World Turtles News

Hi all,

This will be the last update for a while - probably to just before the Steam Next Fest in June. Here are the highlights:

• I've spent a lot of time on things happening behind the scenes to improve stability and reduce the occurrences of Meeps taking a while before starting with the next task. You may not necessarily see these improvements on screen, but they're there...
  
• As a result of the increased stability, I've increased the maximum game speed to 6x.
  
• I've introduced Water Ways, which are used to cross water. Currently, the Meeps still only walk in the water, but the plan is for them to "latch on" (with a harness) to the ropes and be transported across the water. Path finding had to be completely revamped to include previously-excluded water hexes, as well as all the different combinations of travel (also see the next point).
  
• If water levels subside enough, Meeps can traverse previously "underwater" areas. In effect, all 0-elevation (just under water) hexes become "dry land", while all -1-elevation hexes become shore. The path finding takes this into account already, and will allow travel across these hexes during times of drought.
  
• You can now expand to remote areas (including other continents or islands, if you have a water way) by constructing additional Founders Hexes. The complete mechanics still have to be fleshed out, but for now the Meeps will just walk / travel by water way to the new site.
  
• Caveat: There are still some things in the saving/loading process (and many other small bugs / to-do's) which don't work as intended. I am aware of most of these (I have a list!), but need more time to fix them. However, I wanted to release this update since I'll be on holiday for two weeks and won't be able to do much during that time.
  

I hope you enjoy the additions, and I'll be back with a big update in June!

Small update for today:

You can now set some of the characteristics for creating a random map. The example tiny map updates in real-time (takes about 1 second) as you change the options to give you an idea of the impact of your choices. You can then create a game with those map settings.

Be advised: This is the first iteration, so some parameter combinations could lead to unplayable maps.

I also improved some UI tooltips, specifically telling you what is required to unlock building types or upgrades.

Hi all,

Today's update adds the following:

• The terrain contains fault lines through which high rock towers will emerge in real-time while playing!
  
• The starting positions and map geography has been reworked to be more visually interesting and less prone to "dud starts" (where you don't have enough space and/or resources and/or tribal camps nearby).
  
• By the way, the next update will include a map builder where you can set map parameters yourself and see a real (tiny) example map created using the current parameter set. The example map takes about 1 second to create and visualise, so you can get almost-instant feedback on your selections :)
  
• A new messaging system is introduced, where hints and other messages are shown in-map at the locations they apply to. An icon with heading is displayed until you hover over the hex in question, at which time the full message is displayed. Clicking on the hex dismisses the message, else it remains there for future reference. You can thus dismiss messages you've already dealt with, while keeping others for a bit later. This also works when saving and loading (your live messages remain in-tact).
  

I made quite a few changes to the data structures behind the scenes to accommodate the real-time geography changes and message system, so I hope there are no new bugs I haven't caught in my playtesting. Please let me know if something isn't working anymore.

Finally, as one of 2021's weekly winners, World Turtles is participating in the year-end Fan Favourite vote over at #GDWC2021. Please consider voting for me!

Latest video showcasing the procedural real-time geography:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvt9BG2ULkQ

#GDWC2021 Game Page with Voting Button:
https://thegdwc.com/pages/game.php?game_guid=5e9bcd56-50a2-45b4-bc29-aaa114c805fa

Enjoy the rock eruptions!

Hi all,

May you be happy and content in 2022!

Welcome to the first update for the year. While there were a few smaller updates as well, the main factors to focus on today are:

• Meeps can now have children, which take up progressively more food and appeal capacity as they age, until the join the workforce when they become adults.
  
• Meeps now have randomly chosen names :)
  
• Your realm now has a Nutrition score, which is determined by how balanced your food supply is (between Staples, Treats and Protein) and by whether there is enough food supply.
  
• Nutrition is one of the factors that feed into a Health score. The other two are still in development. The health score determines the rate at which Meeps get born and will influence more mechanics later on.
  

Go forth and prosper!

The final update for this year brings fish as a resource, while all crop and livestock yields are now continuously affected by weather conditions.

See you next year with some more updates!