Odd Realm
Friday, August 23rd Update - Work-Work
I'm still alive! I just wanted to give you a quick update so you don't feel like I've abandoned you.
I've been super busy fixing and re-writing a lot of world and rendering tech I wrote early in development. Since the beginning of early access a lot of bugs and minor issues or roadblocks popup from these systems, so it was passed time for me to clean it up. Unfortunately, this means nothing in terms of new content or features. However, with these systems written properly, I'll be able to implement things much easier and with fewer bugs going forward.
One example of rendering improvements is how I treat blueprints. Before, a blueprint would completely replace a previous block but create a facsimile of what was there. With the newer rendering system, I'm able to display two blocks occupying the same space. i.e., A dirt wall blueprint placed over a stack of wood logs.
Blueprints Example 1
Blueprints Example 2
Also, how I was handling transparency was a complete hack and kept me from having multiple layers of transparent textures. You may or may not have noticed graphical issues related to this but a lot of things (water for example) were really poorly implemented.
Some less interesting improvements are how I track items and other inventoried block points. Many a bug came from this area.
Anywho, no new or exciting features/content to announce but once I'm done this stuff, I'm hoping to jump onto improving and adding to rooms. I'll be sure to keep you updated.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Waylon
Friday Update - Roadmap and Release Scheduling
Hope all is well with you amazing folks.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I won't be putting out any updates today. I'm currently working on a ton of stuff still and am nowhere near having a ready build.
This brings me to the topic of release schedules for builds and such. Up until now, I've generally tried to put out a new build each week with the alternating cadence of one week production, one week beta. I'm going to switch this to monthly themed production builds. Why the switch? Well, I'm finding it very difficult to complete bigger tasks within the two week window. I find I hurriedly put a feature in and push to the beta branch only to break things or to find out the feature was poorly designed. As well, I tend to lean towards working on smaller features out of fear of not being able to finish it within that time-frame. Aside from just being stressful, this often results in me having to scrap my weekend to put out hotfixes and, frankly, it's starting to burn me out.
So, with the new release schedule, it would look something like this:
-A new month begins (let's use September as the example) and I begin work on a themed feature set for that month.
-Week 1 and 2 of Sept. - focus on design, discussion with the community, and implementation of the feature set.
-Week 3 - Make changes and add content (by content I mean smaller things like items, props, art, etc - nothing huge) based on feedback, find bugs, focus on tuning.
-Week 4 - Nothing new is added to the build. Focus is 100% on bug fixes.
-Push new changes to production build on the first Thursday (so, I can potentially put out hotfixes on Friday if they are needed) of the next Month (October in this case).
I will likely put out beta builds at an irregular cadence based on this new schedule. It will depend on the feature being added and when it's ready for public playtests. So, there could very well still be weekly builds, but there's no guarantee.
Regarding themed builds, I'm also going to put together a roadmap for development, highlighting what each month will focus on. I'll post an announcement for this when it's ready.
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Waylon
Patch 0.8.15.0 Beta - New Props, New Lighting, Bug Fixes
Hey all!
Just uploaded the most recent changes to the steam Beta branch.
This update is likely to be pretty buggy, so, only get it at your own risk.
Why is it a risky build? I've made a significant change to how light acts underground. Before, lights produced by torches and other similar devices would not penetrate the ground. Now it does. This may or may not cause problems because visibility was a huge part of determining whether your settlers could do something. Is that mining job visible? No? Ok, we won't do it. Now, you can see much further into the earth. So this might have issues where settlers think they can do something when they really can't yet. I've gone through the majority, if not all, the instances where this comes up but, hey, it's easy to miss things.
Also, the load times are slightly bloated because I'm doing some extra work with lighting and path checks. This week I'm going to improve load times but I thought I'd mention this as it may be noticeable to you.
So why did I make this change to lighting? I really want people to explore underground and to be able to find ore and dungeons easier. Plus, without light penetrating the earth, the game felt a bit claustrophobic or cramped.
Aside from lighting, I've add some additional props to the game to spice things up a bit. Things like hatches and death spikes but also more aesthetic items like hedges.
OH, I've also tracked down a bug with Tin ore not generating. Many of you were mentioning how hard it is to find Tin and, well, it was barely being generating. So, there ya go.
Anywhozle, here are the notes:
-Fixed a bug where the icon for liquids wasn't showing up in the filters for blueprints.
-Added 'Nax Hedge' prop.
-Added 'Nax Hedge Lantern' prop.
-Fixed a bug where rotatable blueprints wouldn't align with other blueprints.
-Fixed a bug where damage had double output.
-Entities will now prefer to walk on paths. And some paths provide faster slightly faster movement.
-Lights will now reveal hidden underground blocks.
-Fixed a bug where jobs couldn't be started from the block below if it had a platform.
-Fixed a bug where the fx for torches and other props would not line up if you placed a floor blueprint under the prop and then it was cancelled or finished.
-Fixed a bug where tin wasn't properly generating in every block type.
-Tuned iron to be harder to find near the surface.
-Increased drop rate of wood logs from trees.
-Updated art for Kalite.
-Added wood and stone hatches.
-Added wood and stone trap doors.
-Added wood, stone, bronze, iron, steel and rutile spikes.
This week I'm going to do a pass on terrain art. Now that you can see them with lights, they definitely need some visual treatment. Kalite is the only one I had time to update, so you'll notice blocks like Ember Rock, Ridgestone, Sandstone, etc, look like butt. I'm going to fix that!
As well, I wanted to spend the week focusing on various issues people have been encountering. Mostly minor or QoL things that have been stacking up while I implement newer features.
That's all for now. Have a great weekend!
Waylon
Patch 0.8.14.0 Prod - Beta Merge
Just a quick update to let you know that the production branch is now up-to-date with all the beta changes.
This update includes changes from:
0.8.11.0 Beta - Notif UI Update, Fixes, Events
0.8.12.0/0.8.13.0 Beta - New Room Actions Menu and Fixes
Additional changes/fixes:
-Fixed a bug where Ancients would take the last names of their companion.
-Fixed a bug where some of the human elder portraits were swapped.
-Fixed a bug where gooseberry wine had the wrong inline icon.
-Hitting 'f' will now have the camera follow the currently selected entity.
-Clicking a notif will now snap you to the event location.
-Brightened up workstation blueprint queue count text.
-Increased quality of props so rooms aren't all mediocre.
-Fixed another issue where ancients could starve while migrating.
-Migration carry amount now determined by carry skill of settlers on journey.
-Fixed a load hang bug.
Thanks!
Waylon
Patch 0.8.13.0 Beta - New Room Actions Menu And Bug Fixes
Happy Friday!
I know you folks are waiting for the production build but I'm going to keep these changes in beta until I'm happy with stability. It's not quite there yet. I'd like to move these changes to production tomorrow but I'll need to see if it still has major bugs to fix. Thanks for the patience. :)
There is one new feature which I've added to the game and that's Room Actions. This is a new menu found on the toolbar. It's where you'll find special abilities related to rooms. We're very light on these at the moment with the Farsight Beacon being the only room with an action currently. We have big plans for more actions though! Some that come to mind are:
-Town hall bell - ringing it sends everyone to the town hall except your fighters/militia.
-Trade with Merchant - we plan on adding a merchant-type room where travelling merchants will camp for periods of time. When they are in town, you'll be able to open the merchant screen with this room action.
-Arena/Tavern/Performance events - This isn't super fleshed out but the idea is you'd open and start things like performances for the settlement through here.
Anywho, we'll put many more in there but currently the Ancients are the only ones where you'll actually see this menu.
Here are the patch notes:
-Fixed a bug where you could use the pathing utility to see hidden places underground.
-Various performance improvements.
-Fixed a bug where blueprints counted as required props.
-Fixed a bug where container contents weren't spacing out name and quality.
-Added new Room Actions Menu.
-Added Farsight Beacon action.
-Added sfx for summoning Void Woken and Void Imps.
-Fixed a bug where some of the gods weren't able to attack properly.
-Fixed a bug where entities could work for free at a workstation if part of the required materials was not in the same pathing room as the player.
-Fixed a bug where summoned minions are allowed to fish. (NO FISHING FOR YOU, VOID IMP)
-Fixed yet another bug where battle music gets stuck because your newly tamed animals thinks the settlers are threats. I mean, they are but still.
-Added coin sfx for trading.
-Fixed a bug where npc spawns were still using coast spawn before border spawn.
-Fixed a bug where input sometimes wasn't read for some of the menu buttons.
-Fixed incorrect notification settings display text.
-Fixed a bug where workstation tasks weren't being started.
-Fixed a memory leak in workstations.
-Fixed a bug where blueprints with no item requirements (looking at you WELLHOUSE) were not being started.
Thanks! Have a great weekend. :)
Waylon
Patch 0.8.11.0 BETA - Notification UI Update, Fixes, Events
Hello!
Just uploaded the latest build which focuses on fixing a bunch of issues players were having. I'm still looking into some bugs regarding game load hang. I did also add a new event for the wilds which happens after a few seasons. I'm currently in the process of adding many more events and tuning previous ones. A lot of this week was focused on adding internal tools to do this more efficiently.
Here are the patch notes:
-Fixed a bug where Ancients, Void Woken and Void Imps could starve when migrating.
-Added better warning that migrating abandons settlement.
-Fixed a bug where entities weren't attacking with tools.
-Made a change where pathfinding is affected by timescale. i.e., faster timescales will run pathfinding faster as well.
-Updated notifications UI and sounds.
-Removed death notification for void imp.
-Added tutorial step to talk about notifications.
-Reduced value of water and purified water.
-Added total days in season to season tooltip.
-Item spawning should no longer discover underground places.
-Added a mid-game bandit scenario to wild biomes.
-Entities should no longer spawn inside bases that are walled off.
-Entities showing up at settlements will now first try to spawn at the map border before trying to spawn on an unobstructed coastline.
-Fixed a bug where new settlers were not updating (doing jobs) at the same speed as older settlers.
-Added current inventory count to workstation blueprint entries.
-Fixed a bug where the output of a blueprint wasn't factored into auto-queueing jobs. This would result in workstations creating way too much of the item.
-Fixed a bug where workstation auto-queue wasn't factoring in progress jobs into queue amount.
-Fixed a bug where items being carried were not being factored into workstation auto queue check.
-Added blueprint output count to workstation blueprints.
-Fixed a bug where selecting hostile/neutral entities would not play their sfx (if they do have sfx at all. Looking at you Ancients).
-Container capacity now determined by material type rather than prop type.
Next week I'll continue to work on adding new game events and later game content.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks,
Waylon
Patch 0.8.10.1 - Water Bug Hotfix
Just uploaded a fix for the water bug that people were encountering where settlers were dying of thirst. Sorry about this issue. Things should be back to normal.
Thanks,
Waylon
Patch 0.8.10.0 Is Now Live On The Production Branch
0.8.10.0 Beta Update Notes
Thanks and have a great weekend!
Waylon
Patch 0.8.10.0 BETA - Combat Improvements and New Ancients Summon (Void Imp)
Just uploaded the latest build to the Beta branch. This one was mostly focused around improving combat but I did also add a new summon for the Ancients. This one is called the Void Imp. Void Imps are really good at mining and Ancients have used them as pets for hundreds of years. Ancients definitely look down on imps (moreso than any other races) and you'll often find them naming their imps absurd names as a way to degrade these little clawed beasts.
Void Imps don't eat or drink but they have very short lifespans. Around 20 days. You can summon Void Imps with Arcane Dust, a new item which you can craft with Void Shards and Bones.
Here are the patch notes:
-Water is now treated as a beverage but does not provide buffs that are as good as purified water.
-Fixed a bug where you could tame/attack from far distances.
-Cleaned up projectile based attacks to factor in line of sight.
-Hold position will now have melee fighters only attack enemies that are within three tiles while archers/magic casters will hold their position and attack from afar.
-Cleaned up the attack positioning to be more spread out.
-Fixed a bug where some of the items were being considered 'inefficient weapons'
-Fixed a bug where taming an animal with an ally nearby would have that ally go berserk on the tame target. Poor chicken.
-Stealthed enemies will now be sighted when a settler is not working or sleeping.
-Added some dialogue and notifications for when an enemy is sighted.
-Fixed a bug where settlers would continue working if they are attacked.
-Fixed a bug where the bottom toolbar could get stuck animating in/out
-Added a new entity, the Void Imp.
-Added a new summon, the Void Imp.
-Ancients now spawn with more materials to get the basic rooms started.
-Fixed a bug where combat music could play forever.
-Fixed a bug where evocation and craft void skills were prioritized lower than all the other skills.
-Added new items, bone and arcane dust.
-Killed entities and caught fish will now spawn bones.
I'll be uploading this build to prod tomorrow!
This next week I'll continue to work on combat. This round will be focused on combat events and the behaviors of entities. i.e., How they attack and siege and where they spawn (fixing an issue where they'll spawn in your based).
Hope you all have great weekends!
Patch 0.8.9.1 - Beta To Prod Merge (Age, Happiness, New Tutorial, etc)
Just uploaded all the latest beta stuff to the production branch.
This patch includes everything from these previous patches:
Patch 0.8.5.0 Age, Thirst, Water
Patch 0.8.6.0 Shepherd, Well House, Settler Happiness, Improved Rooms UI
Patch 0.8.7.0 Fixes and New Hud
Patch 0.8.8.0 Fixes and New Tutorial
It also includes some fixes:
-Fixed a bug where void woken weren't allowed to own rooms.
-Added missing room icons.
-Fixed a bug where saves pre 0.8.4.2 would load elder and child professions and also load age incorrectly, causing settlers to turn into children.
-Fixed a bug where you were unable to add/remove items to the merchant sell/buy item lists.
-Fixed a bug where part of the choose profession UI had an invisible input blocker.
-Fixed a bug where beverages weren't showing up in tavern menu.
Thanks for being patient and waiting for me to fix all the bugs from the new stuff.
Have a nice day!
Waylon