Merchant of the Skies News

Hey guys!



One of the common things that was mentioned over these days have been the lack of in-game means to remember necessary items. To start addressing this, today's patch introduces the item marking system. You can simply right click / press Y button on gamepad to set the item as "marked" and to remember. The system is going to be enhanced a bit later (i.e. to mark all resources needed to build the building automatically when you press some button).

The changes are live. Here's the full changelist for today:
> marking items with right click / Y button on gamepad
> tutorial can now be replayed
> ui: visit button will now be shown higher when ship info panel is open on navigation screen
> replaced building sound
> balance: base apple price down by 20%; apple gatherer base building price up from 2 wood -> 5 wood; 100 gold -> 150 gold
> ui/ux: won't be able to navigate to confirm/cancel buttons on resource containers anymore (use X/B buttons to accept or cancel trade)
> fixed icon problem with oven
> minor graphical bugfixes
> typo fixes
> version number on front page (should be 1.02 now!)

I know a lot of you have posted some feedback over these two days and I want you to be sure that everything is noted. I can't fix everything at once, but I'm trying to do the changes gradually so hopefully the game becomes better with every patch :) Keep these comments coming.

Cheers!
Vladimir

Hey Merchants!

Thanks for your support during the release! Your bug reports and ux requests make a difference, so today I wanted to address some of these in patch 1, which went live just now.

Changes:

• UX: ctrl/shift stacking (ctrl = x100, shift = x10). Now you don't have to press those pesky Z and V keys (note that they still work).
  
• Cursor is not locked in windowed mode and resolution changes does not break it
  
• Map generation / naming overlaps: isle names reduced in size a bit. Map generation algorithm changed slightly so islands won't have overlapping names anymore. Thanks Lukalot
  
• Scouting the island for resources is made a bit more clear: the tip / request for needing the right tools is not shown (because it is irrelevant for first visit)
  
• Don't wear off same modules on resource gathering
  
• reduce turtledove spawn rate a bit
  
• Shovel module icon is no longer missing
  
• Under the hood performance improvements for navigation screen
  
• Typo fixes
  

Apart from that, since I like to keep it transparent, here's a video (with a thumbnail where I look like a stalker) on how Coldwild Games doing and what to expect next:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfCoMo2luUE

In short, the quest system adjustment and rework is our #1 priority right now (apart from the ux/ui fixes). Don't hesitate to keep the reports coming and make sure to join our discord if you want to hang out :)

Best,
Vladimir

We are happy to launch our game, Merchant of the Skies in early access!

In this game, you'll be able to explore the world, have a few mystical encounters and establish your own trading company. In its current state, the game has about 8-10 hours of gameplay which we hope you'll enjoy.

This is our best game so far and our second early access title. We are 100% confident that we'll be able to bring it towards the successful full release together with you.

You can get it here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1040070/Merchant_of_the_Skies/

To celebrate it, we are setting the discount on Lazy Galaxy, Lazy Galaxy: Rebel Story and Frequent Flyer. Grab them cheap while you can!

Jump into our discord channel if you have any questions or just want to hang out with us.
Best,
Vladimir & Helen, Coldwild Games team

Hello Merchants!

Since the early access launch is approaching, I'm going to describe what are you going to get on July 30th. Here's a brief summary of the current state of the game:



Right now the game is split into separate missions, each has a different goal. Rebuilding the lighthouse is the longest mission that is also started by default, requiring you to rebuild the ancient lighthouse building from the ruins. It will mainly focus on establishing resource production chains which could take 5-10 hours.

Next, the Fish God feeding mode that just asks you to grow tons of apples :) Can be very short (400 apples, ~30 minutes) to very long (10k apples, ~4 hours, requiring you to build _lots_ of apple productions and delivering it all to the fish).

The money goal is self-explanatory, you can set it to be from 2000 (veeery fast) to 20k gold which would require you to become a bit more savvy with money / establish advanced production.

However, the final version is going to look like this:


The goals are going to be mixed and interwined in one map playthrough. Each goal will unlock something / affect all other goals and ensure you progress more smoothly. It's also going to be connected by plot which we are not going to spoil yet :)

The final game might be a slightly different experience with more content, but we're confident that you'll get at least 8-10 hours of fun from the current game. See you tomorrow, on July 30th at 5PM GMT launch, accompanied by a stream on the store page, courtesy of Rocknight Studios.

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below!
Best,
Vladimir

Hello Merchants! First of all, we've updated the steam page and made a new trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lRVkJWQY9Y

Second, we wanted to give a glimpse into how early-game trading works. The global map is split into islands, some of these are city type islands. Most of the cities have trade posts: buildings that will let you buy and sell basic resources.

Here's the price table: it shows the list of towns and goods that can be bought there. The trade posts in the game only allow for basic level items to be traded, more advanced item sale require bazaar visit. Advanced item acquisition can only be done on your own base via the means of production.



As you start the game, the map is unexplored and you don't know what's out there. Another thing is that you can't evaluate the prices properly without seing and comparing them to other towns, so the initial version of the table is flawed, the unconfirmed price levels will be shown with question mark in trade posts. Here's an example:


In this picture, you can see the price mini-table on the right. While the prices for the stone is figured out correctly, you still can't be sure whether the price for the wood and wheat is accurate. You can only deduct that you have seen it higher and lower in some places, hence the question sign because your perception of the price can change. The expensive wheat might not seem as expensive anymore after you visit a city with higher wheat price than here.


You have to visit other towns to figure out the pricing, at least comparatively. When you visit the towns, their prices and info is added to the table and you can compare the costs more accurately and plan the trade routes accordingly.



Hopefully this gives a better insight on how trade works in the game. Let me know what you think and if you have any questions :) See you at the game release in 5 days, July 30th 5PM GMT!