Hello again, and welcome to the next Tribe: Primitive Builder devlog!
This time we'll be talking about ways that players will struggle to survive on an island, our approach to combat, and the effects of weather.
From the day we decided to start working on Tribe, our goal was to make something unique. While still taking inspiration from other similar titles, we wanted to refresh a little bit the survival/simulator formula. To achieve this, we made some critical decisions for our game design. One of them was that the player wouldn't be alone on this island; there will be lots of NPC characters in the form of village members that will be working with the player towards the common goal of surviving. We wanted players to be a part of a growing community and to play a very specific and important role in the development of the tribe. Because of that, we also decided that players won't be able to do everything alone and will need to rely a little bit on other tribe members. That’s why we decided that the role our players will play in this primitive society is to build and explore the island, to innovate and communicate with gods. All of this makes players responsible for prosperity and how fast this society will develop. This is already quite a lot of work to do, so we decided that more mundane tasks will be fulfilled by other tribe members. Thus, the roles played by NPCs are Hunters, Fishermen, Farmers, etc. Players will still be able to collect some food, though mostly from fruit bushes.
Another decision was that we wanted to create a relaxing experience focused on constructing, exploring, and interacting with the culture of the players' tribe. The big consequence of this decision is that we decided that there won't be any hostile creatures on the island: by this, we mean there’s no dangerous animals, and no hostile tribes. We wanted to encourage players to explore more, and the lack of threats during the day worked well with that idea in mind. The lack of hostility between tribe members is also important, as all inhabitants of this island are descendants of one tribe that the player is part of and plays an important role in. During the late game there can be some misunderstandings between subtribes that could escalate to a temporary split from the main tribe, but it will never lead to bloodshed. No matter how angry our tribesmen are, they don't believe violence is an answer. Their beliefs are concentrated about balance in nature; cycles of day and night, rainstorms that will always turn into clear skies, the circle of life and death that comes naturally. All of this is reflected not only in their behaviour but also on their bodies, with light colored paintings in front and dark patterns on their backs. Since the player character also follows this set of beliefs, we decided to remove the ability to hit NPC characters with tools. The reason being that during the tests of our game, we noticed that players will try to hit NPC characters, and when they discovered that it was possible, the next step for them was to try to kill them. The penalty of losing reputation and, in the end, losing the game was not enough to stop them from doing this. Because this "game over" screen and reloading to the last save point was only stalling the player experience, we made a decision to remove the feature from the final game. Now players will need to start thinking the same way as their character and find solutions to conflicts outside of resorting to brute strength.
Although, there will still be other things that can catch careless players off guard!
As we said, we wanted players to explore during the day, when the island is warm and cozy. But at night... Well, that’s a different story altogether. Many primitive tribes feared the night, and the unknown that could hide in the darkness. As there are no monsters on the island (as far as we know), there is something equally dangerous. Nights on our tropical island can get devastatingly cold, and players that are far from the village could risk freezing to death. To avoid this from happening, players can construct temporary camps that require only a small amount of resources and will provide them with a fireplace and a place to sleep. As you already know, sleeping in a village is important because it allows you to discover new things, but we also wanted to allow players to skip night whilst out in the wild, looking for those unique places and sparks of imagination. Just don't wait to construct them at the last moment, nights can get really dark!
There will also be times that during the day the island will be consumed by powerful rainstorms. Seeking shelter during these will also be important. Players won't be losing temperature as quickly as during the night, but it could also be lethal. Keep in mind that rainstorms will affect not only players, but also the whole Tribe. If some of your constructions were already in poor condition, you could find that some of them collapsed completely, leaving some of your fellow tribesmen homeless and without work. This will have severe consequences on the prosperity of the Tribe and on the player’s reputation, so you’d better be ready. Weather in our game is not always as extreme as that; you can also encounter slight drizzles that won't kill you, but will slightly weaken your constructions.
So with combat or without, surviving on our island won't always be so simple, and we are making sure that there will be many other activities that will help players to fully immerse themselves into the world we are creating.
Until next time!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1059900/Tribe_Primitive_Builder/