Hardship: Now With 15% More Survival (Thanks to the Tutorial!)
Hello everyone!
It’s been six months. Six months of silence, six months of coffee induced hallucinations, and six months of wondering why I decided to build a game on a sphere.
I’ve been working hard on making Hardship live up to its name. Mostly by making sure our citizens have as many ways to perish as possible. Hunger? Check. Thirst? Check. Freezing to death in a beautiful, procedurally generated spherical winter? Double check.
I realized that maybe, just maybe, some of you might actually want your citizens to live past the first night. So, in a shocking display of mercy, I've added a Tutorial System that I'm sure many people will never use.
Yes, you can now learn how to place a stockpile without accidentally bankrupting your entire civilization's future. It even has "Back" and "Done" buttons, because I know you'll need to double check that you actually know how to build a well before everyone dies of thirst while staring at the ocean.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have spent the last 180 days gutting systems and rebuilding them to be faster, deeper, and slightly less likely to explode.
Expanded Changelog
New Gameplay Systems
- Implemented a complete Tree ReGrowth and Animal Breeding system for sustainable world resources.
- Added a "Stone Age" starting equipment pack including primitive bows, stone axes, and pickaxes.
- Introduced a central Race System where every citizen inherits traits (Farming Speed, Health, Move Speed) from their starting race.
- Added the "Formation Movement" system allowing players to click-and-drag citizens into organized lines.
- Introduced the "Orders Menu" (Keys B and N) for specialized Gathering and Woodcutting modes.
- Added a new Workbench system for crafting advanced survival tools.
- Implemented an Adaptive Music Scheduler with crossfade support and atmospheric silence intervals.
World & Terrain Evolution
- Implemented a "Terrain Tool Manager" featuring Dig, Raise, and Level tools for direct world manipulation.
- Added an incremental navigation refresh system that updates local pathfinding nodes in real-time as the world is edited.
- Introduced a "Flattening" mechanic that automatically levels the ground during building placement with a smooth falloff.
- Added a new Roughness slider to world generation to allow for more varied and dramatic landscapes.
Building & Logistics Overhaul
- Created the "Output Building" architecture to allow production buildings to route resources to specific target stockpiles.
- Added an "Organize Stockpile" logic that automatically redistributes items based on other stockpiles filters.
- Implemented a visual "Connection System" showing arcing lines between workers, stockpiles, and production buildings.
- Added a "Building Stats View" that displays detailed resource requirements and production rates before placement.
- Introduced the "Filter UI" for stockpiles, allowing players to whitelist or blacklist specific item categories.
- Added a "Delete Building" confirmation system to prevent accidental settlement destruction.
Technical & Engine Updates
- Upgraded the project to Unity 6000 and transitioned the compilation pipeline to IL2CPP for better performance.
- Completely overhauled pathfinding using a Priority Queue-based A* algorithm for faster navigation.
- Integrated a native Steam Module featuring Achievement tracking and Gameplay Statistics (SteamStats).
- Added a "Loading Screen UI" that provides real-time feedback during complex world generation phases.
- Created a centralized "RayCast Helper" library to standardize interactions across the non-linear spherical grid.
- Implemented pre-placement resource validation that alerts players before they attempt to build without materials.
- Integrated automated playmode tests for survival stats, saving/loading, and production cycles.
User Interface & Experience
- Implemented the "Tooltip Service" which provides context-aware information with configurable hover delays.
- Added a "Citizen UI" list that allows players to track and immediately jump to any citizen in the settlement.
- Introduced "Draggable UI" functionality for the settings menu and inspector panels.
- Added "Discord" and "Wishlist" buttons to the main menu for better community integration.
- Implemented a "Game Over" screen.
- Added a "Reset Tutorial" button in the settings for players returning after the update gap.
- Created a multi-step New Game Wizard for streamlined civilization, race, and world setup.
- Implemented a complete Key Bindings rebind system with support for custom modifiers and persistence.
- Added a unified confirmation popup system for destructive actions like deleting buildings or exiting.
Bug Fixes & Stabilization
- Fixed the "Camera Drift" bug caused by floating-point accumulation during long play sessions.
- Resolved an issue where citizens failed to find space in valid stockpiles due to incorrect reservation logic.
- Fixed a bug where items were not correctly unparented when dropped, causing them to fly across the map.
- Corrected the "Ant Scrambling" pathfinding behavior where agents would take inefficient circular routes.
- Resolved a critical issue where the ocean would render on top of the atmosphere shader in certain zoom levels.
- Fixed a bug that prevented citizens from dying when their health reached zero during specific job transitions.
- Resolved multiple issues with roof triangle placement and foundation snapping in the Building Creator.
- Fixed a UI bug where dropdown menus would close prematurely during mouse hover.
And many more bugs fixed, features added and changes made I'm sure I have forgotten to add to this post.
Thankyou for reading.
-Marcus