Version 0.2.1

[This update was divided into two separate posts, both of which are presented below]

## Changelog

Welcome, dear traveler. This update is so big it needs two posts to contain everything included. This post details every single change made. If you'd rather go in blind, \*\*DO NOT CONTINUE READING THIS\*\* and instead download the game for yourself!

* **Version 0.2.0:**
	+ The option to "Talk" with your patient has been removed.
		- The patient will now occasionally interact with you on their own accord.
		- This interaction can possibly prevent you from performing certain actions while the patient is speaking.
		- You can rush the message by clicking on it - however, this will irritate your patient.
		- Failure to acknowledge a finished message from your patient will also irritate them further.
		- Listening to your patient fully before interacting will reduce your patient's irritation.
		- Instead of talking becoming obsolete during "Stage Three", it will now become increasingly less effective. Treatment of Kein will continue to reduce irritation as normal, however.
	+ Added "Examine" option as a possible interaction with your patient.
		- Examining a patient multiple times a day will irritate them.
		- Examining will provide useful information on the patient's status and what can be done to improve it. Research can alter and improve the information shown, the curse's progression will obscure and make it less useful.
		- Attempting to examine your patient during "The Hunt" will end the run immediately.
		- Your patient will now grow restless if they haven't been examined at all for an entire day. This does not apply if they were asleep during the night.
		- Examination can provide additional boons or negatives depending on your research.
	+ The "Treat Patient" option now always heals the patient's wounds and always reduces their irritation, regardless of whether the medicine administered was sufficient to inhibit the curse progression.
		- Treating your patient no longer resets irritation during "Stage Three". Instead, it always reduces irritation regardless of the curse's progression.
	+ Added "Focus" option as new way to spend excessive time and to eliminate random chance from certain actions.
		- Any amount of focus will make your next action a "focused action", improving its effects. Some specialised "focused" benefits must be unlocked through research.
			* For example, focused examination will always have somewhat readable results, focused treatment has a chance to not increase Kein's resistance based on how high your focus is, gathering actions might yield more than usual...
		- Fully filling your focus meter will grant you +1 Occult. If done in quick succession, this costs three time segments.
		- Focus will slowly vanish over time, based on research.
	+ It is now slightly more likely for your patient to be asleep. Night time as well as a lit fireplace further increase these odds.
		- If your patient is asleep, they won't talk to you. Their irritation will not increase at all and you can freely examine them during.
	+ The resource "Occult" now caps out at 99. Previously, it had no upper limit.
	+ New research has been added to interact with the new mechanics. Some of the "No-Brainer" Research has been nerfed or made hard to acquire. More rarely picked up research has been improved.
		- "Dead Heading" now causes your patient to get mad at you. Going out for supplies has a chance to cause them to remember what you did, irritating them further. Its price has been reduced. (7 -> 4)
		- "Last Resort" has seen its price doubled. (6 -> 12)
		- "Intense Focus" is now called "Peak Efficiency". Its cost has been reduced. (7 -> 5)
		- "Lucky Streak" has seen its price reduced because being focused has a similar effect, if based on the amount of focus available instead. (7 -> 5)
		- New research: Agricultural Tendencies, Armed Assessment, Counter Measures, Hearth and Home, Heartfelt Speech, Preparation's Boon, Miracle Gardener, Going In Blind, Nerves of Steel, Occult Focus, Relentless Research, Risk Taker, Stay-At-Home Doc, Surveilling Eyes, Survival Instinct, Unwavering Focus.
	+ "Damning" Events were much less likely than intended, by granting every player two free re-rolls regardless of their research. One of them has been removed, the other remains for the time being, as damning events seemed "frequent enough" regardless.
	+ Added an optional Leaderboard. After finishing a run, your score is submitted if you set a username. Your score is calculated primarily by the days survived, the current time of day, your remaining resources, how much research you've successfully done, among other criteria. "Last Resort" and "Dead Heading" will negatively impact your score.
		- Your name can only be submitted to the Leaderboard once. Trying to circumvent this by submitting multiple scores under slightly altered names will result in deletion of the lowest score. Repeated offense will incite a ban from the Leaderboard.
	+ Many lines of dialogue have been altered and added. Events have been corrected in cases where the patient had been misgendered, conversations with the patient have been adjusted to make more sense with the new system.
* **Version 0.2.1:**
	+ Fixed a bug where crows could appear invisible, or appeared visible when they weren't actually there. Dialogue should now be less confusing in these instances.
	+ Crows can now appear in bigger numbers at once.
	+ Your patient can no longer only recover from injuries via events. Treating them \*always\* removes any injuries, even if the treatment wasn't effective at hindering the curse's progression.
	+ Some research has been adjusted.
		- Scarecrow Placement's second level now costs less. (10 -> 8)
		- "Risk Taker" bonus to maximum gain from gathering has been reduced. (6 -> 4) The research's time investment has been reduced to make up for this. (5 -> 4)
		- Armed Assessment no longer requires the player to be focused. It also actively reduces progression of the curse.
		- "Hearth and Home" now only applies if the fireplace has not been lit before. Its cost has been reduced to make up for this. (6 -> 4)
* Several research topics have been reworded to make more clear what they mean. The research window has been slightly expanded to allow for more lines of text, too.
* The message announcing the hunt is now visually distinctive from the rest of the text.
* Once the curse enters "Stage Three", your patient will no longer give you any lines about their needs. You're on your own, doctor.
	+ In addition, "Stage Three" now takes precedence over the other two stages. No more unfitting lines when you're about to meet an unfortunate end.
	+ To make "Stage Three" less repetitive, new lines have been added, hinting at content from Cursetorn's "Story Mode".
* Leaderboards have been officially unlocked for use. Keep the above terms of use in mind.
	+ Illegal characters are now automatically corrected.
	+ Leading and trailing whitespace in your username is trimmed automatically. Other whitespace will be replaced with '\_'.
* Criteria to make "The Figure" appear have been made easier in response to the game's overall difficulty slightly increasing since the game's original release.

## HUGE Update! Passive Dialogue, Examinations, Leaderboard and MORE!

***Good day, dear traveler!***

If you want to deeply dig into every little thing that has changed, you can find the patch notes right here! [Here was a link to the post above, which on the Itch.io website has its own page] For those less patient with a huge wall-of-text in your face, look no further than this post! While this isn't the "Story Mode" update yet, we figured we would give you something to tide you over and with that, this major update to "Endless Mode" has been crafted with long-awaited features that were supposed to be in the Game Jam version to begin with, but sadly couldn't be included due to time constraints.

**Major Feature**: Passive Dialogue

Ever since we first started working on Cursetorn, we wanted the dialogue to be passive - the talk option ended up being an okay replacement, but it just can't compare to the real deal. Now we're finally here! Kein will now interact with you of their own volition and you will need to timely respond after they've finished talking in order to not irritate them.

**Major Feature**: Examination & Focus System

Replacing the old "Talk" option is now the Examination system, giving insightful information about your patient's current status. Kein will also expect a regular check-up - so be sure to perform it once a day! The new "Focus" option gives you a small boost to all other actions while you are focused, as well as BIG changes when you research "Focus Actions". It lets you lock research into place, negate the chance for negative events and MORE!

**Major Feature**: Leaderboards

Coming with this update is the leaderboards! If you set a name from the main menu, you can easily submit your score after every run. Please check out the long patch notes for more information on this as well as terms of use - it boils down to common sense and not choosing the names of other people.

**Minor Feature**: Huge Balancing Overhaul & New Research

With all these new systems in place, some old research has been adjusted and a lot of new research has been added! The irritation system has been completely overhauled to work with the new passive dialogue instead.

**Minor Feature**: New Dialogue & Rewrites

A lot of the old dialogue had some issues that should be mostly fixed now and a whole SLEW of new lines have been added for all kinds of situations, including lines for the doctor's examinations! In addition, some of the new lines hint at content in "Story Mode", so do your best to uncover them all!

Find the full list of changes here!

[The link above goes directly to the itch.io page, which is the same as the post transcribed above]

That is all for now. We'll meet again for Story Mode's release. See you then!