Hello, Rulers!
September went by in the blink of an eye, and some of us at Ishtar Games have started showing up to work with warm plaids and hot beverages. The weather in the North of France is unforgiving at this time of the year!
A few weeks ago, two members of the Lakeburg Legacies crew have been invited to present the game on the Games Made in France stream. It was the occasion to show how much has changed since last year! Viewers were also able to catch a glimpse of our brand-new dating system... 👀
Rework of the Dating system
It’s been cooking for a long time, and it’s finally here! As one of the core features of Lakeburg Legacies, it was important for us that the Dating system offers players a fun and satisfying experience. Unfortunately, it appeared during the closed beta that our old Dating feature was way too passive, and rather difficult to understand. It was so forgettable that we had to fish for feedback, as it was rarely mentioned by our beta players! That just couldn’t do it.
The player now starts by choosing whether a villager will date locally or find someone from out of town.
Then it’s the swiping phase! We’ve made sure the suitors’ profiles were easier to understand. That way, players who want to optimize their play can make sure the best match will also be the best addition to the village’s workforce. Instead of their previous likes and dislikes, characters also now have topics of interest that they like or dislike. Compatibility between characters is based on whether they enjoy or hate the same things.
Once a satisfying match has been found for a villager, it is time for them to properly introduce themselves! They will go on a series of dates during which the villager will try to entertain their suitor, and players will have to choose between two conversation topics to do so. Remembering the suitor’s likes and dislikes is key in order to avoid a dating faux pas! 💔
Finally, if the dates have been satisfying, the villagers will directly proceed to getting married.
A new background
It’s been a while since we haven’t produced new backgrounds for the events! But since we’ve also started using them in the dating events, we figured it would be best to draw a few more locations.
Want to invite your date to a charming picnic on the riverside? We’ve got you covered!
Animations
We still have a lot of work to do on the map of Lakeburg, but it’s been a pleasure recently to start working on giving it a bit more life! Players can now encounter sheep 🐑 and hens 🐓 while strolling (or scrolling) through the town, and the houses and mill now feel like they are truly inhabited!
Tooltips
We recognize this is a part of the game that we have neglected for a while to focus on implementing new features. Tooltips are an extremely important part of management games, and it is true some of our beta testers have struggled to understand how some parts of the game operate for lack of information. But fear not! We have finally found the time to integrate tooltips where they were needed.
New assets for the children
Lately, as you have probably noticed, we spent a lot of time drawing new assets for the villagers’ portraits. It was only natural that we give the same attention to the kiddos! They can now be generated with a wider variety of hairdos and outfits.
We’re working on some very exciting features right now, and we can’t wait to start unveiling them! Buuut you know the drill: that will have to wait for the next dev journal. Until then, take care, and enjoy the spooky season! 🎃👻🦇
Join us on Discord, Twitter & Instagram to discuss with the team and other players!