Tidings from development
Hi everyone.
I wanted to do a quick post to explain why the speed of updates has completely stopped for the last two weeks. It's a combination of a number of factors, one of which is the passing of my dad. Sometimes life just gets in the way of gamedev.
But there are also practical factors, chiefly that a brand new tutorial is coming , one that is longer and makes lots of things that are poorly explained more explicit. This new tutorial requires voice acting, which is somewhat out of my control and expensive to a degree it is better if its done right in one go. So the new tutorial needs to be completely finished, and completely tested by the Publisher to see that yes we can go ahead and get the fabulous Chris Lines to act and voice the advisor once more for it.
I expect this to take a few weeks more realistically.
But in the mean time I wanted to share with you some of the improvements that are already done.
New Content.
- Added systems for static pre-made settlements and towns
- New tutorial
- Added a starting pre-made settlement for the tutorial
- Tutorial now explains how to "grow" industry
- Tutorial Starts on the ground until you need iron
- Tutorial now in depth explains how to design a control tower
- Added a Warbird Freehouse commander to the Tutorial.
QoL improvements
- Added selector function to your dropable inventory on the Q/E buttons or the d-pad up/down. You decide what outpost to build!
- improved the ground cursor workings of the surveyor, smoother and less janky
- Surveyor hovers 80meters behind a tower, not on top of it.
- Made it that the resource system updates directly faster after building a new tower, so you don't have to wait to see the resources update..
- walkways from citadels are now iron/defensive
- made it so that commander HQ props only spawn in the commander menu.
- made it so that higher balconies don't always obstruct the construction of lower foundations.
- loosened the harbor build restrictions a bit (i.e harbors can be closer together)
- changed the method to open the commander or captain selector to A/LMB so you can just click it when the line is retracted rather than "build"
- if you open the commander menu on an unfinished tower, it will cap it .
Fixes
- made the floodlights near industrial zones more common
- Made the dark patch on the construction FX fade in the ground fog (especially noticable in the maw etc)
- stone walkways up to industry stay stone or iron longer. But have more floodlights and only the very tip (connecting to the extractor ) is wood
An image of the new Outpost selector GUI on the ground cursor, allowing you to switch between outposts and special buildings you've collected.
Conclusion
I've been testing out the new tutorial with a few discord users and the feedback so far is that its a great improvement, and it explains a bunch of stuff that was simply never explained. I hope to also have one "pre-made" settlement in the game by the time the update rolls around. These are the handcrafted locations that dot the Ursee and have their own unique NPCs and dialogue , friendly or hostile.
I also think the new ground cursor is gonna win over a few friends as the old one was indeed quite jittery and janky, but that's always up to you to decide.
I am glad to say I am fully back to work and working hard as possible to release this large upadate asap. Sorry for the delays and hope this small update helps in keeping you up2date.
Cheers,
Tomas
the new Freehouse Warbird Commander's takeover model. Fits nicely to expand the freehouse esthetic.
a WIP shot of the new 'Oberon's Reach' pre-made Mancer settlement, these guys may be friends or enemies based upon your choices.