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[sarienn]

Hey everyone! I would like to keep a log about Heart. Papers. Border. - an optimistic strategy game about travel, freedom and changing the world.



2/18/2017
Current Status: Pre Alpha. We do not have all the features in the core loop implemented
Heart. Papers. Border. is on Greenlight (help us if you feel it is worth it!): http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=862433250



Thank you!

[sarienn]

Next Features in development for Heart. Papers. Border. are:

Events!
This is quite a complex system that determines quite a lot of actions "behind the curtains". But the direct result for you, the player, will be this:

• when you go to visit a landmark, you have a chance to experience an event, for example meeting a local
• this friendly local might tell you about a SECRET place, something of the beaten path that you can visit. Secret objectives are the best to find the most valuable hashtags for your blog
  
• events might also requite you to help someone, even with units. Some of these events might lead to new hashtags, some to a financial gain and so on

Notifications!
Implementing the events system will also allow us to finish the Notifications, which look like this:



Quests!
Also known as tutorial, this is a way to direct you when you first start to play. In its current state, Heart. Papers. Border. sorely lacks any sort of help, tips or directions and we aim to fix that.

The idea is when you start to play, you should be zoomed in on your native country and get an indication to visit the nearest objective. We would like to turn this into a story and progressively guide you towards publishing a blog and getting feedback about your followers and growing influence.

Influence!
We need to implement the influence you are gaining as you gather followers.
This is a system that targets each country, which progressively drops its borders.

We will also redesign the hashtag part of the blog and implement a series of puzzles that allow you to write blogs, pack for travel, and discover interesting topics to write about when you visit.

What do you think? Thank you for your time!

[InterGalactic]

It looks like something only we graphic designers would make xD Great job on the presentation and concept looks very interesting and innovative! I have upvoted on Greenlight, hope you can do the same to my game 

[sarienn]

Thank you! I sure will! I hope your Greenlight goes well!

[Later Edit] I just voted! Your game looks very polished!

[utkiupe]

nice art
I am wondering though if, since the topic is quite hot now - for some years regarding what's happening in Syria for example- are you going to evoke this idea of your nationality being a problem?
you mention "optimistic" but maybe it's ironic so I am asking

[sarienn]

Thank you!

The optimistic part is not ironic.

But we will have countries that are completely closed, like North Korea, for example, where you will really need to plan and save in order to visit because you won't have any "Connectivity" and hence you won't be making any money while there (you are a freelancer who works online ). Also we will have countries where people flee from due to climate change. But we would like to focus the players attention on what can be done, and on positive action so I don't think we will have wars and prosecution.

The optimistic idea behind the game mechanic is this: all the countries of Heart ARE on a path towards openness so they slowly evolve without the player's impact and would get to a No Border state in 250 years. What the player does is to speed up the process. The big quest is witnessing a fully united world by the players "virtual death". And since its an optimistic retro futuristic world, the player doesn't get sick, can't die and will always live to the ripe age of 150 years old. The question is what will the player do with all this time

We do plan multiple saves, so you can try out with multiple characters, we also plan multiple win conditions (like in RISK) and  multiplayer (inspired by the Ticket to Ride online lobbies) - but we have a very long way to go until we get there.

What do you think?

[utkiupe]

seems promising.
It's good to have an optimistic view of the future. Stories about future are always dark dystopias

I was just concerned by the promises of the title - papers. borders - which allude to something less optimistic and related to current events, and even maybe "papers please"

anyway, waiting to see more about your game. ()

[sarienn]

utkiupe - I  understand

Papers, Please! IS an inspiration, because it is a game that raises real, deep, meaningful problems. But I did want to make an optimistic Papers, Please!

I also wanted to...

UPDATE
I just wrote a new blog post called The Greenlight Chronicles for Heart. Papers. Border.

[nu_muso]

This is unique and fresh, not to mention beautiful! Glad to see indie devs pushing boundaries

[sarienn]

Thank you so much for everyone's support!

UPDATES
Development wise are are:

• working on the backed message system that will allow us to push for events, but also notifications and various types of information that we need to display on screen
• creating several generic landmarks that the player can visit, so that we can generate Off The Beaten Path kind of activities
• continuously trying to generate awareness for our Greenlight page, where we did hgave a spike in traffic <3 and wrote about it here

We also updated our design so its more logical what the wiki is about. You can check our live game design wiki here

Do you have any advice for us? Both in terms of generating awareness for our Greenlight but also in terms of design?

[sarienn]

Hey! I just wanted to show off our new and shiny ways to display Notifications. Not quite done yet, but its a progress! What do you think?

[michelmohr]

I saw you guys on Casual Connect, the game looks absolutely beautiful.  
At some points perhaps a tiny bit over-designed, but beautiful! 
 
Ps. get a little banner image for your greenlight campaign, you'll get more clicks

[Pixel Noise]

Great graphics! Read through the log, and really like what you're describing in the story, character, gameplay. Good luck with your Greenlight campaign - it's a tough time, so don't despair if it stalls - I think there is definitely an audience for this!

Also - I might have missed it, but what system/s are you targeting?