Topics

151

Development News / 3.50 stable version released on Steam and for Lifetime members

« on: March 25, 2018, 08:18:47 PM »

After quite a long period of balancing and wrestling with glitches in the preceeding beta versions we are now ready to tag version 3.50 stable and...
Version 3.50 (stable) is now released on Steam and for Lifetime members.
Here you can find UnReal World Steam page, and the version is also available for lifetimer members at the designated forums section.
Standalone installer versions at the homepage will be put available some days later.

Here are the fixes/additions since 3.50 beta 2:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Version: 3.50 (stable) changelog

- added: treat bleeding wounds of your pets and companions

It is now possible to try to stop bleeding of the wounds of your pets and companions. The attempt is started by using physician skill, or opening [F7] wounds screen, when facing a bleeding pet or companion. If bleeding wounds are found you'll be asked whether you wish to try to treat them.
The actual wound to treat is then auto selected based on its severity.

The actual game mechanics of applying physician skills to your pets and companions are the same as treating your own wounds. Herbs can be used in the process, the success or failure messages are the familiar ones, and so on.

- added: crash security to overcome creature and item losses when travelling with companions and watercrafts

There's now extra data save added upon each map load to provide crash security and to minimize certain creature and item loss potential. Previously it was quite often the case that the pets and companions you were travelling with would disappear upon a crash. The same sort of crash related disappearence might also happen to the items you were transporting with a watercraft - including the watercraft. This sort of losses should be history now.
Crashes may naturally lose some progress in the game world, but all the creatures and items should stay intact and be available upon returning to post-crash UnReal World.
Finally, let us remind that force quitting seems to be the most usual type of unexpected UnReal World termination and this addition should not in the least to be taken as an encouragement for safer force quitting.

- balanced & fixed: weight of some clothes

Some were found too heavy, and a few were found too light.
The corrections go as follows (with old weight in parenthesis):

* Woollen tunic - now weighs 4.6 lbs (was 5)

* Nettle cloak - now weighs 2.6 lbs (was 6)
* Woollen cloak - now weighs 5.3 lbs (was 6.5)
* Fur cloak - now weighs 11.5 lbs (was 14)

* Woollen overcoat - now weighs 6.3 lbs (was 5.5)
* Fur overcoat - now weighs 13.5 lbs (was 15)

* Leather leggings - now weighs 6.3 lbs (was 2.9)
* Fur leggings - now weighs 7.4 lbs (was 3.5)

- fixed [rare condition]: all too frequent map maintenance with some old characters

- fixed [rare condition]: sages offering the old style teaching of new ritual for some migrated characters

- fixed: triggered traps sometimes appearing as readied and erect

- fixed [rare condition]: too fast melting of ice in the spring

- fixed: animals tied in place with a rope remaining tied even if the rope was destroyed (eg. by a fire)

- fixed [rare condition]: spiritworld related entries cluttering the data stack and causing misleading hoarding warnings

- fixed: animal pens in the villages appearing too close to the western border

The problem was that your dog might end up located in the village animal pen when entering the village from the west.

- fixed: BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION setup option not checking whether the carcass actually could be skinned

Now the confirmation, if enabled, is asked when applicable only if the carcass actually can be skinned.

- fixed: wounded adventurer quest sometimes generating too lightly wounded adventurers

This made the intended quest giver adventurers not speak about their hardships at all even though
the villagers would hint about it.

- fixed: milk from rams and bulls

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

152

Off-topic / Ski archery in traditional, northern and asiatic fashion video

« on: March 06, 2018, 07:58:56 PM »

Today's clip (from my archery channel) is so UrWish that it needs to be here:

Archery on skis in northern fashion:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez1CUoz0tdQ

Skiing archer can be quite effective, and Sami people even had ski-taff bows with rim and head attached to lower part of the bow so no separate ski staff was needed at all.
The video also makes you think that the the game [w]ielding rules could be adjusted a bit.

153

Development News / February life

« on: February 27, 2018, 05:57:27 PM »

Hey good people and fellow adventurers,

time for a little february life update as I've seemed to be semi-absent for awhile. What went down is that I took some time to travel to Norway to meet some friends,
came back and discovered the beauty of february winter snow blankets and increasing sunglight,
equipped my new cross-country skis and had a blast with them in the woods for days,
then developed a nasty flu -- and now recovering from all that.
Because of all this I've been very slow on e-mail as well, but as the week goes on I'll be replying at least to the urgent stuff.

On coding front I'd like to fix just a little more and then release 3.50 stable while the winter still continues - cause now I've got probably the greatest skis I've ever owned.

These are Taiga cross-country/hunting skis of russian origin. The proportions comes close to the great ancestral skis of ancient Finns - and many other ugric / north eurasian peoples.
They are naturally all wooden, and after this picture was taken a decent layer of pine tar has been put on the underside, and ties attached.

154

Development News / Rid of the crash related creature and item losses

« on: January 23, 2018, 06:37:14 PM »

We're clearing bugs away from the path of a stable tag, which is shining in the horizon and to be attached to 3.50beta version soon enough.  Lately I've tried to find ways to improve crash security to overcome creature and item losses when travelling with companions and watercrafts. Not a frequent issue, but a real annoyance if it might happen to you.
And now I think a reliable and fast way to get rid of this legacy issue has been found, and will be put to effect in the next patch.

There's now extra data save added upon each map load to provide crash security and to minimize certain creature and item loss potential. Previously it was quite often the case that the pets and companions you were travelling with would disappear upon a crash. The same sort of crash related disappearence might also happen to the items you were transporting with a watercraft - including the watercraft. This sort of losses should be history now. Crashes may naturally lose some progress in the game world, but all the creatures and items should stay intact and be available upon returning to post-crash UnReal World.

This is a future feature, not yet functional in 3.50 beta version.

155

Development News / Healing (the bleeding wounds of) your pets and companions

« on: January 12, 2018, 03:50:15 PM »

Started to add rudimentary (and probably the most important) stage of healing your pets and companions; trying to stop bleeding of their wounds.
More companion/pet healing methods may follow in the future, but we'll start with the most crucial one.

The mechanics of applying physical skill to your companions are the same as applying them to yourself. Herbs can be used in the process, the success or failure messages are the familiar ones, and so on.

How an attempt to heal your companion is started is to face them upon using physician skill. If treatable wounds are found (ie. bleeding wounds) you'll be asked whether you wish to try applying the physician skills to this companion or pet. The wound to treat is then auto selected based on its severity.

156

Development News / 3.50 (beta 2) released for everyone

« on: January 01, 2018, 08:32:18 PM »

All the best to everyone for 2018!
We'll hereby start the year with release of 3.50 beta version for everyone.
You can grab it at homepage downloads section.
For those interested in venturing into the far north on Steam, notice that the x-mas there still continues, and you can find your way there from the above download page as well.

157

Development News / Huge big seasons greetings -- plus winter sales and late year releases

« on: December 22, 2017, 05:06:40 PM »

The time has come to say seasons greetings to all of you. It was the winter solstice yesterday, and now we're slowly heading towards the increasing daylight.
And I'll be heading towards the holiday season and wish you all great times whatever you may, or may not be celebrating.

In case you are wondering whether or how you would go about getting your hands on the fresh 3.50beta version, we'll let you know that show-stopping bugs haven't been found since the last hotfix and Steam Winter sale is going on our UnReal World store page beta being available for purchasers. We'll release 3.50beta as standalone version as well, but that will take place after the holidays, closer to new year 2018.

Here's the huge big seasons greetings to each and everyone of you, from the tiny dev and the winter tree. This very tree is kind of a local Ent to me.
Merry whatever, fellow adventurers!

158

General Discussion / Adding marriage - poll about how you find its priority

« on: December 18, 2017, 09:28:04 PM »

Let's have a poll, just for the sake of poll.

159

Off-topic / Shooting snowballs

« on: December 17, 2017, 04:12:15 PM »

...meanwhile in Finland.
It's been snowing, and I've been studying the art of archery, so I gotta share this yesterday's shot to remember:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnxu6bbBJI

160

Development News / Special Steam Sale & Special Greetings

« on: December 05, 2017, 07:10:19 PM »

A special sale for a bunch of finnish games on Steam has started. This is to celebrate the centenary of Finland's independence and will last until 8th of December.

This 100th year of Finland's independence culminates on 6th of December, for that is our official independence day. During this anniversary period we are also celebrating the extraordinary Indie-dependence days for it's been 25 years of playable UnReal World releases. In other words, the game has been out there for 1/4 of its development nation's official existence. We celebrate with the sales, new video greetings and finally the release of 3.50 beta version on 6th.

You can find your way on our Steam page here, and lifetimers also will find the new video greetings at the forums lifetime membership section.

Otherwise we want to stay thanks, cheers, and respect to you all!

From left to right; Erkka (co-designer), and Sami (creator) shake hands for it's the special Indie-dependence day. 1/4 centenary of playable UnReal World releases, and full centenary of Finland's independence.

161

Development News / Releases, anniversaries, sales, and season's archery greetings

« on: December 03, 2017, 03:09:34 PM »

Very exciting times are at hand...

We've reached beta stage with the upcoming version 3.50. Test builds have been compiled and tested to some extent, and we are ready to move onto releasing the first 3.50 beta version. This will first take place on Steam, and for lifetimers at the forums - and is to be followed with the standalone release on the homepage later on.

By the way, did you know that this year is 100th anniversary of Finland's independence?
Doesn't matter if you didn't, but it's a big year for the country and it all culminates on 6th of December - for that is the independence day of Finland.

On that very day we are celebrating Indie-dependence day for it's been 25 years of playable UnReal World releases.
In other words, the game has been out there for 1/4  of its development nation's official existence. It's either an old game, or a young nation

We try to aim Steam/Lifetimer release of 3.50 beta to take place on 6th - the big indiedependency day.
Because of the anniversary Steam has also agreed to grant a special sale period for a bunch of finnish games. Before the sale is going on we can't exactly say when it starts or ends, but you should know UnReal World is available for a little cheaper price. It's probably our biggest price cut ever to be seen, so if you want to celebrate with us or finally get that Steam copy, the opportunity is around the corner.

And then, it's time fore season's archery greetings...
Over the years people have regularly hinted that could I start up on somekind of bushcraft video channel or so. Now Erkka occasionally drops videos related on variety of trad. chores, and at Enormous Elk videos we sometimes cover trad.lifestyle as well, but to me the dearest thing to showcase and talk about would be archery. So I'm trying to establish traditional archery channel, hopefully getting it going next year. History and archery, crafts and shoots, books and bows and techniques, and all that. Channel draft is available for early subscriptions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LwjhvPSbB0

Now it's three night until the big indiedependency day. Stay tuned.

162

Development News / Spirits, spells, short movies, short of time, and the diminishing year

« on: November 20, 2017, 04:15:03 PM »

Today I came to a realization that the absolutely last thing to do for the upcoming version is to finalize the spirit of the forest related quest, and the many spells that were brought into existence because of this very spirit. The reality check came upon me shortly after browsing books for spells to receive bear hunting aids from the spirits when asleep. Shortly after thinking that dreams and premonitions would be now natural to feature with the other upcoming spell improvements. Shortly after noticing myself to follow a pattern where I add a new big to-do right after the existing list of to-dos before release grows down in size to a reasonable length. This has been a familiar and overly ambitious pattern in case of the version in development. Now as the end of the calendar year is drawing nearer and the holiday season approaches, it's better to start wrap things up for test builds and then consider how far a beta release possibility might be.

There's also been this certain short movie occupying our time. A short movie we shot in autumn 2016, and which has been cooking slowly in post-production ever since. But now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm confirmed to say that a brand new Enormous Elk short movie will still be released this very year. Like the upcoming version, this short movie is also the most ambitious of them all. We had a short post about it at the old forums, with a coffee break pic from the filming location. Now let's repost it here.
All in all, despite of breaks, all kinds of stuff is coming up. Peace and patience to all of you.

163

Development News / "Spirit of the forest, I presume"

« on: November 04, 2017, 05:28:15 PM »

Now that sort of a phrase may actually slip from your lips in the next version of the game as the Spirit of the Forest gets added to our small cast of otherworldly creatures.
Reworked spells and many kind of spirit world additions has a major part in the galore of upcoming features, and manifestation and actual appearance of spirit of the forest is now featured and off my to-do list. Implementing a related quest (or two) is still required, but step by step the planned spirit world additions do gets wrapped up.

As a necessary spin-off feature we also had to expand possible sacrifices to include not only foodstuff, but also valuables. See, offering silver has been traditionally very much linked to pleasing the certain spirits. And as the spells in the game now are actual collected old spells we had to add silver sacrifices if we wanted to add proper spells for "summoning" the spirit of the forest. (You may want to see post about the used "spellbooks" at old forums).

You know, with this version it feels like our to-do things are proceeding really slow compared to the amount of work and energy put in. Seems like we're dealing with complex entities rather than simple isolated features. But there's the spirit of the forest now. He brought in so much more code and features than first assumed, but it all just had to be done.

Let's not spoil too much about what the spirit of the forest can actually do for you, but we know he's an important spirit, watching over the forest and the animals. According to the folklore the spirit of the forest may sometimes tell you where the game is, if he's pleased with you. That, at least, is an actual feature now. And as a tidbit of our desired in-game perfection I gotta mention that these spirits often concentrate on only culturally important animals. Thus, the spirit of the forest can prioritize his observations differently for members of northern tribes than those of the western tribes.
But now look at this fellow of one of the eastern tribes...
He must have something right to hear this from..well...from the spirit of the forest, I presume.

164

Development News / Wounded or starving dogs refusing to attack on command

« on: October 04, 2017, 02:21:40 PM »

Let's announce just one small but significant upcoming addition....

 - added: wounded or starving dogs may refuse to attack on command

        If your dog is seriously wounded or starving it may refuse to attack on command. Even the suffering dogs still defend
        their masters and themselves from charging predators and enemies, but are just reluctant to act as war dogs who always
        run after a given target completely despite of their own condition. This addition may encourage you to keep your dogs
        more safe and better fed from now on.


This is an upcoming feature, not functional in the current version 3.40.

165

Development News / Time flies, the autumn comes

« on: September 30, 2017, 12:15:25 PM »

Oh my, it's the last of september already, and there's been no news since entering the summer vacation. Let's fix that quickly now.
So, for those who only read news I should announce that I did survive the summer -- and as a more concrete evident frequent forum browsers have spotted few replies and
here and there. Mostly concerning a few squashed or mysterious bugs.

At the moment, regarding the game, I seem to be very short of time for anything else than continuing the development from where it was paused before the summer vacation. And occasionally squashing the most relevant bugs with the left hand when possible. Once we get a fistful of more to-do's featued a roadmap towards the next version becomes more to clear announce verbally for you, good people. The last few weeks it's been mostly all about continuing to add a new spells and finalizing ritual system renewal. It's one of the big next version additions, and was vaguely briefed in this old forums thread.

With the shortage of more words and news to give you let's just say that the autumn is coming, but so are the future features of UnReal World.
Let there be code, and let there be swans.


September 2017, outside the development chambers.