The Dented Kettle
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Tick Tock, Walk the Block- Big Changes to Time and Travel
🕑 Added 2025-05-16 16:21:21 +0000 UTCHey there, lovely patrons!
I’m excited to spill the beans on a quality of life upgrade that’s about to hit our little seaside town. Remember that tidy “morning / evening” rhythm we started with? Cute, but it turned out to be incredibly inflexible. So I grabbed the metaphorical wrench, and a very real clock, and rewired the whole day.
What’s new?
Real‑timeish clock
Time now advances in bite‑sized chunks whenever you do something: run the diner, waitress, walk on the beach, or spend a scandalous amount time recoloring your outfit. No more squeezing your to‑do list into two awkward slots.
Seamless world traversal
You can now stroll straight from Sable’s creaky diner to Nim’s hardware store, then amble all the way across town to the Wink. Our town streets are finally stitched together into one continuous space. Forget the pop‑up map... or don't- you can still use the traditional town map to travel, and it'll take the same amount of time as walking the shortest route.
Why it matters
Immersion boost: Feeling the minutes tick away amps up tension and allows for significantly more varied actions to take place in a single day.
Player agency: More granularity means more strategies: sprint everywhere at dawn or dawdle and people‑watch, your call.
I plan to break the story up more so you generally only interact with the elements you seek out. I planned on opening up the story later, but the introduction felt like it was on rails, so I plan on making the story more open from the get go.
Story synergy: Connected streets and more time slots open the door to spontaneous encounters and new side events I couldn’t squeeze in before.
Obviously, I can't have Sable out partying all night, so all this comes with a new energy system that will require Sable to sleep. This will open the door for later additions that effect energy with their own side effects (caffeine, stimulants?).
Thank you for supporting my relentless tinkering. Let me know what you think- and what times or locations you’re most excited to explore.
