Hey!
 
So EGX was an absolutely awesome weekend! I met some wonderful people including developers, previous fans of the game and hopefully brought some new players into the community. If you’re interested in what it’s like exhibiting at an event as an indie, or want to know how EGX 2015 went down you can read about it here.
 
If you’re interested in what some of the new features are, how they might work or you think that my voice is sexy and just want to hear me talk at you for about twenty minutes. You can check the preview video I’ve just posted running through the changes made in 0.9.
 

 

One of the biggest changes to the game is the addition of basic modding support. I won’t go too much into it yet but I’ll be covering the methods involved in getting some of your own work into the game via video walkthroughs and blog posts on the website over the coming weeks. I’ll also continue to improve mod support and find ways to make it easier when I get time between each update. Watch this space.
 
Secondly, please go crazy with the new sandbox mode. Build random stuff and tweet screenshots at me or share them with your friends. I’d love to see what opening the game up like this can allow people to create. (I just keep making loads of hedge-mazes)
 
Anyway, here’s a list of everything that’s new if you’re more into lists.
 

Update Notes

 
New Features

• Added Sandbox Game Mode
• Added Callbox Special Building
• Toilet Store Added
• Coffee Shop Added
• Cartography Store Added
• New Epic Quest Mission Tiles
• Improved Dice Roll System in Epic Quests
• New 6 Supply System
• New Objectives Added
• More Tooltips Added
• Special Epic Quest Events Added
• Improved Settlement System
• Heroes Can now Be Stationed in Settlements to protect them.
• Added Trait Requirement to some Epic Quest Choices
• Added Settlement Upgrades
• Combo History for Supplies now shows when selecting supplies
• Adventurers now visit multiple versions of the same store.
• Settlements become endangered over time after Year 2
• Attractiveness doesn’t decrease until Kingdom Level 2
• Completed 12 Track Original Soundtrack
• Heroes now require their own House
• Hero Status now shown in Hero Menu
• Level Up Animation added to Quest Debriefing
• New Alert Box Added
• Multiple Versions of the Same Building can now be placed.
• Stores can now be upgraded when levelled up using upgrade points.
• Non Multiple buildings now categorised in the “Special Tab”
• Icons added to Research Tasks
• Various UI Improvements
• Gem Inventory Item Added
• Diamond Inventory Item Added
• Tile now shows for Heroes while Occupying Buildings / Recovering
• New Training System that now requires Heroes to be sent to the building.
• Equipped Items now show while equipping other items in the inventory.
• Data Files now Accessible / Editable for Modding

Balance and Optimisation

• Better Compression / Organisation of Textures
• Red Text changed slightly for Colour Blindness Compensation
• Quest Choices slightly Rebalanced
• Attraction Decay Significantly Decreased
• Balanced some numbers to better fit difficulty.
• Clicking on Tiles in Build Menu will now let you purchase it.
• Made it easier to notice effects on Heroes when Equipping Items
• Increased Expansion Limit on Kingdom Level Increase.
• Lowered building buffs when levelling up to compensate for upgrades.
• Items capped to Level 10
• Added random chance of adventurers NOT visiting the most attractive building.
• Updated Prompt Messages.
• Adjusted Prompt Message Timers / Trigger Points.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug causing Clinic Layout / Blueprint to be too small.
• Close Button now visible in the Plaza Menu.
• Fixed a bug that only showed the last trait of a Hero instead of all of them.
• Fixed bug that caused Store Levels to be reset when loaded.
• Added a Failsafe to stop the game crashing if a texture cannot be loaded.
• Fixed a bug causing the game to crash if a building was placed outside of the game world.
• Fixed a bug limiting Heroes stats from increasing when levelling up.
• Fixed a conflict bug allowing the player to select NPC’s while in build mode.
• Fixed some issues with pausing and then changing the game speed.
• Fixed a bug causing finances not to progress on the last day of the year.
• Fixed Villain Menu not resetting upon starting a new game.
• Various other bug fixes.

 
As always the Save Files will be completely useless with this update and will cause your game to crash. So starting a new game is advised.
 
It means a hell of a lot to me that you’ve all continued to support me this far, I really do read all your feedback / reviews and take everything you each have to say into consideration. I’m really happy with where the game is currently at, there’s still a lot of work to do but I’m going to focus the next few weeks on really nailing the end-game and making the whole experience enjoyable from start to finish as I think we’re really getting there now.
 
For my first commercial project I’m super proud of how far this has come and I can only thank you for helping it happen, being a part of it and coming along on this production process with me.
 
I hope you enjoy the new features.

All the best,
Matt