HexLands · published
Here's v0.47! This is a big update: wonder islands are now fully playable levels, Wonders give them unique objectives, and barbarian Raiders have arrived. Encounters add new choices and events, while the new Consumable system lets you prepare useful tools for difficult situations. I completely reworked map generation, so now you can find much more unique looking islands! ^^ This update also includes new cards, story scenes, statistics, visual improvements, and many quality-of-life changes. These new systems are still being refined, so feedback is very welcome! :) I have also started work on the second, winter biome, where fog of war and Raiders will be present throughout the biome instead of only on Wonder levels. As always: join my Discord server to share your thoughts and receive instant access to the Steam playtest! ;)
Anyway, let's begin with the patch notes:
The final "boss" nodes are no longer just the end of the road: they are now fully playable islands! When you arrive, you receive a Wonder card and begin a large, multi-step objective. The first Wonder is the Cathedral. You must gather resources, discover sacred sites, and build shrines through various challenges. There is also a new kind of threat on these islands: raiders! Suddenly for some reason the barbarians are not so friendly anymore! (And this threat stays with you on the upcoming winter biome too) Raiders advance towards your buildings, destroy what they reach, and leave Ruins behind. Barbarian Houses announce future raids on the timeline, giving you some time to prepare. The new Watchtower keeps Raiders out of its protection range, and the first boss Raider even grants one directly into your deck so you can fight back. Don't worry, Wonders and town halls are protected from them. ^^ There are now new story "scenes" across islands, which are similar to tutorials but they convey a story. They always appear when triggered, though can be disabled once you finished the game at least once.
Islands can now contain hidden Encounters, marked by a golden indicator and and are triggered by claiming their tile. They tell a short story, offering several choices. You may trade resources, gain coins, population or reputation, remove or upgrade cards, repair a Manor, settle a dispute, help a festival, meet a travelling monk, or take a risk for a relic, and many more! There are 16 Encounters right now, every discovered Encounter is also recorded in its own new Collection page!
You now have a persistent three-slot inventory for Consumables. After completing an island, you can choose one tool to carry forward, and shops also sell three of them with one discounted offer. There are 14 Consumables with very different uses. The Royal Seal restores Reputation, the Chancellor's Quill grants Decrees, and the Dockmaster's Key makes cards cheaper for a turn. I don't want to spoil the rest, and they also have a collection page!
Simplified Chinese support has been added, with a complete localization pass for the game's interface and text, also, localized island and town name suggestions are now available in Simplified Chinese! Besides this I also added my mother tongue, Hungarian! (bojler eladó!)
Besides Watchtower, there are new buildings too. Smokehouse spends Food each turn for extra population, while Silt Hut is a coastal water building that produces more Food for every nearby Wheat Field. New Challenges were also added, including Wonder, starter deck, low-Reputation, Torment, settlement, card-play, and resource-generation goals.
Procedural islands received a large update as well. Instead of always growing from the same general shape, islands can now use various terrain archetypes, like archipelagos, lagoons, and more. They can also contain natural formations such as lakes, bays, woodland clearings, mountain passes, "twin peaks", mountain groves, etc. Can't believe why it took me so long to improve map generation, I just had so much fun just watching a timelapse of all the different maps that are generated.
Five new disasters joined the timeline. Ink Shortage can stop your Decree from refreshing. Debt Spiral threatens houses unless you settle your debts. Firestorm spreads once before burning forests and buildings, while Locust Swarm does the same to food production. Forest Blight lingers on forests and forest-using buildings until you cure it.
Each event now has its own difficulty rating, so the gentler problems are more common early and the nastier ones appear as a run becomes harder. Their protective cards and affected tiles have clearer visuals, descriptions show their duration, and a new Landfall event can bring a Wanderer ashore.
Collections now include Run History, letting you revisit completed runs, their route, deck, relics, island results, and a much more detailed set of statistics. The post-game screen uses the same improved overview, including active and idle time, resources, cards, quests, disasters, relic triggers, and many other details. Lifetime statistics can also be viewed separately for every starter deck.
Like in other card games, cards can now be *dragged* directly onto tiles! You can also open the world map during an island, and the little ship now actually sails when selecting a node. The objective and quest interfaces were redesigned to be smaller and clearer, with better progress badges, tooltips, card inspection rewardcolors.
Reputation change was sometimes a bit hard to see besides the sound effect, so now there is a message in the middle top of the screen to help you wih that.
Menus and modals received new transitions, consistent back buttons, better keyboard submit/cancel support, cursor feedback, and a confirmation countdown for graphics changes.
Finally, islands feel more alive now! Birds perch in trees and fly away as the settlement changes, busy towns gain ambience based on nearby buildings. Plus tons of polish, performance improvements, and bug fixes which would be impossible to list here. ^^
Thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks if you could give it a try and give me some feedack! :)If you'd like to share your thoughts on these changes or report any issues, join my Discord server! (and of course I'll grant you instant access to the playtest on Steam! ;) ) As always, a huge thanks for your continued support and feedback! Tibor a.k.a. Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios