Ymir "New Dawn": new engine overview

After many months of work on Ymir "New Dawn", the basics of the new engine and graphics framework are now completed and I can finally share all my progress and more details about the new coming features.


First of all, what does Ymir "New Dawn" refers to exactly?
More than just an update to the existing game, New Dawn is basically a new game due to the extent of changes: migration to an updated engine with my own 3D graphics framework built on it.
It is built around the idea of trying to streamline as much as possible loading times, which currently kill the UX of the game.
It will however not be released as a separate product but will instead gradually replace the 'legacy' game when it is ready. Therefore people who already own the current game will basically get this "Ymir 2" for free (the last legacy version will then remain available as a separate custom branch in Steam for those who want it).




The game graphics will now be 3D based, which allows for more optimizations down the line and to make better use of computer hardwares.
The world, terrains and buildings will now be in 3D while other things like trees or units will remain 2D "billboards" but within a 3D environment.
This in turn allows for dynamic cameras and to finally have camera rotations which will make bumpy terrains or complex fortifications much easier to understand.

3d based graphics allow for proper camera rotations at last.

3d graphics will also allow for more immersion, seeing your territories with perspective.

The update to a more recent version of the underlying engine also FINALLY allows for x64bit builds, which basically means the game can at last use all the available hardware memory instead of being limited to 2Gb.
This means the possibility for more graphical content such as much more diversity in environment, decorative objects, buildings etc...





Worlds are now true spheres with hexagonal (and pentagonal) territories. Hexagons are the only way to divide a spherical surface evenly, and it also fixes the issue of diagonal adjacencies between territories causing them to only share a tiny corner.
It also makes more organic looking worlds.




The priority of this new version of the game is to streamline loading times, which have been the main factor ruining the player experience in the legacy version.
A core new feature of New Dawn will be the absence of loading times between the worldmap view and the local territories: once initially loaded, you'll be able to freely zoom in and out of it seamlessly "à la google earth".
Not only that, but instead of having only one territory loaded at a time, you'll be able to have your whole region (city and all its attached territories) displayed at once, allowing you to simply pan the camera to your countryside to manage it instead of having to load back the world, select the countryside territory and then load the tile again.
This should hopefully drastically change the playing experience, making things feel less time consuming and cumbersome to manage in the later phases of the game.


No more loading times: when you'll zoom in on one of your territories, it will simply transition between "worldmap" mode to "local" mode, displaying the fully detailed territory


With this new engine, environments will be much more detailed than the legacy game: more diversity in trees, bushes, grass, rocks.
On top of new things, all previous graphical assets are being reworked with more details as well.
3D graphics also allow for dynamic lightning, which means a possible daylight cycle. Additionally, the world being truly spherical means day/night cycles would be realistic with timezones and durations, with for instance a lower sun the closer you are to the poles (but that could have gameplay repercussions so it might be something i'll keep disabled at first).



The new procedural generation of territories also now better matches the worldmap, has more relief, and creates much more original looking territories. It also makes adjacent territories match with one another, which was required as now more than one may be displayed at once.


New Dawn will also include more climates than the legacy version: What was "Nordic" will become split into 3 different climates: "Tundra", "Taiga" and "Steppes".
What was "Tropical" will be split into "Humid" (represents china / South US type of climate), "Monsoon" (represents tropical savanna climates), and "Jungle" (equatorial types of climates).

The screenshots showcased in this news show the new "Mediterranean" climate (now renamed "Dry" for a more generic name), which is the first climate to be updated with new graphical assets.

Buildings will gradually transition to 3D models. The old sprites will remain used in the meantime, although it will probably look weird.



The 3d huts seen here were spawned manually to test the model graphics which is why they are not centered on the grid and have no surroundings.
Actual buildings will be a composition of a main model and other decorative surroundings to recreate a similar look of the legacy sprites.


Multiple territories can now be displayed at once, which mean you'll be able to see your capital and its surrounding countryside at the same time, and to manage them all seamlessly.



As you can imagine, making such a new game will take a lot of time.
It's quite a desert crossing for me as it leaves the legacy game un-updated for all that time (causing a natural drop in interest and sales) while this 'new game' still has a long way to go.
Any support on Patreon is REALLY more than welcome nowadays. It is rewarded with a special Discord room where i discuss and share daily updates about the progress of "New Dawn" with my Patrons.