Hey everyone!
For the last four months, I've been working hard behind the scenes, pushing over 30 patches to the demo. The in-game feedback system I implemented has worked wonders! Based on your suggestions, I've reworked core systems, added new content, and implemented numerous quality-of-life improvements. Thank you all so much for your invaluable feedback!
Brand New Gameplay Trailer!
I've launched a brand new gameplay trailer! The previous one was too long, a bit slow, and didn't show much gameplay. This new one is shorter, packed with action, and focuses on the core gameplay experience. Check it out here!
View game page
Tiny Teams Festival!
On top of that, I'm thrilled to announce that the game will be part of the Tiny Teams Festival, which runs from August 7th, 6 PM BST to August 14th, 6 PM BST! As a solo developer, it's a huge honor to be included alongside so many amazing games from other small teams. I suggest checking out the other games joining the festival as well!
There will also be a livestream on August 9th by a couple of Twitch streamers. I will announce the time once it's set.
What's New?
Let's dive into what's new in the demo!
System Improvements
Reputation System: The old "Popularity" system has been completely overhauled and replaced by a tier-based system with a new UI that provides a detailed breakdown of all contributing factors.
Happiness System: This system has been reworked to provide more detailed information on villager status, including a new happiness bonus for Food Variety.
Laborer's Lodge: "Unemployed" villagers are now designated as "Laborers." They reside in the new Laborer's Lodge building, located near the docks.
Workplace Ambience: Decorations now provide a "Workplace Ambience" bonus, increasing the happiness of workers in nearby buildings. During their bloom season, Cherry Trees also increase the happiness of nearby workers.
New Building - Orchard Keeper’s Hut: This building is dedicated to growing trees that provide periodic harvests after a long maturation period.
Lord Customization: Leader portraits and their bonuses ("Paths") are now separate systems, so you can customize your lord's appearance without being tied to specific bonuses. I have also added 5 more Paths with unique bonuses and several new portraits, including five female options!
Military Formations: Units will now automatically form formations based on their attack range when given a move order. Melee units will create a frontline to protect ranged units.
Garrisoning: You can now order units to garrison behind your gates for better defense.
Building Sizes: Warehouse and Well sizes have been reduced to free up more building space in your town.
Resource Update: Hunters now collect Meat.
Basic Starting Ship: The initial Tier 0 ship has been replaced with a more basic vessel that can only travel to nearby clans.
UI Improvements
Town Management Hub: The top-right UI has been condensed into a single button to reduce clutter and open the new hub. You can also pin the buttons you use most to the main HUD.
New Management Panels: The hub gives you access to several new panels:
Buildings Panel: View all buildings and manage their assigned workers.
Construction Queue Panel: View and re-order active construction projects by dragging them.
Town Overview Panel: Check lord info, map details, and customize your town’s global aesthetics. (You will also be able to host festivals from here in the future!)
Collapsible HUD: The entire HUD is made of collapsible elements for a cleaner view.
Navigation: The main navigation buttons have been moved to the bottom center of the screen for easier access.
Clear Menu Titles: All menus now clearly display their names at the top for easier navigation.
Updated Guides: The in-game guide and tutorial popups have been updated with clearer instructions to reflect the latest changes.
Here is Before/After of the UI:
Quality-of-Life Improvements
Improved Building Placement: You can now place buildings directly on top of trees to automatically clear them. The UI will also clearly display why a building cannot be placed in a specific location.
Live Building Warnings: Building warning/error icons now update live. They will also warn you if a new building is too far from essential structures like a road or warehouse.
Improved Builder AI: The logic for builders has been improved for more efficient construction.
Detailed Unit List: The unit list now displays more detailed status info, showing if units are filling a job, assigned to a ship, or garrisoned. You can also assign or change a soldier's squad directly from this menu.
Mercenary Hiring Options: You now have two options for hiring mercenaries: hire them for a single day or hire them permanently.
Soldier to Worker Conversion: A feature has been added to turn soldiers back into workers via the unit list.
Go to Camp Button: A new button has been added to quickly send selected soldiers back to their camp.
Tactical Pause UI: The pause UI now includes a pulsing screen border and on-screen text, making it much more obvious that the game is paused.
Notification History: A notification history panel has been added, complete with categories and filters to help you manage past alerts.
Detailed Resource Info: You can now see a detailed breakdown of where resources are stored or being used, as well as the average net change over the last three days.
Visible Growth & Yield: You can now see the remaining growth time and expected yield for your crops and trees.
Cancel Research: You can now cancel research that is currently in progress.
Escape Key Functionality: The Escape key now deselects units, cancels building placement, and closes open panels.
Controls & Settings Improvements
Control Remapping: The remapping system has been reworked to support key combinations (e.g., Ctrl+1) and non-Latin characters. Many of the default hotkeys have been changed to be more modern and no longer depend on the middle mouse button. New remappings have been added.
Accessibility Menu: An Accessibility Settings button has been added to the main menu.
New Settings Added:
Auto Pause Menus
Pause On Focus Loss
Invert Mouse Zoom
Pan & Scrolling Speed
Toggle Notifications
Adjust Notification Duration & Colors
There are also a lot of other improvements and bug fixes that I may have forgotten to add here!
Looking Ahead
My current focus is on adding more waves to the game so we can run a beta test with longer gameplay sessions. This was delayed because I've been prioritizing implementing your feedback and polishing the demo.
While I can't announce a release date just yet, please rest assured that I am working towards it. Thank you all for your incredible support!
Feel free to join the Discord! If you haven't joined yet, you can always contact me there.