How to Play

About The Game

An Austen Armoire is a time-based cozy game that illuminates Volume 1 of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Combining cosplay with collecting, sharing, and daily character messages, the game progresses over real-time in the 1811 world of the novel. The full text of Volume 1 is available from the outset, and you receive timely, episodic teasers about story events as the game's calendar progresses.

How to Read the Novel

Pride and Prejudice was first published in three volumes. In adapting the original Volume 1 for An Austen Armoire, we've formatted Austen’s text into “blog style” reading lengths that we call “novelogues.” These are summarized in a Table of Contents on the left side of the novel interface. Click a link in a summary to jump to that section of the novel. Or, if you prefer, click in the right side of the novel interface to open the book in its own window. Here, you can scroll and read as you would in a traditional e-reader.

Features in the Sitting Room

These are the main interactives in Elizabeth's and Jane's sitting room at Longbourn:

  1. The Writing Desk
    Modeled after Austen’s own portable escritoire, the Writing Desk guides you through the events of Volume 1 via a series of in-character letters, episodic teasers for events in the novel, other messages about the Regency, and alerts for new cosplay items. New mail arrives most days over Michaelmas quarter, 1811.

  2. The Armoire and the Dressing Table
    Click the Armoire or the mirrored Dressing Table to go to scenes where you can style clothing and jewelry on the Elizabeth and Jane dolls. You start the game with about 30 pieces of fashion, and additional items become unlocked over time. By the end of An Austen Armoire, you’ll collect around 140 pieces of Regency fashion in all--from dresses and spencers, bonnets and gloves, to recreations of Jane Austen's own jewelry.

  3. The Picture Gallery
    The Gallery, accessible from the portraits above the fireplace, is where you can preview your dolls' ensembles in tableaux inspired by the story. Save your favorites to your computer as e-postcards with captions and quotations from Pride and Prejudice. New tableaux become available as the story advances.

  4. The Commonplace Book
    Located in a stack of three books on the window seat, the Commonplace Book shows the most recent nine tableaux you've saved. It also includes an Advent calendar that will unlock when the game calendar reaches December 1st, 1811.

  5. The Novel
    The open book on the window seat is Pride and Prejudice Volume 1. The whole text is available from the start of the game, and you can browse to it directly at any time.

Game Settings

In the Sitting Room, click the Owl icon, then click Settings. In the dialog box that appears, you can customize your play experience in several ways.

Sounds

There are three types of sound you can control:

  • Music that plays in the background of each scene;
  • Ambient Sounds such as the cat’s meow and purr, and the crackling of the fire; and
  • Game Sounds such as mouse click feedback. Each of these is on by default.

Uncheck the box next to a sound type to turn it off. The volume in the game may be adjusted using your system volume controls.

Resolution

This setting allows you to change your screen resolution. The game is best experienced at a 16:9 aspect ratio. When you start An Austen Armoire, the game detects a resolution that will work best for your system and starts with that. You can change the resolution manually by selecting a different value from the dropdown box.

Reset Game

This setting resets An Austen Armoire to the start date, Sept 29, 1811. The following game data will be reset to start conditions:

  • Any received letters and messages in the Writing Desk.
  • Any unlocked items including clothing, jewelry, and tableaux.
  • Any tableaux that are in your Album in the Commonplace Book.
  • Any unlocked days in the Advent calendar.

In addition, any Game Settings you have customized manually will reset to their default values.

Note: Any previously saved tableaux in your Documents/AustenArmoire folder will not be affected when you reset your game. These files remain available on your computer until you delete them.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What are the minimum system requirements?
    To play An Austen Armoire, you will need:
    • Computer: 64-bit processor and operating system
    • OS: Windows 10.0 or later
    • Processor: 64 bit
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM (12 G recommended)
    • Storage: 3 GB available space

  2. Is there a version available for mobile (iOS and Android)?
At this time, a mobile version of the game is not available.

  3. Is there a version available for Mac OS?
At this time, a Mac version of the game is not available.

  4. Where are my saved tableau postcards stored?
The game shows your 9 most recent tableaux in your Album in the Commonplace Book. All tableaux that you create and save in the Gallery are saved as PNG files in the Documents>AustenArmoire folder until you delete them.

  5. When does the Sitting Room change from day to night (and vice versa)?
An Austen Armoire uses your computer system’s clock to render day and night versions of the Sitting Room. The scene changes at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Ambient sounds and animations change based on daytime or nighttime in the Sitting Room.

Troubleshooting

  1. I can’t find my saved tableau postcards.
    Your saved tableaux are saved as PNG files in the Documents / AustenArmoire folder on your Windows 10 computer. The images are saved with filenames such as Austen1.png, Austen2.png, etc.

  2. The game freezes up when I save a tableau postcard.
Please allow a moment or two for tableaux to be saved. Depending on your computer, this may take several seconds. If the game appears to be stuck or frozen, please exit and restart it.

  3. When I place a hair accessory on a doll, the bonnet she was wearing gets removed, and vice versa.
In Austen Armoire, we’ve tried to follow the fashion sensibilities of the Regency. Bonnets and hair ornaments cannot be worn together because they likely wouldn’t have been in the time period.

  4. Help, I reset the game and I didn’t mean to. Can I get my saved progress back?
Unfortunately, no. However, any saved tableau postcards from your previous session are still available in your Documents / AustenArmoire folder.

  5. How can I turn off game music and sound effects?
In the Sitting Room, click the Owl icon, then click Settings. Uncheck the boxes for sound effects and music.