Fist off, I want to state again that I'm incredibly impressed with how people are taking to Kainga!
Thank you so much for your positivity and engagement!
News on the "Trade and Travel" Update
It's been a while since I posted an update on Steam and I'd like to explain why. Normally, I'd make minor updates every few weeks but since one of the major changes in the "Trade and Travel" update was a fundamental change in how towns react to one another through the new relationship system. I unfortunately couldn't share any updates without sharing the whole system, and the system isn't yet complete, although very close!
What Can We Expect?
There are dozens of major and minor changes, here's a quick look at 4 that you can look forward to:
1.) Trading and Relationships!
Gone are the days when you will get randomly raided just for existing. Actions you take will affect your relationships and you can now make trades, or give gifts to appease relations or demand resources from your enemies. Alliances will bring surprising perks!
2.) New Playable Thinker: Ajowan
Ajowan is a new unique Thinker that you can currently see in the Skyloft, unlike all other Thinkers, he's incorporeal and made entirely of smoke! With just 1 health, death will only return him to his massive jar known as an Alabastron. If the Alabastron is broken, however, you will lose.
3.) New Map: The Edges
A kind of savannah, this new biome will offer an abundance of reeds and logs as well as a decent amount of space to build your town. However, traversal will be difficult as steep cliffs drop into the water. Who knows why the ground keeps ominously rumbling!
4.) New Challenge: Menhirs
A new kind of Landmarks challenge except instead of simply building what you need, you need to find and gather these massive stones, pulling them back to your town before hoisting them upright to complete the challenge!
How Long Is It Gonna Take?
I'm very close now, but I need some time to clean up what's already been created as well as around a week for bug-testing before the update is released.
Here's some fantastic villages created by some members of the Kainga community!
A symmetrical town from CaptainArex
An intimidating boat army from Rentier Riche
And a multistoried housing cluster from Sandra Vea
Moving Forward
As Kainga is in Early Access and there's personal investment to see the progress of development, I'm going to do my best to produce updates every few weeks without such large breaks in communication.
If at any time, you'd like to contact me with anything about Kainga, feel free to reach out on Discord or Twitter where I'm quite active!
Come, join the community, share your village screenshots!
Feel free to also share your ideas for the game, I'm constantly adding things and making changes based on player suggestions, so keep it up!
See you at the next update!
All hail the snail.