HammerHelm News

Today's build includes some fixes to issues reported by members of the community.

• Fixed a bug that could cause the game to freeze after completing the Orc Quest or Stronghold Quest and opening your inventory. Huge thanks to everyone who sent me the data to track this one down!
  
• Moved some stalagmites out of the central areas of the Obsidian Caves as they were getting in the way of combat.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused stones to continue to be harvested for resources even after the stone disappeared.
  
• Made a change to the resource collecting and combat systems so that if you start an attack near a stone or tree, the attack won't continue through the combo. This allowed resources to be collected too quickly. Note that you will still get credit for the "hit" on the tree or stone even if your character does the attack animation.
  
• Fixed some collision issues in the Barracks interior.

Also, I received the textures for the new objects for the new quests I mentioned in previous updates so I can now start working on them in earnest. Hope to have them ready soon!

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

Today's update is the NPC Profession Level system. In this system, the longer an NPC has a job, the better they get at it.

Each day that an NPC has a job, they will gain a level in that job, up to 5 levels. The higher the NPC level, the better they are at doing it. For resource related NPCs, such as Workers, Miners, Farmers, and Herbalists, this means a chance to bring more resources each time they drop off resources at the Storehouse.



An NPC's level in their profession is indicated by a green dashed bar next to their portrait in the Townspeople Manager.

For town crafters, such as Cooks, Brewers, and Tailors, a higher level means an increased chance to make additional items without using more resources.

Higher level Carpenters and Stonemasons have a chance to use less resources when crafting furniture and fireplaces.

And for crafters such as Metalsmiths, Armorsmiths, and Weaponsmiths, a higher level means a better chance to make a Masterwork Item. Note this means even crafters without the Meticulous trait can now make Masterwork items, although having Meticulous increases that chances even further!

To keep the system simple, all NPCs gain their level at midnight, in game time. This means an NPC might gain a level very quickly if you assign them a job right before midnight. I toyed around with each NPC tracking their own 24 hour level cycle but it wasn't worth the overheard so I kept it simple.

Most importantly, if you change an NPC's job, they will lose their level. Note once this momentum is lost, it isn't regained if you switch them back to their previous job.

A few NPCs don't benefit from leveling yet including Alchemists, Tinkerers, and Tavernkeepers since they don't produce items or craft Masterwork items. I'm still debating whether to add them to the system in some other way.

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

A quick update on some more things I am working on!

NPC Professions Leveling
The longer an NPC has a job, the better they will become at it. Each day, every NPC will level up in their professions. Their level is a green bar in the townspeople manager next to the portrait.



Higher profession levels give different NPCs different bonuses.

Raw material NPCs, such as Workers, Miners, Hunters, Farmers, etc. will have a chance to get more resources.

Shopkeeper NPCs who craft weapons or armor will have a big increased chance to craft masterwork items. Note this also means an NPC who doesn't have the Meticulous trait can craft a masterwork item, however having that trait increases the chance quite a bit. A level 5 shopkeeper with Meticulous has an 80% chance to craft a masterwork item, as opposed to the current 30% chance.

Carpenters and Stonemason will have a chance to use less resources when crafting furniture and fireplaces.

Crafters, such as Cooks, Tailors, and Brewers will have an increased chance to make more of the crafted item than they would normally be able to, without using additional resources.

I'm still working on bonuses for Mages, Tinkerers, Woodcutters, Healers, and other professions that either don't craft masterwork items or don't gather resources.

Swapping jobs resets an NPCs level.

As part of this system I'm also going to add the ability to make a non-worker NPC and turn them back into a Worker. Doing this will also reset their level. There will be some other limitations to this, however it will allow you to reset a shopkeeper that you don't need if you placed a building and assigned a shopkeeper to it without realizing you didn't need it yet. More on this system as I work on it. I might release the leveling system first and then this part later.

New Quests
I'm also working on three more town quests that will add a bird bath, a grandfather clock, and fireworks to your town! The models for the game objects are finished and the artist is now creating the textures and finishing them up. A quick preview of the untextured models below.







The plan is to have the fireworks actually work. I'm probably going to have these unlock after the Stronghold quest to add some variety to the later parts of the game.

I hope to have the profession levels finished by this weekend and probably the unassign NPC system in after that. The quests will be released once the new art is done and I've written up all of the quest text for them. So stay tuned! :)

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

Today's build includes some fixes to some reported issues:

• Updated the woodchopper buff to reduce the number of swings it takes to chop down a tree. Previously the system was giving you the same effect as having a diamond hatchet, which meant it was too powerful at lower levels and not useful at all once you actually had a diamond hatchet. The updated version reduces the number of swings needed by one, so a diamond hatchet only takes two swings to fell a tree!
  
• Fixed a missing pillar in the Stronghold.
  
• Fixed a localization error in the description of the monster healthbars.

We're also making some good progress on the new objects for the new quests. Past the concept phase and on to the 3D modeling and texturing. Once those are done I'll hook them up to the quests and to the town!

-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco

A quick announcement to let you know that we've added Steam Trading Cards support to HammerHelm!

There are five cards to collect. You can earn three cards simply by playing the game. If you've already played HammerHelm a bunch you may already have earned these! I got a Ratman card and two Earth Elemental Cards. :)

You can learn more about Trading Cards here:
https://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards/

There are also some new items in the Steam Item Shop for HammerHelm, including profile backgrounds and emoticons!

ːhh_dwarfː ːhh_hatchetː ːhh_flowerː ːhh_hammerː ːhh_happyː ːhh_pickaxeː

https://store.steampowered.com/points/shop/app/664000/


-Jonathan "Calandryll" Hanna
[email protected]

• My Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperSixStudios
  
• Discord Channel: discord.gg/soedesco