What changed
0 fixes4 additions2 changes0 removals
- Gameplay
- UI and audio
- Maps
- Balance
changedHi everyone,Again, a lot has changed since my last post, so I will have to cram quite a few things into this one. It seems that my goal of writing these posts once I’ve made enough progress to write one is not going too well - as I keep getting distracted from posts by additional development.
addedHi everyone,Starting with the “easy” one, it is now possible to upgrade buildings after they are placed. For now, this is primarily implemented for houses, barracks, towers, and watchposts - but I think those are likely the main ones people want to upgrade anyway. I will add more upgrade chains as I go. Upgrading is done from the building book, with the upgrade button being just left of the building’s name.
addedHi everyone,While trying to playtest the game, especially with the new plant clusters across the map, I realised that the early game was distinctly lacking a challenge. Having switched from a PvP focus to a PvE focus, as well as the increase in game length, had led to a strange balance of me wanting to give the player enough time to get established with a challenge later on - which made the game a little too easy early on. One of the big problems in this regard was that the pirates were just a little too easy to trick.
addedHi everyone,As a result, I worked on improving the pirate AI, meaning they should be a lot harder to fight now. While the player can still defeat multiple pirates by themselves, it should no longer happen without at least taking damage and the threat of dying - and larger groups are almost certain to kill the player without soldiers to support them. With this in mind, I also added some new, larger pirate camps, closer to the starting position of the players (one of them pictured in today’s image). They aren’t close enough to attack your base directly, but they are close enough to threaten you, meaning that getting rid of them will be at the top of your mind in the early game.
changedHi everyone,Another mechanic making the game too easy early on was the lack of a true punishment for dying. While in score mode, you still lose some score for dying, in artefact mode there was essentially no punishment for dying, making it very possible to just run into an enemy base repeatedly, taking a few pirates with you each time - until you ultimately succeeded. To counter this, the player now needs to have medicine in their inventory to respawn. Medicine was always planned to be in the game as a mid-late game item to be produced by your people - but it will now also serve as a resource for the player. For now, it can’t be produced by your people yet, so you start with 3 in your inventory and can find more across the island, which may also make (careful) exploration more worthwhile. I will make adding the production chain for medicine a priority for the next updates.
addedHi everyone,Beyond all this, I followed through on adding flax as a resource to the game, which will be collectable by gathering huts, and turned the linen maker into a production building which requires flax. Linen is now also added as a new construction material between wood and stone, which is
Path to Prosperity changes
changedAgain, a lot has changed since my last post, so I will have to cram quite a few things into this one. It seems that my goal of writing these posts once I’ve made enough progress to write one is not going too well - as I keep getting distracted from posts by additional development.
addedStarting with the “easy” one, it is now possible to upgrade buildings after they are placed. For now, this is primarily implemented for houses, barracks, towers, and watchposts - but I think those are likely the main ones people want to upgrade anyway. I will add more upgrade chains as I go. Upgrading is done from the building book, with the upgrade button being just left of the building’s name.
addedWhile trying to playtest the game, especially with the new plant clusters across the map, I realised that the early game was distinctly lacking a challenge. Having switched from a PvP focus to a PvE focus, as well as the increase in game length, had led to a strange balance of me wanting to give the player enough time to get established with a challenge later on - which made the game a little too easy early on. One of the big problems in this regard was that the pirates were just a little too easy to trick.
addedAs a result, I worked on improving the pirate AI, meaning they should be a lot harder to fight now. While the player can still defeat multiple pirates by themselves, it should no longer happen without at least taking damage and the threat of dying - and larger groups are almost certain to kill the player without soldiers to support them. With this in mind, I also added some new, larger pirate camps, closer to the starting position of the players (one of them pictured in today’s image). They aren’t close enough to attack your base directly, but they are close enough to threaten you, meaning that getting rid of them will be at the top of your mind in the early game.
changedAnother mechanic making the game too easy early on was the lack of a true punishment for dying. While in score mode, you still lose some score for dying, in artefact mode there was essentially no punishment for dying, making it very possible to just run into an enemy base repeatedly, taking a few pirates with you each time - until you ultimately succeeded. To counter this, the player now needs to have medicine in their inventory to respawn. Medicine was always planned to be in the game as a mid-late game item to be produced by your people - but it will now also serve as a resource for the player. For now, it can’t be produced by your people yet, so you start with 3 in your inventory and can find more across the island, which may also make (careful) exploration more worthwhile. I will make adding the production chain for medicine a priority for the next updates.
Hi everyone,
Again, a lot has changed since my last post, so I will have to cram quite a few things into this one. It seems that my goal of writing these posts once I’ve made enough progress to write one is not going too well - as I keep getting distracted from posts by additional development.
Starting with the “easy” one, it is now possible to upgrade buildings after they are placed. For now, this is primarily implemented for houses, barracks, towers, and watchposts - but I think those are likely the main ones people want to upgrade anyway. I will add more upgrade chains as I go. Upgrading is done from the building book, with the upgrade button being just left of the building’s name.
While trying to playtest the game, especially with the new plant clusters across the map, I realised that the early game was distinctly lacking a challenge. Having switched from a PvP focus to a PvE focus, as well as the increase in game length, had led to a strange balance of me wanting to give the player enough time to get established with a challenge later on - which made the game a little too easy early on. One of the big problems in this regard was that the pirates were just a little too easy to trick.
Moving out of their range and hitting them repeatedly meant that the player could take out groups of pirates easily, and had very little incentive to recruit soldiers for anything other than taking out the big fortresses.
As a result, I worked on improving the pirate AI, meaning they should be a lot harder to fight now. While the player can still defeat multiple pirates by themselves, it should no longer happen without at least taking damage and the threat of dying - and larger groups are almost certain to kill the player without soldiers to support them. With this in mind, I also added some new, larger pirate camps, closer to the starting position of the players (one of them pictured in today’s image). They aren’t close enough to attack your base directly, but they are close enough to threaten you, meaning that getting rid of them will be at the top of your mind in the early game.
Another mechanic making the game too easy early on was the lack of a true punishment for dying. While in score mode, you still lose some score for dying, in artefact mode there was essentially no punishment for dying, making it very possible to just run into an enemy base repeatedly, taking a few pirates with you each time - until you ultimately succeeded. To counter this, the player now needs to have medicine in their inventory to respawn. Medicine was always planned to be in the game as a mid-late game item to be produced by your people - but it will now also serve as a resource for the player. For now, it can’t be produced by your people yet, so you start with 3 in your inventory and can find more across the island, which may also make (careful) exploration more worthwhile. I will make adding the production chain for medicine a priority for the next updates.
Beyond all this, I followed through on adding flax as a resource to the game, which will be collectable by gathering huts, and turned the linen maker into a production building which requires flax. Linen is now also added as a new construction material between wood and stone, which is
