Jul 6, 2020

Ephemeral Tale - ZServ

COOKIES, FOR BREAKFAST?

This week in Ephemeral Tale, we have another quest! To access it, you'll need to have unlocked the zone I put in the game way back in Major Update #2: the Sunken Summit. If you haven't unlocked that yet, there are rumors that there's a magical sea-shell that can reveal a path to a long-lost civilization, hidden somewhere long occluded.

We also get to talk about accessibility, and how color choice plays into that when designing/revising menus! Let's hop in, shall we?

Ephemeral Tale 1.14.1 Changelog

A new traveller has ventured to the Respite, Jesse!
If you’ve unlocked the hidden Sunken Summit zone, he’ll seek your assistance
Once the quest has been completed, you can farm for the new equipment piece (if you want a different roll) by fighting Ariella in the Sunken Summit
Fixed an issue with graphic layering in the Corrupted Castle
Fixed an issue where companions wouldn’t properly scale to the players current level
Fixed a bug where certain encounters could remove the Tome of Lost Knowledge from the players inventory
Cleaned up the presentation of vendor shops
Enabled error logging to a local file (found in install location/www/)
If you experience a crash or some other sort of issue, please email these logs to contact@dawdlingdog.com or reach out through other means (Discord, Twitter, forums, etc)

I CAN SEE, I CAN FIGHT!

When developing a game, one of the things that I try to keep in mind is the idea of accessibility-- in many cases, this is easy enough to just think about. "Can this be done in less button presses? Do we have any timing restrictions here? Does this require complex input (i.e., multi-finger touch on mobile, LB+RB on controller, etc)?"

One area that this is incredibly complex to view through this lens is color, and colorblind settings. It's easier to design with this in mind from the outset, but isn't always necessarily possible.

As you guys (hopefully) know, Ephemeral Tale is a combination between a JRPG and a looter (i.e., games in the vein of Diablo, Torchlight, Destiny, Borderlands). When I launched into Early Access back in January, the design was still quite experimental in many, many ways-- one of the biggest differences between then and now was the loot system. In order to be "colorblind friendly," I relied on both color grading (white -> green -> blue -> purple -> orange), but also a "level" system that was strictly meant to help those with some form of color impairment by representing that same information via text. White was "Lv. 1," Green was "Lv. 2," so on and so forth.

This system would have been fine, had the design stayed that way, but one of the issues that crept up and needed to be addressed, fundamentally meant changing the way that gear was visually presented. As gear shifted to being "leveled" like a more traditional looter (where loot drops within a range of your level, and newer drops improve in total stats as you level up), this meant that the only clue left was the color grading. Seriously-- when I say the game has changed a ton in Early Access, I really do mean a ton!

Now, to be clear, there are plenty of ways that you can address this through iconography: maybe the border becomes more intricate, maybe there's a filter of sorts applied to parts of the border, you know-- stuff like that. In fact, Bungie does great work with this in Destiny, and you can see some of that right here, and over here is a great talk they gave at GDC a number of years ago. The bits at 18:50 on help shed some light on some of the "tricks of the trade" that they used for their iconography, and you might even spot how some of that is in Ephemeral Tale.

There are also other things to keep in mind as well during this process, the most important of which is color choice.

It's incredibly easy to get so used to how something looks, that you can't see the forest for the trees-- I'm guilty of this, even with Ephemeral Tale. Take for example, the gear menu:

This is how the menu had looked for quite some time-- in fact, it wasn't until Major Update #4 that this look changed! Let's examine this through a different lens, however, using a free tool: GNU Image Manipulation Program, or GIMP.

GIMP is a free, open-source alternative to other, more expensive image editing suites. It also has a "Color Display Filter" tool, that can be accessed like so:

This filter is incredibly helpful when trying to determine how legible your colored items are to people with different viewing capabilities than your own. For example, that same menu from above, when run through a deuteranopia filter now looks something like this:

Uh-oh.

See, this reveals a few glaring issues! The Barkskin Chestpiece and Swiftstep Boots are entirely different rarities, but their color when viewed through this filter is practically identical-- additionally, the ability text (the red text underneath the flavor text, describing the ability) practically disappears into the background. Considering that the abilities are one of the more relevant features of any given item, it's important to be able to catch that at a glance.

I won't bore you with the details (as it was mostly through sheer trial and error, and consulting with artists [Thanks, Tim!]), but after many, many attempts of tweaking colors, I arrived at this configuration:

When filtered, that same image now looks like:

It's taken me some time to get used to the new color schema (and I plan for further changes in the future, in order to continue to boost legibility across the board), but it's a change that I'm happy to have made. No one should be unable to enjoy in our shared hobby of gaming-- regardless of boundaries, it's our responsibility as developers to ensure that our games are as accessible to everyone as they can be. Sometimes, that's harder than it looks, and I hope that this brief glimpse into some of the tools you can use for your own projects sheds some light on the ever-growing discussion around the topic.

As always, I hope this week's Pupdate gave you a better understanding of the development process, and that I've adequately shown how much effort goes into things that aren't immediately evident. The development of Ephemeral Tale is an on-going discussion between us as a community-- it's just as much your game as it is mine. So whenever I can make a change that helps bring the fun we have to more people, I'm going to make an effort to do so. We'll talk again next week, but until then, stay safe, and have fun!

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

Jul 6, 2020

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition — Update 38862

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition - Evangelos

IT’S HERE! Age of Empires fans rejoice: a new update and new ways to play Age are upon us! The Priests are here to spread the word, and everyone can chant along to the ♪ wolooolooooo ♪.

Today’s release comes with a huge list of changes for the classic RTS title: including a boatload of balance adjustments, improvements to many of your favorite civilizations, the return of several features from the classic Age of Empires experience, and several brand-new systems to continue the ongoing evolution of the game! Here are some of the highlights:

New unit stances!
New & improved matchmaking lobby: new chat shortcuts, mirrored civilization picks, and more!
Reorganized ranked ladders (paired with a ladder reset)!
Balance updates to maps, units, and civilizations!
Reduced install size from ~17GB to ~12GB!
Anti-cheat improvements!
...and more!

As always, we want to hear about your experience as you jump into Update 38862! Be sure to visit our official channels to talk with the team and become a part of the community!

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires: Definitive Edition - Update 38862 Discussion
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

Enjoy the latest update and as always: keep those Wonders building!

—The Age of Empires Team

▬▬▬ UPDATE 38862 ▬▬▬

◆ NEW CONTENT & FEATURES ◆

New unit stances are available—similar to those in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
- Aggressive (Default)
- Defensive
- Stand Ground
- No Attack
A new Mirror Civilization option is available in multiplayer lobbies, allowing you to match the civilization of your opponent.

Added a new Solid Farms (Legacy) setting. When enabled, farms act as solid buildings (like the original game) that block movement until the farm is destroyed.
New hotkeys have been added to support the following actions:
- Select all buildings of the same type (Ctrl + Shift + key)
- Select all idle villagers [Ctrl + Shift + .]
- Select all military units [Ctrl + Shift + ,]
- Delete all selected units [Shift + Delete]
- Reset zoom to default level (100%) [Ctrl + Alt + 0]
Implemented several new anti-cheat measures to keep things honest and fair!

◆ MULTIPLAYER ◆

The Team ranked lobby option is no longer locked and can be used to create 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches.
Quickmatch and ranked lobbies now share the same Elo ladders.
Elo ladders are now split into 1v1 and Team ladders for both the Random Map and Deathmatch ranked modes. Quickmatch is still divided into 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4, but the latter three (2v2, 3v3, 4v4) count towards your Team Elo.
Leaderboards will now display the Elo values for all players.

Ranked games should no longer end up with unevenly-distributed teams.
Options used when creating a ranked lobby will no longer remain as a filter following the game.
The default team for both the host and clients in a lobby is now set to random.
Fixed a bug that caused random teams to create unbalanced teams.
Players will no longer be un-readied when another player in the lobby changes their team or color.
Lobby chat can now be scrolled using the mouse wheel.
Updated the message when kicking someone from a lobby to properly display the player's name.
Added a new countdown before a match begins.
Added chat shortcuts to send a message to specific players within a match: Allies (;), Enemies (#), and All (*)
Chat will no longer be displayed for the enemy team when co-op players are in a match.
Chat will no longer break after displaying a multi-line message.
Spectators can now see player resources and the global queue for each player by using the number keys (1-8).

◆ GAME ◆

STABILITY & PERFORMANCE

Fixed an uncommon issue that caused some users to disconnect approximately 5 minutes after starting a match.
Implemented general performance optimizations.

GAMEPLAY

Fixed an unintended mechanic where units could be spawned on the opposite side of a wall built next to the production building.
Units will no longer be created from blocked buildings that have no valid space for the unit to spawn.
Military units will no longer lose their collision boxes or stack/merge together when grouped closely or forced into a tight space.
Fixed rare instances where Ballistics would fail to properly improve the accuracy of the Catapult Trireme or Juggernaught.
Using Attack Move with Priests in the selection group will no longer inspire them to try and convert enemy units who enter their line of sight.
Villagers will no longer automatically hunt another nearby Elephant after gathering all the food from the first.
Naval units will no longer get stuck in Docks where they are created.
Left-clicking to execute a command will now work even when moving the cursor while clicking.
Implemented global pathfinding improvements.

GRAPHICS

Graphics assets now use a compressed format in order to reduce the overall size of the game and new updates.
- Implemented additional installation optimizations to reduce the hard drive space required by the game.
- NOTE: These changes will require an (initially) larger download than normal to download the new files. This will reduce the size of future downloads.
Adjusted the speed of certain unit animations in order to appear more realistic.
The selection outlines for units and buildings are not properly scaled at all zoom levels.
Implemented minor changes to some unit animations in order to appear more realistic.
Slowed the destruction animations of buildings to more reasonable levels.
Units now decay and disappear from the battlefield more rapidly.

AUDIO

Adjusted in-game sounds to a more consistent volume level.

Increased the maximum zoom threshold in multiplayer to match that of single player.
Renamed the Black Map Fog option to Animate Fog in order to better clarify its purpose.
Players are now sorted by Team on the Statistics - Timeline screen.

◆ CIVILIZATION BALANCE ◆

GENERAL

Villagers now move 10% faster in the Tool Age. The Wheel technology now grants a +50% speed boost (was +60%) to maintain the same maximum speed.
Warships and Slingers no longer deal a minimum of 1 damage to buildings. This reduces the damage dealt by Slingers against normal buildings and by Scout Ships against walls and towers.
Decreased the maximum search radius of Priests to prevent them from fixating on and following distant injured units.
Predator animals will no longer break off their attack if you try to drop a building on them.
Cataphract: Now have +20 hp, +1 armor, and +2 attack vs. infantry (for a total of 7).
Cataphract: Reduced the gold cost of the upgrade from 750 to 600 gold. The food cost is unchanged.
Domestication: Reduced the food cost to research the technology from 200 to 150 food. The wood cost is unchanged.
Heavy Cavalry: Now have +1 attack vs. infantry (for a total of 6).
Helepolis: Increased the fire rate by 5% (still slower than that in the original game).
Scout: Increased cost from 80 to 90 food. (This is still lower than the 100 food cost in the original game.)
Scout: Reduced line of sight by 1.
Scythe Chariot: Reduced armor from 2 to 1.
Scythe Chariot: Increased the upgrade cost from 1200 wood, 800 gold to 1400 wood, 1000 gold.
Scythe Chariot: Increased the time to research the unit from 150 to 200 seconds.
Chariot units no longer deal bonus damage to Priests.
Reduced the conversion resistance of all Chariot units from 8x to 2x that of normal units.
Siegecraft: Reduced the attack bonus granted to Villagers vs. towers and walls by ~50%.
Slinger: Increased the training time from 28 to 35 seconds.
Slinger: Reduced damage dealt to walls and towers by ~50%.
Towers: Increased the hp of all towers: Watch Tower (+25 hp), Sentry Tower (+35 hp), Guard Tower (+40 hp), Ballista Tower (+40 hp).

Several units and technologies have had attributes adjusted to match their original game values:

Bowman: Increased the training time from 26 to 30 seconds.
Coinage: Increased the amount of bonus gold yielded from nodes from +10% to +25%.
Camel Rider: Reduced training time from 32 to 30 seconds.
Elephant Archer: Reduced attack damage from 6 to 5.

BABYLONIANS

New Civilization Bonus! Market technologies are 30% cheaper to research.
Decreased the bonus hp of walls and towers from +75% to +60% hp.

CARTHAGINIANS

New Civilization Bonus! Carthaginians now start the game with +50 of each resource.

CHOSON

New Civilization Bonus! Storage Pit technologies are 40% cheaper to research.

EGYPTIANS

New Civilization Bonus! Farms are 20% cheaper to build; they now cost 60 wood instead of 75 wood.

GREEK

New Civilization Bonus! Town Centers work 10% faster starting in the Tool Age. This affects both Villager creation and aging up.
Now have access to the Fire Galley naval unit.

HITTITES

Rather than having +3 range at all times, Hittite warships now have +2 range in the Tool Age and +3 range in the Bronze and Iron Age.

MACEDONIANS

Rather than having +2 pierce armor at all times, Macedonian Academy units now have +1 pierce armor in the Bronze Age and +2 pierce armor in the Iron Age.

PALMYRANS

Increased the civilization starting food bonus from +50 to +75 food.
Now have access to the Plow technology.

PERSIANS

Increased the movement speed of Persian Elephant units from +20% to +25% that of other elephants.
Now have access to the Plow technology.

ROMANS

Reduced the civilization discount to Tower costs from -50% to -40%.

SHANG

Reduced the civilization bonus to Wall hp from +75% to +60% hp.

YAMATO

Reduced the civilization discount to Cavalry unit costs from -20% to -15%.
Reduced the civilization bonus to Ship hp from +25% to +20% hp.

◆ MAP BALANCE ◆

Increased the quantity of gold in node tiles from 400 to 450 gold.
Increased the quantity of stone in node tiles from 250 to 300 stone.
Maps now guarantee that one straggler tree spawns near the Town Center of each player on all maps. Additional straggler trees are random, as before.
Increased the amount of gold generated on maps. Most maps now have 3 piles of gold per player except for the Continental and Narrows maps, which have 2 larger piles.
Adjusted how maps are generated to ensure that the same amount of gold and stone spawns in each pile for each player.
Lions will no longer spawn in pairs. There is still a small chance for two lions to spawn relatively close to each other, but that's entirely random.
Continental: Slightly increased the forested area.
Small / Large Islands: Increased the amount of forest that spawns on the island.
Small / Large Islands: Non-player gold nodes have been replaced with another player gold.
Small Islands: Increased the size of the islands.
Small Islands: Increased the number of resources that spawn on each island, as well as shore fish and deep sea fish.
Oasis: Reduced the amount of water and increased the amount of forest spawned at the center of the map.
Other minor map improvements.

Jul 6, 2020

【MiniMap Kingdom】Update #1

MiniMap Kingdom - huohuai

【MiniMap Kingdom】Update #1

Detail:

-Unit collection AI:
*Now the unit has a new collection system,
They will more actively look for the corresponding resources nearby,
For example, mining unions look for minerals, water unions look for water sources,
In detail, every time the unit moves, you will get map information in the range of 6*6,
And try to find a plot that matches your needs and move to the target,
This obviously reduces some strange situations,
For example, a large number of units are stuck in the moat,
And greatly increase the efficiency and rationality of resource collection.

-Field of view zoom optimization:
*The magnification of each zoom is now increased by 25 times,
In addition to the feeling of a small map kingdom,
It will automatically hide all the details UI when zooming in,
It should also slightly alleviate the problem of unit jitter.

-UI font optimization:
*Some fonts in the scene that are easily covered have obvious borders,
And the state of the unit has a clearer size.

-Optimized resource production translation:
*A clearer bilingual production system prompt will now be displayed at the opening.

-Building distance 0.84:
* Fixed an issue where buildings could be stacked together when the closest building distance is 0.7.

-miner uppercase
*It is now Miner.

-Blood bar display range 15 changed to 20:
Now zooming the lens to 20 will also show blood bars.

-Reduce the frequency of enemy attacks:
Adjusted the chance of stopping the attack for one day from 10% to 25%.

-Actual tips for getting energy:
Now the population and energy prompt on the left is no longer just a prompt for the population value,
It is the divine power actually acquired every hour.

-The following operation buttons are typeset:
Now it has moved 50 units neatly to the left.

-Changed the delay and number of shots of the arrow tower:
Changed from the original 1 arrow every 1 second to 3 to 5 arrows every 2 seconds.

-Increase the frequency of automatic cleaning of the upper left log:
*Change from 5000 words to 1000 words to avoid overflowing blanks.

-Tips on the upper left UI Chinese:
Added some more intimate translation and typesetting.

-Reduce unit resource output:
*As the unit will now actively seek out the resources it needs,
Workers’ harvested farmland changed from 100 to 50,
Lumberjacks cut trees from 100 to 50.

-Improve gold mining rate:
Before the businessman joins the game,
The mining rate was changed from 10% to 25%.

細節:

-單位採集AI:
*現在單位有了新的採集系統，
他們會更積極的尋找附近的相應資源，
譬如礦工會尋找礦物、打水工會去尋找水源、
細節上，每次單位移動都會獲得6*6範圍內的地圖資訊，
並且嘗試找到和自己需求相符的地塊往目標地移動，
這明顯減少了一些奇怪的情況，
譬如大量單位卡在護城河之類的，
並且大幅增加了資源採集的效率與合理性。

-視野縮放優化:
*現在每次縮放的倍率增加了25倍，
除了比較有小地圖王國的感覺外，
放大時會自動隱藏所有細節UI，
應該也能稍微緩解單位抖動的問題。

-UI字體優化:
*現在場景中一些容易被遮住的字體有了明顯的邊框，
並且單位的狀態有了更清晰的大小。

-優化資源生產翻譯:
*現在開場時會顯示更清楚的雙語生產系統提示了。

-建築距離0.84:
*修正了一個最近建築距離為0.7時可以把建築疊在一起的問題。

-miner大寫
*現在是Miner了。

-血條顯示範圍15改為20:
現在鏡頭放大到20也會顯示血條了。

-降低敵人攻擊頻率:
停止攻擊一天的機率從10%調整為25%。

-獲得能量實際提示:
現在左側的人口與能量提示不再只是提示人口值，
而是每小時實際獲得的神力。

-下方操作按鈕排版:
現在向左整齊移動了50單位。

-更改箭塔射擊延遲和射擊數量:
從原本的每1秒1箭改為每2秒3~5箭。

-提高左上日誌自動清理頻率:
*從5000字改為1000字，避免溢出空白問題。

-左上UI中文提示:
新增了一些比較有親切感的翻譯排版。

-減少單位資源產量:
*由於單位現在會積極地尋找自己需要的資源了，
工人收割農田從100改為50，
伐木工砍樹從100改為50。

-提高金礦挖掘率:
在商人加入遊戲前，
挖掘率從10%改為25%。

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If you need an old version, you can switch back to the public old version in the collection,
If you want to join the new test, you can choose the public beta version,
I will continue to maintain the development progress.
(っ´▽`)っ

如果需要舊版本，可以在收藏庫切回public old version，
想加入新版測試則可選擇public beta version，
我會繼續保持開發進度。
(っ´▽`)っ
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豁懷 Huohuai
https://steamcommunity.com/id/huohuai
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Devblog:
https://huohuai.blogspot.com
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Discord:
https://discordapp.com/invite/NmGQ88p
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Steam Group:
https://steamcommunity.com/groups/huohuai
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Release: 2020/7/7
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