Post‑jam overhaul: fewer words on the map, more meaning

When I shipped the jam build I got a lot of feedback, both from fellow jam participants, and from my lovely friends on socials.
It was clear that the biggest theme was pacing: the popups were stuffed with text, yet with the day timer pressing on, they were basically quick‑time events with paragraphs of text.
I even wrote in the last devlog that I “probably should’ve just made the popups faction icons, with the Mayor and Archbishop reacting differently.”

So… that’s exactly what I did.

The core change: simple icon popups, with reactions telling the story

On the map, popups are now just icons. You tap to expand and see the icon of the particular faction. This gives you direct info of which chain the popup belongs and who would like it more.
And for the readers out there, don't worry, the words didn't go away (I can’t help myself). I moved them to where they are optional reading: the reaction bubbles from the Mayor and the Archbishop.

• Every single event now has two unique reactions: one from the Mayor, one from the Archbishop. (yes, the amount of text actually more than doubled somehow)

• Their lines, in addition to the sound que, telegraph whether your choice was optimal.

• Because the reading is off the main tap/drag flow, the map plays cleaner and faster without losing the lore.

Under the hood this meant a full data restructuring: events now live in a Popups.csv with per‑popup effects and custom reactions, and the reaction system pulls those exact lines instead of generic pools. In now feels like the Mayor and the Archbishop have so much more to say.

Throwing the popups feels better: "release‑velocity" flinging

I replaced the old “rubber‑band to spawn point” fling with a acceleration vector release:

• The direction and speed at release determine the trajectory.

• Left edge resolves to the Mayor, right to the Archbishop; top/bottom means the card is lost.

• A small “coyote time” window lets a quick stop‑and‑release still count as a fling.

• Edge magnet catches gentle releases near an edge and finishes the flight for you.

Result: less fiddly, and more satisfying.

Global leaderboards (UGS)

Runs feel more meaningful when you can compare scars:

• Top Survivor (most days survived)

• Biggest Earner (most money won)

• Biggest Loser (most money lost)

I'm very open to suggestions for more boards.

You’ll get a nickname prompt at launch.
You can change the name later from the same prompt if you want.

I had some issues with itch.io not properly storing the hidden unique-id so a separate session might still add a new entry to the board instead of updating the existing one, but that is hardly a disaster.

The boards show the Top 20 globally; more lists and filters will if needed.

Visual & technical polish you probably felt (even if you didn’t see)

• Popups: icon now appears only when expansion finishes (no early flash), correct layering on expand, and no more “massively wide” sprite stretch.

• Touch targets: alpha‑hit is used where it’s safe; handled the “readable/crunch” edge‑cases cleanly.

• Reaction bubbles: queue if the UI is inactive (e.g., during a break) and show when it’s safe — no lost lines.

• CSV parsing & data loading were rebuilt to be predictable and debuggable (better warnings, saner fallbacks).

Why this is better

The jam build’s main loop asked you to read a lot under a timer. The overhaul flips it:

• Decide fast on icons, and read reactions when you have the time.

• Much easier to understand the structure of the popup chains now that they clearly have a unique icon. 

• The flinging feels much crisper, on mobile too.

• Leaderboards make you want to finish your attempt even if you lose all your coins on day 500.

And again, thanks for the feedback! 
That's what drove this overhaul.

If you try the new build, I’d love to hear how the pacing feels now.