Ancient Savo
Erkka Lehmus Developer
Enormous Elk Publisher
September 2024 Release
Game News Posts:
17
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
🎮 Full Controller Support
🕹️ Partial Controller Support
🎮 Full Controller Support
Positive
(14 reviews)
Public Linux Depots:
- [0 B]
Version 0.9.13 - polishing the UI
[ 2025-06-26 18:17:14 CET ] [ Original post ]
This version is all about polishing the user interface. I did a lot of internal testing, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are some minor bugs here and there, so feel free to report any oddities you might encounter!
- ADDED: The UI panel for main buttons now has a slider to adjust the game speed. This also means that no matter if the game is paused or not, with a quick glance you can check the chosen speed.
- ADDED: Some of the UI elements show details when clicked. There now is an option to make them display a tooltip info when hovered over.
- IMPROVED: When bartering or exchanging goods the items are now grouped by category. There is an option to show / hide item groups. And items can be sorted by name or by value.
- IMPROVED: The market dialog no more shows item values in abstract units, but compared to furs.
- IMPROVED: The game dialogs now try to adjust themselves so that they won't overlap other dialogs - unless the new dialog is a modal child of a parent dialog, then the modal is shown on top of the parent, near the button which opened the child.
- IMPROVED: The mouse cursor now changes when hovering over a clickable UI element. This is currently using the OS default cursors, and the plan is to eventually replace them with custom graphics.
- IMPROVED: It is now possible to cancel a planned task by dragging its task icon upwards, out from the planned tasks panel.
- IMPROVED: The help index is now collapsible. Minimizing the index makes the help dialog smaller, making it easier to have the help open while interacting with the rest of the UI.
- IMPROVED: When hovering over a task icon or a sub-task menu item the help window, if open, will automatically show related help entry.
- IMPROVED: Hovering the pointer over an UI item now highlights the item background if the item is clickable.
- IMPROVED: When choosing what to sow the right column now shows a lot more info about each item.
- IMPROVED: When quitting the game in windowed mode, in addition to the window size also the position is now saved. The next time the game is started the window should appear at the saved position.
- CHANGED: Task sub-options menu buttons are now stylized the same as other UI buttons.
- CHANGED: The UI panel for main button toolbar now always appears at the top-right, no matter if the log is visible or not.
- CHANGED: The map scrolling and zoom in / out speed got adjusted.
- FIXED: If a planned crafting task got cancelled because of missing materials, the UI still displayed the task as successfully completed. Now there is a message indicating the task got cancelled.
- FIXED: The NPC at the marketplace selling sheep sometimes was out of sheep when visiting the market again later in the game. This is now fixed.
- FIXED: When launching the game for the first time the chosen (or, the default) hotkey configuration got accidentally messed up. Now it works as intended.
- FIXED: Crafting arrow shafts now yields correct amount.
- FIXED: A severe warning message sometimes left the game stuck in paused state with no way to resume. This is now fixed.
- FIXED: In the main menu 'Mods -> Create a new mod' only created a partial mod template. This is now fixed, so we have a minimal GUI to create a fresh mod.
- IMPROVED: More detailed error logging when initializing the game logic fails.
[ 2025-06-26 18:17:14 CET ] [ Original post ]
An open-ended survival and resource management game, focused on raising a family. The game takes place in 1200 CE Eastern Finland, in the pristine woodlands of a region called Savo.
A young family has decided to establish their home in remote woodlands. They pack a set of essential tools and row up the local waterways deeper into the wilderness. After a few days of rowing they feel that they are far enough to have a peaceful spot of their own. Fishing, foraging and hunting provide food. But how to turn pristine woodlands to arable land? Fell down trees, burn them and the ashes will make the soil fertile. Agriculture is a lot of work but a decent harvest will keep the family fed through the long dark winter. And then there are children! More nutrition is needed to keep the little ones fed. And as they grow, they learn skills from the parents and start contributing to the workforce. Eventually the offspring will be old enough to marry and to start families of their own.
The time-scale of the game is weeks. In-game years flow rather smoothly so you can easily see your building projects advancing and your family growing. Although, it won't always be that easy - harsh weather can ruin your crops, accidents can cause injury. No combat - the cold, hunger and accidents being the only enemies. The game play is about managing the most precious resource - time. Work long days to get that house finished, and run the increased risk of accidents due to overworking when tired. Or work at lower pace and run the risk of your family suffering from cold when the autumn sets in.
The family members will handle a lot of tasks routinely. But you can adjust how many hours are spent with daily routines like household chores, basic maintenance, parenting, resting, and foraging - the remaining time will be available for tasks which you plan. Tasks include crafting, building, farming, hunting and so on. Grow linen, spin yarn, weave textiles, craft clothes. Dig clay to make pottery. Burn a kiln to make charcoal. Collect bog iron to produce iron ingots, forge spearheads and other such essential tools.
Once a year there will be a market event, which you can choose to go to. At the market you can barter for tools and farm animals.
When the kids grow up you can continue playing as your off-spring - either staying to support the elder generation, or leaving to start a new homestead. Once your clan grows you can freely choose which family to play as. Or, you can even choose to play as the spirits of the late ancestors.
The UI is mouse-driven, assisted with customizable hotkeys. The game map can be viewed either in 2D or 3D, you can freely switch while playing. Some game elements are simulated as small text-based stories, where you choose from options, and your decisions will affect how the story unfolds.
There is a rather flexible modding system based on editing text files in xml format. You can modify and add game elements like items, animals, ailments, crafting recipes and tasks. You can even write your custom stories if you like to. Graphics and the appearance of UI elements can also be modded to ones liking. 3D models can be added in glb / gltf format.
The UI is designed to support translations.
The story
A young family has decided to establish their home in remote woodlands. They pack a set of essential tools and row up the local waterways deeper into the wilderness. After a few days of rowing they feel that they are far enough to have a peaceful spot of their own. Fishing, foraging and hunting provide food. But how to turn pristine woodlands to arable land? Fell down trees, burn them and the ashes will make the soil fertile. Agriculture is a lot of work but a decent harvest will keep the family fed through the long dark winter. And then there are children! More nutrition is needed to keep the little ones fed. And as they grow, they learn skills from the parents and start contributing to the workforce. Eventually the offspring will be old enough to marry and to start families of their own.
Game mechanics
The time-scale of the game is weeks. In-game years flow rather smoothly so you can easily see your building projects advancing and your family growing. Although, it won't always be that easy - harsh weather can ruin your crops, accidents can cause injury. No combat - the cold, hunger and accidents being the only enemies. The game play is about managing the most precious resource - time. Work long days to get that house finished, and run the increased risk of accidents due to overworking when tired. Or work at lower pace and run the risk of your family suffering from cold when the autumn sets in.
The family members will handle a lot of tasks routinely. But you can adjust how many hours are spent with daily routines like household chores, basic maintenance, parenting, resting, and foraging - the remaining time will be available for tasks which you plan. Tasks include crafting, building, farming, hunting and so on. Grow linen, spin yarn, weave textiles, craft clothes. Dig clay to make pottery. Burn a kiln to make charcoal. Collect bog iron to produce iron ingots, forge spearheads and other such essential tools.
Once a year there will be a market event, which you can choose to go to. At the market you can barter for tools and farm animals.
When the kids grow up you can continue playing as your off-spring - either staying to support the elder generation, or leaving to start a new homestead. Once your clan grows you can freely choose which family to play as. Or, you can even choose to play as the spirits of the late ancestors.
The UI is mouse-driven, assisted with customizable hotkeys. The game map can be viewed either in 2D or 3D, you can freely switch while playing. Some game elements are simulated as small text-based stories, where you choose from options, and your decisions will affect how the story unfolds.
Modding
There is a rather flexible modding system based on editing text files in xml format. You can modify and add game elements like items, animals, ailments, crafting recipes and tasks. You can even write your custom stories if you like to. Graphics and the appearance of UI elements can also be modded to ones liking. 3D models can be added in glb / gltf format.
Localization
The UI is designed to support translations.
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: Debian 11. Ubuntu 20.04. or equivalent
- Processor: 64-bit 1 GHzMemory: 1 GB RAM
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1024 x 600 openGL 2.0
- Storage: 200 MB available space
- OS: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
- Processor: 64-bit 1 GHzMemory: 8 GB RAM
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: 1920 x 1080 openGL 4.3
- Storage: 200 MB available space
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