Changelog
A record of changes to Chronicles.
Added
- Solomon’s “Security” dialogue path — retroactive unlock gated behind entering “Home” in Ch10’s terminal. Solomon reveals “Security” as his identity in 3 new dialogue nodes. Completes the dual-password system
- Ch10 cinematic intro — 5 paragraphs about the Signal’s 847-node infrastructure, displayed in terminal green over a blurred CRT interface. Same intro system as all other chapters
- Ch10 CRT terminal aesthetic — auth terminal embedded as “scene art,” CRT scanlines, VT323 monospace, choice buttons with > prefix, action panel locked until authenticated
- Ch06 enhancement plan — detailed spec for Cathedral/Dara chapter: mood axis (faith ↔ questioning), 65+ dialogue nodes, stained glass panel analysis, graveyard headstones, wedding photo frame placement
- First-key progress tracking — entering “Home” in Ch10 now records to progress data for cross-chapter gate visibility
Changed
- Rebranded “The City” to “Chronicles” (Rust & Roots Chronicles) — directory, JS modules, namespace, API routes, localStorage keys, nav links, page titles, database table. Backward-compatible API aliases and localStorage migration preserve existing player progress
- Continuity Bible updated — Ch05 status corrected to Enhanced, Ch10 password system marked as implemented with sequential flow documentation
Added
- Chapter V — Almost Right (Sevi / The Drift) — full enhancement: cinematic intro, mood system (wary/curious/genuine), “home is key” deep-trust branch, return visit greeting, cross-chapter gate to Doyle’s bar, examine item gating, Poiret One typography
- Ch05 scene art — 9 images with dialogue-triggered art swaps: 3 mood variants (walking away / stopped / genuine smile), grief variant during Goss arc, fragment-held and fragment-detail for the “home is key” reveal. Oil painting base with Drift glitch/projection distortion
- Chapter X — Chronicle (The Signal) — dual password terminal system. Two keys required: “Home” (from Sevi, Ch05) and “Security” (from Solomon, Ch04). CRT terminal aesthetic, wrong entries rejected without hints. Auth persists across visits
- Ch10 custodian dialogue — 6-node chain exploring who maintains Signal’s hardware. Theory 1: pre-Event technician with muscle memory. Theory 2: the Drift. Theory 3: something occupied the hardware before Signal woke up
- Ch10 available on hub immediately after prologue — password wall handles gating, not chapter completion
- The City Bible — interactive admin tool with 7 tabs: Chapters, Characters, Cross-Chapter Web, Examine Items, Lore Threads, Canon Rules, Workshop. Server-backed JSON, full CRUD editing
- Workshop — 223 targeted questions across all chapters with filtering by chapter/category/status/priority, dismiss/restore, progress tracking, separate save
Changed
- Goss death — killer changed from “Signal territory” to the Parish. Added nuance: the Parish fighter was afraid after, not malicious. The tournament kills, not the participants
- Signal reclassified — not a faction, an Autonomous Intelligence. 847 nodes, single consciousness. Does not fight in tournaments. Most people unaware of its scope
- “Neutral” faction label standardized to “Unaffiliated” throughout
Fixed
- Removed all “Unseen” references from Ch04, Ch06, and prologue — life outside the city is beyond conception, no character can reference or be aware of The Unseen
- City Bible field name mismatches — examine items, lore threads, and canon rules now render correctly with seeded data
- City Bible save auth — added X-User-Info header for Discord OAuth tokens
Added
- Chapter III — Last Call (Doyle’s Bar) — full enhancement: 67 dialogue nodes across three characters (Doyle, Kit, Wren), mood system tracking Doyle’s trust, cinematic intro, oil painting scene art with Rembrandt chiaroscuro lighting
- Multi-faction art rendering — Ch3 scene art renders each faction patron in their own visual style (Syndicate in noir, Drift glitching, Rigs in charcoal) coexisting in one warm candlelit room
- Character-based scene swapping — clicking a character switches the entire scene to their perspective (Kit’s ledger view, Wren’s moving-through-the-room view)
- Retroactive unlock system — completing Ch3 unlocks new dialogue in Ch1 and Ch2. “Ask Maren about Doyle’s neutrality” and “Ask Thomas about building the counter.” Completed chapters drop from 100% and glow on the hub
- State persistence — visited dialogue nodes, examined items, and journal entries now restore across sessions. Leave a chapter and return: everything is where you left it
- Return visit greetings — characters remember you. Doyle: “You’re back.” Kit: “You again.” Wren: “Welcome back. Same drink?” Maren: “Back again. Door’s open.” Thomas: “You’re back.” Previously explored branches stay hidden; only new content appears
- Voice styles for Kit and Wren — auto-colored names in all text via city-effects.js
- Hub glow indicator — completed chapters with newly unlocked content pulse with amber border and show “New” badge
Fixed
- Prologue navigation arrows — were invisible due to CSS collision with site navbar (.nav-arrow overridden by nav.css). Renamed to .prologue-nav-arrow
- hideOnRevisit not persisting — explored choices reappeared on page reload because visitedNodes Set was never restored from progress. Now restored on init
Added
- Cinematic chapter intro — entering a chapter presents dramatic paragraph-by-paragraph text over blurred scene art, establishing context before gameplay begins. Click or key to advance; text saved to journal on completion.
- Art-forward 2-column layout — all chapters now use 70/30 split (scene art | action panel). Chapters without art show atmospheric location text on dark canvas.
- Drift context in Ch1 intro — four paragraphs establish what the Neutral Zone is, Maren’s backstory, what the Drift are, and why treating one is controversial.
- Hub navigation — “← Hub” button in every chapter header. Saves progress before returning to chapter select.
- Prologue music — “Rust and Roots” plays during the prologue.
- Ch1 music — “Shepherd” plays in Maren’s clinic.
- Prologue progress sync — completion now saves to server via shared progress module (tied to R&R account).
Changed
- Prologue completely redesigned — full-screen cinematic presentation replaces two-panel slideshow. Each voice fragment fades in dramatically with speaker name and faction. Section breaks appear between acts. Signal text styled in green monospace with corruption effects.
- Ch1 layout — narrative panel removed. Scene description delivered via cinematic intro; text accessible in journal. Interactive scene fills 70% of viewport.
- All chapters auto-convert — city-core.js dynamically restructures chapters to art-forward layout without per-file HTML changes.
- Intro skips on revisit — returning to a chapter with existing progress jumps straight to interactive mode.
Added
- Shared module architecture — 5 JS modules (city-core, city-progress, city-audio, city-effects, city-theme) replace duplicated inline code across all chapters
- Discovery-based chapter unlocking — chapters unlock through narrative discoveries (dialogue nodes, examined items, combinations) instead of linear sequence
- Examine item gating — items are locked until relevant dialogue reveals them (e.g., Bishop's cot locked until learning about the Drift)
- Discovery completion meter — per-chapter percentage tracking of visited dialogue nodes and examined items, displayed on hub chapter cards
- Visited-choice indicators — explored dialogue paths show checkmarks and dimmed styling; revisited topics use variant text for natural conversation flow
- Per-chapter audio system — background music with crossfade, moment-triggered track changes at key story beats, SFX hooks for examine/discovery/completion events
- Per-chapter environmental themes — CSS variable palettes, background gradients, and ambient effects unique to each chapter location
- Speaker-specific typography — character voices styled with distinct fonts (Crimson Pro for NPCs, IBM Plex Mono for The Signal, Teko for Solomon, Inter for player)
- Typewriter text effect — dialogue text reveals character by character with click-to-skip
- Server-side progress sync — auto-saves discoveries to server when logged in, accumulative merge across devices (progress never lost)
- Floating audio controls — volume sliders for music/SFX, mute toggle, current track display
- Hub contextual hints — locked chapters show narrative hints about what discoveries are needed
- Multi-character dialogue support — ch03 (Last Call) supports three separate conversations in one chapter
- The City changelog — separate version tracking from the main game
Changed
- Hub chapter select redesigned — discovery progress bars, contextual unlock hints, v2 progress format
- Bishop examine text rewritten — clearer timeline: Bishop was here, the Drift took it, this is what was left
- Progress data migrated from v1 (boolean completed) to v2 (granular discovery tracking)
Fixed
- Bishop/Drift narrative confusion — examine item now gated behind drift-1 dialogue, preventing spoiled reveal order
- Dialogue loop feel — revisited choices show variant text ("You mentioned Thomas earlier…") instead of identical prompts
