Hi Rina! Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Thank you so much for reaching out, I really appreciate your feedback and hope that these answers help. 💚
1. My intention with those results is to spice things up! Those additional results (although rare) gives the player a chance to look at an otherwise binary situation through a new lens.
2. This is completely up to you! When I play on my own, I like to write a simple list of the events that happened. Sometimes it's just one, summarizing the entire day in a sentence, sometimes it's a long list carefully describing everything that happened. When I play on stream I don't journal at all! So whatever works for you is valid~
3. The latter is correct! The information you get through making a Townie is just the start. Getting to know them is all about spending time with them, learning about their past, their dreams, and so on~
4. You start with no satisfaction (and earn it as part of completing promises). You do start the game with 2 skills with the first upgrade (+1 to Rolls) and 1 skill with the second upgrade (+1 to Rolls and +1 Tick on Hit). As to what skills to pick, go what feels right for your character, you may not have the best skill set--but that's okay! Alternative, you could also build the perfect character for your story. There is no wrong answer as to how you build your character~
5. The tone of Iron Valley is a cozy one, meaning that failure doesn't always have to include dramatic retribution or anything like that. Losing track of time can be as simple as your character wasting time because they were not properly prepared, didn't have the right tools, or it could be simply because they made a mistake. Of course, one of my favorite ways of treating failure is to lose track of time chatting with other Townies. This is part of the heart of this game, sure it's a failure but it doesn't mean that it has to be heartbreaking. Your character can truly mean to finish building that chair only to lose hours chatting with their bestie.
6. This is the first time someone has brought this up--and I am endlessly grateful for your question. I will be adding an additional rule in the 1.2 update so here's a sneak peek:
If you wish to cancel a promise for any reason, envision your character explaining the situation to the person most affected by the breaking of this promise. Envision their response. If you fully filled any boxes, gain 1 satisfaction per filled box, then Time Passes.
7. Different stats serve different purposes. When you use the move Try Your Best you are asked to pick an approach, and each approach calls for a different stat. Sometimes you might have to use a low stat because that is the approach the narrative asks for. If you need to run as fast as possible to catch a train, you'd have to use Edge--even if it is your lowest stat. As for being stealthy, some more mischievous characters might have a good use for it. Or maybe a master bug-hunter who knows just how to sneak up onto the rarest specimens?
That being said, anyone can make use of Shadow. Sneaking out of the house? Shadow. Hiding from your boss? Shadow. Telling your crush you don't like them even though you really, really do? Shadow.
I hope this helps clear things up. Once again, thank you so much for your questions! I hope to keep making the game better and better. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need more help 💚
--Maxi