Tales from the Road Updated to 0.1.5 - Major Update

Tales from the Road has been updated to version 0.1.5! This new version brings lots of new content and some nice features, including the ability to check for game updates! It also features a significant amount of grammatical fixes and bug fixes.

The main content highlight is the addition of the Valery lunch scene, this is a a content-packed area of the game featuring numerous dialogue choices and significant story content. Just this one scene towers over the entirety of chapter 1 in terms of word count. In this scene you'll be going out for lunch with Valery, a hyena who was previously introduced during the start of chapter 3. If you get along with him well enough during lunch you'll unlock him as a romance option.

The main feature addition is the new version checker! The game will now tell you at the loading screen when there is an update available, no more having to check websites to see if there are any new updates!

There's numerous other changes, bug fixes, and additions as well. You can find a full list at the end of this post.

To update a previous version of Tales from the Road to 0.1.5, simply drag and drop the new files into the folder of the old version and overwrite. And as with any update I recommend backing up your save file; better safe than sorry.

If you encounter any bugs with this update please let me know by opening an issue on GitHub or by leaving a comment on Itch.io. And if you have any feedback on the game, good or bad, feel free to leave it on the Itch.io page in the form of a rating or a comment. You can also send it to me on Twitter, @Iforgotmybrain.

Tales from the Road also recently reached 100 downloads and 500 views. It's not much but I find it to be a nice little milestone. I am planning on posting about Tales from the Road on a few other websites, so It should be interesting to see how that affects the views and downloads. I know my post on FA has net me a decent amount of views and downloads.

Unfortunately, this could be the last major update for some time; as college will be starting up for me at the end of this month. I know from my experiences last year that attempting to work on a project full-time while also going to college full-time doesn't work out well for me. There isn't enough time to focus on both, and obviously this project will get kicked to the side before college does.

I think that's about it. Here's the list of major changes I've implemented. Hope you enjoy the game!

Chapter 1 Refresh:

Edited the tutorial for extra clarity. Also fixed a ton of typos in it. (Seriously, how did I miss those?)

Completely redid Sasha’s first dialogue sequence. The dialogue now makes a lot more sense and contains a short dialogue selection choice.

Removed Sasha’s second dialogue sequence because it had no purpose.

Redid Jacob’s first dialogue sequence. Should make a lot more sense. Also features a dialogue choice.

Minor edits to Holly's Café dialogue, just cleaning up some sentences and clarifying stuff.

Completely redid the self-reflection path at Sycamore Lakeview Park. It now focuses on the players lack of purpose in life. No more crappy sob story that not even its creator cared about.

Minor edits to the roommate park path. Just a few edits for clarity.

Completely removed the old Sasha living room dialogue sequence. The ‘just chat’ option is still there, but the more in-depth option is completely redone. It no longer talks about the player character's awful childhood backstory that no one liked, and instead talks about the player finding purpose. Still provides some nice background info on Sasha.

Edited Jacob's pre-festival dialogue to better suit the chapter 1 changes.

Chapter 3 Notes:

Added a huge new Valery scene involving him inviting you to lunch. This is a very content packed scene, with the word count for the whole thing completely eclipsing all of chapter 1. The dialogue for the scene is implemented a bit different than usual, as I used a mix of second person and first person here. It makes the scene a bit closer to the usual 'gaming' experience, I suppose.
There is a true ending for Valery's lunch scene. You have to select certain dialogue choices in order to unlock it. The normal ending for Valery's lunch scene is a bit lackluster at the moment. I have ideas for how too expand it in the future but just didn't have time to add it this update. If I kept delaying this patch every time I think of something I wanted too add it would never get released.

Added the money management scene, which allows the player to choose how they want to go about handling their money for the road trip.

Misc.:

The computer system has been redone starting in the second half of chapter 3, you are now given a list of things you can do on the computer, much like the travel system. Not much on it right now but I'd like to maybe implement some fun little side-quests on it at some point.

Added an update checker, you'll now be notified at the loading screen if there is an update available for the game.

Loading prompt is now a loop so if you don't input a valid response it won't continue to the tutorial.

Added 2 new save slots for a total of 3 save slots.

So many minor bug fixes that I didn't even bother to keep track.

A megaton of typo and grammatical fixes.

Removed testing and placeholder stuff that I completely forgot about.