Changelog: 0.3.6 - Sanctuary in Time

Greetings, one and all!

Version 0.3.6 is about to go live! We've got a bunch of cool new stuff this time, including a new type of event (Boon event) w/ multiple variations, an overhaul to the visual interface of the game, refinements to the dating activity, and more. This also marks the release of the first Complete Edition of the game, which is available for a one-time purchase and currently discounted by 15% for a limited time! So, dive in and check it out! Feel free to drop any feedback & let me know what you think.

Above all else, have fun!

Max (Novus Operandi)

Sanctuary in Time is a text-based, adult game with sci-fi & RPG elements! Your father's just been murdered. He was the God of Time. Now, it's your turn! Save damsels from dark corners of history; train them as warriors, courtesans, or workers. Build your forces. Expand & upgrade your citadel. And survive the enemies that seek your death!

Save files from previous versions of the game should be compatible w/ this version. See installation instructions on the File Download page for details on how to transfer save files.

Development Update: It’s graduation day!

The beta for Sanctuary in Time launched on Itch in September 2022. And version 0.3.6 represents the seventh major content update that’s been released for the game since launch. I now consider Sanctuary in Time to be on solid enough footing to graduate from the beta stage of development and enter the final release. Woo-hoo! They grow up so fast.

• Version 0.3.6 (and later) will no longer be labeled as ‘beta’ & the beta disclaimer has been removed from the application launcher screen.
• The Complete Edition of the game can now be purchased from the Itch store page and contains all content previously reserved for the monthly Patron Editions. It's available for a one-time purchase and is currently 15% off for a limited time!

New Feature: Boon events!

These are unique, one-time events that can occur during the lifetime of your settlement. Each one presents the player with a choice between depositing a lump-sum reward that’s been discovered, or investing that reward in an upgrade that can result in small bonuses over time. These bonuses, if unlocked, will be displayed in the new BOONS section of the weekly turn report.

• Each of the boons listed below can produce varying results from week-to-week, such as slight, moderate, or significant results, and each one also carries a chance to backfire or malfunction in some way, producing humorous but harmless results instead.
• Automated Aid Station: Keep the lump sum of energy that’s been discovered, or invest it to construct a computer-controlled first-aid kiosk for your followers. Can result in modest, but regular improvements to follower health. (Updates the descriptive text associated w/ Citadel - Main Hall after constructed.)
• A Statue of Yourself as God of Time: Keep the lump sum of silver that’s been discovered, or invest it to commission a statue of yourself as God of Time. Can inspire your followers and result in modest, but regular improvements to follower devotion. (Updates the descriptive text associated w/ Citadel - Main Hall after constructed.)
• A Prototype Search and Rescue Drone: A dismantled prototype drone has been discovered. It features specialized sensors and basic intelligence modeled after a search & rescue dog. Will you drain its components of energy and keep the resulting amount, or have the drone reassembled and reactivated? Can result in modest, but regular lump-sum energy bonuses based on its scavenging activities among the settlement ruins. Warning: Carries a higher-than-average chance to malfunction in humorous, but harmless ways.
• A Statue of a Female Warrior or Priestess: Keep the lump sum of silver that’s been discovered, or invest it to commission a statue of an idealized female warrior or priestess. Can motivate your followers and result in modest, but regular silver bonuses. (Bonuses are multiplied by the number of combat or courtship-focused followers you have serving in-the-field, respectively.) (Only one of these statues can be built during the main campaign, with a chance to build the second reserved for the Complete Edition & the end game.) (Each statue updates the descriptive text associated w/ Citadel - Main Hall after constructed.)
• Experimental Generator Upgrades: (Reserved for the Complete Edition & the end game) Keep the lump sum of energy that’s been discovered, or use it to enact experimental upgrades to the generator that Eva’s been envisioning. Can result in modest, but regular percentage-based energy bonuses. Warning: Carries a higher-than-average chance to malfunction in humorous, but harmless ways.

Interface Updates: A whole new look!

Several visual updates have been made to the game.

• The previous ‘light’ and ‘dark’ interface themes used by the game (which were pre-made & obtained from two different sources) have now been replaced by an all-new custom theme w/ light and dark variants for better consistency between experiences.
• As part of integrating the new visual themes, multiple changes have been made to the colors used for interface text & buttons.
• The Build Menus that display the purchase costs for building the War College and Temple of Eros have been redesigned for a cleaner, more economical look. (As suggested by player feedback.)
• The Gene Lab & Outfit Shop interfaces have a minor update: Now, when you attempt to make a purchase you cannot afford, the total cost will be displayed in red.
• The layout for the Cheat Options Menu has been updated so that checkboxes for npc-related cheats are now better aligned & spaced.
• The App Window Size of 1000x600 has been removed as a selectable option from the settings menu due to lack of compatibility w/ the new interface elements.

Feature Update: ‘Look Closer’ option now added to dialogue events.

A new selectable option is now available in many events which allows the player to visually examine a follower in order to get a detailed description of their physical attributes, as well as their clothing (if worn), or nude body (if no clothing is worn).

• This replaces many of the pre-existing physical descriptions that were present in scenes, thus making these scenes shorter by default (i.e. more digestible), and the descriptions themselves less repetitive as they now only appear when the player chooses.
• This choice can now be found during inspections, side story and recruitment events, idle activities, and other events of the game, where a section of descriptive text would have previously been displayed automatically.

Feature Update: Gifts from wives are now based on their skills.

Previously, if one of the player’s wives chose to leave a gift for them, the nature of the gift itself was purely random. Now, however, that’s no longer the case. Gifts left by wives will now be chosen based on the skills possessed by those wives.

• Wives w/ a combat skill >= ‘Student’ will be more likely to leave a masculine gift in the form of a weapon or leathercraft item.
• Wives w/ a courtship skill >= ‘Student’ will be more likely to leave a romantic gift in the form of a love note.
• Wives w/ a medical or caretaking skill >= ‘Student’ will be more likely to leave the gift of a meal to support the player’s well-being.

Feature Update: Partner likes/dislikes of date activities are now more in-depth!

The initial launch of the dating activity featured a simple, but effective system by which a follower would either like, dislike, or feel neutral about different date activities. Now, however, that system has been significantly overhauled for a more nuanced experience.

• Partners can now ‘like’, ‘enjoy’ or ‘love’ different date activities, based on bonuses tied to their personalities.
• Partners can now feel ‘slight’, ‘moderate’ or ‘significant’ reluctance for different date activities, based on penalties tied to their personalities. Coaching a follower past their limitations can lessen and even remove these penalties, just as it can for their duty assignments.
• Partners can receive additional bonuses or penalties to their enjoyment level of date activities based on the level of their corresponding skill type (e.g. their enjoyment of action movies will be greater if their combat skill is higher).
• These various bonuses & penalties are now displayed during selection of a date activity.
• When a partner suggests an activity, they will now only suggest those activities they enjoy the most (i.e. their favorites), rather than any sort of activity they might have a ‘positive’ response to. They can now also suggest activities they feel ‘neutral’ about, should there not be any activities for which they feel ‘positive’.
• A partner’s responses after a date activity has completed are now also more nuanced, and better reflect their differing levels of enjoyment or dislike according to the new bonuses.

Gameplay Balancing:

• Increased the scaling difficulty of stat checks (strength & persuasion) by 10% for all checks occurring after turn 25.

Infrastructure Update:

Implemented a new logfile system to output error messages (as well as general info) to a text file that will help in diagnosing end-user issues encountered when running the application. This is a simple text file which can be opened with a text editor, so its contents can be copy-and-pasted when problems are encountered.

• A logfile and directory to house it (\LOG FILES) will now be created inside the installation folder the first time the application is run. This logfile will then be overwritten w/ a new process log each time the program is run afterward. 
•  A new option is now available in the Settings menu, titled ‘Logfile Detail Level.’ This will control the amount of detail produced by the logfile when the application is running. More detail = lower performance, so the default setting of ‘Critical info only’ is recommended. However, this can be increased when trying to troubleshoot specific issues.

Misc Updates:

• Fixed issue causing new selections in the (standard) Settings menu to persist even when the Cancel button is selected afterward.
  
• Fixed issue that would allow the new ‘starting resources’ side story event to deposit energy in excess of the player’s current maximum storage limit.
• Fixed issue that could prevent ‘Look Closer’ option from producing text during recruitment scenarios when no vacancies are available.
• Updated the logic used when the program encounters a settings file from prior to version 0.3.6, which will contain an ‘invalid theme name’ from before the visual overhaul. Previously (per hotfix 0.3.6b), the new default light mode theme was simply applied to the program when this condition was encountered (thus preventing a crash). However, nothing else (including the settings file itself) was actually changed. Now, the erroneous settings file value is overwritten w/ the new default light mode value, the Settings menu GUI is updated to reflect that newly stored value, and the new theme is then applied afterward. This helps ensure a smoother experience when encountering this issue, and also prevents the error condition from occurring more than once with the same settings file.
• Fixed issue causing npc to be incorrectly listed as undergoing coaching, if they were dismissed from settlement while being coached.
• Updated the descriptive intro used by most idle activities (e.g. eating, sleeping, working out activities viewable by surveillance). It should now be a bit shorter and more to-the-point.
• Brianna Morgyn’s starting skills have been changed from combat & medical to simply combat. I believe this better suits her presentation as a young, tribal warrior. Plus, her medical skill is largely unnecessary in the early game when an Infirmary cannot yet be constructed. This change will only affect a new game start.