Greetings, Hard Chip players!

The last release introduced a version of a story mode with rough edges. This update is all about making those edges less rough :D. For example, the story can be completed now! 2 new challenges. And many quality-of-life improvements.

1. Story Mode: The airlock can now be open when you finish the challenges for it! What's behind? Oooh mystery! A lot of try-and-fail has been done in that section of the game for the mise en scène, ambiance, music, sounds, and interactions; everything is slightly better. 
   
   Save as blueprint is directly in the performance report in Story mode to invite the player to use them. As challenges are built on each other.
   
   
2. JK Latch and 3 Way AND Gate Challenges: those two new challenges were necessary in the Story mode as gateway challenges to the Program Counter challenge for the airlock. Building the program counter with those is way easier than using raw SR latches, which needed modding and weren't validated by any validators. 
   
   
   
   
   
3. IO inputs validator: can now input values for a specific period as a setup phase. It is useful for circuits that "settle" during a clock cycle. 
   
   
   
   
4. New block type, the Puller: this new block allows to "prime" portion of circuit based on a feedback loop that would be neutral otherwise. Indispensable for the JK latch for example.
   
   
   
   This block is not explained yet, but a schematic requires it. The player can just use it and test with it. It might need a proper introduction in a future release!
   
   
5. QOL, Bug, and Crash fixes:
   1. The tutorial is now in Story mode and in the Challenges section.
   2. The die operations button on the edge of the die is only there when in "Die Operation Mode" avoiding accidental resize/shrink (that could result in a crash)
   3. No Validation when the simulation is paused
   4. Crash fix on restart the simulation
   5. Indicating active validator

What's next? The blueprints that are mandatory to complete the Story mode are not that easy to use. Those need to be streamlined to achieve this flow: solve a challenge, transform your solution into a blueprint, edit that blueprint to adjust things (mainly input, output traces) and finally use that/those blueprint/s into next challenges.  

As always, your feedback/suggestions/comments are instrumental in the making of this game!

Thank you for playing Hard Chip, and stay tuned for more updates and new features!