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Summery summary in the midst of upcoming version hype
Yes, yes. Yet another version is cooking up. That's not news. That's how it goes with UnReal World. But what it will be about, and when to expect a release? That would be more like news. And that's what this post is about. Summer is always a busy season. There's so much happening that it's hard to even summarize what's happening. Many of the warm days and nightless nights get spent on recreational activities, but working hours in the development chambers have been also been busy and sweaty. Now lets take a look at what has happened, and to where all this is taking us. Some of this stuff may have been announced already, but it doesn't hurt to drool once again. The main focus of upcoming version is laid on NPCs. This applies to both companions you can hire for yourself, and wandering woodsmen you may meet in the wild. But that's not all. I'll cover some of the upcoming new features in the chunks of text below. I won't add screenshots this time, but a few selected historical image sources from Finnish museums and archives. Some of these may not be era-accurate, but mood and theme suitable nevertheless. Wandering NPCs will actively hunt animals, based on their cultural preferences, and also utilize the kills the best they can. This opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before. The very act of NPCs hunting is propably rarely witnessed by the player character but traces and remains found in the woods can tell a story of another human hunter at the area. Wandering woodsmen and adventurers may now also occasionally have dog companions with them. And just like the dogs owned by player characters these will also protect their masters.  "Hunter with his gear" Photographer: Sirelius U.T. 1898 National Board of Antiquities / Suomalais-ugrilainen kuvakokoelma / SUK36:263 License: CC BY 4.0 Companion usefulness gets boosted with several new tasks they can do on demand New companion commands are: * butcher and skin carcasses * roast meat or fish * make logs and boards Companions skills naturally affect to outcome of the tasks so their expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. That's cool, you might think. And you also might think of few other tasks companions could do. Indeed. Same here. We actually do have a few more things regarding companions still under construction. Currently we're working on mechanisms to allow unoccupied companions automatically to help you with laborous tasks (eg. building) thus shortening the working time. Well, we haven't concentrated solely on living things. Here's a few of probably the most interesting additions and features regarding item galore; Harvesting and utilizing birch-bark It will be possible to harvest and utitilize birch-bark in crafting. Birch-bark is peeled and removed from a tree in long strips which are then wound to a ball for storage. (As a trivia, this kind of balls are called 'Sommelo' in Finnish.) It will be possible for player character now to craft birch-bark shoes, caps, boxes, baskets - and also birch-bark ropes.  Ball of birch-bark, 'Sommelo'. The National Museum of Finland / Yleisetnografiset kokoelmat / VK5354:11 License: CC BY 4.0 Measure of length for tying equipment Tying equipment such as ropes and cords now have a length property, and tying equipment requirements in crafting are now length based. There will be also options for joining and shorterning ropes and cords as sometimes specific length is desired. Armour and cloth quality having impact on their protective values High quality armours and clothes now provide more protection, and the low quality ones provide less. In most cases this covers more than one coverage aspect, but always at least the most important aspect for the item in question. Footwear wearing out in use Shoes and boots now wear out in use ie. when walking or otherwise moving around by foot. Footwear material determines their durability.  Reindeer fur boots, 'Nutukkaat'. The National Museum of Finland / Suomalais-ugrilaiset kokoelmat / SU4724:35 License: CC BY 4.0 Let this be enough for summery summary about what to expect. Now then there's that other question... When we're done with those "few more things" still pending to be added it is time to start wrapping things up for a beta release. I'm quite reluctant to set or mention any deadlines as they usually don't keep, but if we think it out loud then... It shouldn't take more than few weeks to finish the most urgent pending to-do's. Then a week of extensive testing and adjusting the latest additions, and then if everything goes fine it's time to start final packaging. So... ...we could be seeing first beta of the brave new version in early september. And from there on, what has been laid in there will still be evolving and growing, stabilizing and multiplying. It should be noted that the beta version will be released on Steam, and for lifetimers, and standalone (donation-based, free-of-charge) installers will follow after significantly longer time than what we have used to in the past. This is because the donation-based distribution has been receiving very marginal and insufficient support for years already, and I have to reason things out how to balance with the current distribution models. I'll be happy to answer possibly puzzled questions of relatively recent of near-future intending donors but that will have to await until next week - but don't hesitate to even e-mail if you feel like it. August 05, 2019, 11:53:54 AM |
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Version 3.60 beta [for Windows] released on Steam, and for Lifetime members
Version 3.60 beta [for Windows] is now available on Steam as beta-branch you can opt-into at will. Lifetime members can find the beta version at the designated forum section. This first beta is available only for Windows at this point. Other platforms will follow in-time. We're sorry for the prolonged waiting time, but couldn't help it, and really needed to start 3.60 betas rolling. And they get rolling from now on. Things are fairly stable already, but our to-do list is still not completed. So bear in mind that many of the features now available will be polished even further in patches to follow as we stride towards the stable tag. Key features of version 3.60 The key features of version 3.60 version deal with NPCs, companions, domestic animals, village properties, and crafting additions. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the changelog here. One of the most awaited additions is wandering NPCs now actively hunting animals on detailed map level. This opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before.  Screenshot from version 3.60beta. The player character has followed an elk, freezing and starving. He bumps into a scene never witnessed before. There's a pile of elk bones, raw elk meat and few arrows. And an adventurer, who has apparently downed that elk, now carrying it's winter fur and some cuts he had already roasted. This is just one example of scenes which could have been witnessed by player character, turn by turn, from the start of the hunt to very act of utilizing the carcass. Who can have it? You can have it, but you gotta get it from Steam. Standalone versions of 3.60 will follow after significantly longer time than what we have gotten used to in the past. This is because during past years donations have dried out disallowing solely donation-based development to thrive. Donations are still an option, people do it for a reason or another, but your generosity isn't any longer linked to the great perk of most up-to-date version being freely available for everyone. I'll be happy to answer possibly puzzled questions of relatively recent of near-future intending donors, so don't hesitate to eg. e-mail me if you feel like it. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the possible beta bugs being minor and scarce. But whatever their size and annoyance level may be, we've got our bows prepared for shooting them down. September 15, 2019, 06:46:48 PM |
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Re: Such a pervert kid
Poor kid, give him a coat 
September 19, 2019, 01:38:22 PM |
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Re: Anyone ever clear out Njerp territory?
I've only managed clearing out about half the Njerp territory before I have so much wealth that it's no longer worth it to me to keep playing the character. Mostly, I'd live off the spoils while my wounds healed and then whittle another settlement down until it was manageable to go in and clear those remaining in one fell swoop since I could never persuade a companion (other than my livestock and dogs) to accompany me when I really needed them. With my last attempt at this, I was razing villages and using the building materials to set up my own city that was centrally located. This time around, I'm just playing a farmer/fisherman/gatherer and dealing with wandering warriors as they turn up. It's actually more fun this way since I have to plan ahead and get by on the meager resources at hand. I think my little dog might be getting tired of eating lake-reed flatbread, though. He doesn't complain, but there's a certain look in his eye. 
September 22, 2019, 05:18:40 PM |
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Suggestion reply marathon Oct 2019-Mar 2020 accomplished.
So we've completed a suggestion reply marathon, which means giving a reply to each suggestion from a longer period of time. This time the marathon covers six month period from October 2019 to March 2020. The results are compiled in one forum thread which you can find here (pinned at Suggestions section): http://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5485.0 All the replies are also up at in their respective forums threads. Have a look and hopefully get slightly clearer view of where the development is going to. Phew! That was whole lotta replying. April 28, 2020, 04:56:05 PM |
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Little girls as new NPC type
So far the only children in the villages have been boys, and now the work has been started to feature little girls as a new NPC type. For starters it's a bunch of in-game definitions to do, creature generation code to tweak, pixel art to draw and NPC portraits to come up with. After that we'll give all the children NPCs physical and mental attribute checks to better differentiate their abilities from adult NPCs. See, currently the combat skills and bravery of the children may occasionally reach the level of fearless grown warriors. All in all the newly introduced children will be significantly weaker and more vulnerable to harm than previously. A new post about all that attribute, morale and behaviour mess may follow later on after all the groundwork and pixels are first put in order. January 31, 2021, 04:29:27 PM |
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Re: What's Going On In Your Unreal World?
I never thought grabbing skillpoints for knife would save my life against a bear and her cub... I mutilated both of them without being hit ((Thx god)) using a broad knife....I feel like chuck norris
July 12, 2021, 10:26:57 AM |
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A family survival game (in the making)
As many of you might already know, here at Enormous Elk we have another game project in the making. The game is called Ancient Savo, and it is also keeping your family alive in the 1200CE woodlands of Eastern Finland. The time-scale of the game is so that one turn is 24 hours, and the gameplay is about planning actions. Like "fell down that area of woods", "sow rye", "build a cabin". You don't actually see your family members going around their daily business, so it is more like the old Sim City and such management games, where you hover over the map clicking tiles to plan actions. No fighting; cold, hunger and accidents are your only enemy. And the game is designed to be modding-friendly. The development has been going on, and at the moment we have most of the basic elements set up. We have 2D and 3D graphics, and you can switch mid-game. You can plan actions and watch your children grow. You can visit a marketplace to barter with NPCs. In addition to my own coding we already have a few rather awesome contributions by other people - like four original music pieces composed, played, recorded and mastered by Erik Torpström from Rogue Analogue. Learning to code the 3D graphics took some time, but finally it works good enough. So that for coming weeks and months I'll shift my attention back to the actual game-play, balancing values, adding details etc. --- EDIT by Erkka at 26th of December 2021 : Removed some outdated information, and here are the fresh additions; To be honest, I haven't yet gotten to balancing values and adding details. Instead I've been busy with implementing the basics of a modding system, marriage and ability to continue playing as your offspring. All that kind of stuff took more time than I had thought. Despite lagging a few months behind the intended schedule, the project is still very much alive. A private beta version is available for a restricted audience, and if no fatal bugs are found, there will be public beta sometime towards the end of January, or in February if bughunting eats away time from the actual development. Apparently the old screenshot got deleted as I updated the project info at Enormous Elk site, so here is a fresh one:  August 22, 2021, 06:26:48 PM |
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Re: The Oath [Vegetarian/Pacifist challenge]
https://imgur.com/a/YXGjPno Weary and in pain, the Kinslayer abandoned the pyres of his family. He would not touch the bloody implements that had killed is family. In his pockets, nothing save a stone knife he had knapped out of idle boredom on a snow-choked eve. It had not touched blood. It was still winter, nothing edible yet grew. And the family stores of food, or at least that which his oath would permit, had burned with the cabin. Knowing that without food and shelter he would not survive long, the Kinslayer quickly traversed the short mile to the nearest village. Perhaps his visage had changed with his spirit, but the townsfolk paid him little head, offering neither recognition nor censure. "Perhaps they are too busy averting their eyes from the blood," he thought. He spoke to some, they seemed friendly enough; though distant. "Do they know? Can they tell?" he mused. First he sought at the town sage. The Kinslayer's need was writ upon his skin, they exchanged few words. "I should no doubt was my wounds more thoroughly when I have a chance." But he shivered at the thought of freezing water on his skin, already cold and pale from his trek through the snow. He warmed himself a moment at a hearth, then proceeded to check the storehouses to see what might be gained here from trade. It was clear the townsfolk were preparing for the spring. Boxes of seed, grain, beans were ready for planting. The smell of ember-roasted turnips made him feel the empty void in the pit of his stomach. He noticed spools of nettle and linen thread. And a well-made broad knife sitting unclaimed. He wondered if the villagers would mind him borrowing it, as long as it remained unclaimed, if he did not remove it from the storehouse. In the end, he could not withstand the villagers' cold gazes for long. So the Kinslayer ventured into the woods to find his own shelter where he might make items for trade. He settled a scant distance from town, along the shores of a large lake. At first he tried removing alder bark, to weave into ropes. But this proved taxing. He tried making staves, perhaps to construct javelins - but the blade of his stone knife was uneven and resulted in splintery specimens that were uncomfortable even to hold. He lacked even a crude stone axe, with which to chop fallen trees into blocks for conveniences like wooden bowls. So in the end, he spent several uncomfortable, hungry nights as he slowly wove a couple of birch-bark ropes. Though his wounds had slowly started to heal, his body was starting to become weak from hunger. The Kinslayer returned to town the next morning, hoping to trade. Offering all he had made, he bartered for a skein of linen thread and a number of roasted turnips. The turnips were gone within two meals, leaving him no stronger than before. Turnips would not sustain him. "I will need grain, then. I could make waybread from flour; and I will need to plant soon if I am ever to carve out enough farmland to keep myself from starving during the winter." The rope, though crudely made, was still valued by the villagers. Once having at last built a stone axe, the Kinslayer would quickly learn that his feeble attempts at making wooden bowls or javelins were valued little. He calculated that to pay for even a sack of grain, he would need at least seven or eight birch-bark ropes. But he could see little other hope if he were to keep his oath. So for the next week, the Kinslayer set about peeling birch-bark, then returning to town to borrow that knife for rope-making. And at last he could trade for food...for at least a short time. Slowly and surely after much baking, his strength started to return. On one fateful bartering trip, the Kinslayer learned that a wounded hunter had taken refuge in village, having been mauled by a bear. The man asked the Kinslayer to retrieve his handaxe, a treasure gift from the man's now deceased father. Sheepishly, without meeting the man's eyes, the Kinslayer agreed. It was not recollection that disturbed the Kinslayer; not fear nor painful memory of his own violent, recalcitrant father. It was not the pain of his wounds, nor the guilt for his part in the deaths of his family. It was shame. For upon hearing the tale, the Kinslayer knew he would not be returning the handaxe. He would be taking it for himself, fearing for his survival without. For days he searched, at last finding the wounded hunter's campsite just as the snows started to melt. "With this," he thought, "I can clear land for farming at my camp." But as he slowly cleared and burned, preparing a small plot for farming he thought about just how large of a farm he would need to survive the winter. And his lifeline, his grain bag, was running empty. Note: Sooooo, I guess being a pacifist doesn't actually make for a very exciting story. Or perhaps I just don't know how to dramatize high-stress trading  I've never actually played a vegetarian character before. Hunting and trapping are amongst my favorite things about unreal world. And I was initially worried that the character would end up being bogged down into endless crafting sessions of low-value bartering items or endless berry gathering. It still may end up being that way, but the initial game was actually surprisingly fun to play. Because, vegetarianism makes starvation a constant problem in the early game; and requires constant work to fill one's stomach at least with waybread. I was at 30% starvation by the time I was able to afford grain. I think the food thing is going to be a struggle for the whole game. Anyway, building my farm in a woodland as the pictures should show - which is probably an incredibly stupid thing to do. I think I'm going to need an enormous farm if I'm going to feed myself in winter.
August 27, 2021, 08:46:53 AM |
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Re: Ask about character's fatigue
Is there snow on the ground?
January 15, 2022, 07:29:53 PM |
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