Hello everyone!
This update is a pretty big one for us.
Over the last few weeks, we've been working not only on the game itself, but also on preparing Age After Age for several upcoming events. Today we finally have a chance to show some of that work, including one of the biggest improvements to the current build - a completely reworked logistics interface and management system.
But first, something that has been requested for quite some time.
Age After Age Is Now Available in Ukrainian
We have added Ukrainian localization to Age After Age!
This was much more than adding another option to the language selector. The game already contains a large amount of text across its interfaces, tutorials, quests, buildings, resources, events, and interconnected management systems, so bringing all of that into Ukrainian required a substantial localization and review pass.
Alongside the localization work, we also went through the existing text and corrected many typos and wording issues. Text fixes have been among the most frequent requests we've received, so this update gave us a good opportunity to address both things together.
The timing is also very important to us, because we are preparing Age After Age for the Ukrainian Games Festival.
For a Ukrainian studio, being able to present the game there with Ukrainian language support feels especially important.
More Control Over Logistics
Logistics has always been one of the core systems of Age After Age.
Production itself is only half of the problem. You can produce thousands of units of a resource, but if your wagons cannot move it where it needs to go quickly enough, the production chain still fails. With this update, we've significantly expanded the Building Links system and given players much more direct control over transportation. Every production building now gives you a clearer picture of what is actually happening with its resources.
At the top of the logistics interface you can see three important values:
Production Rate - how quickly the building produces resources.
Transfer Rate - how quickly those resources are currently being transported away.
Production Saldo - the difference between the two.
If your Saldo is positive, resources are accumulating inside the building.
If it becomes negative, the building is transferring resources faster than its current production can replenish them.
That makes the interface useful not only for configuring logistics, but also for immediately diagnosing bottlenecks in a production chain.
Control the Route, Not Just the Destination
Individual building links now provide much more information and control.
For every connection you can inspect:
Which resource is being transported
Which building receives it
How many wagons are assigned
The complete transport cycle time
Current transfer rate
The amount of resources assigned for transportation
The capacity available through the assigned wagons
You can adjust how much of the building's output should move through a particular link and add additional wagons when a route needs more transportation capacity.
This means that when something goes wrong, the solution isn't always "build more."
Sometimes you simply need to move more efficiently.
Wagons Are Now Part of the Decision
The interface can also switch from the link overview to individual wagon management.
Here you can see which route each wagon is working on and manage the transportation capacity assigned to the building.
Adding another wagon can dramatically change a struggling route, but wagons require resources and workers of their own, so increasing logistics capacity still comes with a cost.
This is exactly the kind of control we want logistics-focused players to have: enough information to understand why a production chain is failing, and enough tools to solve the problem in different ways.
What Else Changed
This update includes considerably more than localization and logistics.
We've continued improving tutorials and quest navigation, expanded the Great Fire system, added new building overlay highlighting, added automatic graphics presets based on player hardware, expanded sound effects, introduced a weather information widget, continued developing the Ideology and Balance of Power systems, and added the Tailor House to the demo.
We've also been working through a large number of bugs and edge cases, including several crashes, expedition pathing problems, wagon behavior, rebuilding logic, building interfaces, production updates, graphics settings, and other issues discovered during testing.
Features & Improvements
Woodcutters can now be killed when a building is placed directly on them.
Improved Woodcutter Hut performance and behavior in Grow and Balance modes.
Improved quest fast travel with camera zoom toward distant target buildings.
Opening tutorial pages now pauses the game and blurs the background.
Added social media buttons to the Main Menu.
Added resource information to the top section of the Book UI.
Distant alarms now switch to a simplified compact state.
Added shorter time intervals for budget calculations.
Added the Tailor House to the demo.
Expanded the Great Fire system with new rules for fire spreading across the city.
Added a detailed quest information window accessible from the quest list.
Added building overlay highlighting based on their areas of effect.
Trees can no longer be planted on beaches.
Added automatic graphics presets based on the player's hardware.
Scout Station efficiency now depends on the number of assigned workers.
Completed quests are now visually marked in the HUD and notifications.
Added new building tutorials.
Updated sound behavior while the game is paused.
Added notifications and result details for completed expeditions.
Expanded the Ideology system with faction influence from artwork and emotions.
Completed Points of Interest can now be hidden.
Added a weather information widget to the HUD.
Research from unique Points of Interest can now influence the Balance of Power.
Added and expanded sound effects across the game.
Added a new Building Links system with greater control over wagons and building connections.
Added resource sorting to building Storage tabs.
Added a filter legend explaining building overlay colors.
Improved path handling for Scouts and Woodcutters around buildings with blocked road access.
Added smoke to burning buildings with wind-influenced behavior.
Added sound effects when placing buildings.
Updated wagon speed rules and wagon management in the Building Links system.
Added language selection to the Main Menu.
Added Ukrainian localization.
Bug Fixes
Corrected the Quest Log tooltip wording in the HUD.
Fixed Lower Class worker counts in the Scout Station after reducing the number of Scouts.
Wagons without workers no longer reserve resources or interfere with logistics.
Fixed a crash that could occur when starting a new game.
Client-building overlays now update correctly when buildings are constructed while the owning building window is open.
Point of Interest pop-ups now update correctly after a previously failed expedition succeeds.
Fixed incorrect building area-of-effect previews while moving buildings.
Rebuilt buildings now restore the correct manually assigned worker count.
Lumberjacks now correctly interact with fallen trees in Balance mode.
Fixed negative free Worker Point values after the Scout Station is ruined.
Corrected Religion and Science placement in the Balance of Power display.
Fixed a typo in the Pier interface.
Fixed false path-blocked alarms appearing above Woodcutter Huts.
Fixed expeditions being available for Points of Interest without the required transport.
Budget period switching now displays the correct latest balance.
Corrected swapped Week and Month buttons in the Budget screen.
Fixed expedition crews becoming stuck when their return path is blocked.
Quest fast travel now centers the camera on the target building with a single click.
Lumberjacks now correctly return to their Woodcutter Hut when it is disabled.
Multi-issue alarm indicators now update correctly when issues are resolved at a distance.
Fixed expeditions getting stuck when their path becomes blocked during preparation.
Restored the missing Lumberyard mesh.
Fixed a crash when destroying Tenements.
Farm fields are now removed correctly when relocating the Farm Hut.
Fixed a crash related to constructing a Church Level 3.
Steam Engine research now correctly adds its Steampunk ideology influence.
Points of Interest no longer begin spawning before a Scout Station is built.
Corrected money formatting in the Budget screen.
Farm resource icons now update correctly when changing production.
Building tooltips now correctly display construction costs.
The HUD now restores correctly after opening Citizen Limitations from the Book.
Fixed the loading screen remaining indefinitely when the game loses focus during loading.
Fixed repeated wagon loading animations spawning every second.
Camera movement is now disabled while the Point of Interest result window is open.
Fixed a crash when a building is ruined during a wagon loading animation.
Wagon counts are now restored correctly when rebuilding ruins.
Lumberjacks now select and interact with trees correctly in Balance mode.
Corrected the resource warning title in the event pop-up.
Fixed Lower Class citizen distribution after rebuilding a Scout Station.
Fixed wagon and wagon-cover props appearing incorrectly on citizens during loading animations.
Building stove smoke now appears correctly in pre-built towns.
Corrected the Building Links system name in building interfaces.
Removed wagons are now marked correctly in building management.
The Storage interface now updates correctly when an unassigned wagon is removed.
Fixed the default Storage wagon link to prevent an early-game progression lock.
Graphics settings are now correctly applied after pressing Apply.
Production rates now update in real time in the Building Links window.
Fixed the Game Over tutorial appearing incorrectly at the start of the game.
We're Going to Gamescom!
Development isn't the only thing keeping us busy.
Farom Studio and Age After Age are coming to Gamescom.
You will be able to find us at:
HALL 10.2 | BOOTH F-021g
Games From Ukraine pavilion
If you're attending Gamescom, come and say hello!
We'll have the team there, we'll be showing the game, and we're preparing something a little different specifically for the event.
We're going to leave that one unexplained for now.
You'll see. :)
After Gamescom
Gamescom isn't the finish line. Our next major target is Steam Next Fest, and we're already preparing something many of you have been asking us about.
Sandbox Mode
Until now, much of what we've shown has been focused on structured gameplay, systems, challenges, and the problems the player needs to solve.
Sandbox will give you considerably more freedom to experiment with those systems and build on your own terms. We're still working on it, so we'll talk about the exact structure and available options closer to Next Fest.
But yes: we heard You.
Sandbox is coming. Between the Ukrainian Games Festival, Gamescom, the new build, logistics improvements, localization, and preparation for Steam Next Fest, the next few weeks are going to be very busy for us. And there is still quite a lot we haven't shown.
Thank you for playing, testing, reporting problems, and continuing to tell us what you want to see in Age After Age.
See you in the next update - or, for some of you, at Gamescom.