This post was originally going to be about Occult Inspectors but if we gave anything away that’d ruin the fun, wouldn’t it. So why not come down to the pub for a pint? By which I mean, we’ve been doing some iteration of the Public House (and related buildings, and games systems) and, while the trajectory we’ve set upon ourselves here is not yet finished, some interesting bits of design have come up on the path thus far traveled. By which I mean I’ll ramble about random stuff vaguely related to implementing Pub features which may or may not change.
Let’s start with the UI for the Pub, because this has implications through the entire game:
civilians will now fight to protect themselves (just not as well, or as long, as soldiers)
added upkeep to buildings (& multitude of systems and balance changes to support this)
changed UI for creating on-map assignments to “stamp” system
many other UI improvements done to improve information available to player and improve control over game systems
significant optimization of game speed, save size, save/load speed
… which let us add a 2X game speed button
housing and immigration systems much improved
If you’re in a hurry, that should cover it. But if you find yourself with the inexplicable urge for more, you’re in luck, we’ve got the full changelog posted below — or the extra special annotated changelog in the Clockwork Empires Development Report.
In Clockwork Empires you have a few fundamental game-pieces: agents that do stuff for you (colonists), places on the map they do stuff at (buildings/modules), and things produced by and consumed to build or upkeep the former categories: commodities. In other words, commodities are the food, planks, bricks, and so-on your colony needs to survive and grow. As such, commodities are very important to everything. So it is, by extension, very important indeed that a player knows how many of each commodity they have, what the commodities are good for, and how to make any commodity they don’t have but would quite like to have, thank you very much.
Glorious commodities everywhere just awaiting glorious logistical organization!
We’ve been working on tightening up these systems, both in the backend code and in the frontend code for expressing what’s happening in-game to the player. Let’s visit some of the work done toward these ends.
If you’re in a hurry, that should cover it. But if you find yourself with the inexplicable urge for more, you’re in luck, we’ve got the full changelog posted below — or the extra special annotated changelog in the Clockwork Empires Development Report.
We put aside a couple days last week to come up with some ideas for Fun event sequences then implement them using the event arc structure managed by the Event Director feature (as discussed in the blog post on just that subject). So let’s have a look at an example of one such event – and how event arcs can lock buildings for Special Purposes.
So the colony’s carpenter has a problem. These things happen! There are various ways to solve it (and others problems like it). Determined Inaction is always an option, as is Making A Highly Inadvisable Decision. Sometimes you can call upon the services of one of the specialist offices to resolve the issue by doing a little work. Just so here with the Vicar.
Those of you enjoying Science on the experimental branch of the Clockwork Empires beta may have noticed certain radical changes in the operation of the Barracks. Let’s talk about it!
Shift Controls
To followup gently on last week’s post about the workshift system – and the theme of removing an unnecessary choice for which there was always a right answer – the Barracks has received a shift control button. Wait, you say, didn’t you want to remove shift controls because it was an unnecessary choice for which there was always a right answer? Yes! But the Barracks is the one case where shift controls are absolutely needed.
UI is meant to be functional at this point and will receive polish, so I don’t want to hear about it!
Don’t own the game? Clockwork Empires can be purchased on ClockworkEmpires.com via Humble or from Steam. Our top bureaucrats assure us that the stars are right and we must use the correct number so: Clockwork Empires is on sale via Steam for exactly 34% off on May 21st only. Not until great Quag’gorath awakens is it going to get better than this.
What does this mean for you?
It starts with us: this is a shift in development. We have essentially finished all of the backend code required to complete the game. We can now switch entirely to mechanics integration, content implementation, UI/UX improvement, optimization, and stability. This also means that the countdown to release can be counted in months. This is an exciting threshold for us!
(There is a downside: the changelogs are going to get even longer, ugh. Stay strong, team! We can do this.)
Major player-facing additions this month
New Workshop order system: jobs are queued per work module (it’s super easy!)
New Event Arc system to chain interesting events together to produce Interesting Times
Colonists can now carry stacks of ingredients to workshop jobs that require lots of materials – much more efficient!
Tons of subtle UI usability improvements to make your life easier
Colonist Quality of Life system: good colonies produce happy, productive overseers
If you’re in a hurry, that should cover it. But if you find yourself with the inexplicable urge for more, you’re in luck, we’ve got the full changelog posted below — or the extra special annotated changelog in the Clockwork Empires Development Report.
What’s important to a colonist’s quality of life on the Frontier? Why, clearly: Food, safety, work conditions, and having a good place to sleep. We’ve been using the memory system to convey the importance of these factors but the results have been somewhat unsteady, prone to being thrown off by extreme, random factors. To be fair, it’s pretty upsetting when Fishpeople eat your friends, but that’s a difficult emotion to balance against something as simple as getting a good meal every day.
How do we make fulfilling the basics AND memories of extreme events both remain important throughout? So glad you asked: The Quality Of Life System! This somewhat resembles the old stub for personal desires, but generalizes them for all people, with allowances for social class and traits. Let’s have a look:
Possibly our random name generator’s finest work yet.
