Hello! We now have a new version up with these changes:
FEATURES////
Extra sandbox map
The settlers in the 'Fields of Tau Ceti' sandbox can now settle on a different map, called 'Alluvial Plain'. It has 4 different expedition types (Fishing, farming, hunting and bushcraft) each with different start locations and equipment. In this 'dev plays' video, we start with the hunting expedition, establish a camp and demonstrate many of the newer gameplay mechanics:
https://youtu.be/fgTCQeLfOXE
Farming favorbread
A new vegetable now appears in forests and it is possible to farm this vegetable in woodlands where farmland is unavailable. You build a favorbread farm by clicking the menu on a dead sanctuary tree. Once built, you start cultivating the vegetable from the Production panel by providing blackpulp fruit.
DESCRIPTION: Favorbread is a fleshy, nutritious vegetable which can be found at the roots of the sanctuary tree. The tree and this organism have a symbiotic relationship which ends when the tree dies. Settlers, however, have found a way to cultivate the favorbread which lies dormant next to dead sanctuary trees.
PERFORMANCE////
New framework
Framework changed from XNA to MonoGame. This gives the following benefits:
-The game can run as a 64 bit process, and thereby access much more memory on the user's machine. This makes it possible to play on larger maps without experiencing out of memory crashes which previously could occur when playing for a longer time.
-Video and music no longer relies on dll's installed on the machine. The game is now deployed with its own dll's for playing music and video, so it will no longer be necessary to have Windows Media Player installed, or supply the dll's from a different source which has been an issue for some players.
NOTE: The animation on the title menu has been temporarily disabled in this version 0.9.0.0 until we can play the video with the new framework.
Other fixes to performance
-Large maps are now only available for PCs running 64 bit. This is to prevent the program from running out of memory on a 32 bit system. If you are running 32 bit, any unavailable maps will be shown as disabled on the scenario screen, with an explanation.
-Framerate is now limited when paused. This is to limit CPU usage when not really needed. Options.xml contains some new settings that control this, they are called 'LimitFramerateWhenPaused', 'TargetFramerateWhenPaused' and 'SynchronizeWithVerticalRetrace'.
OTHER FIXES////
-Fixed an issue where drop down lists would be clipped.
-Improved sorting of tools in the production tooltip to show unowned tools also sorted by productivity.
-Changed color of progress bar to orange when the character is consuming food (as opposed to making food, or tearing meat from a carcass.)
-Tweaked the sleep AI so the dog will now prefer to sleep near the camp.
-Changed the surroundings for the fishing expedition on Cudgel Hills map to make favorbread farming possible.
-Increased prices for rawhides and tanned hides to make hunting more profitable.
-Establishing a pit or mine can no longer be done with just a trowel, but requires a bigger tool.