Dec 19, 2023

Kingdom Crier #31: Choose Your Home! Roadmap Update!

Noble Fates - xobermon

Thanks for a fantastic first 2 Years!

Noble Fates continues to grow and mature thanks to your continued support, encouragement, and feedback. The path to 1.0 is clear, and we're armed to tackle it thanks to you.

To celebrate, Choose Your Fate Content Update #4 - Choose Your Home has been released!

Choose Your Home!

Now that you can create that perfect starting group, it's time to find them the perfect home!

To help we've added a Map step to the Choose Your Fate screen, moved to a Seeded Map system, added 2 new Home Map Biomes, and added Resettling!

New Home Map Biome: Mountain

The Mountain Biome offer a more difficult, but interesting alternative to the existing Forest Home Biome.

Expect more verticality, better choke points, and a harsher Winter!

My Orcs rock ramshackle shanties, walls, and towers!

New Home Map Biome: Arid

The Arid Biome offers the hardest Home experience.

Expect nothing to Forage, limited Logging, few Hunting options, and a harsher Summer.

It's the perfect place to employ the new Terraforming improvements!

Seeded Maps

Maps are now seeded and produce consistent results for a given Map Seed.

A Map Seed is a bit of text that we key off of when deciding what to put where. Any text is supported, but supplying a biome prefix (forest-, mountain-, arid-) ensures a consistent biome as new ones are added to the game.

The fine print: Expect occasional differences from as we continue through Early Access. We'll signal these and keep them subtle. We'll do everything we can to maintain consistency here post 1.0. In addition, adding or removing mods may change the Map for a given Seed.

Resettling

You can pack up and move your Home any time you'd like.

Currently, there's no limit to what you can bring along, but keep in mind that it'll all be sitting on the ground when you arrive at your destination.

I want to go to there!

This is unlocked from the start outside of the Guided Experience, so find that perfect home before you start building up!

Anything you leave behind is gone forever, so choose what you bring wisely.

Quality of LIfe Improvements

In addition to Choose Your Home, this update brings a fresh batch of Quality of Life changes to Raids, Terraforming, Wounds, Preaching, and more!

Patch Notes

Noble Fates 0.28.12.5 Released! Choose Your Fate Content Update #4 Choose Your Home! Options Include Mountain and Arid Biomes There are always 3 Potential Homes present on the Map You can Replace or Edit them before you move You can now Resettle on a new Map at any time No cost, but anything left behind is abandoned Choose what you bring (including Animals!) Map Seeds A given Map Seed will reproduce the same Map Save these to replay on a Map you liked or share with others Any text is supported Include explicit Biome prefix support (forest-, mountain-, arid-) Derive Biome if not supplied NOTE: this can result in a different map as more Biomes are added Biomes Mountain Now Available as a Medium-Hard Home Map Biome! Decrease Temperature Tweak Appearance Tweak Minerals Tweak Foliage Limit Animals Arid Now Available as a Hard Home Map Biome! Greatly decrease Saguaro Cactus Wood yield Decrease Olive Tree Wood yield Limit Animals Forest More Grass on Slopes Add Overview Add Description Add Icons Map Generation Increase initial Foliage amount New Game Add Map Customization Iterate on Heavy is The Crown Flavor text Terrain Lower Generation Ceiling to +14 Increase base Mining Speed (should help at the start) Dirt Decrease Mining difficulty Increase Mining speed Increase Dirt yield when Mining Sand Decrease Dirty yield when Mining Decrease Mining difficulty Increase Mining speed Terraforming Allow Blocks to be placed over Ramps, Ridges, and Nooks Auto-Dig out the existing Block before Terraforming Cut costs by 25% for all Block types Hollow Block Blueprints Hidden on current layer when layered Allow Stockpiles below Allow Props below Turns into a "Leave Ceiling" Dig when placed on a Ramp, Ridge, or Nook Fix rendering bug Raids Increase logic behind Target finding Increase detection radius of Surprise Raids Rename Unannounced Raids Option to Surprise Raids Warn about incoming Declarations of War Raids Detect Warned Raids if they reach the Home area Detect Warned Raids when they begin their attack Increase Range for Detecting Warned Raids (x2) Increase Range for Detecting Warned Raids when Enlisted (x4) Increase Range for Detecting Warned Raids from above Fix bug that allows Duplicate Declarations of War Raids Fix bug that can cause first Raid to have more than 1 Attacker Improve handling of Raids edge cases Characters Prevent redundant Ambushed Esteem entries Prevent redundant Allowed Death of Esteem entries Scale back Power (o) of Esteem effects of Moral Interactions... when Neutral and you don't Like or Love the Pawn involved Fix bugs related to positioning Fix bugs related to Aggro Fix bugs related to Escaping Wounds Decrease Treatment Difficulty Increase Treatment Rate Treatment is ~2x faster on average Adventures Add Load Screen when destination is reached Add ability to bring Animals back Performance Fix Performance hitches when Building in Layered View Animals Only Aggro against Monsters when Attacked or Enlisted Only Aggro against Rabid Animals when Attacked or Enlisted Do not auto-finish downed enemies unless Enlisted or Rabid Animals will no longer Hunt characters they can't reach Rabid Animals Fix bug that prevented them from attacking Doors without Locks Fix bug that prevented names from turning Red when an Animal becomes Rabid Rabid Animal Corpses are no longer Ignored by default Escapee Moment Prevent Relocating Home Prevent Ruler Adventures Grappling Hooks Improve Pathing around Grappling Hooks Cutting Hooks down is now much easier Fix bugs related to loading with deployed Hooks Fix bug when Hooks Break the Prop they land on Fix bugs with targeting in third person Preachings Add ability to Prioritize Preachings Mage Improve Projectile AOE range Fix bug that prevented leaving Mage Control when Downed or Dead Places Add more Place name variations Iterate on Place name generation Stone Cutting Table Now uses Iron Rods (16) to Build Battles Fix bug that caused premature Battle end World Map Show Party Leader's Title on Parties Hide Kingdom Home from traveling Party Tooltip Iteration on Map Seed details on Ruler Tooltip Add "Copy Map Seed" when your Ruler is selected Fix bugs related to dragging Items Ensure Items on ground are reachable after Starting or Resettling UI Iterate on visuals of unticked Rush buttons Expand Rename Field size "Add Barricade" Command Fix Status Text Modding Add Animal support to Biomes Add -mapstats cmdline to write out map stats after generation Add -mapgen cmdline to write map details after generation

Restart the game and steam to make sure you're up to date!

Roadmap Update!

2 Years of Early Access is the perfect time to update the Roadmap!

As a reminder - there are 3 types of updates for Noble Fates - Hotfix Updates that address bugs and issues (including those that are listed on the Backlog and those that you Report in-game); Content Updates that focus on expanding existing systems and filling them with additional content; and Feature Updates that add new features to the game expanding the overall breadth of what the game has to offer.

Priority Fixes

Progress against the Priority Fixes that we outlined on 3/14

We've continued to move out of the Crash fixing phase and into the improvement phase as the game matures! There were a high number of Quality of Life improvements this year, including the Choose Your Fate initiative.

Notable Changes

Crashes Fixed 40+ additional crashes, bringing the total to 200+! Choose Your Fate Made Intro Skippable Added Peaceful Experience Added Easy/Medium/Hard Experiences Added Experience Customization Added Sexuality Customization Added Starter Customization Editable Alignment Editable Kingdom Size Preference Editable Skills Editable Opinions Editable Sexuality Added Beliefs System Influence Alignment Influence Kingdom Size Preference Influence Opinions Leverage Principle presets to simplify Includes Autonomous Mode Add Principle Selection step to Intro Added Resettling Maps Introduced Seeded Maps Added Mountain Home Biome Added Arid Home Biome Performance Improved Reachability Performance Improved Room Calculation Performance Improved Temperature Sim Performance Improve Work List Performance Improve Need Performance Improve Building Performance Sexuality Replace Gender with Sex and Traits Add Sexes and Options (Male, Female) Add Sexuality Traits and Options (Straight, Gay, Bisexual, Asexual, Non-Binary) Add Attraction Modifier Options (Race, Age, Prestige) Add Title Options (Masculine, Feminine) Add Simplified Sexuality Option (Males & Females, Attracted to opposite Sex) Make Simplified Sexuality the default to streamline New Games Character Visuals Add Visual Extremes Option Reign in Visual Extremes by 50% by Default Tweak Iris Sizes for Orcs Tweak Eye Reflectivity Combat Improved Ranged Combat near Ledges Prevented Jumping from Ledges without confirmation Improved Raid Detection Logic Improved Raider Behavior Improved Grappling Hooks Door Locks Visitors and Animals respect Lock Permissions Building Improve Building Reachability Dismantle from anywhere nearby that is Reachable Junk Auto Junk v2 Ability to Override Auto Junk Races Added Dwarves Characters Reworked Skill Leveling Monsters Added Kin Temperature Introduced Advanced Temperature Simulation Added Fine Stone Hearth/Chimney Added Vents Added Exhaust Pipes Added Coolers Added Frostcaps Injuries Added Minor, Major, and Permanent Injuries Added Heatstroke/Hypothermia Added Frostbite Food Reworked Meals Added Drybars (Preserved Meal) Added 5 Drink Types Terrain Added Caves Added Dirt Resource Added Terraforming Needs Rebalanced Ramp Esteem Effects over time Conversations Greatly reduced Ruler Conversation importance Items Rebalanced Decay Rebalanced Stack Sizes Decorations Added Dwarven Furniture Trading Added Buffs Column and Filtering Added Click and Drag Support

Current Priorities

A number of systems have gotten a second pass and that will continue as we move through the remainder of Early Access.

Localization is underway, but is paused while we tackled the Choose Your Fate initiative. Work will resume once Feature Update #6 is released, and it will likely land between Feature Update #6 and Feature Update #7 (mid 2024 by current estimation).

Content Updates

We've released 22 Content Updates so far! Wow!

There have been 6 Content Updates since the last Roadmap Update!

Content Update #17: Advanced Frostcap Coolers Content Update #18: Dwarven Furniture Choose Your Fate Content Update #1: Choose Your Fate Choose Your Fate Content Update #2: Mortal Editor Choose Your Fate Content Update #3: Beliefs Choose Your Fate Content Update #4: Choose Your Home

We'll continue to work on these and release them as they're ready,

Feature Updates

Finally, we have the Feature Updates. As a reminder, 8 of these will arrive during Early Access. 5 have landed so far.

Feature Update #5: Dwarven Domain!
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1769420/view/3657533936655804682?l=english

Feature Update #6: Choose Your Fate

This Content Update marks the transition into the Feature Update portion of the Choose Your Fate initiative.

We're hard at work on the remaining features of the Feature Update and are targeting an early 2024 release.

As always, thanks for your patience!

Early Access Status

We're around 70% of the way through what we aim to accomplish with Early Access.

We continue to raise the bar as we work through the remaining bits so the last 30% could take as long as the first 70%.

That puts us 18 months or so from 1.0 with at least 3 Major Updates landing before 1.0. We've had enough success that we're in good shape for landing 1.0 thanks to your support!

Experimental Branch

If you have the stomach for brief bouts of instability and want to help us out - switch to (or stay in) the Experimental Beta on Steam and participate in discussions here or on discord.

v0.28 Saves will remain compatible until we launch the Beta for Feature Update #6 - some time from now.

Expect occasional issues - but know that we appreciate you helping us make the game better!

Community Corner

Kideya captured this stunning Mountain Winter scene!

cypr' always finds creative new ways to build...

CheeseCake with the cozy starter base!

Discord

Join the Official Discord to participate in Development!

Reviews

If you like the game, please consider leaving a Review. These can help players decide that Noble Fates is worthy of their attention.

Thanks for reading and thanks for playing!
The Noble Fates Team

Dec 19, 2023

Call Me Under Release Information

Call Me Under - Kris

Hi everyone

We hope you’ve been well and have been keeping safe. We’ve been dealing with some unexpected obstacles I want to lay out. We’ve made the difficult decision to delay Call Me Under, which will now be released in 2024.

Delaying is truly the last thing both I and my team members want, but it’s turned out to be our only option. There have been unexpected challenges on the development side – as no one on the team but me does this full-time, it’s been really difficult to wrangle everything together at times, so we’ve had a couple of factors slow down development.

The biggest issue we’ve run into is a lack of money. I cannot overstate how difficult it is to be a self-funded, self-publishing indie studio. Kickstarter got us off to a great start, but the reality is that indie developers never ask for what they truly need as it would be beyond anything we could ever realistically raise, unless we got incredibly lucky, which isn't always a risk some can take. That money runs out FAST, as is the case with many indie Kickstarters, our primary goal has been getting any amount of funding we can. We've had no outside funding during development – our only income has been from game sales from our previous titles, merch sales, and our Patreon. Having no publisher money and no grants has created a heavy strain on us and our ability to create high-quality games. To be frank, I'm really not sure what Lunaris’ future looks like once we’ve released this game, which gives us even more reasons to handle it with the care and love it deserves.

Even so, we won't compromise on that mission or release something unfinished like we have with one of our previous games. Games get rushed out and their developers lament what the game they worked so hard on could have been. I know, because we've been there. We won’t do that again – we would rather take the time and release a polished product that we can say we’re proud of delivering to you. We learned a grave lesson before and won't be making the same mistake again.

I also won’t compromise on my dedication to making sure my staff is well-paid. There are many indie studios that exploit their workers and pay them subhuman wages – I refuse to have Lunaris be one of those studios.

Despite these difficulties, we’re still working hard on Call Me Under.

Progress remaining is as follows:

Script: 70%
Programming: 70%
Other assets: 80%
CGs: 90%
Sprites: 95%

We’ve faced a lot of hardships along the way, both personal and professional, but we’re committed to finishing this game that we have been so proud of every step of the way. Obstacles have never detracted from how excited we have been to be working on this. It’s our best work yet – I truly believe we have something special here, and we’re eager to get it in your hands. But we want to make sure you get the best experience possible, and so delaying it is the right thing for us to do. I also want to make sure to say that Call Me Under will absolutely be released in 2024 – as you can see, we’re far along into production and we’re confident you’ll get to delve into the world of Styx again.

If you’re reading this and you haven’t played one of our games before, please head on over to our developer page and try them out. If you enjoy the experience and believe in our mission to create immersive, narrative-driven stories filled with diverse characters, feel free to support us on Patreon or by checking out our merch, and we thank you in advance for supporting us in whatever way you can, it means more than anything.

We’re extremely grateful for your understanding. Take care, stay safe, and have a great holiday period.

Dec 19, 2023

The Automation Update is Live

Voidtrain - Niko

Hello everyone!

We've finally completed work on a major update centered around Automation. The current version of the game has been updated to 13333.

Please take a look at the patch notes, where we've provided detailed descriptions of changes related to new buildings, secondary quests, and technologies to ensure that all the innovations are transparent and easy to understand.

Enjoy the game and happy holidays to everyone!

Patch Notes

New Features, Changes, and Improvements

Automation of Water Collection. We've added a Water Condenser module to the game, and with this change, the resource of ice is removed. Instead, we've introduced a universal resource - Water. The accumulated ice in player containers, inventories, and engines is replaced with Water at a specific conversion rate. Condensers automatically collect water over time and store it with a limited capacity. Water is most efficiently used in crafting and gardening, although you can also drink it either raw or boiled. The Water Condenser is introduced into the game through a secondary quest, which will be available to you in your journal.
Automation of Loot Collection. From the early stages of research (Research Stage 5), the Lootcatcher's Nest becomes available. It's a special nest automatically occupied by a creature that will gather physical loot from the Void. The maximum number of Loot Harvesters per section is 1. Just a reminder, a section refers to a 2x2 floor platform. The Loot Harvester Nest requires water replenishment to operate and can also store a limited amount of collected resources (don't forget to collect them in time to avoid halting the assembly process).
Automation of protecting the train from mines and other threats during the journey:

The Ram (T1/T2) now has infinite durability but destroys barriers on the tracks only at boost speed. The Ram no longer requires repairs.
The Ram has been removed from the technologies of the 11th stage. Now, this module is available in the depot of the seventh cycle.
Turrets can now be placed on the Rams - one turret on the T1 Ram and two turrets on the T2 Ram. The first time is accompanied by a secondary quest in your journal, as mentioned before - in the 7th cycle/path. If you are between depots on a cycle later than 7, just reach the next depot to receive the quest to build turrets. The turret technology has been added to the first research phase (it appears there upon completing the quest or progression conditions described above).
The turret serves as a workstation that needs Rofleemo to be assigned to. The turret requires special Turret Ammo, crafted through Workbenches.
There are two levels of turrets in the game, T1 (Research Phase 1) and T2 (Research Phase 25), differing in rate of fire and damage parameters.
Turrets cannot be destroyed by external damage, such as from mines or soldiers, but like the engine, they will cease to function until you repair them.

Farm Automation. A special Botanist's Station (Research Phase 15) is introduced into the game, where you can assign Rofleemo to autonomously tend to the train's gardens. Specifically, at the first perk level, Rofleemo plants seeds, waters them, and harvests the crops. At the second level, Rofleemo can also fertilize the gardens, and at the third level, there's a chance to harvest bonus crops. The Botanist also stores the harvested crops in the station up to a certain quantity limit.
Cleaning Automation. While cleaning is not fully implemented yet (pollution and cleaning will be added to the game in the future), the Cleaner, with its Cleaner's Station (Research Phase 18), can still assist you with some tasks. For example, it can automate Rofleemo's toilet duties by cleaning the toilet, refilling it with chemicals, and periodically eliminating leech miasmas on the wheels that block the train's movement.
Water Refill and Repair Automation. The game introduces a special Trainkeeper's Station (Research Phase 21), where you can assign Rofleemo to assist you with: refilling water for Lootcatcher's Nests throughout the train and repairing objects on the train (depending on the perk level, restoring 35% or 60% durability periodically).
A new object, the Recycler, has been added to the game (on trains already built with the Crusher, it will be automatically replaced with the Recycler). This new module not only allows for crushing blocks like its predecessor but also enables the disassembly of weapon modules and crafted items into simpler components.
Rofleemo's Diner. A new module (Research Phase 16, additional line) is introduced into the game to simplify feeding Rofleemoes. This module doesn't replace the current functionality; your pets can still take food from containers if you choose not to build the Diner. However, it enhances the efficiency of this process as you personally replenish it with the required amount of food, observe potential consequences of not feeding, and also reduces the necessary amount of food for the same number of pets.
Rofleemo’s Toilet. In the future, we plan to integrate a full-scale train pollution system where the toilet will play a significant role. At the current stage, we introduce this module so that you can obtain fertilizers for more efficient farming. The toilet is unlocked for the player through a secondary quest after leaving the depot on the 10th path. The toilet has been added to the first research phase (it appears there upon completing the quest or progression conditions described above). The toilet requires chemicals for its operation.

Organics have been removed from the loot lists of the Void and other sources (If you have already been in the cycle between depots, the spawn will stop after the next depot). Now, the primary source of organics is Farming. Seeds of organics drop from void-fish, which you can use to cultivate organics in your gardens. Farming is introduced through a secondary quest for the first time, which will be available in your journal.
Changes to Gardens. The garden is the main farming object where you can grow organics from seeds obtained from void-fish. Now, the garden not only displays growth timings but also visually represents growth stages. Saplings now need to be watered, and if desired, fertilized with compost from Rofleemo's Toilet. Adding fertilizers reduces the timer for the current growth stage and guarantees the return of seeds when harvesting.
Now, Workbenches and some train buildings have Workstation Abilities - special perks that activate when the worker's happiness level is sufficient. Additionally, some of the workstation abilities are influenced by the worker's own perks.
The UI for technologies has been updated; now, the resource requirements for researching a technology display comprehensive information about the resource name, its icon, and where it can be crafted or obtained.
Three new Void biomes (sky, its overall illumination, and the lighting element) have been added.
New types of outposts (there are now three levels of outposts in the game, with the third level being the current outposts with barriers, while the first and second-level outposts lack path barriers, are smaller in size, and have fewer soldiers on them; outposts of lower levels are encountered in earlier stages).
Diversity in the interior spaces of the depot (peaceful area) with various lighting biomes, layers of decoration, and structures.
Improved AI for soldiers (priority given to noticeable corrections in the depot; specifically, pathfinding, behavior during attacks and retreats, behavior in cover, tuning visual glitches and bugs, and much more), as well as the addition of new logic and types of melee attacks for tank soldiers.
Enhanced mouse sensitivity adjustment parameter (the parameter's value range has been significantly expanded).
Refactoring and optimization of the train sounds (both wagons and the locomotive with the engine).
The drop rate of weapon modules from enemy soldiers has been reduced by 40%.
A sound priority system has been added; now, some sounds decrease in volume if the player is not looking at them.
Ambient sounds have been slightly increased in volume and are now more adaptive to surrounding events.
During an active combat phase in the depot, ambient sounds are now slightly muted.
During void travel, ambient sounds have become clearer. Wind sounds in the void are now mixed with the flight sound only when the train is moving, and the volume depends on the train's speed.
An adaptive ambient system has been added. If music is not playing, ambient sounds become louder.
Global improvements to the game sound (dozens of changes and improvements): Character; Enemies of all types; Train; Void; Depot; Music and Ambience; Flora; Weapons, etc.

Fixes

Smelters and other workstations requiring fuel can now be filled with all types of fuel.
Fixed the translation of the Nutritionist perk and perk value.
Sometimes, when leaving the Arena Islands, the musical theme of these islands did not turn off until the next event - fixed.
Combat music in the depot now reliably plays the end of the track; improved transition between combat and calm depot ambience.
Fixed the sound of weapon shots in cooperative play.
The sound of containers duplicating when opened and closed in cooperative play has been fixed.
Fixed a rare bug where it was impossible to destroy miasma from a leech.
If you craft an item on a workstation with two work zones, craft it on both zones, and only take it from the first one, the item on the second zone will show a mark indicating that you have no space. Fixed.
Fixed a bug with the blocking of workstations (workbenches, etc.) with a note of insufficient space for the product, even though the work zones are empty.
If you move a rack with containers from a broken floor to a normal floor, the containers still couldn't be used. This has been fixed.
It was impossible to use Mushroom Salad to unlock additional happiness slots for Rofleemo. This has been fixed.
In cooperative play with poor internet connection or high ping, if you spam opening a container and then opening crafting in any workstation, the crafting UI would be blocked and not allow you to exit it. This has been fixed.
If you pick up a block or chest and try to summon it by pressing X, it won't happen until you hold down X and select that object. Fixed.
The Winch gets blocked when hit by the Grappling Hook - fixed

Thank you so much for playing VoidTrain and helping us make the game better! If you enjoy the game, please don't forget to leave a review. It's very important to us.