Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
World Turtles
Development Update: Controlling Special Meeps!
Good day fellow Meeps!
After spending loads of time on the recent UI update, I've started working on new gameplay features again. First off, I'm adding the functionality to allow manual control over certain individual Meeps. These Meeps will be required to perform special tasks required to keep the realm ticking over efficiently.
Icons will appear at special locations around the map for some tasks, while others will be highlighted around the current location of the mouse cursor.
Some of the tasks currently envisioned / implemented, are:
Completing Apprenticeships at Woodcutters, Stonemasons, Builders, Wanderers, etc. to allow the Meep to perform the tasks associated with those Meeps' skills, to assist in time of need.
Fast-tracking construction.
Fertilizing fields used to cultivate crops, so nutrients do not get depleted.
Gathering wood, stone or shards.
Surveying important points on the map.
Keeping the realm's campfire burning and stocking up on firewood for it.
Helicopter-based tasks!
Many of the building blocks required to implement this functionality already exist, but all the new possibilities need to be properly blended into the existing gameplay without causing clashes or bugs.
Thanks for your support in 2023 and see you next year! May you be happy and content in 2024... De Chelonian Mobile
World Turtles is part of the Steam Winter Sale!
Hi everyone! If you were thinking about getting the game, now is a great time to do so as we are part of the Steam Winter Sale through our publisher Freedom Games!
From December 21st until January 8th, the game will be on sale for 30% off!
Make sure to check out Freedom Games' Winter Sale 2023 page to pick up some great games to play over the holiday season. Whether you like to play alone or with friends, there are some great deals you won't want to miss out on!
The World Turtle has shed a few scutes and its new shell is finally ready! But, along with the brand new UI comes some gameplay updates too, and another tutorial, focused on steering the World Turtle towards food in space. There are also a few short cutscenes included to highlight the most important events.
The UI update is not just a facelift of new art. Almost every element has been reworked to be snappier, look more pleasing, be more functional (including tutorials) and provide more information about the applicable mechanic at hand. It was quite a task trying to find locations for all the elements, but I think I landed on something that works well. Also, look out for places where you can actually tinker with what gets displayed, and how (as well as how large) it gets displayed, should you prefer an alternative option.
The biggest gameplay update centers around the turtle in space, which now includes naturally occurring food zones that help keep the Turtle's health up. You are able to steer the turtle around from very early on in the game, and the feeding and food zones have a larger impact on health.
More interaction with Tribal Camps has also been implemented. You are able to convince them to share their knowledge and assist with the construction and operation of Reflective Towers, which allows you to influence where Snow Comets will crash down, reducing damage.
We've aligned the release with the Steam Autumn Sale, and a nice discount, so it's a good time to hop on board for the journey if you aren't already a full-blown Meep! As always, please join us for a chat and/or provide feedback (and bug reports) on our Discord.
I considered carefully whether I should mention this here, and finally decided I should. I recently took a 4-week "working holiday" with my wife and kids - we camped in tents for 3 nights driving down to stay with good friends for a couple of weeks before heading back. Towards the end of the trip my mother unexpectedly passed away...
So, I've had a couple of weeks largely away from work/developing. My mom was my biggest fan and she had always been extremely excited that I'd grabbed the opportunity to do something I loved - creating World Turtles. If my kids one day thinks half as highly of me as my mom did, I will deem my life successful...
I have now started developing in all earnest again and am still loving it! I have a long list of things to tie down before the huge UI (and more) update, which we are planning for early-to-mid November. The biggest updates since the last post here are:
Objectives and Messages
Objectives (with dynamic text updating with the game state) are now displayed with messages, and the player can choose to hide/display either/both categories. Clicking on an objective/message also takes you to relevant location or opens up the relevant UI. You can also minimize the messages, which displays only the icons, while restoring the one you hover over.
New Functionality / Gameplay
The most important new functionality centers around Space and the Turtle. Feed Bales are now available from the start of the game. These can be delivered to the Turtle via Helicopter, and you can steer the Turtle around in space (with some new elements, detailed below) from the start.
The Space Minimap has been greatly enhanced! It shows you the range and sensitivity it's able to display, and how to increase that (using Lookout Towers). It also supplies a Climate forecast (the span of the forecast increases as your visibility increases), which will also be used to indicate suitability of crops for the immediate future. On the right you will find information on Feed Bales and Catapults, with progress indicators and tooltips, while the steering happens in the center of the space map. Finally, you will also notice some new "icons" on the space map indicating naturally occurring food and crystals in space. These will be the targets you aim for while steering the Turtle.
Implementing the functionality for allowing a "climate map", a static overlay (for aiming) centered on the Turtle and a dynamic overlay (for special regions) moving with space, while also allowing the player to interact with all of these and the game to know when the Turtle finds itself in which conditions, was quite technical, but it all seems to be working very well now.
Short Cutscenes
Certain achievements now have short cutscenes (skippable) as a reward. For example, the first time you feed the Turtle with a feed bale and helicopter, or the first time a fault erupts, a cinematic camera will follow the action. The game also starts with a quick zoom-in-from-high up (and runs in reverse when you exit), and the title screen has an interesting zoom-in from time to time.
Let me jump right back into working on the UI - I can't wait for the next update to go live!
De Chelonian Mobile Gideon
Preview of the new UI/UX progress
Good day, fellow Meeps!
It's been a while since the last update, and I wanted to post some screenshots of the new UI/UX progress, to show off what I've been working on with the UI team. Almost all of the required artwork pieces have been completed, but I'm also spending a lot of time on the new layouts, functionality and behind-the-scenes technicalities, so that the updated UI/UX is much more than just a facelift of the icons. I've also already reworked the "Assistant panel" of the tutorials to allow it to stay on-screen while you perform the actions it requests. It also allows you to cycle back through all the previous messages of the tutorial, and the construction panel only displays icons for the building types applicable to the specific step of the tutorial, introducing the UI information in steps.
Some of the UI panels / levels of detail can be toggled by the player, so you can decide how granular you want the information on these panels to be. Not everything in the screenshots below have been finalized, but they give a very good idea of the direction of the new UI/UX. I'll be back soon with more previews!
De Chelonian Mobile! Gideon
World Turtles is in Dreamhack Beyond!
Hi everyone!
We're excited to announce that World Turtles will be showcased at DreamHack Beyond on August 18th, 2023!
Check out the Summer Indie Showcase at https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40157993/sale/DreamHackBeyondSummerIndieShowcase . We’re super excited to see you!
If you want to join the community, join our Discord!
Thanks for your support and we’re super excited to show off all of our hard work!
Our "The Beginning" nominated for the Game Music Award at Film Fest Gent!
Good day, fellow Meeps,
Nominated!
"The Beginning", especially composed by Kyle Misko as the title track for World Turtles, has been nominated for the very first "Game Music Award" category of the "World Soundtrack Awards" along with some HUGE names like Star Wars Jedi, Hogwarts Legacy, World of Warcraft, Resident Evil, Far Cry, Diablo, God of War Ragnarök, A Plague Tale: Requiem, Gotham Knights, The Settlers, Ghostbuster, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc.
Public Voting
This forms part of the International Film Fest Gent. After public voting closes on 21 August, 5 finalists will be nominated, with the winner being announced on 19 October. We don't realistically expect to beat out such heavyweights, but you never know, and just being part of the 88-track-long-list is already quite exciting!
If you would like to listen to the candidates and vote for your favorite, you can follow the links below:
New triangulation and textures, Improved Placement and Optimization is Live!
Good day, fellow Meeps!
I'm happy to report that the smoother terrain triangulation, less restrictive building placement, new terrain textures and improved optimization is now live! More detail in the links below.
Smoother Terrain Triangulation and Less Restrictive Building Placement: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1512050/view/3696938531596732980?l=english
I'm aware of a few small visual glitches that do not affect gameplay (mostly where rivers and roads are concerned). If you encounter anything strange with the new triangulation, please mention it here or on the Discord server.
Next up: Improving the UI/UX. I'm working with a professional UI team on this one...
De Chelonian Mobile Gideon
Improved Optimization
Good day, fellow Meeps!
I've been spending a lot of time on optimization recently, and wanted to mention a few improvements that will be included in the next update:
I'm now emitting all "dust" and "water spray" visuals from a single pair of particle systems, changing its parameters before emitting specific particles, where previously I placed a copy of the system at each point where dust / spray needed to be visualized, and then destroyed the system to get rid of the visuals. The central particle systems now emits particles for all locations specified in a dynamic list. Rain, clouds and snow emission have been working like this for a while.
Finding locations for Fracture Springs when Fault Lines erupt now runs on one of the parallel threads, getting rid of the most notable (and very noticeable) temporary stuttering in frame rate when Fault Lines erupt.
Some "take small steps over time until all is done" changes are now made instantaneously if the Fault Line isn't explored by the player (and thus not visible), further reducing frame rate stuttering.
I've improved memory management by implementing list pools across all threads to reduce the strain put on garbage collection, reducing temporary frame rate drops.
I've reduced "Set Pass Calls" and "Batches" to reduce the amount of communication required between CPU and GPU.
I've reduced excessive triangles in the Food Ball and Snow Comet models.
Along with the improved triangulation (see previous post), the next update will also include huge improvements in the terrain texture, which I have completely revisited (with only a few left to go). Here's an example of what the game currently looks like. Although the new triangulation requires more GPU resources (I've always been CPU bound on my side anyway), the texture improvement is achieved with no additional strain on the CPU or GPU.
I'm very excited to release this update, but there are a few loose ends to tie up before we can go live. Please stay tuned!
De Chelonian Mobile Gideon
Smoother Terrain Triangulation and Less Restrictive Building Placement
Good day, fellow Meeps!
I've been working on the following very impactful changes:
An alternative terrain triangulation for a much smoother look.
Relaxing restrictions on building placement, making it easier to find suitable locations.
Terrain Triangulation
I have completely reworked the triangulation to make the terrain more flowing, less blocky. This increases the GPU needs, but the original style will still be available for lower graphic settings.
Less Restrictive Building Placement
Previously, Meeps could raise/lower terrain one elevation level for most buildings and 2 for special ones. They can now alter the terrain by up to 3 elevation levels for most buildings, and 4 for special ones. This greatly reduces the restrictions placed on building placement.
Previously, Meeps could only walk, and roads could only go, up and down 2 elevation levels (as indicated by terraces). They can also now traverse a maximum of 4 elevation levels, again lifting restrictions on where Meeps can go and how roads connect.
Finally, this also makes pathfinding quicker, improving stability / performance.
These changes are quite impactful, so I still need to finalize a few loose ends and test that everything still works properly, so the game will not yet be updated to include these changes - stay tuned, it won't be long!
