinkle salt on cookies" gives an error message about not having any water. Probably sprinkle is a synonym for pour and it interprets salt as salt water?
Nancy decided she should share her results with Nathan before I had Albert's shoe size. Then Nathan wouldn't let me in.
"tie rope to waist" could use a few alternatives like "tie rope to me".