Colony Survival News

All mentioned changes concern the internal, unreleased dev build

Last Friday Blog mentioned the idea of ‘outposts’. This resulted in massive support: lots of you shared their enthusiasm! That was great to see, and it strengthens our dedication to this plan.

Since then, progress has been good. In the image above, a trap can be seen. Traps were very much work-in-progress two weeks ago, and they’re a lot more finished in our current internal dev build. They are properly reloaded by special colonists, and there are now also variants of traps that can drop items on monsters that pass below them. They’ve also received their own, new 3D model. We’re still planning to update it though.

Zun is now working on a new effect: slowdown. We’re planning to add traps that can drop caltrops, which would slow down monsters. This requires new info to be saved for each monster though. We’re also planning to have other things that can affect monsters for a longer time, like poison. Properly saving these statuses for each and every monster and sending them to each connected player in multiplayer requires a minor technical overhaul, which is happening right now.

A trap from below

The last two weeks also saw the addition of many new icons for 0.9.0-items, and 3D-models for new jobs. We’ve also redone certain old icons that didn’t fit the new style and standards. Here are two screenshots of some of the new content:



Another project was updating the ‘spreadsheet calculator’. Since 0.7.0, we’ve got an internal system that can ‘print’ a spreadsheet with all kinds of data, especially data regarding the total labor cost of items. How many seconds of work are required to make an anvil and all of its ingredients?

0.9.0 adds some major new changes to this process. Some items can’t simply be crafted by a colonist, and have to be purchased from the trader with currency. And the crafting time isn’t static: it decreases when you use better tools. This makes calculating the total cost of a product significantly more complex.

With the new spreadsheet calculator, we now have access to a lot of new data. We’re going to use it to rebalance the costs of in-game items. Until now, it has been the result of ‘guesswork’. That has resulted in some weird things. The Golden Shield costs a lot of time to craft, but it can be sold for 250 coins. But the calculator concluded that the ingredients of the Golden Shield cost 230 coins already! All the work crafting the shield and its ingredients are better spent crafting linen, which can be sold for more coins with less work. Weird things like that will be fixed.

One of the results of the calculator. Spot the problems!

Bedankt voor het lezen :D

Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord

As promised last week, the dev build now has a functional Iron Age! Playtesting it has legitimately been a lot of fun. Currently, the Iron Age is also the first time players are able to unlock and use traps. We’re seriously considering introducing this new feature earlier in the game.

The Iron Age is now the most advanced age in 0.9.0. It’s the hardest to unlock, and producing enough iron to unlock traps and to craft a bunch of them is relatively difficult. I was surprised by the amount of miners and smelters I had to unlock. At first, I wanted to ‘fix’ that, to reduce the costs of the crafting recipes. But then I realized that this is exactly what we want to encourage. We want players to build big colonies and to recruit a large number of colonists, and these accomplishments should be meaningful.

[h3]Outposts
[/h3]

With the Iron Age unlocked and many dozens of colonists working on trap-production, I now had an overcrowded fort with many beds crammed into underground rooms. I barely had space left above ground to place new jobs. But while looking at the surrounding area from the walls of my fort, I felt a strong desire to “make it habitable”. Why should I build such a crowded place for the colonists when there is so much empty space around me?

...because that’s how the game works. You’ve got one banner, and you stick with it until you’re pretty much at the endgame, and then you can start over in a very distant location. But then I remembered the server that I shared with Vobbert and Zun many years ago, in a certain other voxel game. We did explore that world and we spread out our buildings, but our settlements were all connected by roads and bridges and pretty much within viewing distance of other settlements. We didn’t concentrate everything in a 200x200 area (the current core CS gameplay), nor did we go 10 miles in a random direction and build a new settlement in a fully isolated area (what 0.7.0 adds to CS).



At the start of this year, we did consider making CS more like that, with multiple settlements relatively nearby. We considered semi-realistic logistics to be a core part of that, and we couldn’t think of a system that we could both A.) develop in an acceptable timescale, and B.) make fun and intuitive to use for players.

But… is semi-realistic logistics actually a core requirement for ‘outposts’ gameplay? Imagine you’re able to build outposts with their own ‘secondary banners’, their own jobs, their own colonists and their own beds, in viewing range of your first and main colony. A small village focused on mining next to the mountain, a fishing town next to the sea, a farming outpost in the middle of a plain. But the tech tree and stockpile are completely, automatically connected to your main colony. The iron ingots of the mining village are instantly usable at your main colony, and the same is true for the wheat harvest of the farming outpost. Sure, it wouldn’t be very realistic, but wouldn’t it be a lot more fun than being forced to stay within a small safe zone in a nearly infinite world, or to be forced to use complex, tedious trading/logistics UIs to connect multiple colonies?

We’ve discussed it and we’re highly enthusiastic about the “outpost-plan”. We’ve already got support for multiple colonies, so it wouldn’t require enormous amounts of development time. But we do expect the results of it to be pretty enormous. Using the resources of your main colony to transform an empty patch of nature into a new settlement seems like very fun and satisfying gameplay. We’ve noticed that a lot of longtime players already used mods or cheats to achieve something like this; they dislike being constrained to a relatively small area, and want to spread their mini-civilization over a larger area.



But we’re not instantly going to develop this feature, so this is your chance to give us your feedback! Are you highly enthusiastic about this, and do you totally not mind us expanding 0.9.0 a bit further with this? Do you believe this new feature won’t be very helpful? Or are you sick and tired of us constantly moving the goalposts and do you just want 0.9.0 to be released yesterday? Let us know and we’ll consider your input!

During the next week, we're probably busy working on refining the content that was recently added. The traps are still work-in-progress, and a part of the new 0.9.0 content is still lacking icons, models and balance.

Bedankt voor het lezen :D

Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord

Image from Wikipedia

In our last blog, we suggested traps as the solution to a myriad of problems. The general response was enthusiastic, so we’ve been working on implementing it. Zun worked on the technical side of things, and things went very well there.

I had to work on integrating the new jobs and recipes properly in the 0.9.0 tech tree. And I struggled quite a bit with that. It felt like the keystone that completes an arch. We stacked up features on the left, we stacked up features on the right, and traps were the last feature needed to complete the system. And that last step is the most difficult one, because it has to make sure everything is properly ‘balanced’. An issue comparable to this one, 140 blogs ago. It took a while, but we’ve figured it out and things are moving forward again!

In the meanwhile, Zun tested prototype-traps. Here’s an image of such a trap defeating monsters!

Loaded traps are temporarily using the stove mesh, empty traps use the writer's desk mesh

We ran into a new technical problem that had some interesting visualizations. Blocks like crates and jobblocks have “access points”. These are places right next to the crate where colonists can stand to use these blocks. In 0.8.0, that’s only right next to the block.

...crates like here are visualized as… ....green = crate, red = “access point”

This is problematic for certain new traps. Some traps can only be aimed upwards, others can only be aimed downwards. It makes sense to reload these traps when standing on top of them, or below them. It also makes sense to integrate traps in walls at the height of the torso instead of on the floor - these should also be able to be reloaded by colonists standing next to them. So Zun improved the “access points system” to be able to deal with these new situations.



So we’ve now got an internal dev build with functional prototype traps, and a detailed path on how to integrate them in the tech tree. We expect to have pretty functional 0.9.0 gameplay, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, by this time next week!

Bedankt voor het lezen :D

Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord

We’ve been having a lot of debates about how to implement monster&guards in 0.9.0. We wanted more options, more variety and more challenge. We made some significant steps, for example by connecting the size of the monster threat to the tech tree as well, instead of solely to the amount of colonists. But now we had to turn our general ideas into specific guards/monsters/weapons/ammo, and that turned out to be pretty hard to do right.

We kept running into some problems:

• How do guards select which monsters they attack / prioritize? Do players have control over this?
  
• How do we prevent the gameplay from becoming repetitive “unlock stronger guard”-cycles?
  
• How do we give players a fail-safe system that saves the colony if guards can’t handle a new, stronger wave?
  
• How to differentiate heavy damage early game weapons from middle game medium damage weapons?
  
• If we provide more guard-options, how do we prevent the guard-menu from becoming too cluttered?

Just today, Zun suggested an idea that I had rejected in the past, but which does seem to solve quite a lot of the problems we encountered. Traps! Disclaimers: we’re not 100% sure about this, it’s a very new idea. We’re going to think about it during the weekend, and we’ll read your responses here under the blog, and we’re open to discuss it on Discord. No guarantees it'll get implemented! But it does seem rather promising at the moment.

Early game traps could be placeable items that get triggered when monsters pass over them. These could be "damage-weapons" like bombs, but also things like caltrops or poison devices, to slow monsters down or to damage them over time. We're considering a dedicated "trapman"-job - a colonist who maintains and re-arms the traps.

Later in the game, the trigger could be a separate item from the weapon, something like a pressure plate. You would be able to configure the pressure plate to only be sensitive towards certain enemies, and you'd have to connect it to a specific weapon.

Traps enable a lot of new strategies. For example, at the very start of your monster funnel, you could have traps that poison and slow down the strongest monsters. At the end of your funnel, right before your banner, you could place a bunch of explosives. If your guards fail to kill any monsters, they’ll be defeated by the bombs and you will be clearly notified that you’ll need to upgrade your defenses!

It solves the player-control-over-prioritization problem in a relatively intuitive way, it prevents the guard menu from becoming too cluttered - it would be helpful in a myriad of ways! But is it the right solution? Should we keep exploring alternatives? Should we release 0.9.0 without traps and without trying to find an elegant solution for the problems mentioned above? We’re probably going to make a definitive decision at the start of next week, so this is the right moment to give us some input. Let us know your opinion, it’s sincerely appreciated!

Bedankt voor het lezen :D

Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord

After last week's blog, we received some PMs with some feedback. It was becoming quite confusing to follow what plans we're actually working on and what exactly is going to be in 0.9.0 and what not. Those same PMs were also curious about our plans after 0.9.0. If there’s broader interest, we’ll discuss that in next week’s blog. But in this blog: our plans for 0.9.0!

Disclaimer: to a degree, the development of CS remains a flexible process. While testplaying, unexpected issues pop up, and we’d rather fix that than release a problematic version earlier.

[h2]Implemented: Tools[/h2]

Our current dev build contains a new feature that supports tools. Tools are used by workers when producing items. Tools break after having been used for a while. Different tools have different effects on productivity and different durabilities. Examples are stone, copper, bronze, iron and steel tools.

Jobs have a “Tool Usage Percentage” (TUP) that determines how important tools are for them. Jobs like blacksmiths are more reliant on tools than berry gatherers. The productivity of jobs with a high TUP are more affected by different tool types. It takes longer for a tool to break at low TUP jobs.

[h2]Implemented: Monsters linked to Science[/h2]

In all previous versions, the spawned amount of monsters in the night was linked to the amount of colonists in your colony. This incentives people to play very efficiently and to recruit as few colonists as possible. To further stimulate growth and expansion, we wanted to decouple this ‘punishment’ from colony growth. Monsters are now coupled to major milestones in the tech tree.

[h2]Implemented: Better Crafting Times[/h2]

We had little room to vary crafting times in previous builds. Crafting times varied per job, not per recipe: all recipes at one job shared the same crafting time. The crafting time was also limited to about 15 seconds maximum. Both have changed. One job can now simultaneously have long and short crafting times, and the crafting times can be minutes long. We’ve been using this to fix “workaround recipes”, recipes that include things like 15 copper nails and 20 linen to artificially boost crafting time.

[h2]Implemented: ”UI Science”[/h2]

In the past, players needed to recruit an actual scientist who worked “cycles” to unlock new things in the tech tree. The idea was to eventually have dozens of scientists working on Manhattan Projects. In practice, this didn’t happen. Quite often, there were significant delays between unlocks, where it makes sense to delete your Science Lab and the scientist-job, just to re-recruit 1 or 2 when needed. This isn’t fun gameplay.

In our dev build, science can be unlocked in the UI without a Science Lab or a scientist, provided that the right ingredients are present and all requirements are met. There are new jobs like the writer, who take quite some time to produce parchment scrolls. They partially replace the scientist.

[h2]Implemented: ”Real” Currency and “Real” Traders[/h2]

From the beginning, we’ve had coins, but these coins were items like all others. They had to be crafted at a job, and the merchant job worked like any other job, while using coins as ingredients.

In our current dev build, this has changed significantly. The Colony Points from 0.8.0 are now ‘Colony Currency’. Instead of automatically distributing luxury goods to colonists for points, they now have to be sold at the trader. The trader has its own unique interface, where things can be sold and purchased instantly, in large quantities if so desired.

[h2]Implemented: Stone Age to Bronze Age Content[/h2]

To make the best use of all of these new features, we’re seriously refactoring the content of the game. Colonies grow bigger, quicker and we’ve added more jobs and items to make earlier ages feel worthwhile. This includes items like the tools and leather.



[h2]Not Yet Implemented: Iron Age to Gunpowder/Machine Age Content[/h2]

We haven’t moved past the Bronze Age, so things like iron smelting, crossbows and muskets are not in the game yet. We’d rather not release 0.9.0 while having removed such significant content. We’re planning to add more ages, which will include a lot of the content from previous versions.

[h2]Not Yet Implemented: Models and Icons for all Content [/h2]

Most of the Stone Age to Bronze Age content has icons, but the models for new job blocks have not been made yet. Content in ‘coming ages’ lacks both icons and models.

[h2]Not Yet Implemented: New Guards and Monsters [/h2]

We’re planning to add new guards and monsters. Not merely variations on current features, but new mechanics like area of effect damage and ranged monsters as well. We’re still debating if and how we should implement armored guards. We’re also considering adding new 3D models for the colonists, guards and monsters.

[h2]Not Yet Implemented: UI Overhaul[/h2]

New features like the traders and the tools have a rudimentary UI so we can test them, but not yet a ‘decent’ UI that is ready for release. Of course, we want to change that.

[h2]Not Yet Implemented: Colony Recover Mode[/h2]

With monsters not being linked to colonists anymore, a successful monster attack that wipes out half of your colony doesn’t proportionally diminish monster attacks in the next night. We’re planning a mode that costs a lot of Colony Currency and that removes your ability to unlock new tech which allows you to rebuild your colony while monster attacks are seriously diminished.

[h2]Not Yet Implemented: New Terrain Generation, and other Fundamental Changes that Require New Worlds [/h2]

Update 0.9.0 is the largest overhaul in years, and completely restructures a lot of content. We’ve already refactored savegame structure for this update. Old worlds will not be compatible with 0.9.0. Disclaimer: We use the Steam Beta Branches to make major previous versions available, allowing you to replay older worlds! Nothing is lost.

There are things we can’t improve, fix or refactor without breaking savegames, but of course, we want to do that as rarely as possible. Now that we’ve made this choice, we want to combine this with other world-breaking changes, like new terrain generation.

----------

These are the main features we have implemented or are planning to implement for 0.9.0. There’ll probably be some minor changes, and we always encounter small unexpected issues, but the main structure of 0.9.0 is clear to us. We hope it’s clear for all of you as well now! We’d love to hear your opinion. If you want to hear what happened to earlier plans unmentioned now (like logistics), or what our other plans are post 0.9.0, or our opinion on specific proposals - let us know in the comments or on Discord!

Bedankt voor het lezen :D

Reddit // Twitter // YouTube // Website // Discord