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. 

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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.

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Features in the Sitting Room

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

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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. 

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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.

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Sounds

There are three types of sound you can control:

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• 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.

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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.

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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:

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• 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.

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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.