The work with new version, 3.83, is soon finished and we hereby ease the anticipation with an early beta release for Windows. Thus, version 3.83 beta for Windows is now available as a beta branch you need to opt-into at your Steam Library. This will be explained below.
Once the Windows version stability is confirmed, wrapping things up for all the supported operating systems will follow and we aim to have have 3.83 stable version released this month.
The most notable additions in version 3.83 are weapon/tool hafting and the haft wear out mechanics, and pausable arrowmaking and tanning. Find full changelog at the end of this post, but first let's have a closer look at the hafting and haft wear out mechanics.
Hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts
Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Haft refers to their wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills. In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required. The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.
Hafts wearing out in use
Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break. Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat. In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving.
Here's a bear fighting scene with a companion called Aimo. Aimo's spear haft breaks at the critical moment, but he wisely proceeds to grab the fallen spear head. If need be, spear heads can be used as sort of substitute for a weapon, although far less effectively than a proper spear.
How to opt-into 3.83 (beta) for Windows
First, quit the game if you were playing it.
Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
The access code for this release is urwbeta383win Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
Selection to Opt into 3.83 (beta) appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!
Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta version just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous stable version 3.82.
Changelog
Version 3.83 (beta) changelog
** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **
BETA NOTICE:
This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.
- added: hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts
Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Wooden shovel is an exception as it's made out of single piece of wood. Haft refers to the wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When the haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool. For hafting, there are now new craftable "axe haft", "spear haft" and "shovel haft" items. In reality the haft shape and proportions do vary depending on the axe or spear type, but in order not to make things overly complex the two generic spear and axes hafts work for all the different types of spears and axes. The different axe and spear heads now also exist as separate items. For the axes there are handaxe head, carving axe head, broad axe head, woodsman's axe head and so on. And for the spears there are kaumolais spear head, northern spear head, and so on. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted so the heads aren't commonly found on their own. When the haft breaks the head and broken haft do drop on the ground, along with pause prompted game message. You can then carve a new haft and haft the head to assemble a working weapon or shovel again. The broken hafts are of no use and are best utilized as firewood. Crafting hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The following self-explanatory options are available there: * Axe haft * Spear haft * Shovel haft * Haft a weapon or tool * Remove the haft The first three options are used to craft a new haft, followed by the actual hafting option to assemble a working weapon or shovel. You may also remove the haft at will for example to replace worn out haft early on. However, removing the haft may damage it a little bit so it's not recommended to do unless necessary. Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself require CARPENTRY skills. The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished weapon or tool usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the item quality even below the head quality itself. Thus the finished axe, spear or shovel quality now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft. There are new game encyclopedia (F1) entries for the relevant topics: AXE HEAD, AHE HAFT, SPEAR HEAD, SPEAR HAFT, SHOVEL BLADE and SHOVEL HAFT
- added: hafts wearing out in use
Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break. Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat. In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving. The haft wear out level can be noticed in character's inventory with the progressing wear bar. Hafts are in the risk of breaking apart when they've worn to about 80% of the original condition. Accumulating haft damage can also lead to decrease in the axe or spear overall quality.
- modding add: new crafting requirement entries
{Hammering tool} This defines requirement for a tool that is used to hammer things in place. It's used in hafting an axe. The butt of an axe is commonly used as a hammering tool, but clubs, pieces of firewood or stones can be also used as a substitute.
{Axe or carving knife} This defines requirement for a tool used in rough woodworking and carving. It's used in crafting hafts to carve out their rough shape from a slender tree trunk. Axe is the preferred tool here and always the best option, but usage of knives is allowed as a substitute - even though they make the task significantly slower. The common woodworking axes such as handaxe, carving axe, and woodman's axe are the most suitable ones. If a knife is used the sturdy ones such as skramasaksi, northern knife, kaumolais knife or hunting knife work the best.
Both of these entries can be utilized in diy_*.txt and biy_*.txt modding at will.
- modding add: [nowear] and [wearpct:num] tags to specify haft wear out accumulation rate
Axe, spear and shovel hafts wear out also when they are used as tools in crafting or building tasks. There are these two new tags to customize the wear accumulation rate as the intensity of tool usage varies depending on the task.
[nowear] tag means that the used tool doesn't wear out at all. [wearpct:num] specifies custom wear out percentage rate (1-100) in relation to the highest rate (100) where tool is used intensely during the whole task.
Examples:
{Axe} [nowear] Here an axe is needed, preferably a carving axe, and it doesn't wear out at all in the said crafting/building task.
{Cutting_weapon} [wearpct:25] Here a cutting weapon, preferably an axe, is needed. It wears out in 25% rate compared to the continuous intense axe work. Maybe the axe is needed only 25% of the time in this crafting/building task.
- removed: hard staff and throwing axe
These two weapons have been removed for being somewhat anachronistic and not that important.
- added: pausable tanning
Tanning is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tanning simply use the tanning option again standing beside the partially finished item. This applies only to the last and most laborous stage of the tanning process which is softening the hide with a beater. The preceeding, faster processes of cleaning the skin need to be done in one go. Partially tanned hides will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.
- added: pausable arrowmaking and arrow shaft crafting
Making arrows and arrow shafts is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused arrowmaking simply use the same option to make arrows or arrow shafts again standing beside the said partially finished items. For blunt arrows this means using [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Blunt arrow" option. For all the other kind of tipped arrows use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow" option. And for the arrow shafts you would naturally use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow shaft". Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.
- changed: maximum number of arrows or arrow shafts to craft in one batch
The maximum arrow or arrow shaft batch production quantity is increased up to 10 at one go.
- changed: arrow shaft crafting time
Now that the making of arrow shafts is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 90 minutes.
- changed: blunt arrow crafting requirements
Now that the blunt arrow making is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 2 hours.
Number of slender tree trunks required is also modified so that you can craft three blunt arrows out of one slender tree trunk. Blunt arrows are now also prone to outcome quality modifiers, so your tools and expertise determines if the finished blunt arrows will be curved or superior or something in between.
- modding add: [yield:num] tag
[yield:num] tag is used to specify for how many produced items the single raw material entry is enough for. Ie. how many finished items it can yield. The tag is used in diy_glossary.txt for making blunt arrows as follows:
{Slender trunk} [yield:3]
This means one slender tree trunk can yield three produced items ie. blunt arrows. So, for example to craft six blunt arrows you would need 2 trunks. Crafting 7-9 blunt arrows you would need 3 trunks, and so on.
- enhanced: rendering of the terrain type images
Terrain type images on zoomed-in map are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the images appear more crisp and clear.
- fixed: being able to fish facing away from the water
- fixed: companions performing some tasks too fast
Due to miscalculations in companion time counters they managed to complete some tasks, eg. felling trees, all too fast. The issue was mostly noticed in woodworking tasks, but you may find some other companion performed tasks also to appear in slower more reasonable pace now.
- fixed: villagers not reacting if you attacked a hired companion of their own group in their own village
- fixed: villagers accepting too many items if they were offered in one go during the first trade
- fixed: terrain type image not updating when climbing across terrain boundary
This happened only when using the climbing skill.
- fixed: the fish splashing and spawning despite of the ice
Occasionally you might find fish splashing in the water even at locations with ice cover. This happened if the water froze again after the spawning had already started in the open water.
- fixed: Bewitched Wolf quest not generating correctly
This quest might have been missing for few versions, so enjoy if it now comes your way.
- fixed: triggered item traps remaining in set status
This might rarely happen with loop snares and paw-boards. The graphics also show the traps being set and ready, despite of the fact that they were actually triggered already.
- fixed: placing any items to a pine tree with bear skull produced the bear skull placement message
Cheers! ːurw_sageː
Haft them axes, haft them spears
The best of 2024 to all of you who roam the unreal world!
We'll open the new year with a glimpse into what's cooking in the development chambers at the moment. And that is, hafting of the axes and spears is underway. It's relatively complex and fundamendal addition and I guess we'll be putting out a new release when it's all finished. There's still lots of work to do, but here's a first sneak preview of the upcoming hafting mechanics.
So, in the next release axe and spear items will consist of two parts; heads and hafts. Haft refers to their wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When a haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon again.
Now let's meet our test character Terhi and let her show how the hafting in UnReal World goes.
One day the haft of her trusty woodsman's axe broke leaving the head lying on the ground. For all the different axes and spears their heads now also exist as separate items. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted, so the heads aren't commonly found until the axe or spear haft breaks.
Crafting the hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The first two options are used to craft a new haft, and the latter for actual hafting to assemble a working weapon with the head and the haft. Terhi now proceeds to craft a new axe haft.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills. Terhi has managed to craft a fine axe haft, and then she proceeds to actual hafting. In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required. The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.
The hafting is done and she managed to assemble a decent woodsman's axe. Let the timberwork continue!
The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished axe or spear usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the weapon quality even below the head quality itself. The finished axe or spear quality thus now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft.
So, this is how 2024 starts feature wise. Stay tuned. ːurw_sageː
These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.82.
Season's greetings from the real world at present-day Savo
The year is nearing its end - so let us send you our winter season's greetings with this post.
Firstly, we wish you all the best with the festivities and holiday season you might have at hand, and happy new year! Then, as a season's speciality let us entertain you with little something recreational from the real world at present-day Savo.
The winter has come, and for devs like us it means the balance between coding and cross-country skiing must carefully maintained. So, a week ago Erkka (co-designer) came over for a visit - and we went exploring the real world on skis.
Sami (UnReal World creator) with the red hat, Erkka (UnReal World co-designer) with the green hat.
Over the years, we've found ourselves doing many kind of media works more or less related to the game world or inspired by the iron-age culture. And now, quite spontaneously, we ended up doing small stop-motion animation - and then thought of publishing it as 2023 season's greetings at Enormous Elk YouTube channel. There's more, and surely more sophisticated content to explore, if the channel wasn't familiar to you already. We call it Tanssivat tontut in finnish, which would translate as Dancing goblins or Dancing household spirits in english. https://youtu.be/du2pkQUN9Fg?si=aOPZkYand2qcKmFW
And lastly, for myself the last weeks have been more busy with horseback riding and archery than coding. In early December I did three horseback archery demonstrations at different stables which required quite a bit of both time and energy. But hey, sometimes one has to ride a horse to endure extended still sitting periods in front of the computer. And maybe it's good for one to try out the bow for real if he intends to simulate archery in the game. So, this also falls into category of in the real world at present-day Savo. Let the bow skill speculations start. https://youtu.be/oPaZKJluLDQ?si=vAzUS2KX986sx7ux
Let's see you in 2024, with all sort of new achievements, features and adventures to follow in the real and unreal world. Cheers!
2023 Autumn Sale & Steam Awards nominations - now!
Steam Autumn sale has begun and we welcome new adventurers into the far north with a generous discount until 28th of November.
And with the Autumn Sale also the Steam Awards 2023 nominations have started. In case of UnReal World, we really can't help but to pick "Labor of Love" as our nomination category.
Outside the development chambers it's hardly autumn anymore. The days grow shorter and shorter, and soon after the noon you can already start to prepare for the dusk. It's 31 years of UnReal World development behind - and still no end in sight. It's some four more months of snow and freezing temperatures ahead - and it's all good.
That's all folks. You are welcomed to enter and invited to nominate. :urw_sage: :urw_fire: :urw_elk:
Version 3.82 released
Greetings to those who roam, or are about to roam the unreal world!
We're happy to announce a new version release: Version 3.82 is now live and released for Windows, Linux and OS X.
This version brings you a whole new fishing method, bunch of fish life improvements and a basket of crucial bugfixes. Find the changelog below.
Changelog
Version 3.82 changelog
Version: 3.82
** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **
- added: retrievable broken off arrowheads
Occasionally arrows do break upon hitting a target, and now the arrowheads can be also occasionally, but not always, retrieved and re-used. Only the arrows of decent or higher quality will loose the arrowheads in retrievable condition and the arrowhead itself almost always suffers from the quality degrade. If the arrow breaks from hitting a non-living target you will find the arrowhead on the ground together with the broken arrow item. If the arrow breaks upon hitting a living target the broken arrow part will drop on the ground and the arrowhead gets stuck into target's body. These stuck arrowheads are not visible to the player character when looking at NPCs/creatures, but can be found and retrieved only from the target's dead carcass.
- added: lippo fishing, a new fishing method
Lippo is a kind of a dip net with a long pole used for catching fish from rivers and shallow waters. Lippo fishing is foremostly practised only at certain times of the year; when the fish to be caught are migrating upstream to their spawning locations, and during the active spawning period. Fishing with a lippo in the rivers and rapids is done by standing on rocks in the river. The location is often suitable when there are several rocks around as these are the usual places where both resting and spawning river fish are around and can be caught. Additionally, a lippo can also be used from the shore if the spawning fish are noticed by the shoreline. The lippo is lowered into the water, down to the bottom, and carefully dragged around in order to catch resting or spawning fish into its hoop. Start using your lippo either by [a]pplying the lippo from the inventory or using the FISHING skill.
- added: LIPPO encyclopedia (F1) entry
- added: craftable lippo
You can craft a lippo from [M]ake menu under [F]ishing category. A lippo is constructed in such a way that it has a wooden hoop into which multiple small birch saplings are tied to. These saplings are tied together at their open ends, so that they form a net like construction around the hoop. The hoop with this net is then fixed to a long wooden pole. The applicable character skill for crafting a lippo is NETMAKING.
- added: spawning periods for the relevant fish species
The following fish now have their unique spawning periods; pike, bream, salmon and lavaret. During the spawning period the fish gather up at their species specific spawning locations. This can be then taken advantage of by spearfishing or using newly featured lippo fishing.
- added: splashing and water ripples from the fish activity
As the fish spawn in shallow waters they do splash in noticeable way, and there are now splashing sounds to be heard and round water ripples to be seen indicating the fish activity. These are essential cues in order to find the actual fish spawning locations. There's splashing audio to be heard but you are also notified with a game message. For example "You hear a splash from the east." or "You notice a lavaret splashing in the water." And then there are modestly animated water ripples, a new visual effect that can be noticed in the water where the fish activity has taken place.
- added: encyclopedia (F1) entries for PIKE, BREAM, SALMON and LAVARET
You'll find information for example about their spawning periods and habitats, and the related fishing means.
- improved: spearfishing
It still remains possible to catch lone roaming fish with luck and patience, but now the spearfishing can be considered most effective for catching the spawning fish. Upon spearfishing you will be now notified about the ongoing fish spawning periods. The messages will tell if the chosen location might be good considering the spawning fish, or if the spawning might be going on elsewhere. These are hints to consider in order to find a good spot, but you are naturally free to try out your spearfishing luck also regardless of the spawning periods and locations. There are also some changes in the spearfishing messages thorough the process.
- updated: FISHING ROD encyclopedia (F1) entry with a bit of baiting information
- fixed: not being able to use withes as tying equipment when crafting skis
- fixed: encyclopedia tooltips in the inventory not displayed for items with additional item part descriptions
Tooltips were missing for items such as "Hunting bow with no string" or "Fishing rod with iron hook". Now the base items (ie. "Hunting bow" and "Fishing rod") are properly parsed in these cases too and the tooltips displayed accordingly.
- fixed: Old Man's Punt quest dialogue confusions
The quest progression dialogue had gotten tangled with blacksmith related dialogue.
- fixed: NPC archers could shoot arrows from beyond player character's visible range
- fixed: NPC archers could use and shoot back the arrows that had originally hit them
Quest rewards were discounted from the final blacksmith product prices, but the blacksmiths didn't bring this up in their dialogue which caused confusion and wrong estimations. This was most notable when quest reward would compensate for the whole price and resulted in blacksmith trade preference being blanked (ie. "..give me your .") Now blacksmiths will speak about how much the possible reward compensates, and give items truly for free with applicable rewards. Blacksmiths might also have given wrong price estimation for batch of product because of not calculating the number of finished items properly.
- fixed: blacksmiths failing to produce ordered items
Blacksmiths often failed to produce ordered items because of carrying too much load. This prevented the ordered items to be added in their inventory. Blacksmiths kept building up the excess load because the items they got as a payment weren't never removed and restocked from their inventory. Now blacksmiths will restock their inventory before attempting to carry the finished ordered item.
- fixed: usage of TEXTILECRAFT from the skills window or via hotkey not working for migrated characters
- fixed: TEXTILECRAFT skill not improving for migrated characters
- fixed: Chat command causing fade to black after being forcefully woken up by an NPC
Cheers! ːurw_sageː
Spearfishing, spawning fish, and the lippo
Here we go with a brief development news about what's bubbling under at the moment. Well, a good bunch fishing related additions, we can tell you.
There will be improvements to some old fishing methods and a completely new form of fishing to be featured. And to have it all done with our desired ambition we'll also feature spawning periods and habitats for the different species of fish. And these can be then taken advantage of with the old and new fishing forms.
It's quite a sidetracking, snowballing bunch of additions, but slowly coming together so nicely that we can briefly highlight it already.
Now pikes, breams, salmons, trouts and lavarets (at least) will be given their spawning periods and habitats. Gathering of the spawning fish can be then taken advantage of with suitable fishing means. For example pikes will come to spawn in early spring at shallow shoreline waters with rich vegetation. During that time the spearfishing from the shore can be quite succesful. As we know, spearfishing is already an existing fishing method in the game, but now it will become a bit more detailed for example with information given related to ongoing spawning periods and the chosen location.
Ingir proceeds with spearfishing and the game notifies about the chosen location being good considering the ongoing pike spawning period.
Lippo is a certain kind of dip net with a very long handle, and it was used in special kind of fishing at rivers and rapids. It is a new fishing tool in the game that can be crafted by the player character, and it will be used in this newly featured form of fishing.
Ingir has arrived at the rapids with an intention to craft herself a lippo.
Lippo fishing was practised especially when the certain fish, salmons or lavarets for example, gathered at the rivers to spawn. But lippo can be also used to catch roaming river fish outside their spawning period too. In this fishing method the lippo is casted into the water, down at the bottom of the river, and then moved carefully in order to scoop the fish into its net. The roaming fish in the rivers and rapids will occasionally rest beside the rocks and skerries and these are the locations where lippo needs to be used.
Ingir needed to row with a punt to reach a skerry in the rapids. Maybe there are fish resting behind the neighbouring rocks, she thinks and reaches out to pick up the lippo.
Just a quick briefing. There more to this. Stay tuned.
Version 3.81 released and live
Version 3.81 is now built, released and live for all the supported operating systems. This version is now the default branch and if you have automatic updates on your game will update automatically.
This version is mostly about craftable and repairable fishing nets, preliminary introduction of pausable crafting and some bugfixes. Find full changelog at the end of this post, and now let's highlight the most exciting addition...
Craftable and repairable fishing nets
Now it's possible to both craft a net from the scratch, and to repair worn-out nets. These are both pausable tasks allowing you to finish them in parts as you please. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well.
Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. For the history and realism sake a good use of written sources along with actually interviewing old net makers were carried out to come up with the many values and mechanics. And still there's a room to add some advanced fishing net care and maintenance features in the future. It might be interesting for some if we opened up our research and field studies later on, but here's just one curiosity:
There's a tool called netting needle which has been essential in netmaking. It's a tool the player characters can craft in the game as well. In our interviews with a certain old net maker one question was: "We're the nets ever made by hand alone, without a netting needle, and is it even viable?"
Ville, a real person in real world - an old fisherman - just kept staring for a really, really long time and said "Everyone had their own netting needle." Other interviewees also confirmed that netting needles were always needed, even when repairing the nets, and during the fishing season people would carry them around just in case. Well, the game mechanics allow netmaking without a netting needle too, but you will only find it impractically slow.
Netting needle.
Changelog
Version 3.81 changelog
Version: 3.81
** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. **
- added: craftable fishing net
It is now possible to make a fishing net by the player character. The option can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well. Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. In the game making a net is newly featured pausable task allowing you to finish it in parts as you please.
- added: NETMAKING skill
Netmaking is a skill for weaving and constructing fishing nets. Success in netmaking determines the quality of the nets crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version.
- added: pausable crafting
In this version we are introducing pausable crafting for a few selected items. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Crafts that can be currently paused are:
* Net
* Chop felled tree into blocks
* Split firewood from a block
* Split a trunk into boards
With the pausable timbercraft options you can now also use unhandy and inferior tools eg. stone-axe in board making as there's no upper limit of how much time can be used to get the work done.
Pausable crafting works similarly to pausable building. You can cancel the process at will, and then continue at will. The crafting will be continued when you try to make the said item again standing beside the partially finished item. For example, if you try to [M]ake a fishing net beside a partially crafted net the crafting continues. Partially crafted items will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.
- added: different tile graphics for a set net
Tile graphics for a set fishing net is now different resembling its float line on top of the water.
- updated: "Net" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- changed: the weight and price of the net item
Both have been increased. The weight because of the rock weights taken into account, and the price because of the true workload.
- added: netting needle, a new item
Netting needle is a wooden tool used to weave fishing nets. It can be crafted by the player character from [M]ake menu "Fishing" category. Netting needle allows weaving the net conveniently with proper knots and tight mesh of uniform size.
- added: repair worn-out nets
The option to "Repair worn-out net" can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Repairing a net is also pausable task and can be cancelled and continued at will. To continue paused net repair works the same as continuing paused net crafting; if you use the repair option again beside the partially repaired net the crafting will continue.
- added: harvesting pine bark
Pine bark can be harvested from big pine trees all-year round. Pine bark chunks are used used in making of net floats.
- added: "Bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- added: ball of birch-bark strip as village resource
Villagers now gather and stock balls of birch-bark strip. These can be then traded for by the player characters if need be. Birch-bark availability in villages is based on the culture, and it naturally gets restocked only when the birch-bark harvesting season is on.
- updated: "Birch-bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- added: timbercraft product quantities affected by the used tool, ie. an axe
When making boards, blocks of wood or firewood you'll get fewer products when using an unhandy axe for the said tasks. The effect is most notable when the axe is far from preferred one, eg. making boards with a stone-axe.
- adjusted: blacksmiths titled as masters always produce masterwork goods
There was a small skill range where blacksmiths titled as masters produced fine, but not masterwork goods. This has been adjusted so that now masters always produce masterwork goods.
- fixed: using STEALTH from skills menu prompted nothing
Now it says the skill is automatically used when necessary. That is, when your character gets
Version 3.81 for Windows released
In the midst of summer schedule challenges we're hereby releasing version 3.81 first for Windows and follow with Linux and OS X builds in early august.
Version 3.81 for Windows is available as a beta branch you need to opt-into at your Steam Library. This will be explained below.
This version is mostly about craftable and repairable fishing nets, preliminary introduction of pausable crafting and some bugfixes. Find full changelog at the end of this post, and now let's highlight the most exciting addition...
Craftable and repairable fishing nets
Now it's possible to both craft a net from the scratch, and to repair worn-out nets. These are both pausable tasks allowing you to finish them in parts as you please. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well.
Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. For the history and realism sake a good use of written sources along with actually interviewing old net makers were carried out to come up with the many values and mechanics. And still there's a room to add some advanced fishing net care and maintenance features in the future. It might be interesting for some if we opened up our research and field studies later on, but here's just one curiosity:
There's a tool called netting needle which has been essential in netmaking. It's a tool the player characters can craft in the game as well. In our interviews with a certain old net maker one question was: "We're the nets ever made by hand alone, without a netting needle, and is it even viable?"
Ville, a real person in real world - an old fisherman - just kept staring for a really, really long time and said "Everyone had their own netting needle." Other interviewees also confirmed that netting needles were always needed, even when repairing the nets, and during the fishing season people would carry them around just in case. Well, the game mechanics allow netmaking without a netting needle too, but you will only find it impractically slow.
Netting needle.
How to opt-into 3.81
First, quit the game if you were playing it.
Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
The access code for this release is urwversion381 Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
Selection to Opt into 3.81 appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!
Should you encounter showstopping problems with version 3.81 just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous version 3.80.
Changelog
Version 3.81 changelog
Version: 3.81
** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. **
- added: craftable fishing net
It is now possible to make a fishing net by the player character. The option can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well. Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. In the game making a net is newly featured pausable task allowing you to finish it in parts as you please.
- added: NETMAKING skill
Netmaking is a skill for weaving and constructing fishing nets. Success in netmaking determines the quality of the nets crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version.
- added: pausable crafting
In this version we are introducing pausable crafting for a few selected items. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Crafts that can be currently paused are:
* Net
* Chop felled tree into blocks
* Split firewood from a block
* Split a trunk into boards
With the pausable timbercraft options you can now also use unhandy and inferior tools eg. stone-axe in board making as there's no upper limit of how much time can be used to get the work done.
Pausable crafting works similarly to pausable building. You can cancel the process at will, and then continue at will. The crafting will be continued when you try to make the said item again standing beside the partially finished item. For example, if you try to [M]ake a fishing net beside a partially crafted net the crafting continues. Partially crafted items will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.
- added: different tile graphics for a set net
Tile graphics for a set fishing net is now different resembling its float line on top of the water.
- updated: "Net" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- changed: the weight and price of the net item
Both have been increased. The weight because of the rock weights taken into account, and the price because of the true workload.
- added: netting needle, a new item
Netting needle is a wooden tool used to weave fishing nets. It can be crafted by the player character from [M]ake menu "Fishing" category. Netting needle allows weaving the net conveniently with proper knots and tight mesh of uniform size.
- added: repair worn-out nets
The option to "Repair worn-out net" can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Repairing a net is also pausable task and can be cancelled and continued at will. To continue paused net repair works the same as continuing paused net crafting; if you use the repair option again beside the partially repaired net the crafting will continue.
- added: harvesting pine bark
Pine bark can be harvested from big pine trees all-year round. Pine bark chunks are used used in making of net floats.
- added: "Bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- added: ball of birch-bark strip as village resource
Villagers now gather and stock balls of birch-bark strip. These can be then traded for by the player characters if need be. Birch-bark availability in villages is based on the culture, and it naturally gets restocked only when the birch-bark harvesting season is on.
- updated: "Birch-bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry
- added: timbercraft product quantities affected by the used tool, ie. an axe
When making boards, blocks of wood or firewood you'll get fewer products when using an unhandy axe for the said tasks. The effect is most notable when the axe is far from preferred one, eg. making boards with a stone-axe.
- adjusted: blacksmiths titled as masters always produce masterwork goods
There was a small skill range where blacksmiths titled as masters produced fine, but not masterwork goods. This has been adjusted so that now masters always produce masterwork goods.
- fixed: using STEALTH from skills menu prompted nothing
Now it says the skill is automatically used when necessary. That is, when your character gets
Summer Sale 2023
Steam Summer Sale 2023 is on ... ...and we warmly welcome new adventurers into the Far North with a decent discount.
Simple as that. You know what to do.
It has already become our tradition also to post a summery set of photos from around the development chambers, so here we go again and into the summer we shall take you...
A quiet village road by the midnight leading past Sami's (UnReal World creator) development chambers. It's midsummer, nightless night and the sun barely sets at all.
Vasta hanging at sauna entry, waiting for the sweaty dev. Vasta is a kind of broom to beat and treat oneself with during sauna bath. Attention new adventurers; you can try that out in the game too.
It's calm on the surface, but despite of the summer there's some new code bubbling under. Stay tuned.
Midnight, midsummer. Attention new adventurers; the seasonal day and night cycle may blow your mind in the game too. The midwinter nights are far away, somewhere in the distant horizon, but you should be prepared.
ːurw_foxː
Craftable fishing nets and more
The current version 3.80 is now few weeks fresh and working smoothly. And we've been working on a new update for this summer. So how about just a little update about the little something upcoming? Very well. And let's do it with a sneak preview screenshots.
So, what is to be highlighted now and to be featured in the next release is ...
Fishing nets craftable by the player character
Player characters will be able to make fishing nets. Thinking of the mere amount of yarn alone it's not all too simple craft to collect the material for. You'll also need rocks for the weights, and birch-bark to wrap the weights with and to make floats. And then there is also a special tool required ...
Netting needle. That's the tool you'll need. It's a wooden tool for weaving the net with proper knots. As a curiosity for history enthusiasts, one of the oldest known fishing nets in the world, the Antrea Net dated to 8540 BCE, was laced with knots that indicate use of netting needle. The same kind of fishing net knots have been used by Baltic Finns in much, much later dates. UnReal World takes place around 800-1200 CE.
Netting needle
Net weight - a decent size rock wrapped in birch-bark.
Introducing pausable crafting
In the next screenshot our character has started weaving the net. And after 6 hours of work the progress bar hasn't even reached the tenth of the remaining time...
Now what's that about? Well, that means in the next version we'll be also introducing pausable crafting for making a net - and for few other tasks. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have a break in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been tested properly it will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting. Which will make quite a difference, you'll see.
So making a net won't be a task of few hours, or even few days, but can easily last for a week or more. After four or five days of weaving the net our character takes a look at the half-finished work in progress...
Luckily for us all, the upcoming version is already more than half-finished by now. July 2023 seems like good month for yet another release. ːurw_sageː
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills. In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required. The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.
Here's a bear fighting scene with a companion called Aimo.
