AColony News

Hi everyone,

it's time for a new update and this one covers the release plans, the new trading system, the trading between players, a radio station & a radio antenna, insect nests, a demand for a community room & a medical clinic, nuclear technology and more.

[h2]Release Plans[/h2]
In the last weeks there was a lot of stuff going on with the closed alpha phase and the feedback & suggestions of the players were really helpful. With this new knowledge and insights, I can finally announce a more accurate date for the Early Access Release - and if all things run like expected - it should be in Winter 2022!

[h2]Trading System[/h2]
The latest update includes the new trading system, which also brings a new event to the game -
the trading caravan. When your community consists of at least 4 members, they will visit your colony from time to time and can have the following traders in their group:

• Materials trader
  
• Weapons trader
  
• Food trader
  
• Special trader
  
• Colonists trader (is selling colonists :p)
  

The amount of members as well the count of different traders depends on the population of your colony.

In addition, I have added a basic market table, which allows the traders to put their trading goods on it and to give the colonists of the players a discount of around 5%.



[h3]Currency[/h3]
In connection with the trading system, I've added a new item called currency, which is.. well.. the currency in the game. At the moment it is visualized as $ in the menus, but you can also switch to € or £. (I will maybe add a unique character in the future)



[h3]Radio Station & Radio Antenna[/h3]
Because trader caravans usually spawn with random traders, it can be a bit time consuming to wait until a trader comes which has the goods that you want. Therefore I have added a new technology called radio technology which can be found very early in the modern age section of the technology tree.

It includes a radio station and a radio antenna, which allow you to call for trader caravans and to select which traders you want to have in this group. But of course - that costs you some currency.



[h3]Trading between players[/h3]
In addition to the default trading mechanic, I have added a special trading table which allows you to trade with other players in online co-op. You can not only make, accept or withdraw offers here, but also make counteroffers when you are not happy with the offer you got.

The trading system brings also a new zone in the game - the trading zone - where acquired resources are automatically placed after a trade or a barter. (but it must be placed close enough to the trader or table: ~25m)



[h2]Insect Nests[/h2]
To make the world more interesting and entertaining, I have added 2 new and fresh types of entities - the carpenter bees and the darkflies.

[h3]Carpenter Bees[/h3]
Carpenter bees are part of the normal environment and located on the map like default animal groups. They are usually spending their time around their beehives and will only turn hostile when you attack them or try to steal their honey.

Note: You sometimes have to fight them, because their hive obstructs your colony expansion.



[h3]Darkflies[/h3]
Darkflies are a more dangerous type of insect and appear from time to time in your world.
They will build a nest, which is larger than a normal beehive, and will prepare to attack the colony of the player. Because their nest is always producing new units, you have to face multiple attacks from them until a final one is coming.

The count of members, but also the type of insects, depends on the technology level of the player.
The following types can appear:

• Worker
  
• Warrior
  
• Shooter
  
• Queen (max 1 per nest)
  

Note: Darkflies can force the players to go outside of their safe walls. Therefore it can be a bit challenging to defeat the nest.



[h2]Community Room & Medical Clinic[/h2]
In order to upgrade the expectation system, I have added 2 new demands which get activated when the population of your colony reaches a certain count.

[h3]Community Room[/h3]
When the number of your colonists reaches 6, they will request a community room. To define this, I have added a new technology called basic entertainment, which offers some new constructions:

• Notice board (later you can plan events there)
  
• Card table
  
• Pool Billiard Table
  
• Darts
  
• Bar
  

Note: The entertainment tables can not only used by your colonists, but also by wanderers, traders and the colonists of another player.



[h3]Medical Clinic[/h3]
When the number of your colonists reaches 8, they will request a medical clinic. To define this, I have added a new technology called basic medicine and updated the modern medicine technology, which offer together some new constructions:

• Medical planning board
  
• Basic clinic bed
  
• Modern clinic bed
  

With the medical planning board you get the functionality to create a medical care plan, which allows you to not only medicate and provide your own colonists, but also wanderers, traders and the colonists of another player. In addition, you can also assign doctors here, which allows you to coordinate the division of medication, ambulance transport and food provision better.



[h2]Nuclear Technology[/h2]
One new addition, which is already since a while in the game, is the nuclear technology section of the technology tree. It consist of 4 new technologies which are:

• Nuclear technology
  
• Nuclear reactor
  
• Toxic Waste Disposal
  
• Radioactive Ammunition
  

These new technologies also unlock a bunch of new items:

• Nuclear science table
  
• Reactor module (nuclear reactor)
  
• Cooling module (nuclear reactor)
  
• Console (nuclear reactor)
  
• Toxic waste facility
  
• Fuel rod
  
• Fuel rod (radioactive)
  
• Artillery Ammo (radioactive)
  

The nuclear reactor introduces a new building mechanic, where you have to build 3 modules together to get a working machine. It uses fuel rods as fuel (which can be crafted with uranium) and can leak radiation when it gets damaged. [A good visualization offers the start of the trailer]



[h2]Additional Updates[/h2]
Since the last update, I've added a lot more items to the game and the most important ones I have put in the following list:

• Added a time switch
  
• Added revenge events
  
• Added gold sheet (is required to craft computer components now)
  
• Added pump jacks to extract fuel
  
• Added depth drills to extract uranium
  
• Added a time switch
  
• Added pictures + 6 ingame achievements (to unlock more images for them)
  
• A lot of smaller additions and fixes
  

I hope you have enjoyed this update,
Cheers!

Join the community on Discord

[The registration phase for the closed alpha is over!]

Hi everyone,

the time has finally come, you can register as a tester for the closed alpha now!



[h3]How to become an alpha tester?[/h3]
The closed alpha test phase will run over discord, because it has a good channel structure for feedback, suggestions, bug reports, screenshots and more.

[The registration phase is over!]

[h3]How the registration works?[/h3]
I'm planning to give out around 200 keys. Depending on the amount of registrations you have a certain chance to become an alpha tester. When the registration phase ends and you are chosen as one, I will send you a key over a DM on discord.

[h3]When the closed alpha starts?[/h3]
The closed alpha will start closely after the registration phase, which will be in around 2 weeks.

[h3]Recommendations[/h3]
It's recommended to have a decent PC for better performance and graphics, but the game should also run on potato computers.

[h3]Rules[/h3]
Because the game is still in an early state and some things may change, please do not
upload gameplay / lets play videos public on social media platforms.

[h3]Additional Info[/h3]
The closed alpha version also supports online co-op.

Hope you all have a good day,
Cheers!

New Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f3ARTuMU-o

Hi everyone,

it's time for a new update and this one is about the new dialog system, barter actions, new events, new constructions and new items.

[h2]Pre Alpha Phase[/h2]
At first I have to say, even if I made a lot of progress over the last 2 months, there is still some stuff to do until I can start the official alpha test phase.

Therefore, I had decided to start a pre alpha test phase which were exclusive for the people on my discord at the beginning. Because I still have a few keys left (around 15), I thought I will extend it to this steam update now. So if you have interest to test the game, simply join my Discord and ask for a key :p

[h2]Dialog System[/h2]
In the last weeks I have implemented a new mechanic which allows a better interaction with non-player colonists - the dialog system.

Usually the dialog menu can be triggered when the player selects one of his colonists, clicks on a non-player colonist, and chooses the option "talk with [name]".

With the dialog system I have also introduced a new skill which is the charism. It can influence the way of a conversation and has an impact on various actions like the barter.

In addition, the system has some special functionalities like that colonists can remember if they already had interacted with another one, know the name of the conversation partner or know the name of the player's colony. (Based on this knowledge, the dialog texts can change)



[h2]New Events[/h2]
Next, I have added a few new events to make the world more alive and the game more fun.

[h3]Wanderer community[/h3]
If this event is triggered, a group of 3 - 4 colonists spawns at the map border and is walking towards the player's colony. One of them, which is the head of the group, has a question mark over the name panel which indicates that the player has special interaction options in the related dialog menu.

Note:
The AI controller of a colonist group has also a defend functionality. That means if hostile animals or colonists come to near to them, they will start to fight.



[h3]Drunken wanderer[/h3]
This is a special event which has a chance to be spawned instead of a wanderer community.
It offers an unique dialog menu and actions which are based on the barter functionality.

Note:
I've also added a special functionality which let the related colonist drink from time to time.



[h3]Animals attacking plants[/h3]
In the past, animal attacks were only triggered by a predefined chance when the player has attacked an animal group. I found that a little bit boring and therefore I have added a new event which triggers animal groups to attack the players plants.

Note:
This event is reacting to the count and equipment of the player's colonists. That means it's possible that 2 or even 3 groups can start an attack.



[h3]Colonist Request[/h3]
In connection with the dialog system I have also changed the already existing event to get a new colony member. With the new implementation it's not longer possible to choose your decision directly in the event menu. The player has to start a dialog with the requesting colonist now.



[h2]Barter System[/h2]
The dialog system is not only for talking with non-player colonists, but also for other actions like making a barter. At the moment this is the main functionality of the wanderer community and every time a new group spawns, some random options with limited count are created.



[h2]New Item: Whiskey[/h2]
It was a bit disappointing that the player were not able to produce any drinks at the basic brewery. Therefore I have finally added one - it's the good and well known whiskey.

[h3]Alcoholization[/h3]
This new status effect is added, when a colonist consumes an alcoholic drink. It's not only changing the animation and face expression of the related colonist, but has also the following impacts:

• Positive effect on mood
  
• Positive effect on charism
  
• Negative effect on run speed
  
• Negative effect on work speed
  
• Negative effect in combat (higher reload time, less gun accuracy, etc)
  

Additionally, I added a chance for a withdrawal which depends on the highest peak / percentage level that the colonist has reached.



[h3]Alcohol Withdrawal[/h3]
This status effect can be added, when the alcoholization is over. It has negative effects on all previous listed impacts and lasts very long. (up to 4 days)

If the colonist is consuming a drink again, the withdrawal will not be removed, but falls in an inactive state which removes all related effects until the new alcoholization is over.



[h3]Alcohol Poisoning[/h3]
This status effect is added when the colonist reaches an alcoholization level of over 100%.
A poisoning level of over 10% automatically causes an immobilization.



[h2]Resource Burner[/h2]
One adjustment of the last weeks was, that I have increased the decomposing times of dead bodies up to 12 days and that colonists get disgusted by the rotting smell. This was the perfect time to add a new construction to get rid of them - the resource burner.

Like the name indicates, the main functionality of this burning machine is to destroy all kinds of resources which are no longer important for the player. In connection with that, I have also created a new menu where the player can select the resources via a category menu.

Note: Yes, I've added flies to decomposing bodies :p

[h2]Modern Sprinkler[/h2]
Another construction which I have added is the modern sprinkler. It works with power and can fertilize the surrounding plants once a day. If that is done, the grow time will be decreased by ~2.4 hours, which leads to a 10% shorter grow time when the sprinkler is activated every day.



[h2]Updated Stone Textures[/h2]
At last, I have updated all stone textures because they were in a very old format and were not really fitting with the terrain block stone textures.



I hope you have enjoyed this update,
Cheers!

Additional links: Discord

Hi everyone,

it's time for a new update and this one is about the enemy attacks, new animations, new items & constructions, menu updates and some stuff around the balancing and adjusting for a playable version.

Important
I've to say, this is probably the last update before the start of the Alpha Test Phase :p

[h2]Enemy Attacks[/h2]
One of the last big parts was the reimplementation of hostile colonists, their attack events and the related AI functionalities. For the attacks I have divided the progress flow into 2 categories.

[h3]Strategy[/h3]
The strategy part is connected with the preparing phase of an attack, which means that enemies are entering the world at the map border and doing one of the following tasks:

Default:
With the default strategy the enemies are simply waiting and walking around a point. If a certain time has passed, they will start their attack on your colony.

Siege:
With the siege strategy the enemies are entering the area with additional resources to build and use siege machines (like a ballista or an artillery) to take your colony under fire. If the projectiles are empty or a certain time has passed, they will start the attack on your colony.

[h3]Objective[/h3]
The objective defines what the attackers are actually looking for. At the moment I have only added one type and I will add more in the future.

Destruction
The enemies want to destroy and damage you constructions until a certain threshold is reached.
This threshold is calculated by the sum of the remaining hit points of all relevant constructions and excludes elements like floors, walls, roof, windows etc.
For example: On the difficulty 'normal', they want to damage your stuff until 60% of the hit points sum is gone.



[h3]Additional points:[/h3]

• If you attack preparing enemies and the sum of the applied damage is high enough, the attack event will be triggered. (This also counts when you take them with your own artillery under fire)
  
  
• If you fail to repel the attack event, the enemies will stop the fight and will go to the map border to leave the area. (this is related to the destruction objective and can change for future objectives)
  
  
• The count of hostile colonists, their combat related skill levels, their traits which boost combat attributes and the strength and type of their weapons are influenced by the difficulty settings as well as by the researched technologies.
  
  
• The enemy attack is repelled successfully when all enemies got immobilized or killed.
  (if immobilized enemies are stand up again, they will leave the map - even when the other members of the group are still fighting)
  
  
• When one of your colonists get immobilized and stands up, there is a cool down of 20 seconds (or 20 ingame minutes) where the enemies are not attacking this colonist. (except you start to attack them again)
  

Note:
I also plan to implement a threshold which stops an enemy attack when the sum of their remaining health is too low.

[h2]Animations[/h2]
The colonists have a lot of different tasks to do and to make the execution looking better (and not only visualized by a progress bar), I have started to add a few basic animation to the game.

[h3]Work tables[/h3]
For the work tables I have created 3 individual animations which are including the:

• Butcher Table
  
• Weapon Table
  
• Research Table
  

In addition I have also added the functionality that the tool is ported from the table to the 'hands' of the colonists when they start their job. For the remaining tables I have created a default animation and will replace it with the individual ones from time to time.



[h3]Hidden Tool Belt[/h3]
In connection with the previous animations I have also created some ones for the basic jobs. Because there are no tools as items available in the game and it would be very annoying to always equip a certain tool for a certain job, I have decided to add a new item called "hidden tool belt".
Every colonist has this item at any time equipped and the purpose of it is only to give an explanation why they suddenly have a tool in their hand. These are the following ones:

• Hatchet (for cutting trees)
  
• Pickaxe (for mining stones and rocks)
  
• Rake (for seeding plants)
  

Note:
The colonists can not use these tools as weapons.



[h2]Alpha Test Preparation[/h2]
In the last weeks a lot of work went into the preparation for the Alpha Test Version. While there were many small bugs to fix, there were also a lot of stuff around that like balancing weapons, balancing items, balancing technologies and updating menus.

[h3]Weapon Stats Menu[/h3]
Actually I've created this menu for me as developer to see and balance the weapon values in the right way. But because it's looking not so bad, I have decided to let it in the game so that it's also available for the players.



The sections have the following meanings: (tool tips are already created)

• MD, MF (melee damage, melee force)
  
• RD, RF (range damage, range force)
  
• DM, DR (defence melee, defence range)
  
• RTM, RTR, BT (recover time melee injury, recover time range injury, bleeding time)
  
• DPM, BPH (damage per minute, bleeding per hour)
  

Note:
The recover times depending on which body part is hit.

[h3]New Items & Constructions[/h3]
In the past my main focus was on the implementation of the core mechanics of the game. As a result, I gave a lot of items or constructions very basic or unrealistic properties which includes the resources you need to craft or built them.

I don't want to spoil all additions and adjustments that I've made, so I will take 3 things which I have added in connection with the production of machine components. These are:

• Oil Plants + related harvest
  
• Basic Brewery (new model and functionality)
  
• Machine Oil
  

[h3]Resource Overview Menu[/h3]
As beside work, I have also updated the resource overview menu so that it has now the same category style like the item zone menu.



[h3]Burned plants[/h3]
If a lighting strike hits a plant zone now, the effected plants are not only removed anymore, but also replaced with burned plants. That looks more realistic and the colonists have to remove them before they can seed new plants.

Note:
A burned plant is also rotting and gets removed after a while.



[h2]Additional Updates[/h2]

• Added ballista (because the artillery is only available very late in the tech tree)
  
• Added rocks which are laying around
  
• Added fallen trees as an additional wood source and terrain beautification
  
• Added gun accuracy and damage attributes to the combat system
  
• Added more sound effects
  

I hope you have enjoyed this update,
Cheers!

Additional links:
Discord

Hi everyone,

it's time for a new update and this here is about the preparation of the alpha test version, animal attacks, the new time manager, the plant info menu + regrow system and more.

[h2]Alpha Test Preparation[/h2]
In the last weeks I've worked a lot on the project to get a playable alpha version of the game.
There is still some stuff to do, but it looks pretty good far.

Already done:

• Main menu is finished for a test version now
  
• Added a start screen which shows the latest updates
  
• Added a 'game over' event when all colonists are dead
  
• Fixed a lot of bugs while testing
  
• Added sounds (UI, working, weather, etc)
  
• Removed a lot of personal debug checkboxes, buttons, etc
  

Still to do:

• Alpha Trailer
  
• Hostile colonist attacks
  
• Better event manager / handler
  
• Balancing bleeding damage, resource costs, work times, etc
  

[h3]Tutorial[/h3]
To make the game a little bit more comfortable to learn for players which are not familiar with the genre, I have added a short tutorial menu which will be shown when a player starts a new game.



[h2]Animal Attacks[/h2]
Yes, animals can attack now. I have added a new event which get triggered by a certain chance when a colonist is attacking or hunting an animal. At the moment the chances are:

• Chicken (5%)
  
• Fox (25%)
  

This event is not only triggering a single animal, but also every other member of the group. If that happens, they are attacking every colonist (doesn't matter of which player) which comes to near to them. The event ends if some time without any colonists interaction has passed or if the player is killing every member of the group.



[h2]Time Manager[/h2]
The next point on the list was the finishing of the time manager and the connected network timer.
For test purposes I have set the time span of 1 year to 30 ingame days.

[h3]Network Timer[/h3]
The network timer was a little bit complicated to implement because it's not so easy to find a good way for 2 players to control the time. In the end I implemented the solution that both players can set their speed state how they want. But the real ingame speed will always be the lowest one of any player.

That means, if player1 (green icon on the left side) is in stop mode and player2 (violet icon on the right side) is in fast mode, the in-game speed is set to stop (middle icon). If player1 would go in play mode now, then the game would run in the general play speed. If player2 would get in stop mode then, the game would go back in the general stop mode.

Additionally I have added a function that a player can notify the others with a sound by pressing 'M', when the chosen time modes are not the same.



[h3]Age Weakness[/h3]
In connection with the new time manager I have also implemented the age calculation for the colonist as well as for the animals. If the age reaches a certain threshold a new status effect, called age weakness, is applied which has a negative impact on the run speed and the general work speed. With higher age these values are increasing. If the final age is reached (for colonists it's 80 years at the moment), the death is unavoidable.



[h2]Additional Stuff[/h2]
[h3]Plant Info Menu + regrow functionality[/h3]
While testing the game via steam I've noticed that it's not very good to click on plants and get no information or menu. The only way to see how much a plant has grown was over a plant zone but only with a very general and decent information. Therefore I have reworked the plants, gave them colliders and implemented a plant info menu which shows all related stuff now.

In addition I've added a regrow functionality for the plants which works in a similar way like for the trees.



[h3]Updated item zone menu[/h3]
The menu of the item zone is updated now, so that it's much better ordered and divided into sections for the different types of items. It's also possible to check now, if you want decomposing animals or colonists in your zone + if you want your own dead colonists or the one of others in the zone.

Note:
I have seen now, that I wrote Ohers instead of Others :p

[h3]Food Poisoning[/h3]
Usually your colonists are eating meals which were cooked on a campfire or a kitchen. But sometimes there are not enough meals available and in case of an emergency, your colonists will eat the ingredients. At the moment the following food can lead to a food poisoning:

• Raw meat
  
• Raw human meat
  
• Raw potatoes
  

A poisoning has a negative effect on the run and general work speed and will also impact the mood.



[h3]Small Updates[/h3]

• Added colors for the blueprints of different players
  
• Disabled interactions with building components of other players
  
• Implemented a better transparent mode (to go through the layers of buildings & terrain)
  
• Auto save option on exit game
  
• Added decomposing textures for animals (very simple ones)
  

Hope you have enjoyed this update,
Cheers!

Links:
Discord