Things have been cooking and development has evolved up to an extent where a sneak peek of what to expect in the future is in place. We don't have a deadline for the upcoming release, it's a work in progress, but we do know what the core content will be about.
The core content of the next release will focus on NPCs. The most important additions will concern the wandering woodsmen you may meet in the wild and the companions you can hire for yourself. They'll be given a bit more wits, tasks, and meaning for their existence in the game world as follows.
Who let the dogs out?
Let's start with few a introductory features regarding NPCs and dogs.
- Wandering woodsmen you may encounter in the wild may occasionally have dog companions with them - and their dogs will also protect their masters.
- Village dogs are now released out of their pens to roam freely at the village area. This allows dogs to truly protect the village from possible threats. Intruders may be now first greeted with alarm barks and approaching watchdogs.
- Moreover, all the domestic animals may now have subtle varieties in their coat colors. Adds some flavour, but also makes it easier to distinguish different pets from each others just by their looks.
Free roaming dogs and domestic animal color variety.
Actively hunting wandering NPCs
NPCs who roam the woods can now actively hunt animals. They seek the game based on their cultural preferences, and within their hunting possibilities. The very act of NPCs hunting, or running after a game, is probably rarely witnessed by the player character but bones and remains found in the woods can now tell a story of another human hunter at the area.
As we know, the hunts can end in unimaginable ways, so many different scenarios may arise from the NPCs now taking their chances with the wildlife - and occasionally maybe even the very same wildlife that you were after.
Witnessing an NPC hunting scene. Seal-tribe woodsman has been met in the wild, and he's busy trying to shoot down a squirrel.
New companions commands
Companion usefulness gets boosted with some new tasks they will be able to do on demand. Currently it's been added:
- butcher and skin a carcass
- make logs
- make boards
...and the list is likely to grow with a few more crucial tasks. There's a great level of complexity to make companions proceed these tasks with similar detail than the player character so tasks to be added are prioritized with the quality over quantity.
The list of companion commands - so far:
As companion skills naturally affect to outcome of the tasks their expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. We also need to add an chat option to ask NPCs about their general skills and expertise so you know what kind of craftsman you've hired.
The companion was commanded to butcher and skin one of the reindeers we managed to hunt down. We got meat now, and a fine reindeer skin, which is way better hideworking result than what Jurks could have done in his current condition.
Exciting times ahead.
The work continues, more is to follow.
Stay tuned.
These are future additions - not yet function in current version 3.52