Hello everyone and thank you for your support on my game! After release I was very disappointed with the quality and have learned how to avoid the same mistakes in the future. To that affect I have fundamentally re worked the entire game pushing it much closer to my original vision and quality. I apologize for the amount of time this took and lack of communication I will be keeping up with communication going forward.
That being said here is the new major patch notes.
Multiplayer
PvPvE has always been a dream of mine for this game. The intended player count is 4 players max and will be balanced around that. You can freely go above that count however understand this may have unintended outcomes.
- Multiplayer is now supported, simply choose the option to host when starting a new game or loading from an old save.
- Multiplayer is still fairly experimental.
Performance
Performance is a main priority and one that is harder to test due to the amount of different systems. With this re work you should see a drastic improvement all around with new settings options.
Town Systems
Towns and colonies are what I want to be the cornerstone of Uncrowned. The old system did not represent that. As such the old slot system is gone for the new system going forward.
- New building placement, "land plot", system
- Building information is much clearer
- New colony growth system. Pay for a colony ship to arrive with new colonists that come based on available jobs.
- New colonist types. Each building requires either a farmer, worker, or artisan to work it. This impacts the performance of the building.
- New residential system. Each colonist type requires housing.
- New resource output system. Higher tier buildings now require lower tier goods to be made or in stock to function.
- Designated uncolonized lands may now be settled by the player instead of being limited to a singular starting town.
- New town leveling system. Each town can have its tier upgraded to have access to more land plots and upgradeable buildings.
Map
Entire map has been re done. New towns and islands.
Factions
- Merchant faction made to be more clear, many many bug fixes.
- New mission log
Trade System
Trade is much clearer and easier to use. The dynamic aspects are still similar to the old version. If the colony has alot of a product, its cheap, if it has very little, its expensive. In the future I hope to add more depth based around the towns needs.
Purchasing Ships
Purchasing ships has been re worked to be made more clear on what the ship has to offer. Currently only two ships exist, I hope to make more once foundational aspects of the game are fleshed out.
Saving/Loading
The old save system was very lacking only allowing for one save file. Just like any other game you can now create an infinite amount of save files and name them however you like. Many bug fixes. This was also expanded to work in multiplayer.
AI
The old AI was fairly lacking. Often getting stuck or failing to spawn new ones to keep the world lively. This was due to its very free form nature relying on a basic collision detection system.
- AI now follows "ship lanes" to create much smoother and realistic pathing and is much more performant
- AI collision detection is more precise without taking a toll on performance
- AI now uses ammo that must be re armed in towns
- AI merchants now both buy and sell goods to move products around based on if it will make a profit or not
- AI will flee to a nearby allied town if it cant win (runs out of ammo for example)
- To keep the world lively AI ships now have unique names. This ensures a certain quantity of AI are always being maintained and sets up future updates like hunting missions.
Boarding
This feature is still currently being re worked and will be re added in a future update.
Ship Movement
This has seen a lot of changes to feel much smoother and more realistic without burdening performance.
- Fixed a bug where ships speed changes drastically instead of accelerating/decelerating
- Added centering the rudder so the ship isnt always slightly moving in one direction
- Fixed wind equation issues that were not realistic
- Clients ships will not have a smooth look depending on connectivity. This should not affect the camera and only noticeable when zoomed in. I look to make this better in the future.
UI
- New clearer designs
FX
- Greatly improved smoke FX and performance
Respawning
- New respawn system. The player is now returned to the closest allied town at minimal health. This also includes AI.
Tutorial
- Separate tutorial map for systems to be made more clear. Note, players cannot join a tutorial session. You will have to complete the tutorial for the session to become open.
Controls
- New control scheme based on request as well as new control settings
What is the goal for the next update? (specifics to come)
Bug fixes
Large combat re work
Boarding
New ship destruction
New assets (buildings, characters)
Walking around the island/getting off of the ship
New starting scenarios
When will Uncrowned get more ships?
Uncrowned is solo developed, this includes assets like ships and buildings. Ships can take anywhere from a week to a month to make properly. Right now I hope to make an entertaining foundation for a game so when I do make new ships its very easy to implement and doesn't affect the time for much needed gameplay.