Hello everyone!
While we wait for the Trader Patch, which we are planning to release this Sunday (it's a big one), here's a continuation of the Q&A we posted last week!
As was the case last time, we have taken the liberty to shorten or merge together some questions in cases where it made sense to do so.
Q&A #2:
1) Sometimes I forget to take care of my plots and fields when I was busy doing something else, will I be able to pass these tasks to NPCs or tamed animals when you release them?
Yes. NPCs will be able to perform most in-game chores provided they're in good terms with you.
Some of the things they should be able to do are:
- Keep fields and gardens okay.
- Feed animals and keep areas clean.
- Gather wood and keep fires going.
- Forage, hunt and reset traps.
- Cook and keep containers stocked.
Animals can be put to work on mills and there are plans to make them work with plows for farming.
2) At what point will the NPC system be implemented?
NPCs will be implemented once the map is large enough and enough content has been introduced. Most likely once the following things are in place:
- Metalworking (copper, tin and iron)
- Automated Structures. (animal, water or wind powered)
- Most of the Mountains (northern map)
- Some of the Swamps (southern map)
- Some of the Forest (western map)
3) Is the interaction with NPCs purely functional, or is it an emotional with storyline involved?
NPCs serve both practical and emotional functions. Their interactions are not really scripted, but instead systemic.
Spending time with an NPC and having meaningful interactions with them regularly will increase their trust. NPCs whose trust gets high enough will be more likely to respond positively to your requests with this likelihood being determined by the amount of trust they have and how much they like the request based on their personality traits.
The dialog system allows you to, among other things:
- Influence their emotional state.
- Have them influence your own emotional state.
- Teach them skills.
- Learn skills from them (and blueprints).
- Ask them to do things.
- Have them ask you to do things.
Through this systems NPCs can be befriended and even made into romantic partners if their trust and their attraction to you is high enough.
4) How many NPCs are coming?
Our original plan was to have 2 main ones with a few extra minor ones. However, we eventually came to the decision to instead give players the power to create their own NPCs through a perk system, similar to the one they use for player characters.
Basically, this should give players the ability to create their own ideal partners, friends and even enemies.
Premade characters will sometimes come with some premade NPCs but otherwise we want to leave this to the player discretion.
5) May we get pets?
Yes. We want all animals in the game to be eventually befriendable. Anything from crows, to squirrels, wolves or bears. Animal companions will keep you company and help with some of your psychological needs. As we said in our previous Q&A however, wild animal pets will still be wild and retain a component of danger/skittishness/independence.
6) When will the new tools be introduced? When will copper tools be available? Is ironworking coming?
Copper tools will be introduced first, once we add the lake and the mountainous forest area. We're trying to prioritise this so I'm hoping it won't take too long.
After that we'll be introducing Tin when we add the mountain caves and basic mining.
Finally we'll be adding iron when we introduce some of the swamp areas.
Later in the game, once more tools and techs are available, we'll be introducing minable higher quality iron, steel, and additional metals (gold, silver and lead).
7) For longer range weapons, are we adding crossbows with greater lethality?
Yes. Crossbows are planned but will be quite advanced in the tech tree.
8) When will the map be built in game? Can I draw one on the cloth?
Later in development, once the map gets big enough. We first want to add at least some of the 3 main areas. :)
You will be able to craft parchment out of animal skins and use it for maps. We'll probably add paper too eventually.
9) When can we build roads?
They're relatively high in our priority list so we'll probably introduce them after the lake area is added in the relatively near future.
Roads in Fantasy forest will be better and more realistic than the ones in Tropical Island, connecting to specific areas and working in both directions.
10) Can you add wooden needles? I can't find any Partridges.
Yes, we will be adding wooden needles soon and metal ones once metalworking is added.
If you're having trouble finding partridges, consider checking the help section in the location cards, it usually describes which animals frequent the area. You can also make bone needles out of any animal bones too, like from badgers or foxes, you just need to break them with a stone first.
11) I want dam!
We hear you. This is on my list of things to research. I assume you want dams for irrigation and I'm sure we could add them.
12) Is it possible to have a co-op mode? I feel helpless to play the game alone.
Card Survival's format does not lend itself that well to multiplayer unfortunately. This is a request that appears every now and then, but we don't really see how to make it work in code or design, at least not in the short term. So unfortunately we can't promise anything for now.
13) When will you port the game to iOS? And Android?
We don't have a precise date yet. Probably at some point between the release of metallurgy and NPCs. We still feel the game needs to mature a bit before we can release it for mobile.
14) When the durability of metal tools depletes, can they be sharpened and reassembled like in CS:TI?
Metal tools will have both sharpness and durability. Sharpness will work just like in CS:TI with you being able to sharpen it whenever you want. Durability will take a long time to go down (usually years) and will require more proper repairs to fix or in some cases, recasting the piece.
15) When making alloys, does the blueprint provide a fixed ratio of combined materials, or do players mix them as they wish?
You can mix them as you wish. Different metal proportions will result in different sharpness, durability, weight, malleability and beauty. Adding some tin to copper for example will increase its sharpness, adding too much however will lower its durability by making it more brittle.
16) Will there be a more detailed butcher mechanism in the future?
Yes. I have plans for a system that should let you extract new things from carcasses, including:
- Blood.
- Sinew.
- Organs.
- Different Meat Cuts.
It's not that high in our prio list but we might push it up if people want it.
17) Will there be fantasy races added in the future?
Not directly. But we are planning to add enough perks that people should be able to create dwarven or elven characters, or even create their own new fantasy races if they so wish.
Here are some examples of some of the new fantasy perks in our list:
- Fur-covered skin: Helps with the cold but makes it harder to lose heat.
- Giant Sized: As in, as big as a bear. Makes you a lot stronger but increases your caloric needs considerably.
- Diminutive Sized: Very low caloric needs and great stealth but pretty bad at anything combat related.
- Claws: Gives you some new combat moves and lets you cut things with your hands.
- Bigfooted: Makes your feet wide, making it easier for you to walk on snow.
18) Will there be more interesting tiny details or Easter Eggs in the future? Like the captain and the time-counting marks in the rocks cave in CS:TI?
Yes, both from Tropical Island and Card Quest. Also, Weston is coming back of course. :)
19) Do you have any plans to expand breeding and planting?
We don't have plans to introduce a selective breeding/planting if that's what you mean, at least not at the moment. If enough people want it we could look into it but it's not currently planned.
There are some plans for traits passing on to offspring for human NPCs though, maybe we could potentially move that to at least some animals, but I'm not sure yet.
20) Will there be any upgrades for mud huts in the future? For example, upgrading from a mud hut to a stone house, etc...
Yes. There's going to many different types of structures you can build, and they can also be mixed together. For example you can have a mud room that leads to a stone one or a wooden one.
We will soon be releasing the Cabin structure, which will allow you to build rooms out of wood. These will be more comfortable and spacious, and accumulate cabin fever at a slower rate. Wooden rooms will also allow for the construction of two-story houses.
Some of the types we have planned are:
- Wooden Rooms: Better and more spacious than mud ones, support attics.
- Stilt Wooden Rooms: Immune to floods and therefore ideal for riverbanks and swamps.
- Attics: Can be build above wooden rooms.
- Stone Rooms: Like wooden ones but more durable and can allow for multiple story houses or be built underground.
- Balconies: We need to find a better name for these, but they're basically open rooms in multiple-story houses.
That's all for now. There's still more questions to answer and we're sure more will keep coming. We will keep releasing Q&As over time and answering all questions as we get the chance. :)
Se you all for the Trader patch!