Hi all! Ive been working on a lot of new things and I would love to share them with you. One big thing Ive been working on is the the layout of the new Research Overview Screen. Each row contains one of the "categories" (Settling, Gathering, Improving) of buildings, while the tasks and research items for each building type is set out around it. Locked items are greyed out, currently researching items are marked with a thicker frame, and all research progress is indicated in the frames of the icons. Whenever any of this updates, the icons, frames and greyed-out status update automatically. The research items under the Research Hub are "realm wide". Each building type can either work on its own research items, or direct its efforts towards the realm-wide research (which can thus be boosted considerably at the expense of the building-type-specific research). Whenever something else is selected at the Research Hub, all the icons at the other buildings are also updated and the research changed for those that are set to realm-wide research. Heres a quick peek at what I have so far for the Research Overview Screen - Ill be adding more later so stay tuned!
I know that its different than how games generally do it, but I really don't like the system where you "gather" a bunch of research points beforehand, and then select what you've supposedly researched when you have enough points built up. I also don't like the "only one item is researched at one time by everybody", so I wanted to bring in building-type specific research and an overall tree. Thats why I landed on this! Second, the first elements of a "Water System" has been added. Water will have to be supplied to buildings from time to time. At first, only unsafe water sources will be available (from lakes), which will negatively affect Meep health, but access to safe water can eventually be secured. By constructing Water Towers and Wells and by extending the reach through Water Points, the amount of effort the Meeps need to assert to cater for all their Water needs can be reduced over time. In the screenshot, the range of the Water Tower (to where Water Points can be commissioned) is indicated - this is dependent on the elevation level of the water tower as well as the contours of the surrounding terrain.
Heres what filling up the water tower looks like!
Another thing I added is that you will also be able to prioritize resources to be cleared (for example to create space for buildings). Any Meeps close-by that can harvest that resource type will ignore all other priorities set at their building and focus on clearing these resources, before going back to their set task priorities.
Areas set to be cleared will be indicated by small icons above the terrain, and the specific hexes will be highlighted when you hover over the main hex like in the screenshot below.
Lastly, here is how youll be keeping track of the water supplies!
Once again, thank you for all of your support, encouragement, and excitement throughout develpment. I cant wait to share more about World Turtles with you! If you want to be more a part of the journey, feel free to join our Discord where you can hang out with myself and the community. De Chelonian Mobile Gideon