Sumer News

Hey there, Sumerians!

In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here:
Textures not rendering?) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fixes. While none of this is official as of yet, we wanted to share them as if they were patch notes:

Audio

• Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI
  
• Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines
  

Balance

• The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
  
• Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
  
• Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
  

Menu

• Fixed a typo in the credits
  

You can access the Beta by Right clicking on Sumer in your Library and selecting Properties. Under the "Betas" tab use the drop down menu for Select the beta and choose 'beta - not stable'.

Hey there, Sumerians!

In order to fix a rare issue caused when trying to adjust the resolution of your game (discussed here:
Textures not rendering?) we've added a new build to the beta channel. This build also features a few things we're experimenting with, as well as a few fixes. While none of this is official as of yet, we wanted to share them as if they were patch notes:

Audio

• Added player specific sounds effects that play when goats hit the score UI
  
• Increased the volume of some of Gugalanna's voice lines
  

Balance

• The Staff of Anu and Golden Ram are now slightly more common in Four and Six year games.
  
• Removed the chance for extra clay pits to appear in the Two year game auctions.
  
• Breeding Pens may now appear in the 2nd auction of Four year games.
  

Menu

• Fixed a typo in the credits
  

You can access the Beta by Right clicking on Sumer in your Library and selecting Properties. Under the "Betas" tab use the drop down menu for Select the beta and choose 'beta - not stable'.

Greetings Sumerians!

We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below:

Audio

• Added new voice over lines for Inanna.
  

This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice of Inanna for so long. We’re proud to have Nanna Gunnars joining the team and demanding sacrifice!

• Added a track that will play while two or more players are overbidding.
  
• A pause menu track will now play while the game is paused!
  

Balance

• Added an “instant statue scoring” variant to the variants menu.
  

We felt like there wasn't enough incentive to fight statue heavy players in the auction late game and we hope this encourages all players to statues valuable at all points in the game.

• Updated ritual pairings
  

We want rituals drawn during any given year to vary from each other, giving players the option to choose how they want to invest their actions and resources. We are also working on fine tuning year pacing. Some rituals will no longer be able to appear if there are only 2 potteries or 2 breweries. This is to prevent rituals that require a ton of one resource from clogging up the progress of the year.

• Bid rushing from the onset will now extend an auction round: If two or more players begin bidding at the start of the auction and have not stopped increasing their bid since the auction will continue, even after the timer has finished, until one player stops bidding.

Controls

• If an input device is connected and is not paired with a player then a “Press [INPUT] to join” message will prompt players to take over AI.
  
• Improved mouse controls for profile selection menu
  

Menus

• Graphics now gives the option to pick an aspect ratio and screen resolution
  
• Reshuffled some menu options’ placements (eg-moved Subtitles to Audio)
  
• Improved legibility of menu text font
  
• Top level menu has been aligned to the Ziggurat floors
  
• Simplified some text and option formatting
  
• Menu carrots now display in the color of the player that paused
  
• The “Interact” room on Ziggurat Menu now has character highlight
  
• Player homes on Ziggurat menu now prompt to select player. Standing in front of a home will also prompt you to pick a name
  
• We’ve updated our credits with some amazing people!
  
• Hint thought bubbles are now on by default and can be turned off in
• Gameplay menu under Options
  
• Text on several auction cards have received improvements
  

Tutorial

• Fixed rare issues with minimizing the game during tutorial select menu
  

Visual

• Big Head mode has received some visual improvements
  
• Changed the victory pose to be more exalted
  
• Minor fixes to background goat behavior
  
• Resource icons on workshops now darken when the shop is used.
  
• Watermarks matching the pentagon and circle tokens have been added to rooms during room placement
  

Online Multiplayer

• Did a whole bunch of invisible work getting this closer to being ready for public release.
  

Greetings Sumerians!

We’re pleased to report that Update 0.30.01, “Her Divine Voice”, is now live on the main channel. Patch Notes below:

Audio

• Added new voice over lines for Inanna.
  

This is a complete replacement of temporary VO. Huge thanks go out to Auður for being the voice of Inanna for so long. We’re proud to have Nanna Gunnars joining the team and demanding sacrifice!

• Added a track that will play while two or more players are overbidding.
  
• A pause menu track will now play while the game is paused!
  

Balance

• Added an “instant statue scoring” variant to the variants menu.
  

We felt like there wasn't enough incentive to fight statue heavy players in the auction late game and we hope this encourages all players to statues valuable at all points in the game.

• Updated ritual pairings
  

We want rituals drawn during any given year to vary from each other, giving players the option to choose how they want to invest their actions and resources. We are also working on fine tuning year pacing. Some rituals will no longer be able to appear if there are only 2 potteries or 2 breweries. This is to prevent rituals that require a ton of one resource from clogging up the progress of the year.

• Bid rushing from the onset will now extend an auction round: If two or more players begin bidding at the start of the auction and have not stopped increasing their bid since the auction will continue, even after the timer has finished, until one player stops bidding.

Controls

• If an input device is connected and is not paired with a player then a “Press [INPUT] to join” message will prompt players to take over AI.
  
• Improved mouse controls for profile selection menu
  

Menus

• Graphics now gives the option to pick an aspect ratio and screen resolution
  
• Reshuffled some menu options’ placements (eg-moved Subtitles to Audio)
  
• Improved legibility of menu text font
  
• Top level menu has been aligned to the Ziggurat floors
  
• Simplified some text and option formatting
  
• Menu carrots now display in the color of the player that paused
  
• The “Interact” room on Ziggurat Menu now has character highlight
  
• Player homes on Ziggurat menu now prompt to select player. Standing in front of a home will also prompt you to pick a name
  
• We’ve updated our credits with some amazing people!
  
• Hint thought bubbles are now on by default and can be turned off in
• Gameplay menu under Options
  
• Text on several auction cards have received improvements
  

Tutorial

• Fixed rare issues with minimizing the game during tutorial select menu
  

Visual

• Big Head mode has received some visual improvements
  
• Changed the victory pose to be more exalted
  
• Minor fixes to background goat behavior
  
• Resource icons on workshops now darken when the shop is used.
  
• Watermarks matching the pentagon and circle tokens have been added to rooms during room placement
  

Online Multiplayer

• Did a whole bunch of invisible work getting this closer to being ready for public release.
  

Happy Friday, Sumerians!

It’s been a long while since we last posted but we finally have a chain of announcements on the way. The first of which is that this weekend we’ll be showing at Play NYC, New York City’s first video game convention! Tickets are still available and can be purchased here .



We’ll be demoing Patch 0.28.1 of Sumer over the weekend. This patch includes an experimental statue scoring variant that scores statues immediately and a new voice over for Inanna featuring our new voice actress, Nanna Gunnarsdóttir! We’d love to hear your feedback on those additions as well as the various changes we’ve made across menus and the rest of the game. After our final pass of testing next week we’ll push the build to the main channel. Whether you’re joining us at Play NYC or are playing from home, you can play 0.28.1 on the beta channel right now.

Enjoy your weekend!
Studio Wumpus