It’s time for the fifth major update for the Arc of Icarus playtest. This update may be the biggest one so far in terms of changes, and it is our first draft for the “first act” of the game.
The early game has been reworked to collect foraging in one building, and crafting in another. Hunting has been adjusted based on feedback to be less frustrating, by making the hunter prioritize hunting over resource gathering.
The wild animals found in the world will remain wild for the rest of their lives, but if you get their eggs and raise them from birth, they will be loyal to you forever. Destroying nests will now yield eggs, and if you research the animal pen, you can raise your own animals, who in turn will lay new eggs for you. If you craft saddles, you can let workers claim tame animals as mounts to significantly increase movement speed as they perform their tasks.
In the plant kingdom, there are also big news. Farming has been reworked to make more sense: farmers will work at a farm, and walk between fields to sow and harvest. You can now also unlock the ability to grow your own berry or hemp bushes, if you’re tired of finding that optimal spawn. Be wary of the nutrients in the soil tho, they can run out. Speaking of nutrients, if you happen to spot a giant pink earthworm, they don’t do much yet, except increase the nutrient supply where they roam!
In the last update, the tech tree quickly fizzled out after you started mining. Now we’ve finally expanded beyond the medieval ages, and into industrialization! You can unlock a power generator, and build factories to craft items without using people, or perhaps you’ll find the radio station, and begin to unravel the secrets of the ring?
Automation is an important part of a game like this, since the moving aspect of the gameplay can quickly get tedious. Everyone who has played with the caravan knows that feeling of no long worrying about the tents! Now the next evolution of this has been revealed: the construction guild. This building can move all other buildings, and while we’ll balance it more in the future, it may very well be a little broken for this update, so make sure to enjoy it while you can!
The UI is one of the hardest parts to design in a game like this, and we continue to iterate on it to find that balance between aesthetics and clean access to actions and information. The selection HUD has been given tabs, which is currently only used for a separate temperature panel, but it opens the door for the future. The onboarding at the beginning of the game has been streamlined quite a bit, so new players can get into the game fast, without missing important context and tips.
Difficulty settings have also been added to the game now, and when you start a new save, you can choose between standard mode, leisure mode (ring spins 25% slower), or nomad mode (ring spins 50% faster). This should make the game fit different types of players, without necessarily diverging away from the central premise.
We’re very excited for this update, and have honestly gotten a little addicted to playtesting this particular build at the office. There are a whole bunch of updates that I didn’t cover in this post as well, so that’s for you playtesters to discover!
Next on the horizon is the official demo of Arc of Icarus. We haven’t decided on the exact day yet, but assume it to be around one month from now, give or take a week. There will be more playtests after the demo is released, but for now we’ll be focusing all our efforts at using your feedback to build the definitive slice of the game to present to the world!