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"Spirit of the forest, I presume" 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.


November 04, 2017, 05:28:15 PM
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Improvement for cutting branches When you use your timbercraft skill to fell a tree you don't necessarily have to choose the direction where the tree stands when the tree is right in front of you. This was a great addition making felling trees more efficient. If it was the same way with cutting branches, this would be just great.
November 05, 2017, 12:24:36 PM
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Re: "Spirit of the forest, I presume"
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  I'd like to be able to have a more grounded, historical experience too.  If I'm shooting lightning bolts at a level-25 domovoi, I might as well be playing ADOM. 

Well, at the very moment there (again) is an another thread where a player is actively trying to encounter a being which is supposed to be more or less 'supernatural' - and has difficulties doing so, for it isn't easy to find the right conditions to encounter such a being.

I think that speaks of Sami's design philosophy - personally I wouldn't worry about the game turning into 'thow lignting bolts at magical creatures'-kind of high-fantasy. The 'supernatural' elements of UnReal World are, and will remain, elusive and hard to catch, and after all, we can't be exactly sure if they are mere hallucinations, a series of random luck, or possibly a prankster hermit playing tricks on the player character.

Also, the way I see it, this actually is the historical experience. The pagan folks believed in these rituals having an effect, and they believed those supernatural entities to exists, and there were reports of people occasionally spotting those creatures. So we don't simulate the 1000AD world the way 2000AD scientist believe it to be, but we simulate the 1000AD world the way 1000AD folks probably themselves experienced it to be. No lightning bolts, though, they aren't a part of Finnish folklore =)

November 07, 2017, 11:14:32 AM
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Suli the Hermit I'm playtesting some changes to my self-sufficiency mod and thought I'd make a story out of it and see just how self-sufficient I can make myself. 

Suli Reemilainen went out for a walk north of Reemi territory one autumn and found himself robbed, beaten, and left with almost nothing.  Vowing to forswear the company of men forever, he set out into the wilderness to make a living his own way.  He begins by taking stock of himself:

Without any great aptitude for any particular skill other than the bow, he has trained in trapping and tanning small game in his village, knows the basics of timbercraft and carpentry, and has of course some basic knowledge of sowing and reaping.  Likely he can survive through the winter on small game, hoping to set up a small field next spring.  His crafting knowledge gives him some hope of being able to forge some tools to make his life easier.

Unfortunately, the robbers were not merciful; among other smaller cuts and bruises, they broke his shoulder and ribs quite badly (71% injury!).  He found his broad knife nearby when he awoke, and the robbers must have been scared away while they stripped him, as all his clothes but his tunic remain, including a cloak and hood that should help him keep warm during the upcoming winter.

Shuffling off, he hopes to find some water and herbs he can use to treat his injuries, along with some berries or roots to sustain him until he can set up some snares for game.  As he walks towards the nearest river, a stag struts right in front of him, as if knowing he is unarmed and too weak to kill it.  Suli eyes the stag hungrily until it is out of sight.

Suli makes his way to the shores of a nearby lake.  Goldeneye, mallards, and grouse call constantly, and he sees signs of foxes and ermines that hunt the birds here.  The lake reeds along the shore offer the prospect of food for the next few weeks.  Suli decides to rest here and recover from his injuries while gathering food for the winter.  With the extent of his injuries, it takes him most of the day to erect a simple shelter to keep the rain off his back.  He builds a small fire and roasts some of the roots he gathered, thinking of all the work he has to do and wincing whenever he moves from his broken bones.

November 07, 2017, 10:29:26 PM
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Spirits, spells, short movies, short of time, and the diminishing year 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.


November 20, 2017, 04:15:03 PM
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Re: Northern Tribes
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Will this be implemented in the game?

Well, at the moment the development situation is about this:

- Sami is busy working towards a beta release of the upcoming version 3.50
- Once the beta is out, the focus will be mainly on bug fixing
- Eventually there will be a stable release of 3.50
- After that it is time for a short break, as the version-release and bughunt phase is always a somewhat energy-consuming sprint
- And while the players are enjoying the new version, Sami and me will have the next version on the drawing board, deciding the major new features to be implemented in that version.

So, because of the general psychology of the game development cycle, at the moment the answer to any and all "will a feature X be implemented in some future version?" is and will be "we don't know as at the moment we are fully focused on getting the beta release out".

Put in other words; if there isn't an answer from the development team, it typically means that we are busy developing. Going into too detailed discussions about possible future features often just takes time away from the actual development.

November 25, 2017, 10:44:27 AM
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Releases, anniversaries, sales, and season's archery greetings 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.

December 03, 2017, 03:09:34 PM
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Re: Psychic enemies
If you're slower than the fastest enemy, there's simply no way to win.  And that is terrible game design.

I disagree.  If you've never had the experience, I'd recommend you go check out a HEMA club (https://www.hemaalliance.com/) if you have one near.  You can't avoid getting hit in real combat.  Even a skilled person will get hit if the opponent is willing to take a blow.  The strongest/fastest person does tend to indeed beat on the slower/weaker ones.  That is not always the case, as technique can compensate for some of that.  But if you have a trained fighter who is stronger and faster than you, you're at a substantial disadvantage.  That disadvantage is compounded if you're fighting multiple opponents.  It is true that the first person to be seriously wounded will loose.  That is closer to real life than the ability to shrug off a wound and keep fighting. 

To address the original post, you can't be in a hurry to clear a village if you're going to snipe away using a bow.  You need to give it days to pick off a few opponents, let the village calm down, and then repeat.  I've had the same experience if I try to rush it.  I've been most successful using a bow and no/light armor by luring one or two villagers into a pine mire, and taking them out quickly, running away, then leaving for a few days before I do it again. 

I've also had the recent experience to eradicate the Njerpez off the map (see Orja story in the stories sub-forum).  I layered on all the armor I could knowing that I'd be hit and I still received wounds.  My character snuck or fought their way into a village building or protected space in a pine mire so that only one or two enemies could get to me at once.  Then I was able to clear the village.

I believe the "flaws" you identify make the game more realistic and give more serious consequences to actions than a hack and slash game. 

December 04, 2017, 04:32:33 PM
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Re: Psychic enemies People approach this game in extremely different ways and this is fine. However, in my humble opinion the design flaw in the described situation is that an individual on foot can attack a whole village by himself and live to tell the tale (and thus encourage others to try similar feats). Any improvement to the game should make this harder and remove exploits (come to me one by one tree forts) enabling it. How cool would it be if villagers just pile firewood around the house where the maniac hides and smoke him out or pelt him with stones in his tree fort like a player would do to a squirrel?
December 04, 2017, 05:34:02 PM
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Special Steam Sale & Special Greetings 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.

December 05, 2017, 07:10:19 PM
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