April Devlog

( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ How have you been! It's been a hot minute! I am sick. But we're near the end of April so we wanted to show folks what we've been working away on this month!

It's going to be quite a big update for you! We'll primarily go over art, animation and programming. Since we can't super showcase audio and music here on steam, you can always keep your eye out in our discord where we do have a little music room where we occasionally drop Johannes' music as well as Jayson's audio!

But let's go ahead and jump on into things since this is gonna be looooooooooonng starting with

[h2]Concepts & 3D Art[/h2]



The next creature that we have been working on is the Snapper! The Snapper will be the first aquatic creature we are currently working on adding to the game. So fishing! It's coming soon! Except your fish will try to eat you but that's ok he's pretty cute so he can do what he wants.

Defeating them will drop some very tasty meat chunks



After some time, the Snapper will evolve into a Devourer, who is chunky and big enough to eat up an entire building. Or your friends. Or maybe both. At the same time.





The 3D models are also coming along pretty well! Personally, I'm super pumped to see these guys get all textured, I hope they're shiny.





why are their mouths like that i do not enjoy but also i enjoy

While we haven't designed their creature nests just yet, we've also been working on creature nests for Woolies and Tuskars. A bunch of folk had requested being able to find Woolies out in the wild - so we're making it happen! While we've been doing that we decided that the Tuskars could use a lift as well.









The nestings will be crafted out in the world in about the same fashion that outlaw camps are, giving a much more eventful little area to visit and giving a bit more life to the world as well!

As also learned that in the 3D models themselves, you can probably reenact scenes from the Lion King and throw your citizens off the tippy tops of Tuskar Nests.





Last bit of rocks we do have some stonce fences. Folks have been wanting more fence variants which we'll definitely get more of! And for now here's a cute little stone fencing!



A few other decorations have been worked on in folks' spare time as well which are some cozy statues. We were talking about how it would be great to actually unlock these by defeating x amount of creatures in the world at some point. That bit of logic will take a while, but I really love the idea behind. I love unlocking stuff via actions like that.



But! Speaking of Outlaw Camps, those too will be getting a facelift! We're going a bit more bonkers with their design, and working on giving them a lot more just stuff in general as well as we get ready to add new Outlaw types, because they look like they'd wanna just live in a much cooler place



Now, when it comes to herbs, a lot of people have been wanting herbs to be for farming since they're quite rare. Herbs will be going into the Apothecary rather than the Alehouse soon to create health potions, which will make things a wee bit more balanced and make the rarity of herbs actually make sense.



Another thing folks have been asking for is more plant life! Which YES absolutely, I'm super excited for more plants in the game, especially more aquatic plants such as cat tails, which will be another source of fiber for your kingdom



We're also working on adding in Tall Grass to the world which will give you more places for hiding from dangers or sneaking up on different enemies, or just playing hide and seek with your friends in multiplayer



Spring Shrooms will also be a utility type plant, where bouncing on them will send you zoomin' out into the air. You can also lure enemies to them in order to cause them to bash into the bouncy plants and stun themselves



Oak Trees and bushes have also gotten an adjustment! Last time we swapped the Fir Trees to have sculpted foliage and have now been able to do the same to oak trees which will free up a bit in performance (of which we have also done some great optimizations on buildings as well recently - thank you 3D team!!!)





And the very last tidbit we have for the month of arty-art is the concept for the next weapon that will be quite useful for pole vaulting across the map as well as combat in water, and for just looking super duper duper stylish because who doesn't love a good ol' spear



[h3]UI[/h3]

On the UI Side of things, a handful of folks have noted that the map is quite cluttered when it comes to the icons. So that's being fixed up right now and we're also adding so much more cute icons to the map itself!





The build menu will also be getting a lift to just showcase which building is what to make it easier to know where things are, and what building it is you're looking for.



While the map is getting quite pretty now, the equipment wheel for those who use the equipment wheel rather than the tool bar (though this can also be applied to the build menu as well) is getting fancified too!



[h3]VFX[/h3]

This month a lot has gone into adding a bit more VFX to some of the buildings, but we're also working on having more feedback to combat when it comes to the shield. A new hit will appear when you've successfully blocked with the shield, or deflected a bullet with the shield



[h3]Animation[/h3]

On the animation side this month has primarily been a combination of spear types and also sitting. Because it's nice to sit down and the pure amount of joy that just being able to sit on stuff brings me is absolutely bonkers.

We will have quite a few different variants for sitting, so that if you'd like to take screenshots with your friends in multiplayer, everyone can be lounging in a different manner. Here's just a few of them!





On to the combo of the spear! This is definitely going to be a favorite weapon of mine, I'm such a sucker for a good speedy flippy spear.... type spear...thing. Polearm. Thing. Anyway I'm a polearm player in any game that lets me use a polearm. Or dagger. Either one of those.



Shoutout to the 5mb upload limit for files /chefkiss



Firestarter Outlaws also have been given a sus animation as well as a "i'm going to start a fire" animation



I mean. I'd trust him. He looks trustworthy. Nothing suspicious going on here.



[h3]Programming[/h3]

Boy howdy do we have a lot going on here. Aside from tons of bug fixes, more optimizations, and a few other things regarding other platforms we've been doing quite a hefty amount here. There's not much I can visually show so it's time for some little lists!

One of the major little bits is you will be able to click on any issue tracker messages. Fire ongoing? Someone fighting? Open up the map, click on it and it'll show you what's going on and where. We've been discussing a ton of other ways to really visually show people won't going on, and while some of it hasn't been implemented yet or won't be for a hot minute - having neat little arrows to show the issues when you're nearby I think is going to do a lot as well as clarify a lot.

This is also the part where I thank everyone for all the feedback and letting me sit in on your streams. We're definitely finding a lot of ways to improve the game with everyones help and feedback, so thank you so much!!

Back back to programming.

Fog of War! This is actually pretty neat. The map will now have fog of war to it, and you'll have to explore to uncover what's going on around you. Or just pick up a citizen and throw them across the map. That works too.

One of the biggest bits that is being worked on to improve how your lil NPC's choose targets and other things is a rework of the stealth and awareness system. This should smooth things out quite a bit and make any battles much less frustrating

[h3]Devlog Over![/h3]



(´• ω •`) ♡ Phew! Alright that sure was long! There is definitely a chance I missed something, we've really been working on quite a lot in our small team!

╰( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )つ──☆*:・ﾟ And again if you'd like to hear the music and sfx we've been working on, I'll be dropping those tracks over on our Discord Server

Thank you everyone for checking out our little devlog! We'll be crafting these monthly round ups every single month, so see you folks soon and thank you so much for playing!