It's been a while.
If you are reading this, we owe you a great deal of gratitude. You held on to a tiny promise that we did not yet keep. We said "life happened" and you trusted us that we won't bury Heart. Papers. Border. That we'll eventually turn the lights back on.
The life that happened involved the transformation of a twenty year old relationship. Heart. Papers. Border. is a game made by two people who used to be married when this project started. To a tiny extent, Heart. Papers. Border. played a part in a beautiful, peaceful, painful divorce. It took a while for us to heal. We're back as friends and creators. We think this healing might have led to the healing of Heart. Papers. Border., too. But you will be the judge of that! Here's what you're judging....
Some antidotes to a severe Heart. Papers. Border. feature creep
Why do you travel? It's a general question, indeed, but when applied to Heart. Papers. Border., you don't really have a great reason. The old reason, poorly explained, was this: you travel to gather hashtags to publish blogs to change national opinions to contribute to the opening of borders. It's a conceptually nice idea, I guess but... Take that for a game loop! Heart. Papers. Border. was not fun. As a matter of fact, Heart. Papers. Border. was not - we started with the intention of making a tiny game, and ended up with a grand strategy kind of feature creep that did not really led anywhere.
Here is a brief summary of what we will be changing. We are still in design phase and this is an early access game, so your thoughts on this are really, really, really important!
Congratulations! Instead of being an aimless traveller, you now have an important job in Heart. Papers. Border. You are a photo journalist, and you are tasked to "offer a complete picture" of all 26 countries of planet Heart! You've got 125 years, a super professional camera and your own wits on how to frame and publish your progress and adventures on your photo blog. But beware! Some countries are more welcoming than others, visas expire and certain things happen regardless of your camera being present to immortalise them or not. Can you complete the picture? And what story will you tell as you complete it?
What do you think about this new design? Stay tuned for many a detailed design blogs that we hope you'll scrutinise!