Hearthlands
Hearthlands Status Update
First of all the plan was to do some promotions for Hearthlands to see if there's still interest for the game. If there was I would consider making an update or even a DLC. This would require new assets, which isn't cheap, so I wanted to make sure this was worth the investment.
Hearthlands has been quite popular, which I'm very thankful for, but I feel it was missed by many people due to a total lack of marketing (which isn't something I'm good at or really interested in). So I was planning to get into that kind of stuff this year.
Another plan was to implement sound effects for Elsewhere. This is a long and tedious job, since I estimate the game needs about 600 sound effects. Every sound effect needs to be found, purchased, processed, adjusted, added to the game and tested. I wanted to finally give Elsewhere a wider release and sound effects were an absolute must.
As I was in the middle of both, the bad things happened. I don't want to talk about the bad things, they've been talked about enough, just gonna say that at first they put my ability to do what I love in jeopardy and now my very freedom is in danger too. At the moment I'm still able to accept payments, but this may change overnight. As with my freedom - I just have to see what happens.
The thing with promotions is simply not possible at the moment, so it has to be postponed.
As staying focused and productive became difficult, a few months ago I decided to take a break from implementing countless sound effects and do something new instead. Hopefully that will be released before the end of the year. A silver lining I guess.
Sound effects will hopefully be finished by the end of the year too (if of course I'm able to keep working). Though I decided not to wait until they are all done and polished, and release an intermediate update with about half of them implemented. Version 0.2.2 is available now and includes almost all mob and machine sounds plus a bunch of others (roughly half of total) as well as some fixes and improvements. More info on the website: https://elsewheregame.net
I didn't do or say anything public since late February, basically hoping it all just going to end soon and I will pretend to myself that nothing happened, so I'm sorry for the silence. Nothing is dead or abandoned, just didn't work out quite as planned.
This has been a wild ride.
In other news, last year Hearthlands was part of the Jingle Jam by the Yogscast, who I've been a big fan of since the good old SOI days. Check out the VOD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKbc7h518n8
A couple of months ago one of my favourite city-builder youtubers GamerZakh made a video about Hearthlands! He compares the game to the unreleased Medieval Mayor which was supposed to be the next game in the Caesar/Pharaoh/Zeus/Emperor series. Can confirm that Hearthlands was inspired by the lack of a game like that. Had to do everything myself:) Check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8uKNKwPN8A
I haven't watched either of the videos, since it would be too nerve racking for me, so I hope they're saying good things about the game.
Let's hope it's just good news from now on.
Thank you for your support!
Stay safe,
Sergio
What's new in 1.3.0
There was a copyright strike against me, but luckily the issue now got resolved and I have papers to prove that I do indeed own the game I made.
This is a technical update:
- Added Italian language (made by Andrea Di Stefano).
- Fixed issues with special characted not displaying correctly.
- Improved 4K support: at first (clean) launch the game will start at full screen and adjust UI size automatically based on screen resolution. "Big screen" option now goes higher (so you can manually set UI to be bigger than before).
- You can now zoom in closer and zoom out farther.
Please let me know if something's broken (info@hearthlands.com)!
Thank you for your support!
Hearthlands Status Update
Hope you’re all in good health.
It’s evident that with a full-time job, personal responsibilities, a time-consuming project and a finished game (plus my poor time-management skills) it is hard for me to keep up with everything as fully as it deserves to be kept up with.
I apologize for that and I thank you for being here and reading this.
Please feel free to join my Discord, where I’ll try my best at answering questions and discussing things.
I keep it on most of the day, since I’m also using it for work, but may not be able to answer everything right away.
Let me know if I’m missing something important.
Frequently asked question: Is the game still being developed?
The game is complete with a full campaign mode as well as a sandbox mode. It has four factions, randomized and customizable maps, in total - at least tens of hours of gameplay.
I know that these days it is customary to keep adding content to a 10 year old game, but I don't think it adds that much value to something that is already good. While working on the game I realized that adding stuff doesn't necessarily make experience better, but it makes things more complicated. People often do that because it increases profits, but I would rather do something new. The game is made by the team of one, and I just don't have enough resources to keep putting in the same level of effort as I had 7 years ago.
I keep making minor updates from time to time, and I see that there's still interest for a DLC, so maybe I'll be able to do that as some point.
There will be an update soon: Italian language + some minor things. I'll be uploading it to GOG and Humble too.
Another problem with adding new content is that I don't have an artist. Original artist has not done anything since soon after the release (though I kept making payments). Some bad stuff had also been done in the past. I don't feel like going into detail here, let me just say that it's a miracle that the game got made in the first place. Never do business with your friends.
Having said that, I want to say that it has been an amazing experience, and I'm forever grateful to the community for letting it happen. It's great to know that all the effort and hard work (from me and everyone who helped and keeps helping) means something. I'm very proud with how the game turned out - the game I wanted (and tried to) make since the age of 7.
Thank you and stay safe.
Sergio
What's new in 1.2.2
This is another technical update:
- Window can be minimized by pressing F11
- Option for fullscreen window to be automatically minimized if focus is lost
- Option for locking mouse cursor to the screen (in fullscreen mode with multiple monitors)
- Fixed mouse scrolling on MacOS
- Upgraded to LWJGL 3.2.3
Please let me know if something's broken (info@hearthlands.com)!
In other news, Elsewhere 0.1.3 is coming soon. Here's a little teaser:
Thank you for your support!
What's new in 1.2.1
- Fixed the problem with keybindings
- Fixed mouse scroll
- Mouse events don't register if game window is not focused
- Game window doesn't minimize when loses focus (useful for two-monitor setup)
The game is updated on Steam and Humble. GOG version should be updated soon as well (I did my part).
Please let me know if something's broken (info@hearthlands.com)!
In other news, Elsewhere is up to version 0.0.7:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO4AQ3s2x5w
Thank you for your support!
What's new in 1.2.0
This is a technical update with no new content. It's been over 5 years already since the development started and over two years since version 1.0.0 was released, so a lot of stuff needed to be brought up to date with technology. This required rewriting a lot of low-level engine stuff, so hopefully nothing's broken.
Also the game is now 64-bit only and the Mac version requires 10.9+.
I want to say that I plan at least one more update this year, but can't really promise that, since there's a lot of stuff going on at the same time for me right now (which is totally my fault).
And I really wanna play the campaign again:)
Please let me know if there are any problems with the latest build (info@hearthlands.com).
Thank you for your support!
Elsewhere 0.0.2 Giveaway
A new version of Elsewhere is now available on the website (http://elsewheregame.net)
I’d like to get more feedback so I’m giving away gift codes. If you want to try out the game please leave a comment to this post, and I’ll send you a code with a direct message. Or you can leave me a message or send an email to info@hearthlands.com.
The codes can be redeemed at Humble Bundle.
It would be great if you could send me an email after you’ve tried the game. Does it work? Did you encounter any lag, bugs or crashes? What do you think should be in the game?
For example, at the moment I’m not quite sure how the game should start. After player spawns in the wilderness, what should be their first steps?
I don’t want the first few minutes of the game to be too familiar, but at the same time I want them to be intuitive. Plus, I don’t want the beginning of the game to be too long.
Thank you for your support!
Hearthlands, Elsewhere and other things
It's been a while and I'd like to say a few words about what's been going on and what to expect in the future.
So, first of all I've been planning an update/DLC for Hearthlands with an additional campaign (or, most likely several smaller campaigns) and some new things. I don't want to promise anything I may not be able to provide, so I won't set a release date for it. Ideally, I'd like to complete it this year, but there's too much stuff going on right now to be absolutely sure.
Last year Simon and I started working on a new Hearthlands-style game. So far, I reworked Hearthlands engine to support things like day/night cycle and modding and came up with general game design elements, while Simon made some great concept art. At this point, it's too early to show anything though, as things may still change a few times.
I have something to show you though. A few months ago, I decided to finally release a game I've been working on (with many long breaks) since before Hearthlands (it's been five years!). It took longer than expected and there were many things to add, change, polish and make graphic assets for, but the first version is finally out. The game is called “Elsewhere” and it's still at a very early stage, although I find quite interesting already.
Watch the trailer
You can find more info about the game on its website: http://elsewheregame.net
I must say, it feels a bit weird releasing something to the public after I pretty much kept it to myself for five years, but hey, I guess it had to be done at some point:)
The next version of Elsewhere is mostly done and comes out this month. Also at some point, I will publish it on Steam and give a Steam key to everyone who already owns it.
Basically, right now I'm trying to do all these things at the same time, along with other obligations, which, obviously doesn't work out exactly as perfect as I'd like, but we'll get there eventually.
If you have any questions or suggestions, you can reach me at info@hearthlands.com. Thank you for your continuous support over the last 4.5 years. Without it, I wouldn't have been able to do what I love professionally.
What's new in 1.1.3
There's been a silent update with some changes to the Mac OS build, it seems to be working better now. Also, it comes bundled with JRE.
Russian language added! I used a fan translation by aNNiPAk, Nicodimus, LinXP and kathnox (thank you a lot!), added missing text and a bunch of editing. It still took much longer than I thought though, but it's finally here!
Items that aren't being accepted are now shown in darker font on the stockpile window.
Tribute values in mission 8 are fixed.
Extra spaces in Spanish translation are fixed.
Saturation option in Settings menu lets you change saturation of in-game objects and terrain (reload the game to apply).
Peaceful (mostly) victory! You can now build a Wonder, which takes a whole bunch of time and resources to complete, but if you manage to hold it for 10 years, you win the game. Neighboring cities become more aggressive while you're building it (unless they are set to Passive), so you need to make sure your defenses are up.
PS Is it just me or every image in every announcement except this one got removed? What the f?
Edit: Fixed!
Status update
There's going to be another update soon, with some fixes, improvements and suggestions. Initially I planned two updates before the end of the year, but unfortunately, I got caught up in some personal stuff and wasn't able to be as productive as I wanted. Thanks everybody for your patience!
First of all, Russian translation is completed and will be included in the next update. It took a while and it is probably still a bit rough at places. Big thanks to the community for their help!
Another addition is a wonder-type building (it haven't got a name yet). It is a massive structure built in stages and it makes it possible to 'win' the game peacefully.
Thank you for your support!