Steam News27 June 20269d ago

Preview: New Character Skills System

Hey there Pinies, For our upcoming series of updates, we'd like to keep you posted with a few previews of what's to come.

In this update1

Full notes

Full Asbury Pines update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

Repeated intro

Hey there Pinies,

What changed

0 fixes3 additions2 changes0 removals

Balance
Gameplay
UI and audio

addedCharacter Skills systemOur original skills system was bit too linear and one-dimensional. Each action (Working, Scavenging, and so on) had its own skill level, and those skills could only be improved through perks on the Government, Religion, and Science tabs. While this was a solid foundation for improving character production, it didn't leave much room for strategizing individual character progression -- the little engines that keep the game economy running. As we started designing new systems like Friendships, Sports, and Tomes, it also became clear that we'd eventually end up with more skills than we'd like players to manage.

addedCharacter Skills systemThe new system uses seven core skills: Life, Scavenging, Work, Nature, Research, Community, and Rivalry. These skills will support multiple actions and expand progression avenues throughout the game. Our goal is to make the gameplay less repetitive and more strategic.

changedCharacter Skills systemThe result? Players will now have additional ways to improve a character's skill levels (in addition to researching Government, Science, and Religion):

addedCharacter Skills systemPlayers will be able to improve the skills of individual characters via a new Learning tab

changedCharacter Skills systemCheck out the updated Character Skills UI below:

Asbury Pines changes

addedOur original skills system was bit too linear and one-dimensional. Each action (Working, Scavenging, and so on) had its own skill level, and those skills could only be improved through perks on the Government, Religion, and Science tabs. While this was a solid foundation for improving character production, it didn't leave much room for strategizing individual character progression -- the little engines that keep the game economy running. As we started designing new systems like Friendships, Sports, and Tomes, it also became clear that we'd eventually end up with more skills than we'd like players to manage.

addedThe new system uses seven core skills: Life, Scavenging, Work, Nature, Research, Community, and Rivalry. These skills will support multiple actions and expand progression avenues throughout the game. Our goal is to make the gameplay less repetitive and more strategic.

changedThe result? Players will now have additional ways to improve a character's skill levels (in addition to researching Government, Science, and Religion):

addedPlayers will be able to improve the skills of individual characters via a new Learning tab

changedCheck out the updated Character Skills UI below:

For our upcoming series of updates, we'd like to keep you posted with a few previews of what's to come. If you haven't been following along, we've now begun work on the next round of content, as outlined in our roadmap post.

(Spoiler Warning: previews may contain details of the game not yet experienced by players.)

Character Skills system

One of the first features we're working on is an overhaul of the Character Skills system.

Our original skills system was bit too linear and one-dimensional. Each action (Working, Scavenging, and so on) had its own skill level, and those skills could only be improved through perks on the Government, Religion, and Science tabs. While this was a solid foundation for improving character production, it didn't leave much room for strategizing individual character progression -- the little engines that keep the game economy running. As we started designing new systems like Friendships, Sports, and Tomes, it also became clear that we'd eventually end up with more skills than we'd like players to manage.

The new system uses seven core skills: Life, Scavenging, Work, Nature, Research, Community, and Rivalry. These skills will support multiple actions and expand progression avenues throughout the game. Our goal is to make the gameplay less repetitive and more strategic.

The result? Players will now have additional ways to improve a character's skill levels (in addition to researching Government, Science, and Religion):

Players will be able to improve the skills of individual characters via a new Learning tab
Individual characters can be honed over time to be highly skilled in particular actions to fit your style of economic progression
Players will be able to equip characters with Artifacts (and eventually Tomes), which provide additional bonuses to their skill levels. (We also hope that these equipment slots give researched artifacts a more meaningful economic impact.)

Check out the updated Character Skills UI below:

As always, thanks for sharing your enthusiasm, it means a great deal to us, and has made the game infinitely better.

"In the ~~patches~~ previews we are found, sayeth Quentin P. Brown."

John & Pete

Source

Steam News / 27 June 2026

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