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1

Development News / Spring things, pausable things, future things

« on: April 08, 2024, 08:43:26 PM »

Springtime is busy time - both out in the nature and inside the development chambers. We're preparing for a new version release still this month.

Pausable crafting additions is proceeding strongly. Quite a batch of craftable items will be using the pausable crafting mechanics in the upcoming version.
At this point the pausable crafting mechanics will cover all the weapons, lumber items, hafts and  item traps such as paw-board fox trap and loop snare - and some more are likely to be added.  So, with the upcoming version more than half of the craftable items will become pausable tasks. And in the version after that we'll likely manage to have all the crafts pausable, allowing it also in all the diy_*.txt modding.

A new skill, bowyer, will be also added. It's quite self-explanatory that this is the ability and knowledge to make bows and the craftable bows now call for bowyer skills in their crafting. And longbow will be made available as a new craftable bow type for the player character.

So, for the next few versions we'll be working mostly on item related additions, and hope to have these released in decent pace. After that, when all the crafting is pausable, we'll move into adding new quests. Some of these will be small and casual, but some will be most exciting for the  players who'd enjoy the presence of marriage or permanent companions.
Let that be a sneak peek in advance further into this year's plans.

2

Development News / Pausable weapon crafting

« on: April 01, 2024, 09:09:47 PM »

The current pausable crafting mechanics have been tested quite extensively by now and only a few adjustments have emerged.
This is promising as eventually all the item crafting will be come pausable - and lesser the problems at this point, the sooner it happens.
For the time being we're still proceeding in small sections and next the crafting of weapons listed [M]ake->[W]eapons category will become pausable.
There will be some adjustments to certain weapon production times as they can be now increased to more reasonable levels.
Shortbows for example will get an average production time of 12 hours or so. A skilled character with quality tools may still be able to craft a shortbow in a day, but with mediocre skill and tools it's a process of several workdays.
Stone-axe will get the greatest production time increase - we'll be talking about 50 hours or so. It really is a slow process to get the stone blade knapped and grinded out to shape that is efficient for felling trees. Thus, stone-axe will become a survival option which you won't take up too lightly.
For other weapons the changes won't be that dramatic, but changes are still to be expected.

These are future features - not yet functional in 3.83.

3

Development News / Springs

« on: March 27, 2024, 12:12:18 PM »

Yes, it's springtime! (pun intended)
We'll be adding springs, water sources bringing groundwater to the surface, in the terrain generation. Springs can be found at varying environments on zoomed-in maps.
A spring found in the wilderness may provide a great spot for a homestead for those who like to live further away from the lakes or rivers. And moreover, springs remain unfrozen even in the winter.
   Some time ago there was also a suggestion to have village water supplies to remain unfrozen for easier spotting. Now we'll make it so the village water supply ponds will be actually springs from now on. And for the migrated characters, the existing village ponds will be turned into springs as you visit these villages.

I guess will also take a little browsing of the old Finnish spellbooks to see if there are inspiring magical means or remarks related to springs. Springs were traditional places of mystical powers and certain guardian spirits. New spells or quests potential is high.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.83.

4

Development News / Version 3.83 released

« on: February 29, 2024, 08:17:52 PM »

Just in time, we're happy to announce version 3.83 (stable) having been just released on Steam, Itch.Io and for lifetimers.

Bugs found during the beta period were very scarce, so for those who were playing the beta version already the changelog doesn't bring any additions.
As you may know already, the most notable features in version 3.83 are weapon/tool hafting and the haft wear out mechanics, and pausable arrowmaking and tanning.

This version has also undergone upgrade of SDL and SDL_mixer libraries, which will hopefully prove stable and clear few rarely encountered audio oddities with some system setups and sound cards/drivers.

And here's the changelog.

Version 3.83 (stable) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **

- added: hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts

Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Wooden shovel is an exception as it's made out of single piece of wood.
Haft refers to the wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When the haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool.
For hafting, there are now new craftable "axe haft", "spear haft" and "shovel haft" items. In reality the haft shape and proportions do vary depending on the axe or spear type, but in order not to make things overly complex the two generic spear and axes hafts work for all the different types of spears and axes.
The different axe and spear heads now also exist as separate items. For the axes there are handaxe head, carving axe head, broad axe head, woodsman's axe head and so on. And for the spears there are kaumolais spear head, northern spear head, and so on. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted so the heads aren't commonly found on their own.
When the haft breaks the head and broken haft do drop on the ground, along with pause prompted game message. You can then carve a new haft and haft the head to assemble a working weapon or shovel again. The broken hafts are of no use and are best utilized as firewood.
Crafting hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The following self-explanatory options are available there:
* Axe haft
* Spear haft
* Shovel haft
* Haft a weapon or tool
* Remove the haft
The first three options are used to craft a new haft, followed by the actual hafting option to assemble a working weapon or shovel. You may also remove the haft at will for example to replace worn out haft early on. However, removing the haft may damage it a little bit so it's not recommended to do unless necessary.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself require CARPENTRY skills. The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished weapon or tool usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the item quality even below the head quality itself. Thus the finished axe, spear or shovel quality now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft.
There are new game encyclopedia (F1) entries for the relevant topics: AXE HEAD, AHE HAFT, SPEAR HEAD, SPEAR HAFT, SHOVEL BLADE and SHOVEL HAFT

- added: hafts wearing out in use

Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break.
Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat.
In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving.
The haft wear out level can be noticed in character's inventory with the progressing wear bar.
Hafts are in the risk of breaking apart when they've worn to about 80% of the original condition. Accumulating haft damage can also lead to decrease in the axe or spear overall quality.

- modding add: new crafting requirement entries

{Hammering tool}
This defines requirement for a tool that is used to hammer things in place. It's used in hafting an axe.
The butt of an axe is commonly used as a hammering tool, but clubs, pieces of firewood or stones can be also used as a substitute.

{Axe or carving knife}
This defines requirement for a tool used in rough woodworking and carving. It's used in crafting hafts to carve out their rough shape from a slender tree trunk.
Axe is the preferred tool here and always the best option, but usage of knives is allowed as a substitute - even though they make the task significantly slower.
The common woodworking axes such as handaxe, carving axe, and woodman's axe are the most suitable ones. If a knife is used the sturdy ones such as skramasaksi, northern knife, kaumolais knife or hunting knife work the best.

Both of these entries can be utilized in diy_*.txt and biy_*.txt modding at will.

- modding add: [nowear] and [wearpct:num] tags to specify haft wear out accumulation rate

Axe, spear and shovel hafts wear out also when they are used as tools in crafting or building tasks.
There are these two new tags to customize the wear accumulation rate as the intensity of tool usage varies depending on the task.

[nowear] tag means that the used tool doesn't wear out at all.
[wearpct:num] specifies custom wear out percentage rate (1-100) in relation to the highest rate (100) where tool is used intensely during the whole task.

Examples:

{Axe} <Carving axe> [nowear]
Here an axe is needed, preferably a carving axe, and it doesn't wear out at all in the said crafting/building task.

{Cutting_weapon} <Axe> [wearpct:25]
Here a cutting weapon, preferably an axe, is needed. It wears out in 25% rate compared to the continuous intense axe work. Maybe the axe is needed only 25% of the time in this crafting/building task.

- removed: hard staff and throwing axe

These two weapons have been removed for being somewhat anachronistic and not that important.

- added: pausable tanning

Tanning is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tanning simply use the tanning option again standing beside the partially finished item.
This applies only to the last and most laborous stage of the tanning process which is softening the hide with a beater. The preceeding, faster processes of cleaning the skin need to be done in one go.
Partially tanned hides will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.

- added: pausable arrowmaking and arrow shaft crafting

Making arrows and arrow shafts is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused arrowmaking simply use the same option to make arrows or arrow shafts again standing beside the said partially finished items.
For blunt arrows this means using [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Blunt arrow" option. For all the other kind of tipped arrows use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow" option. And for the arrow shafts you would naturally use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow shaft".
Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.

- changed: maximum number of arrows or arrow shafts to craft in one batch

The maximum arrow or arrow shaft batch production quantity is increased up to 10 at one go.

- changed: arrow shaft crafting time

Now that the making of arrow shafts is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 90 minutes.

- changed: blunt arrow crafting requirements

Now that the blunt arrow making is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 2 hours. <br>
Number of slender tree trunks required is also modified so that you can craft three blunt arrows out of one slender tree trunk.
Blunt arrows are now also prone to outcome quality modifiers, so your tools and expertise determines if the finished blunt arrows will be curved or superior or something in between.

- modding add: [yield:num] tag

[yield:num] tag is used to specify for how many produced items the single raw material entry is enough for. Ie. how many finished items it can yield. The tag is used in diy_glossary.txt for making blunt arrows as follows:

{Slender trunk} [yield:3]

This means one slender tree trunk can yield three produced items ie. blunt arrows. So, for example to craft six blunt arrows you would need 2 trunks. Crafting 7-9 blunt arrows you would need 3 trunks, and so on.

- enhanced: rendering of the terrain type images

Terrain type images on zoomed-in map are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the images appear more crisp and clear.

- fixed: being able to fish facing away from the water

- fixed: companions performing some tasks too fast

Due to miscalculations in companion time counters they managed to complete some tasks, eg. felling trees, all too fast. The issue was mostly noticed in woodworking tasks, but you may find some other companion performed tasks also to appear in slower more reasonable pace now.

- fixed: villagers not reacting if you attacked a hired companion of their own group in their own village

- fixed: villagers accepting too many items if they were offered in one go during the first trade

- fixed: terrain type image not updating when climbing across terrain boundary

This happened only when using the climbing skill.

- fixed: the fish splashing and spawning despite of the ice

Occasionally you might find fish splashing in the water even at locations with ice cover. This happened if the water froze again after the spawning had already started in the open water.

- fixed: Bewitched Wolf quest not generating correctly

This quest might have been missing for few versions, so enjoy if it now comes your way.

- fixed: triggered item traps remaining in set status

This might rarely happen with loop snares and paw-boards. The graphics also show the traps being set and ready, despite of the fact that they were actually triggered already.

- fixed: placing any items to a pine tree with bear skull produced the bear skull placement message

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

Cheers!

5

Development News / Version 3.83 beta for Windows released

« on: February 19, 2024, 07:14:40 PM »

The work with new version, 3.83, is soon finished and we hereby ease the anticipation with an early beta release for Windows.
Thus, version 3.83 beta for Windows is now available on Steam, Itch.Io and for lifetimers.

Once the Windows version stability is confirmed, wrapping things up for Linux and OS X will follow and we aim to have have 3.83 stable version released this month.

The most notable additions in version 3.83 are weapon/tool hafting and the haft wear out mechanics, and pausable arrowmaking and tanning.
Here's the changelog:

Version 3.83 (beta) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **

BETA NOTICE:

This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow.


- added: hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts

Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Wooden shovel is an exception as it's made out of single piece of wood.
Haft refers to the wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When the haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool.
For hafting, there are now new craftable "axe haft", "spear haft" and "shovel haft" items. In reality the haft shape and proportions do vary depending on the axe or spear type, but in order not to make things overly complex the two generic spear and axes hafts work for all the different types of spears and axes.
The different axe and spear heads now also exist as separate items. For the axes there are handaxe head, carving axe head, broad axe head, woodsman's axe head and so on. And for the spears there are kaumolais spear head, northern spear head, and so on. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted so the heads aren't commonly found on their own.
When the haft breaks the head and broken haft do drop on the ground, along with pause prompted game message. You can then carve a new haft and haft the head to assemble a working weapon or shovel again. The broken hafts are of no use and are best utilized as firewood.
Crafting hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The following self-explanatory options are available there:
* Axe haft
* Spear haft
* Shovel haft
* Haft a weapon or tool
* Remove the haft
The first three options are used to craft a new haft, followed by the actual hafting option to assemble a working weapon or shovel. You may also remove the haft at will for example to replace worn out haft early on. However, removing the haft may damage it a little bit so it's not recommended to do unless necessary.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself require CARPENTRY skills. The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished weapon or tool usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the item quality even below the head quality itself. Thus the finished axe, spear or shovel quality now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft.
There are new game encyclopedia (F1) entries for the relevant topics: AXE HEAD, AHE HAFT, SPEAR HEAD, SPEAR HAFT, SHOVEL BLADE and SHOVEL HAFT

- added: hafts wearing out in use

Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break.
Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat.
In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving.
The haft wear out level can be noticed in character's inventory with the progressing wear bar.
Hafts are in the risk of breaking apart when they've worn to about 80% of the original condition. Accumulating haft damage can also lead to decrease in the axe or spear overall quality.

- modding add: new crafting requirement entries

{Hammering tool}
This defines requirement for a tool that is used to hammer things in place. It's used in hafting an axe.
The butt of an axe is commonly used as a hammering tool, but clubs, pieces of firewood or stones can be also used as a substitute.

{Axe or carving knife}
This defines requirement for a tool used in rough woodworking and carving. It's used in crafting hafts to carve out their rough shape from a slender tree trunk.
Axe is the preferred tool here and always the best option, but usage of knives is allowed as a substitute - even though they make the task significantly slower.
The common woodworking axes such as handaxe, carving axe, and woodman's axe are the most suitable ones. If a knife is used the sturdy ones such as skramasaksi, northern knife, kaumolais knife or hunting knife work the best.

Both of these entries can be utilized in diy_*.txt and biy_*.txt modding at will.

- modding add: [nowear] and [wearpct:num] tags to specify haft wear out accumulation rate

Axe, spear and shovel hafts wear out also when they are used as tools in crafting or building tasks.
There are these two new tags to customize the wear accumulation rate as the intensity of tool usage varies depending on the task.

[nowear] tag means that the used tool doesn't wear out at all.
[wearpct:num] specifies custom wear out percentage rate (1-100) in relation to the highest rate (100) where tool is used intensely during the whole task.

Examples:

{Axe} <Carving axe> [nowear]
Here an axe is needed, preferably a carving axe, and it doesn't wear out at all in the said crafting/building task.

{Cutting_weapon} <Axe> [wearpct:25]
Here a cutting weapon, preferably an axe, is needed. It wears out in 25% rate compared to the continuous intense axe work. Maybe the axe is needed only 25% of the time in this crafting/building task.

- removed: hard staff and throwing axe

These two weapons have been removed for being somewhat anachronistic and not that important.

- added: pausable tanning

Tanning is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tanning simply use the tanning option again standing beside the partially finished item.
This applies only to the last and most laborous stage of the tanning process which is softening the hide with a beater. The preceeding, faster processes of cleaning the skin need to be done in one go.
Partially tanned hides will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.

- added: pausable arrowmaking and arrow shaft crafting

Making arrows and arrow shafts is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused arrowmaking simply use the same option to make arrows or arrow shafts again standing beside the said partially finished items.
For blunt arrows this means using [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Blunt arrow" option. For all the other kind of tipped arrows use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow" option. And for the arrow shafts you would naturally use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow shaft".
Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them.

- changed: maximum number of arrows or arrow shafts to craft in one batch

The maximum arrow or arrow shaft batch production quantity is increased up to 10 at one go.

- changed: arrow shaft crafting time

Now that the making of arrow shafts is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 90 minutes.

- changed: blunt arrow crafting requirements

Now that the blunt arrow making is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 2 hours. <br>
Number of slender tree trunks required is also modified so that you can craft three blunt arrows out of one slender tree trunk.
Blunt arrows are now also prone to outcome quality modifiers, so your tools and expertise determines if the finished blunt arrows will be curved or superior or something in between.

- modding add: [yield:num] tag

[yield:num] tag is used to specify for how many produced items the single raw material entry is enough for. Ie. how many finished items it can yield. The tag is used in diy_glossary.txt for making blunt arrows as follows:

{Slender trunk} [yield:3]

This means one slender tree trunk can yield three produced items ie. blunt arrows. So, for example to craft six blunt arrows you would need 2 trunks. Crafting 7-9 blunt arrows you would need 3 trunks, and so on.

- enhanced: rendering of the terrain type images

Terrain type images on zoomed-in map are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the images appear more crisp and clear.

- fixed: being able to fish facing away from the water

- fixed: companions performing some tasks too fast

Due to miscalculations in companion time counters they managed to complete some tasks, eg. felling trees, all too fast. The issue was mostly noticed in woodworking tasks, but you may find some other companion performed tasks also to appear in slower more reasonable pace now.

- fixed: villagers not reacting if you attacked a hired companion of their own group in their own village

- fixed: villagers accepting too many items if they were offered in one go during the first trade

- fixed: terrain type image not updating when climbing across terrain boundary

This happened only when using the climbing skill.

- fixed: the fish splashing and spawning despite of the ice

Occasionally you might find fish splashing in the water even at locations with ice cover. This happened if the water froze again after the spawning had already started in the open water.

- fixed: Bewitched Wolf quest not generating correctly

This quest might have been missing for few versions, so enjoy if it now comes your way.

- fixed: triggered item traps remaining in set status

This might rarely happen with loop snares and paw-boards. The graphics also show the traps being set and ready, despite of the fact that they were actually triggered already.

- fixed: placing any items to a pine tree with bear skull produced the bear skull placement message

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

Cheers!

6

Development News / Pausable tanning and arrowmaking

« on: February 09, 2024, 11:17:00 AM »

For the next version we'll also proceed with adding some more pausable crafting.
The last (and most the laborous and time consuming) phase of tanning - softening the hide - now becomes a pausable task allowing you take breaks and continue at will.
Arrowmaking will also be become pausable. Start crafting your batch of arrows, and then take a break and continue at will - finishing it in parts as you please.
As we know, tipped arrowmaking is harcoded due to sake of the complexity of multi-part item composition.
But the blunt arrow, found in diy_glossary.txt, will also become a pausable craft. With this we'll test and introduce allowing pausable crafting to be extended into moddable diy_*.txt files. Once we get these things going the mechanics will be built up to make all the crafting pausable in the near future.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.82.

7

Development News / Hafting additions completed with shovels

« on: February 05, 2024, 05:29:40 PM »

The work with upcoming hafting features is completed now. In addition to spear and axe hafting we added hafting and wear out mechanics also for the shovels.
This means shovel hafts will also wear out over time and will eventually break. And yes indeed, when the shovel haft breaks the remaining shovel blade can be then
hafted again to assemble a new working shovel.
Wooden shovels are an exception, as they are made out of single piece of wood and do not feature a separate haft.
Wooden shovels will wear out too, but when they break they are of no use anymore - other than maybe used as a firewood.

Now we'll move into some bugfixing and adding random lesser features and then start to wrap things up for a release.
Version 3.83 will be released this month. Stay tuned.

8

Development News / Haft wear out and breakage mechanics continued

« on: January 27, 2024, 05:01:18 PM »

As mentioned in the earlier post we're working on axe and spear haft breakage mechanics and re-hafting features.
To come up with separate spear and axe head and haft items was the easiest part of the process. And that's fully completed by now.
To add mechanics and features to combine head and hafts into fully working weapons, ie. hafting, was a bigger thing to accomplish but it's also done by now.

What's been more tricky was to add active wear out mechanics when these weapons are actually used in the game world.
Be it crafting, building or in the combat. But we've gotten there by now and your axe hafts will actually wear out when the axe is used.
And eventually, when severely worn out, they will break.
(This coding groundwork can be later on utilized for making edged weapons getting dull in use, so that feature is also one step closer now.)


Here's Olaus. He has been using his axe for a long time, and now upon felling yet another tree its worn haft breaks.

It was one thing to make the haft wear out mechanics work for player character, but we also needed to put in effect for NPCs. That wasn't a piece of cake, but it's done by now.
And that opens up an opportunity for variety of new incidents to take place. It's not likely, but theoritically possible, that one day a player character finds an old axe or spear head from the woods. Dropped and left there due to NPC activity.


Here's a bear fighting scene with a companion called Aimo.
Aimo's spear haft breaks at the critical moment, but he wisely proceeds to grab the fallen spear head.
If need be, spear heads can be used as sort of substitute for a weapon, although far less effectively than a proper spear.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.83.

9

Development News / Haft them axes, haft them spears

« on: January 12, 2024, 06:19:14 PM »

Hafting of the axes and spears is underway. This is relatively complex and fundamendal addition and I guess we'll be putting out a new release when it's all finished.
There's still lots of work to do, but let's have a first sneak preview of the upcoming hafting mechanics.

So, axe and spear items now consist of two parts; heads and hafts. Haft refers to their wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage.
When a haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon again.

Now let's meet our test character Terhi and let her show how the hafting in UnReal World goes.


One day the haft of her trusty woodsman's axe broke leaving the head lying on the ground.
For all the different axes and spears their heads now also exist as separate items.
Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted, so the heads aren't commonly found until the axe or spear haft breaks.



Crafting the hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category.
The first two options are used to craft a new haft, and the latter for actual hafting to assemble a working weapon with the head and the haft.
Terhi now proceeds to craft a new axe haft.



Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills.  Terhi has managed to craft a fine axe haft, and then she proceeds to actual hafting.
In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required.
The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.



The hafting is done and she managed to assemble a decent woodsman's axe. Let the timberwork continue!


The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished axe or spear usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the weapon quality even below the head quality itself. The finished axe or spear quality thus now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting.
On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft.

So, this is how 2024 starts feature wise. Stay tuned.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.82.

10

Development News / In the real world at present-day Savo

« on: December 17, 2023, 06:46:33 PM »

The year is nearing its end - so let us send you our winter season's greetings with this post.
Firstly, we wish you all the best with the festivities and holiday season you might have at hand, and happy new year!
Then, as a season's speciality let us entertain you with little something recreational from the real world at present-day Savo.

The winter has come, and for the devs like us it means the balance between coding and cross-country skiing must carefully maintained.
So, a week ago Erkka came over for a visit - and we went exploring the real world on skis.




Over the years, we've found ourselves doing many kind of media works more or less related to the game world or inspired by the iron-age culture.
And now, quite spontaneously, we ended up doing small stop-motion animation - and then though of publishing it as 2023 season's greetings
at Enormous Elk YouTube channel.
There's more, and surely more sophisticated content to explore, if the channel wasn't familiar to you already.
We call it Tanssivat tontut in finnish, which would translate as Dancing goblins or Dancing household spirits in english.
https://youtu.be/du2pkQUN9Fg?si=aOPZkYand2qcKmFW

And lastly, for myself the last weeks have been more busy with horseback riding and archery than coding.
In early December I did three horseback archery demonstrations at different stables which required quite a bit of both time and energy.
But hey, sometimes one has to ride a horse to endure extended still sitting periods in front of the computer.
And maybe it's good for one to try out the bow for real if he intends to simulate archery in the game.
So, this also falls into category of in the real world at present-day Savo. Let the bow skill speculations start
https://youtu.be/oPaZKJluLDQ?si=vAzUS2KX986sx7ux

Let's see you in 2024, with all sort of new achievements, features and adventures to follow in the real and unreal world.
Cheers!

11

Development News / Participating to Free City of Games game art event in Kouvola, Finland

« on: November 05, 2023, 01:25:38 PM »

Free City of Games, the event showcasing games and game culture is being held in Kouvola, Finland for the second time in November 2.-19.11.2023.
This year I'm happy and honoured to participate the exhibition with an interactive playable installation created together with a long-time fellow coder and friend mr. Pasanen.
Our work is called "Avaruuspuhelin" (Space Phone in English), and it's basically a seriously tweaked old rotary phone which you can use to solve a little extra terrestial mystery in sort of escape room fashion.

So if you happen to reside, or feel like travelling to Kouvola, Finland, feel free to visit the event. It's all free, and features a diverse selection of games and game art to play and experience.


No matter what sort of game you've created, the playtesting is important.

You can find more photos and background info here at the Buy Me a Coffee page:
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/samimaaranen/free-city-games-participating-game-art-event

12

Development News / Version 3.82 released

« on: October 09, 2023, 07:45:11 PM »

We're happy to announce a new version release.

Version 3.82 is now released on Steam, Itch.Io and for lifetimers.

This version brings you a whole new fishing method, bunch of fish life improvements and a basket of crucial bugfixes.
Find the changelog below.

Version 3.82 changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **

- added: retrievable broken off arrowheads

Occasionally arrows do break upon hitting a target, and now the arrowheads can be also occasionally, but not always, retrieved and re-used. Only the arrows of decent or higher quality will loose the arrowheads in retrievable condition and the arrowhead itself almost always suffers from the quality degrade.
If the arrow breaks from hitting a non-living target you will find the arrowhead on the ground together with the broken arrow item. If the arrow breaks upon hitting a living target the broken arrow part will drop on the ground and the arrowhead gets stuck into target's body. These stuck arrowheads are not visible to the player character when looking at NPCs/creatures, but can be found and retrieved only from the target's dead carcass.

- added: lippo fishing, a new fishing method[/b]

Lippo is a kind of a dip net with a long pole used for catching fish from rivers and shallow waters. Lippo fishing is foremostly practised only at certain times of the year; when the fish to be caught are migrating upstream to their spawning locations, and during the active spawning period.
Fishing with a lippo in the rivers and rapids is done by standing on rocks in the river. The location is often suitable when there are several rocks around as these are the usual places where both resting and spawning river fish are around and can be caught. Additionally, a lippo can also be used from the shore if the spawning fish are noticed by the shoreline. The lippo is lowered into the water, down to the bottom, and carefully dragged around in order to catch resting or spawning fish into its hoop.
Start using your lippo either by [a]pplying the lippo from the inventory or using the FISHING skill.

- added: LIPPO encyclopedia (F1) entry

- added: craftable lippo

You can craft a lippo from [M]ake menu under [F]ishing category. A lippo is constructed in such a way that it has a wooden hoop into which multiple small birch saplings are tied to. These saplings are tied together at their open ends, so that they form a net like construction around the hoop. The hoop with this net is then fixed to a long wooden pole.
The applicable character skill for crafting a lippo is NETMAKING.

- added: spawning periods for the relevant fish species

The following fish now have their unique spawning periods; pike, bream, salmon and lavaret. During the spawning period the fish gather up at their species specific spawning locations. This can be then taken advantage of by spearfishing or using newly featured lippo fishing.

- added: splashing and water ripples from the fish activity

As the fish spawn in shallow waters they do splash in noticeable way, and there are now splashing sounds to be heard and round water ripples to be seen indicating the fish activity. These are essential cues in order to find the actual fish spawning locations.
There's splashing audio to be heard but you are also notified with a game message. For example "You hear a splash from the east." or "You notice a lavaret splashing in the water." And then there are modestly animated water ripples, a new visual effect that can be noticed in the water where the fish activity has taken place.

- added: encyclopedia (F1) entries for PIKE, BREAM, SALMON and LAVARET

You'll find information for example about their spawning periods and habitats, and the related fishing means.

- improved: spearfishing

It still remains possible to catch lone roaming fish with luck and patience, but now the spearfishing can be considered most effective for catching the spawning fish.
Upon spearfishing you will be now notified about the ongoing fish spawning periods. The messages will tell if the chosen location might be good considering the spawning fish, or if the spawning might be going on elsewhere. These are hints to consider in order to find a good spot, but you are naturally free to try out your spearfishing luck also regardless of the spawning periods and locations.
There are also some changes in the spearfishing messages thorough the process.

- changed: rain visual effect slightly softened with randomized alpha blending

- added: ROUNDSHIELD encyclopedia (F1) entry

- updated: FISHING ROD encyclopedia (F1) entry with a bit of baiting information

- fixed: not being able to use withes as tying equipment when crafting skis

- fixed: encyclopedia tooltips in the inventory not displayed for items with additional item part descriptions

Tooltips were missing for items such as "Hunting bow with no string" or "Fishing rod with iron hook". Now the base items (ie. "Hunting bow" and "Fishing rod") are properly parsed in these cases too and the tooltips displayed accordingly.

- fixed: Old Man's Punt quest dialogue confusions

The quest progression dialogue had gotten tangled with blacksmith related dialogue.

- fixed: NPC archers could shoot arrows from beyond player character's visible range

- fixed: NPC archers could use and shoot back the arrows that had originally hit them

- fixed: blacksmith product price estimation oddities

Quest rewards were discounted from the final blacksmith product prices, but the blacksmiths didn't bring this up in their dialogue which caused confusion and wrong estimations. This was most notable when quest reward would compensate for the whole price and resulted in blacksmith trade preference being blanked (ie. "..give me your .")
Now blacksmiths will speak about how much the possible reward compensates, and give items truly for free with applicable rewards.
Blacksmiths might also have given wrong price estimation for batch of product because of not calculating the number of finished items properly.

- fixed: blacksmiths failing to produce ordered items

Blacksmiths often failed to produce ordered items because of carrying too much load. This prevented the ordered items to be added in their inventory. Blacksmiths kept building up the excess load because the items they got as a payment weren't never removed and restocked from their inventory. Now blacksmiths will restock their inventory before attempting to carry the finished ordered item.

- fixed: usage of TEXTILECRAFT from the skills window or via hotkey not working for migrated characters

- fixed: TEXTILECRAFT skill not improving for migrated characters

- fixed: Chat command causing fade to black after being forcefully woken up by an NPC


Cheers!

13

Development News / Splashes and ripples - visual fish activity indicators

« on: September 19, 2023, 07:20:14 PM »

The fish spawning cycles are in action and pikes, breams, salmons and lavarets now gather at their species specific spawning locations at their specific times of the year.
As the fish spawn in shallow waters they do splash in noticeable way, so we just had to also add splashing sounds to be heard and round water ripples to be seen.
These are completely new indicators of fish activity and quite essential in order to find the fish spawning locations.
The water ripples have other uses too as they can be added to indicate diving of aquatic birds or seals, or added as simple eye candy when you throw something into the water.
But first things first... we're now testing and making last adjustments to the new fishing stuff, then fix a few fistfuls of most critical bugs, and then wrap up the new version for a release.

Here's a few screenshots of the newly added splashes and ripples:

Isto hears a splash from the west. It's pike and bream spawning season, and the shallow vegetation rich shore looks just the right kind for that.
Could it be the spawning fish? All the evidence, and even the Kuikka, seems to be pointing that way.


More splashing and now Isto notices it's the fish. Now if you look two tiles north from the character you'll see round water ripples.
In the game these come with a modest little animation. Easier to notice, prettier to witness. Now Isto will know at where he should try spearfishing - or maybe using a lippo.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.81.

14

Development News / Spearfishing, spawning fish, and the lippo

« on: August 31, 2023, 05:26:26 PM »

Here we go with a brief development news about what's bubbling under at the moment.
Well, a good bunch fishing related additions, we can tell you.
There will be improvements to some old fishing methods and a completely new form of fishing to be featured.
And to have it all done with our desired ambition we'll also feature spawning periods and habitats for the different species of fish.
And these can be then taken advantage of with the old and new fishing forms.
It's quite a sidetracking, snowballing bunch of additions, but slowly coming together so nicely that we can briefly highlight it already.

Now pikes, breams, salmons, trouts and lavarets (at least) will be given their spawning periods and habitats.
Gathering of the spawning fish can be then taken advantage of with suitable fishing means.
For example pikes will come to spawn in early spring at shallow shoreline waters with rich vegetation.
During that time the spearfishing from the shore can be quite succesful.
As we know, spearfishing is already an existing fishing method in the game, but now it will become a bit more detailed for example
with information given related to ongoing spawning periods and the chosen location.


Ingir proceeds with spearfishing and the game notifies about the chosen location being good considering the ongoing pike spawning period.

Lippo is a certain kind of dip net with a very long handle, and it was used in special kind of fishing at rivers and rapids. It is a new fishing tool in the game that
can be crafted by the player character, and it will be used in this newly featured form of fishing.


Ingir has arrived at the rapids with an intention to craft herself a lippo.

Lippo fishing was practised especially when the certain fish, salmons or lavarets for example, gathered at the rivers to spawn.
But lippo can be also used to catch roaming river fish outside their spawning period too. In this fishing method the lippo is casted into the water,
down at the bottom of the river, and then moved carefully in order to scoop the fish into its net. The roaming fish in the rivers and rapids will occasionally
rest beside the rocks and skerries and these are the locations where lippo needs to be used.


Ingir needed to row with a punt to reach a skerry in the rapids. Maybe there are fish resting behind the neighbouring rocks, she thinks and reaches out to pick up the lippo.

These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.81.

15

Development News / Version 3.81 released for OS X and Linux

« on: August 03, 2023, 06:57:14 PM »

Version 3.81 is now released and live for all the supported platforms; Windows, OS X and Linux.
It's available on Steam, Itch.Io and for lifetimers.

For highlights and changelog refer to slightly earlier Windows version release post:
https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=7080.0