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[Greipur]

New batch of interface mockups, please tell me what you think. I realise you can't necessarily have pointers on what the individual feedback does, but general graphical design pointers is just as good.

This is the latest iteration of the calendar. Showing the player what people expect to be done, or what they objectively need. Could mean many things.






I've added a tooltip that not only explains the commandment but also explains in more detail the likes and dislikes for the commandment.

[JobLeonard]

Is the calendar like an "emergent mission tab"?

Also, I was wondering if the positive or negative attitude to commandments was binary, or will have degrees of like/dislike? In the latter case you could stack multiple up/down arrows to indicate degrees of liking

[Greipur]

Is the calendar like an "emergent mission tab"?

More or less, though I hesitate to use the word "mission" in this context due to its normal game connotation. Missions are usually something the player must do to progress in my experience, which is not the case here. I would call them "deadlines" instead. For example "City X runs out of food in this period." etc.

Also, I was wondering if the positive or negative attitude to commandments was binary, or will have degrees of like/dislike? In the latter case you could stack multiple up/down arrows to indicate degrees of liking

The faith level will not be binary so mechanically that's very probable. How it will function in the interface is more unclear, at least in the commandment tablet itself. But I've more mockups below which in some places shows several degrees of likes.


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More mockups!

Global Faith - A median calculated from the individual cities. In the tooltip you can see what commandments made them gain or lose faith.

Local Faith

Ideology - Not entirely sure how we'll work out the details yet, but probably there will be a few archetypes that will be translated from the city needs. "Granite" is just some nonsense, but I'm thinking that we should avoid using conventional names. It's not that we have a problem with being controversial but rather that we want to avoid limiting the story potential, some players might want to avoid some real ideologies due to personal biases.

[Greipur]

Currently trying out ideas with how the followers will express their ideologies with art that can be seen in the cities. These are sculptures from a bloodthirsty lot.

[JobLeonard]

Hah, slowly turning into what Black & White promised but didn't deliver on

[Greipur]

Hah, slowly turning into what Black & White promised but didn't deliver on

Haha, I keep hearing the same thing but with us being what Godus should have been. But I will leave those statements for others to make, it sits uncomfortably with me to toy with people's expectations like that. But they are free to have them of course.

[Greipur]

Emelie did a flow chart to show the general behaviour for how the followers will react to commandments when ideologies and faith exist.

This is meant to illustrate that faith will be somewhat nuanced and that it will gradually transition into other states.

[JobLeonard]

Very clear! So if you give a command they at first don't believe in, is there any way they might change their mind?

[Greipur]

Very clear! So if you give a command they at first don't believe in, is there any way they might change their mind?

Yes, they might, if their ideology change. It depends on if the commandment "survives" long enough (as in not getting downvoted into oblivion). So this addition will be an important part in shaking up the habitual ways of the player, a strategy that was ineffective 30 minutes ago might well work now, for example.

[JobLeonard]

What if wars can induce cultural trauma? Or a sudden boost of economic wealth decadence?

[Zizka]

I really dig the pastel colored style you have going on, it's standing out from the rest. I usually spend less than 5 seconds checking each game but yours caught my attention as opposed to 20 that didn't. Well done.

Also, the concept seems deep and very creative. Intelligent stuff. You've got your own thing going on here, good job!

[Greipur]

What if wars can induce cultural trauma? Or a sudden boost of economic wealth decadence?

Interesting idea, I told Emelie about it.

I really dig the pastel colored style you have going on, it's standing out from the rest. I usually spend less than 5 seconds checking each game but yours caught my attention as opposed to 20 that didn't. Well done.

Also, the concept seems deep and very creative. Intelligent stuff. You've got your own thing going on here, good job!

Much appreciated Zizka!





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Here's more concept art for the ideology concept art, a little more positive this time. Will probably work on it some more. I've never done paintovers before, but it proved to save some time.

[Greipur]

Johannes is currently working on implementing the trader into the game, still a little rough around the edges though.

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I've been working out some of the details with the ideologies. We learned from the prototype that bringing in real world connotations is not necessarily a good thing. If people see words such as "conservatism" and "liberalism" they might get knee-jerk reactions if they are politically minded. This might influence their decisions and limit their exploration of Crest as a story space. Crest is not a critique of ideologies so we needed a way to do away with people's expectations.

I've used real ideologies as templates and came up with my own names. I've also used the "Crystal system" which differentiate different shapes of crystals. So instead of using real life symbols they have crystals instead.

Why crystals? Well, I'm currently watching Steven Universe which revolves around gems and crystals so it was just a random factor really. Though, I'd imagine that if people build a shrine to their own ideas they'd use something fancy.

[Greipur]

Holy cow! More bugs.

Johannes is currently adding the trader cow to walk alongside the trader, carrying their goods. Though, the current code is not matched to the walk cycle and thus this hilarious rocket cow was born. Bigger and better showcase on Twitter.



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I have been continuing with the work on the ideologies, here's a mockup on how they will decorate their districts. Will explore this more soon.






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This marks the beginning of my vacation so I'll be away from here for a week, but I'll be back posting about Crest in the end of April! 

[JobLeonard]

Keep the cow, just add dust clouds as it takes off

[Greipur]

Keep the cow, just add dust clouds as it takes off

Haha, and maybe add some physics simulation so the cow comes tumbling down from the mountain as well! I've heard that animals and physics is a great combo nowadays to earn the big bucks.  

[JobLeonard]

No but kind-of-seriously, the way he appears to "wind up" before take-off makes the whole thing perfectly cartoonish

[Greipur]

Back again with new stuff! Currently I'm doing more concept art for the ideologies, I've also realised that it would be nice to have small quotes next to them. On a superficial level this could be compared to Alpha Centauri.

The Hegemony - "The world would be a better place under our heel."

And here's the rest of the quotes.

The Maintainers – "Moderation in all things, especially for the new."

The United – "Together we stand, divided we fall apart."

The Flexible – "The universe should always be approached with irreverence."

The Preservers – "There is something greater than humankind which is worthy to protect."

The Profiteers – "Live life in the moment, every cycle is a valuable commodity, worthy of exploiting."


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Lots of new mechanics in the works as well, but I will catch up on what the team is doing the coming days.

[JobLeonard]

> On a superficial level this could be compared to Alpha Centauri.

Oh don't tease me like that

[Greipur]

> On a superficial level this could be compared to Alpha Centauri.

Oh don't tease me like that

No promises that I won't name-drop classics in the future.  



Here's more concept art!