Hey all!
It's been a while and Aurora Heir is progressing steadily towards alpha 3.
First of all, I'd like to thank all who tried out alpha 2 and provided valuable feedback!
Feedback is crucial and I am extremely happy that I have received some.
Now then, alpha 3...
I have been improving all existing features and adding several new ones in my TO-DO list.
Here is a brief summary of features, that will be present in upcoming alpha 3 version.
Resource System
The whole resource system has been rewritten so that there will be a bunch of new and different resource types, which are categorized as follows:
- Miscellaneous
- Food
- Minerals
- Wood
- Tools
- Weapons
- Beverage
Each of these categories contains either harvested raw materials or cultured consumables, which may be crafted in various production buildings. In the end, this contributes towards more interesting resource management and more complex production chains.
I'm now using JSON based configuration for each of the resources, which leads to the fact that I can add or remove resources relatively easily in the future.
Buildings and harvesting
As a part of updated resource system, I've added following new buildings:
- Blacksmith (this one was already in alpha 2, but with different function)
- Smelter
- Tavern
- Workshop
- Sawmill
Additionally this basically means that there will be several new professions available.
Also new residential buildings have been added to enable more varying village layouts.
Several existing buildings has also received facelifts with new functionality.
In alpha 3 player may assign desired harvest zones for buildings and farms can now grow either turnips, potatoes or barley.
Nomads and trading
I decided to add nomads to the game, who are neutral native people with hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
They live in tepees and migrate according to natural yield. They might be willing to trade resources with player providing vital assistance in dire times.
Player just have to figure out first where to find them.
Storage Management
Storage buildings have now own inventory of resources instead of only expanding overall storage capacity. This also means, that resources must be hauled to closest storage with sufficient space for the resource.
Workers in production buildings must fetch resources from storage for recipes that they craft, alternatively player may assign conveyors to Sheds, which will handle the distribution of resources.
Advancements
Many of the advancements has been re-designed and whole new branch has been added to "tech tree".
New and more effective tools and weapons may be unlocked from dedicated branch.
Other enhancements
Based on feedback received, I've fixed several bugs and hopefully the game plays much better in the future.
As usual, camera controller, environmental details, weather effects, navigation etc. has all received various updates and additions.
Thanks for reading!
