Hello Ranchers 🧑🌾
Long time no see! Since the last time we posted, we’ve been busy with our alpha version of The Ranchers and with all the amazing feedback that we received from everyone who’s played this version. Thank you to each and everyone of you who’s taken the time to help us make The Ranchers the best possible version of itself for the future ahead.💕
Our latest and final update in the alpha stage entails a lot of new mechanics, Quality of Life updates and new elements to the gameplay:
🌼Addition of new animals species
🐰 Rabbits
🐐 Goats
🐓 Addition of 2 new variations for the Rooster, new Calves for cows and bulls and chicks for chickens to represent their early growth stage
➕Read more here: http://wiki.ranchers.game/Ranching/Mammal-Animals
🐮Additional new animal mechanics and QoL
🌱New livestock feeding system. Now each species has its unique diet.
🌱New Pregnancy mechanic for Mammals Animals.
🌱New Eggs hatching mechanic for Oviparous Animals.
🌱New Animal Sickness mechanic.
🌱All livestock can be raised outdoor without necessary having a barn or a coop. There will be consequences with time, but hey that also means you can have them early!
➕➕ Read more here: https://wiki.ranchers.game/en/Ranching
🏡New Barns, Coops, Silos, Water Towers, Troughs and Fences!
🌱 Addition of new farm fences and fence doors that can be crafted by the player.
🌱Addition of 3 new Barns types with their exclusive interiors design.
🌱Addition of 3 new Coops types with their exclusive interiors design.
➕➕ Read more about here: http://wiki.ranchers.game/Ranching/Barn
🌼 All the Barns and Coops can now have Feature Kits
🌱Auto-Feeding Kit, it will feed your animals automatically.
🌱Air Conditioning Kit, It will prevent your animals from becoming ill by keeping them warm in Winter and cool in Summer - You can see how your buildings/features kits are linked to each other by hovering your mouse on them with the hammer equipped.
🌟This whole building <=> feature kits "linkage system" will open a lot of great new game mechanics that will come in the future.
🌱All Coops and Barns doors can be opened or closed as you wish (with benefits and consequences of course).
🌱Introduction of Silos.
🌱Introduction of Water Towers.
🌟By combining Feature Kits, Silos and Water Towers you can now automatize your whole livestock feeding needs.
🌱Introduction of animal Troughs that can be crafted and placed in the ranch to feed your livestock when they are outside of the barn/coop or if you are raising them outdoor.
➕➕Read more about Feature Kits here: http://wiki.ranchers.game/Items/Barn-Auto-Feeder-Kit
➕➕Read more about Silos and Water Towers here: http://wiki.ranchers.game/Buildings/Silo
🐄 All livestock do use a new "systemic food seeking" algorithm to find food and drinks sources in your ranch (Water troughs, different food troughs, wild grass, vegetables, etc).
🌱Addition of new models to the existing species: 2 new variations for the Rooster, new Calf's for cows and bulls and chicks for chickens to represent their early growth stage 🐓
🌱The quality of all the animals' 3D models has been upgraded for better visual quality
🌱Polishing round for all the livestock animations!
🌱Meat, Milk and Eggs are now animal specific (this is will make the cooking very precise!)
🌱Animals do play a specific sound to let you know if they liked your gifts or not! 🌱Animals can now be named!
🌟Quality of Life updates
🌱 Wild grass do produce Hay regardless of their growth stage.
🌱 New sprinkler 3D model for "basic sprinkler".
🌱Items that have "grid coverage" mechanic, like Sprinklers, Scarecrows and Silos do now show their coverage with a visible grid in game.
🌱 All the crafted buildings give 50% back of resources when destroyed accidentally.
🌱 All the tools, animals, vehicles, and so on, can now have multiples rarity variations that will affect the item internal statistics (price, storage capacity, speed..)
🌱 Addition of a new section in "the end of the day summary" that will have all the important notices that happened during the night (ex. new animal give birth)
🌱 In "the end of the day summary", if nothing happened (results at 0 Coins and 0 notices), the animation duration is much much faster!
🌱 New Player animations:
🌱Balancing the Player energy and health.
🌱Long range weapons can now be used when player is in the air (jumping, falling, etc.)
🌼 A new day will only start when you hit "Start new day" button in "the end of the day summary". And that's how you can pause the game. This also works when playing in multiplayer.
🐧The Ranchers runs natively on Linux and Steam Deck!
We are thrilled to announce that The Ranchers now runs natively on Linux, SteamOs, and the Steam Deck!
➕➕Read more here: https://wiki.ranchers.game/en/HowTo/TheRanchers-Linux-SteamDeck-Version
While performance optimization is an ongoing process, this update is a significant step toward our goal of having The Ranchers fully optimized for its release day and certified Steam Deck ready!
Besides from all these features, we have also improved on the general experience when playing The Ranchers and fixed various Bugs and Crashes in the game:
🌼 As part of our optimization efforts, we have reduced the game's memory usage (VRAM) by a whopping 45% through some wizardry and extensive "cleaning", resulting in a much more stable game even during heavy load/stress!
🌼 A much faster loading time, between menu screen and when the gameplay start. (reduced by 20.4% to be precise )
🌼 We have also balanced the summer weather by reducing the amount of rain and fog.
🌼 We have significantly reduced the mass of birds' physics to prevent them from causing traffic mayhem when they collide with NPC cars.
🌼 All known "ropes bugs" have been fixed!
Finally, I hereby announce, with the delivery of this update and the full legislative authority granted to me by The Ranchers Country, that the Alpha version is officially deemed complete! 🎊🥳
🥳Let's start the Beta chapter! 🥳
So, what's next?
The next update will be a Community Update! 🎉
We will be studying and implementing all the great alpha-feedback we have received from you with a big focus on quality of life and in-game onboarding!
If you haven't given your feedback on the alpha yet, or if you have anything else you want us to seriously consider, now is the time to share your thoughts with us! Feel free to post your feedback here: The Ranchers - Official Roadmap & Community feedback
💖 Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, and stay tuned for more exciting updates! 🔥
Ethan
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For more information about everything, check out our Wiki page: http://wiki.ranchers.game/
Click here to see our Roadmap for the development: http://ranchers.game/roadmap
Click here to joining our Discord to make sure that you don’t miss a thing: https://www.ranchers.game/discord
Click here to see our dev update videos for Ranching v2: