Hi everyone! Addison here with Hex Town's first update, 1.1.0.
There's some exciting changes and additions I want to share, so let's get right to it.
German translation support!
After separating out all of Hex Town's words and phrases into a big table, I have been slowly but surely translating each part of Hex Town. There ended up being more than 1,500 spots! I used an automatic translation for the first pass, and I am working with a native speaker to help find and correct any areas that don't sound natural. It won't be 100% perfectly-translated for this release, but I will continue to update and make it as good as possible. You can find the new language selection menu on the home screen or in the settings! I hope to translate Hex Town into many more languages in the future.
Safari camera re-work
I have received feedback that Safari Mode camera controls were clunky, that the game mode wasn't as interesting as some had hoped, that players wished they could save the photos they took, and that it needed some updates in general. While it still has a ways to go before I'm completely happy with it, I have started by improving the photo mode controls, adding new lenses, and my favorite part: adding a scrollable photo gallery where you can view photos you've taken and save them to your device. It even includes a fun clothesline animation with SFX. :)
Further zoom
Some players noted that the camera zoom felt too restrictive, so I increased the zoom distance by almost double, and adjusted the fog layering accordingly. I also increased the camera's default field of view so that you can see more of the world without zooming out.
Homestead co-op building
This is one I wanted to get in for 1.0, but didn't have time. You can now build collaboratively with your friends in Homestead mode! Your unlocks also become available to everyone in the Homestead instance, and vice versa. However, they will not stay with you when you leave (unless you are the owner of the Homestead, in which case they are locked to that save slot).
Other changes
Improved the shadows and fog for better and softer lighting
All Hexpedition levels now have playable spaces that are a single connected group, rather than having separated groups of playable spaces. This makes it visually clearer where you can and can't place tiles, while keeping the difficulty level the same.
Bridges can now connect to tiles in Homestead mode (and at different tile heights)
Without going into the technical details, the game is now significantly more performant overall! This should especially help those who enjoy Hex Town on Steam Deck.
Levels with the 'Island Life' task now look a lot nicer
There's a bunch of minor fixes and improvements to environments, the user interface, and more.
Thanks for playing, and please keep the feedback coming!