This summarizes the changes after the delivery update. There aren't many significant additions, mostly just usability improvements. (I kind of skipped the patch update after the animal update, so I want to post this one at least. And I can't devote all time to tiny features when the main game is waiting, although I try to ration in a good bunch of QoL stuff.)
Key changes
The one big thing is that the game got new commissioned cover art that I'm using for Steam and in-game, and just generally for promotional material.
I added global item distribution, which determines which items--roughly speaking--have priority over others. All items still get their chance, but some get more depending if they have a high weight and if they haven't been delivered recently. I also add nicer bars rather than number that weren't actually representative of an actual "proportion" value.
I started some preliminary work for better explanation when placing buildings about their areas and requirements. Mainly, these are important during the very first tutorial. But they also introduce any new building's "range" and I can add additional notes in the future. The "label" system itself lets me quickly attach a label to any tile/location, so I can show such hints.
I readded the labels for tasks tooltip (because it wasn't really obvious what the icons meant), but in a much nicer way than before:
I spent a lot of time debugging deliveries and fixed a lot of various issues and problems, not to mention tweaking many backend numbers. I would love to make some in-game UIs to show the details of the things that I can only print out (badly) in development debug locations.
I have been thinking back at other games that do logistics and some of the "sacrifices" they have made so that the overall system runs more predictably. I have from the very beginning gone for a very simulated logic, where every person and every item and delivery are "real", that is the actual item is delivered to the actual building by that actual villager, etc.
I also worked on increasing UI sprite readability, especially intractable buttons versus generic panels/boxes. I will likely work on these further, but for now they all have their own consistent custom sprites and I changed them to at least use the right "logical version".
I added some icons for building operation. These are the sort of things I add because, simply put, I like them. I like watching things happen and I like if a game doesn't hide this from me. So I could literally watch a progress bar if I knew it represented something "real" in-game. I started added icons here too and I will eventually add them to many other places.
Technically, I redid the whole backend for how buildings present their progress steps. They were very much literally the same steps the villagers follow logically to complete tasks. I have not added anything different yet, but now I can and I expect to tweak these for the needs of various buildings.
Also trees are now known as maple and spruce and got new sprites:
Future plans
Always a difficult question and a tough commitment. For example, I had to do the delivery update to be able to support future expansion, even though I really want to work on endgame and such. It took a lot of time and I could swear that for every thing I fixed, I broke another two.
So I will likely work on town progression next, which is--roughly speaking--milestones/stages/tiers that you have to reach and unlock. Sort of like hamlet → town → city or some such. I guess it's sort of like the "era" in civilization/empire games. This would pace the gameplay, pace the technology unlocks, and set up a hierarchy of progression (something like goals → techs → milestones → objective(s)). I am still unsure about any details, because I will have to design and try things out first. But I am fairly sure that the focus will be these town growth tiers. They will require some conditions, like a number of unlocked techs or population size and likely future things. Technologies will likely become tiered as well.
While likely not for the next update, my ideal plan is that every town tier (besides being a goal itself) serves to unlock a new mechanic and add some sort of meaningful specialization. I won't speculate too much about this because I really have no idea yet. All I know is that I want an overarching "progression" flavour to the game, if that makes sense.
Eventually, I will also expand the residential side of the town. Again, I don't want to speculate, but a natural town progression would imply villager class/caste progression and corresponding residential needs. If my design and plans work, then I can gradually insert these features additively, because they all build up on the same overall premise.
Full changelog
Changes
• New background and title
• Add label to building work and auxiliary range when placing buildings
• Make construction delivery selection weights higher, especially for priorized ones
• Add small note to Quarry tutorial that Rocks may not be nearby
• Add warning label if placing a building in a location with no compatible tiles for auxiliaries (e.g. Quarry with no Rocks nearby)
• Add max range label when placing buildings with movable operation location (however, there is no outline for now)
• Add extra labels when constructing buildings during first tutorials
• House supply delivery is greatly prioritized over other purposes
• Market Square supply is somewhat prioritized over other purposes
• Construction sites will follow build order even closer
• Add global item distribution tracking and proportions/weights to balance deliveries of different types
• Add a tab to item distribution panel for changing global distribution weights on a per-item type basis
• Item building proportions (and new global proportions) now use a "flattened" value for counting delivery targets - having many more targets will not "consume" all deliveries
• Add "progress bar" indicators instead of a number for weights in item distribution window
• Rework the "delivery" number in the top overview tasks tooltip to include potential deliveries (thus signaling lack of carriers)
• Add labels to the top overview tasks tooltip
• "Tree"s are now known as Maple and Spruce and a generic Tree link explaining trees as a concept when used in descriptions mentioning trees; adjust relevant tooltips
• New sprites for Maple and Spruce
• Rename "Usage" to "Change" in item report window for clarity
• Add toggle to audio options to disable audio when the game (window) is not in focus (in background)
• Add target building/road name to villager task description; replace "delivering" with "bringing" and "transferring" for tradesmen doing their own import and export, and to "taking" and "returning" when taking or returning auxiliary building items
• Add Food and Supply concepts for description texts; update various tooltips
• Operation windows (from bottom left menu) don't block gameplay input anymore and the menu is usable while they are open
• Adjust UI button and "block" sprites to be more consistent, pixelated and readable; differentiate clickable buttons from frames; tweak various UI sprites and elements
• Esc now closes any active window, otherwise cancels input mode (like auxiliary construction, work location selection, etc.), otherwise clears current inspection, otherwise closes open construction tab, otherwise opens pause menu as before
• Add icons to building inspection operation progress bars
• Hide items and buildings in windows (item report and item distribution) until they are unlocked
• Add gameplay option to show not-yet-unlocked features for adjusting
Fixes
• Fix certain scenarios when construction sites would not receive materials
• Coal tooltip no longer talks about Coal Maker
• Item deliveries are no longer "skipped" due to a lack of immediate carriers and round-robin selection favouring items due to their arbitrary order
• Older loaded saves with missing path coordinates will not hang game on busy worlds waiting for paths
• Units won't lose their paths (as quickly) on very busy worlds
• Animals being led will not lag behind the villager if they are walking quicker on roads
• Building workers would not deliver their own output items (only fetch input items)
• Loaded saves would not restore Pigs pending being led
• Fix inconsistencies for top overview icons not changing when there are moderate issues
• Fix location where villagers stand when chopping Trees
• Count Corpse as "production" for item report window stats (technically, all deaths produce a corpse)
• Memory leak due to a cache list keeping hold of removed entities
• Animal harvesting task description saying "delivering"
• An exception when a tooltip is being shown but data changes on the same frame in a way that would show invalid values
• Volume sliders now use logarithmic formula to fit the actual loudness better
• Fix outline for road icons (e.g. construction menu, selection)
• Options run in background check using incorrect tooltip
• Checkbox control not storing its value
• Unit distribution panel wrong text labels
Rudy
Snowy Ash Games