Hello Elder!
Hope you are having fun with the game! This has been a very busy week for me, with all that is happening inside and outside the game. While I sort everything out, I am happy to be able to dedicate some time to the game!
What is the plan?
For now, the plan is to make some small changes to make the experience better, and then I'll start working on Controller Support and to get the game Steam Deck Verified. I am reading all the suggestions and I saw some pretty cool ones, but keep in mind that time is a scarce resource (just as Pip turns), so I need to prioritize.
Here is what I am focusing on at the moment (apart from bugfixes and small changes)!
The Doomsday
As you may have seen from an earlier update this week, I am working on a new mechanic that is designed to make the game shorter, *if* you are playing good. t will first appear in the experimental branch and we will test it there a bit!
Overcrowding
I see that many of you are making... way too many Pips! That was not intended, as I underestimated your willingness to handle the complexity of having 100+ or even 200+ Pips at once. I am working on a mechanic that will make it less optimal to make so many Pips, and that one will too appear in the experimental branch.
Soft locks?
If you encountered some bug that does not let you pass the turn, know that the experimental branch now has more fixes tied to them (they are increasingly rare, so it should not happen for the most part!). If you still encounter one, do send it to me!
Balance?
I know that some buildings and resources need a lift, I am collecting feedback and will act on it, but this will take some time since the balance can be really delicate!
Content creators!
I have a small warning to make if you are a content creator: it has been brought to my attention that some content creator are receiving copyright claims tied to the music of dotAGE. If this happens to you with new content, or old content, please dispute the claim as being fair use and it will be lifted basically immediately. If you have any issue, do send the link to your content to me and I'll shove it into their support mail to get it fixed! I am working with them to get this changed altogether.
Here is the changelog for the current Experimental branch
V 1.0.0.0021 EXPERIMENTAL
Balance
- Starting food generation now takes into account the starting reachable area, making sure you get a minimum amount of food inside it (not for the Captain)
- Reduced maximum Mastery Level from 20 to 10 (I'm trying to find a humanly reachable value)
UX
- Added Seasonal tile colors for Highly Fertile terrains
- Super Fast Mode will now also skip Elder visions (this will make it harder to see them appearing, of course)
Bugfixes
- Fixed Mastery Level hint when you complete your first Hard or Harder game not appearing anymore
- Fixed actions not being cleared correctly when a building becomes abandoned
- Fixed rare bug where some patterns could cause a Healer to get stuck on load due to its building being abandoned
- Fixed map generation sometimes not generating enough reachable Mountain tiles
- Fixed multiple workers being able to be assigned at some buildings that allowed only one to be assigned.
- Fixed a rare bug with season change blocking the game in some maps
- Fixed challenge mode UI acting weirdly if you change elder (note that if you saw 1/0 it means you did not unlock it for that Elder yet, it was an error)
- Fixed a few localization errors
System
- Minor performance optimizations
- Added unique game versioning to handle further addition of mechanics
Have fun!
- Michele