Build 25948488

I've added a little moment during Henry's introduction where he mentions having chronic pain in his legs. I had previously left his occasional wheelchair use unexplained, for reasons which made sense to me at the time. But today I was thinking about it and decided I should add an explanation.

Some rambling about my writing process, for anyone who's curious:

When I first started development of the first version of Northanger Abbey over eight years ago, I aimed as much as possible for non-canon scenes to only show up as the result of player choice. My goal was that you could play something very similar to the original story if you wanted, but also had the option to see other ways things could have played out, or explore hidden parts of the story. Henry and Eleanor being POC was, technically, not a contradiction of canon, since they are described as 'dark' in the novel. Austen presumably meant 'dark for white English people', but there's nothing in the text to prove it! Similarly, she never said Henry didn't use a wheelchair sometimes. And if she didn't mention it then neither should I.

This approach had its advantages, and made for a good core story to work from, but over time I've become increasingly aware of the ways it limits my writing and undermines the overall story I'm telling. If I either don't explain/mention changes from canon, or only do so in optional scenes, then for most or all players these changes will be left unstated and unclear.

For example, while the ethnic backgrounds of the Morlands and Tilneys was always implied, the writing was understated enough that some players missed it, and were left confused or frustrated. And the way I presented choices regarding the player character's gender and personality as a play on canon scenes left a lot of people confused to the point of thinking the game was buggy.

Over time, in response to criticism, I have edited the way the game presents information and asks choices to clarify these ambiguities, even when it meant diverging more from the original novel. And even though this contradicts my original plans, I think the resulting game is stronger and more enjoyable to play.

I've never encountered anyone complaining about Henry's occasional wheelchair use, but can only assume it confused people too, and I feel like clarifying his situation fits better with the new, less canon-compliant version of the game.

So! Henry has intermittent leg pain! LORE ESTABLISHED. I haven't added any further discussion past the initial scene, because I do still really like the idea of his disability simply not mattering to the story or affecting his arc in any significant way. But it has been in the back of my mind while writing him since the first draft of the game, and I think adds an enjoyable extra texture to the character Jane Austen created.