Release party and Twitter live-chat

Posted by Samantha on Monday, 14th September 2015

As mentioned on a blog post a few weeks back, we’ll be holding our delayed Regency Love 2.0 release party this Friday (18 Sept). As part of the celebrations, we’ll be on Twitter from 6-7pm AEST, ready to answer any questions you have about the game, the stories, the characters, and anything else you might have been wondering. Up until now, I (Samantha) have been answering most of the questions about future updates and technical glitches, but since all three of us are in the same country/hemisphere/physical space for the first time in over a year, we’re welcoming all sorts of questions, since we’ll be able to answer directly without having to exchange a dozen emails and/or texts. Additionally, if you have any questions for us individually in relation to our work (e.g. “Jenny, how many drafts of Mr XXX did you go through before the final thing?” or “Melody, how long did it take for you to create the initial database?”), please feel free to ask those, too. Basically, we’d love to talk about anything and everything related to Regency Love, Costume Theatre, and our possible future projects, so please ask away!

When joining us in the live chat and asking all your awesome questions, please use the hashtag #T43Chat. Our Twitter is @TeaForThreeTime, but you don’t have to mention us–the hashtag itself is perfect!

We also know that 6-7pm AEST (Sydney) on Friday mightn’t suit everyone–that’s 9-10am BST, 4-5am EDT, and 1-2am PDT (for more time zones, please consult this converter). But never fear: if you can’t make the live chat, you can ask your questions ahead of time using the hashtag #T43Chat, and we’ll answer them during 6-7pm AEST on Friday.

Please also check our Frequently Asked Questions, in case your question has already been answered.

And of course, it ain’t a party without some cake and tea (possibly of the spiked variety)! We’ve received some fan chocolate, and will definitely crack them open. Mel and I are also brainstorming some culinary ideas, including a whole bunch of gentlemen-themed cupcakes–that way, we can certainly have our cakes and eat them, too (and increase our Gluttonous personality trait). We’d love you to celebrate with us, so if you decide to om nom nom on anything lovely in honour of Regency Love this Friday, please share your photos and tag them with #T43Chat!

Hope you all have a fantastic week, and we look forward to chatting with you on Friday!

Updates, Sutton, and release party

Posted by Samantha on Friday, 21st August 2015

Hello again, super awesome Regency Lovers! We at Tea For Three Studios have just had our latest cyber meeting (random titbit: they usually happen on Fridays), and now have a few announcements to share with you.

The next update
Melody and Jenny have been working on the next update, which will fix most of the bugs that have been flagged. This update is taking a while because they are also working on a proper iPad version, which means cleaning up some images for higher resolutions, and fiddling with screen space for the optimal iPad interface. We will also be including an in-game bug-reporting feature, in case there are any nasties we’ve not managed to squash this time round.

We can’t give you an exact timeline, but hope to have the next update available in two months or so.

Super Secret Sutton Shinies
Since mentioning there’s something Sutton-related in the works in our FAQ, we’ve seen a number of speculations across the Interwebs, travelling almost as quickly as gossip generated by Mrs Norris. Although we really want to say more about the shinies, we’ve decided to keep things under wraps until we’ve created a substantial amount of the work. Currently, we’re estimating a full announcement by mid-2016, and for the product to be launched in late 2016. This particular project involves something we’ve never done before, so we hope it’ll go smoothly, and that you’ll eventually enjoy our humble offerings.

Unofficial (and epically delayed) release party
Samantha will be in Sydney next month, so the team will be in the same country again for a bit! As such, we’ve decided to get together and have a mini-release party for Regency Love 2.0 on Friday, 18 September 2015, where we’ll be consuming celebratory cake (and perhaps some tipple) at Tea For Three Studios’ headquarters. If you’re looking for an excuse to eat cake, we’d love you to join us! We’ll also be hanging around Twitter and possibly Facebook to chat about Regency Love and to answer any potential questions—more details to come.

And that’s all for now. Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen! Let’s celebrate with some Regency Love!

Posted by Samantha on Monday, 16th December 2013

238 years ago, Miss Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire. Over two centuries later, the world is still very much in love with her portrayals of Regency society, gender roles, family, love, marriage, and a whole bunch of other themes I’ll leave for Google and Wikipedia to fill in. Austen has made such an impact not only in literature, but also in shaping our understanding of Regency culture—in fact, for many people, the term “Regency” automatically conjures images of Mr Darcy rather than the Prince Regent (later King George IV) after which the era was named.

2.5 years ago, three girls gathered in an apartment in Sydney (which was coincidentally named “Regency”) and, inspired by Jane Austen, decided to make a Regency role-playing game that also functions as an interactive novel. At the time, we were (re-)playing Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, and thought, “Hey, why not replace the darkspawns with chickens and Alistair/Zevran/Fenris/Anders with versions of Mr Darcy/Mr Knightley/Colonel Brandon/Captain Wentworth?”

The “minutes” of our first few meetings, way back in April 2011.

And so we did. (Minus the chickens—but we’ve replaced them with a certain Lord Fat Cat, instead.) Granted, it took our team more than 2.5 years, with one lady going to design school and focusing on getting super awesome marks, another lady making the transition from tutoring computing science at university to full-time programming and then to enrolling for art school, and the last lady leaving Australia (as early as September 2011) to do an MA and then a PhD. Thank goodness for Skype, Dropbox, and WhatsApp.

And now, you can finally experience Regency Love yourself on the iPhone/iPod touch/iPad:

If you’re not entirely sure if this is your cup of tea, here are three independent reviews that may help you decide: The Bennet Sisters, Confessions of a gamer girl, and Outside Windows (Contains minor spoilers.)

We hope you’ll enjoy our Regency creation, and would absolutely love to know what you think. We have so many ideas on how to expand the game and its stories, and, with your support, we hope to carry them out someday.

But today, let’s celebrate Jane Austen’s birthday, and spread the Regency Love!

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr—use the hashtag #RegencyLove to join the conversation!

P.S. Congratulations to the winners of our giveaway: Tristan, Kelcy, and Costy. Thank you all for participating, and stay tuned for more giveaways in the future!

Release: Costume Theatre

Posted by Samantha on Saturday, 15th June 2013

We are excited and proud to announce the release of our first app in the App Store: Costume Theatre!

Costume Theatre Main Screen

Grab your copy now, available free on the App Store for the iPhone and iPod touch, and have fun dressing everyone and everything up in Regency garb! For those who are feeling a little more adventurous, you can also purchase the additional Roaring Twenties content pack, complete with flappers, feathers, and some epic moustaches (not to mention, some bonus Regency clothing)!

Of course, we’d love to see what you come up with. Simply tweet us (@TeaForThreeTime) your transformations or post them on our Costume Theatre Facebook page. We’re also working on adding features for future releases, including extra content packs and sharing functions. We’ve also got some fun Costume Theatre events planned for the future, so keep an eye out for those. In the meantime, if you have any additional feedback or comments, please let us know—we’d love to hear from you!

And I think the team deserves a little celebration, though we’re currently spread out all over the world: Jenny is drawing a lot in Sydney, Melody is wining and dining her way across Europe, and Samantha is singing some light-hearted Schubert in Belfast.