In Lithic, the game world is divided up into different zones. Each zone has a purpose – there's no “dead space” in the world. We've decided to do this so we can pile as much detail as possible into important areas and avoid players having to wander through empty land looking for something to eat. This represents the lush environment – remember the world of Lithic hasn't seen industry and so is rife with food and animals to hunt along with... other... interesting finds.
There are five different kinds of zone in Lithic, below is a short description of what you're likely to find in them:
Habitation
Habitation zones are zones suitable for living in, they usually consist of some form of flat ground to build on, or some form of natural shelter (caves etc.). These zones also contain at least one water source and a few gathering points where your tribe can find food. These food points are usually not enough to sustain a medium sized tribe and you will have to branch out into other zones to grow and advance.
Gathering
Gathering zones can contain suitable sources of workable stone; dead wood for building and burning to keep warm; and small animals that can be trapped and eaten along with edible plants and roots. A Gathering zone can contain one or several of these different resources in varying amounts.
Hunting
Hunting zones contain larger animals suitable for eating and will be your tribe's main source of meat. The animals contained within these zones vary in hunting difficulty and as where's there's prey, there's usually predators – Hunting zones are where you're most likely to find a predator on the hunt for food and in most cases they're not going to be against selecting you as their target.
Encounter
Encounter zones can contain one of several things – a powerful elemental, magic-touched predators who are much stronger than their untouched kin or even forgotten Ix-Aan ruins. These zones have a high risk/reward value and can be the source of equipment far beyond what your tribe is capable of making or inventing, which can lead to expedited learning. They could also be guarding an abundance of edible plants, meaning that should your tribe succeed in removing the threat they can relax for a while with the knowledge that food is readily available. Encounter zones are like treasure rooms, always dangerous, but also offering a great reward.
Special
Special zones are more prevalent in story mode, containing plot points and are not procedurally generated. They might appear in free-roam mode as a sort of objective point, but will likely be scarce.
The zones serve as a guide to what to expect in a particular area, and as we're not currently planning on providing the player with an in-game map we felt the zones needed to be concise and instantly recognisable as to their purpose. I hope you've enjoyed reading this week's blog and as always if you have any questions feel free to ask away below or on the Lithic Twitter!
