Synergy News

Hello everyone, and welcome to this new Devlog!

In our previous Devlog focusing on shadows and depth, we took a slightly more technical approach than usual. Today we're back with a more standard devlog, but more importantly, we're excited to introduce a new feature – Neighborhoods!


To begin with, all residents in Synergy require shelter due to the harsh climate. They will regularly come to drink, eat, and sleep in their homes, so it's crucial to carefully consider the placement of your houses.



These buildings should be located close to a Cellar, a structure that provides houses with food and water in the surrounding area.


Once you've ensured the survival of your citizens, it's time to enhance their quality of life!

You'll have the opportunity to build a Neighborhood for your residents. Start by constructing one of these three squares: a cultural square, a trade square, or a botanical square.



The square will bring together all the buildings and homes in its area to form a Neighborhood. Next, choose the type of Neighborhood this area will become – historical, creative, or convivial.


Each neighborhood requires the presence of specific buildings to be considered valid – a special building as well as regular ones. Other buildings in its area will contribute to its final score. For example, for the convivial neighborhood, you'll need a canteen as a special building, along with three houses.


Additionally, objects like wells, sun shelters and kitchens can significantly boost your neighborhood score with a large number of points each. Smaller bonuses, such as benches, housing, or tables, contribute a few points each. This allows you to focus on a specific bonus type, creating diverse neighborhoods with unique atmospheres.



These neighborhoods will provide bonuses to the quality of homes.

There are multiple types of bonuses that you can obtain through the creation of these neighborhoods. For example, by making a creative neighborhood, each house can now score up to 30 cultural points instead of 20. This creates homes that are much more enjoyable for the residents and also contributes to your city’s prosperity score.



We hope you enjoyed this devlog and can't wait for your feedback about this upcoming feature. Thank you so much for your support, and stay tuned for the next one!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070/Synergy/

Hello everyone!


Welcome to this new Devlog, which will be a little more technical than the others as we will tell you about the process of creating shadows and depth in Synergy!


While creating the game, we faced a common challenge in top-down 2D games - sorting rendering elements. The go-to strategy is drawing elements from top to bottom based on the texture's baseline, but it doesn’t work in some cases!

Buildings and environmental elements vary in size and don't always have a square base. As a result, larger elements may need to be rendered behind smaller decorations, even when they are lower on the screen. Simple fixes, like dividing long decorations into sections, can resolve these issues.



But this approach isn't quite suitable for us because in Synergy, the buildings are animated. Cutting them into sections would complicate production.

We opted for a solution similar to what is done in 3D games: sorting the entire game environment with a Z-buffer.



This not only allows us to sort buildings and the environment without issues but also gives us the ability to position characters realistically within the buildings!



To have a functional Z-buffer, we needed a basic 3D model of each building or environmental element and to store depth information in a texture.



We use Blender for our 3D models, and an in-house tool makes a standardized file for each of them, ensuring consistent depth textures for all buildings. After that, we process the texture to smoothly integrate it into the engine, using a filter in Substance Designer.



With a depth representation of the building, we can explore various visual effects by accurately determining the world position of each pixel in the environment!



This allowed us to implement our atmosphere and fog system, enhancing the world's relief and visual appeal.



Access to 3D information in the game allows for dynamic shadow casting on the screen. The process is a bit intricate.

In typical 3D games, shadows are rendered by comparing the Z-buffer from the game camera to the light source's perspective. However, our depth textures are limited to the game's view, not the light source's. So, we use rays from surfaces to the light until they hit a building for shadows.

It may not be the most efficient, but it provides interesting results in our 2D world. To maintain smooth gameplay, we generate intermediate images to estimate distance for optimal performance.



Simply having depth information doesn't cover the thickness of a decorative element. For the most accurate shadow, we have to estimate thickness; otherwise, the shadow appears too large and incorrect.

The building's thickness is estimated based on the rendered element's width. This way, a pole or column looks less solid than the body of a house.



There is still some work left to enhance shadow quality and performance, but it's a visual bonus well worth the effort.

We hope you enjoyed this 5th Devlog and thank you for your support during this project. See you soon for the next one!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070/Synergy/

Hello everyone!

We're pleased to announce that the new Synergy trailer has been released. Don't hesitate to check it out on youtube!

In addition, we have some exciting news coming soon, so stay tuned for more!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070/Synergy/

Hello everyone!

Once again, we gather here after two months to present our latest Devlog. We are excited to inform you that our game is constantly progressing, and we can't wait to reveal more details soon!

In the meantime, we'd like to introduce you to the diversity of flora that awaits you in the game. We now have 17 plants for you to discover on the surface. These plants will play a crucial role in your journey as you strive to develop and build your city in the face of extreme and challenging weather conditions.





By interacting with these plants, you'll have the opportunity to harvest valuable resources, assisting you in the construction and growth of your city. While we won't disclose the specific properties of these plants just yet, we can give you a glimpse of their appearance and growth stages.





By analyzing them, you'll be able to identify different properties of the plants that will be beneficial for your colony. To do this, you'll need a Field Laboratory.





This building will allow you to analyze plants on the surface in order to understand them and avoid overexploitation, ensuring their preservation on your land.

Assign people to the laboratory, you will be able to stack up to 5 research tasks which they will conduct in the order of entry.





These research tasks will provide valuable information about the needs of the researched plant, such as its water requirements or whether it should be avoided, the type of resources it produces (e.g., water or food), and other benefits it can bring to your soil if you plant it in your colony!





Choose a plant on the surface and learn to understand it, so you can properly grow your seeds and thrive with their help in your colony. Add your knowledge to the Book of Knowledge.





You'll also receive information about the risks of harvesting, as your characters could get injured which research can reduce this risk of. (Additionally, you'll learn more about their appearances: smooth, porous, spiky, and so on.)





Each plant is unique and serves a useful purpose for your colony. We hope you'll enjoy enriching your Book of Knowledge with your research!

Thank you for supporting us in our project. Every day, our game progresses, and we couldn't do it without your support. See you soon for the next Devlog!

[h2]Wishlist now!
[/h2]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070/Synergy/

Hi everyone,

It's been a while since our latest devlog, but we've certainly made some good progress in Synergy, as you may have seen on social media! Obviously, we can't wait to show you more.

In the meantime, we'd like to introduce you to the different roles your citizens will play in-game in this small devlog.
However, keep in mind citizens will not have predefined roles. It will be up to you to assign them tasks in the various buildings, and their outfits will change accordingly.

As you may already know, in Synergy, you'll need to explore, build, and develop your city amidst extreme weather conditions. However, be careful not to leave your citizens unhappy if you want to thrive.
Without further ado, let the introductions begin!




Expeditions require around 5 citizens, but this number can be increased by having multiple exploration buildings. Explorers venture to destinations they have glimpsed from afar, not knowing exactly what they will find. Once there, they regularly face choices that lead them to gather resources, knowledge, or even new plants to reintroduce to the map. Additionally, citizens can explore new areas, opening up the possibility of discovering new destinations.

The explorers wear large hats that provide a continuous nutritional supply during expeditions and protect them from heavy sun rays.




The agronomists are the citizens who work in most of the buildings related to plants and water. They can be found in the gatherers' hut, the arborists' workshop, the self-sustaining garden, the nursery (for reintroducing plants), as well as the pier and the water treatment basin.

They need this diving suit-like bubble to protect themselves from the toxic emissions that can occur when handling certain crops.




Sages have a deep understanding of life in general. They contribute to the community through their wisdom, but they are not self-righteous or socially superior beings. They primarily work in cultural and social buildings, as well as in schools and a few other care-oriented buildings.

They embody the idea of serenity and an open mind towards the environment, and therefore they do not wear hats.




Scientists dedicate their lives to understanding the world and the technologies that surround them. They mainly work in the field laboratory (analyzing plants and terrain), the research center (technological research), or the weather station (weather forecasting).

Their outfit is made of waterproof material and has a shape-changing feature that allows them to interact with dangerous substances.




Craftsmen engage in precision craftsmanship, such as woodworking or the arts. You can find them in places like the weavers' workshop, the carpentry shop, and other art-related buildings.

They use a monocle equipped with a precision lens to perform tasks that require fine accuracy.




Hammerworkers are also craftsmen, but they specialize in construction and heavy-duty work that requires extensive protection. They are the citizens who construct buildings, work in the blacksmith's workshop, the foundry, and the excavated cave.

For their work, they are equipped with gloves, fireproof suits, and welding masks.




And here we have the chefs! These citizens work in a few rare but essential buildings related to food, such as the Kitchen for food preparation and the Canteen where citizens come to dine.

—

And that's it for today!
We hope you enjoyed this small devlog, which provides more insight into the tasks you'll be able to assign to citizens in the game.

See you in a few weeks for another devlog, and until then, thank you all so much for the really nice feedback here on Steam, but also on social media!

[h3]Wishlist now:[/h3]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070/Synergy/

-Leikir Studio & Goblinz Publishing