dotAGE News

Thanks for the kind words for the DLC release, and thanks for the reports! Release day is always a bit rough! Hopefully there is no other early issue (the plant one was a bit mysterious, but it just went unnoticed during testing as I focused on meat due to... well, CATS of course!)

If you encounter a bug, do report it, I try to fix it immediately (unless I'm sleeping, which will be in about 6 hours). I'll be around for the weekend due to the DLC release to fix issues if they arise!

Have fun
- Michele

v 1.6.0d

Bugfixes

• Fixed Dad's actions not being resumed on load if mid-action
  
• Fixed Yugong not starting with critters anymore, due to the new creature spawn logic
  
• Fixed Plums not getting a bonus from tilled soil anymore (and all other plants, it was not just Blueberries)
  
• Localization fixes
  

v 1.6.0c
Bugfixes

• Fixed seasons sometimes blocking the game due to some recent hotfix (looking at you, release hotfix!)
  

v 1.6.0b
Bugfixes

• Fixed plants not showing reduced depletion rate anymore (obviously, a release obvious bug needed to appear!)
  
• Fixed Blueberries not getting a bonus from tilled soil anymore
  

Hello Elders!

If you had told me a year and a half ago, before I released dotAGE, that I'd be able to work on an expansion next, I would not have believed you! I must thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to focus more on the game, as I have so many ideas I've been caressing during the troubled development and today you can finally play some of the wackier ones!

There is a lot to talk about, so bear with me as we walk thru what is being added, and I'm happy to reveal all the details now!

[h2]Folkways is here![/h2]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3384630/dotAGE_Folkways/

New Memories!!

Once you have Folkways, when you start the game, you will notice that new memories have appeared in the memories menu! These memories are placed , but many are towards the end of the memory tree due to the increased complexity that the expansion brings.

Beware: to provide a better sense of progression, the game will now ask you if it can reduce them, as points are now capped. You can just ignore that if you want to unlock everything at once, but just like the base game Folkways has various separate pieces that can be unlocked and work independently, so if you add everything at once it might be a bit jarring!

However, do note that new Elders come a bit later due to all the new added mechanics that are needed beforehand, so it takes a while to unlock them!

In order, the DLC adds Pip Production Traits, Pipfolks, the new Prison mechanics, and then the new Elders one after the other as more resources and buildings are unlocked.


Pip Production Traits / Ailments / Bonuses!

To expand on the game's mechanics, Folkways introduce different production capabilities for Pips.

This appears in the form of new traits that can change Pips production capabilities, as well as two new ailments: Drowsy will make your Pips produce 50% less, while Overload will make them produce 50% more for any resource!

Thanks to some UX upgrades in the last year, having Pips that produce different values has become much more manageable and I was finally able to add them!

Pipfolks!



The titular feature of this expansion is Pipfolks! This is something that has actually been in my prototypes since 2016, so it took a while for it to be added.
Pipfolks are not so different than other Pips. They eat, they procreate, and they also die (sometimes even more easily!). However, Pipfolks like different food, as well as different preferences for their bourgeoise needs. They also react differently to events, and might be thus more risky to have around when a fire starts! They also have proficiencies towards specific resources, as well as many dedicated buildings they can bring to the village if you manage to make them join!


Prisons!

Among the memories of Matus, we now finds prisons, cages, and even some more worrying solutions to your village problems! Prisons grant the Imprisoned ailment to a Pip, which negates all maluses generated by them, such as VIP maluses, trait maluses, or ailments. Yes, you can place a burning Pip into a prison to avoid heat rising, but it won't stop them dying inside! This also stops contagion.

This adds a new layer to village handling, allowing you to decide whether you want to run and cure an ailment, or temporarily get rid of it!




The new elders!

I know many of you are eager to try the new elders! I worked a lot to make them interesting and different, and hope you like them as much as I do! Take a look at the announcement of a couple of weeks ago to see more details on them: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/638510/view/508448342467937273



I will however share a cool thing, Dad is obviously another nod at my own father, and is modeled after his behaviour, so that's why he can work even as an elder! :)



With all the new resources and elders, I could just not stop myself from adding more stuff, so you will find more than 100 new buildings waiting for you! Some of them are tied to Pipfolks, while others are designed to add more variation to the game thanks to the new resources!

Oh, lest I forget, with all the new stuff that is in the game now, I am also working on some new achievements that will come later this week, so keep an eye out for those too!


Version 1.6: UX

Could I work on a whole expansion without getting annoyed at the UI? Could I? Of course, not. So I went and also made a few UX changes, and especially two of the more requested changes!

More can be found in the complete changelog here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/638510/discussions/0/599647681450632590/


Agepedia Filtering

Every now and then, somebody comes and asks to be able to search buildings by, or to see all boons, or find all buildings worked by a Watcher. Fear not, as I added a new filtering UI to Agepedia, which lets you do that and even sort everything based on your preferences!



I must confess this took more than most Folkways features, so yeah... let me know how it works!

New Village Recap Screen

The village recap screen was often reported as being a little too clunky, and hard to navigate, so I went and redesigned it to be cleaner! It now has a grid on the left, and details on the right, so that clutter is greatly reduced especially if you have many Pips.

Also, this supports the new filters too, so you can sort and filter Pips at your whim!



Other UX changes

I also added a few new cool UX additions!

• All Boons now have unique icons, because I could just not stop myself from doing that!
  
• Terrains in Agepedia now have better icons, and Additions (such as Bounties) are now also shown
  
• You can now hold CTRL (force-action) while clicking Change Exchange to cycle to the next Exchange directly.
  
• Added a new panel to see event chance modifiers in the Prophecy
  

[h2]Version 1.6 New Content[/h2]

Juggler Stage

There is a lot to talk about, so bear with me as we walk thru what is being added!

First of all, the base game has some new buildings. These elements were designed to give a bit more flexibility late game, as well as addressing the fact that Altars are always the same tech.

You will find five new memories:

• The Good Boy: actually a Dog. I just added a whole
• village* of cats, so I had to throw a bone to dog lovers! We are all friends after all, even if we have our differences.
  
• Herbal Love. This adds 2 new low-tech buildings to provide earlier focus on Seed or Flowers (Flower Picker and Seed Picker), as well as three new Altars as a variation to the Altar path.
  
• Medical Specialists. Adds a new slot with 2 new high-tech buildings that provide improved cures for early ailments during the end game, as well as more uses for Books and Antidote.
  
• Even More Boons. Adds four new boons (see below)
  

These are added for all players, regardless of Folkways, as they aim to improve the default game experience.

[h2]Version 1.6: Buildings Balance[/h2]

While working on Folkways, i took the opportunity to create new tools for analyzing building balance, as the game has become quite complex (and Folkways with more than one hundred more buildings does not make it easier!). This, alongside player feedback (thank you so much, especially to all the players on Discord with which we had a lot of discussions!), helped me in determining where to act to make the game better balance wise.

You can find all the changes in the changelog, but these are the main ones:

• Soil now costs 2 Wood instead of 1
  
• Mines now get a x3 bonus, and copper/iron costs have been rebalanced
  
• Meat and Wool production has been rebalanced
  
• No more checkerboard pattern! Doctors, Hospitals and similar buildings now count the
• number of Pips* and not the number of dwellings. Hopefully this makes Large Huts more interesting!
  
• Some early domain productions have been rebalanced
  
• Santa won't remove Mountains or Forests anymore
  

[h2]Version 1.6: Map Balance[/h2]

Map generation has been revised to be more controlled, this should reduce non-playable maps (which were still pretty rare, but still!), so do report!
Animals spawning has also been rebalanced following the new map generation.

[h2]Version 1.6: Events Balance[/h2]

I also did some changes to events, and these are the main points:

• Domain Threat level can now go above 7, and the UI will reflect that. This will also be useful later on because I have
• ideas* (sorry)!
  
• Reduced wild animal spawn events (more details in the changelog)
  
• Chance-altering traits increase chance by 50% instead of 10% (yes, I know, it's a lot, but it does give more control to what event comes!)
  

4 new Boons!
These new boons have been added as they felt they were good for the base game, and did not use any of the new mechanics, so enjoy them!

• Longbows: Hunting and Fishing buildings reach 1 tile farther
  
• Balanced Diet: Gain 2 Nature for each different Basic Food you have above 10
  
• VIP Services: VIP Events +100%
  
• Trustworthy Neighbours (a new Weird boon): Overpipulation starts at 10, but all Pips produce double!
  

Absolute Zero!
Beware! The Apocalypse can now be Cold! A new Apocalypse event can now appear, so stop amassing all that ice!

So long, dizzy Pips!
This should make some of you very happy!
Dizzy now won't be so obnoxious. Instead of having a chance to become Stunned, the Pip will replace Stunned with Ill when he becomes Stunned.
I suggest you imprison them anyhow, as they deserve it for all damage they caused us for the last year!

Immunized Pips
I heard you, new players. The contagious ailment can be a bit annoying early on, especially if you do manage to cure Pips and then they immediately get contagious again!
So, I added a new ailment: Immunized. Pips get this Status when cured from Contagious (and thru an event), and will give Immunity to Contagious and Sick for 20 turns. I love elegant solutions!


[h2]Now go play, then report back![/h2]

Phew, that was a lot! And I just scratched the surface of Folwkays, I'll leave the rest for you to find!

As always, I appreciate all feedback, especially as the game with folkways becomes quite complex and there might be some very... extreme edge cases with all the combinations, so do come to Discord or to the discussion forums and share your thoughts!

Please make sure to report bugs here or on the Discord, I'll be monitoring the release this weekend and try to be swift with updates if something big slipped in! We already had a couple of obvious yet mysterious release bugs, so I already uploaded a hotfix! (of course, would not be a real release without any!)



[h2]New trailer![/h2]

I also made a new trailer to show some of the new content for the occasion, you can share it on socials or with friends, here you can find it, and help spread the word of dotAGE! Being solo, all help with making more players be reached by dotAGE is important and very appreciated!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HBnbcrG3hY

To celebrate the release of Folkways, the base game will also appear this Sunday the 23rd on a Daily Deal on Steam's home page, and will also be with its highest discount ever at 30% starting today (10 AM PST) for the next couple of weeks! So, if you have not yet played that, or if you have a friend that was waiting, go poke them!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/638510/dotAGE/


Have fun with Folkways!
- Michele

Hello Elders! I come here today after a lot of work to share very exciting news! Folkways, the first expansion for dotAGE, is ready and will be out in just two weeks on Steam!

I'm very happy to finally show you what I've been working on during the last months! My goal for this was to make a good old expansion, adding a lot of new content and expanding the game mechanically to provide higher complexity and many more hours of content by exploring a new angle. Let's take a look!

[h2]Pipfolks reach the village![/h2]

The first major addition to the world of dotAGE is the presence of different Pipfolks that can join your village! Folkways introduces 5 different folk types, each with their own mechanics and culture.

Pipfolks will be hinted with special events during your story, which signal their presence in the wilderness. Once that happens, there are two paths depending on your choices. Pipfolks have their own preferences and culture, and might be happy with your presence, or get very annoyed by it. For example, Leafkins are protectors of the woods, so they might scorn at you cutting down trees!



Folkway events are affected by your resource stashes, so try to study the Pipfolks and learn how to better satisfy them! Will you be able to lure all of them to your village? Also, look out for the audio cue, as Luigi has created a new track with dedicated variations for each Folk!

Pipfolks have various differences:

• They grant bonuses to the production of specific resources. Dwarves are obviously apt at mining ores, for instance.
  
• Each different Pipfolk has special food requirements, such as Dwarves eating only Stone, and even requires specific Bourgeoise food (you know how picky they can be!)
  
• Beware: Pipfolks react differently to events compared to the usual Pips! For example, Fishpips are immune to burning but love getting wet, Leafkins are terrified of fire, and Cats mourn when wet (of course they do!)
  
• Each Pipfolk comes with unique buildings, from special dwellings, to specialized production chains (Leafkins really like trees!), so make sure to employ them to the best of their abilities!
  
• Pipfolks will also unlock various events tied to their culture once they are in your village!
  

Once a specific Pipfolk has joined the village, you can send them to work, and you can even make them mate with Pips to produce additional folk Pippins!

Folks might appear in all your games once you unlock them in the memories, which means they will be available for Matus and other elders, but you can always disable the Folkways content if you prefer the base game experience.

[h2]Justice for all![/h2]

Folkways also introduces special 'justice' buildings that add a new angle to the gameplay (even though their concept of justice can be... left to interpretation)

Prisons allow the village to temporarily get rid of problematic Pips. An Imprisoned Pip won't be able to work, but they won't produce any bad domain values as well.



Exile posts allow you to permanently remove a specific Pip from the village, and Gallows do the same... but with a little more blood involved. Of course, you can expect events to be a bit more fiercer on some Pips as a result of this!

I don't remember very well, but I think there was even a building that allowed you to get rid of Pips in a... *creative* way, if things get very dire. You will have to live with the consequences, however.

[h2]Meet the new elders![/h2]

Folkways adds *three* new elders to the game, with outrageous gameplay changes, so let's get to know them all!

[h2]Trisavolo: the Dwarven King[/h2]

Rock and stone, my friends! Up above the clouds, the Dwarven King leads a handful of dwarves on the secluded mountaintop,

Much to the surprise of nobody, Dwarves need a lot of metal and stone for their needs, and they also love beer. Use the special Prospecting task to reveal ores inside the mountain, and build a lot of mines!
With the special Mountain Tunnels, Dwarves are able to appear at any point in the map, and thus expand their village in more creative ways.
Beware of the Summer, however, as Dwarves tend to get a bit lazy with the heat!




[h2]Ronomy: the Wise Cat[/h2]

Rising from the ashes of a fallen world, a full-feline society has emerged! Old Ronomy is the wisest of the cats, the largest, and the oldest to boot, which earned him a lot of respect in cat circles.
Tasked with the goal to create a new fluffy village from the ashes of an old one, Ronomy Cats will be able to dismantle old ruins in a dry and unfruitful land in search for salvageable resources, before building their own small, cute, yet deadly village.

Cat society is founded on hunting as opposed to gathering, and they always get a thrill of joy when hunting rats!



[h2]Dad: the Jack-of-all-trades[/h2]

Despite his age and a aching back, Dad still won't leave work to younger Pips! As they say, if you want something done right, do it your self.

Dad has the ability to work inside the village, which makes him invaluable as an additional free Pip. Beware, however, as the forest might get annoyed about you cutting down all those trees!

Dad can build Pipbots in his workshop, special mechanical Pips that can be quite brittle, but powerful. Instead of dying, Pipbots will break down and must be repaired. They cannot procreate, of course, but you can always build more!




[h2]So much new content![/h2]

Folkways also adds more than *one hundred* new buildings (yes, that's because I got a bit carried away with ideas, oh well), many tied to the new races, but others have been added to increase the game's variety, provide new strategies and challenges, and make each story more unique.

You will also find many new Boon, among which are some... questionable ones.

Here is a shortlist of stuff you might encounter!

• Gold and Coal mines!
  
• Vegetarian Pips!
  
• Scratching Posts!
  
• A new Hero VIP that appears juuuuuuuust in time!
  
• Racism, Disco-style!
  
• A lost princess!
  
• Sunflowers!
  
• Child labor!
  
• Ropemaking!
  
• Mice!
  
• Special Forests!
  
• Board gaming!
  
• Cannibalism!
  
• Actual live Zombies!
  
• A fishy Painter!
  
• Pips eating manure!
  

This is not all, but it should give you a taste of what is coming!

[h2]Version 1.6 Changes[/h2]

While working on the DLC, I also did several changes to the base game. Thanks for the valuable feedback you've been sending my way, I try to read all of it and reorganize it, so you might find here some changes that we discussed a while ago, rest assured nothing gets forgotten!

Here are some changes you will see:

• A new Village Recap screen, with filters to find your Pips more easily
  
• Tweaks to starting map generation, especially tied to creatures
  
• Revised terrain differentiation in Agepedia to be cleaner
  
• All Boons now have unique icons, because I just could not stop myself and it looked really cool
  
• Dizzy is way less annoying, even if you can technically execute Dizzy Pips if you really want now
  
• Curing Contagious now grants an Immunized status to the Pip for a few turns
  

And these are just some of the many changes that will come with 1.6. I will list all balance changes when the update rolls out!

I also have the intention to start a new experimental version as the update comes, to test some stronger balance changes, and to gather feedback on the DLC, so keep tuned!

In the meantime, make sure to Wishlist Folkways to get notified when it comes out!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3384630/dotAGE_Folkways/

Until then, have fun!
- Michele

Just hotfixed a bug with fast mode turns to build a pavement automatically being off due to the fix on slow mode in 1.5.0d. The number of turns now should be correct!

Happy new years everybody! I'm back to work, and while working on the upcoming DLC (no ETA yet, I'm experimenting with a lot of stuff, and a lot of cats!), here are some fixes for some more edge cases that were reported. Thank you, and have fun!

- Michele

V 1.5.0 d

Bugfixes

• Unless forcing removal, Pips won't abandon their working building anymore (could happen with multi-worker buildings)
  
• Untraining a working Pip if doing so would make resources go below zero is not permitted anymore
  
• Fixed "The Merchant Joins Up" event triggering even if not finding the Merchant
  
• Fixed bug with trying to auto-build a pavement in slow mode reducing the build turns by one
  
• Fixed bug with water pools not being visible anymore on pavements
  
• Fixed bug with Orchards being able to spawn due to an event before unlocking them in memories
  
• Fixed bug with research completion logic sometimes messing up if you got an event that added buildings you have not unlocked yet
  
• Fixed bug with wild animals not spawning on Tilled Soil anymore
  
• Fixed rare bug with forcing actions when resources are needed somewhere else allowing them to go into the negatives
  
• Fixed rare bug with Pips being able to be assigned to two buildings at once when performing a professional replacement
  
• We now never pick patients that cannot be removed due to spending
  
• UI: Fixed personal highscores sorting order
  
• UI: The "new" icon on buildings now disappears on any hover
  
• UI: Fixed "new" icon not disappearing when performing upgrades
  
• UI: Fixed "World Shift" event tag not appearing in Agepedia