Laysara: Summit Kingdom cover
Laysara: Summit Kingdom screenshot
Genre: Simulator, Strategy, Indie

Laysara: Summit Kingdom

Patch adding hotkey for moving buildings and fixing flickering icons

Hello!

We've just uploaded to Steam our biggest patch to date. The main thing is a slightly reworked "Move" function: it is now accessible from the toolbar, just like Copy or Demolish tools, and comes with its own hotkey (Left Ctrl, possible to rebind), making it to move buildings much easier, especially in bulk.

Full patch notes are available below, but just one more thing: -20% launch discount ends tomorrow, so if you are waiting to buy the game, you may take that into consideration :)

Patch notes:


  • A tool for moving buildings was added to the toolbar and got its hotkey
  • Changed default values of autosave settings (num: 3, frequency: 5 minutes), this change will affect only those who didn't change these settings
  • Fixed a bug with flickering/invisible status and upgrade icons above buildings
  • Fixed a bug with invalid indicators of desired satisfaction level, when satisfaction drops in level 4 houses
  • Fixed a bug making it impossible to scroll down/up the resource list in the Lift Station Base menu
  • Added an error message when rebinding keys left some actions without keys assigned to them
  • Added a possibility to assign the same key for an action during the standard game and during Photo Mode
  • Added sound when demolishing building using button in building's menu
  • Tweaked positions of shaft cabs


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in the Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

Hotifx 5 (ID 13912)

Hotifx 5 (ID 13912) is now live!

Patch notes:


  • Fixed a very rare bug with money balance having abstractly low/high values. Turns out, it was a manifestation of an even deeper level problem, which was causing some crashes - so they won't be happening from now on either.
  • Potential fix for crashes during a loading screen
  • Fixed a bug with displaying required resource counts in the 4th objective in Demon's Rest (provide scholarship to Monks)


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in the Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

PS: We've already started working on a first patch with some more complicated bug fixes and small quality-of-life improvements (hotkey for moving buildings).

Hotifx 4 (ID 13889)

Hotifx 4 (ID 13889) is now live!

Patch notes:


  • Fixed a game freeze (and massive RAM consumption) when loading certain games. As a side effect, loading all games got a little faster - well, we'll take it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • Removed incorrect minus sign from number of required yaks when building is non-operational
  • Added some debug info for helping investigation a very rare bug when money balance just randomly jumps to +/- billion or some bizarre number like that


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in the Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

Hotifx 3 (ID 13879)

Hotifx 3 (ID 13879) is now live!

Patch notes:


  • First balance tweak! Upkeep of Mr. Plow decreased from 50 to 25 (values for Professional difficulty, proportions are kept between all difficulties). When you have to use it, money is enough of a problem already :')
  • Thanks to debug info added to crash reports in the last patch, we was able to fix a crash related to sending resources to Trading Post / Lift Station Base, which was the most frequent one!
  • Cosmetic changes in a few English and Polish texts
  • Added even more debug info to help investigate some rarely occurring crashes (this have a potential to become a reoccurring theme)


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in the Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

Hotifx 2 (ID 13868)

Hotifx 2 (ID 13868) is now live!

Patch notes:


  • Fix for a bug (which could even result in a crash) when building multiple mines one after another
  • Fix in objective text in the German version, where tech text was displayed instead of a proper name of the resource that has to be exported
  • Fixed for order of camera slots in key bindings menu
  • Added some more debug info to help investigate some rarely occurring crashes
  • Cosmetic changes in a few English and Polish texts


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in the Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

Hotfix 1 just landed!

Hi!

We've just uploaded a patch (ID 13848) fixing some of the most common / critical things that were occurring to you since yesterday's launch.

Patchnotes:


  • Fix (hopefully) for a total game freeze caused by a bug in playing tutorial video clips
  • Fix for game crashing when launching a map, may not address all the situations, but should certainly help for many of them
  • Added a message box with info, that save files from demo version are not supported. Attempts to load them were causing all sorts of issues ^^
  • Automatically unpausing the game during tutorial when Academy is about to generate Research
  • Button "Show Advanced" hidden from difficulty selection panel (it's not implemented yet anyway ^^)
  • More debug info about game state added to crash reports, to help us investigate any possible remaining issues


To see if you have the latest patch, check the ID of your current game version by holding Left Alt in Main Menu. If it's not the latest ID, restart Steam - this will force it to detect the update.

Thanks for a great launch!



We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the love, support and feedback we got from you since yesterday! We appreciate every single comment, Discord message and review, keep them coming! We want to know, so we can make informed decisions about how to shape our Early Access journey :)

Once again, huge thanks and happy mountaineering!

Quite OK Team

Surprise! Laysara is out today in Early Access!

Hello everyone!

It’s finally time to grab your yaks and head to the mountaintops! We’re so happy to finally tell you that Laysara: Summit Kingdom has just launched into Steam Early Access! We decided to pair it with a pretty sweet -20% launch discount - a higher discount won’t happen anytime soon, so, you know… :D

If you want to know what exactly the game offers on EA launch, scroll down to our last post explaining that in detail. You can also enjoy our brand-new trailer!


To celebrate the launch, we partnered up with our friends responsible for Timberborn and The Wandering Village - if you had those on your radar too, you can now buy all three games in a neat bundle (or just buy the ones you don’t have to “complete the collection” with a cheeky extra discount)!



What now?



We’re releasing into your hands tons of content never seen before in our demo or other marketing materials, so we’re dying to learn what you think! Please, do let us know, the good and the bad! This is not the end of the journey, we’re excited to work towards expanding and improving Laysara while listening to your feedback :)

Our future plans will be heavily dependent on your feedback, but we of course have a general direction in mind :) Therefore, we’re also sharing the first version of our Roadmap, so you can know right from the start what to expect in the future.



Once again - this is only the first version, we’ll adapt it after hearing from you :) The best place to talk about this and the game in general would be our Discord - everyone’s invited! But if that’s not your thing, don’t worry, we’ll be around in the Steam forums too :)

We also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who participated in our game testing, played the demo and shared their insight about the game so far - it means a ton to us and it truly helped shape Laysara to its current form.



And the most important question…



No, there is no way to rotate buildings in game :’) We explained the rationale behind that in one of our previous posts here, but long story short, each building 3D model is adapted to the angled mountain slopes, so adding a rotation feature would require us to make alternative 3D models for every building :’) As a micro-sized team, we just couldn’t afford it.

Bummer, I know - but on the other hand, it’s kinda fun to rack your brain and come up with optimal town layouts with that extra limitation. I’m 100% the objective person to tell you that, right? ;)



Alrighty, let’s wrap it up! We’re so excited to have taken this big step, and we can’t wait to keep improving the game with all of you :D

Thank you for all of your support so far!

Quite OK Team

Approaching Early Access launch

Hi everybody!

The time has almost come - after years and years of work, we’re really close to launching Laysara into Early Access! We can’t share the exact date just yet, but know this: we’re about to drop the big (and by that I mean BIG) news during the upcoming The Triple-i Initiative showcase, on 10th of April - alongside the brand new trailer, showcasing Laysara in the best shape ever!

In the meantime, we want to give you all an overview of what to expect from EA version of the game.



Laysara Early Access Features



From the launch day, Laysara will contain a set of core mechanics like avalanches, three ways of resource transportation, Summit Temple, and weather breakdowns. The game is heavily focused on managing resource production chains, so you’ll have 70+ buildings and 30+ resources to play around with. These building blocks create an engaging gameplay experience already, but we don’t want to just throw them at you and say: “Here, figure it out and come up with your own goals and objectives for playing this game” - we want to give you some proper game structure from the very beginning.

This is why we decided that all of our game maps (basically a mountain for you to build on) will be not only just maps but rather scenarios - each with a different personality, manifesting itself in simple, yet unique storylines and different objectives, which complement different conditions and characteristics of the mountains themselves. Let’s take a look at a few examples!


Talontop - a beginner-friendly map, not so huge, but rich with natural resources. Nothing crazy, perfect for figuring things out - but don’t take it too lightly, as even here you can easily end up with half of a town buried under avalanche snow if you disregard the danger!

Windslab - an enormous map with plenty of space for farming and expanding your settlement, but with no deposits of rock crystals and salt - therefore you’ll have to resort to trading sooner or later. It’s snowing almost all the time in here, so make sure to put up your best avalanche protection game.

Splintered Soul - this map is divided into two parts, the first of which is ideal for farming, but some resource deposits and rivers can be found only in the second part. Also, some resources can be produced with maximum efficiency only in certain mountain zones, so this map will put your logistical skills to a real test.

On EA launch, the game will feature six scenarios as described above plus one additional, smaller mountain serving as a tutorial to give you some basic understanding of the game.


And a final word about game modes: besides Standard game mode, you’ll be able to freely build all the best-looking towns you can imagine without worrying about the economy at all in Free Build mode. Additionally, we prepared a few Challenges for you, which are essentially puzzles: can you reach a certain objective under limited time and/or space? Beware, these are not easy. Be prepared for multiple attempts!


What will come next?



We have a few (alright, maybe more than a few) things in mind that we’d love to add during Early Access - the most important thing being a new game mechanic or two, and a Campaign mode for 1.0 release. But more importantly, we’ll listen to your feedback and adjust our plans accordingly - that’s the reason why we’re launching in EA in the first place :)

Alright, that’s about it - see you folks on 10th April! In the meantime, come say hi to our Discord channel and let’s finally start a new chapter for Laysara together!

Quite OK Team

Exploring game mechanics: Yaks!

Hello there!

Long time no see :) We’ve been pretty busy with development work (more on that at the end), but it’s about time we do another one of these posts highlighting how different game mechanics work in Laysara. This time, let’s bring yaks to the spotlight!

Yaks in the game’s lore



Yaks are domesticated wild oxen with shaggy hair, humped shoulders and large horns. They can survive altitudes as high as 6000m above the sea level and as such, tend to live on mountains and plateaus. Wild yaks are native to the Himalayan region, which is a huge inspiration for the fictional world of Laysara.



Remember our previous Steam News post about the three social castes in Laysara? Well, yaks are basically the secret fourth. They play an important role in both the economy and traditions. Citizens admire yaks and care for them, making them pets on the one hand, but hard-working and valued members of society on the other.



Applications of the Yakforce



As mentioned before, yaks are quite crucial for the economy. A healthy herd of yaks can provide your kingdom with two key resources: Wool and Milk. Wool is used to weave fabric, which surely is something your people will appreciate given the harsh mountain conditions. Milk can be used to produce Cheese, which is one of the most common food sources in the game, or can be churned into Butter. Butter then can be utilized for brewing Butter Tea and manufacturing Butter Lamps (yes, it is really a thing). So there are quite a few resource chains based on good old yaks, and I didn’t even list them to their full extent!

In the pre-industrial era, yaks are an irreplaceable source of power. Do you need these heavy grinding stones rollin’ to turn grain into flour? Or some way to operate huge bellows to make the furnace temperature hot enough to smelt Ornaments? Heck, maybe you even have to power a whole resource-transporting mountain lift to the very mountain peak? Yep, you guessed it - yaks can do it all!



That brings us to the matter of transportation. You see, you can put only so many bags on a human’s shoulders and expect them to still be able to walk. Using some clever technology, like carts, will get you further, but that’s still not a serious competition for yaks. They will happily deliver all the goods all the way to the second side of the mountain for a handful of feed and a friendly pet.

Last but not least, people just love to be around yaks. A perfect example of that is a Yaks Race (yes, this is also a thing - just google it, I dare you), which attracts people no matter their age or gender, as it’s just so entertaining and ridiculously funny.



Breeding yaks



Alright, there is no prosperous town in Laysara’s kingdom without yaks - I hope we all see this by now. But how we can be sure there are enough of our furry friends around to fulfil all of these various responsibilities we just described? The answer is, of course, yak breeding. In the game, three buildings serve this very purpose:

Yak Pasture





Doesn’t get any more basic than this! A Yak Pasture is just a patch of land with a bunch of yaks wandering around and eating what they find. That’s also the reason why this building gets less effective when you place it on higher mountain zones - less nutritious grass to consume, resulting in fewer baby yaks being born. All in all, a Yak Pasture gives you a few healthy yaks and that’s great, but it takes a ton of space and you’ll quickly start looking for an alternative.

Worth noting, Yak Pasture is the only building unlocked from the very start - you’ll need to increase your Research level to use more advanced breeding facilities.

Compact Yak Breeder





As you can see by the name, this building solves the problem of space by just having yaks tightly packed together. Not the most wholesome thing in the world to do, but you’ll have to compensate for the tight squeeze on our dear yaks by feeding them some high-quality Fodder. This building will provide you with over a dozen yaks no matter the mountain zone you build it in, which is great, but there is one more way to approach the task of having plenty of yaks.

Yak Utopia





This is basically a spa for yaks, with enough space, food and conveniences to make them breed at an optimal tempo. Utilization of Perfumes may seem extravagant at first, but just look at the yaks' happy faces and you won’t question it ever again. And, of course, tons of Fodder to make every single Yak Utopia’s occupant full and happy. One single building of this type increases the yak population by a few dozen, which is exactly what you need if you want to go big with your town’s design.

And that’s how you’ll interact with our furry friends in a yakshell!

Release date status



To be honest, we don’t have any new updates to share in that regard. However, we thought it was worth mentioning that our development work is coming along smoothly and nicely. We hit some really important internal milestones and are now focusing on the final stages of pre-launch development, like translations, bugfixes, optimizations and polishing whatever we can. We leave you with a vague early 2024 release window for now, but it won’t be long before we’ll be ready to make a proper update on that!

Thanks for sticking around and see you in the comments / Discord!

Quite OK Team

Release date and development update

Hi!

As we approach the end of 2023, we want to share with you some updates about our schedule. So, without further ado, let’s get straight to the point.

Despite our efforts, we won’t be able to launch Laysara’s Early Access this year and our new target launch window is now early 2024.

Delaying the Early Access launch was not an easy decision to make. We really want to release Laysara as soon as possible, but we realized we'll need some extra time to deliver a polished and complete experience on launch - there are only three of us, so sometimes things take longer than we'd like to :') However, releasing a solid game enjoyable for every city-builder fan out there remains our top priority, it'll just take us a little longer.

Development status



To give you some more insight into where we’re currently sitting at: Laysara is basically feature complete, meaning all the game mechanics are implemented and working as intended. Some mechanics are pretty much finished, and others require a little more polish and updated final assets. Of course, we’re also constantly playing around with the game’s balance, looking for and fixing bugs, and implementing various optimizations and improvements to our game systems.



We’re also working on creating multiple mountains with different features. These will serve as levels in our game and will give you a variety of sceneries to establish a thriving city in. We’ll probably write a separate post about them in the future to highlight what you can expect :)



We’re also constantly upgrading the visual quality of our game, to make it easier to immerse yourself in the world of Laysara. As an example, we’re in the process of adding new 3D models and custom animations of all the animals and workers!



We also regularly play the game together to review our progress, discuss if we’re happy with recent changes and decide / prioritize what else needs to be done. We’re working remotely from different cities so we usually do this during video calls, but recently we’ve met up to play Laysara together in real life - it’s been actually super beneficial to do this in person. Seeing each other face-to-face has been really nice :)



And that’s all that we’ve got for you today. We’re asking for a little bit more of your patience and going back straight to work - we’re looking forward to launching Laysara as much as you do, believe us :)

Thank you for all the support so far!

Quite OK Team