After last week's blog, we received some PMs with some feedback. It was becoming quite confusing to follow what plans we're actually working on and what exactly is going to be in 0.9.0 and what not. Those same PMs were also curious about our plans after 0.9.0. If there’s broader interest, we’ll discuss that in next week’s blog. But in this blog: our plans for 0.9.0!
Disclaimer: to a degree, the development of CS remains a flexible process. While testplaying, unexpected issues pop up, and we’d rather fix that than release a problematic version earlier.
Implemented: Tools
Our current dev build contains a new feature that supports tools. Tools are used by workers when producing items. Tools break after having been used for a while. Different tools have different effects on productivity and different durabilities. Examples are stone, copper, bronze, iron and steel tools.
Jobs have a “Tool Usage Percentage” (TUP) that determines how important tools are for them. Jobs like blacksmiths are more reliant on tools than berry gatherers. The productivity of jobs with a high TUP are more affected by different tool types. It takes longer for a tool to break at low TUP jobs.
Implemented: Monsters linked to Science
In all previous versions, the spawned amount of monsters in the night was linked to the amount of colonists in your colony. This incentives people to play very efficiently and to recruit as few colonists as possible. To further stimulate growth and expansion, we wanted to decouple this ‘punishment’ from colony growth. Monsters are now coupled to major milestones in the tech tree.
Implemented: Better Crafting Times
We had little room to vary crafting times in previous builds. Crafting times varied per job, not per recipe: all recipes at one job shared the same crafting time. The crafting time was also limited to about 15 seconds maximum. Both have changed. One job can now simultaneously have long and short crafting times, and the crafting times can be minutes long. We’ve been using this to fix “workaround recipes”, recipes that include things like 15 copper nails and 20 linen to artificially boost crafting time.
Implemented: ”UI Science”
In the past, players needed to recruit an actual scientist who worked “cycles” to unlock new things in the tech tree. The idea was to eventually have dozens of scientists working on Manhattan Projects. In practice, this didn’t happen. Quite often, there were significant delays between unlocks, where it makes sense to delete your Science Lab and the scientist-job, just to re-recruit 1 or 2 when needed. This isn’t fun gameplay.
In our dev build, science can be unlocked in the UI without a Science Lab or a scientist, provided that the right ingredients are present and all requirements are met. There are new jobs like the writer, who take quite some time to produce parchment scrolls. They partially replace the scientist.
Implemented: ”Real” Currency and “Real” Traders
From the beginning, we’ve had coins, but these coins were items like all others. They had to be crafted at a job, and the merchant job worked like any other job, while using coins as ingredients.
In our current dev build, this has changed significantly. The Colony Points from 0.8.0 are now ‘Colony Currency’. Instead of automatically distributing luxury goods to colonists for points, they now have to be sold at the trader. The trader has its own unique interface, where things can be sold and purchased instantly, in large quantities if so desired.
Implemented: Stone Age to Bronze Age Content
To make the best use of all of these new features, we’re seriously refactoring the content of the game. Colonies grow bigger, quicker and we’ve added more jobs and items to make earlier ages feel worthwhile. This includes items like the tools and leather.
Not Yet Implemented: Iron Age to Gunpowder/Machine Age Content
We haven’t moved past the Bronze Age, so things like iron smelting, crossbows and muskets are not in the game yet. We’d rather not release 0.9.0 while having removed such significant content. We’re planning to add more ages, which will include a lot of the content from previous versions.
Not Yet Implemented: Models and Icons for all Content
Most of the Stone Age to Bronze Age content has icons, but the models for new job blocks have not been made yet. Content in ‘coming ages’ lacks both icons and models.
Not Yet Implemented: New Guards and Monsters
We’re planning to add new guards and monsters. Not merely variations on current features, but new mechanics like area of effect damage and ranged monsters as well. We’re still debating if and how we should implement armored guards. We’re also considering adding new 3D models for the colonists, guards and monsters.
Not Yet Implemented: UI Overhaul
New features like the traders and the tools have a rudimentary UI so we can test them, but not yet a ‘decent’ UI that is ready for release. Of course, we want to change that.
Not Yet Implemented: Colony Recover Mode
With monsters not being linked to colonists anymore, a successful monster attack that wipes out half of your colony doesn’t proportionally diminish monster attacks in the next night. We’re planning a mode that costs a lot of Colony Currency and that removes your ability to unlock new tech which allows you to rebuild your colony while monster attacks are seriously diminished.
Not Yet Implemented: New Terrain Generation, and other Fundamental Changes that Require New Worlds
Update 0.9.0 is the largest overhaul in years, and completely restructures a lot of content. We’ve already refactored savegame structure for this update. Old worlds will not be compatible with 0.9.0. Disclaimer: We use the Steam Beta Branches to make major previous versions available, allowing you to replay older worlds! Nothing is lost.
There are things we can’t improve, fix or refactor without breaking savegames, but of course, we want to do that as rarely as possible. Now that we’ve made this choice, we want to combine this with other world-breaking changes, like new terrain generation.
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These are the main features we have implemented or are planning to implement for 0.9.0. There’ll probably be some minor changes, and we always encounter small unexpected issues, but the main structure of 0.9.0 is clear to us. We hope it’s clear for all of you as well now! We’d love to hear your opinion. If you want to hear what happened to earlier plans unmentioned now (like logistics), or what our other plans are post 0.9.0, or our opinion on specific proposals - let us know in the comments or on Discord!
Bedankt voor het lezen :D