Hi Sapiens fans! I've been working hard on the big 0.5 update, and it is getting closer to being ready for testing. There are still a few more weeks of development left to go, but it's definitely time to share some details about what's coming.
So what's new? Firstly, AI Tribes! Now in 0.5, when you are picking a tribe to lead, the other tribes around will actually be there in the game. They'll have their own villages, and you can send some of your sapiens over to meet them.
Once you have met an AI tribe, you can then trade with them, or complete a variety of optional quests. Trading uses a "favor" currency, where you gain favor by providing resources that they need, or for completing quests. You can use this favor to ask them to deliver resources in return, and the more favor you have with a given tribe, the better they will treat you.
Given that AI tribes will sometimes be some distance away, 0.5 also introduces sleds, which are a movable storage area. You can set them up like any other storage area, and use them to deliver larger quantities of items directly, or as part of a transfer route.
As well as AI tribes, there are a large number of other features and improvements. Here's a few of the bigger ones:
- We have a new notification list, so you can go back and look at what happened if you missed something
- There is now an option to auto-assign roles. If no sapien is available to complete a task, it can automatically reassign someone else
- New tool racks, shelves, and smaller and larger storage areas
- Much improved tribe selection and less restrictive map zooming, so it's a lot easier to find the right tribe and location to start.
And there is still more to come! One great thing about working on interactions with AI tribes is that most of that work was also required for multiplayer. So in 0.5, I'll be shipping experimental multiplayer support, and it's shaping up really nicely. You will have simple options for managing whether you share resources with other players, so you will be able to work together to build a large village and pool resources, or build up separate villages and trade (and later, fight) with each other, or some combination of both.
The 0.5 update won't have any conflict yet, but it's planned for 0.6, along with the full release of multiplayer. I am expecting to release 0.5 early next year.
Keep in mind that the features I've mentioned here and these screenshots are a work in progress, there will still be changes before the update is released. If you would like to keep up to date with progress, you can join the discord, and I'm now posting frequent progress updates here on the Steam discussion forums too.
It's been longer than I would like to get this update out, but we're on the final stretch now, and I'm really excited to get it into your hands as soon as I can!
- Dave