Hey everyone!
John here this week, I want to talk to you a little about how the decisions and balancing choices we have been making recently are going to affect our art assets.
We have previously told you about our decisions towards tiers of development in the game and how players will progress through them. We are currently working with a wood tier, stone tier and a metal tier.
In terms of what those tiers can look like, and how they can shape the world as you grow through it; I am working on defining materials which can be used with each tier. We currently made our buildings (which are the clearest representation of the tiers) based on how we wanted them to look. We have been influenced by some of our favourite games and the styles of typical buildings for specific functions and also limited by time and skill. I needed to produce a certain amount of buildings for early access release and now that we have had longer to consider what the game should ultimately look like, I have been making some rules for creating the new buildings - or replacing the placeholder (barracks anyone?) buildings that we put into the game when we didn’t have a clear idea of how we wanted something to look.
When you first land on the island and you do not have access to most materials, we are thinking that basic thatch and simple timber construction should be where you start. This is reflected in the cover image today with the new representation of the swordsman watchpost. The structure is made of bamboo poles which are easy to cut down and manipulate, tied together and a thatch roof to shelter from the elements.
As you progress through the game and upgrade your sawmill, you will unlock the ability for creating beams and planks out of hardwoods to develop your building stock further.
Similarly, when you start with stone gathering, you will unlock cobblestone construction and the upgrades will lead to hewn stone blocks for more advanced building types.
We think the developing buildings and representations of level through their material types will lead to a rich variety throughout your villages. We have said before about how charming your bases feel when you start fleshing them out and how we want to include variations when you place a building. Rows of the same building will still feel individual while creating a streetscape. Having different buildings at different stages of the tiers will add to this and enhance that variety.
We look forward to seeing the developments you all craft!
Until next week!