Hi everyone, 1.3 is here :)
A few months ago I posted about a 2.0 update in the discussion forum and it can be found here.
After working through the new features, I feel that the changes isn't big enough to call it 2.0 so it shall be called 1.3 instead.
Let's start with the new ambitions and buildings since they are the easiest to understand and discuss.
New Ambitions
There are 3 new ambitions in this content patch, Flight, Voyage and a secret ambition. Flight is a simple ambition, so I'll let you experience it yourself.
Voyage ambition is an epic ambition that requires you to set off to find the new world toward the east.
Before you set off, you will need to build your ship and upgrade it. Upgrading it fully will give you an easier time while out in sea. Can you find the new world ?
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New Buildings
2 new food buildings and 2 new utility buildings are added to the game.
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They add new ways to play the games and also provide synergies with existing buildings.
Rework of existing systems
Exploration mechanics
The deep exploration mechanic is one of the mechanics that I wasn't satisfied with.
I didn't like locations that provided just free research as they are rarely useful and they make exploring with some dice useless. There is also the problem with exploration being too random and also in some cases too weak/strong.
In this patch, unique locations and research locations are merged into one. Each biome now have 2 unique locations, a common one and a rare one. The research locations now also provide a minor benefit in additional to the research. For example, the "Wheat Field" location provide a single use food resource in additional to the the Farm research.
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Overall the new locations allow for new strategy, including one that allow you to beat the game without building any food buildings.
New Mechanics
Knowledge
Knowledge is a type of passive upgrades that you can get by using Science. Each tribe can have 2 knowledge at once. There are currently 8 knowledge in the game. There are simple ones like "Foraging Master" which increase resources in locations and also slightly more complex ones like "First Aid Training" which gives additional (5) face to dice.
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Balancing the game
Tribes
Many of the tribes have also been reworked and updated with the new content :).
Ascensions
Initially I plan to have 20 levels for ascensions. However, after balancing some of the systems, and also looking at the few difficulty modifiers that I have, I find many of them pointless, so I settled on 15 levels instead.
A10 is what the game is balanced around. If you have a good understanding of the game, it will be possible you to win 100% on A10. A11 - A15 each add additional challenges to the game, with A14 and A15 just there for anyone who want an unfair experience.
Quality of life
There are quite a few quality of life features that have been added to the game. I want to just point out 2 of them which is really useful.
Hovering over slots
When hovering over any slot, the dice that can be placed there will float up. This is useful by itself to see which dice can use the slot. However, it is even more useful when you hover over tools.
For example, flip has always been one of the most troublesome tool to use since you can't tell what the outcome will be until you hover over each dice. Now you can immediately see what the outcome is by hovering over the Flip tool. This also works for other tools that have deterministic outcome or a singular outcome.
Event calendar
By hovering over the turn icon on the top left, you can now see the events that is happening on the next 2 turns. Although most events are predictable and you will know when they happen after a few games, this should help you when you are still learning the game.
Secret events or events generated from other boards are not shown.
Others
Steam Achievements
Steam achievements have always been the last priority for me. Luckily, I didn't encounter any delay in the development of the other features, and I managed to integrate them in this patch.
Steam OS
Support for SteamOS is now available. I personally have not test it on SteamOS, but have tested it on similar linux version. If anyone encounters any issue, do report.
Updated Demo
As part of this content patch, I have also decided to update the demo to have 2 playable tribes. As mentioned in the past, the demo is more of a F2P version of the game, and allows more people to try out the game before buying.
Last Thoughts
As part of this content patch, I also reworked a lot of the systems to allow me to add new content easier in the future. The tricky thing is that I have implemented most if not all the ideas that I have. If you have new ideas, feel free to suggest and they might get added to the game :).
Admittedly, many of these features should have been there on launch. As a solo developer, time is a luxury. In additional to that, it is hard to get feedback when you don't yet have players, especially when it is your first game. Thanks to everyone for the patience and I hope you enjoy this patch.
And again, if you have read this far, thanks for reading :).