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[triplejump]

Welcome to the devlog for Modlands!

Modlands is a colony/world-sim focused on ease-of-use and accessibility.

Subscribe to the Modlands YouTube channel for weekly devlogs, digests of streams, and more!

[triplejump]

AI will now seek out consumable objects and eat them when hungry.

[agusdrs]

I really like the idea. Following.

[tylerfunk]

Looks really interesting! I'll be following too

[triplejump]

Thanks! Here a new video with some of the features added in the latest build:





 

[Kyuugatsu]

I like it! It reminds me of those hidden "bases" some Pokemon games had, for some reason. I always wished they'd done more with those...

[triplejump]

Oh yeah, the Pokemon bases are a good reference! I'm actually working on a home system now, where if you make a rectangle from wall pieces and put a bed inside it'll count as a home, then you can drop an AI into it to set as the owner.

The owner will have its stats affected by the home quality, so if you fill the home with good furniture it'll be happier, if the furniture style is the kind the owner likes it'll get inspiration, etc.

[triplejump]

Today I got faster internet, which means now I can start livestreaming development!

Here is my first dev stream on Twitch:

https://www.twitch.tv/triplejumpgames/v/99902805

[triplejump]

Today's dev livestream - working on ambient spawning system for plants!

https://www.twitch.tv/triplejumpgames

[triplejump]

It's been a while since I've posted here, but I have been continuing to work hard on the game.



Here's a screenshot showing some apple orchard, a couple npcs running around, and various machines and pieces of furniture. The art and palette have gone through various iterations, so things feel a lot more consistent now than they used to.


In this screenshot we see colored lights. The object in the middle of the shot with the swirling colors on it is a dye vat - when you drop a flower into it, it spits out a dye object of that color, which you can then drop on dyeable objects to change their color - this works with torches, and also with objects that are made of cloth, like beds.


Here's a radioactive mushroom forest, with one-eyed mutants roving around. The technological base at the top of the screen is leaking glowing sludge that will damage most of the NPC and animal types.

There's a lot of new art and items going into the game every day now. The basics of the game are playable, and I'm aiming to do a limited-key alpha of the new version in about a month. Going to update more frequently on here as it gets closer.

[Zireael]

I love the pic with mutants and mushrooms! The lighting effects are awesome!

[triplejump]

Thanks!



Today I added brick walls, windows, and set up various wall shapes (straight, corner, t-junction, and cross) for segments made of wood, stone, metal, brick, and glass. I think these are going to be all the starting resources that will be available for making structures in the first alpha release (although eventually there will be lots more variations, like different kinds of wood, stone, and metal, etc.)

[triplejump]

I'm starting a Modlands Discord; this is going to be the main community for the game.

Join the Discord here!!! https://discord.gg/mW9gjUh



I've made some adjustments to the starting area, so that the tutorial stuff is all built into the title. Just by messing around with these starting objects, the player will start learning about all the different systems in the game.

[triplejump]

Conveyor belts are working in the game now! I'm going to get them feeding into all the machines in the game so you can make logistics chains.

[triplejump]

Created an endless loop of conveyor feeding biocube into cloning tube, which makes a randomized human, which goes down the conveyor to the biocompressor and gets made into another biocube. :D

[triplejump]

Today I worked on a demo camera system to make it much easier to capture nice shots for upcoming videos of the game. Also did a lot of refactoring of the time class so it can independently adjust/override world time and clock/calendar time. I can do things now like have the stuff in the world run at normal rate while the seasons rapidly advance, etc.

[triplejump]

The past week I've been working on a bunch of necessary things to get to what I'm calling Super Early Alpha. Things like getting a player profile saving/loading, setting up an installer, necessary fixes to map saving/loading, major internal improvements to object pooling, and cleaning up the UI with a more readable font.

Here's the selection UI on a human with the new font and hint text:



I think doing the conditional hint text like this is a better way to introduce concepts without feeling too heavy-handed. I was trying a "missions" window UI before, but that got annoying and was easy to ignore. With this, you get only the info you care about at the moment you're interacting with an entity.

Oh, the game also now has rain/snow and thunder!

[triplejump]

This week I added the first Twitch features to the game! This seems like it's going to be one of the most important features, as people in the Twitch chat can create their own in-game avatars and customize them just using commands in the chat. It's made the Twitch devstreams a lot more interesting and interactive!

Join the Discord for updates on the upcoming Super-Early-Alpha, and times for upcoming streams, and you can play the game as a Twitch user!
https://discord.gg/mW9gjUh

[triplejump]

Adding the first version of mobs that spawn at night; here are a bunch of them swarming a sleeping human!

[triplejump]

Living snowman in his house at the north pole; walks out to greet some penguins.