HexLands News

[h2]Hi guys![/h2][p]Only 20 days have passed since 0.38.0 and now 0.39.0 is here! This is a smaller update in size, but very important nevertheless![/p][p]I know I promised new screenshots and a new trailer but after updating the screenshots I received some really good feedback, and I couldn't help myself from getting into coding once again! :)[/p][p]Tile selling was disliked by a lot of you, because giving up your territory just to get out of a resource lock feels very bad. So it's replaced by the Decree System, inspired by Hearthstone! Which helps you get unstuck, and also let me add some utility cards in the starter deck. And for those who liked living on the edge for a higher profit: tile selling is still available, but now it's a card and it's much more flexible since it's paired with the decree system. Besides this major change, there are smaller ones too, so keep reading! :) [/p][p]As always: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just PM me and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) [/p][h2]Bye-bye tile selling, say hello to Decrees![/h2]

• [p]Giving up your territory just to get out of a resource lock feels very bad, so it's no longer a basic mechanic to sell tiles for some resources. (previously gold, before that food & wood)[/p]
  • [p]For those liked living on the edge, tile selling is now a card![/p]
• [p]The new Decree System functions similarly to Hearthstone's Mana System.[/p]
• [p]You start with 2 decrees, capped at 2, but its cap increases each turn, until it reaches 5.[/p]
• [p]At the start of every turn, your decrees are refreshed/refilled.[/p]
• [p]But what are these decrees for?[/p]
  • [p]Use always available services, located at the usual place:[/p]
    • [p]Buy some food & wood.[/p]
    • [p]Draw additional cards.[/p]
    • [p]These mechanics are the new "unstuck" features, which won't feel as negative as tile selling.[/p]
  • [p]Use starter utility cards[/p]
    • [p]Turn a water tile into grassland[/p]
    • [p]Claim a tile for a town[/p]
  • [p]Collect advanced utility cards[/p]
    • [p]Upgrade a house into a manor[/p]
    • [p]Demolish a no longer useful building, letting you reuse the tile! [/p]
• [p]Of course you can get extra decrees through some cards![/p]
  • [p]Royal Decree: buy decrees for gold! (this is a starter card)[/p]
  • [p]Royal Territory: give a tile to the king, who in return gives you a few decrees![/p]

[p][/p][h2]And here are the other changes[/h2]

• [p]Treasure chests may contain and shops may offer upgraded cards![/p]
• [p]While holding a card which increases/decreases your population, its (future) effect is now indicated on the population circle. Now you don't have to do Maths![/p]
• [p]Updated buy/sell cards' art so they use new resource icons.[/p]
• [p]Slightly nerfed card upgrades.[/p]
• [p]When hovering over a card in your hand, they are enlarged by 35% instead of 25%.[/p]
• [p]Updated screenshots because they were pretty outdated. Now I just have to update the even older trailer...[/p]
• [p]Bugfixes![/p]

[p][/p][p]Next I'll be working on a new trailer. As I said before, the current one is horribly old and it had already tons of flaws when it was released. Next week I'll get married(!!!) but hopefully the trailer will be finished by the time I leave for my honeymoon. Hopefully, this little hiatus will also help me get a clear vision on the "boss levels". ^^[/p][p]So the next, "end of autumn patch" will hopefully have some longwaited features: a unique final level for the currently available world map and some meta progression![/p][p]Once again, thanks for sticking around, and let me know what do you think about the decree system. As always, join my Discord server, just hit me up and I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! I'd love to hear you feedback! Thanks for reading, and have a nice Sunday! :) [/p][p]Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios [/p]

[h2]Hi guys![/h2][p]0.38.0 is here! As always: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just PM me and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) [/p][p]Instead of the usual quick summary, I'll just jump right into it:[/p][p][/p][h2]Coins & Shop![/h2]

• [p]Now you can collect coins which is persistent between islands.[/p]
• [p]Use these coins to buy, remove or upgrade cards at the shop! :)[/p]
• [p]If you don't like the cards you can buy, you can reroll them for a small fee.[/p]
• [p]Look out, because one card is always on a 50% sale! ;) [/p]
• [p]if you don't choose a card from a treasure chest, now you get coins instead of resources,[/p]
• [p]Tasks and cards can also give you coins![/p]

[p][/p][h2]New Cards![/h2]

• [p]One boring thing was that some tile resources had only just one card to be used on them...
  Not anymore! :)[/p]
• [p]Besides integrating barbarians, now you can also raze their settlement giving you some resources and freeing up the said tile.[/p]
• [p]Instead of a gold mine, build a mint on top of gold and you'll receive some coins that you can spend the next time you visit the shop.[/p]
• [p]Getting wood from forests is boring. Now you can get food too![/p]
• [p]Instead of a stone mine, build a quarry! It gives you a small amount of stone everytime you use a card![/p]
• [p]Need a new card or some coin? Build a treasury which grants you a treasure chest![/p]
• [p]If you want to boost your population, build a tavern which grants you bonus population based on nearby housing buildings.[/p]
• [p]Want to increase a town's population without building anything? Organize a festival![/p]
• [p]Instead of sustainable fishing, catch all the fish from a tile, granting you some food and a free festival card![/p]
• [p]Lots of useless, empty water tiles? Say no more! Now you can build houses on the shoreline! (= on the water tile) - Their capacity is a bit lower than regular houses though.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Harder Tasks and Demands![/h2]

• [p]Both quests and demands got harder, especially demands.[/p]
• [p]You have less time to fullfill demands.[/p]
• [p]Instead of receiving a task after 3 turns and then a demand after another 3 turns, and so on... Now demands appear 1 turn quicker than tasks. So on early levels: after 3 turns a task appears, and then after 2 turns, a demand. On later levels a task appears after 2 turns, and then a demand after just 1 turn. (all of these still behave in a repeating pattern) [/p]

[h2]Rerolls![/h2]

• [p]You don't like the cards found in a treasure chest? Now you can reroll them once for free![/p]
• [p]For a small fee you can also reroll the buyable cards at the shop.[/p]
• [p]Rerolls will almost guarantee that all cards will be different from the previous ones.[/p]

[h2]Tile Selling Rework[/h2]

• [p]Instead of giving you food and wood directly, now you sell tiles for gold![/p]
• [p]Now your starting deck contains 2 Imperial Supplies cards, which gives you wood and food... but now for some gold! (Also removed Buy Food and Buy Wood, because they felt redundant)[/p]
• [p]This way tile selling can be used for a lot more stuff![/p]

[h2]Resource Per Turn Improvements[/h2]

• [p]You always produce a small amount of resources every turn.[/p]
• [p]The resources that you'll receive next turn are displayed on your resource panel.[/p]
• [p]You no longer have to hover over buildings to see which ones are still producing their resources. Now these and other similar "effects" are always shown above their tiles. So if a building has no effect indicator above it... then it's safe to destroy! :) (Except housing buildings of course!)[/p]
• [p]These floating indicators can be toggled with a checkbox near the population panel.[/p]

[h2]Other Notable Changes[/h2]

• [p]Floating texts while holding a card in your hand now also display resulting population change.[/p]
• [p]Housing buildings' tooltip now displays the population they accomodate.[/p]
• [p]Removed total population text from world map to make space for coin display.[/p]
• [p]Non-trivial UI elements received tooltips.[/p]
• [p]Balanced some cards and other mechanics.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some issues.[/p]

[p]Sadly, the next patch won't arrive anytime soon because I'll be working on a new trailer and screenshots. The current one is horribly old and it had already tons of flaws when it was released. But once the new trailer and screenshots are public, I still won't be able to progress a lot with the game itself, because I'm getting married and then going on a relatively long honeymoon. However, I know myself, so I don't want to pretend that I won't think about ideas everyday while I'm away. ^^ I can already see myself getting hyped about arriving home and jumping back into the codebase. Hopefuly I'll be able to release something in early November.[/p][p]So this next, autumn patch will hopefully have some longwaited features: a unique final level for the currently available world map and some meta progression![/p][p]Once again, thanks for sticking around, and let me know what do you think about the shop, the new cards, or any of the changes. As always, join my Discord server, just hit me up and I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! I'd love to hear you feedback! Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend! :) [/p][p]Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios [/p]

[h2]Hi guys![/h2][p]After 2 months of development, 0.37.0 is here! Before I would begin: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just hit me up and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :) [/p][p]Besides the features planned for this milestone, I managed to fullfill 54 feedback reports. Some of them overlapped with the planned features, while some were pretty awesome ideas and improvements which I didn't think of. So thank you to all who contributed, I can't believe how much better the game is just because some of you are willing to help me with your feedback. :) [/p][p][/p][h2]New World Map![/h2]

• [p]The world map is finally reworked, heavily inspired by my beloved Slay the Spire.[/p]
• [p]Instead of removing cards from your deck and restoring reputation between every levels, now they can be only found as special nodes on the map, and they are much rarer.[/p]
• [p]Islands' modifiers are now illustrated with icons and chevrons instead of a wall of text and numbers. However, if enabled in settings, the actual values can be shown once again.[/p]
• [p]New games start in the world map scene, where players can choose from 3 starting islands. Except when the user is a first-time player: in that case the game starts on a random first island already, so they can experience the core of the game instantly. [/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]Upgrade System[/h2]

• [p]Now cards can be upgraded through the Blacksmith and the Rest Camp node which can be found on the new world map.[/p]
• [p]With each upgrade, either the resources/population they provide increase, or the resources they cost decrease. The upgrade ranks are colorcoded for better readability.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Improved UI and UX[/h2]

• [p]Redesigned and improved the quality and readability of many interface elements. Some of them weren't fully clear, now I think they convey their purpose much better. 90% of the UI received a new look, so I guess we should skip listing them here. ^^[/p]
• [p]Cards (while also getting a new look) received new highlight particles![/p]
• [p]Both the startup loading screen and the ones before island scenes got a new and improved look.[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Island Scene Changes[/h2]

• [p]New tile selling visuals: instead of turning into water, they are now indicated with reddish highlight with tents or ships on it.[/p]
• [p]Separate draw and discard pile inspecting instead of the previous, combined modal where already drawn cards were semi-transparent.[/p]
• [p]Quests and towns' gold generation mechanic are already available on the first level.[/p]
• [p]When a new card is added to your deck, you receive it into your hand.[/p]
• [p]Card drawing now costs gold.[/p]
• [p]Territorial Deed and Contract Labor are now part of the starting deck. (exchanging gold for a tile or workers)[/p]
• [p]New tutorial texts added and improved existing ones. Added a button into settings to reset tutorial status.[/p]
• [p]Removed "discard card X" quests and made demands harder a bit.[/p]
• [p]Improved tile tooltips.[/p]

[h2]Other Notable Changes[/h2]

• [p]Added ultra widescreen support and implemented UI scale setting. [/p]
• [p]Updated the "What's next?" panel's content.[/p]
• [p]Balanced some cards and other mechanics. [/p]
• [p]Polish & bugfixes: Many minor polish and bugfix commits, including font adjustments, missing/misconfigured assets, and improved error handling.[/p]
• [p]Created a promotional site for the game: https://www.hexlands.com/[/p]

[p]For the next patch, I plan it to be a smaller one, because the faster the iteration, the better it is. It will contain mostly new cards and polishing the features added with this patch because I'm sure and hope that there will be tons of feedback.^^ After the next, smaller patch, I'll jump back into the next big feature: a unique final level for the currently available world map (more to come of course), and meta progression![/p][p]Once again, thanks for sticking around, and let me know what do you think about these new features, I would really appreciate it. As always, join my Discord server, just hit me up and I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! I'd love to hear you feedback!

Thanks for reading, and have a nice week! :)
Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios
[/p]

[h2]Hey guys![/h2]
Finally, after 4 months of development, 0.36.0 is here! I'm sorry for not finishing it sooner, but while I didn't have a dayjob, I started putting lots of new features into the game. Once I had one again, my free time shrank and polishing and testing all these new features took a looong time.

Before I would begin: if you'd like to get instant access to the playtest then all you have to do is join my Discord server! Just hit me up and I'll grant you access. I'd love to hear you feedback! :)

Here's a quick summary: Now you can end your turn, which works just as it does in other deckbuilders, and there is also a health system called "reputation". Quests appear every few turns, offering rewards or punishing unmet demands. Between levels, you can trim your deck or recover reputation. The update also improves tutorials, settings, and visual clarity. Hope you like the changes, let me know what you think. :) Anyway, here are the changes in detail:


[h2]Reworked Turn System[/h2]

• Like in other roguelikes, now there is an end turn button which discards all cards in your hand and draw you 5 new ones. This gives me more opportunities game design wise and players will have one less thing to learn due to being already familiar with this system.
  
• Due to this change, card selling is now removed and drawing card is only possible once per turn. (but it became much cheaper)

[h2]Reputation System[/h2]

• Functions similarly to a health system: you have 3 "health", lose it all, and you lose!

[h2]Quest System[/h2]

• Every third turn, your people have a task for you. Sometimes they instantly tell you their wishes, sometimes you have to claim the tile first on which a golden exclamation mark appeared.
  
• Completing a task gives you various rewards, though right now it's either resources or a card into your hand. But a task is only available for a given duration.
  
• Every second task is a demand. It gives you no reward, instead you lose reputation if you not complete it in time.

[h2]Removing cards from your deck[/h2]

• After every level, now you have the option to remove a card from your deck.
  
• Before every level, now you have the option to either remove a card from your deck or restore a reputation.
  
• I know this feels a bit clunky right now, but these were needed features and it couldn't wait till I implement a proper, branching node selection screen, like in Slay the Spire or other roguelikes.

[h2]Tutorial System Rework[/h2]

• When you run the game for the first time, instead of going through a series of "lecturing" levels, now you immediately jump into a normal run/session and these helpful tutorial texts appear as you play and discover the features.

[h2]New Settings[/h2]

• Basic graphics settings! No quality settings yet, but you can already change resolution, window mode, refresh rate, VSync, etc.
  
• Mouse and scroll sensitivity settings! Sorry guys for taking this long...
  
• Now that settings became quite big, it was necessary to implement tabs. So all new and previous settings are now grouped neatly into tabs like Controls, Gameplay, Graphics or Audio.

[h2]Improved Card Adding Screen[/h2]

• All offered cards are lame? If that's the case now you can grab a pile of resources instead!
  
• Can't remember what cards are in your deck? Now you can inspect it while choosing, so you can make the best decision. (Map inspect is coming too!)

[h2]Improved Highlighting[/h2]

• Unusable cards are now desaturated for better distinction. Now it's clear which cards are usable right now.
  
• Tile highlighting has now a better color palette, because previously e.g. the green tile highlights were hard to see over plains or forests.
  
• Highlighting now also includes outlines! Some tiles' highlight were hard to see with all the trees or buildings on it, so now they are outlined.
  
• Also, tiles no longer rise from the ground: I think highlighting is good enough now and this immersion breaking feature became a bit redundant.

[h2]Other changes[/h2]

• Discord Rich Presence: now your friends can see which level are you right now.
  
• Some other systems have also been in development, but they are not yet visible to the players. This is because they are kind of "empty" as of now. But they are working for sure, for example the game now has localization, statistics and achievement system! Before the Steam Demo I'll add extra languages, all kind of stats and achievements, so stay tuned!
  
• And obviously lots of smaller fixes and polishes, algorithm fine tuning, etc, you know how it goes.

Next, I'll be working on adding some goals and meta progression so players will feel the urge to start a new run! :) Once again, thanks for sticking around, and let me know what do you think about these new, big changes, I would really appreciate it.

As always, join my Discord server, just hit me up and I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! I'd love to hear you feedback!

Thanks for reading, and have a nice week! :)
Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios

[h2]Hi guys![/h2]

Not so long ago 0.35.0 was released, but I didn't post the patch notes because first I wanted to make a devlog :) Feel free to check it out here:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Before I would start listing the changes: I'm giving away 2 full release keys! :)

• All you have to do is join my Discord server and say something in the #giveaway channel till the year ends!
• But to make things a bit more interesting, you can double your chance: you just have to try HexLands and submit at least a bit valuable feedback through the ingame dialog. (If you also participate in the Discord giveaway, make sure to use your Discord handle in the contact field)

[h3]And now here are the changes:[/h3]

• Treasure chests which when claimed, offer you new cards into your deck. This way you have another type of objective on the islands and also deck building has a faster pace.
  
• New card mechanics, with a few initial cards already added:
  • Per turn resource generators, so e.g. now you can build on a Forest either a classic Lumbercamp, or a Forester's Hut which gives you more lumber but over 5 turns.
    
  • Building converters, e.g. now you can upgrade Houses into Manors.
    
  • Demolish buildings to free up some space!
    
  • Buildings which provide bonuses based on nearby resource providers
  • Buildings which provide bonuses based on nearby population
  • Buildings which provide bonuses based on nearby tiles, e.g. water or mountains
  • Cards which give you a new card after using them, e.g. a Pasture gives you Manure.
    
  • Cards which can be only used on specific buildings, e.g. Manure gives you extra food if used on Wheat Fields.
• Balancing & polishing existing cards, removed placeholder portraits
  
• Gold is unlocked after the second isle: all isles offer gold using cards and with that towns also start generating gold on level up
  
• Tile claiming visuals improved: slight UI improvements, and if the claiming is due to a new House that's being placed, the House card will be anchored to its future tile.
  
• Island affixes are clearer to read: they are grouped into good and bad affixes, and within a group they are sorted by impact.
  
• Specific error messages, so now you know why exactly you can't e.g. build on a tile
  
• Map and card algorithm fixes and improvements
  
• Now you can replay the tutorial
• A toggle to confine cursor to the game's window
  
• Tiles have tooltips when hovered and also increased resource tooltip visibility
• And other various small features, polishes and fixes.

Now I think I'll stop adding new cards for a bit. Instead I'll gather some feedback on the ones just added while I start implementing a new level of progression, the final one, throughout a run. Hopefully development will fasten up a bit, now that I've lost my dayjob. ^^

As always, join my Discord server, just hit me up and I'll grant you instant access to the playtest! I'd love to hear you feedback!

Thanks for reading, good luck with the giveaway and have a happy new year! :)
Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios