This is a larger update to Animalkind which includes changes and additions to a number of systems in the game. We dive deeply into each set of changes and additions below. For some of these changes we provide additional context and commentary around them. We hope you enjoy this update, and please let us know if you have any feedback or reactions in the Discord!
Fishing
While we’ve been happy with how fishing fits into the game, we’ve wanted it to feel deeper and have more types of fish to catch. We’re using this update to add some mechanics to fishing and as well as a number of new fish. We adjusted some aspects of the fishing user experience while we’re at it.
Fishing Factors
Fishing is now much more contextual, with the following factors adjusting the results: time of day, water type, island, and bait types.
In other words, our fish have more specific behaviors and you’ll need to try some different things to catch them all.
You may want to check in with Rosie for some tips, since she is our expert on fish.
Fishing Zones
Fishing zones no longer influence which fish you catch.
Fishing zones also go away a bit sooner than they did before.
Going forward, the main role of fishing zones is to speed up how quickly a fish will appear when you are fishing.
Fish Weight
Our fish all now have an individual weight! Very realistic.
You’ll be able to see when you’ve set a new personal record for each type of fish.
For now, the weight is just cosmetic though - Sam won’t change her prices even for a record tuna!
Fishing UX changes
There are now icons that will display when you’re fishing to help indicate the time of day and the type of water you’re fishing in.
We’ve removed the UX of the fish flying into the mech when you catch them, streamlining the experience.
More Fish varieties: we’ve added seven new fish to the game, including some that are exclusive to each island.
Bait is now crafted: instead of taking worms straight from the ground, you now use them to craft bait that you can attach to your fishing equipment. This is also true for new types of bait.
More Bait varieties
We’ve added four new types of bait to the game.
Sandcrabs found by digging on beaches on the home island.
Crickets found by digging in Tallwoods.
Shiners fished from freshwater in any freshwater source.
Shrimp fished from saltwater in Snowrock.
Some rebalancing was done across the board to our fish and their behaviors. They’ll take a bit longer to show up but you’ll notice bigger differences when you use fishing spots and bait.
Farming and Cooking
To support the additional fish, we’ve added some new crops, ingredients, and meal recipes. But we’ve also rebalanced farming more holistically, generally slowing it down. We felt we had to do this because farming yielded immediate results and rewarded reinvestment too efficiently. This led to the game’s economy being less relevant than we wanted in the long term.
Changes to Tomato and Corn plants
At two points in their growth cycle Tomato and Corn plants now take an extra day to progress. Remember, you'll need to water them for them to grow!
The yield from these plants has also been reduced.
Developer Comment: the fact that these plants reset when they are harvested led them to be a very lucrative income source. With this change they’re still great crops in the long-run but they take a bit more effort and time to break-even.
Other farming balance changes
The regular and berry bushes found on the home island now regrow on a daily cycle instead of every 90 seconds.
Developer Comment: we didn’t like that these bushes were an abnormality compared to literally everything else in the game, so we made them consistent with our other plants.
Sam now sells “evergreen” crops like Corn and Tomato at a different rate than “one-time” crops like Potato, Onion, and Wheat. Evergreen crops are more expensive per seed and one-time crops are cheaper per seed.
Fertilizer now doubles farming output instead of accelerating growth
We felt that the first version of fertilizer just wasn’t very impactful, so we’re to hoping for it to be more useful with this change.
Going forward fertilizer should be a useful tool to focus on certain crops when they are needed.
New Crops: Onions and Wheat
We wanted more options for farming and more variety in our cooking recipes, so we added two staple crops.
Sam will sell seeds for these new crops in her shop. They unlock after you’ve progressed her storyline a moderate amount.
New Ingredients: Herbs and Spices
Many of our meals call for herbs or spices, so we’ve added them!
Sam will sell these vital ingredients in her shop. They unlock after you’ve progressed her storyline a moderate amount.
New Meal Recipes
With one exception (the shiner bait fish), each of our new fish is used in a signature recipe.
Rosie will sell these new recipes, provided you’ve explored the island where you would find the related fish.
Meal Rebalance
With a larger pool of ingredients, various existing recipes have been adjusted.
Generally these adjustments bring the theme of the recipe closer with its visualization.
Energy
Energy has been a frequent subject of feedback from our players, so we’ve decided to make two significant changes with this update. But before we get to them, let’s discuss sleep first. One of the most common suggestions we've received was to make it so that players could sleep at any time, allowing them to refresh the mech’s battery. We considered this option, but didn’t like the impact it could have on the daily cycle of the game as well as the scenarios that could arise in multiplayer games. Our preference was to reduce the negative impact of being low on energy, while keeping it a relevant mechanic and giving the player a way to solve the problem proactively. This is an aspect of the game we’ll be watching closely with this update. And for the two changes we did make...
The mech can still use most tools while low on energy
We’ve reworked two tools such that they will not be blocked when the player is low on energy - the axe and the pickaxe. When low on energy, these tools will be less effective though. This effect will combine with the “dull” effect that occurs when these tools are out of durability.
Visual effects were adjusted so that the full-power tool usage is different from low-power tool usage.
With our weighty fish, the mech will not be able to fish without energy. To compensate for this, we’ve reduced the energy cost for fishing by a large margin.
We’ve adjusted our tutorials around energy to reflect this new design.
Adding craftable batteries
Small and Medium batteries have been added to the game as crafted items.
When consumed from inventory they restore 25% and 50% respectively of the base battery capacity for the mech.
The recipes for these batteries are on sale at the Portal Shop after a moderate amount of quest progression.
Watering also no longer requires energy. With the other changes to farming, we felt that energy cost was unnecessary.
Other Changes
Lobby Announcements! With this update we wanted to provide better tools for our players to keep up with the changes to the game. So we’ve added a new section for announcements to the lobby. You’ll now be able to read a brief summary of the most recent update and jump to the patch notes on Steam!
Automatic digging spot detection! The player will now reveal digging spots as they get close to them, making it much more convenient to discover them. Use this new ability to stock up on the new bait resources!
More zoomie pick-ups! We’ve made more items pick-up when the player zoomies over them. We really enjoy using zoomies to harvest crops and collect mushrooms, you should try it!
Removed a confusing daily quest from the quest rotation.
Removed an older fence recipe from the shop, as it was causing some confusion for players.
Thank you for playing Animalkind and reading through this dense update! Please drop by the Discord server if you have any issues or feedback, your input is unbelievably helpful in improving Animalkind.
Have a great week!
The Uncommon Team 🐾