Howdy, partners!
It’s Odd Qubit here, and, as you might have noticed by the increase in these devlogs – we’ve really been loving this format to communicate with you all, and talk to you about the highlights of our work on “Cowboy Life Simulator”. Let’s roll in another one, this time about our open and living world, and the immersion they bring!
NPCs
We’ve touched a bit on our NPC system in our last devlog (check it out at [this link] if you haven’t already!), but we'll expand on it more in this one. All of our NPCs, both main and secondary, have their own calendar – a table detailing their whats, wheres, and whens. They perform various chores and daily activities in their designated spots, and roam freely between places they’ve need to be.
NPCs can of course break out of their habits to take part in a quest of your choosing, or just meet with you to chat. This comes with widgets and map markers, reminding you which one of your neighbors has business to discuss with you.
Many NPCs also have location-specific dialogue options. The Tailor will for sure want to go over his newest clothing items while at his store, but when out and about will rather talk about the weather, or the latest town gossip. Their mood and attitude also change depending on what’s currently going on around town, and your actions. And once you’re done chattin’, watch out – there’s horsemen galloping through the map on their steeds at full speed!
Narrative
The progression of the plot influences the world around you as well – not only metaphorically! To give you a peek behind the narrative curtain, the first big storyline and questline you’ll encounter in the game has a lot to do with a mysterious event leading to a drought.
The river has suddenly run dry – it appears something or someone has seen to it. If blowing up rubble dams is somehow up your alley, you’re in for a treat! This will alter not only the general vista, but the very lives of the characters too, including you. That means new places to fetch water, to fish, and even just to behold sights.
Environment
A life sim would not be complete without a dynamic environment – a night-and-day cycle, as well as weather and fog.
Farm animals like cattle now have their own behavior styles, and can be interacted with. Without proper fences around their pastures, cattle can run into crops and trample all over days’ worth of your hard work! As an anecdote – even one of the QA Analysts at our Pubisher’s was actually quite startled to see their produce going missing as a result of forgetting to set up these fences! He was wondering where all the corn he planted had gone – it then turned out that three little chickens ate it all. We have it balanced a little more now, worry not.
And yes, Cowboy is cozy, but with a little thrill – stray too far out of your farm’s bounds and you’re sure to run into a wild animal or two. Or a whole wolf pack! You’d best make sure to keep those in good condition if you don’t want your Bessie or Lucy to become their next shared dinner.
It’s not like they’re just mindless killing machines, though. They too have their own routines, gathering around water sources to drink, or hunting for food at different points of the day – at nighttime when it comes to wolves, of course. Going to the woods to forage is not all sunshine and rainbows either, because even during the day the wild boars can jump out right at ya from the tall bushes.
So what do you think? Don’t hesitate to reach out, comment, suggest, or share a laugh! Follow us and shoot us a message at our Instagram – @odd.qubit. We’d also love to have you over on our growing Discord server – here’s the [link]!
Happy trails, friend.