See likes
See likes given/taken
| Post info | No. of Likes |
|---|---|
|
Happy New Year
Sometimes I'm a bit off and not too precise about the exact timing, but better late than newer - so ... Happy New year to all of you!  There's not that much snow this year compared to the past average, but it's winter nevertheless. And a new year ahead of us. Take care! January 02, 2021, 05:30:59 PM |
1 |
|
Suggestion reply marathon Apr-Dec 2020 accomplished.
We've had a habit to do suggestion reply marathons, which means giving a reply to each suggestion from a longer period of time. This time the marathon covers nine month period from April to December 2020. Suggestions are something we've always tried to read and reply, because there's really no reason for suggestions section to exists if developers aren't really paying attention to it. However, this time the marathon was quite laborous task and took few weeks even to accomplish. The time is limited, and we'll see how it goes in the future, but at least 2020 is wrapped up now and the development roadmap hopefully that much more clearer to those who follow the section. There were 110 suggestion in total, ranging from simple ideas which can be done in few hours to massive descriptive visions that would require months, if not half a year of work. If someone imagined all the suggestions from the period being put to effect it might very well take a year, or two - or more. Well, of course that is not how it goes, and we have always had neverending to-do list by ourselves too. For us the suggestions section serves as a place to give more detailed insight about the mechanics and future developent, and at their best the suggestions occasionally cross, boost and enchance the roadmap and to-dos at the development chambers. We hope to have time to participate in discussion in the future too. The majority of suggestions during the period were about the game interface, character skills & related mechanics, and NPC behaviour & interaction. 9% of the participating posters did write 52% of all the suggestions. The results are compiled in one forum thread which you can find here (pinned at Suggestions section): https://www.unrealworld.fi/forums/index.php?topic=6202.0 January 05, 2021, 07:03:33 PM |
1 |
|
Roast in embers - starting with turnips
Been working on a new cooking method, roasting in embers. For starters this will be featured as a recipe to cook turnips in traditional fashion, but related cooking options will be likely expanded in the future. It's been surprising amount of thinking and coding to get it done but now it appears to be working nicely. Browsing the code I also came across some earlier preliminary definitions for ember-roasted turnips so we've been on the edge of adding this somewhere in the past. And no wonder, as it can be considered one of the essential dishes. Back then, who knows how many years (or decades?) ago, it must have been too costly for the current schedule - or just simply misplaced under the other workload. But now ember-roasting code is finally there, and in the next patch you'll be cooking turnips the new way. Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers. For the convenience of timing you can start roasting in embers already when the fire is clearly dying and about to burn out soon, given that enough embers has been produced already. The game will notify about the lack of enough embers so the necessary conditions can be figured out quite easily. Because of many little tricky things, ember-roasted turnips will be featured as hardcoded cooking method in the same fashion as general roasting (of meat and fish). However,we'll likely add cookery tag [embers] or something to allow the condition requirement and cooking method to be utilized in recipe modding too. Now, after this is finalized I'll continue with checking about the possibilities of adding pit-roasting, as it would be also essential an turnip recipe for mass cooking them. Pit-roasting is more demanding task so I don't know just yet if it reaches the stage of only preliminary definitions or actually starts rolling. But something will be cooking in the dev. chambers nevertheless... January 24, 2021, 05:12:40 PM |
1 |
|
"The cake is a lie" - exhibition at Finnish Museum of Games
An exhibition about video game food culture has opened at Finnish Museum of Games and like mentioned earlier UnReal World is featured and involved in the exhibition - and in the additional downloadable content. So, let's break it down. "The cake is a lie" exhibition is on display at Finnish Museum of Games 24.1.2021 – 31.8.2021. In addition to physical exhibition there’s also an additional downloadable content - .pdf publication dealing with the topic in more detail. In the publication you can find a whole UnReal World menu to try out, and quite an interesting interview too. And of course more about the other themes and games in the exhibition. There’s currently only finnish version of the publication available, but translated edition is coming up. We’ll let you know when it’s available, but for starters here’s exhibition briefing and .PDF download link in Finnish: http://vapriikki.fi/pelimuseo/studio/ http://vapriikki.fi/content/uploads/2021/02/kakkuonvale_julkaisu_A5_korkearesoluutio.pdf (There are some delicious images to browse even if you wouldn't understand the language.) And here’s the exhibition briefing in English: http://vapriikki.fi/en/pelimuseo/studio/ Now this an exhibtion to visit if you happen to be around Tampere, Finland. For finns, here’s curator’s say about the exhibition. It’s really interesting and delicious summary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqA06pNmWN4 Now go have a look if possible - or enjoy the publication. Thanks and respect for the Finnish Museum of Games and organizers for the exhibition. It was a pleasure to participate, and I like to outcome very, very much. We'll let you all know when translated publication is available for download. February 11, 2021, 09:41:21 AM |
1 |
|
A very draft of textilecraft -- fibre processing on its' way
So we're adding fibre processing, from harvested plants into yarn, starting with nettles. It's a complex feat(ure) all-in-all and the things briefed here can change as we proceed. Now we're in the middle of brainstorming, study, coding and testing the initial mechanics - and also making changes to existing stuff to the extent that allows this type of new material processing in the first place. Starting with nettles we'll add few new habitats (ponds and wetlands) for them so that the newly featued usefulness will be practical in the wilderness conditions. Nettle harvesting also needs to be changed so that they can be harvested way earlier than currently, without seeds naturally, but in good length for fibre extracting. Fibres obtained will be probably categorized as PLANT item type, for easier spotting and selection from the inventory. For all the fibre processing and spinning yarn it's likely that we'll feature a completely new skill: textilecraft. The fibre processing in general will go through retting, drying and extracting fibres. We'd like to feature water retting based on the temperature, so it can be faster or slower depending on the weather (ie. water temperature), and becoming impossible in the freezing weather. We'd also like to make it possible to extract fibres from (fresh) nettles simply by hand without retting process required. It takes some time, but that's how you would craft a fishing line in the wilderness within few hours. For producing larger quantities of fibres the water retting would be the way to go, of course. Fibres can be spun into yarn either by hand, or with a spindle. The both options will be available. Crafting a spindle is simple, but the actual spinning is something you need to practise. Textilecraft skill would come in handy there, as the beginners surely don't produce yarn all that fast at all. That's some of the to-dos (and actually some dones also) from top of my head to come up with satisfying fibre processing. With this addition I found it better to proceed kind of backwards... So at first I've got some (magically generated) nettle fibre, and a spindle - a new craftable item. Textilecraft menu is set up with the initial options. Retting, drying and extracting are mere placeholders, but spinning yarn is being coded now. Productions times and yield and internal properties of the bundles of fibre, and yarns are on the table. After the spinning code is ready, it's time to concentrate on the preceeding steps. Here's a very draft screenshot where I'll try to code Kuitu Kaumolainen through spinning his first nettle yarn. There's bundle of nettle fibres and spindle on the ground.  These are future additions - not yet functional in current version 3.63. March 17, 2021, 11:04:37 AM |
1 |
|
Textilecraft continued
Fibre processing is on the table. We'll be featuring a new skill, TEXTILECRAFT, which determines the success and time required for several work phases of processing fibres into yarn. For migrated characters textilecraft will be initiated to the cultural defaults upon first load. All the textilecraft options - retting, drying, spinning etc. - will be found in the general [M]ake menu, and can be also accessed simply by using the skill. Spinning fibres into yarn is now pretty much competely done, the productions times and yarn yield carefully considered. Textilecraft mastery, and using a spindle or not, naturally affects to outcome and spinning times. The actual mechanics of getting fibres spun works so that when "spin yarn"-textilecraft option is chosen you'll be asked to choose from the inventory which fibres to spin. After that you'll be informed how much yarn you can expect to get from that, and can select how much you wish to produce now. And then the spinning starts, with a spindle or by hand. During the playtest I've spun (magically generated) nettle fibres, but we'll be also making hemp as fibre source. The fibre processing keeps track of the master plant so the plant identity is easily turned into resulting yarn. Nettle yarn, hemp yarn, and so on. Flax is naturally something to think of. We'll see if it fits into this version. Now as the yarn generation from the fibres is working we'll be also adding yarns as village items, so instead of spinning your own you can also trade your yarn from some cultures. The big question still being pondered is how expensive yarn should be? It's hard work to spin yarn with a spindle, takes about minute to produce three feet (or a meter). Next up, coding and testing the preceeding steps; retting and drying and extracting fibres. A few screenshots follow.  Skills screen with TEXTILECRAFT in place.  After choosing the bundle of fibre to spin there's dialog asking how much of yarn Kuitu Kaumolainen wishes to produce on this go. March 24, 2021, 07:08:44 PM |
1 |
|
The Moon and The Crust
Erkka was visiting me last weekend and some really exciting weather engine achievements and accompanying real life adventures were made. Now there are two new essential weather features on the table - both still somewhat under construction, but most likely to be seen in the next version. And the features are... * The moon. Our weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. Lots of tuning is still pending, but we can already see that the full-moon nights in the game will be a different experience. Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be a of great help and extended the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. Just have a look at the screenshot compilation below.  Left: A casual midnight by the lake in dirt month as it appears currently in the game. Right: The same scenery with the new moon code in action. It's full moon and our nighttime visibility is a much different. * Snow crust Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on crust with skis now became much faster than their prey. Lots of work is still needed before snow crust support is all coded, but that's the intention. Now it also requires proper snow penalty to be added for NPCs and animals, and reworking the skiing code to some extent too. (And if you were thinking of skiing NPCs so were we.) The last weekend it was both full moon and snow crust possibility, so we also went experiencing these things in real life. Naturally these both are familiar experiences already, and as countryside kids we've learned possibilities of snow crust for work and leisure all the way from our childhood. But if you'd like to see the magic of skiing in moonlight without any artificial light, or get an idea about difference between skiing in slushy spring snow compared to the crust, we've got a short videoclip for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOcb_cm5UkE March 29, 2021, 05:36:42 PM |
1 |
|
Fibre processing continues with retting and some spin-off features
By now spinning code is all done and tested and polished, and we're happily able to spin both nettle and hemp yarn. With some new flora_*.txt tags added it's actually possible to add fibre yield for any flora_*.txt plant, although the textilecraft processes are modelled for nettle and hemp. But yes indeed for example flax as a new fibre source can be added relatively easily. We've also added straw, a mere stalk of certain plants, as a new item type. Straws will be a byproduct of threshing plants such as nettles and hemp, but with a flora_ tag of their other plants can be also given straw yield. Straws don't (yet) have specific use of their own but do serve as material for fibre processing. Straw items were added for the sake of being able to thresh valuable plants for seeds and leaves first, and still have the straw remaining for fibre. And now there's "retting" added for textilecraft options. It's a process for separating the fibres from the stalks of harvested plants, and the first and foremost option of them all. Retting is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. The soaking needs to be done by open water and the sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, varying from 5 to even 25 days. The warmer the water, the faster the retting process is. The retting doesn't occur at all in very cold water so it can't be done for example in the winter. However, nettles are a speciality and you can peel fibres from them by hand without retting, but it's relatively slow and mostly used only if small amount of yarn needs to be spun. Now the remaining steps to do on our way to completely finished textilecraft system for fibre processing would be drying the retted plants, and extracting the fibre. So let's continue ... These are future additions - not yet functional in current version 3.63. April 19, 2021, 04:48:22 PM |
1 |
|
Re: Fibre processing continues with retting and some spin-off features
Would villages process their raw hemp and nettle too? If so, it could be interesting to tie the final fibre stock in a village, to its rate of clothing production (chance of finding a nettle/linen clothing item). In this way, a player might actually go to villages around, selling or gifting them fibres and getting a new wardrobe next season 
April 20, 2021, 07:51:50 PM |
1 |
|
We're getting closer and closer to new release
We've pretty much finished the actual coding of upcoming release, version 3.70. Or it's more like we have to seize adding new features now if it's going to be released this month. Few of the initially planned features actually needed to be postponed for later, for example skiing NPCs. However, as there's now snow penalty functioning for NPCs and animals it will be kind of like payback time version. See, NPCs have been trudging through the snow ever so easily for many versions, but our skiing characters really have an advantage - for at least sometime. It's likely that 3.70 will be first released as beta version, and it will still grow with lesser features as we continue to work towards the final stable release. If nothing too complicated comes up with our test runs we'll start wrapping the release up in a week or two. June 16, 2021, 04:11:46 PM |
1 |