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A blistering work week...heh I had begun to have concerns about my various trap placements and my two trap fences.  I've been checking every day or so and my results were pretty poor for a long time (6-8 weeks?) and only a couple of bears and two elk.

Then, voila!, it's a reindeer, an elk, an elk, an elk and a fox, and another elk. There may be another elk in there that I lost track of. Mixed in with these were at least 6 birds and it's all within a 2-3 week period. Every time I'd complete a hide and finish drying the meat, I'd find another big game in a trap. I got so frazzled that, on the last elk, I was too exhausted to skin it at the trap so I packed the whole thing on my bull and carried the carcass home and stuffed it in the cellar. Unfortunately, that upset my usual routine and the first thing I did in the morning was to BUTCHER it! Bah! I lost the skin!

Not to mention that I had over 50 cords when this period began, which had seemed more than enough up to that point.  I quickly burned through all of those and eventually, after exhausting all my Njerp scrap clothing, I had to use a 24 lb elk hide for cords, of which there are only about 6 lbs left. 

Finally, I've had a day when there WAS NOT something in my traps, lol, so I can take a breather. I may have used up my good luck when I lost that last elk skin. Meh.
 
Addendum: I spoke too soon. I'm wearily making some cords to replenish my stock when I hear a "bawl of pain in the southeast". Yup, another elk...lol. I now have 152 reindeer cuts and 1758 elk cuts being prepared! At least I didn't forget to skin the bugger this time.

Addendum: Remarkably, yet another elk, though it seems this run of luck is finally ended. Oh, and I apologize for not putting this in the Game Discussion area. My error!

December 12, 2018, 12:00:49 PM
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Re: Man, I hate wolves! I had a similar episode myself, a few days ago.  My well-established Kiesse settler was heading to the Driik lands in winter.  The plan was to exchange furs, crafts and captured weapons for animals and high-quality tools.  I had with me my Big Female Dog "Sampo", my Small Dog "Puolokka" (Lingonberry), and my bull "Ukkonen" (Thunder).   We had earlier been attacked by a Njerpez warrior wielding a woodsman's axe... Fortunately, I am a skilled axeman myself.  I carry a Fine Battle Ax, and I am covered head-to-toe in lamellar, mail, fur and my treasured Iron Spectacle Helm.   I am not easily killed.

We made short work of the axe-wielder, but he did severely wound both my dogs.  One was walking lame and nearly bled to death.

I found a wounded adventurer in a Koivula camp, who said he had been attacked by a bear and lost his woodsman's axe.  I decided to buy another dog to take with me, this time a medium-size Dog, whom I named "Savu" (Smoke).  With the other animals tied up safely in the village, Savu and I set out into the heathlands, and discovered the adventurer's camp the following day.  We encountered the bear still hovering in the area.  I briefly considered setting a trap, but realized I had no bait... Indeed, supplies of food were getting thin.  I decided to attack the bear head-on...

I fired a few arrows from my longbow, but scored no hits.  However, it did capture the bear's attention, and it charged.



 I unleashed Savu, and sent him to attack. 


Meanwhile, I dropped the bow and pulled out my Masterwork Woodsman's Axe. 


Charging through the snow, I flung the woodsman's axe at the bear... but it missed.  The dog collided with the bear, and jaws snapped in the air as both animals reared and pounced.  Savu was swiped in the ribs, but he fastened his teeth onto the bear's throat.  This gave me time to close in, as I drew my Fine Battle Axe. 

I aimed for the bear's head, but in the tumult I struck the shoulder instead.  Nonetheless, the ax bit deep and drove the beast to the ground.  Savu continued to savage its throat, and I drew my Fine Northern Knife and cut both arteries in the neck.  Not long after, it was dead.

After resting and dunking my head in nice cold water, I turned to the bloody task of processing the bear.  I was pleased to see the pelt turned out to be a Fine Winter Bear Skin, despite the damage done in battle.  I butchered the creature, and Savu and I were able to carry it all back to town.  The adventurer was happy to see his ax, and rewarded me with a (much-needed) archery lesson.  I sold much of the bear's meat, and purchased a Masterwork Handaxe. 


This would become my primary ranged weapon... I could throw it, then easily switch to my Fine Battle Axe.

The group set off into the South-West, and in time we came to the Driik lands.  Our trading accomplished, we turned back home once again.  It was as we traveling through No-Man's Land, that it happened.  It was evening time, in Midwinter, during a storm.  Visibility was low.  Our foodstuffs - mostly bear meat - were packed onto the bull Ukkonen.  All of a sudden, I was pulled from the World Travel Map with a message of wolves.  Perhaps they had been drawn by the scent of the raw bear flesh.  Immediately, my character was attacked from behind.  A wolf lunged out of the storm and caught me by the hip, between my leather leggings and my lamellar cuirass. 

It just goes to show how different UnReal World characters can be... I once had a character, who was a female carpenter and fisherwoman who lived alone with her small dog by the sea.  One day, she and the dog were out walking, when a wolf pack pounced.  The first wolf caught her by the shoulder from behind, and dragged her to the ground.  A few short seconds later, her abdomen was ripped open and her throat torn out.  I never found out what happened to the dog.

Luckily, this time there was layers of fur over the flesh of this large man, and I was torn only slightly.  I swung around with my battleaxe in one swift movement, and slashed the animal across its hindquarters.  It fled, yelping... But I knew there would be more.

With visibility down to a few squares, with my dogs all injured and loaded down... What could I do?

I backed into a nearby copse of trees, and got the heavily-burdened bull behind me.  The dogs naturally arrayed themselves in front as a screen.  Then, the second attack of the wolves came.  2 of them lunged out of the darkness, and all was chaos as dog and wolf rolled over and over one another.  Jaws snapped and snow flew as they tussled back and forth.  Then, my time came to strike.  I lashed with long ax at one of the wolves, and laid its shoulder open to the bone.  As suddenly as they had come, the wolves fled. 

I grabbed all of my animals' leashes and backed away quickly.  Every few steps, I swiveled to look around - I could not afford to be caught off guard again.  At last, I sensed we had left the pack's hunting grounds, and we moved onwards through the gathering dusk.  Although I wish I  could have taken at least one Winter Wolf Fur for myself, I do not think the pack will soon forget us.

December 19, 2018, 10:13:30 PM
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Re: The story behind some human bones There weren't any quest items around, just the bones and some spruce twigs. Oh well, it's probably just something I have completely forgotten about - maybe some Njerpez did ambush me during my trip north, and I left him to rot there and that's were the human bones came from - the glutton bone is a bit of a mystery, still, but the the real explanation is probably rather less interesting than the conjecture. But makes a nice mystery story, A Case of the Five Bones...
December 22, 2018, 02:13:49 PM
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Season's recovery greetings There went the winter solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere, and we're heading towards the increasing daylight. I've also got my fractured shoulder off the sling by now, but the recovery continues. All the movements are painful, and I'm increasing the range of motion bit by bit. The official sick leave has been extended until January 2019, and my absence from the forums continues.
But you'll be fine, and I'll be back eventually. Thanks for all the warm words and understanding and wishes.

Winter Sale is going on at Steam so once again it's good time to grab UnReal World for yourself, or gift a friend into the Far North.

And lastly, huge big seasons greetings to each and everyone of you, from the tiny dev and the winter tree. Merry whatever, fellow adventurers!



December 24, 2018, 12:34:53 PM
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A thank you and an apology to Sami and Erkka Hello, everyone! I think now is as good a time as any to present myself and send a message that I've been meaning to send for a while.

I've know this game for almost a decade, from about the time I learned about Dwarf Fortress and roguelikes as a genre. Unfortunately, at the time the game was not free (was it 3.14? Almost sure it was) and I was limited to the demo. Since I didn't really have a way to pay for it and it was kinda expensive, I couldn't really explore the game's depth.

I have a vague recollection of being on IRC, probably on a roguelike or even the URW channel and essentially bitching about the fact that this business model prevented me from actually exploring the game outside the narrow scope of the demo, which would probably make me less likely to actually shell out the money.

In the midst of this I made some silly arguments, including saying that the game was barely updated and there were quite a few features missing. Which there were, but the game was still being updated. I suggested that making it free would make it open to much more people and might even generate more revenue for the devs. It does seem that the game has become more well known and got some more activity in the community, but I can't speak for the revenue.

That being said, and considering the game went free on version 3.15, I owe Sami and Erkka a formal apology and a thanks. I was a jerk, if only because of the way I expressed my discontent at that time. You clearly deserve recognition for all the work you have put into this simulation, and it keeps getting better.

Unfortunately life keeps kicking me in the balls and I'm not in a position to even donate €10 right now, but you have been added to my permanent mental note (alongside Dwarf Fortress) reminding me to properly reward you for all the fun and wasted hours on something you created and developed over so long.

Thank you for all the work you put into this, and keep at it. You're great!

Edit: I've gotten the itch to play again after a while (and a lot changed since 3.23!) after I suggested URW to a co-worker who's into roguelikes/survival games. They were impressed, of course :) it's quite the gaming gem you have here!

December 24, 2018, 05:03:25 PM
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2019, here we come, slowly but steadily. The time has come for me to start reaching back into the development chambers after the sick leave. My fractured shoulder is still far from fully healed, but computer work seems doable, so here we come development year 2019. Slowly but steadily that is, as the priority remains in exercising the injured arm a lot to increase mobility - rather than to get it stiff from the office work.

Oh boy, little did I know how slowly fractured shoulders heal. In the original injury topic somebody made a remark that this might be my hardcore first hand research on injuries and recovery. :) Well, yes, going through this actually got me thinking of going through game's recovery rules in case of fractured joints. I've been of the arm sling for five weeks now but it will still take months before I can shoot a bow again, and raising the injured arm above the shoulder level is a feat I have been doing reliably only for a week or two. And there's no way I can do it with carrying load of more than few pounds, so any hard work that requires both arms is out of the question.  It also takes time to learn to move the arm 'normally' again, as the early pain didn't allow all the proper muscles to be used with some arm trajectories. It is easy to understand how easily deformed body postures are born.

But here I am, dedicated to work on the arm and the game as much as possible during the 2019.
I've gone through the swamp of e-mails lately and hopefully answered to everything urgent - but if you miss a reply, please do re-send your e-mail.
Getting back on the track with the forums will take a bit longer, but soon enough you can expect replies to pop up here and there.

Luckily my physiotherapist has also given me permission to ski, just guaranteed that I do not fall on the injured arm in any circumstances.
2019, here we come.



January 28, 2019, 06:49:56 PM
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[Diary entry] Skiing and tracking I guess we haven't seen any lynx related dev's diary entries here at the new forums. The old forums surely had some. So, how about a little picture story from the real world adventures of unreal world developer - with a lynx involved.

I went skiing the other day, and the ski trip then turned into a tracking exercise. Soon after entering the forest I spotted some lynx tracks, but our paths then departed as I went about my own trails.


Later, when returning home, strange curly tracks caught my attention - and sparkled my tracking instinct. I guessed that this might be the same lynx now dragging its kill, and had to confirm the theory.


I scouted the area, found lots of hare tracks, and then the lynx tracks which eventually turned into sneaking tracks as it approached the location.


The hare's last dance with the lynx went to many directions until finally the place where it ended was found, with some hair and (not too old) bloodscape.


There, the lynx had dragged its kill to a more peaceful location for eating it. That was some twenty meters away, among thick young spruce trees. Not much was left of the hare, but a few hairy bits on the snow.


Afterwards, I had to search for my backpack for half an hour as I had left it somewhere on the snow in excitement. I enjoyed the day and I hope you enjoyed this first, but hopefully not the last lynx related diary entry at these new forums.

March 07, 2019, 08:50:45 PM
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[Diary entry] Talks with PhD about folk beliefs in UnReal World The folklore, mythology and folk beliefs displayed in UnReal World have also arised academic interest.
Last weekend fresh Doctor of Philosophy, mr. Kyyrö, from Univerity of Turku School of History, Culture and Arts Studies paid a visit and came to talk about these themes for a project he is planning regarding computer games and religion.
Should there be some related publications or articles in the future, I'll keep you updated, but you gotta be patient as ambitious academic studies are proceeded slowly and carefully.
It's the same with ambitious iron-age inspired computer games too... :)



March 14, 2019, 11:11:53 AM
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Who let the dogs out... Let's try to make a return with development news then. It's taken some browsing of the code and decoding hazy written notes to find the path which I was following prior to fracturing my arm, and the sick leave that followed. But now also my to-do memory has recovered to great extent and there are snippets of upcoming features to present.

Dogs... NPC dogs... Village dogs... Dogs to better protect the NPCs... that's what I had started to code, and that's what is now to be continued.

Village dogs are now released out of their pens, and they roam freely at the village area. This allows village dogs to truly protect the village from possible threats and intruders. Village dogs are also improved in their watch dog behavior, and unfamiliar visitors are now greeted with alarm barks and by coming close by to sniff and check them. Village dogs may seem intimidating for strangers but this behavior is gradually toned down when you become more familiar with the village.

...to be continued -- there are a few more dog things coming up..

March 21, 2019, 02:53:06 PM
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Wits for wandering NPCs and companions - the future version focus Things have been cooking and development has evolved up to such an extent where a sneak peek of what to expect in the future is in place. We don't have a deadline for the upcoming release, it's a work in progress, but we do know what the core content will be about.

The core content of the next release will focus on NPCs. The most important additions will concern the wandering woodsmen you may meet in the wild and the companions you can hire for yourself. They'll be given a bit more wits, tasks, and meaning for their existence in the game world as follows.

Actively hunting wandering NPCs

NPCs who roam the woods can now actively hunt animals. They seek the game based on their cultural preferences, and within their hunting possibilities. The very act of NPCs hunting, or running after a game, is probably rarely witnessed by the player character but bones and remains found in the woods can now tell a story of another human hunter at the area.
   As we know, the hunts can end in unimaginable ways, so many different scenarios may arise from the NPCs now taking their chances with the wildlife - and occasionally maybe even the very same wildlife that you were after.

Witnessing an NPC hunting scene. Seal-tribe woodsman has been met in the wild, and he's busy trying to shoot down a squirrel.



New companions commands

Companion usefulness gets boosted with some new tasks they will be able to do on demand. Currently it's been added:

* butcher and skin a carcass
* make logs
* make boards

...and the list is likely to grow with a few more crucial tasks. There's a great level of complexity to make companions proceed these tasks with similar detail than the player character so tasks to be added are prioritized with the quality over quantity.

The list of companion commands so far:



As companion skills naturally affect to outcome of the tasks their expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. We also need to add an chat option to ask NPCs about their general skills and expertise so you know what kind of craftsman you've hired.

The companion was commanded to butcher and skin one of the reindeers we managed to hunt down. We got meat now, and a fine reindeer skin, which is way better hideworking result than what Jurks could have done in his current condition.


Exciting times ahead.
The work continues, more is to follow.

These are future additions - not yet functional in current version 3.52.

April 21, 2019, 01:33:35 PM
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