Research Story News

A few more bugfixes!
- [Controller] Attempt to fix possible crash when interacting with the Auto-feeder.
- [Controller] Fixed being able to select two item slots when pressing Up and Left buttons simultaneously in the Auto-feeder Inventory.
- Fixed overlapping tooltip when cursor points to the trough and Auto-feeder at the same time.
- Fixed Journal UI's Information scrollbar.
- Fixed a missing collision bug when removing a bed while there is more than 1 bed in the room.

Thanks,
Miki

[h3]Hello Researchers![/h3]

This Devlog is about adding localisation to Research Story - it's a little more technical than our usual posts!

At this time, we can only confirm that we'll be localising the game to Simplified Chinese - we'll look into other languages in the future! Thank you to our Chinese fans who have been interested in the game and waiting for CN, it's on the way!~ ❤️

[h3]Localising the game - properly! 📝✨[/h3]
Together with Electronic Sheep Games, who have been working on the localisation of the texts itself, I have been working on the implementation of the localised texts into the game. While our Demo has localisation, I wanted to do things in a better way for our Early Access version. This is so that when we plan to have more languages in the future, it wouldn't take as long to do so.

With over 5000 rows of texts in Excel and over 45,000 words (and counting), it's no simple task! This is a snippet of how Kipp's Dialogue data looks like:

It has a unique ID (state), English texts for normal dialogue and options, and the translated columns.

All other texts, from a single word in a UI such as "Research" to Item Names and Descriptions all require similar treatment.

I had to make sure that each line was read from the Excel Sheets instead of being written directly into the game engine itself. If there were any in the engine, I had to move it to the Excel Sheet and give it a unique ID to reference in the code. Even though a large part of the game was already written in the Excel, I still spent maybe 4-5 full days (8 hr+) replacing the remaining written texts with the unique IDs. I did so much Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V and other Ctrl Shortcuts that my left pinkie started hurting even after a night's sleep 😰😰 Glad to say it's all good now, and most of the intense copy-pasting due to my prior lack of foresight have been completed 🎉🎉

Being a Chinese Singaporean, I feel particularly excited when seeing CN in the game! Since I can read a bit of Chinese, it feels like I'm playing RS for the first time again - the texts are so refreshing. And yes, I was influenced by my Chinese roots when creating the General Store and its characters! ❤️

[h3]Other Visuals 🔍[/h3]
Other than the game title, there aren't many texts in-game that was drawn as an image (thankfully!). The Darts Minigame is one part of the game that has drawn texts, which would require appropriate localisation too:


[h3]Keeping optimisation in mind 💭[/h3]
In our Demo, there were some optimisation issues where adding CN led to longer loading times when changing the language and when returning to the main menu. This was mainly due to the loading of fonts, and I've prevented those issues from happening in our Early Access build!

[h3]What's Next 📝[/h3]
We'll be doing QA for the localised build before offering it in one of the future updates. Again, shoutout to Electronic Sheep who has been doing great work!! We're excited to share the update with you when it's ready.

I'll be going back to bugfixes + ramping up the next part of content updates, which I need some time to think about!

Hope everyone's been enjoying the v0.3 update so far!

Miki

- [Controller] Fixed a crash that can happen when using the inventory/chests.
- Fixed a bug where Rhea's "Beginnings of a Bestiary II" quest shows up in the quest list even after completing it.
- Fixed a visual bug where Rugs are drawn on top of the bed, when placing a bed on top of a Rug.
- Fixed a bug that shows [Bug: Text cannot be read from file.] as dialogue when talking to Rhea.

Thank you for your reports! I've also been working on some localisation implementation, which I'll share more about in an upcoming mini-devlog!
Miki

- Fixed a rare bug that causes a crash when sleeping to the next day.
- Related to above, if you had placed any Auto-tappers in the Mushroom Forest, they will be removed after sleeping to the next day. You can still retrieve them before the end of the day.
- Fixed being able to place Auto-tappers on the ground.

Thank you for your bug reports!
- Miki

Greetings Researchers!

We're happy to bring you our very first major content update, 'Alfie's Awesome Automations'!

This update focuses on automation in the game. We decided to work on this aspect of the game for a few reasons:

• It gives a new progression goal for players to automate and optimise their farms.
  
• It is an important part of base management, and contributes to overall QOL of the game by reducing repetition of tedious work.
  
• Alfie's Shop exterior was already added the game, but with a placeholder to prevent entry as it did not make it for the initial release. Now, all existing buildings in the game can be entered.
  

[h2]Automation Features[/h2]

[h3]Farming: Sprinklers, Sun Lamps! 💧☀️[/h3]
Three tiers of sprinklers and sun lamps can be unlocked, covering a 3x3, 5x5, and 7x7 area. Sprinklers and Sun Lamps can be stacked to make use of the same tile.


[h3]Ranching: Auto-Collectors, Bell Tool 🔔[/h3]
Auto-Collectors can be placed on the farm, and collect both creature drops and produce from adjacent pens.

The Bell Tool can be purchased for easier management of creatures. Ring the bell using Right Click to make creature followers go back to their pens. Ring the bell using Left Click to make all followers go back to their pens. The Bell only works in the Farm area, where pens are located.



[h3]Crafting: Bait Press and Feed Crafter 📦[/h3]
We've heard feedback from several players, saying that crafting from the inventory can get tedious after some time when clicking through the menus. After considering several options, we decided to add two items: Bait Press and Feed Crafter, which can quickly craft some of the oft-required items. These crafters also pull from adjacent chests - one of the things we've heard players want to see!



[h3]Resource Gathering: Fish Nets and Auto-Tappers 🐟🌳[/h3]
The Fish Net can yield certain items every 3-5 days when placed in water with bait. It usually yield mollusks, shells, and other items but can sometimes yield fish. We balanced it this way so that Fish Nets don't diminish the purpose of some creatures that help with getting fish.

The Auto-Tapper works on Fir trees and Maple trees, getting tapped materials every 4 and 10 days respectively:
- Resin from Fir trees
- Maple Syrup from Maple trees

In the end, this scene looks very Stardew-esque. While I tried to add new things (e.g. Lily Pads that can be placed in water), this resource-gathering mechanic is just so simple and intuitive that I didn't change it much. I hope players will enjoy it regardless!

[h3]Decor Sets and Items 🪑[/h3]
We've added some decor sets and items, along with some rotateable furniture (Chairs and Lily Pads to start with).


[h2]Full v0.3 Patch Notes[/h2]
We've also added a bunch of other content, fixed bugs, and made some balancing changes to the game. They can be found in the full v0.3 Patch Notes here.

[h2]Research Story is on Sale until July 13![/h2]
During the Steam Summer Sale, Research Story is 10% off!

Thank you to everyone who has supported the game in one way or another. You've been an important part of the development of Research Story and I'm excited to continue building the game with you! If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, I'll be here to read them.

[h2]What's next 📝[/h2]
I'll be spending some time on the outstanding bugs (I know there are some bugs that have persisted for a few patches, I'll be looking at them again ;; ). Along with that, I'll be cleaning up the code base, which may not translate to new things immediately but will be good for the game in the long term. It'll also mean starting to implement localisation (specifics TBA).

Once I feel more ready to tackle the next content patch, I'll share more about it! I'm thinking of working on NPCs next. As usual, I'll keep in touch using Mini-Devlogs and on our Discord!

Happy Researching!
- Miki