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[JobLeonard]

Anticipating problems before they arise does sound like a proper aspect of a macro-economy sim.

BTW, the focus of the last few pages of posts have (rightfully) been on the economy side of things, since that is what keeps cities alive. At the same time, the method of interaction is still decrees, right?

So in a way, it looks like you're starting to "encode"¹ the notion that religious beliefs arise from economic needs into the gameplay. What are your thoughts on that?


1: with "encode" I mean something like how the types of toys we give to children "encodes" gender norms.

[Greipur]

[...]the method of interaction is still decrees, right?

So in a way, it looks like you're starting to "encode"¹ the notion that religious beliefs arise from economic needs into the gameplay. What are your thoughts on that?

Yes, the player still makes commandments. I think that as the simulation expands you will see more than economic needs but yes, at the moment perhaps 60-70% of the game circles around those aspects. I think it boils down to that a lot of our needs boils down to simple physical requirements and how to fulfill them. The interesting conflicts stems from how to fulfill them, at the moment "assigning" the work force and trading is the most obvious interactions, but our ambition is to branch out more into the ecological aspects and also just generally co-exist with other humans (or not). Though the City States update adds some more conflicts that can encourage the player to say things like "Hey, don't go on a genocidal rampage, that's wrong!" etc.



Edit: I think what I'm trying to say is that just as a concept like Maslow's Pyramid we first have to build a solid basic need simulation and then add human drama on top of that.

[JobLeonard]

 

[Greipur]

Jonas updated the trading relationship shader, now it arcs in a nice bezier curve instead. Still needs to show what resources they are trading, coming soon!

[Greipur]

Working hard on getting the update out on the 4th March, there's still a chance that we actually keep that deadline. Here's a bunch of gifs!




The trade symbol feedback is more or less finished, later on we will have actual traders wandering about, but we had to cut it for the update.

And now warriors are running about killing each other over pieces of the ground. I'm thinking of adding a short idle animation before recording gameplay for the trailer.

Most of the team is focusing on getting the features done in time, but Christoffer and I are still working on the trailer.

[JobLeonard]

I think I spot a few glitches in the matrix

[Greipur]

I think I spot a few glitches in the matrix

You and me both, but we're workin' hard to patch the bugs. Meow.








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Crest Coming to Conventions!



Just wanted everyone to know that the current plan is that Crest will be represented on MomoCon (USA, Atlanta) and Gamescom (Germany, Cologne). The first one in the end of May and the latter in August. If you live on an island in the Baltic Sea (part of Sweden) you're far away from the epicenter of games, and travelling costs a lot, that's why we haven't been keen on conventions, we'd rather have wages. But now with our cooperation with our new pr partner they can represent us at both of these places, almost for less than it would cost in travelling costs alone!

Since we recently found two investors we can now afford some more and we wanted to increase the visibility of Crest, but we're still not in the league where we can travel across the Atlantic (or even cruise to Germany at our leisure), so this middle-ground is a great option. I would really recommend this if you're in that catch 22 of not having loads of cash, but needs the exposure to get money.

[JobLeonard]

 

Nice middle-ground. Who knows, maybe you can do a videochat session for the press there

[Greipur]

Nice middle-ground. Who knows, maybe you can do a videochat session for the press there

Yeah! Haha, we can have a robotic camera on wheels driving around at the booth.



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Just wanted to put it out there that we're currently looking for a programmer, part-time job for six months. Read more on our site: http://eatcreatesleep.net/hiring

[JobLeonard]

Sorry, already hired by a crazy research group in Stockholm

(also, I doubt I meet the specific requirements)

[Greipur]

Currently capturing gameplay footage for our trailer and came upon this fascinating glitch, cause unknown but I've my inkling that it's some leftover from an earlier world. Thought it looked interesting so wanted to share it here.

[JobLeonard]

 

If that darkness spreads out it could be a really cool Game Over effect

[Greipur]

If that darkness spreads out it could be a really cool Game Over effect

It would, if Crest would've been more of a fantasy game then that would really be interesting. It's hard to circle around what Crest really is, it's not a fantasy game, because we're not that crude that we say that religious people believe in made-up stories. Yet, it's not completely historical either. Maybe magical historical realism with a theological theme?

This effect reminds me of Oberon's Court by the way, I think it would suit that game better.

[io3 creations]

Currently capturing gameplay footage for our trailer and came upon this fascinating glitch, cause unknown but I've my inkling that it's some leftover from an earlier world. Thought it looked interesting so wanted to share it here.

My first impression was that I was looking at a natural event/Act of God - i.e. the aftermath of solidified lava from volcano. 

[Greipur]

My first impression was that I was looking at a natural event/Act of God - i.e. the aftermath of solidified lava from volcano.  

That's true! It could have been proper, if we would've had acts of god.


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In other news we changed our rendering method from forward to deferred, since the former broke the Shader Forge shaders (the sea in particular). Worth noting if you have problems yourself. We've some fancier bounce light going on now, so that's a plus.

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Also, here's some progress on godly demographics!

[Greipur]

Tomorrow is the deadline for the new update, looks like we'll make it! The programmers are pushing the last features in. Currently we're also rendering the cinematic, takes ages, even when utilising Blender's fancy Cycles Render together with CUDA. Next time we'll definitely plan rendering times better, to solve this in time we're using all the computers we can find, at work and home.


Here's a frame from one of the clips.

[Greipur]

The City States update is live at last on Steam and itch! Here's our trailer. Now, time for weekend!  

[JobLeonard]

 

[JobLeonard]

So I gave the new version a try. Most of the time my people won't come out of their houses, is this normal? Also, they seem to gather food without triggering the tutorial

[Greipur]

So I gave the new version a try. Most of the time my people won't come out of their houses, is this normal? Also, they seem to gather food without triggering the tutorial

Yeah, some of the AI is a little flaky after all of the new systems, we need to issue a hotfix next week. Feel free to send a bug report or two from the game, that helps a lot for the programmers to find the issues. When people stay in their house that's mostly because they're unhappy, which decreases their available time units or work efficiency, the happier your people are the more they go outside and work. Probably something we need to clarify further down the line with more feedback. So I'm not sure if it's working as intended or they're acting up in your case.

Not sure I quite follow about the tutorial part though, please elaborate further.