UnReal World News

Code is pouring and bubbling in development chambers as we head towards yet another version update. And now it's a little sneak preview time with our textilecraft test character Kuitu Kaumolainen ...

The biggest single addition to the upcoming version is featuring mechanics to extract fibres from certain plants and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill was created, and lots of spin-off features regarding fibre processing and cordage also followed. Fibres can be extracted from nettle, hemp and flax - which has been added as a new cultivated plant. Let's start from there ...




Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but in Iron-Age Finland it wasn't even as commonly grown as hemp. One reason for this is that flax doesn't survive in the very north so in the game it's grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. As a curiosity, the finnish word for flax ('pellava') originally meant the nettle plant ('nokkonen') which speaks about importance of this age-old wild source of fibre.
But nevertheless, flax is in the game now and it can be grown, harvested and processed for fibre.

Kuitu Kaumolainen has found his way to Kiesse, a region where flax is grown. At Kaumo where he's from they only produce nettle or hemp fibres. Blue flowering flax is easily spotted from the field, and it could be harvested for fibre already.




Processing plant fibres into yarn involves several stages of work, and it's all done by using your TEXTILECRAFT skill. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working times and the amount of usable fibre or yarn produced.

After the plants are harvested the fibres must be then separated from the plant's stalks. This process is called "retting", and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, with the warmer being faster.

Kuitu Kaumolainen harvested 100 flaxes and headed by the lake to start retting the stalks. Here you can see all the textilecraft options to proceed with fibre extracting and spinning them into yarn.




It took two weeks for Kuitu's flax to soak properly. After that it took one more week to dry them. And only then Kuitu can start extracting the actual fibre from the stalks.
Extracting fibres is done by breaking the dried retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. The stalks are beated for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres is hard work and commonly carried out with several people working together.
Traditionally there has been a custom to arrange specific work parties for processing fibres of each village together with the neighbouring people. And in the game your companions can actually help you with the task.
Obtained bundles of fibre are then scraped free from remaining coarse parts. Traditionally special tools were used, but it can be also done by rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand.

Kuitu starts extracting fibres from the dried retted flax stalks at his shelter. He is about to beat the stalks with a club on top of a log. These dried retted stalks could have been also stored for future and the fibre extracted when there's time and need for that.




It took lees than half an hour to extract the fibres from his 100 flax stalks and Kuitu got 16 bundles of flax fibre. Fibres can be then spun into yarn either by hand, which is slower, or using a spindle. Spindle is also a new craftable item, and very easy to make. So Kuitu crafts a spindle and starts spinning. He decides to go for full length yarn. When starting spinning it is possible to choose how long yarn you wish to spin on one go.

Kuitu manages to spin 80 meters of linen yarn in less than two hours. It could be then used in crafting of different items such as loop snares, arrows - or fishing rods.




In the next version it will be also possible to craft fishing rods, and hooks out of wood or bone. And a working fishing rod naturally needs a line too. Now Kuitu has his linen yarn which could be used as line, but the whole process of extracting flax fibres with retting and drying took weeks. That's quite a long time if there's an urgent need for little piece of yarn.
Luckily there's also faster wilderness condition option for utilizing plant fibres - and that is a nettle.
Nettle fibres are a speciality as they be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. To do it you can simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time, but is an useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed.
The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off.
It doesn't take long before Kuitu finds some nettles. Textile plant harvesting is made possible for fibre even when they are still growing.

Kuitu harvests some nettles. Then he simply extracts the fibres by hand, and spins some nettle yarn. If he would like to produce a lot of yarn, this would be too slow to be practical, but now he's only after fishing rod line,




Kuitu finds a slender tree trunk, fashions a wooden hook out of a branch, and proceeds to assemble a fishing rod. Now we should mention that In the upcoming version usage of baits in fishing is also featured. Using baits is not necessary, but naturally highly recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential.
You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish.
With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation.

Kuitu makes his survival fishing rod, with a wooden hook and nettle yarn.

The work with the several less laborous features continues but we're getting closer to release every day. It's always quite impossible to say when everything is completely wrapped up and working, but maybe - just maybe - we might have this version out in june.

Cheers!

For those who are more curious about the real life practises here's a short documentary in Finnish showing how the flax is processed. Having read the above I trust you will understand what is happening even without subtitles. The gear used differs slghtly from the more primitive method of the game, but the steps are the same; sow, harvest, ret, dry, extract, spin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFD_CUlxZU

The last weekend some quite exciting weather engine achievements and accompanying real life adventures were made as Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer) spent some creative time together.
Now there are two new essential weather features on the table - both still somewhat under construction, but most likely to be seen in the next version.

And the features are...



Our weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. Lots of tuning is still pending, but we can already see that the full-moon nights in the game will be a different experience.Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be a of great help and extended the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. Just have a look at the screenshot compilation below.

Left: A casual midnight by the lake in dirt month as it appears currently in the game.
Right: The same scenery with the new moon code in action. It's full moon and our nighttime visibility is a much different.




Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on crust with skis now became much faster than their prey. Lots of work is still needed before snow crust support is all coded, but that's the intention. Now it also requires proper snow penalty to be added for NPCs and animals, and reworking the skiing code to some extent too. (And if you were thinking of skiing NPCs so were we.)


The last weekend it was both full moon and snow crust possibility, so we also went experiencing these things in real life. Naturally these both are familiar experiences already, and as countryside kids we've learned possibilities of snow crust for work and leisure all the way from our childhood. But if you'd like to see the magic of skiing in moonlight without any artificial light, or get an idea about difference between skiing in slushy spring snow compared to the crust, we've got a short videoclip for you:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOcb_cm5UkE

[h3]What kinds of rituals were involved in eating during Iron-Age?
Which UnReal World foods the dev would like to try out?
Would players find the game’s food tasty?
How do flatbreads or ember-roasted turnips actually look like when cooked?[/h3]

An exhibition about video game food culture has opened at Finnish Museum of Games.
UnReal World is featured in the exhibition in many ways ...
... and the most delicious parts are now served to you within a special downloadable content!

The Cake is a Lie exhibition is on display 24.1.2021 – 31.8.2021 at Finnish Museum of Games, Tampere, Finland. Even though visiting the physical exhibition is not a possibility for most of us everyone can still get a good taste of it with downloadable publication they have made available.




From Screen to Plate is an expansion, or DLC to the exhibition. This downloadable .pdf publication explores the writing of videogame food blogs and books, glances at cooking simulators, and marvels at UnReal World’s Iron Age eating habits through an interview and an entire menu to try out.

UnReal World menu is based on the actual dishes you can cook in the game, but now with the recipes and instructions printed out you can try cooking them for real. In the interview Sami (UnReal World developer) talks about the food and its meaning in the game, also covering historical viewpoints and folklore behind the game mechanics.

This publication is really something to take a look at to learn more about the food in UnReal World, and in some other games too. You can download the publication from the links below. There's English and Finnish edition available.

"The Cake is a Lie - from Screen to Plate DLC" (in English)
"Kakku on vale - ruudulta lautaselle"-julkaisu" (in Finnish)


The publication is also available as printed A5 booklet for those who have an opportunity to go see the physical exhibition.

[h3]Thanks and respect for the Finnish Museum of Games and organizers for the exhibition and the publication. It was our pleasure to participate, and the outcome is plain yummy.
[/h3]

For those who can understand it (or just enjoy listening to foreign language) here's curator’s say and a sneak peak into the exhibition in finnish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqA06pNmWN4

Cheers! Keep on roasting in the free world...
ːurw_fireː

This comes perhaps a little late, but the timing gives us an opportunity to remind you of few things. Firstly, there's till time to enter UnReal World for discounted price before the Winter Sale 2020 turns to its end. And secondly, our new video greetings have been released just today.

Happy this year!



We have a habit of occasionally creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight the supporters. These video works have been brought on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players.

Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains seven video greetings in total, and more will follow in time.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/505100/UnReal_World__Video_greetings/

If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder.

Cheers!

The midwinter and holiday season is at hand, and Steam Winter sale has begun.
Now let us send you our very best and most delicious Season's Greetings,
as it's time to celebrate the period with Iron-Age feastings.

You may be aware that over the years we have practiced and experimented with many different survival, bushcraft and traditional skills and techniques to gain firsthand knowledge of the ways of the ancients, and to add a special touch of realism to the game mechanics. Practise what you code, so to speak.

This midwinter we tried out quite ambitious Iron-Age cooking as well. These are the kind of dishes you can prepare in UnReal World too, but they surely taste good in our time too.

Roasting turnips on embers.

Flatbreads and cooked turnips.

Tasty bits of broadbean-turnip-mushroom stew.

Let the Iron-Age feasting start.

This is not our first go with traditional food for traditional devs, but the first time it's been carried out and documented this precisely. The reason for this delicious study is an exciting upcoming exhibition.
In 2021 Suomen Pelimuseo (The Finnish Museum of Games) is arranging an exhibition about the food in videogames. In addition to insight about the subject in various videogames there shall be a publication presenting different menus from different games with recipies you can try out yourself. UnReal World is one of the titles included. We'll let you know when the exhibition starts.

But now let's survive the midwinter, feast as everyone prefers, and see you again in 2021.

Cheers!