Apr 15, 2022

Friday Blog 217 - The Old Elevator Is Dead, Long Live The New Elevator!

Colony Survival - Pipliznl

The last blog was quite controversial! We were very happy with the elevators, but they received quite some criticism. Two main points appeared:

The teleportation between stations is stupid, you need to actually be physically transported from A to B
Elevators aren’t historically accurate

The first problem has been solved! When you enter an elevator, you are attached to it (comparable to the glider) and together you travel towards your destination, completely removing the teleportation aspect.

The second problem needs some nuancing. Elevators are not meant for relatively small Bronze Age colonies that were started two hours ago. It’s more of an end goal, for large and advanced colonies that are nearing the Renaissance Age. It has an iron frame because producing it is intended to consume large amounts of iron.

With the elevator implemented, it was relatively easy to port this functionality to horizontal elevators. They are explicitly not trains: they can only travel in straight lines and they can’t go up or down or navigate corners. But combined with elevators and gliders, they should simultaneously present a rewarding goal for large colonies, and a practical means of navigating between outposts.

(For those who understandably haven’t read all blogs: we’ve implemented an Outpost Feature, allowing players to easily start nearby colonies that share the stockpile and science of the main colony. It’s a bit similar to the multiple colonies from 0.7.0, but without all the tedious problems of having to start from scratch / having to set up complex UI trading rules / having to travel excruciating distances by foot)

We’ve also overhauled the glider. Instead of being a VTOL motorised plane with difficult controls, it’s now a way more intuitive device which actually glides. Players will now place a permanent Glider Launcher, which is able to launch a glider everytime the player approaches it. Of course, the best place to do so is on top of a large tower or hill - which you’ll be able to scale quickly with the help of an elevator. Here’s a video of the full system in action:

https://youtu.be/K3i80CEm-Z0
This might seem like a feature that is not connected to the core of 0.9.0, but it is. Colony Survival is all about growing and expanding your colony, but it needs to have a purpose. And it needs to be something more unique, more ‘physical’, than merely repetitive new items with even higher numbers. The game isn’t fun if it’s an endless cycle of “Monster with 100,000 HP appeared, unlock your 100,000 damage weapon now! Oh no, a monster with 1,000,000 HP appeared!”.

The later ages need to unlock new features that change the way you play and the way you build your colony. And these things need to sensibly require advanced technology and lots of colonists. Simultaneously, we also need better ways to navigate between Outposts, which are a crucial part of 0.9.0 and a significantly cheaper way to access precious resources.

We think the Elevators and Glider Launchers fit these criteria perfectly. I’m working on filling in the rest of the tech tree and re-integrating content like the muskets and the printing press. We’re strongly looking forward to testing it and hopefully being able to open up the beta before Spring is over.

Bedankt voor het lezen!

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Apr 15, 2022

DD#65 Nobody Expects...

[Neolithic]To the End - orochi2k

Hi everyone, welcome to another week's developer's diary.

Although the main story is getting closer to a certain location in Queensmouth, there are still some unsolved puzzles about this town. Among them, is the question about why this town is called Queensmouth? Well, I'm not going to provide answers directly in this diary. But, a part of the answer from one perspective of view is already in the game during this week's updates.

However, just a reminder.
A wise man once said, "There are no facts, only interpretations."

When trying to discover the root of a mysterious town, it's necessary to dig into history.

A few hundred years ago, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus funded by Queen Isabella I of Castile discovered the new world. (Of course, that's from the perspective of view of the old world, ignoring natives who were already there.) The era of colonization followed soon after. Meanwhile, in the old world, the same Queen Isabella I established the Spanish Inquisition in 1478.

It's only natural for many people who try to escape the cruel inquisition of Spain or other types of religious persecutions from other nations to flee to the New World. For example, the earliest colonies of New England were founded between 1620 and 1638 by separatists and Puritans seeking to establish religious communities in which they could worship freely. Both sects had been persecuted in England.

If we end our historical journey just here, it could be a nice fairy tale where people live happily ever after. However, in the real world, such stories are rare. The Witch-Hunting began to occur in North America while Hopkins was hunting witches in England. In 1645, forty-six years before the notorious Salem witch trials, Springfield, Massachusetts experienced America's first accusations of witchcraft when husband and wife accused each other of witchcraft. Meanwhile, the Spanish Inquisition also followed the colonization, spreading into all Spanish possessions in North, Central, and South America.

That's the historical background of the era when Queensmouth was established. Following the recent discovery of a secret tunnel beneath the church, more secrets are going to be revealed. However, history is also just past events that people decide to agree upon. History also requires people to write them down, to be known to others. As a result, the majority of history experienced by normal people has been lost just as people can hardly learn the biography of other common folks who lived hundred years ago. What makes things even worse is we are facing certain antagonists that hold the power to wipe out the memory. Thus, the investigation itself becomes a puzzle. Will you be able to find out the truth from fragments of what remains is yet to be found?

Maybe it will be something you didn't expect. :)

Also, it has no connection to this Twitter. :P
https://twitter.com/NeolithicOffic1/status/1514665844399243264
But, hey, please don't use or even spread the leaked version of Victoria 3.
It's totally not cool. If you do that, you may not expect to be targeted by an inquisition led by me. :)
(OK, I'm just kidding. I'm still locked down in Shanghai, and can hardly provide much help to my Paradox friends.)

As we are talking about history, do you know it's the Templars that invented one of the earliest private
banking systems? Our content may still not be ready to cover a large part of them so far. We now have our own item banks this week. All your containers in your pocket dimension can now help you to sort out your possessions so that you no longer need to carry everything with you.

Other updates of this week include new items, new skills, new 3D printing blueprints, bug fixes, and improvements to Steam Workshop synchronization.

That's for this week. Although the lockdown in Shanghai is not likely going to end soon, our updates will not be interrupted by such small drawbacks.

Today's changelog:
#########Content##############
New playable male character variation: Inquisitor.

Apr 15, 2022

WTF Do You Know? Coming Soon to Steam!

WTF Do You Know? - JessyBug

Hello everyone! We've recently finished development on a new title,
"WTF Do You Know?"

WTF Do You Know is similar to our other titles, however, this time around, you're given a series of 50 True Facts and 50 False Facts, and you must use your own knowledge or intuition to determine which is which!

Can you get a perfect score?
Can you beat your friend's score?
What Secret Word will you obtain?
It's time to figure out the answer to...
WTF Do You Know?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1956370/WTF_Do_You_Know/

Add this to your Wishlist today to receive notifications of when this title releases!
(WTF Do You Know will release anytime between now and June 6th, 2022.)

New questions to answer.
New fun to be had!

Thank you so much to everyone who's continued to support us along the way!

We hope you're having the best year so far, and we look forward to communicating with you in the future!

- Randumb Studios