HexLands (tuxdb.com)

The Open Alpha Playtest is here, sign up today!

Hey guys,

After months of closed and semi-open playtesting, finally the gates of Steam Playtesting are open!

Now everyone can test the alpha of HexLands! This phase focuses on the core gameplay and the mechanics found on the early levels. Later phases will include progression between the islands and then even some metaprogression.

So hop in, I would love to see you in the playtesting!

And here comes the twist: after a few hours of being open, I had to turn off auto-accept due to too many of you joining. It's better to let people in gradually, more and more after each update, because this results in a nice, iterative development.

But you can still sign up for playtesting and I'll let you in as soon as I can! :)

Click here to sign up!

Oh, and I already had to update the build, because as it turned out that some of you experienced a "Thanks for playing the Alpha!" dialog at the end of the tutorial levels, instead of the intended story transition to a normal level. Sorry, now it's fixed! But before I could notice this issue, I already implemented volume and autonaming settings, so enjoy! Now let me talk about this version's changelog, for those of you who were in the private alpha: the last release was nearly 1.5 months ago. But the wait is over and here's a relatively huge update! :) Finally the learning curve is a bit smoother due to a cool new tutorial system! In these early levels you can meet some people and also a pivotal figure in the game's story: King Aedric! Can't wait to start working on the lore. The update contains a balance change regarding tile selling, and lots of quality of life improvements! Thanks again everyone, most of them were due to your awesome feedback! Features, improvements:

Tutorial levels to smoothen the learning curve, help panel is also adjusted accordingly.
You can only sell town tiles and tiles neighbouring your towns' borders.
Settings where you can adjust various volumes and whether you want to name your islands & towns or not.
New resource panel visuals.
Currently usable cards are highlighted in green.
Card selling is now more intuitive: you click on the button, then you click on the card you'd like to sell. (And not the other way around, like it was previously.)
Sellable cards when selling is toggled are highlighted in gold.
Draw card, sell buttons are highlighted if they are your only option.
Next island button is highlighted if you are ready to leave the island.
New cards have a blueish temporary highlight.
Highlighted tiles rise from the island's plane.
Fish tiles are a bit more apparent.
A town's borders at tiles which contact other towns are no longer hidden, thus it's easier to distinguish the two towns.
Card hotkeys adjusted to the most common keyboard layout: left-most card's hotkey is 1, right-most card's is 0.
Camera setup is also saved with the level.

Fixes:

Hotkeys, camera movement is fully blocked until the game is full ready for start.
If tried to quit the game when a feedback dialog was open, the quit confirmation dialog was behind it.
Mines' sound effect was too harsh/high pitched.
Sometimes draw card button's resource cost was red, even though you had enough resources.
Sometimes fishing huts were placed on the water tile's water end, and not on the shore.

Feedbacks, bug reports are always welcome, good luck and have fun! Cheers, Tibor a.k.a. Tudvari a.k.a. Portgate Studios

[ 2024-03-14 23:15:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

HexLands
Portgate Studios

Developer

Portgate Studios

Publisher

2023

Release

Strategy Singleplayer

Tags

Game News Posts 8
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🎮 Full Controller Support

Controls

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Review Score

http://www.ezekiel-rage.com/

Website

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2244650

Steam Store

Your goal is to expand your empire to as many harder and harder procedural islands as possible to maximize your empire’s population!
You have to efficiently use the available resources, tools and perks, adapt to the environment, complete procedural quests... otherwise you can’t establish a strong enough colony to set sail for the next one!
Set sail, and choose wisely! Which island's perk and biome fits your playstyle and strategy the best? How far will your empire reach?

Your first building is always a town hall, which claims some tiles around it.
If you reach a specific population with a town (i.e. by building houses), its territory grows, claiming even more land! Try not to overlap towns! ;)
If your island is populated enough, you can leave for the next one!
But why waste those valuable resources? Build as much as you can so your empire prosper!

Every turn, you have to build something on your island!
Every turn, you get a maximum of 3 random options to build from. They are selected from the pool of currently buildable buildings.
A building is buildable if you own a suitable tile and you have enough resources.
So if you want to increase your chances of getting a specific building… you must rule out the other possible buildings! Achieve it by spending a specific resource or building on a specific type of tile.

Though every island is a clean slate, you won’t start them empty-handed!
Every island rewards you with a perk, helping you till the very end! So choose your next island wisely, build synergy!
Collect various tools, special cards and save them for later! Maybe planting a forest or discovering a mine is what’s going to save your colony!
Build structures like trading ports, which benefit your future islands as well!
A balanced toolkit is the key: a harmony of perks, tool cards filling the gaps and buildings on previous islands supporting your future endeavours!

Once you can’t expand any further, you meet with your empire’s population, your final score.
Can your colonies reach the top of the leaderboards? ;)

If you want more challenge, try the time limit mode! (looking at you, speedrunners!)
If you want to chill, try the sandbox mode!

This game offers you:

High replay value - Explore endless procedural islands!
Roguelike elements
Chance management
City building on relaxing medieval islands
Resource management
Procedural perk tree, offering you customisable playstyle
Master the game and climb the leaderboard!

But doesn’t offer you:

Battles
Complex story
4X Strategy
Multiplayer
Lootboxes
40 man raids

Please keep in mind that I’m just a solo but passionate developer. This is not a AAA experience with hours and hours of content. I love Civilization, but HexLands is not really close to the 4X genre. What I’m creating is a simple at first sight but hard to master game. And you don’t even have to get a second mortgage to afford it!

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have feedback, questions, or problems with the game. I’ll try my best! Oh, and let me know if you enjoyed the game, because that just makes my day! :)

HexLands is inspired by such great games like:

Islanders
Dorf Romantik
Sid Meier’s Civilization
and many more! (like I was listening to an endless Age of Empires soundtrack during the first month of development)

MINIMAL SETUPOS: Ubuntu 16.04
Processor: Intel Core i3-3250 or equivalentMemory: 1 GB RAM
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 260 or equivalent
Storage: 500 MB available space
RECOMMENDED SETUPOS: Ubuntu 18.04
Processor: Intel Core i5-3550 or equivalentMemory: 2 GB RAM
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 660 or equivalent
Storage: 1000 MB available space

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