Dum-Dum News

* Added a help arrow for new players starting the game, directing them to the ReadMe file on the desktop.

* Added a hogo/bbs knock knock joke generator.

There's a new Dum-Dum activity for Halloween! See the in-game book "Hogonet Site List" to start it:

• Bard Gamly, professional ghost enthusiast, needs your help! He has been building a Hogonet site full of ghost-hunting tips and stories. Problem is, his Hogonet site itself is now haunted! Hogo intelligences--or "ghosts" as Bard calls them--have hidden themselves deep within the pages of Bard's site. It's up to you to track them down and flush them out. If you can puzzle your way through clearing the site of ghosts, Bard just might have a little reward for you.
  

A Hogonet address wlil be available in the "Hogonet Site List" book through October. If it's no longer October, the story can be started or continued at any time by visiting the Hogonet site "bard/ghost" directly.

If you're looking for more Halloween haunts, previous Dum-Dum activities and updates provide more spooky selections to suit the season:

• Pumpkin desktop theme - go to Basic Box and type "desktoptheme pumpkin" to set the mood (type "desktoptheme default" to go back to normal).
  
  
• You're Next font - in the "System Files" directory, launch the "Fonts" program and choose this creepy default text style.
  
  
• Haunted House of Fortune - visit the Hogonet site "hogo/haunted" for an interactive story. Multiple possible endings may lead to ghostly encounters or great riches.
  
  
• Piggy Pop Poo and the Half Humans - have you unlocked the "hogo/library" Hogonet site? If so, this eerie tale based on real science may cause you to never look at people the same way again.
  

Thanks, and Happy Halloween!

Addressed an issue where the in-game serial number wasn't displaying a usable number.

There have been a few small updates after the game left Early Access. They have addressed issues that recently came up, notably:

• - Fixed an issue where Note Sheet didn't auto-save text that was copied from a text book if Note Sheet was closed by another program, such as OS Upgrade or Shut Down.
  
• - Added minor explanatory context to some quest dialogue to make it a bit easier.
  
• - Added a "reply" button to the Mail program to save time when responding to someone.
  

I'll continue making minor updates and fixes as I discover issues. Thank you to everyone who's been contacting me about them!

Dum-Dum is exiting Early Access!

This has been a long road for me. The game was originally released in Steam's Early Access two years ago. Since then I've added a lot of new content: obvious things like stories and puzzles, and less obvious things like quality of life fixes and updates. Developing this game has been a great experience. But there have also been hurdles.

About a year ago I discovered a major problem: the game's graphics were completely corrupt on certain new laptops. It only seemed to be an issue on a small percentage of computers, but that was enough to bring my creative development to a halt. It was very disheartening. I didn't feel comfortable releasing the final game knowing that it wouldn't work on some people's systems.

The good news is that, while it took awhile to address the core problem, it should now be completely fixed! I uploaded a test fix to the beta channel several months ago, and it has run perfectly on all test computers including the two problem laptops. In addition, during the process of fixing the graphics issue, I discovered a related issue where some users weren't being notified of getting Steam achievements while playing the game. That has now been addressed as well.

In addition to the technical fixes, I've also added a bonus feature:

• After completing the main quest, players now have the opportunity to upgrade the operating system to Hogo OS 1985.1 Edition. This is mainly a "creative" update over 1985.0, allowing for desktop customization like designing and/or coloring unique program icons. There may also be one or two small fun discoveries. Search the in-game Hogo/BBS page to start the upgrade path.
  

At this point I think this version can be called complete and officially exit Early Access. But I do hope that I can add new story and puzzle content in the future. Thank you to everyone who has played the game, and especially for all of the kind comments and support! I set out to make the type of game that I would have enjoyed playing myself. I'm glad that it was discovered by other people who have felt similarly. :)