TIGSource Forums

I guess I'll start with an indev screenshot to give an idea about the game:

(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TribeOfPokPreview.png)
(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/TribeOfPokPreview2.png)

In essence, Tribe of Pok is a tribal survival simulation/strategy game inspired by games such as Dwarf Fortress and the Cultures series. It's about a tribe of hunter-gatherers trying to eke out an existence in a savage environment.

Current Features

Simulated natural environment

• Water flow, ground saturation, evaporation, organics, temperature and humidity
• Plant life cycle - absorb organics from soil, produce fruit during maturity and return organics upon death
• Weather - Rain, heavy rain, snow, heatwaves, cold waves
• Day/night cycle and seasons
• Fire - controlled and uncontrolled

Simulated animals

• Hunger, thirst, sleep and stamina
• Animals travel in herds around the map trying to fulfill their own needs
• Aggression system - animals make fight or flight decisions based on different factors (aggression, distance to threat, etc)
• Human state changes based on internal temperature (heatstroke, hypothermia, coma)
• Migration events
• Animal statistics such as weight and strength change based on age

Basic crafting

• Weapons - knife, axe, spear, bow & arrow
• Tools required to craft some items
• Leather clothing

Basic construction

• Food and tool pits
• Beds
• Snare traps

Decay

• Food left in the open decays very quickly
• Carcasses decay

Resource gathering

• Plants can be cut down or harvested
• Carcasses can be butchered
• Mineral extraction (very basic)
• Hunting

Planned features

• Diplomatic interactions with neighboring tribe

I've been running a devblog at http://pokingwatergames.com/devblog/ (http://pokingwatergames.com/devblog/). You can try the free version (Alpha 4) by signing up for the newsletter from the website.

(http://button.indiedb.com/popularity/medium/games/24148.png) (http://www.indiedb.com/games/tribe-of-pok)

I'm a sucker for simulation games so I will follow for more updates.

I've nothing concrete to give just now except that if it's your first game I'd recommend to be wary with how much you want to simulate. Often I believe less is more whatever game one makes, but especially in games that wants to be closer to life than your average game. It's very easy to get into feature creep territory in my opinion. Ask for every feature, does this really expand what the player can interact with? And is it meaningful interaction?

I don't know if you know about MDA (http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf), that's what I've been taught anyway. It's a good theoretical framework that helps one to avoid feature creep imo.

Thanks for the article, I've added it to my "to read while game is compiling" list ;D. I've been trying to read as many articles as I can on game design and development. Early on I got caught out by scope creep quite a bit, and took out some of the more time-consuming features I was implementing. Definitely something to be wary of.

this is my jam

Here's a gif of what happens when a tree is set on fire during winter. Each tile stores its own temperature based on the global temperature, offset by any local effects. The fire raises the local temperature component of each tile and causes the snow and ice to melt:

(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/DevUpdate20140607g.gif)

A new update is available! It features a new left-click-drag designation system that allows you to basically paint the world in task designations, as shown by this animation:

(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/DevUpdate20140711g.gif)

Since last update I've been working on aspects that allow the player to organise a larger tribe more easily, as well as give more choice in how to manage the tribe.

Major Changes

• Open stockpiles - There are pits for food and racks for tools, and this worked well at the beginning. However as you your tribe progresses, raw materials such as tendons and bones tend to accumulate around the meeting point in a big mess. Open stockpiles are introduced to handle this. You can create an open stockpile from the Stockpile Panel and set what is allowed/forbidden to be stored in each pile. Then designate the hexes associated with that stockpile in any shape. This system allows for more strategic opportunities. For example, you could create a wood-only stockpile as a barrier and set it on fire to scare away predators, or suddenly melt a frozen lake to drown any animals standing on the ice.
  (http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DevUpdate20140813.png)
• Hex maximum capacity - Hexes now have a volume limit, meaning you cannot store infinite objects on one hex. If too many objects are in the same position and their total volume exceeds the hex's volume capacity, then some objects will "slide" to an adjacent hex. This effect is most obvious when butchering a large carcass with lots of parts, such as a mammoth, but you will also see the effect when piling too many objects in one cell.
  (http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DevUpdate20140813g.gif)
• Diplomacy - Relations can change with other tribes depending on your actions. Right now I've only set up the foundations for this mechanic, you can either taunt or trade with the enemy. I hope to expand it with more interesting options in future that fit well into the game.
• Trade - To go with the new diplomacy system, I have introduced trading into the game. Trading involves bringing offered goods to a trading post, deciding what you want to receive in return, and then sending someone off the map with your goods.
• Rivers - Rivers are working! It took a while but they're in now. Water flows in endlessly from the river entrance and flows out from the river exit points. I'm anticipating problems with the pathfinding since locations on one side of the map can't be reached from the other, and will deal with them as they occur.
  (http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/DevUpdate20140811.png)

Other changes

• Melee damage and weight of object updates each day based on age
• Progress bars for actions such as cutting trees, constructing buildings, etc
• Wearables such as boots merged into Clothing class
• Food decay rate now affected by temperature / humidity

I've done some work on shaders, fires emit light!

(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/DevUpdate20140913g2.gif)

New tiles here, slowly replacing all my programmer art:

(http://pokingwatergames.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/DevUpdate20141017b.png)