AVWW Post-Release 1.108 "Construction Sometimes Starts With Demolition" Released

[x4000]

Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2012/06/avww-post-release-1106-construction.html

This one is perhaps surprisingly substantial given the scope of what was released just yesterday.

Balance/Bugfixes For The New Stuff From Yesterday
First of all, there's some various balance/bugfix stuff relating to the new levels system, etc.  Aside from one major gaffe with not saving the stockpiles when you exit the game, this has been surprisingly trouble-free so far.

I know there's been some discussion on the forums about various aspects of the new balance, but please don't hesitate to let us know your thoughts and suggestions further.  We're aiming to have a polished version 1.2 ready to go next Friday (the 6th), so we really want that feedback.

Through Monday or Tuesday Keith and I are going to be particularly heads-down with implementing new stuff (more spell modifiers on his part, the citybuilding revamp on my part), but we still want to know what you think during this time.  We'll address the most critical stuff as soon as we can, and in general do the bulk of our polish pass on Thursday and Friday of next week once we do a feature freeze on Tuesday (Wednesday being a holiday for us in the US).

So What's This About A New Citybuilding System?
Well, we're off to a great start with this.  There's still a fair bit to do to make the new system fully in place, but given so much infrastructure was already there we're pretty far along on it already.

All the old parts of the citybuilding that are going to go away have already gone away, and all the new buildings are in place and you can actually buy them and place them.

On the other hand, the new buildings and the NPCs are currently pointless.  Guardian power scrolls are now something that you trigger directly yourself, so NPCs and so forth aren't needed for that.  Hence the name of this release -- sometimes to do something new, you first have to do a little demolition to make way for it.

Regarding the new structures, if you've got a lot of NPCs in your towns on your continents, I strongly suggest working on getting 1 farm for each 6 NPCs prior to Tuesday.  Otherwise the NPCs will start starving to death at a rate of 1 NPC per continent per in-game day (10 minutes) once that later update hits.  Or, on second thought, we'll have to just make it part of the upgrade logic to make sure there are enough farms to support the populace when that version is upgraded-to.  So nevermind.

What's Coming With The New Citybuilding System?
Citybuilding was one of the feature we were most excited about in alpha, and it was something some people enjoyed in beta, but it was always really disconnected from the rest of the game.   The new system for citybuilding has you constructing your buildings right on the world map like you do wind shelters or ocean buoys, so everything is tightly integrated and there's no extra interface that you have to put somewhere else.

The scale of what you're doing now is also different -- you're working to make sure that your NPCs are skilled in their profession, that they are in a good mood, and that they are fed.

Then you will be able to use them on dispatch missions where they go do things for you like find a specific resource that has been eluding you, destroy an ice pirate patrol, or weaken the overlord.  And on higher citybuilding difficulties the overlord will be stronger so that you need to use your fellow survivors to do just that.

And of course this is just our plan for 1.2 -- something reasonably simple that doesn't involve a lot of micromanagement or distraction from the main game, but which instead augments it.  Beyond 1.2, we'll be entertaining other ways of expanding the citybuilding to do even more with NPCs; and with structures, for that matter.  There will finally be graveyards, and the vengeful ghosts will be more integrated with that sort of system, for instance.  But that's all stuff for 1.3, because it will take more balance testing than the current crop of citybuilding changes for 1.2 is expected to.

In terms of the details of the dispatch system and mood system so forth, we'll explain all that in the release notes on Monday and Tuesday as that is coming ready.

The Release Plan For 1.2
So, as mentioned, our plan for having 1.2 polished and "final" is Friday the 6th.  With a feature freeze on Tuesday the 3rd.  We don't plan on releasing 1.2 until Monday the 9th, however.  That gives players a weekend with the final release candidate, and we'll only make any changes to 1.2 after that point if something critical is found.  After that, starting on Monday we'll be plunging right into work on 1.3.

Between 1.0 and 1.1 there was an entire 40 day span, so this might seem a bit sudden, but 1.1 was not only deep changes but also wide (touching almost every part of the game).  The changes in 1.2 are deep, but much narrower -- just touching things like tiers (now levels) and citybuilding, etc.  Most of the infrastructure and balance hasn't had to change, and we're also not dealing with a bunch of pre-1.0 bugs that only got discovered once there was a wider audience this time, either.

Anyhow, the triumvirate of major new 1.2 features -- linear levels instead of tiers; procedural spells; new citybuilding -- are substantial enough that we don't want to get into a cycle where it takes another few months for those changes to find their way into the hands of players not using the latest beta.  It really feels like we're hitting a tipping point for the fun factor of the game with these changes, so I guess we're understandably eager to get them out to as many people as possible as soon as possible.

And to that end, that's why if there's something that is hampering your fun factor with the new system, please do try to let us know what we might do to be able to help you.  I mentioned the coming dispatch missions for specific materials in particular because I think that will solve one current issue, for example.

That's all for now!

I'm going to be very much away from the computer this weekend with holiday celebrations, so if there's something critical that needs to be fixed before Monday I hope people find it tonight. ;)  Otherwise more to come Monday.  Enjoy!

UPDATE: 1.107 is now out thanks to the quite timely efforts of some players running across some of our recent bugs from all these changes.  A couple of these are fairly severe, but the rest were just cleanup things that I did because apparently I was up anyhow. ;)  Knock on wood, hopefully this is the worst of it until Monday, but let us know either way if you're seeing stuff!

UPDATE: 1.108 is now out with a couple of more tweaks.

This is a standard update that you can download through the in-game updater itself, if you already have 0.500 or later. When you launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found if you're connected to the Internet at the time.  If you don't have 0.500 or later, you can download that here.

[freeformschooler]

I've never fully understood hunger mechanics in games... they tend to rely very heavily on stick over carrot. What gameplay/enjoyment benefits are added by having NPCs start to starve if you don't have a farm?

Pretty good release otherwise.

[x4000]

I've never fully understood hunger mechanics in games... they tend to rely very heavily on stick over carrot. What gameplay/enjoyment benefits are added by having NPCs start to starve if you don't have a farm?

To clarify: this is a soft pop cap.  So, for instance, build 1 farm and you can support 6 NPCs.  But if you find a 7th you can still rescue him/her.  But people start complaining about being hungry.  Only once you hit something that is causing extreme food shortages (like 2x as many people in the town as the farm supports without building more farms) then you start having a die-off from starvation.

The fun that is served by this?  It's more flexible, without making you have to build new farms immediately just to rescue another NPC.  No harm comes from people being a little hungry, it only gets bad when it hits starvation levels.

It's also got a dash of realism while at the same time being a pretty darn simple citybuilding system, so it's thematically fitting while also fitting that whole "the lost descendant of Actraiser" thing we had going for us at one time.

And if you hate citybuilding, that's okay -- you'll be able to just turn down the citybuilding difficulty to 0 and then not worry about rescuing NPCs much, etc.

[freeformschooler]

Ahhh, I wasn't entirely clear on that as a soft population cap, it DOES make sense. I was worried we were going to get into Tamagotchi Settlement territory.

[MouldyK]

Ahhh, I wasn't entirely clear on that as a soft population cap, it DOES make sense. I was worried we were going to get into Tamagotchi Settlement territory.

-starts making chip bleeps and sad noises in Freeform's ear to show he needs to be played with or else he might die-

[Misery]

This all sounds like pretty much exactly what I've been wanting to see come back to the game, which is some of the strategic worldmap stuff that was sorta hinted at in the beta.
 
Doing structure placing that way (as opposed to using a scroll and BAM a building shows up way in the background) sounds like it could have alot of implications in a good way.

Not to mention the "send NPCs on mission" thing.  That was hinted at in the beta as well, and I'd thought that idea had alot of potential.   Great to see it making a comeback.   It also means that those lazy bum NPCs will have to DO something for once.  I always have to be the one running off and dealing with horrible shrieking laser doom bats or whatever crazy thing it happens to be at the time, while those guys just run around aimlessly all day....

[x4000]

Glad to hear some general approval already!  I've been really wanting to take it back this way as well, but having a model for doing so is always the tricky part.  It had to be meaty enough to be fun, integrated enough to be meaningful to the main game, but simple enough not to be overwhelming or tedious.  I think the new system is those things, but it's taken a lot of iterations and thought for us to find our way there.  During beta we basically had to cut it back because what we had been doing wasn't working and was actively hampering the good parts of the game, so we focused on what was working and resolved to come back to these sometime later when we had a better idea of what to do with them.  Now it's "sometime later."

[mrhanman]

I'm VERY excited to hear that the city building elements are making their way back into the game.  It's very surprising that the game has come so far so fast.  I'm getting used to being constantly pleased with this or that change - all while never being disappointed in the present product.  The ingenuity and creativity of the Arcen Team knows no bounds, it seems.

[Penumbra]

Man, and I thought I was excited before! I love getting back to really interacting with the land instead of just using it as a level select screen. 

[x4000]

UPDATE: 1.107 is now out thanks to the quite timely efforts of some players running across some of our recent bugs from all these changes.  A couple of these are fairly severe, but the rest were just cleanup things that I did because apparently I was up anyhow. ;)  Knock on wood, hopefully this is the worst of it until Monday, but let us know either way if you're seeing stuff!

[Misery]

One problem I'm running into:  The game is obsessed with giving me rescue missions.   Over and over and over again.   I've already got at least one of all professions, but so far at least, it's still doing them.   I havent run into a secret mission in a building that IS NOT a rescue one.

Have yet to enter the caves and see if that's the case there as well.


Edit:  Something else I noticed:  Flash of Light went from "pretty good" to "utterly worthless".   That spell desperately needs a duration increase, 10 seconds isnt enough.   Previously, I always brought it up to Tier 3 before I started using it on a given continent, relying entirely on Moon Lamps before that.   Ball of Light is useless (I never bother with it), and Inner Light enchant takes up a slot that's too important to waste on an enchant that only lights things up (and other enchants with light as a side effect, the light always seems WAY too weak to be of any use).

Currently, I'm just avoiding caves entirely due to the lack of any non-annoying way of lighting them properly.

Edit 2:  Also, having had a bit of a look at a couple of uncommon spells, I think there needs to be a bit more of a gap between them and the common ones, considering that alot more effort is needed for the uncommon ones.  Part of the problem is a lack of variety in the added effects;  There's Haste, both positive and negative, and there's projectile speed, and a small debuff for movement speed.   The actual stats of the spell also dont vary even close to enough;  looking at two versions of Luminance Arc, one common level 7, the other uncommon level 7, there's a cooldown difference of about .08, and DPS increase of maybe 19..... not enough to really be worth it.    It's not that the uncommon versions arent useful;  stuff like the debuffs and haste and whatnot are useful, but I do think it needs to be a bit more over what the common ones are.

[Tobias]

This seems great, if I can make a recommendation, contact totalbiscuit and ask him to do another look at the game for 1.2 or 1.3, whatever you think would be the best time for that sort of thing, maybe when you've got prototypes of the new artstyle worked out.

[Tobias]

Also, got to ask, what is meant to be the main method of acquiring buildings like farms? 20k shards seems like a lot for something as vital as a farm, and like someone already said, 90% of secret missions you find are survivor missions.

[Nanashi]

With the new citybuilding systems in place, is there really a need for the world to be one pseudo-infinite contiguous chunk?

It might save processing power or storage space just to rebuild worlds as needed, instead of slowly crawling towards some disk-space limited event horizon. As of now, there's very little reason to ever visit previous continents. Creating a building system to go along with an exploration segment implies a slower pacing of the game is needed in order to enjoy the world construction aspect, unless you adopt a slash-and-burn approach towards progress.

An alternative is to link all new continents into one ever-growing stabilised katamari, which generates its own events, so that there's a pioneering/frontier expansion aspect to the game as well as a maintenance of territory aspect. Lay that down and you have the basic foundations of tactical PvPvE (Assuming direct PvP would be disabled), which would certainly make for a very strange but unique multiplayer experience.

Day Z has taught me that survivalists as a whole generally do not play happy families as much as dysfunctional clans.

[Misery]

With the new citybuilding systems in place, is there really a need for the world to be one pseudo-infinite contiguous chunk?

It might save processing power or storage space just to rebuild worlds as needed, instead of slowly crawling towards some disk-space limited event horizon. As of now, there's very little reason to ever visit previous continents. Creating a building system to go along with an exploration segment implies a slower pacing of the game is needed in order to enjoy the world construction aspect, unless you adopt a slash-and-burn approach towards progress.

An alternative is to link all new continents into one ever-growing stabilised katamari, which generates its own events, so that there's a pioneering/frontier expansion aspect to the game as well as a maintenance of territory aspect. Lay that down and you have the basic foundations of tactical PvPvE (Assuming direct PvP would be disabled), which would certainly make for a very strange but unique multiplayer experience.

Day Z has taught me that survivalists as a whole generally do not play happy families as much as dysfunctional clans.

It's probably so that players have the option of going back to previous continents, if for some reason they see the need, even if the need doesnt make a whole lot of sense yet.   It goes along with the overall idea of not limiting the player in terms of WHERE they can go.   Not to mention, the world saves seem to take up barely any space.   Also, there may, in future updates, be actual reasons to go back to earlier continents to accomplish something or other.   Limiting this at this point would be kinda pointless.

Also, got to ask, what is meant to be the main method of acquiring buildings like farms? 20k shards seems like a lot for something as vital as a farm, and like someone already said, 90% of secret missions you find are survivor missions.

The secret mission bit seems to be a bug.   I'm guessing that what's happening, is the game is for whatever reason stuck in "you dont have enough survivors of each profession!" mode.    So it's dropping rescue missions EVERYWHERE.    Which is pretty annoying..... definitely not easy to get scrolls of any type now..... but yeah, likely just a bug, so it'll get fixed.

As for the buildings in general, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.