A record player, and the work around it

I've been adding to the live game since the last update, and I want to spend a bit of this one on the record player. There's more going on with equipment, water, trading and service records, which I'll get to. But first, you can put a record on while you're back at base.

Music has been part of P.A.T.H.: Vietnam (Pivotal Actions Through History) for a while through the AFVN radio. The record player gives you a choice over what you listen to, using records your character has acquired. There's something I like about having an album in the kit alongside everything else they're carrying or keeping in their footlocker. Someone wanted that record enough to buy it and hang on to it.

The player has the sleeves and track lists, and you can browse through the albums. Last Broadcast and Surfin' the Delta are among them. You can look through the catalogue even if you don't have everything in it; playing an album requires an accessible copy of that record and a player.

Getting it working

You need the portable record player and at least one record. You can buy them at the replacement depot PX, or order them through Field Desk → PACEX Catalogue. A mail order still has to arrive. When it does, collect it at Mail Call so the contents are actually in your kit.

Back at base, keep the player and a record somewhere you can reach them. Your accessible footlocker works. Something left in a rucksack you don't currently have with you doesn't.

Open RECORDS, beside the AFVN control. You can also get there from the record items in Kit, or M · Record Player in the Field Desk. Choose an album and press Play This Record, or pick a track. The usual pause, skip and volume controls are there, and you can open the sleeve art for a closer look.

You can close the panel and carry on looking around the base screens while the music plays. Listening doesn't use a game action. If you turn on AFVN, it pauses the record, and starting the record takes over from the radio. Leaving base or losing access to the equipment stops playback.

That's the route I want people to try. Buying or ordering something, receiving it, putting it away and then using it should all make sense without having to ask me where it went. If you get stuck anywhere along there, tell me which step. A screenshot of the screen you're on would help.

What else I've been working on

Water now has to be managed as a supply. Canteens have a finite amount, and the game accounts for refilling, delivery and purification, including iodine use. It belongs with the rest of the kit: what you have, how much is left and whether you can get to it when you need it.

There's been more work on daily care and equipment too. Hygiene supplies and toothpaste get used up. Clothing and gear wear, with repair and exchange work behind that. These are easy details to overlook when you're thinking about a campaign in broad strokes. You notice them when you're several days into playing and the same supplies seem to last forever.

Squad trading has moved along. Supported sales and trades with the men in your squad keep track of the quantities and money involved, and items such as cameras, film, keepsakes and opened supplies retain their history. I want these exchanges to fit the people and the kit already in the campaign. This is trading with your squad; I haven't built a marketplace between players.

I've also worked on the service record and the way recognition appears. A recommendation still working its way through the paperwork needs to look different from an award that's actually been issued. The medal and ribbon display is part of that, with the record behind it doing the explaining.

There's more work going into evacuation, treatment and returning to duty as well. Those transitions have to remember what has happened to the character. The illness work still needs more testing before I turn on normal illness acquisition in the live game. I'm keeping that held for now.

All of this comes back to the person you're playing. LifeP.A.T.H.—Previous Activities, Training, History gives them a life before the tour. Once they're in it, I want the game to keep up with the life they're having: their work, the people they know, what they're carrying and what has happened to them.

I'm still building and testing. I'd like more people to try the game and tell me how it feels to use, especially once you're past the first few screens. If you've been playing already, let me know which part you'd like me to explain in the next update. I'd like these posts to help you get into the game as well as keep you up to date on what I'm doing.