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76

Development News / Suggestion reply marathon Apr-Dec 2020 accomplished.

« on: January 05, 2021, 07:03:33 PM »

We've had a habit to do suggestion reply marathons, which means giving a reply to each suggestion from a longer period of time. This time the marathon covers nine month period from April to December 2020.

Suggestions are something we've always tried to read and reply, because there's really no reason for suggestions section to exists if developers aren't really paying attention to it.  However, this time the marathon was quite laborous task and took few weeks even to accomplish. The time is limited, and  we'll see how it goes in the future, but at least 2020  is wrapped up now  and the development roadmap hopefully that much more clearer to those who follow the section.

There were 110 suggestion in total, ranging from simple ideas which can be done in few hours to massive descriptive visions that would require months, if not half a year of work. If someone imagined all the suggestions from the period being put to effect it might very well take a year, or  two - or more.
    Well, of course that is not how it goes, and we have always had neverending to-do list by ourselves too. For us the suggestions section serves as a place to give more detailed insight about the mechanics and future developent, and at their best the suggestions occasionally cross, boost and enchance the roadmap and to-dos at the development chambers. We hope to have time to participate in discussion in the future too.

The majority of suggestions during the period were about the game interface, character skills & related mechanics, and NPC behaviour & interaction. 9% of the participating posters did write 52% of all the suggestions.

The results are compiled in one forum thread which you can find here (pinned at Suggestions section):
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6202.0

77

Suggestions / Suggestion reply marathon | Apr-Dec 2020

« on: January 05, 2021, 06:29:57 PM »

Suggestion reply marathon - Apr-Dec 2020

This marathon thread is a compilation of suggestions and replies to them from nine from month period of April to December 2020.
Each reply can be also found in their respective forums threads. The majority of suggestions were about the game interface, character skills & related mechanics, and NPC behaviour & interaction. There were 110 suggestions in total , and the most participating 10% did post 50% of all these suggestions.  Naturally some of these things will never end up in the game but replies are given nevertheless and thus the development roadmap hopefully grows clearer. After these replies my time to continue ponderings on these very subjects rarely continues, but the topics stay open and discussion can naturally go on till the end of time.

Here we go...



Sub-categories for food in cellar

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5840.msg16955

I find it tricky at times to find the stuff in my cellar.
There's all herbs/seasonings, vegetables, meat, fish, stews and soups all in one big... pile?
I like the fact that top most items are the oldest in there, so using those first makes sense.
But what I'd like to see is add additional food categories for cellar:

Complex piles here and there is a common result of hoarding playstyle. Item selection categories are item type related, and this kind of custom categorization would be a mess and super costly to add, and thus not considered worthwhile. The best solution is to arrange things that don’t need to be stored in cellar in to different piles around your homestead, or to use several cellars. However, the more there’s hoarding the more there is browsing in general.


Recipe [optional] with +/- % quality

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6142.0

I would be nice if in recipes for making crafts that optional items could give a chance for different quality which in turn can lead to a higher value by the fine/perfect modifiers.

For example a decoration of headress with   leather on branches in the baseline, adding optional bones a +10% quality and adding optional feathers a +10% quality so together if both added a +20% quality so likely to bump it up a category.

We understand there are many crafting syntax ideas which can come up in modding, but in general we tweak and enchance the syntax foremostly based on the game’s need and the modding possibilities then follow. This idea might be something to explore deeper, if practical item applications are come across. However, for me a quality is a confusing word here and I think you meant bonus/minus to skill roll instead, which then in turn might result in better quality craft.


Skin sizes, adjust please.

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6105.0

Also, boars and sows give only 4lbs skin and seals 5lbs. Yet the body/torso size of ‘sus scrofa’ isn’t much smaller from ‘rangifer tarandus fennica’
I.e. reindeer yield 8lbs skins for roughly same body area.

E.g. making a skin for liquids takes 4lbs of leather, that’s the entire pig’s skin. Of course there’s some loss, but the ratio is way off.

Tl;dr; please check: calves, boars and sows, and seal skin yields.

If I recall correctly the average wild boar skins in the game should be closer to 5 lbs, big ones might reach the 6 occasionally. The original finnish landrace pig which is now extinct was said to be rather small and skinny creature. But maybe these could increased little. I'll ponder. However, the liquid skin material requirement seems way off indeed. I think it's a bit anachronistic item anyway. To tune or to remove, that is the question.

Deer and elk calf skins are minuscule.

Preferably around:
3lbs skin from young deer calves, 5lbs (winter skin) from old calves*
8lbs skin from elk calves, 12lbs (winter skin) from older calves*

But... the calf/cub skin sizes already depend naturally on their age and thus the size of the calf. It's not a fixed value - if people thought so? There's nothing to adjust with calves. You can find all the calf skin weight examples you mentioned, and everything in between, and more.

edit: 6lbs from ringed seals, 16-20lbs from grey seals

The seal skin yields seem low indeed and would need adjustments. I'll have a look at those values.


Since calves' graphic is resized...

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6140.0

the calves' graphic in game is actually just resized adult one.

And I immediately though that it would be relatively simple to have this:
?   in late spring and summer you'd meet the tiny calves we see now
?   in autumn and winter (winter fur time) they'd be say, about 50%, of the adult

Of course the meat yield and skin sizes would vary accordingly.

This all is featured already. The calves graphic icon grows as they grow. Their skin and meat yield is based on their size.


Seasoning thread

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6119.0

Fat for seasoning.

The seasoning mechanics could be checked indeed. To add more possibilities, but also to make it possible to decide how much of the selected ingredient to use. The fat I would add as its own optional ingredient in relevant recipes. We’re doing some cookery additions currently, so this all might happen in relatively near future.


tweaks to the flora modding (trees)   

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6109.0

So I finally ventured in to the flora of things. Made some slanted pine trees and straight deciduous ones.

Currently having 0 value in the tags below makes the flora not work or load at all.

I suggest following actions with the assigned 0-values,

Code: [Select]

[SPROUT:0]
(Will be spawned only once - when zoomed-in map area is first generated)

[MATURE:0]
(Will be an obstacle like trees and will be spawned already mature)

[WITHER:0]
(Will be never wither or despawn - unless picked up in case of [mushroom]-tags)

These hopefully simple modifications would allow tree modding (among gazillion of other peculiar things) while we wait for a more complete tree overhaul with species recognition.

Tree modding isn’t truly really possible, and I don’t know if it ever will be. Within the game mechanics and internal structures the trees are handled completely differently than the flora_* plants. Even if those tags would be added, the things generated wouldn’t really be trees for the game.  You notice it immediately with a need to add an option to make a plant an obstacle like a tree - and a lot more. So in practice this approach is suggesting to add an new tree related tag possibilities for flora_*.* plants, and if that was done we would need start reworking the character and NPCs movement etc. code as well to recognize certain plants as obstacles etc. etc. etc. Just to mention very few tiny things about how it would be snowballing. So, trees will get a lot of love and more species in the future, and the ideas regarding that can be (and have been) suggested already. But we really need to wait until it’s being actually coded.


Walking through the fire message

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6129.0

It'd be helpful to state how long the fire will burn instead of the current "You can not walk through the fire" warning that you only need to read once in a player's lifetime.

EDIT: I wasn't aware / didn't remember the 'x' command, which diminishes my suggestion below treshold of making it.

There are hundreds of small things individual players, in their playstyle, would want differently. That’s eternal. The message is clumsy though, so we might address it if this comes up again, or we happen to wander around that part of the code.


Remove fistfulls from containers

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6124.0

It would be good and a quick code to apply to the "A"pply command to "R"emove things from a container. Flowers would go back in hand, beans back in hand although liquids like water would be lost.
This would let us also carry a box of berries to put out fistfuls in traps.

That would be good and reasonable addition. Those containers are clumsy to handle, within the code as well, so it’s a bit of a headache to add actually but I’ll be checking out possibilities in regards to this. The thing is, when stuff is put in the container it loses its base unit  so fistful of berries becomes just heap of berries. The same goes for the fish, which become just one big heap of fish in a container. That’s why container content removal hasn’t been a thing from the start. The bigger chances to containers are evident at some point, but let’s see if we can come up with simple workaround while waiting for that.


(Minor QoL) Remember last zoom level upon game launch plus savegame load

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6115.0

a) Launching the game (from desktop), then loading a savegame results in loss of player's previously active zoom level setting (i.e.: game starts with default zoom level of maximum zoom in).

Based on the above, it appears zoom level setting is stored in memory but not written to disk.

I think it would be a small improvement if zoom level is stored on disk and retained every time.

Yes, it’s true the zoom level isn’t saved with the character, and there are quite many other interface related things as well that don’t get saved. These are mostly things that have came along long after the early character structures were defined. It doesn't harm to add zoom level to savedata so I'll see about taking care of this.


Please make it possible to quickly shorten tying equipment

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6001.0

Could you please add a single Tying Equipment menu option to cut down (a single chosen tying equipment) to 1 feet pieces?

1 feet chunks is the ultimate choice as it is the only size that will guarantee that a character can do 100% of tying-equipment-related tasks and waste no tying equipment at the end of task. There is no other size that fits all tasks and wastes nothing at the same time.

There is a side benefit (in my eyes) that it will only take one menu-entry per tying-equipment-material-and-quality-combo.
e.g.: it would read "87 1-feet bitch-bark ropes"
rather than e.g. 8 10-feet bitch-bark ropes + 1 5-feet, 2 1-feet etc.
I acknowledge that this may not be a good thing for other people as others might prefer cutting down everything as chunks of 5 feet or n feet or a combination of various sizes.

This thread was replied with a modding snippet which gets the thing done. We might consider adding “cut this number of this long pieces” at some point, but it doesn't feel urgent. At least there hasn't been too many mentions about that.
But surely, if people need hundreds and hundreds of short ropes at once for their playstyle it surely is burdensome to come up with. However, from role-playing perspective adventurers always carrying 1 feet cordage seems silly and not appealing for my eyes at least. And with metric system in use (future option) the inventory wouldn't even be that tidy: “87 0.3 meter ropes” etc.
After all, I'm still thinking of an addition for automatic length cutting upon tasks, though it's a bit costly thing to do.


Harvesting(edited:boiled down to harvesting, ignore redundant leather discus.)

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5996.0

Situation:
Your character is standing near a ripe plant. you press 'alt+a' for agriculture and 'h' for harvest, then 'space' to confirm.
So this is nothing new, so now my suggestion. I would really enjoy a feature like this:

Instead of the harvested plant laying on the ground[requiring you to further key-jockey, like 'alt'+'g', choose direction 'choose amount' 'Enter' 'space' to confirm(all this for 1 tile of plants)], it is put directly inside your inventory. Just like when you pick young leaves or berries or mushrooms, for example.

that would be the standard harvesting procedure. Also the old method would still be there as "Cut" in the agriculture menu, which would leave the crop laying on the ground just like it has been for now.

Yes, there are several occasions where the interface could be made less burdensome for the player – and harvesting mechanics is one of them. These things exists often because chaining the character actions is quite troublesome due to design and nature of the roguelike game engine and approach. Sometimes it's more doable, than in other cases. I guess it would be doable to add pickup command trigger right after harvesting is done, so I'll explore this possibility, although weird setback may sometimes follow. One thing that would do harvesting (and some things also) easier would be to allow auto-picking up single item stack, just like one single item is picked without confirmation. But then again, sometimes you only want to pick x items from a stack.
All in all, if this gets implemented in the end we'll probably add new “Harvest and pick” command to agriculture menu for this alternative.


Character custom picture slot

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6006.0

Just noticed in the directories it is already there as 'portrait'

The suggestion would be then during character creation to be able to select an empty or silhoute with the player to replace later.

Those who don't fancy the game portraits can replace them with their own anytime. Add your favourite portaits to each culture and you can then select them easily during character creation.


seal-catching and dangers of entangling into a net

The proper way to catch seals would be the net, btw. (instead of the heavy deadfall)

Is the suggestion to add possibility of seals to be able to get tangled into fishermens nets, or?
I believe the modern nets are far more dangerous and effective in that regard.


NPC command requests

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6099.0

Fell trees to:
Fell tall trees (for tree trunks)
Fell young trees (for slender rods)
Add cut trunk into blocks (alternate to boards)
Make stakes (out of slender trees)
(This would allow the helper to be a good partner when laying a long trap fence)

Yep, they should be able to do many more chores than currently. I'm sure we'll see new commands popping up every now and then.


Note taking

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6091.0

Some sort of way to write / read text would provide a nice way to roleplay note taking/journal writing for players. Lot's of ways to implement it so just thought I'd throw it out there incase you think it might fit well for UnReal World's setting in some fashion.

Maybe instead of text, Finnish symbols, or other marking methods.

We already can add text to message log and on the map markers, and I think that's enough for player written information. Although, I'm not quite sure what kind of ideas you're thinking exactly.
Some character made wilderness and sacred site markers in the historical fashion would be nice to add at some point. As a side note, ancient Finns didn't have written language back in iron-age.


Well icon for villages

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6093.0

Arriving into an unfamiliar village in the winter I really am having trouble finding where the water tile is. This would be handy to drink from. The villagers have a source of water for themselves.

It would be nice if we could have the village water tile as a well or barrel. That would also become a graphic we modders could access for the player's own stead.

We'll be adding a way to ask the location of the village water supply. They hardly have wells, but the water supplies are more often springs.


Directions from the women   

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5973.0

I'd like the locations that we receive from village women to show on the F6 map when they give us the directions, instead of still having to scout the area to locate them.

It's deliberate choice that the verbal information is all you get. Having everything precisely marked up on the map turns the feeling of the world into something very different.


Additional historically accurate cordage: "Lime Bast Cordage"

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5806.0

I think it would be neat to add Linden trees to the game and allow players to gather the bark and prepare it by one of the methods described in the article (either by peeling in summer and then soaking in water for 4 weeks or by gathering in winter and smoking it). Alternatively, perhaps a process to gather bark from a variety of trees beyond what's currently permitted and prepare into cordage by soaking, peeling, and twisting?

Yep, Linden trees and their bark usage for cordage would be a suitable addition. The same goes for willows too. More trees and more usage for trees is among planned development goals.


Naming:First Word Tag Please for Modding

https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=5875.0

I'm able to mostly accomplish what I want with modding with the [naming:last word] tag but there are times the naming would be a lot less awkward and allow for more precise modding if a [naming:first word] tag.

We understand there are many crafting syntax ideas which can come up in modding, but in general we tweak and enchance the syntax foremostly based on the game’s need and the modding possibilities then follow. This sounds like a simple thing to add, but sometimes weird setbacks can be met on the code level. However, I’ll take a look at the code and explore the options.


End of part 1/6. Read on ...

78

Development News / Happy New Year

« on: January 02, 2021, 05:30:59 PM »

Sometimes I'm a bit off and not too precise about the exact timing, but better late than newer - so ...

Happy New year to all of you!



There's not that much snow this year compared to the past average, but it's winter nevertheless.
And a new year ahead of us.

Take care!

79

Development News / Taking a look at the suggestions

« on: December 26, 2020, 06:06:50 PM »

I've buried myself into replying to the suggestions. As you may have noticed.
At first I though I might be able to give my insight to all the suggestions from the last six months by the end of the year, but there's such a big pile of them that now I don't know how long it will take.
Anyway, the intention is (once again) to run a sweaty suggestion reply marathon and compile the result into single post when I'm all done. You'll be announced when I'm done with it.

80

Development News / Season's Greetings and Iron-Age feastings

« on: December 22, 2020, 07:07:13 PM »

The midwinter and holiday season is at hand so let us send you our very best and most delicious Season's Greetings - as it's time to celebrate the period with Iron-Age feastings.

Over the years we have practiced and experimented with many different survival, bushcraft and traditional skills and techniques to gain firsthand knowledge of the ways of the ancients, and to add a special touch of realism to the game mechanics. Practise what you code, so to speak.

This midwinter we tried out quite ambitious Iron-Age cooking as well.
We tried cooking some of the recipes of also doable in UnReal World, and they surely tasted good in our time too.


Roasting turnips on embers.


Flatbreads and cooked turnips.


Tasty bits of broadbean-turnip-mushroom stew.


Let the Iron-Age feasting start.

This is not our first go with traditional food for traditional devs, but the first time it's been carried out and documented this precisely. The reason for this delicious study is an exciting upcoming exhibition.
In 2021 Suomen Pelimuseo (The Finnish Museum of Games) is arranging an exhibition about the food in videogames. In addition to insight about the subject in various videogames there shall be a publication presenting different menus from different games with recipies you can try out yourself. UnReal World is one of the titles included. We'll let you know when the exhibition starts.

But now let's survive the midwinter, feast as everyone prefers, and see you again in 2021.

Cheers!

81

Development News / Configurable system of measurement with more precision

« on: December 05, 2020, 12:57:26 PM »

The game currently uses imperial units - pound, feet etc. Or more precisely mostly imperial units as there are few confusing metric system units (meters, kilometers) in the mix. We'll be sorting it all up now and will allow system of measurement to be chosen from two configuration options - metric or imperial. In addition you can also configure the precision of units displayed eg. how many decimals fractions to use. Two decimal fractions will probably be the maximum, for the sake of sanity and readability.
We'll probably also add some smaller units eg. grams and ounces, which aren't currently seen at all. So all in all it's gonna be less rounding with numbers and more precise measurements displayed - if you prefer precision. I'd also like to add option for quite vague unit display which emphasize more on common sense, roleplaying and old finnish units - but might be that it's gonna be a future addition somewhere along the way. After the global unit display in the game is reworked it will be quite easy to add new systems of measurements anyway.

These are future additions - not yet functional in current version 3.63.

82

Development News / Lots of angling improvements on their way

« on: November 17, 2020, 05:40:14 PM »

Fishing with a fishing rod is going to have if not a complete overhaul, a lots of improvements at least. I've been tweaking the angling code for a good while already, and the work just seems to continue and continue, but when it's all done we're going to have something like this featured:

- fishing rods will be craftable by player character, with slender trunks, cordage and hook.
- wooden and bone hooks will be craftable by player character. (If I get really carried away there might be some special hook types for special occasions.)
- baiting will be featured. Worm digging is under consideration but we can also start with scraps of food and using small fish to catch bigger fish.
- wear and tear of fishing rod parts will be featured eg. hooks snapping off eventually, when they've been nibbled enough. (Gotta add possibility to add new hooks as well.)

These are future additions. Not yet functional in current version 3.63.

83

Development News / Seasonal sales and Kekri customs

« on: October 30, 2020, 11:53:03 AM »

Harvest festival sales are on at Steam and Itch.io -- and in the Far North we do celbrate Kekri.
So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...

During this festivity period you can grab the game for decent discount on Steam, or from Itch.io.

It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.

Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.


Kekri Goat

Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink.
So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition?
Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.



We wish you happy and haunting Kekri time, or Halloween - if that suits you better.
Celebrate and participate!

84

Development News / The first snow and back from holidays

« on: October 23, 2020, 09:16:19 AM »

Hey, it's been a good two months without a word here at dev. news section, so it's about time to break the silence,  although you may have spotted my slowly increasing presence at the forums bugs section already.
We had the first snow few days ago, so the summer season is evidently ceasing.
See, I went on summer holidays quite late this year, in august, and thought "it's likely autumn, or early winter, before I get back to development chambers again."
Looks like that the time is at hand now.
Hunting bugs has always been a good way to get oriented back into coding, and I guess focus on that will continue for a good while. But yeah, the endless to-do lists also awaiting for us. So let's continue from here, and see where we get by the end of the year.

85

Development News / Traditional Roguelikes Bundle and Daily Deal on Steam

« on: August 11, 2020, 07:33:17 PM »

For a short period of time a pathway has opened to get into the realms of certain traditional roguelikes for discounted price. Steam offers Awesome Traditional Roguelikes bundle - with UnReal World naturally included - until 13th of August. We, and all the games included, also offer individual Daily Deals so you can decide whether you wish to pick a good fistful roguelikes, or just a selected one.

You can take a look at the bundle here:
https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15790/The_Traditional_Roguelikes_Bundle/

And UnReal World store page is here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/351700

86

Development News / Off to holidays!

« on: August 01, 2020, 07:29:53 PM »

So, there's still summer left and there are no showstoppers discovered in the latest version -- that equals to me getting off to holidays now.
We can call this latter summer holiday, and I have feeling I'll spend quite a long one. So it's likely autumn, or early winter, before I get back to development chambers again.
I still can be reached by e-mail, but expect delays with replies. And on rainy days I may rarely pop up at forums too, but don't follow conversations very actively at all.
Take care, help each others out, stay safe and have some good times and adventures!
I'm off to holidays...

87

Development News / Version 3.63 released on Steam, Itch, and for lifetimers

« on: July 09, 2020, 12:38:00 PM »

Hey, a new UnReal World release is out now.
Version 3.63 is now available on Steam, Itch.Io and Lifetimers will find the release at the designated forum section.
The summer sale on Steam still continues for a little while, so if you're quick and willing it's possible to take that sort of a tactical advantage.
With the new release the previous version (3.62) is now publicly available at downloads section.

UnReal World Steam store page:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/351700/UnReal_World/

UnReal World Itch.io store page:
https://enormous-elk.itch.io/unreal-world

This version 3.63 is kind of a summery release in itself. There's features and fixes on all fronts, but some is specifically related to the lush of the summer.
You can find the full changelog below but first, here's a moody image of certain real world item which you can now find in UnReal World too.

...as I'll go now gently beat myself with this one, you can enjoy the new release -- and do the same in there at will.



Version 3.63 changelog

- added: separate key command for commanding your pets and companions [!]

Talking to someone and commanding your pets and companions are now separate commands. Commanding is now done with with [!] key, and the good old [C] key is used only to talk to someone in normal fashion.
The game notifies you about the new [!] key command when talking to companions in normal way, or when talking to someone when there are pets out of sight. These little messages hopefully make it easier to get the new command policy memorized. Also, if you mistakenly try to [C]hat with pets the list of commands is still displayed.
If there are no pets or companions around at all trying to command them [!] just displays an informative message and doesn't proceed into fruitfless target selection.
Also, if there are no companions in sight the menu for shouting commands doesn't anymore contain needless "Choose a target in sight" option.

- improved: fire mechanics

Various features have been added to make fire burning, its' warming effect, obtained information and visual appearance more detailed.

* Burnt-out fire graphics is related to the amount of fire burned at the site. Small fires leave small remains, large fires leave large remains.

* Remains of fire accumulates over time so sequential fires burned at the site will increase the remains. The remains will still eventually disappear with few days pause in fire burning.

* embers graphics has been added and remains of burnt-out fires will be now appear glowing red for awhile. For how long the embers will be glowing depends on the amount of fire burned.

* when looking at burnt-out fire it's now also told if there are glowing or still warm embers. This information gives an idea eg. about how recent a campfire found in the wild might be.

* glowing embers from nearby burnt-out fires helps you to start new ones. This is automatically checked if you start making a fire with glowing remains at adjacent tile.

- added: smoking requires continuous maintaining of fire

In the previous versions smoking succeeded if the room was heated once, and the process required no further maintenance. Now the heating must be maintained through the whole process.
It's not critical to maintain an exact temperature but the fireplace in your smoking cabin should be warmed up properly on daily basis. Should you forget it one day it's still possible to compensate by heating it up even more the next day.
If the heating is completely neglected you will find your smoked foodstuff all spoiled. If the heating has failed only to some extent you may find some of the smoked foods spoiled.

- added: gradual heating up and cooling down of fireplaces and sauna stoves

When warming up a fireplace or sauna stove it now takes some time before the stones get properly heated up and start releasing warmth into the room - and this process is gradual. As a rule of thumb you should keep fire burning at least 3 or 4 hours to get fireplaces and sauna stoves properly heated up. The cooling down is gradual as well and fireplaces and sauna stoves will retain warmth hours and hours after the fire has burnt out. The warmer the fireplace or sauna stove has been the slower it will also cool down.
With these changes in action you can't expect to have a nicely warm room at an instant you light up a fireplace. Or you can't have a sauna bath right after lighting up a sauna stove. However, the fireplaces are designed so that they release some heat when the fire is burning. This allows you to still effectively warm up by the fireplace while it is still only getting heated up.
Also, now you might notice having to warm up the fireplaces longer and more carefully than in earlier versions to have your cottage nicely warm during the coldest winter days. With gradual cooling down of fireplaces the winter morning temperatures inside your cottage may sometimes apppear surprisingly low compared to the earlier. This is because in earlier versions fireplaces retained constant and exceedingly high temperature for very long-time after the fire had burned out.

- added: sauna stove tile slightly stylized

It's a bit darker and has smaller mouth now. This is to better distinguish sauna stove from a common fireplace.

- added: building a sauna stove

Sauna stoves can be now built by the player character. You’ll find the option from [M]ake menu -> Building -> Wooden building.

- improved: throwing water on the sauna stove

Before it was necessary to use sauna scoop to throw water on the sauna stove. Now it's done simply by [a]pplying a water container beside the sauna stove. An option for throwing water from the container appears when the condition is met.
Messages about the results are also updated and now it is told if you get mild or proper steam - depending on how hot the sauna stove is. There’s also a sound effects added so you can hear how the sauna stove really hisses.
With these additions sauna scoop now becomes a deprecated item. It continues to exist in object galore, but with no real use. Upon using sauna scoop you only get a message to use new mechanics instead.

- added: leaf trees now grow and lose their leaves gradually according to the season

You can see leaf trees gradually getting more lush in green in the spring, and again losing the leaf cover in the late autumn.

- added: vasta – a kind of broom to beat and treat oneself with during sauna bath

Vasta is a kind of broom made out of leafy birch twigs and used during sauna bath to gently beat oneself in order to get the muscles relaxed, body massaged and skin cleansed.
Vasta can be made by yourself from [M]ake menu under Utility articles. Making of vasta requires bunch of leafy birch twigs which can be collected from birch trees using your TIMBERCRAFT skill.
To use vasta [a]pply it while taking a sauna bath. There’s also sound effect added so you can hear what the beating with vasta really sounds like. Using vasta improves the healing effects of sauna bath.
There’s also game encyclopedia [F1] entry about vasta available.

- added: collecting leafy birch twigs

When collecting branches from birch trees (by using your TIMBERCRAFT skill) you now get leafy birch twigs if the season is right. If not, mere branches are collected. There are appropriate messages to indicate if the leaves aren't big enough just yet, or already gone old. This addition is foremostly added for making vasta which requires leafy birch twigs to be used.

- added: shout commands activated when pets are too far to respond to talked commands

When commanding your pet that is too far away you are now automatically given options for the possible shouted commands. Foremostly this makes "Come" always an available command for dogs.

- added: wandering Njerpez can be met in small groups too

Njerpez warriors don't wander all alone anymore but can be met in small groups, or pairs as well. If a conflict will arise from these encounters you have to be extra careful now. A group of wandering Njerpez can also have multiple dogs with them.

- adjusted: wandering Njerpez commonness based on the region

Wandering Njerpez are most commonly met in the east and south-east. That's an old rule which hasn't changed, but in the previous versions the borderline of their existence and non-existence was strict and rigid. Now the wandering Njerpez commonness is more gradual, decreasing the further into the west and north you go. Now it's been also verified that Njerpez raiders don't ever try to reach regions of western and northern cultures, so that's where to settle if you want to avoid raiders completely.

- added: pause for spacebar when player character falls through ice

- added: non-weapons can be thrown even when both hands are wielding something

This makes it easier to bait a trap, feed a dog, toss firewood into the fire and so on as you don't have to unwield anything to be able to throw such things.

- added: reindeers can be milked

It's now possible to milk reindeer does. The period when the milking is possible is the same as with cows, but the yield is little lesser.

- adjusted: milking period of sheep shortened with few months

Sheeps now yield milk only from swidden month to harvest month.

- added: character age and days played now appear in [P]rofile screen

This info is displayed at top of the screen saying eg. "You are 16 winters old, and have lived 7 days of adventuring life."

- removed: character [L]og screen

It's been considered useless for a long-time, and it's no longer in use at all.

- fixed: fresh bloodscapes sometimes disappearing instantly upon map load

- fixed: throwing water on the sauna stove not increasing the temperature

This had gotten broken somewhere along the way when adjusting temperature checks. Now it’s fixed and you will again notice the character getting warmer upon throwing water on the sauna stove.

- fixed: no message or results of arrow breakage when it happened upon hitting a creature

Now if an arrow breaks upon hitting a creature the breakage message is displayed and broken arrow will remain at the location.

- fixed: companions that were commanded to stay put did still engage into fights

- fixed: continuing early interrupted fence building requires the raw materials again

- fixed: character not falling into the water if thin ice at the location is broken by dropped items

- fixed: planted crop graphics appearing at picked mushroom location

- fixed: when dropping items selecting the only item in filtered inventory category drops it immediately ignoring the other selections


Cheers!

88

Development News / Summer and sales, and a new patch in horizon

« on: June 28, 2020, 05:00:00 PM »

It's summer, and Summer Sales have been launched both on Steam and Itch.Io.
So it's two options for you to get UnReal World for discounted price.
And we should also let you know that before the sales period is over, a new patch will be released.

Something to consider and look forward to.

Summery greetings from a mighty birch tree!

Sami - UnReal World developer

89

Development News / Improvements to fire mechanics, changes to smoking mechanics

« on: May 19, 2020, 06:42:24 PM »

So it was said earlier - quite a long time earlier actually - that fire mechanics are about to undergo some improvements. Now there's some concrete upcoming features highlight on that as follows. Lots of adjustments have been done and all the fire stuff has become more flexible to allow numerous little features still to follow. Let's see where it goes, but at least these are in already:

- improved: fire mechanics

          Various features have been added to make fire burning, its' warming effect, obtained information and visual appearance more detailed.

          * Burnt-out fire graphics is related to the amount of fire burned at the site. Small fires leave small remains, large fires leave large remains.

          * Remains of fire accumulates over time so sequential fires burned at the site will increase the remains.
The remains will still eventually disappear with few days pause in fire burning.
 
          * embers graphics has been and remains of burnt-out fires will be now glowing red for awhile. For how long the embers will be glowing depends on the amount of fire burned.

          * when looking at burnt-out fire it's now also told if there are glowing or still warm embers. This information gives an idea eg. about how recent a campfire found in the wild might be.

 - added: smoking requires continuous maintaining of fire

          In the previous versions smoking succeeded if the room was heated once, and the process required no further maintenance. Now the heating must be maintained through the whole process.
          It's not critical to maintain an exact temperature but the fireplace in your smoking cabin should be warmed up properly on daily basis. Should you forget it one day it's still possible to compensate by heating it up even more the next day.
          If the heating is completely neglected you will find your smoked foodstuff all spoiled. If the heating has failed only to some extent you may find some of the smoked foods spoiled.

These are upcoming features, not yet functional in current version 3.62.

90

Development News / Suggestion reply marathon Oct 2019-Mar 2020 accomplished.

« on: April 28, 2020, 04:56:05 PM »

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.