https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal News, development diaries and feature spotlights from the team behind Live Through Time: how the game is built, and where it is going. en Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/engine-update-choose-your-narrator https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/engine-update-choose-your-narrator Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT Architects can now choose the AI that tells their story: The Chronicler (Gemini), The Scholar (Claude Haiku) or The Veteran (Qwen). Here is how they differ, and why we didn't pick the biggest models. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-the-clock-and-period-mail https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-the-clock-and-period-mail Thu, 08 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT Time really passes in Live Through Time. Newspapers arrive on each era's schedule, letters take as long as they really would, and censors may read along. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-timekeeper-mode https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-timekeeper-mode Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT A closer look at Timekeeper Mode: rewriting a world mid-game, keeping custody of your full game state, and how we solved the "locked world" problem. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-vitality-stress-renown https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-vitality-stress-renown Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT We replaced the single health bar with three scores that track the physical, mental and social toll of your journey, and change how the story is told. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-october-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-october-2026 Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT A round-up of September: Hourglass 3.0, under-five-second starts, 500-turn tests, the Spatial Engine, a smarter Librarian, tougher NPCs, and Vitality, Stress and Renown. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-the-librarian https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-the-librarian Wed, 30 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT How the Librarian writes a card for everyone you meet, and why it now understands what you mean, not just the exact words you use. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-spatial-engine https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-spatial-engine Sun, 27 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT How we ended the "dream state" where AI forgets where you are: exact locations, real exits, and objects that stay where you left them. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-3 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-3 Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT If someone has a line they will never cross, how do you get anywhere? Leverage, guarded secrets, faction loyalties, and a world that keeps moving while you talk. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-2 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-2 Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT No more characters talking through walls, and no more single friendliness slider: dynamic scene casting, trust, fear and intimacy, and changing moods. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-1 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-npcs-part-1 Fri, 18 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT AI characters tend to agree with everything you say. Speech fingerprints and refusal anchors give our NPCs their own voices, and a backbone. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-500-turn-test https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-500-turn-test Tue, 15 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT Our AI player finally survived all 500 turns. What a missing pair of shoes, a bloodied fist and a 1966 bus ride tell us about long-term memory. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-death-and-goals https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-death-and-goals Sat, 12 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT AI RPGs are often criticised for lenient narrators and aimless sandboxes. Here is how Live Through Time handles real danger, and gives you something to aim for. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-fast-starts https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/feature-spotlight-fast-starts Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT Why our official stories open in a few seconds when most AI adventures take 20: hand-crafted opening scenes, and what that means for prose quality. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/hourglass-3 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/hourglass-3 Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT A major update to the engine behind the historical eras, and what our automated 50- and 500-turn tests revealed, including a character who kept dying. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-september-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-september-2026 Tue, 01 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT Berlin: Shadows of the Wall completes our 12 historical eras and Iram: The City of Djinn completes the myths. The full roster of 136 stories is here. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/timekeeper-mode-and-exports https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/timekeeper-mode-and-exports Fri, 28 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT A new suite of tools for total control over your stories: Timekeeper Mode, an Environment card, the Identity Dossier, V2 character cards and full save files. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-august-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-august-2026 Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:00:00 GMT Four more mythological sagas, a first look at Craft Your Own World and the Unbound Engine, Anthologies, and 36 new avatars. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-july-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-july-2026 Wed, 01 Jul 2026 09:00:00 GMT Our user base almost doubled in June. Myth Through Time opens with Olympus: Gods & Monsters, and Forge Your Own Destiny rolls out to everyone. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-june-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-june-2026 Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:00:00 GMT 1917: Mud & Revolution launches with real historical figures, Forge Your Own Destiny is days away, the iOS app arrives, and the whole game is translated into six more languages. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-may-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-may-2026 Fri, 01 May 2026 09:00:00 GMT Tombstone: Silver & Lead launches with a purely historical cast, the Android app arrives on Google Play, pricing is revamped around free monthly turns, and the Discord opens. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-april-2026 https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-april-2026 Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:00:00 GMT The Hourglass Engine 2.0 arrives with the Ledger and the Chronicle Map, the Timelines page gets a facelift, every era opens to free players, and Myth Through Time draws closer. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-march-2026-two-weeks-in https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-march-2026-two-weeks-in Sat, 14 Mar 2026 09:00:00 GMT What changed in our first two weeks: WebP artwork, an interactive tutorial, a new settings menu, stricter goals, editable Instincts and a first look at Myth Through Time. https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-march-2026-launch https://www.livethroughtime.com/journal/newsletter-march-2026-launch Sun, 01 Mar 2026 09:00:00 GMT After the beta, Live Through Time officially launches, powered by three systems: the Hourglass Engine, the Librarian and the Ledger.