Messages

136

Bug reports / Re: 3.80 (beta) Retting improves unarmed skill

« on: May 16, 2023, 05:37:06 PM »

I never completed any quests on this save file, as this was a freshly generated character I was using to test flora edits.

Okay. Then it's quite puzzling issue. Codewise there's no conflicts to be found, and with a few quick test I couldn't reproduce.
Maybe an overflow somewhere that affected the unarmed skill is my best guess. Please follow-up if you notice it again.

137

Bug reports / Re: [3.72 p1] Material Iron failed to be Iron

« on: May 16, 2023, 05:34:15 PM »

I don't know how that outcome of the item becoming out as leather protection is obtained, so I can't really say....
But this:
[ARMOUR_MATERIAL:iron]
is completely valid entry and there should be now issues with it.

However, as the recipe creates "iron spectacle helm" item you don't really have to even specify ARMOUR_MATERIAL or ARMOUR_COVERAGE or WEIGHT.
Especially as these don't seem to have changes to vanilla item.
The price has been reduced significantly here for some reason. :/
 .... the player characters seem to be super fast and budget friendly iron crafters compared to the village masters

138

Not bugs / Re: [3.72 p#1] Sauna Stove not an Oven for baking

« on: May 16, 2023, 05:19:26 PM »

No bugs here, just some confusion, I think.
And also, reporting older version issues isn't worthwhile because we naturally only work on the current version.

Roasting and boiling actually require a fire - but not necessarily a fireplace/stove around it.
So these will work wherever there is fire burning - be it open fire, or sauna stove or cottage fireplace.

Now sauna stove and cottage fireplace are indeed different kind of constructions. The latter is designed for food preparation in mind.
But still, I'm fairly sure you can also bake in the sauna stove but you need to take care that it's warmed up and there's no fire burning anymore.
If there's fire burning, even in the cottage fireplace, it doesn't count a place for baking. Try and see.

But if it's so that you really can't bake anything in sauna stove, that's even better.

139

Not bugs / Re: Modding for seed based flour not finding base item

« on: May 09, 2023, 10:56:14 AM »

Flours aren't really base items, but they are created on the fly with the game mechanics.
So, there's no such base items as "hemp-flour" or "clayweed-flour".

rye-flour and barley-flour are exceptions that sometimes appear available due to internal object handling,
but they aren't there by design and not necessarily safe to use.

140

Bug reports / Re: 3.80 (beta) Retting improves unarmed skill

« on: May 09, 2023, 10:43:14 AM »

Checked the code, and there was no such conflict/issue to be found there.

Could this be that the increase happened earlier, for some other reason?
Bert Preast's theory is one plausible explanation.

141

Solved'n'fixed bug reports / Re: Zooming inside the western wall of a fortified village

« on: May 09, 2023, 10:40:01 AM »

This has been like that forever, I guess.
Fixed now with the village generation relocating the wall a bit, so with the earlier visited village it will persists.

Fixed - persists in 3.80 (beta)

142

Modding / Re: Birch-bark strip comes out in the WEAPON category

« on: May 09, 2023, 10:31:33 AM »

There's been many changed in regards to peeling bark and bark items over the past versions.

Firstly, there is no base object called "Birch-bark strip" but this item is created on the fly when using the peeling game mechanics (to a birch tree).
So, that's why the modding code in question fails in the first place.

However, if you want to use sheets of bark to something there's hope. The bark is peeled in sheets from rowan and alder trees. Upon peeling these time of trees you
get  eg. "sheet of alder bark". Again, there's no such base object but it's created on the fly when using the peeling game mechanics (to a alder or rowan tree).
The sheets obtained this way can be naturally used in modding.

143

Development News / Re: Version 3.80 (beta) released

« on: April 24, 2023, 08:38:24 PM »

Excellent!  Is it the case that saved characters from previous versions will not find blacksmiths in villages that they have already explored, but unexplored villages may contain one?

Yes, that's exactly how it goes. But it's still worthwhile to ask from explored villages too because now the NPCs can tell about the blacksmiths in the neighbouring (possibly unexplored) villages too.

144

Development News / Version 3.80 (beta) released

« on: April 24, 2023, 02:16:38 PM »

We're happy and excited to announce a beta release of UnReal World version 3.80.

Being a beta release some of the new features are still slightly under construction and there might be higher bug potential, but the essential new additions are completely playable and we haven't ran into stability issues either.
Version 3.80 (beta) is available at Steam, Itch.Io and for lifetimers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 3.80 (beta) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. **

BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.

- added: blacksmith NPCs and ordering metalworks from them

Blacksmith is a new NPC type who you can meet in the villages. Blacksmiths can produce different kind of metalworks on demand. This is a fundamental addition which will make a big difference to obtaining iron tools and weapons.
Blacksmith products are culturally dependent and can range from fishhooks to swords. There's also variety among the levels of blacksmith expertise. All the blacksmiths can produce the basic tools needed for the every day life of their local culture, but only the few talented ones can forge more demanding items, like a sword.

* All the cultures do have blacksmiths, but their areal availability varies. Not every village has a blacksmith, but in general there are several within each cultural area.

* You can ask villagers if there's a blacksmith around. The option for this is found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode. If their blacksmith is a highly skilled one villagers are proud to let you know that right away.

* Ordering something from a blacksmith is initiated by talking to them. Ordering options become available upon greeting a blacksmith, or can be found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode.

* Blacksmiths vary in their expertise, but all of them can produce at least decent quality items. The more talented blacksmiths can produce fine or even masterwork items. They will let you know the level of their expertise and outcome of their goods loud and clear.

* Not all the blacksmiths will produce the same items, and the cultural variety makes the most difference there. Also, only the few most talented blacksmiths will be able to forge the most demanding items, such as swords, helmets or specialized knives such as Kaumolais knife or Skramasaksi.

* It should be clear already that metal armours are not really known or used by the local cultures, so blacksmiths do not produce those - except for helmets. So the availability of NPC blacksmiths doesn't change the fact that metal armours do remain as rare imported goods, as they should be.

* Of the swords, a few talented blacksmiths may produce broadswords and shortswords but the other types of swords found in the game are of foreign origin and remain to be rarely found as imported goods. The northern peoples aren't familiar with swords at all, so to find a sword forging blacksmith one has to seek among the wealthy western cultures, or at Kaumo and Reemi.

* You can order one item at a time, which will be payed for after it's ready. Upon confirming your order you can ask what the blacksmith would like as a payment from your current inventory, but you don't have to have enough goods for the payment yet upon placing an order. When the order is then being bartered for, even if you wouldn't have enough goods at first you can cancel the trade and come back to try again with more wealth.

* Meanwhile your order is being made you can ask the blacksmith how is it coming along. They will give you an estimation about the remaining production time. Depending on the item the production times vary from few days to a month.

* If you don't come claim your order within half a year it will be given away. This may naturally lower your reputation among the blacksmith, and the village.

- added: BLACKSMITH game encyclopedia (F1) entry

Village blacksmiths and ordering their goods described in short.

- updated: culture and weapon related game encyclopedia (F1) entries

All the culture descriptions have been updated with relevant blacksmithing information and assorted corrections. Certain sword and axe descriptions have been updated to emphasize that those are foreign weapons not known by the local cultures.

- added: villagers can tell about sages and blacksmiths in the neighbouring villages

Upon asking villagers if there's a sage or blacksmith around, and if there is not, they will now let you if there's one in the vicinity or neighbouring villages. You will then be given directions how to reach the village in question.

- added: animal droppings

Certain animals now leave visible droppings, i.e. feces, that can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in map level. The droppings aren't featured for all the animals, but for those whose droppings are commonly noticeable and relevant. For example the following wild animals can leave droppings: hare, fox, badger, lynx, wolf, reindeer, elk and bear. The domestic animals such as sheep, cows and pigs also leave droppings.
The droppings of different species look a bit different, and upon looking at the droppings with game commands you will be told which animal's droppings it is.
For example: "You see here an elk droppings."
If the droppings are somewhat recent, less than a day old or so, you will be also be told that it's fresh droppings in question. Even if you wouldn't be able to specify their age the droppings work as an indicator of the animal presence at the area. The droppings may remain visible for weeks, but will eventually disappear.

- added: using animal droppings as fertilizer

Using animal droppings as fertilizer isn't necessary, but it's possible - if you feel like it. You can either spread droppings on the ground before preparing the soil and planting your crops, or spread them around after the planting. In the former method the droppings are then mixed in the soil upon preparing it, which is better.
The fertilizing effect is simplified and any amount of droppings will help a little. You don't have to fertilize every tile of the field, but just quite casually spread the droppings here and there.
This extra fertilizing helps plants to sprout and grow more succesfully, so somewhat higher yields can be expected from the fields fertilized with droppings. The effect isn't too dramatic though, since the slash-and-burn agriculture in use already includes fertilization with the ash from the burned woods.
When collecting droppings they appear under a new "Miscellanous" item category in character's inventory.

- added: SMOKING and FIREPLACE game encyclopedia (F1) entries

These will explain the smoking and fireplace heating up processes. In the cookery menu SMOKING encyclopedia entry dialog is shown at Smoking option.

- fixed: getting "carry too much" pick up restriction even if the character's inventory wasn't really full

- fixed: possibility of de-hairing bird skins, or already de-haired skins

It was redundant, and confusing. Now the game notifies you about this being needless.

- fixed: animals and NPCs drowning in shallow waters or small puddles

The issue made NPCs occasionally drown in village wells or puddles, or the animals drown in shallow shoreline waters if they were moving about there a lot eg. when tied in place.

- fixed: quest journal sometimes showing excess NPC portraits on the latter pages

- fixed: meadsweet flowers tile missing

- text corrections: a good bunch typos and grammar corrected, some messages rephrased.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers!

145

Development News / Any sages or a blacksmith in the neighborhood?

« on: April 22, 2023, 06:45:33 PM »

Uh oh, so I got my share of the covid which brought in over a week long hiatus to the well proceeding preparations for the upcoming release.
I'm back in business now, and after the first few sweaty days in the development chambers I'm still convinced we'll see the release of 3.80 (beta) this month.

The latest additions, finished today, are something to highlight;
If you are looking for a sage or a blacksmith in a village, and there is none, the villagers can now tell you about these possible specialists in the neighbouring villages with directions how to reach the location.
It's seemingly simple, but such a great feature. And the mechanics that we now created to make NPCs aware of their neighbouring tribesmen and tribeswomen in detail can be utilized in diverse ways in the future.





Stay tuned, the end of the month is near.

146

Development News / Sami, Erkka and master Lassi

« on: April 02, 2023, 11:54:00 AM »

Hey hey,

it's a special coding (and recreational) weekend going on together with Erkka (co-designer) at my place.
And it's no surprise that we've been working on a upcoming blacksmith code.
This kind of sessions are always very productive, and of the earlier mentioned still remaining NPC blacksmithing to-dos these two biggies are now done:
- go through the item lists and consider what items blacksmith will produce, considering their culture and expertise.
- set production times, and few other variables, for the items they produce.

We've done a lots of checks, tests, adjustments and minor additions too - and that continues.
The days have been sunny, so catching a fresh air between the coding sessions is also essential.


Erkka (co-designer) on the left, Sami (creator) on the right - thinking and wandering in the woods.

Of the newest spin-off features one to mention is that when you ask from villagers if there is a blacksmith around they will be proud to immediately mention if their blacksmith is a skilled one. Only the most skilled blacksmiths can make the most demanding items, such as a skramasaksis, kaumolais knives, swords or helmets.
Upon last night's playtesting session while looking for blacksmith at Koivula a certain villager told us about master Lassi being around.
His forging skills were indeed notable:



Stay tuned. The release with NPC blacksmiths is upon us this very month.

147

Development News / Re: Still forging the Blacksmith NPC code

« on: March 30, 2023, 04:28:35 PM »

Are you planning a penalty for not coming back or not purchasing after completion?

Would be nice to have, is still to be considered.

Could your reputation play a role in the payment? eg: "Unknown traveler, I need x to begin your order." to "Hi trusted friend, I can get that started for you right away."

Some pre-payment for laborous orders (especially from unknown characters) would be reasonable, but maybe we'll see about that later on. No plans for that at the moment.

- chat options: What the NPC is capable of making? Expanded: If known to NPC, general location of a more skilled blacksmith.

It would be nice to have villagers to tell about the important (or more skilled) people in the neighbouring villages, so this is something we'd like to feature, but might be that we can't fit it in in the next release. We'd also like to have a possibility also to ask about other sages in the neighborhood, if there isn't one in the village.

148

Development News / Re: Still forging the Blacksmith NPC code

« on: March 30, 2023, 04:22:21 PM »

A couple of thoughts about complications (you've probably thought about them already, but it probably doesn't hurt to bring them up).
- What to do with a shifty player customer that either doesn't return to pick up goods within a reasonable amount of time, or just keeps showing up with insufficient goods (or willingness) to pay?
I'd say the blacksmith should probably sell the goods to someone else if the player is too sluggish to pay for the goods (with a fairly generous time limit). It also ought to reduce the standing of the player either with the village or with the blacksmith (or both) so efforts to improve the relations would be needed before the blacksmith is willing to take the risk of dealing with that customer again.

Yep, the blacksmiths surely shouldn't keep the items available forever if they aren't paid for within a reasonable amount of time. This is still to be considered.
To add village/blacksmith reputation changes based on player failing to complete the trade or hanging around with no intention to pay is surely something we'd also like to add,
but it will among the last phase adjustments if we managed to keep in time with the release.

- There should probably be a limit as to how much a character can order at any one time. After all, crafting things take time, carries a risk (even a trustworthy player may run into a njerpezit war band and not return from that encounter), and the blacksmith should probably spend most of his efforts on serving the community. However, there's a gaming aspect in that players probably will find it rather tedious to trek across the whole world to place orders for a single item when picking up the previous one, so it would be useful if players would be able to increase the number of items that can be on order (but not finished) at any one time with successive return business. I probably wouldn't take on a new order for an item if I've finished an order but the customer hasn't payed for it yet.

It will be one item order at a time.

149

Development News / Still forging the Blacksmith NPC code

« on: March 28, 2023, 05:17:44 PM »

As announced earlier, we're working on a fundamental new addition of featuring blacksmith NPCs and possibility of ordering various iron goods from them.
Our hopes to have it all completed this month has proven slightly too optimistic, so the release will take place in April.
The good news is there's far more done, than still to be done. That is, if we manage to avoid time consuming sidetracking and spin-offing, as this is indeed an addition that can easily grow and expand with to-dos and ideas popping up here and there.

Let's continue with some dones and to-dos after a screenshot of a new NPC in town:


By now there's a solid groundwork done for the blacksmith NPCs;
- new NPCs tiles have been drawn
- blacksmith NPC generation is in effect
- blacksmith availability and their level of expertise among different cultures have been considered and in effect in the village generation
- chat options for talking about and ordering goods are set and working
- blacksmith item production works and ordered items get created
- chat options for asking about the ordered item and obtaining it when ready are working
- trading for the ordered item works

In a nutshell the process of ordering goods from a blacksmith goes like;
You talk with the blacksmith about the possible goods to order, and then confirm your choice.
Blacksmiths will give you an approximation of how long the item production will take, and you can ask about the remaining production time later on too.
When the item is ready you go to talk the blacksmith again and the trading for the item starts.

So you pay for the ordered goods when they are ready, not beforehand. This way you don't have to carry your wealth
around all the time, but can go fetch it when the time to trade for the ordered goods is at hand.
It's the usual trading system in use so you can try to offer offer whatever goods you want.
You can also ask beforehand what the blacksmith would like as a payment from your current inventory.

Time for another screenshot where some of these factors are seen in action;


Then, what still remains to be done is to;
- go through the item lists and consider what items blacksmith will produce, considering their culture and expertise.
- set production times, and few other variables, for the items they produce.
- check everything
- check everything again
- test everything
- repeat the previous
- fix, adjust and possibly rewrite something
- final adjustments
- release

Phew.... forging the forging code is a serious business, but we're getting there and it will be a blast!

Stay tuned.

150

Development News / Re: Blacksmith NPCs and ordering their products

« on: March 21, 2023, 10:02:18 AM »

Great addition.  I feel like the blacksmith will always want firewood delivered.  Perhaps he could have work available or just a frequently offered version of the "Help with chores" quest to deliver firewood.

Yep, we've already cherished ideas about helping the blacksmith with collecting the forging related materials. But that's not yet gonna be in in the first blacksmith featuring version to be released. There's a lot to and great potential to spin-off with this addition.