Back in January I launched Alpha 0.3 which brought a variety of new features into the game including customisable keyboard controls, resolution fixes and some aesthetical changes among other things. This was the last update that I felt the game needed to reach a semi-stable Alpha state, which is why until then I had been regularly uploading builds to focus on player feedback and general improvements.

Since then, I have been working on the path to 0.4 which will feature a large number of physical improvements to the way that the game handles current systems and also bring a whole new set of systems into the game.

Kingdom Expansion

The first of which worth mentioning is the Kingdom Expansion feature which is something I’ve wanted to implement for a while now. As a player you will no longer start with a huge empty expanse of land, but instead a small quadrant of space that is yours to build upon.

I think the reason I wanted to do this was to give the player more to achieve during the start of the game and force them to think more tactfully about the way that their Kingdom is built and develops over time. The first grid section can fit enough of the initial buildings that you need such as the Quarters, Tavern and Noticeboard so there’s no immediate reason to expand however your first expansion is also a reasonable enough price should you wish to do so. It won’t put you out of pocket straight away, but as you begin to expand each expansion will cost more and more gold. So it’s best to expand when you really need the space and can afford to do so.

I also really like the idea of each Kingdom expanding differently with each playthrough. You are constantly available to expand in any adjacent direction, so I often find myself trying out new layouts each time I’m testing the game.

Competing Kingdoms 

I mentioned previously that I really wanted to start adding in and improving the simulation systems into the game. Up until this point Settlements and Kingdoms were pretty useless as there hasn’t been any way to interact with them properly.

Now, Kingdoms are functional. They work in the background as you play and simulate alongside you. From time to time they may require your assistance and if you help them out they’ll owe you a favour which in the future you’ll be able to redeem somehow. (I’m not quite sure yet. Possibly relating to Villains and Epic Quests)

In this instance Calcenorous was in trouble and required the help of one of my Heroes. So I let them borrow Philip the Brave, who wasn’t doing much at the time.

Actually after this Lealith then called upon me again, though this time I only received 25 gold for renting out his services, so I went to check the Kingdoms screen to see what the problem was and evidently their kingdom had run out of money.  I single handedly managed to bring their wealth down just by giving them on of my Heroes! At the moment it’s giving you gold based on a percentage of their wealth, but in the future should they wish to hire a Hero it will be based on their worth, a value that is defined by their traits and experience.

Kingdoms will require your assistance from time to time and may often ask for more than just Heroes or Loans so it’ll be up to you whether you want to help them out or seal their fate.

Hero Traits and Happiness

I’m honestly not sure why it’s taken so long to implement this, I think it’s due to the fact that I’ve had to refactor the Quest system in order for Hero Traits to work properly. Now, when you hire a Hero you’ll notice a newly designed menu that includes a list of randomly generated traits that are assigned to that Hero and each Trait has its own property affects your Hero within your Kingdom or on Quests. For example Heroes with the Fast Learner trait will gain more experience on Quests and Heroes with the Weapons Master Trait will receive a boost to their stats whenever they are equipped.

There’s only around 9 traits available at the moment and I’ll probably have added more by the time that 0.4 goes live but these will increase over time as features grow.

I’ve also started focusing on Happiness. Much like Kingdoms and Settlements it’s something that’s been sitting in the background of the game for a while and with this update I’ve really wanted it to start to really affect how you play the game. Starting with Heroes which now currently have Five happiness values (Health, Tiredness, Activeness, Entertainment and Social) that relate to their overall Happiness. It is up to you to manage your Heroes and keep them happy, if they are unhappy they will perform poorly in quests and may refuse to work altogether.

I’ll break down the traits and happiness values in more detail in the future.

Improved Custom Quest Feedback

Due to implementing the traits features I’ve had to spend some time working on the Custom Quest and brought the return of a much more accurate and (I think) more helpful feedback system. The end screen now shows off how well you’ve done and gives three bits of feedback based on the choices you’ve made.

This is just a small number of the new features and improvements that have been made since the 0.3 build of the game and there’s still a lot I haven’t touched on, I’ll probably post another development update going into more detail about Happiness Values and the improvements to Adventurers sometime soon.

Right now, I’m really focusing on getting as much as I can into the 0.4 build of the game ready to take to EGX Rezzed in a couple of weeks.

So if you’re going, be sure to stop by and say hello and come and check out some of the new features!

Thanks for all the support.