Messages

166

Development News / Re: The Kalevala Day and 10,000 days of digital Finnish culture in UnReal World

« on: March 04, 2020, 08:54:29 AM »

You know.. I keep hearing about The Kalevala and from what I hear its quite something. Do you know if there is a translation, or maybe even an audio version of it?

I think Kalevala is translated to English, to French, to Russian, and to many other languages. Sadly, I'm not aware if there are any audio versions available, but maybe someone else knows, if we have here users who are more active in browsing audio book services?

But I happen to know one video adaptation  of one of the opening poems of Kalevala.

 (Naturally, Kalevala starts with the myths about how the world got created. And then it goes on to introduce the main characters - that video is an adaptation of the poem introducing Väinämöinen and Joukahainen - the old sage and the young wanna-be-sage who dares to challenge the old master.)

167

Off-topic / Re: Axes and hatchets

« on: January 31, 2020, 11:59:45 AM »

Do you purchase the wood in the video? Or do you chop it yourself? Do you need a license for cutting wood?

In Finland most of the woodlands are privately owned. And a forest owner doesn't need a special license to cut down trees in one's own woodlands. Yet, some level or regulation and bureaucracy does apply, but that is more like filing a yearly report of how much timber one has taken for private use.

That is the general situation, considering the way the society and legislation works in Finland. But personally I don't own any woodlands, I only have a small patch of yard. So the logs I'm carving in that video are storm-felled trees from neighbour's forest. The forest owner gave them for me for free, as they were afraid that if the fallen trees are left to rot in the forest bed that will boost insect and fungi which will then spread to nearby trees killing them.

Was thinking about a small cabin, I don't have the skills to build it, tho your videos make it look easy

I think the basics of builing a log cabin are pretty simple if one has the basic skills of handling an axe. But to really make it tight and winter-proof, that requires some experience and advanced skills, I think.

168

General Discussion / Re: programming language?

« on: January 06, 2020, 05:37:12 PM »

Hello, and thanks for your question!

The UnReal World is written in C and C++
I'm afraid that switching to another language would mean practically re-writing all of the code by hand, which would be an enormously time-consuming task. Also, we have been rather happy with C and C++ so there hardly is any reason to consider other languages.

169

Suggestions / Re: Another title?

« on: January 03, 2020, 10:23:28 AM »

Thanks for encouragement! I'll send you a personal message.

170

Off-topic / Re: Axes and hatchets

« on: December 30, 2019, 06:05:56 PM »

That "woodman's pal" looks a lot like the tool we call vesuri.

If I understand correctly, havukirves or hakokirves or kassara has non-sharpened curved part on the blunt side of the blade. In that case the curved part is used to lift up and to move small branhces. But in vesuri the purpose of the curved part is to protect the blade when you are cutting young trees and you often accidentally hit soil or rocks.

All in all, in most cases similar tasks can be done either by a small hatchet or a bigger knife. But these spesialiced tools are especially good for purposes they are specially designed for 

171

Off-topic / Re: Axes and hatchets

« on: December 22, 2019, 04:35:15 PM »

I thought this forum would be a good place to ask regular Fiskars (and derivatives, such as Gerber) axe/hatchet users, especially those who have used other axes too: what are YOUR experiences with them? Have you ever seen that dreaded handle break? What do you use them for?

I have a Fiskars axe for chopping firewood. After 15 years of regular use the handle displays absolutely no signs of failure.

For other uses I have a set of vintage axes, blades by Billnäs. They are great to work with, and I enjoy the feel of the wooden handle.

172

Suggestions / Re: Patreon

« on: December 13, 2019, 07:43:19 PM »

Comparing my experience with them gives Patreon a clear win.

That has been my main question - for the fan / supporter what is the difference between using Patreon or directly using PayPal, and I've always somehow assumed that the difference isn't that big - one just hits a button at this or that platform, yes?

But if JEB Davis says that using Patreon feels a lot easier that using PayPal regular donations, then I've been mistaken and I would be glad to hear more abou the differences - how is Patreon easier, what are the pros (and, alternatively, what are the cons of PayPal?)

(Also, this is what I meant by saying that I'm probably bit too old school - I'm aware that Patreon exists, but I haven't used it that much. Also, I have very limited user experience with PayPal, so I really can't base my judgements on my own experience. Therefore I'm more than happy to be educated by those who have have more user experience with different platforms.)

Ps. personally I've long since decided to keep my blog strictly non-monetized. But sometimes we have discussed with Sami about a possibility to set up a Patreon profile for not-strictly-urw-related-stuff like producing videos and music. But then the developer life tends to be overwhelmed with so many things coming and going that we haven't been discussing Patreon ideas for a while.

Pps. Sligthly sidetracking the thread - for another ideas tagged 'in-the-future-possibly-maybe', I'd like to ask if anyone has anything to say if different crowdfunding platforms make any difference for the user? Does it matter if one chooses Kickstarter or Indiegogo? Or, a Finland-based alternative mesenaatti.me - would a less known Finnish alternative turn away potential funders? Or is it so that the platform matters less and it is the quality of the proejct which affects when people choose if they are willing to participate in crowdfunding a project?

173

Suggestions / Re: Patreon

« on: December 13, 2019, 08:28:56 AM »

Hello!

Yeah we are aware of Patreon. But maybe we are just too old school to really figure out how it makes things easier compared to the "set up a regular monthly donation"-system already offered by PayPal. Although - it might be that the PayPal way of placing a monthly donation is not actively promoted at the moment, so I do understand that it requires a bit too many clicks for the supporter to figure out such an option exists. I think we need to think about this 

174

General Discussion / Re: Sale

« on: October 22, 2019, 03:54:19 PM »

I think URW has been, and will be, on sale at Steam.

But I do remember Sami saying that with this kind of indie project we can't go on massive sales like -50% or something. So the discount percentage is likely to be more modest.

175

Gameplay questions / Re: Question about Combat and Accuracy

« on: October 09, 2019, 08:20:06 PM »

In addition to what others have said;

regarding the ranged combat:
- what is the quality of the arrows you are using? Curved ones are almost guaranteed to miss, more so the longer the range.
- a stationary target is easier to hit than a moving one.

regarding melee combat:
- sometimes it is a valuable tactis to disable the opponent. For example, a good bash to the leg is better than three missed thrusts aimed at the head.

176

Development News / Re: Colorful domestic animal summary

« on: April 11, 2019, 09:00:21 AM »

Are you planning to make animal breeding a feature?

It is listed on the official development list.

177

General Discussion / Re: Njeperz, who are they and why?

« on: March 28, 2019, 08:29:50 AM »

Didn't know UrW time frame is Corresponding to Medieval Age,

Yes, that is because while most of the Europe was living High Middle Ages marked by influence of The Church, cultures in Finland and Scandinavia were still pagan. So, in the history of Finland "Middle Age" only begins after the King of Sweden had converted to Christianity and launched a series of crusades to Finland, eventually conquering the territory. (that happens gradually during 1150 - 1250 AD. UnReal World is not stricty based on exact timeline, we are using some artistic freedom to imagine a world where those crusades either started a bit later, or didn't happen at all.)

So, before those events Sweden, Norway and Denmark were living their Viking Era, the rest of the Europe was Middle Ages, and in Finland it was the Viking period of Iron Age. (The philosophical point; History often operates on broad general terms which apply to central areas. When speaking about the history of Europe we conveniently use terms like 'Antiquity', 'Middle Ages' and 'Modern Times', but it should be noted that those broad terms don't apply uniformly to all of what is now Europe. The details and local variations are always a lot more diverse than the convenient simplicity offered by the general broad descriptions.)

178

Suggestions / Re: Could whistling arrows prove a good addition to ranged hunting ?

« on: February 06, 2019, 05:21:06 PM »

Yes, that's what I meant. It's all about tricking the birds to land temporarily,

Yeah, I was somewhat vague with my quotation, as my main intention was to clarify on the comment by More_tribal_interaction; indeed, when scared by a loud noise, the natural reaction of most of the birds, most of the time, would be to scatter away, taking evasive manouvers in flight (making them even harder to hit with an arrow). So the special trick is with aquatic birds when they happen to be flying above a body of water - in that spesific case their insincts drive them to dive into the water, instead of trying to rapidly fly away.

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Suggestions / Re: Could whistling arrows prove a good addition to ranged hunting ?

« on: February 03, 2019, 07:41:17 PM »

As Sami explains in the video, the particular design of whistling arrowhead he's demonstrating creates a sound that is reminescent of a falcon or other bird of prey's cry or chirp. Birds hunted by these species often have a tendency to seek cover if they hear these sounds. I suppose it's because many small bird of prey species, falcons included, are notoriously fast flyers. It might be a better survival strategy to ground yourself and hide, rather than trying to outfly them.

I don't have referenfe books at hand, but based on my memory: a whistling arrow works with aquatic birds, when the flock is flying above a body of water. The arrow is shot so that it flies above the flock of birds - they hear the whistling sound above them, take it as a sign of danger, and seek cover by diving into the water below them. Then the hunter readies ordinary hunting arrows, waits for the birds to surface one after one, trying to hit them the very moment when they surface - that often is the moment when they don't move for a second, and we all know that hitting a stationary target is far more easier than trying to down a flying bird.

180

Suggestions / Re: Craftable punts ? And what should the limitations be ?

« on: December 02, 2018, 03:35:34 PM »

There's actually a video of making an UnReal World -style punt. The footage is from 1936, so they're making a somewhat more modern version than the simple punt used in UrW. I'd assume UrW punt comes without those extra added boards to the sides, which they start attaching at 4:09 in the video.