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To unlock a love triangle with Al, you need to either (a) choose them as your primary love interest, or (b) have a childhood crush on them. The next update is going to add text to clarify this in-game, and we're going to revamp the LT routes once we complete the game. 

"Don't worry -- this is NOT a virus!" is slightly spookier on a game that features trying to not let monsters disguised as people inside your building. Like, I didn't think it did, but paranoia strikes! The demo was fun, though. I'll probably buy it when I get my next paycheck. 

Thank you for your kind words! Maudine wrote that line, so she is gonna be especially pleased!

So glad you like it!

Chapter 5 is complete!

After four months of writing, we have completed Chapter 5, which now sits at over 30K words (for reference, that is approximate the wordcount of a mid-length novella) and over 150 new passages (I am very tired of coding). This brings the total project word count to 88K words and marks the midpoint of our project. For once, we actually undershot our expected word count, but we are rather satisfied with the final product regardless. As always, we welcome feedback. 

So what happens in  this chapter?

1. The ghost of your (very much living) father guides you in crafting beer, mead, or ale. 
2. Some very familiar children make a reappearance. 
3. Holy crap, so many side characters. 
4. Learn some new sides to the ROs, ranging from the very silly to the very sad. 
5. Maybe sleep in an actual bed?
6. And more!

We thank everyone for their patience and support in the last few months. 

Thank you so much! We're excited to share the next chapter when it's ready :)

LOL, I do the same thing when stuff I'm following updates.

Thanks. It's fixed now. 

She's definitely a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of mom. 

LOL, yeah. Quinn has definitely ended up as the favorite by far among readers. We love them too!

Thank you!

This was so good! The story and atmosphere were good. 

Thank you so much for this comment! We greatly appreciate it. It's lovely to know that we hit the mark, both with balancing the humor and the growing pains of emerging adulthood. We were aware that weren't leaving much room for customization of the MC, so we are very glad that you were still able to connect with them so much. I really cannot overstate how thrilled I am that you said so -- I believe that being "out-of-your-depth" is such a common experience that's hard to talk about for fear of being seen as "stupid." We don't know anything until we are taught.  

This is such a good horror game. Short and spooky!

Haha! I love Undertale! 

Unfortunately, the save function in Harlowe doesn't work very well. I temporarily removed it because it was changing the player's name and pronouns when a save was loaded. I'm not really sure why. It's gone until I can figure out how to implement in a way that is functional.

You would be correct! I will check that out, because it should make your MC bi/pan.

Edit: it's fixed! Thanks for the catch. 

I'm sure she would enjoy that. 

Thanks for letting us know. I'm working on getting better at coding, but it's a slow process lol. 

I tried to go about fixing this -- can you tell me more about what happens? Thanks. 

Thanks for the heads-up. That's what happens when I try staying up late to code it while I'm sick, haha. I've fixed the coding errors and reuploaded the file. I'll comb through it for the pronoun errors -- Maudine doesn't code, so she just uses whatever pronoun she wants and I fix it afterwards LOL. I missed more than usual this go-around. 

Quinn always appreciates a fan LOL. They will be keeping their jester hat though. You'll have to get your own. 

"Crazy" is the MC's middle name. One of them, anyway. Probably.

Thanks. I'll take a look whenever I get the chance. 

If you select Settings, you should be able to switch device from Desktop to Mobile. That should prevent the menu from blocking the words. 

You have to try and fail at something inadvisable. There are some randomized pass/fail scenes. This is one of them. :)

Thank you! 

And oof, yeah, I see what you mean. I will try and see what I can do to fix that.

Edit: I've added an option in Settings that should make it easier to read. It doesn't quite work with the save function (for some reason, any variables changed in Settings are reset anytime a saved game is loaded), but it gets rid of the floating box and moves everything down to the bottom or the page to that it's actually readable. 

Thanks for the feedback!

The new background and cover are absolutely beautiful! I also love the new hints about the characters spread throughout the final draft. Well done! 

I'm so excited to read the read. Very glad, also, that it coincides with my next paycheck ;)

Chapter 3 Update

Hello!

Chapter 3 is complete and available to the public! This update adds about 15-20 minutes of content, dependent on reading speed. 

In this chapter:

• try not to burn breakfast
• have a heart-to-heart with your kidnapper
• the introduction of Reese, the fourth and final love interest

Other updates include:

• Settings page -- allows adjustment of font/text size for easier readability
• Cheat menu -- allows changing variables, or jumping straight to Chapter 3

If there are any other features in settings that you would want to see, let me know and I will try to include what I can in the next update. The Cheat Menu is only for testing purposes and will be removed prior to the completed game, though there will be a New Game+ feature when all is said and done. The next update will include going on recruitment missions with Reese and Al, and I will be fixing the relationships page to look nice and pretty. 

Also, please let us know what you do or do not like! Thanks!

See yall next update!

John, Maudine, & Doug

Hello all!

I am one of three authors of Trouble Brewing, a romantic comedy interactive fiction. I'm learning Twine as I go through a combination of tears and the help of the lovely folks over at intfiction.org, who have very patiently answered all of my questions. 

Trouble Brewing, in addition to being a rom-com, is a coming-of-age story about the youngest child of master brewer Sir Merewin, who is engaged against their will to their sworn enemy -- Bainbridge, the wet-blanket drunken noble from the barony next door. With the help of their childhood friend, Quinn, they escape this terrible fate, only to be immediately captured by bandits intent on ransoming them back to their family. Trouble Brewing deals with themes of rebellion,  autonomy, and the growing pains of emerging adulthood. 

The first five chapters are currently uploaded and include:

• choosing your MC's name, gender, primary personality traits & sexuality
• meeting four possible love interests, including a broody bandit leader, an over-eager prince (or princess!), a charismatic courtier-turned-bard, and a talented fool-of-all-trades

Trouble Brewing is projected to have 10-12 chapters and a playtime of a few hours by the time of its completion. 

Trouble Brewing can be played at  Trouble Brewing: A Romantic Comedy About Beer, Rebellion, & Skipping Out On Your Responsibilities

Updates will appear here, as well as our Tumblr.

You threw the pot out the window, didn't you? 

I hope you know that you're doing a hard thing by being a mom -- every parent feels like they aren't doing enough. But just being there and loving your baby goes a long way. My mom was scared shitless -- and she certainly didn't feel the "instant connection" people kept telling her she should feel, but here I am, twenty-four years later. Best of luck to you and your growing family <3

LOL! Sloan has a strong personality for sure. We hope you enjoy discovering a softer side to them!

Thanks! I glad you love Quinn -- we love writing them <3

Very excited for Yuu's antics lol. GS has already brought me and my mom some great inside jokes via playing together. 

Thanks!

I'm glad I wasn't off with that interpretation then, LOL. 

I really do like your Morganna. More than I like Merlin (BBC)'s Morganna, and pretty neck-and-neck with the Morganna from Jean Townsend's Guenevere.

On a serious note: I think you've done incredibly well with this take on Arthurian myth -- and I am always a ho for Arthurian myth LOL. 

[WARNING: SPOILERS]

I love the theme of parents as people in this. Like, obviously Uther comes off as plain evil and Igraine as an angel, but considering they've both passed by this point, that's to be expected. The rest of the cast is wonderfully complex. In particular, the way you wrote the relationships between Morganna and Junia and Accolon got me. 

The easy thing to do would have been to write it so that neither Junia nor Accolon knew that Morganna had raped Arthur, and for them to abandon her upon learning of this. Most of the time in real life, it's a lot harder to abandon someone you love, even when you know they've done something horrible. Mordred and Gareth continue to love their mother because they're children and children tend to be fiercely loyal to their parents. Accolon and Junia do it because they know how good Morganna can be, if only she would step off this path she's taken. 

Junia standing up to Morganna was beautifully done. She saw her sister was falling apart and made the incredibly difficult move to stop coddling and enabling her bad decisions while still being sympathetic to the reasons behind them. Morganna has lost so much, and the only way to stop a full-on meltdown is to show her that there is yet more to lose if she continues. A wonderful example of "I love you enough to lose you."

And the way you've addressed trauma! Morganna and Arthur are absolutely adults who've made mistakes and need to correct them. But on another level, they are also still "stuck" as traumatized teenagers, visible in Arthur's timidness and Morganna's rage. Just a couple of scared kids. Lancelot appears to fall in here as well (I imagine he's been through some hell and that Morganna's attempt to drown him as kids hasn't helped). These three, contrasted with calm and mature Kay and Accolon, have a lot of pain to work through. You can see it in their parenting as well: Gareth, Galahad, and Mordred (if one chooses to play them as such) are all terribly mature and grave for children their age. Meanwhile, Gawain has far more childlike tendencies because Kay and Hilde Alistair didn't pass down trauma to him. 

Lot and Uther create your hard line of what a horrible person is, while characters like Kay fall firmly into "good," allowing everyone else to exist and move along the spectrum of "trying their best."

A final note: while I have been reading Morganna as a tragic villain (not sure if that was your intent?), I believe you have done her character justice. She is not insane, or evil for evil's sake, but rather someone who has stepped off a precipice and not reached the bottom yet. 

Beautiful work. 

Galahad: *is an asshole*

Me: yeah we staying away from--

Morgana: stay away from Lancelot's son.

Me: ...

Me: Galahad, you are gonna love Mordred whether you like it or not. 

Me: never tell us what to do again, Mom. 

no problem 🙂

This is still a work in progress, so there isn’t anymore to purchase right now.