Hello everyone!
I am making good progress in adding a new region to the game. However, I recently got very helpful feedback and suggestions regarding the beginning of the game, and I felt the need to address that ASAP. So here is a patch!
Basically, players told me the tutorial was too spammy and too long, which can cause people to quit the game early or skip the texts and miss important information later on. And I fully agree with that. The median play time of the Playtest build is not good currently, and I believe the tutorial is the core issue. So, I removed the tutorial entirely, and the problem is now solved, no more popups spam!
But I need to teach players how to play the game somehow... So I added a new tutorial. But this one has no popups, and is fully using the quest system! It is actually a series of quests that will help you progress through the game. Just like before, but with more guidance in the very beginning to show the basics. I hope it will make the start more enjoyable and clearer. Please share your feedback on this new line of quests, this helps me a lot!
Second big change of this patch: I removed the resource locking system. It was too obscure and too difficult to explain. Instead, I added a system that is more intuitive and common to other city builders: you can now disable individual buildings to freeze their production.
As for the full changelog, here it is:
Removed all tutorial popups and reworked the line of quests to serve as tutorial
Removed the resource locking system, and replaced it by a per building production disabling feature
Added a video option to select the windowed mode size (960x540 by default)
Added an interface option to automatically pin new quests when they are obtained (on by default)
Improved the display of productions:
Left part of the arrow is different if the craft takes ingredients (item transformation) or not (production of raw resources)
Middle part of the arrow indicate if the is tied to the clock (number of times cycles to produce) or if it happens instantly
Added small lanterns to the ships models
Added an idle icon over export ships when they are doing nothing (which happens when there are no resources for them to take, or no more storage space where they deliver)
Flute workshop and Small stage now require stone to be built instead of wood
I hope you will enjoy this update. As always, don't hesitate to use the Steam forums to report issues or share suggestions.
See you next time!
-Radiant Sloth