Version 3.86 (stable) is now released and live. For those who were already playing 3.86 beta version there's a fistful of fixes and additions which will be mentioned below together with the full changelog. And for those who are new to this version we'll revise the most notable new features here:

New trees and tree species for slender trunks

There's quite a lot being done regarding trees and lumber. There are now aspen added as a completely new tree species, and young birch now also appear in addition to grown birch trees. The tree species now gets derived into felled slender tree trunks and this affects to crafting as preferred slender trunk species may vary depending on what you're making.
Lots of deciduous trees, including the newly added aspens, can be spotted here. Our character has also felled a good sortiment of different species of slender and big trunks for crafting purposes.

Portion based cooking and birch-bark pots

It's now possible to cook multiple portions of certain recipes. This is convenient as you can cook a full pot if need be, or use fewer amount of ingredients to cook only a single portion if that suits the situation better. There is also a completely new cooking vessel, birch-bark pot, which is a craftable alternative to an iron pot and practical solution for cooking in the wild. Birch-bark pot has its limits but can be used for cooking all the boiling based recipes ie. soups, herbal beverages or blanching mushrooms.
Our character is going to prepare two portions of porridge in his decent birch-bark pot.

Preserved meat in cookery

There are four new cookery recipes to utilize smoked and dried meat or fish in the cooking. Moreover, salted meat or fish can be now also used in cooking as an alternative to raw meat/fish.
For example the fish soup can be now made of any type of fish - be it raw or preserved.

More pausable crafting and separate menu for modded handcrafts

Craftable items in "Transport" category are now all pausable tasks, with some adjustments to crafting times and required materials. There's also separate menu added for player modded items, to keep them separated (at will) from the original [M]ake menu.

Changelog

We'll start the changelog listing with fixes to 3.86 beta version. These are of importance to those who were already playing 3.86 beta version. If you are new to version 3.86 scroll down to 3.86 (beta) changelog for the actual new features you're about to experience in this version. Version: 3.86 (stable) ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. **

Fixes to 3.86 beta version:

- adjusted: excess ingredients and the basic "boil" cookery option If the ingredients to be boiled wouldn't actually fit in the selected boiling pot the excess amount just vanished with no information of any kind. Now you can boil only the amounts that actually fit in the selected boiling pot and information about too low container capacity will be displayed when applicable. - adjusted: outcome of appetizing herbal effect Successive eating of food with appetizing herbal effect might get the character into loop of being able to eat endlessly. Consecutive appetizing effect is now toned down to avoid this situation. Moreover, there are specific eating messages to notify of increased appetite so that the appetizing effect is more better noticed. - added: root harvest for riverpig and water lily These water plants didn't provide any harvest earlier, but now they yield large roots which can be utilized as is or ground for flour. The both plants are poisonous so boiling the roots before usage is commonly practised. To collect the roots you have reach to the lake bottom so the character needs to be wading in order to harvest these plants. - fixed: cookery recipe preparation times set incorrectly Recipes that are left preparing on their own were cooking too quickly due to incorrectly set preparation time values. - fixed: paddle crafting didn't take the board quality or preferred tools into account - fixed: watercraft getting located at skerries or islets upon zooming in Zooming in at rivers/fords/rapids might occasionally locate the character and their watercraft on skerries or islets. This long-term issue has been fixed now. - fixed: riverpig and waterlily tile graphics were mistakenly switched Riverpig graphics actually presented water lily, and vice versa. They are now swapped, which is correct. - fixed: whole plant weights considering their yield Previously harvested plants might weigh less than the total weight of the parts, ie. seeds and roots, they yield. This has been fixed now and hopefully affects to all the plant weight inconsistency instances there were. - fixed: wrong treetype based naming of 'block of wood' items which resulted in shingle crafting being broken Blocks of wood were mistakenly named eg. "Block of pine" instead of the intended form of "Block of pine wood". For this reason eg. shingle crafting was broken. - fixed: bandage item weight It was mistakenly set to 1 lbs, and is now fixed to 0.5 lbs.

3.86 (beta) changelog:

- added: aspen trees - a new tree species Aspen is a large deciduous tree growing up to 15-30 meters in height. It grows in groves, fresh coniferous forests, rich spruce mires and also on clearings and hills. Grown aspens provide big trunks when felled. Its bark can be also peeled for tanning purposes. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters migrated from earlier versions aspen trees will start to appear at zoomed-in terrain maps only at areas that haven't been explored yet. - changed: aspen tree required in Old Man's Punt quest Old Man's Punt quest now requires aspen tree to be used. The quest dialog is updated accordingly. - added: young birch trees There are now young birch trees which produce slender trunks when felled. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters migrated from earlier versions young birch trees will start to appear at zoomed-in terrain maps only at areas that haven't been explored yet. - redrawn: rowan tree tile graphics - added: tree species property for slender tree trunks The tree species now gets derived into felled slender tree trunks. As a result slender tree trunks are now called for example as slender rowan trunk or slender spruce trunk - depending on what species of a tree was felled. There's now also different tile graphics for the different type of slender trunks. These have been added as separate columns within truetile/sltrunk.png tile graphics file. MIGRATION NOTICE: If possible, generic slender trunks felled in the previous versions will be converted into slender spruce trunks in this version. This applies only to trunks that have been handled eg. picked up, by the player character. The others will remain as generic slender tree trunks without tree species information. In version 3.85 slender pine trunks already inherited the tree species but were named incorrectly as "pine slender tree trunk". These will be converted into proper slender pine trunks in this version. - added: some crafts now require slender trunks of specific species This is indicated within the material and tool selection dialog the same way as all the other preferences. For example, you may be given requirements such as "You need a board, preferably of rowan or alder." or "You need a slender spruce trunk." In cases where certain tree species is preferred it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred type the produced item will be of lesser quality. In that case the generic "...can't make good out of bad." message will be shown upon obtaining the finished craft. A specific slender trunk wood species is now preferred when crafting the following items. In the previous version some of these items were always crafted in average quality, but now the used wood type affects to finished item quality. * Blunt arrow - birch or rowan are preferred * Lippo - spruce is preferred for the pole, and the finished item quality now varies depending on the materials used. * Axe and shovel hafts - birch or rowan are preferred * Spear haft - spruce is preferred * Ski stick - spruce is preferred, and finished item quality now varies depending on the materials used. * Stone-axe - birch or rowan are preferred - adjusted: for crafting paddles, aspen is added as a preferred wood type along with spruce - adjusted: for crafting wood slats, birch is added as a preferred wood type along with pine As the wood slats are used for arrow shaft blanks now the best quality arrows are made of either pine or birch. - added: wood species shown within the description of certain timber type items The wood type information is shown within the timber item description. For example: wooden stakes made out of slender birch trunk will appear as "birch stake", and wood slats made out of pine will appear as "pine slat". - modding add: [masterwoodtype] tag to derive wood type from the used wood material into the crafted timber type items You can now derive the original wood type from the used wood material into the crafted item, but this is functional only for crafts that come out of as timber type items. [masterwoodtype] tag is added for the required material where the original wood type is derived from. For example, when crafting something from slender trunks we would add [masterwoodtype] tag for the applicable required material line as follows: {Slender trunk} (5) [remove] [masterwoodtype] This example specifies that 5 slender trunks are required and the finished item will derive the wood type from these slender trunks. If these slender trunks were of pine, the finished item wood type will be also pine. The wood type will be shown in the finished item name but its original name remains unchanged. For example, if we crafted "Wooden stake" which derived pine as its wood type it will be described as "Pine stake", but its original item name is still "Wooden stake". So we can use that item name {Wooden stake} as a material requirement in other crafting recipes, and can still derive the original wood type from there if need be. The game generates finished item description either by adding wood type prefix or replacing "wood" or "wooden" words in the item name. For example; "wooden stake" may become "pine stake", and "wood slat" may become "birch slat". If there's no "wood" or "wooden" word found in the orignal item name the prefix is used. - changed: "ski stick" is now known as "ski pole" - added: pausable transport equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Transport" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Paddle It now takes 3 hours on average to make, and also requires a knife in addition to using an axe. * Sesta It now takes one hour on average to make, and requires an axe or carving knife for the woodworking. * Skis It now takes 30 hours on average to make skis, and the preferred wood type for the boards used is birch or pine. It is precise and time consuming process to come up with functional skis, although the execution still remains simplified in the game. In addition, slightly more fur (6 lbs) is needed to cover the underside of the kicking ski, and thin cordage is needed for tying the fur. The required cordage length is also increased to 15 feet. As a new requirement, 6 feet of strong cordage is needed for the boot bindings. * Ski pole Ski stick is now made of staff, instead of slender tree trunk. It takes 90 minutes on average to make, and requires an axe or carving knife for the woodworking. As a new requirement a withe is needed for making the lower end rim that prevents the ski stick from sinking too deep into snow. Leather is not needed anymore, but it is replaced with tying equipment requirement. The tying equipment is used to attach the rim firmly to the ski stick. Traditionally, leather straps were used but other type of cordage now also works. - updated: SKIS and SKI POLE game encyclopedia (F1) entries The nature and construction of ancient northern skis and ski pole are now described in greater detail there. - added: separate make menu for modded items - key command [O] There's now separate crafting menu reserved only for modded items, and a new key command [O] (shift + o) to open it. Alternatively, you can also access this modded items menu from the original [M]ake menu by pressing [+] which is shown as a new option there if mod files are available. The existing method of adding modded items to the original [M]ake menu with diy_*.txt and menudef_*.txt files still works the same as always, so there are no changes required for your mods unless you want to separate them from the original [M]ake menu. To add items to m[O]dded items make menu only the file naming needs to be changed as follows. Modding and sub-menu definition syntax remains the same. * sub-menu categories - mod_menudef_*.txt To use m[O]dded items make menu there needs to be sub-menu categories defined for assigning your modded items into them. These categories can be freely defined but it's not possible to add items without the categories. To create sub-menu categories you will be using text files named mod_menudef_*.txt where the asterisk is replaced by string of your choice in the filename. There's an example file called "mod_menudef_example.txt" to be found in your installtion folder which explains the syntax in more detail if you are not familiar with it. * modded items - mod_diy_*.txt For adding the actual items you will be using text files named mod_diy_*.txt where the asterisk is replaced by string of your choice in the filename. Bringing your earlier mods with menudef_*.txt and diy_*.txt filenames into new m[O]dded make menu can be done to great extent with simple file renaming. For example: If your earlier sub-menu category file is called "menudef_mymenus.txt" to bring those sub-menus in the new m[O]dded crafts menu, just rename "menudef_mymenus.txt" to "mod_menudef_mymenus.txt" and you have a good start there. Now if some of your modded items are assigned into hardcoded categories that exist in the original [M]ake menu, eg. Weapons, Arrows, etc. you also have to add those categories in your sub-menu category file ("mod_menudef_mymenus.txt" in this example). That's because m[O]dded crafts menu doesn't have any hardcoded or pre-defined categories. Now you have only the categories appearing in the new m[O]dded crafts menu, and you need to bring the actual items in there as well. So, if your earlier modded crafts file is called "diy_mystuff.txt" you would just rename "diy_mystuff.txt" to "mod_diy_mystuff.txt" and that's it. Notice that the m[O]dded crafts menu itself doesn't contain anything unless there are designated mod files available in the game installation folder. Opening the menu without any content brings up a notification message, and the menu itself opens only if there's properly defined sub-menu categories and items in use. - improved: [r]epeat information regarding crafting and cooking Repeat last action field on the bottom right of the main-game screen now always displays the craftable item name when crafting is to be repeated. Eg. "Club" or "Fishing rod" If the item was crafted from the modded items make menu there will be (mod) prefix tag to indicate that. Eg. "(mod) Club" or "(mod) Fishing rod" Similarly, if cooking is to be repeated the name of the cookery recipe will be displayed. Eg. "Porridge" or "Fish soup". - added: applicable item name shown as the title of crafting requirement and time spending dialogs Previously these dialogs had generic "Craft an item" and "Doing handcraft" titles. Now the name of the item being crafted, eg. "Club" or "Fishing rod", is shown as the title of both dialogs. - adjusted: occurrence of deciduous trees in fresh conifereous forests Occurrence of dediduous trees in spruce-dominated fresh coniferous forests has been increased. - added: new cookery recipes to prepare soups of preserved meat and fish There are four new cookery recipes to utilize smoked and dried meat or fish in the cooking. The new recipes are: dried meat soup, dried fish soup, smoked meat soup and smoked fish soup. - added: salted meat or fish can be used in cooking as an alternative to raw meat/fish Fish soup, meat soup, meat stew and pea soup now accept also salted meat or fish to be used instead of raw meat or fish. - modding add: new cookery requirement tags for utilizing preserved meat and fish in recipes The following self-explanatory cookery tags have been added to specify need of dried, smoked and salted meat or fish: {Dried fish} {Dried meat} {Smoked fish} {Smoked meat} {Salted fish} and {Salted meat} There are also two more new tags to specify need of either raw or salted meat or fish: {Raw or salted meat} {Raw or salted fish} - adjusted: cooked porridge amounts All the porridge recipes produce bigger portion amounts than previously as the water content is now properly taken into account in their cooking. There are also small adjustments in the amounts of required ingredients. - added: portion based cooking It's now possible to cook multiple portions of certain recipes. This is convenient as you can cook a full pot if need be, or use fewer amount of ingredients to cook only a single portion if that suits the situation better. The number of portions to prepare is asked when you start cooking and the amount of required ingredients are adjusted accordingly. The initial preparation time is also adjusted when cooking multiple portions. The following recipes can be cooked in varying amount of portions and the maximum number of portions equals to cooking a full pot. * Porridges - 5 portions. * Green soup, mushroom soup and vegetable soup - 3 portions. * Meat stew and meat soup - 2 portions. * Fish soup and pea soup - 2 portions. * Vegetable stew - 2 portions. * Dried and smoked meat soup - 3 portions. * Dried and smoked fish soup - 3 portions. - adjusted: ingredient ratios and preperation times of portion based recipes There are minor changes to ingredient ratios and cooking times of several cookery recipes. - added: birch-bark pot - a cooking vessel made from birch-bark Birch-bark pot is a craftable alternative to an iron pot and practical solution for cooking in the wild. It is made from a single sheet of birch-bark with the seams sealed tightly with split twigs. You can craft birch-bark pot from [M]ake menu Utility articles"-category, and they can be used for cooking all the boiling based recipes ie. soups, herbal beverages or blanching mushrooms. Cooking in a birch-bark pot requires constant care so the recipes that could be left preparing on their own in an iron pot need to be maintained constantly when prepared in the birch-bark pot. For this reason cooking in the birch-bark pot takes more of player characters time. Birch-bark pots also wear out a little with every heating and can be used only a limited number of times. After having been used for some time you will notice the pot quality decreasing, and when it reaches the lowest level the pot will soon become unusable. Higher quality birch-bark pots last the longest so your character's crafting skills also come into play there. The smaller size of birch-bark pots also limits the number of portions you can cook at one go. Theres also BIRCH-BARK POT game encyclopedia [F1] entry available for more information. - added: {Boiling pot} cooking vessel requirement for boiling based recipes When a cookery recipe requires boiling the ingredients the required cooking vessel is now called boiling pot, as distinguished from the generic cooking pot which can be for all kinds of cooking. Suitable boiling pots to use in cooking are either the common iron "pot" and newly added "birch-bark pot". - added: harvesting sheets of birch-bark It is now possible to harvest birch-bark also in sheets, in addition to already existing method of harvesting birch-bark in long strips. This is done with the common Peel bark TIMBERCRAFT option. Upon peeling bark from a birch tree you are asked whether to harvest it as long strips or sheets. Birch-bark sheets are currently used only in making of birch-bark pots, but more uses are likely to be added in the future. - changed: some TIMBERCRAFT menu options have been shortened as follows "Chop a trunk into blocks" -> "Chop blocks of wood" "Split firewood from a block" -> "Split firewood" "Carve trunk into a log" -> "Log" "Split a trunk into boards" -> "Boards" "Cut branches/twigs from a tree -> "Twigs and branches" There are also new informative messages displayed when some of these commands are used to make their mechanics more clear to new players. - modding add: [portion:num] header tag to specify cooking of multiple portions [portion:num] is used in cookery_*.txt recipe header line to specify maximum number of portions that can be prepared for the said recipe. For example, in a header line like this: .Porridge. *COOKERY* /30/ [portion:5] [portion:5] tag specifies that 5 portions of this recipe can be prepared at one go. It should be understood that [portion:] never prepares multiple items, but multiplies the size of single food item prepared. To specify which ingredients in the recipe are prone to [portion:num] multiplying you should use the already existing [patchwise] tag. For example: {Flour} #0.2# [remove] [boil] [patchwise] Here it's specified that 0.2 lbs of flour is needed for one portion of the recipe. Now the [patchwise] tag here tells that multiple amounts of this ingredient is required if multiple portions are prepared. - added: applicable cookery recipe name shown as the title of the cooking requirement dialog Previously there was a generic "IGNREDIENTS" title. Now the recipe being cooked eg. "Flatbread" or "Fish soup", is shown along with the number of portions to prepare, if applicable. - added: RENDER_DRIVER setup option (to remedy OSX slow rendering issues) This option isn't normally needed at all, but it may prove useful for slow rendering cases which have been rarely encountered with some OSX systems. The said rendering sluggishness is related to default render driver chosen by SDL, which may not always be the optimal. Now you can specify the preferred render driver with this setup option. To specify the render driver to use edit urw_ini.txt in your game installation folder and find or add [RENDER_DRIVER:] tag in there. P Possible values to use are: default direct3d direct3d11 direct3d12 opengl opengles2 opengles metal To overcome OSX rendering sluggnishness you may try to use metal as follows: [RENDER_DRIVER:metal] - fixed: superior fur and leather impossible to obtain by hideworking Hideworking quality assesments were broken at the last stages of tanning which resulted in unintended quality degrade. - fixed: animal in the forest cover quest occasionally not generating the tracks essential for completing the quest - fixed: club type weapons in the villages getting stocked outside on the ground - fixed: sestas working as shingles and being set on fire upon shingle replacement - fixed: generic big tree trunks occasionally found at zoomed-in maps - fixed: ski equipment in Kaumo villages were always of perfect quality Now there's some variation, but their ski equipment still remains of very good quality. - fixed: southern flora not being generated correctly There was a faulty code which prevented southern flora from appearing in the southern parts of the world as intended. Due to this issue exclusively southern plants were practically non-existent in the world. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2025-04-17 10:38:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.86 has reached the beta stage and is now available as a beta-branch you can opt-into at will. Instructions on how to do it will be explained below in a separate chapter, so read on. Assuming no serious showstoppers are found we're anticipating to come up with stable version within few weeks time. You can find full changelog at the end of this post, and here's brief summary about the most notable additions in this version - let's go!

New trees and tree species for slender trunks

There's quite a lot being done regarding trees and lumber. There are now aspen added as a completely new tree species, and young birch now also appear in addition to grown birch trees. The tree species now gets derived into felled slender tree trunks and this affects to crafting as preferred slender trunk species may vary depending on what you're making.
Lots of deciduous trees, including the newly added aspens, can be spotted here. Our character has also felled a good sortiment of different species of slender and big trunks for crafting purposes.

Portion based cooking and birch-bark pots

It's now possible to cook multiple portions of certain recipes. This is convenient as you can cook a full pot if need be, or use fewer amount of ingredients to cook only a single portion if that suits the situation better. There is also a completely new cooking vessel, birch-bark pot, which is a craftable alternative to an iron pot and practical solution for cooking in the wild. Birch-bark pot has its limits but can be used for cooking all the boiling based recipes ie. soups, herbal beverages or blanching mushrooms.
Our character is going to prepare two portions of porridge in his decent birch-bark pot.

Preserved meat in cookery

There are four new cookery recipes to utilize smoked and dried meat or fish in the cooking. Moreover, salted meat or fish can be now also used in cooking as an alternative to raw meat/fish.
For example the fish soup can be now made of any type of fish - be it raw or preserved.

More pausable crafting and separate menu for modded handcrafts

Craftable items in "Transport" category are now all pausable tasks, with some adjustments to crafting times and required materials. There's also separate menu added for player modded items, to keep them separated (at will) from the original [M]ake menu.

How to opt-into 3.86 beta

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is urwversion386b Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.86 (beta) appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta version just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous stable version 3.85.

Changelog

Version 3.86 (beta) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: aspen trees - a new tree species Aspen is a large deciduous tree growing up to 15-30 meters in height. It grows in groves, fresh coniferous forests, rich spruce mires and also on clearings and hills. Grown aspens provide big trunks when felled. Its bark can be also peeled for tanning purposes. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters migrated from earlier versions aspen trees will start to appear at zoomed-in terrain maps only at areas that haven't been explored yet. - changed: aspen tree required in Old Man's Punt quest Old Man's Punt quest now requires aspen tree to be used. The quest dialog is updated accordingly. - added: young birch trees There are now young birch trees which produce slender trunks when felled. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters migrated from earlier versions young birch trees will start to appear at zoomed-in terrain maps only at areas that haven't been explored yet. - redrawn: rowan tree tile graphics - added: tree species property for slender tree trunks The tree species now gets derived into felled slender tree trunks. As a result slender tree trunks are now called for example as slender rowan trunk or slender spruce trunk - depending on what species of a tree was felled. There's now also different tile graphics for the different type of slender trunks. These have been added as separate columns within truetile/sltrunk.png tile graphics file. MIGRATION NOTICE: If possible, generic slender trunks felled in the previous versions will be converted into slender spruce trunks in this version. This applies only to trunks that have been handled eg. picked up, by the player character. The others will remain as generic slender tree trunks without tree species information. In version 3.85 slender pine trunks already inherited the tree species but were named incorrectly as "pine slender tree trunk". These will be converted into proper slender pine trunks in this version. - added: some crafts now require slender trunks of specific species This is indicated within the material and tool selection dialog the same way as all the other preferences. For example, you may be given requirements such as "You need a board, preferably of rowan or alder." or "You need a slender spruce trunk." In cases where certain tree species is preferred it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred type the produced item will be of lesser quality. In that case the generic "...can't make good out of bad." message will be shown upon obtaining the finished craft. A specific slender trunk wood species is now preferred when crafting the following items. In the previous version some of these items were always crafted in average quality, but now the used wood type affects to finished item quality. * Blunt arrow - birch or rowan are preferred * Lippo - spruce is preferred for the pole, and the finished item quality now varies depending on the materials used. * Axe and shovel hafts - birch or rowan are preferred * Spear haft - spruce is preferred * Ski stick - spruce is preferred, and finished item quality now varies depending on the materials used. * Stone-axe - birch or rowan are preferred - adjusted: for crafting paddles, aspen is added as a preferred wood type along with spruce - adjusted: for crafting wood slats, birch is added as a preferred wood type along with pine As the wood slats are used for arrow shaft blanks now the best quality arrows are made of either pine or birch. - added: wood species shown within the description of certain timber type items The wood type information is shown within the timber item description. For example: wooden stakes made out of slender birch trunk will appear as "birch stake", and wood slats made out of pine will appear as "pine slat". - modding add: [masterwoodtype] tag to derive wood type from the used wood material into the crafted timber type items You can now derive the original wood type from the used wood material into the crafted item, but this is functional only for crafts that come out of as timber type items. [masterwoodtype] tag is added for the required material where the original wood type is derived from. For example, when crafting something from slender trunks we would add [masterwoodtype] tag for the applicable required material line as follows: {Slender trunk} (5) [remove] [masterwoodtype] This example specifies that 5 slender trunks are required and the finished item will derive the wood type from these slender trunks. If these slender trunks were of pine, the finished item wood type will be also pine. The wood type will be shown in the finished item name but its original name remains unchanged. For example, if we crafted "Wooden stake" which derived pine as its wood type it will be described as "Pine stake", but its original item name is still "Wooden stake". So we can use that item name {Wooden stake} as a material requirement in other crafting recipes, and can still derive the original wood type from there if need be. The game generates finished item description either by adding wood type prefix or replacing "wood" or "wooden" words in the item name. For example; "wooden stake" may become "pine stake", and "wood slat" may become "birch slat". If there's no "wood" or "wooden" word found in the orignal item name the prefix is used. - changed: "ski stick" is now known as "ski pole" - added: pausable transport equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Transport" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Paddle It now takes 3 hours on average to make, and also requires a knife in addition to using an axe. * Sesta It now takes one hour on average to make, and requires an axe or carving knife for the woodworking. * Skis It now takes 30 hours on average to make skis, and the preferred wood type for the boards used is birch or pine. It is precise and time consuming process to come up with functional skis, although the execution still remains simplified in the game. In addition, slightly more fur (6 lbs) is needed to cover the underside of the kicking ski, and thin cordage is needed for tying the fur. The required cordage length is also increased to 15 feet. As a new requirement, 6 feet of strong cordage is needed for the boot bindings. * Ski pole Ski stick is now made of staff, instead of slender tree trunk. It takes 90 minutes on average to make, and requires an axe or carving knife for the woodworking. As a new requirement a withe is needed for making the lower end rim that prevents the ski stick from sinking too deep into snow. Leather is not needed anymore, but it is replaced with tying equipment requirement. The tying equipment is used to attach the rim firmly to the ski stick. Traditionally, leather straps were used but other type of cordage now also works. - updated: SKIS and SKI POLE game encyclopedia (F1) entries The nature and construction of ancient northern skis and ski pole are now described in greater detail there. - added: separate make menu for modded items - key command [O] There's now separate crafting menu reserved only for modded items, and a new key command [O] (shift + o) to open it. Alternatively, you can also access this modded items menu from the original [M]ake menu by pressing [+] which is shown as a new option there if mod files are available. The existing method of adding modded items to the original [M]ake menu with diy_*.txt and menudef_*.txt files still works the same as always, so there are no changes required for your mods unless you want to separate them from the original [M]ake menu. To add items to m[O]dded items make menu only the file naming needs to be changed as follows. Modding and sub-menu definition syntax remains the same. * sub-menu categories - mod_menudef_*.txt To use m[O]dded items make menu there needs to be sub-menu categories defined for assigning your modded items into them. These categories can be freely defined but it's not possible to add items without the categories. To create sub-menu categories you will be using text files named mod_menudef_*.txt where the asterisk is replaced by string of your choice in the filename. There's an example file called "mod_menudef_example.txt" to be found in your installtion folder which explains the syntax in more detail if you are not familiar with it. * modded items - mod_diy_*.txt For adding the actual items you will be using text files named mod_diy_*.txt where the asterisk is replaced by string of your choice in the filename. Bringing your earlier mods with menudef_*.txt and diy_*.txt filenames into new m[O]dded make menu can be done to great extent with simple file renaming. For example: If your earlier sub-menu category file is called "menudef_mymenus.txt" to bring those sub-menus in the new m[O]dded crafts menu, just rename "menudef_mymenus.txt" to "mod_menudef_mymenus.txt" and you have a good start there. Now if some of your modded items are assigned into hardcoded categories that exist in the original [M]ake menu, eg. Weapons, Arrows, etc. you also have to add those categories in your sub-menu category file ("mod_menudef_mymenus.txt" in this example). That's because m[O]dded crafts menu doesn't have any hardcoded or pre-defined categories. Now you have only the categories appearing in the new m[O]dded crafts menu, and you need to bring the actual items in there as well. So, if your earlier modded crafts file is called "diy_mystuff.txt" you would just rename "diy_mystuff.txt" to "mod_diy_mystuff.txt" and that's it. Notice that the m[O]dded crafts menu itself doesn't contain anything unless there are designated mod files available in the game installation folder. Opening the menu without any content brings up a notification message, and the menu itself opens only if there's properly defined sub-menu categories and items in use. - improved: [r]epeat information regarding crafting and cooking Repeat last action field on the bottom right of the main-game screen now always displays the craftable item name when crafting is to be repeated. Eg. "Club" or "Fishing rod" If the item was crafted from the modded items make menu there will be (mod) prefix tag to indicate that. Eg. "(mod) Club" or "(mod) Fishing rod" Similarly, if cooking is to be repeated the name of the cookery recipe will be displayed. Eg. "Porridge" or "Fish soup". - added: applicable item name shown as the title of crafting requirement and time spending dialogs Previously these dialogs had generic "Craft an item" and "Doing handcraft" titles. Now the name of the item being crafted, eg. "Club" or "Fishing rod", is shown as the title of both dialogs. - adjusted: occurrence of deciduous trees in fresh conifereous forests Occurrence of dediduous trees in spruce-dominated fresh coniferous forests has been increased. - added: new cookery recipes to prepare soups of preserved meat and fish There are four new cookery recipes to utilize smoked and dried meat or fish in the cooking. The new recipes are: dried meat soup, dried fish soup, smoked meat soup and smoked fish soup. - added: salted meat or fish can be used in cooking as an alternative to raw meat/fish Fish soup, meat soup, meat stew and pea soup now accept also salted meat or fish to be used instead of raw meat or fish. - modding add: new cookery requirement tags for utilizing preserved meat and fish in recipes The following self-explanatory cookery tags have been added to specify need of dried, smoked and salted meat or fish: {Dried fish} {Dried meat} {Smoked fish} {Smoked meat} {Salted fish} and {Salted meat} There are also two more new tags to specify need of either raw or salted meat or fish: {Raw or salted meat} {Raw or salted fish} - adjusted: cooked porridge amounts All the porridge recipes produce bigger portion amounts than previously as the water content is now properly taken into account in their cooking. There are also small adjustments in the amounts of required ingredients. - added: portion based cooking It's now possible to cook multiple portions of certain recipes. This is convenient as you can cook a full pot if need be, or use fewer amount of ingredients to cook only a single portion if that suits the situation better. The number of portions to prepare is asked when you start cooking and the amount of required ingredients are adjusted accordingly. The initial preparation time is also adjusted when cooking multiple portions. The following recipes can be cooked in varying amount of portions and the maximum number of portions equals to cooking a full pot. * Porridges - 5 portions. * Green soup, mushroom soup and vegetable soup - 3 portions. * Meat stew and meat soup - 2 portions. * Fish soup and pea soup - 2 portions. * Vegetable stew - 2 portions. * Dried and smoked meat soup - 3 portions. * Dried and smoked fish soup - 3 portions. - adjusted: ingredient ratios and preperation times of portion based recipes There are minor changes to ingredient ratios and cooking times of several cookery recipes. - added: birch-bark pot - a cooking vessel made from birch-bark Birch-bark pot is a craftable alternative to an iron pot and practical solution for cooking in the wild. It is made from a single sheet of birch-bark with the seams sealed tightly with split twigs. You can craft birch-bark pot from [M]ake menu Utility articles"-category, and they can be used for cooking all the boiling based recipes ie. soups, herbal beverages or blanching mushrooms. Cooking in a birch-bark pot requires constant care so the recipes that could be left preparing on their own in an iron pot need to be maintained constantly when prepared in the birch-bark pot. For this reason cooking in the birch-bark pot takes more of player characters time. Birch-bark pots also wear out a little with every heating and can be used only a limited number of times. After having been used for some time you will notice the pot quality decreasing, and when it reaches the lowest level the pot will soon become unusable. Higher quality birch-bark pots last the longest so your character's crafting skills also come into play there. The smaller size of birch-bark pots also limits the number of portions you can cook at one go. Theres also BIRCH-BARK POT game encyclopedia [F1] entry available for more information. - added: {Boiling pot} cooking vessel requirement for boiling based recipes When a cookery recipe requires boiling the ingredients the required cooking vessel is now called boiling pot, as distinguished from the generic cooking pot which can be for all kinds of cooking. Suitable boiling pots to use in cooking are either the common iron "pot" and newly added "birch-bark pot". - added: harvesting sheets of birch-bark It is now possible to harvest birch-bark also in sheets, in addition to already existing method of harvesting birch-bark in long strips. This is done with the common Peel bark TIMBERCRAFT option. Upon peeling bark from a birch tree you are asked whether to harvest it as long strips or sheets. Birch-bark sheets are currently used only in making of birch-bark pots, but more uses are likely to be added in the future. - changed: some TIMBERCRAFT menu options have been shortened as follows "Chop a trunk into blocks" -> "Chop blocks of wood" "Split firewood from a block" -> "Split firewood" "Carve trunk into a log" -> "Log" "Split a trunk into boards" -> "Boards" "Cut branches/twigs from a tree -> "Twigs and branches" There are also new informative messages displayed when some of these commands are used to make their mechanics more clear to new players. - modding add: [portion:num] header tag to specify cooking of multiple portions [portion:num] is used in cookery_*.txt recipe header line to specify maximum number of portions that can be prepared for the said recipe. For example, in a header line like this: .Porridge. *COOKERY* /30/ [portion:5] [portion:5] tag specifies that 5 portions of this recipe can be prepared at one go. It should be understood that [portion:] never prepares multiple items, but multiplies the size of single food item prepared. To specify which ingredients in the recipe are prone to [portion:num] multiplying you should use the already existing [patchwise] tag. For example: {Flour} #0.2# [remove] [boil] [patchwise] Here it's specified that 0.2 lbs of flour is needed for one portion of the recipe. Now the [patchwise] tag here tells that multiple amounts of this ingredient is required if multiple portions are prepared. - added: applicable cookery recipe name shown as the title of the cooking requirement dialog Previously there was a generic "IGNREDIENTS" title. Now the recipe being cooked eg. "Flatbread" or "Fish soup", is shown along with the number of portions to prepare, if applicable. - added: RENDER_DRIVER setup option (to remedy OSX slow rendering issues) This option isn't normally needed at all, but it may prove useful for slow rendering cases which have been rarely encountered with some OSX systems. The said rendering sluggishness is related to default render driver chosen by SDL, which may not always be the optimal. Now you can specify the preferred render driver with this setup option. To specify the render driver to use edit urw_ini.txt in your game installation folder and find or add [RENDER_DRIVER:] tag in there. P Possible values to use are: default direct3d direct3d11 direct3d12 opengl opengles2 opengles metal To overcome OSX rendering sluggnishness you may try to use metal as follows: [RENDER_DRIVER:metal] - fixed: superior fur and leather impossible to obtain by hideworking Hideworking quality assesments were broken at the last stages of tanning which resulted in unintended quality degrade. - fixed: animal in the forest cover quest occasionally not generating the tracks essential for completing the quest - fixed: club type weapons in the villages getting stocked outside on the ground - fixed: sestas working as shingles and being set on fire upon shingle replacement - fixed: generic big tree trunks occasionally found at zoomed-in maps - fixed: ski equipment in Kaumo villages were always of perfect quality Now there's some variation, but their ski equipment still remains of very good quality. - fixed: southern flora not being generated correctly There was a faulty code which prevented southern flora from appearing in the southern parts of the world as intended. Due to this issue exclusively southern plants were practically non-existent in the world. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2025-03-30 18:00:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Warm greetings and sunny day to all you adventurers out there!

It is happening again.... the spring... and Steam Spring sale! So grab your skis, find a nearest village deep in the backwoods, and use your precious squirrel hides to make a good trade, Err, wait, that's how it might go in UnReal World... in the real world just add UnReal World in your shopping cart for a decently discounted spring sale price and then experience the former along with tons of other things.
Sami (UnReal World creator) skiing throught the forests far away from development chambers, Skiing is something that UnReal World devs actually like to do in real life too. It's especially rewarding way to roam the forests during the snow crust - which is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person - and some animals as well. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on skis eventually became faster than their fatiguing prey. If you are new to UnReal World now let me reveal that these snow crust mechanics and are actually modelled in the game making the said hunting method and many other wintertime scenarios possible in the Far North where the game takes place. Among with tons of other things. Hmm. Did I already say that. UnReal World was first released in 1992, has been 33 years in the making and there's no end in sight. And before all the spring snow melts we'll be releasing yet another fresh patch as UnReal World version 3.86 is expected to reach beta stage this very month. Welcome aboard! urw_sage

[ 2025-03-13 17:35:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

You know what... there's smell of spring and new UnReal World release in the air. And come March, I'm hopeful we'll see them both taking place. The most fundamental additions in the upcoming version will concern new trees, raw material wood types and their varied impact on crafting. Let's have a sneak peak at these...

Aspen trees

Aspen trees will now appear in the game world. These large deciduous tree grow up to 15-30 meters in height. They grows in groves, fresh coniferous forests, rich spruce mires as well as on clearings and hills. This addition precedes a slightly more distant goal of eventually adding character crafted punts into the game. For the time being, aspens will bring nice variety into the world, and an additional type of timber to utilize. Grown aspens provide big trunks when felled and their bark can be also peeled for tanning purposes.
Aspens growing in the grove.

Wood type for slender trunks

Wood type is now added also for slender trunks and as a natural consequence some crafts will require slender trunks of specific species. For example: axe handles are best made of birch or rowan trees for the required durability, blunt arrows were almost exclusively made out of birch, and spear hafts of spruce. And so on. There's also different slender trunk tile graphics for different tree species so that the different type of slender trunks are easily distinguishable the same way as the big trunks currently are. Some tree tile redrawing/stylizing has been also made, eg. for rowan trees, so that they better express the essence of the tree species both in their standing and felled appearance.
Here you can see small piles of slender alder, rowan and birch trunks placed to the south of the relevant standing young trees.

Spin-off and crafting dialog improvements

Several spin-off features, improvements and adjustments have emerged from these wood type related additions, and you'll be seeing their full effect on the gameplay in the next version. These last two screenshots along with their descriptions show a little bit of the new wood type additions in effect.
Sara is crafting wood slats, with an intention to make arrow shafts from them - and there are several additions to be seen in the screenshot. Firstly, we'll see that birch is now also a preferred wood type, in addition to pine. As a result the best wood slats, and the arrow shafts thereof, are now made of pine and birch. But here Sara goes making her wood slats from spruce, which is also doable, although the highest quality results can't be expected.
Sara has been making some wood slats from slender spruce and birch trunks and is now crafting arrow shafts. Here you can see that Sara's inventory shows wood slats described by their wood type rather than the generic name. This is the new wood types in effect. Certain applicable timber type items now derive the original wood type from the materials used. Notice also that the material requirements dialog now shows the actual item name, "Arrow shaft", rather than previously seen generic "Craft an item".

Stay tuned. The spring is coming.

So, if everything goes smoothly we'll be releasing a new version in March. There are bunch more features still to be added, and bunch of not mentioned here already added. Stay tuned. The spring is coming.

[ 2025-02-23 18:26:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dear adventurers, once again the year is nearing its end and with these season's greetings we wish you all the best with the festivities and holiday season you might have at hand - and happy new year! With the seasonal sale going we'd also like to warmly welcome all the new adventurers into the Far North.

Northern fire works

As a seasonal speciality let's share a fresh episode from UnReal World creator's traditional archery YouTube channel. As some of you may know, we're the kind of devs that are into various real life crafts and adventures as well - in addition to creating digital worlds. Now we've just recently passed the winter solstice in the Northern hemisphere and the days are slowly but steadily getting longer and longer. So let's celebrate it with this sort of a northern fire works: https://youtu.be/JdsLobHDp1Y?si=5ALfXSuqhGMwUPbO

Picture greetings

And here's the seasonal picture greetings for the winter 2024.
Take care, best wishes and see you all in 2025! urw_sageurw_tree

[ 2024-12-24 14:12:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today, on the verge of Steam Autumn Sale, we're most happy to release version 3.85 stable for both the old adventurers already roaming the UnReal World - and for the newcomers who have only now found their way into the far north.

Feel warmly welcomed to witness and enjoy yet another UnReal World release!

Find the changelog below. Those who have already been playing 3.85 beta will find few fixes and additions since the beta listed first, followed by actual 3.85 changelog.

Changelog

Version: 3.85 (stable) ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: wooden canteen - a new item Wooden canteen is a closed wooden container for carrying water, milk or other beverages. They have a capacity of holding 5 lbs of liquid. Wooden canteens are not craftable by the player character but can be found in the villages. - added: WOODEN CANTEEN encyclopedia (F1) entry - improved: grinding flour Foremostly, grinding flour is now pausable task. You can cancel the task at any time and the receiving container will be filled with how much was ground at the time. Even though you may be asked how many items from the stack you wish to grind the receiving container size always defines the actual amount used. So you can freely select too much, and only the necessary amount to fill the container will be ground. Also, there are no more limits to how many pounds you can grind at one go, except for the receiving container capacity. - added: pausable log carving with the original tree species inherited Carving logs is now a pausable task. The produced logs now also inherit the trunk's tree species property, so you'll get pine logs, birch logs and spruce logs. - fixed: preferred tool autoselect issues, eg. with blunt arrows Axe or sturdy carving wasn't autoselected upon crafting blunt arrows. - fixed: plural form missing from the message for trying to pick up several items in crafting - fixed: tree species property missing from the lumber products found in the villages and at certain start-up scenarios Changelog of the features already featured in 3.85 beta starts here: - added: tree species property for big trunks and some assorted timber products Upon felling big trees the tree species now gets derived into the produced tree trunk. As a result the tree trunks are now called as pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk or spruce tree tunk - depending on what species of a tree was felled. Felling small trees still produces the generic slender tree trunks, but in the future tree species property will be added for slender trunks as well. There are also different tree trunk tile graphics for pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk and spruce tree trunk. These have been added as separate columns within truetile/trunk.png tile graphics file. When making blocks of wood or boards out of the big trunks these products now also inherit the original tree species property. As a result these basic timber products will be now called for example as "block of spruce wood" or "pine board", etc. - added: some crafts now require wood material of specific tree species Some crafts now require specific species of wood as raw material. This is indicated within the material and tool selection dialog the same way as all the other preferences. For example, you may be given a messages such as "You need a board, preferably of pine or birch." or "You need a spruce trunk." In cases where certain tree species is preferred it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred types the produced item will be of lesser quality. In that case the generic "...can't make good out of bad." message will be shown upon obtaining the finished craft. A specific wood species is now preferred when crafting the following items. And this feature will likely get more widely utilized in the future updates. * Longbow, pine or birch is preferred * Shortbow, pine or birch is preferred * Wooden shovel, birch is preferred * Wooden cup and bowl, birch is preferred * Wood slat, pine is preferred * Shingle, pine is required * Paddle, spruce is preferred - modding add: preferred tree species requirement Where applicable you can specify preferred tree species as a required material within <> tag. For example: {Tree trunk} [remove] {Block of wood} [remove] On the first line a big tree trunk is required, and it should be preferably of either spruce or birch. On the second line block of wood is required, and it should be preferably of birch. In these cases it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred types the quality of the produced item will be lower. If only a certain type of tree species is accepted you should specify it directly by its full item name including the species. For example: {Pine tree trunk} or {Spruce board} - added: shingles - a traditional light source Shingles are thin and flat oblong pieces of pine wood which were burnt to produce light - especially for lighting up houses during the dark time of the year. In addition, shingles are also used as handicraft raw material in the making of shingle baskets - which is a new item featured in this verison. Shingles are timber type items, and they are lit by using [a]pply command. Once a shingle is burning you can drop and set it wherever the light is needed, or carry it with you. Traditionally shingles were burnt in a specific stand that kept them in a good angle for proper burning, but in the game the dropped burning shingles are imagined to be inserted between the wall logs or set firmly in place by some other means. One shingle burns for about 30 minutes in the game so for continuous lighting a new one needs to be lit before the previous one fades out. This sort of shingle replacement is done automatically if your character is located beside the burning shingle and there's a stack of new shingles nearby on the ground. You character then automatically replaces and lights a new shingle when neccary, and you don't need to worry about maintaining the lighting even if the task you were doing would take a long time. Your companions will also automatically set a new shingle burning if they happen to be beside the fainting one. Villagers now also stock shingles and can utilize them to light up their cottage houses. Villagers set shingles burning only when necessary so this kind of lighting in the villages is mostly seen only during the dark autumn and winter periods. - added: SHINGLE game encyclopedia (F1) entry - added: crafting shingles You can find the option for crafting shingles at [M]ake menu under [L]umber category. Shingles are split from a block of pine wood. The process requires an axe, knife and hammering tool such as club. First the block is split into smaller pieces and then the shingles are split and pulled apart one by one by using a knife and hands. One block of wood yields hundreds and hundreds of shingles, but it is time consuming process that can take a full working day. The exact amount of shingles produced from one block of wood is based on the success of your TIMBERCRAFT skill. - added: shingle basket, a new container item Shingle basket is a rather large container made out of shingles. You can craft shingle baskets from [M]ake menu under tility articles. - changed: Staff item type and role Staves are now classified as timber type items rather than weapons, and considered mostly as raw material for crafting and construction purposes. There are no changes to staff making. They are made from slender tree trunks by delimbing and debarking the trunk and cutting it to suitable lengths. A common staff is thought of being about two meters in length with a diameter that fits nicely in one's hand. MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapon type staves obtained in previous versions do work in crafting the same way as the current version staves. - updated: STAFF game encyclopedia (F1) entry - changed: Flail item type and role Grainflail is now classified as a tool type item, rather than being a weapon. For a long time flails were considered weapons but that approach was foremostly generic medieval weaponry relic from the past and quite inappropriate for the game world. Naturally the FLAIL combat skill no longer exists either. In addition, the small flail item has been removed completely so there's only one flail item in the game world now - the grainflail. MIGRATION NOTICE: FLAIL skill gets removed from the migrated characters upon their first load in this version. The old flails continue to appear as weapon type items, but their usage as weapons is now unpredictable. - updated: GRAINFLAIL game encyclopedia (F1) entry - added: pausable arrowhead making Crafting of the arrowheads are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. - changed: bone and stone arrowhead crafting batch size increased from 5 to 10 - changed: blunt arrow crafting Blunt arrow crafting batch size is now increased to a dozen (12). As one slender trunk now yields 3 blunt arrows this is more reasonable batch number considering the sparing material usage. An axe or carving knife is now also required in making of blunt arrows - for efficient rough cutting. You can still craft a blunt arrow with any knife alone, but using an axe or sturdy knife makes things easier. - added: pausable fishing equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Fishing" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Wooden fishhook It now takes 30 minutes on average to make. * Lippo It now takes 6 hours on average to make. * Netting needle A wooden stake is now required as a raw material to carve the netting needle from. - added: pausable tying equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Tying equipment" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tying equipment crafting use any similar type of crafting again - ie. any cord, rope or withe - standing beside the partially finished item. So, even if you had for example a leather rope in the making, trying to craft birch-bark rope beside it still continues the original paused craft. So with tying equipment we hereby have an exception to pausable crafting continuing rules. If you choose to craft any type of cord, rope or withe the existing paused cord, rope or withe at the location will be finished first. - added: pausable textilecraft Spinning yarn and crafting of the spindle in [M]ake -> "Textilecraft" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Spindle It now takes 2 hours on average to make. Moreover, in addition using a knife alone, an axe or carving knife is preferred for rough cutting of the initial spindle shape. - added: pausable utility articles Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Utility articles" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Grainflail It's now made of two staves instead of a slender tree trunk. The staves are carved smooth and the impact stave is joined to the handle with a piece of cord. It now takes 3 hours on average to make. * Wooden cup They can be now made in batches of up to 5 at a time, and one block of wood yields five cups. Production time of one cup has been increased to 90 minutes. Previously it was 1 hour. * Wooden bowl They can be now made in batches of up to 4 at a time, and one block of wood yields two bowls. Production time of one bowl has been increased to 3 hours. Previously it was 2 hours. * Torch They can be now made in batches of up to 10 at a time. Some tying equipment is now also required to keep the bundle of branches tight and convenient to handle. The tying equipment can be anything from withes to cords. * Bandage To make one bandage 0.5 lbs of cloth is required, instead of previous 1 lb. - removed: skin (ie. waterskin) item This item was actually a remnant from the very early years of the game where wilderness exploration and abundance of water wasn't so obvious. Moreover, water containers made out of leather are also somewhat anachronistic for the game world. - modding add: [sucmodqty] tag to specificy success modified quantity of obtained items Using [sucmodqty] tag at the item header modifies the number of items to produce, specified as (num), based on how the crafting attempt succeeded. Very succesfull crafting produces close to or exactly the specified number of items, and failures produce that much less. For example, if we had an item header like this: .Club.(10) /5h/ *COMMON* [sucmodqty] This would always produce 10 clubs if there wasn't [sucmodqty] in use. But now as there's [sucmodqty] tag it can produce something like 7-10 clubs based on how the crafting attempt succeeds. - changed: wood slat production amount is now prone to success modified quantity The number of wood slats you get from one board is modified by how the crafting attempt succeeded. - added: yield information of raw materials, where applicable, is now indicated upon starting to craft something For example, when starting to craft staves there will be a message telling that "You can make 3 staves from one slender tree trunk." This way crafting can be planned sparingly in cases where certain raw material yield has been set. - adjusted: availability of small garments such as socks and mittens in the villages has been increased The chances to find small garments such as socks and mittens from the villages has been increased. You still may have to visit several prosperous villages to find a spare pair of precious woollen socks or mittens, but there's noticeable increase to the previous. - added: proper stocking of skis and ski sticks in the villages Skis and ski sticks are now properly stocked in the villages and the equipment quality can vary depending on the culture. Ski equipment restocking, if needed, is based on the village population and season. - fixed: start-up scenarios generated too close to the villages Sometimes a new character's location and start-up scenario were generated too close to the existing villages which caused scenario effects to spread into the villages. This was noticed for example with scenarios like "Unfortunate hunting trip" and "Not all who wander are lost." - fixed: two animals getting caught in the same trap - fixed: holes in the ice refreezing in slightly above zero degrees celsius temperatures - fixed: glitches with using village trade credit for blacksmith orders If you had enough village trade credit to cover the whole blacksmith order, asking the blacksmith's opinion about preferred items to trade only used up your credit but didn't proceed with the order. - fixed: crawling while skiing These two movement modes were erroneously simultaneously allowed. Now the crawling character with skis keeps only crawling, with the crawling speed. - fixed: running while skiing These two movement modes were erroneously simultaneously allowed. Now running is not possible when skiing. - fixed: felled saplings in darkness displayed incorrectly - fixed: rare shovel disappearance potential when digging a pit was paused - fixed: NPCs occasionally setting fires at unsuitable and random locations - fixed: being able to shoot broken arrows with a bow - fixed: shoreline waters at the village area converted into spring water for migrated characters created before the spring addition Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-11-27 17:00:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

The time has come for yet another UnReal World version to go live as version 3.85 beta is hereby now released. Being in beta phase it's available as a beta branch you need to opt-into at your Steam Library. This will be explained below. In few weeks time, if no showstoppers are found, we can expect a stable release. With this version we've now accomplished featuring the vast majority of crafting as pausable tasks. Now only a few item categories still remain to be done on our way to comprehensive pausable crafting. The other most notable additions in version 3.85 are also linked to crafting. One to mention is the shingles - a new type of light source with its unique usage mechanics. Secondly, there's now tree species property for big trunks and assorted timber products which affects to what type of wood is needed/preferred for crafting this or that. You can find full changelog at the end of this post, and a closer look at the few mentioned features with screenshots here.

Tree species property for big trunks and assorted timber products

Upon felling big trees the tree species now gets derived into the produced tree trunk. The basic timber products made of big trunks eg. blocks and boards will now start to inherit the tree species resulting in eg. "pine boards" or "block of birch wood". And so the tree type will now start to affect to what type of wood is needed/preferred for crafting this or that.
Here our character has felled big spruce, pine and birch trees and they appear on the ground like this. To give a few examples birch tree is preferred for making wooden shovels, cups and bowls. For wood slats pine is preferred, and shingles need to be made exclusively from blocks of pine. For crafting a paddle spruce is required. And the bows are best made out of pine or birch.
The tree species preference is indicated within the material and tool selection dialog the same way as all the other preferences. Here's how it goes when longbow crafting is initiated - pine or birch board is the preferred raw material.

Shingles - a new, traditional light source with new game mechanics

Shingles are thin and flat oblong pieces of pine wood which were burnt to produce light - especially for lighting up houses during the dark time of the year. Shingles are lit by using [a]pply command. Once a shingle is burning you can drop and set it wherever the light is needed, or carry it with you. One shingle burns for about 30 minutes in the game so for continuous lighting a new one needs to be lit before the previous one fades out. This sort of shingle replacement is done automatically if your character, or companion, is located beside the burning shingle and there's a stack of new shingles nearby on the ground. The character then automatically replaces and lights a new shingle when necessary, and you don't need to worry about maintaining the lighting even if the task you were doing would take a long time.
There are two shingles being burnt to light up a cottage in this Koivulais settlement. Stack of reserve shingles lays on the floor and a close by player character, their companion or the villagers might automatically set a new shingle burning if need be.

How to opt-into 3.85 (beta)

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is urwversion385beta Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.85 (beta) appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta version just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous stable version 3.84.2.

Changelog

Version 3.85 (beta) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: tree species property for big trunks and some assorted timber products Upon felling big trees the tree species now gets derived into the produced tree trunk. As a result the tree trunks are now called as pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk or spruce tree tunk - depending on what species of a tree was felled. Felling small trees still produces the generic slender tree trunks, but in the future tree species property will be added for slender trunks as well. There are also different tree trunk tile graphics for pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk and spruce tree trunk. These have been added as separate columns within truetile/trunk.png tile graphics file. When making blocks of wood or boards out of the big trunks these products now also inherit the original tree species property. As a result these basic timber products will be now called for example as "block of spruce wood" or "pine board", etc. - added: some crafts now require wood material of specific tree species Some crafts now require specific species of wood as raw material. This is indicated within the material and tool selection dialog the same way as all the other preferences. For example, you may be given a messages such as "You need a board, preferably of pine or birch." or "You need a spruce trunk." In cases where certain tree species is preferred it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred types the produced item will be of lesser quality. In that case the generic "...can't make good out of bad." message will be shown upon obtaining the finished craft. A specific wood species is now preferred when crafting the following items. And this feature will likely get more widely utilized in the future updates. * Longbow, pine or birch is preferred * Shortbow, pine or birch is preferred * Wooden shovel, birch is preferred * Wooden cup and bowl, birch is preferred * Wood slat, pine is preferred * Shingle, pine is required * Paddle, spruce is preferred - modding add: preferred tree species requirement Where applicable you can specify preferred tree species as a required material within <> tag. For example: {Tree trunk} [remove] {Block of wood} [remove] On the first line a big tree trunk is required, and it should be preferably of either spruce or birch. On the second line block of wood is required, and it should be preferably of birch. In these cases it's still possible to use material of any tree species, but if it differs from the preferred types the quality of the produced item will be lower. If only a certain type of tree species is accepted you should specify it directly by its full item name including the species. For example: {Pine tree trunk} or {Spruce board} - added: shingles - a traditional light source Shingles are thin and flat oblong pieces of pine wood which were burnt to produce light - especially for lighting up houses during the dark time of the year. In addition, shingles are also used as handicraft raw material in the making of shingle baskets - which is a new item featured in this verison. Shingles are timber type items, and they are lit by using [a]pply command. Once a shingle is burning you can drop and set it wherever the light is needed, or carry it with you. Traditionally shingles were burnt in a specific stand that kept them in a good angle for proper burning, but in the game the dropped burning shingles are imagined to be inserted between the wall logs or set firmly in place by some other means. One shingle burns for about 30 minutes in the game so for continuous lighting a new one needs to be lit before the previous one fades out. This sort of shingle replacement is done automatically if your character is located beside the burning shingle and there's a stack of new shingles nearby on the ground. You character then automatically replaces and lights a new shingle when neccary, and you don't need to worry about maintaining the lighting even if the task you were doing would take a long time. Your companions will also automatically set a new shingle burning if they happen to be beside the fainting one. Villagers now also stock shingles and can utilize them to light up their cottage houses. Villagers set shingles burning only when necessary so this kind of lighting in the villages is mostly seen only during the dark autumn and winter periods. - added: SHINGLE game encyclopedia (F1) entry - added: crafting shingles You can find the option for crafting shingles at [M]ake menu under [L]umber category. Shingles are split from a block of pine wood. The process requires an axe, knife and hammering tool such as club. First the block is split into smaller pieces and then the shingles are split and pulled apart one by one by using a knife and hands. One block of wood yields hundreds and hundreds of shingles, but it is time consuming process that can take a full working day. The exact amount of shingles produced from one block of wood is based on the success of your TIMBERCRAFT skill. - added: shingle basket, a new container item Shingle basket is a rather large container made out of shingles. You can craft shingle baskets from [M]ake menu under tility articles. - changed: Staff item type and role Staves are now classified as timber type items rather than weapons, and considered mostly as raw material for crafting and construction purposes. There are no changes to staff making. They are made from slender tree trunks by delimbing and debarking the trunk and cutting it to suitable lengths. A common staff is thought of being about two meters in length with a diameter that fits nicely in one's hand. MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapon type staves obtained in previous versions do work in crafting the same way as the current version staves. - updated: STAFF game encyclopedia (F1) entry - changed: Flail item type and role Grainflail is now classified as a tool type item, rather than being a weapon. For a long time flails were considered weapons but that approach was foremostly generic medieval weaponry relic from the past and quite inappropriate for the game world. Naturally the FLAIL combat skill no longer exists either. In addition, the small flail item has been removed completely so there's only one flail item in the game world now - the grainflail. MIGRATION NOTICE: FLAIL skill gets removed from the migrated characters upon their first load in this version. The old flails continue to appear as weapon type items, but their usage as weapons is now unpredictable. - updated: GRAINFLAIL game encyclopedia (F1) entry - added: pausable arrowhead making Crafting of the arrowheads are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. - changed: bone and stone arrowhead crafting batch size increased from 5 to 10 - changed: blunt arrow crafting Blunt arrow crafting batch size is now increased to a dozen (12). As one slender trunk now yields 3 blunt arrows this is more reasonable batch number considering the sparing material usage. An axe or carving knife is now also required in making of blunt arrows - for efficient rough cutting. You can still craft a blunt arrow with any knife alone, but using an axe or sturdy knife makes things easier. - added: pausable fishing equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Fishing" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Wooden fishhook It now takes 30 minutes on average to make. * Lippo It now takes 6 hours on average to make. * Netting needle A wooden stake is now required as a raw material to carve the netting needle from. - added: pausable tying equipment Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Tying equipment" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tying equipment crafting use any similar type of crafting again - ie. any cord, rope or withe - standing beside the partially finished item. So, even if you had for example a leather rope in the making, trying to craft birch-bark rope beside it still continues the original paused craft. So with tying equipment we hereby have an exception to pausable crafting continuing rules. If you choose to craft any type of cord, rope or withe the existing paused cord, rope or withe at the location will be finished first. - added: pausable textilecraft Spinning yarn and crafting of the spindle in [M]ake -> "Textilecraft" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Spindle It now takes 2 hours on average to make. Moreover, in addition using a knife alone, an axe or carving knife is preferred for rough cutting of the initial spindle shape. - added: pausable utility articles Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Utility articles" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. There are changes to the crafting recipes as follows; * Grainflail It's now made of two staves instead of a slender tree trunk. The staves are carved smooth and the impact stave is joined to the handle with a piece of cord. It now takes 3 hours on average to make. * Wooden cup They can be now made in batches of up to 5 at a time, and one block of wood yields five cups. Production time of one cup has been increased to 90 minutes. Previously it was 1 hour. * Wooden bowl They can be now made in batches of up to 4 at a time, and one block of wood yields two bowls. Production time of one bowl has been increased to 3 hours. Previously it was 2 hours. * Torch They can be now made in batches of up to 10 at a time. Some tying equipment is now also required to keep the bundle of branches tight and convenient to handle. The tying equipment can be anything from withes to cords. * Bandage To make one bandage 0.5 lbs of cloth is required, instead of previous 1 lb. - removed: skin (ie. waterskin) item This item was actually a remnant from the very early years of the game where wilderness exploration and abundance of water wasn't so obvious. Moreover, water containers made out of leather are also somewhat anachronistic for the game world. - modding add: [sucmodqty] tag to specificy success modified quantity of obtained items Using [sucmodqty] tag at the item header modifies the number of items to produce, specified as (num), based on how the crafting attempt succeeded. Very succesfull crafting produces close to or exactly the specified number of items, and failures produce that much less. For example, if we had an item header like this: .Club.(10) /5h/ *COMMON* [sucmodqty] This would always produce 10 clubs if there wasn't [sucmodqty] in use. But now as there's [sucmodqty] tag it can produce something like 7-10 clubs based on how the crafting attempt succeeds. - changed: wood slat production amount is now prone to success modified quantity The number of wood slats you get from one board is modified by how the crafting attempt succeeded. - added: yield information of raw materials, where applicable, is now indicated upon starting to craft something For example, when starting to craft staves there will be a message telling that "You can make 3 staves from one slender tree trunk." This way crafting can be planned sparingly in cases where certain raw material yield has been set. - adjusted: availability of small garments such as socks and mittens in the villages has been increased The chances to find small garments such as socks and mittens from the villages has been increased. You still may have to visit several prosperous villages to find a spare pair of precious woollen socks or mittens, but there's noticeable increase to the previous. - added: proper stocking of skis and ski sticks in the villages Skis and ski sticks are now properly stocked in the villages and the equipment quality can vary depending on the culture. Ski equipment restocking, if needed, is based on the village population and season. - fixed: start-up scenarios generated too close to the villages Sometimes a new character's location and start-up scenario were generated too close to the existing villages which caused scenario effects to spread into the villages. This was noticed for example with scenarios like "Unfortunate hunting trip" and "Not all who wander are lost." - fixed: two animals getting caught in the same trap - fixed: holes in the ice refreezing in slightly above zero degrees celsius temperatures - fixed: glitches with using village trade credit for blacksmith orders If you had enough village trade credit to cover the whole blacksmith order, asking the blacksmith's opinion about preferred items to trade only used up your credit but didn't proceed with the order. - fixed: crawling while skiing These two movement modes were erroneously simultaneously allowed. Now the crawling character with skis keeps only crawling, with the crawling speed. - fixed: running while skiing These two movement modes were erroneously simultaneously allowed. Now running is not possible when skiing. - fixed: felled saplings in darkness displayed incorrectly - fixed: rare shovel disappearance potential when digging a pit was paused - fixed: NPCs occasionally setting fires at unsuitable and random locations - fixed: being able to shoot broken arrows with a bow - fixed: shoreline waters at the village area converted into spring water for migrated characters created before the spring addition Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-10-28 17:13:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some of you are aware of this already, and for the rest it's time for a little cross-promotion... Ancient Savo, another game by Enormous Elk was recently on Steam. Created by Erkka Lehmus (UnReal World co-designer) this open-ended survival and resource management game is focused on raising a family. The game takes place in 1200 CE Eastern Finland, in the pristine woodlands of a region called Savo. If you have played UnReal World you may notice some familiar elements there, drawn from the same pool of inspiration, but Ancient Savo is an independent game its own. Maybe you'd better go see yourself, the introductory sale is on until 30th of September: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2872000/Ancient_Savo/ Ancient Savo is being developed independently and aside from the UnReal World, and the route the Enormous Elk's flagship is sailing remains the same - as does the crew. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-09-27 14:33:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Summer sale lasts for a few days more, so we encourage all the new adventurers to take this advantage of entering into UnReal World with a discounted price. Feel warmly welcomed! The summer and nightless nights in real world do continue for good while longer and although it's been less attractive to sweat inside the development chambers we'll hereby bring you a little summary summary about the ongoing development stuff. And hey, let's add a few real world summer photos at the end of this post as well, shall we? So, a brief summery summary from the development chambers goes as follows:

Shingles

A new light source is coming up as we'll be adding shingles to the game. A shingle, or pre (in finnish), is a thin oblong piece of pine wood which were burnt to produce light - especially for lighting up houses during the dark time of the year. Shingles are lit by using [a]pply command. Once a shingle is burning you can drop and set it wherever the light is needed, or carry it with you. Traditionally shingles were burnt in a specific stand that kept them in a good angle for proper burning, but in the game dropped burning shingles are imagined to be inserted between the wall logs or set firmly in place by some other means.
Here's a shingle in a traditional shingle stand. In the game a stand isn't needed, but here you'll get a picture of the item in question. One shingle burns for about 30 minutes in the game so for continuous lighting a new one needs to be lit before the previous one fades out. This sort of shingle replacement is done automatically if your character is located beside the burning shingle and there's a stack of new shingles nearby on the ground. You character then automatically replaces and lights a new shingle when necessary, and you don't need to worry about maintaining the lighting even if the task you were doing would take a long time.
Here a cabin is lighted up by two shingles burning in place. There's also a stack of shingles on the ground and if the character remains beside it a new shingle is automatically lit when the previous one fades out. Shingles can be crafted by the player character, and they may be needed in quite amounts during the dark season. An axe and a knife and suitable block of wood are needed for splitting the shingles. The preferred tree species is pine so our shingle splitting requirements will look like this. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images/11779961/0d6a666176b5eef497b3b66be2c4512c3d286313.jpg[/img A block of pine wood is required for splitting the shingles.

Tree species based timber

Currently the felled trunks in the game are all of the same generic wood type, and tree species don't have much difference in crafting. But now that is going to chance as we'll be adding tree species property for big trunks and assorted timber products. At the first stage this addition only covers big trunks and slender tree trunks will remain generic, but in the future also the slender tree trunks will get the tree species property. So, upon felling big trees the tree species now gets derived into the produced tree trunk. As a result the tree trunks are now called as pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk or spruce tree tunk - depending on what species of tree was felled. There are also different tree trunk tile graphics for pine tree trunk, birch tree trunk and spruce tree trunk. The basic timber products made of big trunks eg. blocks and boards will now start to inherit the tree species resulting in eg. "pine boards" or "block of birch wood". And so the tree type will now start to affect to what type of wood is needed/preferred for crafting this or that. Some tree type preference adjustments based on this addition will be made to craftable items in the next version and it will continue to grow more detailed in the versions to follow.
Here our character has felled big spruce, pine and birch trees and they appear on the ground like this.

Pausable crafting

The pausable crafting transition naturally continues and is considered and prioritized as the main sector of work until all the crafts are prone to pausable mechanics. It won't be yet completed with the next release, but we'll be closer to the goal with every patch. When going through all the item definitions the bigger and lesser chances to some crafting recipes will follow. For example, as we're now getting shingles the concept and crafting of torches is being re-considered. All the crafts and their requirements are prone to grow a little more complex and comprehensive as we advance.

Summery dev summary

And then, a brief summery photo summary of the past weeks from outside the development chambers goes as follows.





Cheers! Stay tuned! urw_sage

[ 2024-07-10 14:44:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Open World Survival Crafting Fest 2024 is here ... ... and we welcome you into the far north with a discounted price! In case of UnReal World it's hard to imagine more suitable Steam Fest to participate in. First released in 1992 the game sports more than 30 years of active development with still no end in sight and has got Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition (2019) recognizition for being the first open-world survival game. Yes, these titles are always debatable but the content and eligibility is not. UnReal World is a unique low-fantasy roguelike game set in the far north during the late-iron age. The world of the game is highly realistic, rich with historical atmosphere and emphasized on survival in the harsh ancient wilderness. For newcomers we'll highlight a curiosity that the game is created by devs who tend to practice what they code also in their real life. The ways of their ancestors, primitive and wilderness skills, traditional builds and crafts of many sorts.
From left to right, Erkka (co-designer) and Sami (creator) of UnReal World building something else than a computer game. Steam Open World Survival Crafting Fest is about games where you start with nothing or very little, and eventually end up with... well, maybe still nothing. If you survive long enough though, you might find yourself with a nicely decorated base. But the threat of all of that coming down around you is ever-present. UnReal World is completely open-ended and it's up to you how you decide or manage to live off the land. If you wish to, you can pick one of the varying start-up scenarios to send you into the far north with different conditions and rough plot to follow. Here's a brief introduction about what you would start with in these scenarios, and where they may lead you. But in the end, everything is up to you, and in the procedurally generated world not even the start-up equipment is always the same.
The Village Starting at the village provides a safe way to start playing. You may equip your character carefully before going out to the wilderness and have a safe place to return to if you face setbacks or dangers on your journeys. Villages are also sources of quests which may lead you into looking for water spirits, encountering forest maidens, returning lost village animals from the wild, assisting with village chores, and so on.
Runaway slave Having been slave to Njerpezit for years you finally take a step to escape from your captors. You are lightly dressed, carrying only few weapons. If you manage to escape, surviving in the wilderness like this, without supplies, may get very hard. On the other hand fighting against superior enemy may be more foolish - even though they are carrying equipment you too could use.
Unfortunate hunting trip Your father lies dead on the ground and the beast who killed him is still present. If you manage to down the beast or even escape from it you are on your own in the middle of the wide, unfamiliar environment. The equipment of your late father may become very useful to you if you manage to pick them up - and that way even though you are alone in the world now, your family will be with you.
Lonely settler You find yourself alone on a foreign ground with two unfinished cottages. You may want to finish the cottages on your own and settle here - whatever you do there's much to learn about life and making your livelihood. However, the area where your father brought you feels like home to you now more than the unfamiliar wilderness around.
Hurt, helpless, and afraid Wounded and left for dead, you struggle to survive in the wilderness. This is a difficult scenario, as you have suffered rather severe injuries, making you incapable of walking. You also lack anything but your knife and a few pieces of clothing. It is very possible to die from the injuries you have suffered.
Traps and trapping Your character is equipped with various traps and tools to make traps including wooden stakes for building fences and a shovel. Even if you can't make your livelihood immediately learning to use traps can be very interesting.
I want to be a fisherman One night you sneaked into the fishing shed and took all the equipment you could carry. "I know enough to make my living by fishing alone", you mumbled as you left your home for good. The days after that weren't easy but little by little you began to learn to use you your fishing tackle better - and the further you travelled the more friendly the waters seemed to be.
Abandoned trap-fence You find an old trap-fence in the wilderness. This scenario gives you an idea of what kind of trap-fences you should build yourself and encourages you to learn by using this starting trap-fence. It will only need repairing and improvement rather than construction from scratch by yourself.
Abandoned camp You find an old camp with a shelter, firewood and useful items. What brought you here and what kind of your past is like is a matter of your imagination. You are at a camp where to ponder about the path to take. You can take items lying around as a hint, or you can make a fire and throw them into it one by one... as always everything is up to you.
Agriculture You posses some valuable seeds and are ready to try out your agricultural skills. At the age of sixteen you left your home not only with some clothes, weapons and necessary equipment but also with some valuable seeds. When you find a nice place to settle down you can start growing your own crops.
There be robbers! You encounter a band of ruffians in the wilderness. This scenario puts you face to face with possible danger. Will you take the offensive or try to escape with your skin intact? The next step is up to you. Keeping your starting equipment means risking your life and fighting the bandits off.
Not all who wander are lost You set out into the unforgiving wilderness with a four-legged companion. Left alone with only the supplies and tools you carry and your four-legged companion you set out into the unforgiving wilderness, just another wanderer looking for their place in the UnReal World. Congratulations for reading this far! If this all sounded like a lot to digest now bear in mind that this just scratching the surface. Feel free to go discover - the fest and discount is on. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-05-27 17:24:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

A small patch has been released to fix a few issues as follows: Version 3.84.2 ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - fixed: pausable crafting item duplication In some conditions when you finished crafting an item the work in progress item still remained on the ground. - fixed: using TEXTILECRAFT skill displaying corrupt "Command:" prompt, eg. TEXTILECRAFTNETMAKING - changed: Staff item type and role Staves are now classified as timber type items rather than weapons, and considered mostly as raw material for crafting and construction purposes. There are no changes to staff making. They are made from slender tree trunks by delimbing and debarking the trunk and cutting it to suitable lengths. A common staff is thought of being about two meters in length with a diameter that fits nicely in one's hand. MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapon type staves obtained in previous versions do work in crafting the same way as the current version staves. - updated: STAFF game encyclopedia (F1) entry ------------------------------------------------------------ Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-05-17 17:02:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

A small patch has been released to fix the following issues, which probably occurred only for a subset of adventurers. Version 3.84.1 ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - fixed: continuing pausable crafting with inferior tools caused erroneous production times If inferior tools were used to start and continue pausable crafting tasks the remaining production times were not always set correctly. This glitch occasionally initiated conditions where continued pausable crafting required seemingly endless production times. - fixed: wrong javelin item tile ------------------------------------------------------------ Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-05-05 11:58:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.84 (stable) is now released and live for all the supported operating systems. Version 3.84 continues the ongoing transition to make all the crafting tasks pausable, features a good deal of related crafting requirement changes, adds BOWYER skill, introduces springs as a new water source and naturally offers a fistful of bugfixes too. In the midst of big changes in regards to pausable crafting we hope for the bugs to be scarcer than average adventurer's nutrition levels. ;) And whatever is encountered we do our best to maintain a swift update cycle to overcome the issues as early on as possible. Here's the changelog: Version 3.84 (stable) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: BOWYER skill The bowyer skill is the ability and knowledge to make bows. Success in the skill determines the quality of the bows crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version. Needless to say, the available craftable bows now call for BOWYER skill in their crafting. - added: craftable Longbow You can craft a longbow from [M]ake menu under "Weapons" category. - added: pausable weapon crafting Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Weapons" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. These weapons are stone-axe, stone knife, club, javelin, spruce quick-bow, shortbow, longbow and bowstring. To continue paused weapon crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - changed: crafting times and requirements of certain weapons Now that the weapon crafting is pausable the production times of certain weapons have been increased to more reasonable levels. There are also minor changes in some material or tool requirements. The changes are as follows, but bear in mind that these are the average set values and poor tools and/or skills may very well double the actual production times. * Stone-axe Stone-axe gets the greatest time increase in the production time as on average it now takes 50 hours to make one. That's a lot, but it really is a slow process to get the stone blade knapped and grinded out to shape that is efficient for felling trees. Thus, stone-axe now becomes a survival option which you won't take up too lightly, but only in extreme need. Crafting a stone-axe now also needs another stone for final sharpening and polishing. Also, the previous requirement for rope has been replaced with strong cordage requirement. This means you can also use for example spruce withes for securing the head in place in the handle. * Stone knife It now takes 5 hours on average to make and also requires a stone for final sharpening. * Javelin It now takes 2 hour on average to make. * Shortbow It now takes 12 hours on average to make. The time increase is signficant compared to the earlier, and only a skilled bowyer with quality tools may manage to craft a shortbow in one day. With mediocre skills and tools it's a process of several work days. * Longbow It takes 18 hours on average to make. Thus, crafting a longbow is a process of several work days even for a skilled bowyer. * Bowstring It now takes 2 hours on average to make a bowstring from strands of yarn, and 30 minutes on average from a ready-made cord. When using a ready-made cord it often needs to be thinned down to suitable thickness so it's not just tying of the knots. - added: BOWSTRING game encyclopedia (F1) entry - updated: SHORTBOW and LONGBOW game encyclopedia (F1) entries - added: pausable haft crafting Crafting of the spear, axe and shovel hafts are now pausable tasks. - added: pausable item trap crafting and loop snare batch production Crafting of the paw-board fox trap and loop snare are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Paw-board Crafting time has been increased to three hours. * Loop snare Loop snares can be made in batches of up to ten at a time, and it takes 20 minutes on average to craft one. - added: pausable lumber items crafting Crafting of the wooden stakes, staves and wood slats are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Wood slat Crafting time for a batch of 20 slats has been increased to 200 minutes. * Wooden stake Wooden stakes are made in sets of 5 pieces from one slender tree trunk. Previously it was 8 pieces from one trunk. * Staff When crafting staves one slender tree trunk can yield 3 proper straight staves. Previously it was one trunk for one staff. - added: pausable utility article crafting for some items in the category Crafting of the wooden shovel, birch-bark box and birch-bark basket are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Wooden shovel It is now made from a board instead of a wooden block. The crafting time has been incresed to 8 hours. - added: springs Springs are water sources bringing groundwater to the surface. They can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in maps at varying environments in size of one to three map tiles. Springs do remain unfrozen even in the winter which makes them very useful water sources. A spring found in the wilderness may provide a great spot for a homestead for those who like to live in the forest further away from the lakes or rivers. From now on the village water supply ponds are also springs. As they don't freeze they are easier to maintain and spot even in the winter. MIGRATION NOTICE: Water supply ponds in the villages you have visited in the previous version will automatically turn into springs in this version. - added: "behind your back" reference to asking for NPC whereabouts When asking the whereabouts of an NPC who is close by but not seen by the player character, the people will now point out that the target NPC is "...over there, just behind your back.". - changed: pushing allowed to locations not visible to the player character You can now

ush items around regardless of the location being visible or not. This helps to maintain character's daily life also in the pitch dark low visibility conditions. - fixed: pausable crafts in process occasionally disappearing when finishing crafting something else beside them - fixed: possibility to remove hafts from sickles This was mistakenly allowed. Sickles are a special case and not yet included in the hafting mechanics. - fixed: skin item duplication if tanning got cancelled at the requirements dialog - fixed: villagers occasionally wandering impractically far from the village area - fixed: low quality hafts not degrading the finished hafted weapon quality correctly You pretty much always got fine hafted weapons even with the inferior hafts. - fixed: "Of wolf and woman" quest related NPCs selection mess There was a rare occurrence where the said quest dialogues didn't unfold properly due to the game engine picking the related NPCs incorrectly. - fixed: paused craft remaining time checks There was a rare condition where the remaining time to continue paused crafting was calculated incorrectly resulting in too fast completion of items at the end of the process. - fixed: title song playback interruptions and cracks upon the game starting The issue was with .ogg file loading. The troublesome audio is now loaded before the title song starts, and some .ogg audio has been replaced with .wav files. - fixed: occasional white screen flash when player character goes to sleep - fixed: attempt to haft an invalid target item made the item to disappear - fixed: sickles weighted too much Sickle item weight was mistakenly set to 3 lbs. This is fixed now, and sickles weigh 1 lbs as intended. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-05-03 14:32:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

A new version is at hand and for starters the Windows build goes live - now. Linux and OS X builds will be released later this week if the workflow goes as expected. Version 3.84 continues the ongoing transition to make all the crafting tasks pausable, features a good deal of related crafting requirement changes, adds BOWYER skill, introduces springs as a new water source and naturally offers a fistful of bugfixes too. Here's the changelog: Version 3.84 (stable) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: BOWYER skill The bowyer skill is the ability and knowledge to make bows. Success in the skill determines the quality of the bows crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version. Needless to say, the available craftable bows now call for BOWYER skill in their crafting. - added: craftable Longbow You can craft a longbow from [M]ake menu under "Weapons" category. - added: pausable weapon crafting Crafting of the items in [M]ake -> "Weapons" category are now pausable tasks allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. These weapons are stone-axe, stone knife, club, javelin, spruce quick-bow, shortbow, longbow and bowstring. To continue paused weapon crafting use the same crafting option again standing beside the said partially finished item. Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - changed: crafting times and requirements of certain weapons Now that the weapon crafting is pausable the production times of certain weapons have been increased to more reasonable levels. There are also minor changes in some material or tool requirements. The changes are as follows, but bear in mind that these are the average set values and poor tools and/or skills may very well double the actual production times. * Stone-axe Stone-axe gets the greatest time increase in the production time as on average it now takes 50 hours to make one. That's a lot, but it really is a slow process to get the stone blade knapped and grinded out to shape that is efficient for felling trees. Thus, stone-axe now becomes a survival option which you won't take up too lightly, but only in extreme need. Crafting a stone-axe now also needs another stone for final sharpening and polishing. Also, the previous requirement for rope has been replaced with strong cordage requirement. This means you can also use for example spruce withes for securing the head in place in the handle. * Stone knife It now takes 5 hours on average to make and also requires a stone for final sharpening. * Javelin It now takes 2 hour on average to make. * Shortbow It now takes 12 hours on average to make. The time increase is signficant compared to the earlier, and only a skilled bowyer with quality tools may manage to craft a shortbow in one day. With mediocre skills and tools it's a process of several work days. * Longbow It takes 18 hours on average to make. Thus, crafting a longbow is a process of several work days even for a skilled bowyer. * Bowstring It now takes 2 hours on average to make a bowstring from strands of yarn, and 30 minutes on average from a ready-made cord. When using a ready-made cord it often needs to be thinned down to suitable thickness so it's not just tying of the knots. - added: BOWSTRING game encyclopedia (F1) entry - updated: SHORTBOW and LONGBOW game encyclopedia (F1) entries - added: pausable haft crafting Crafting of the spear, axe and shovel hafts are now pausable tasks. - added: pausable item trap crafting and loop snare batch production Crafting of the paw-board fox trap and loop snare are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Paw-board Crafting time has been increased to three hours. * Loop snare Loop snares can be made in batches of up to ten at a time, and it takes 20 minutes on average to craft one. - added: pausable lumber items crafting Crafting of the wooden stakes, staves and wood slats are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Wood slat Crafting time for a batch of 20 slats has been increased to 200 minutes. * Wooden stake Wooden stakes are made in sets of 5 pieces from one slender tree trunk. Previously it was 8 pieces from one trunk. * Staff When crafting staves one slender tree trunk can yield 3 proper straight staves. Previously it was one trunk for one staff. - added: pausable utility article crafting for some items in the category Crafting of the wooden shovel, birch-bark box and birch-bark basket are now pausable tasks. There are also some changes as follows; * Wooden shovel It is now made from a board instead of a wooden block. The crafting time has been incresed to 8 hours. - added: springs Springs are water sources bringing groundwater to the surface. They can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in maps at varying environments in size of one to three map tiles. Springs do remain unfrozen even in the winter which makes them very useful water sources. A spring found in the wilderness may provide a great spot for a homestead for those who like to live in the forest further away from the lakes or rivers. From now on the village water supply ponds are also springs. As they don't freeze they are easier to maintain and spot even in the winter. MIGRATION NOTICE: Water supply ponds in the villages you have visited in the previous version will automatically turn into springs in this version. - added: "behind your back" reference to asking for NPC whereabouts When asking the whereabouts of an NPC who is close by but not seen by the player character, the people will now point out that the target NPC is "...over there, just behind your back.". - changed: pushing allowed to locations not visible to the player character You can now

ush items around regardless of the location being visible or not. This helps to maintain character's daily life also in the pitch dark low visibility conditions. - fixed: pausable crafts in process occasionally disappearing when finishing crafting something else beside them - fixed: possibility to remove hafts from sickles This was mistakenly allowed. Sickles are a special case and not yet included in the hafting mechanics. - fixed: skin item duplication if tanning got cancelled at the requirements dialog - fixed: villagers occasionally wandering impractically far from the village area - fixed: low quality hafts not degrading the finished hafted weapon quality correctly You pretty much always got fine hafted weapons even with the inferior hafts. - fixed: "Of wolf and woman" quest related NPCs selection mess There was a rare occurrence where the said quest dialogues didn't unfold properly due to the game engine picking the related NPCs incorrectly. - fixed: paused craft remaining time checks There was a rare condition where the remaining time to continue paused crafting was calculated incorrectly resulting in too fast completion of items at the end of the process. - fixed: title song playback interruptions and cracks upon the game starting The issue was with .ogg file loading. The troublesome audio is now loaded before the title song starts, and some .ogg audio has been replaced with .wav files. - fixed: occasional white screen flash when player character goes to sleep - fixed: attempt to haft an invalid target item made the item to disappear - fixed: sickles weighted too much Sickle item weight was mistakenly set to 3 lbs. This is fixed now, and sickles weigh 1 lbs as intended. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-04-29 11:42:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Springtime is busy time - both out in the nature and inside the development chambers. See, we're preparing for a new version release still this month, so let's have a sneak peek at upcoming features.

Pausable crafting proceeding strongly

Quite a batch of craftable items will be using the recently featured pausable crafting mechanics allowing player character to have breaks and continue the crafting at will later on. At this point the pausable crafting mechanics will cover all the weapons, lumber items, hafts and item traps such as paw-board fox trap and loop snare - and some more are likely to be added. So, with the upcoming version more than half of the craftable items will become pausable tasks. And in the version after that we'll likely manage to have all the crafts pausable as a default - and that's really something.

BOWYER skill and craftable longbow

A new skill, bowyer, will be added. It's quite self-explanatory that this is the ability and knowledge to make bows and the craftable bows now call for bowyer skills in their crafting. And longbow will be made available as a new craftable bow type for the player character.

Crafting adjustments

With pausable crafting mechanics the production times of certain items can be now increased to more reasonable levels. With some items, eg. a longbow or stone-axe , the changes are quite significant and crafting them is a process of several workdays rather than several hours. Little tweaks to crafting requirements here and there can be also expected.
Continuing to craft a longbow in the making. For this character it will still take a few days with not the most suitable tools and mediocre bowyer skills.

Springs

It's springtime for real! We'll be adding springs, water sources bringing groundwater to the surface, in the terrain generation. Springs can be found at varying environments on zoomed-in maps. A spring found in the wilderness may provide a great spot for a homestead for those who like to live further away from the lakes or rivers. And moreover, springs remain unfrozen even in the winter.
A spring has been found in the wilderness! The water is cold and fresh. So, for the next few versions we'll be working mostly on item related additions, and hope to have these released in decent pace. After that, when all the crafting is pausable and likely some other marvelous things have been accomplished as well, we'll move into adding new quests. Some of these will be small and casual, but some will be most exciting for the players who'd enjoy the presence of marriage or permanent companions. Let that be a sneak peek in advance further into this year's plans. Cheers! Stay tuned. urw_sage

[ 2024-04-08 18:36:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

A quick hotfix update to remedy occasional lag on zoomed-in maps has been released. This issue was met with version 3.83 most notably on Windows 11 systems. No other changes. Cheers, and happy adventures! urw_sage

[ 2024-03-04 09:46:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.83 is now released and live! Bugs found during the beta period were very scarce, so for those who were playing the beta version already the changelog doesn't bring any additions. The most notable features in version 3.83 are weapon/tool hafting and the haft wear out mechanics, and pausable arrowmaking and tanning. This version has also undergone upgrade of SDL and SDL_mixer libraries, which will hopefully prove stable and clear few rarely encountered audio oddities with some system setups and sound cards/drivers. .....aaaand here's the changelog: Version 3.83 (stable) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Wooden shovel is an exception as it's made out of single piece of wood. Haft refers to the wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When the haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool. For hafting, there are now new craftable "axe haft", "spear haft" and "shovel haft" items. In reality the haft shape and proportions do vary depending on the axe or spear type, but in order not to make things overly complex the two generic spear and axes hafts work for all the different types of spears and axes. The different axe and spear heads now also exist as separate items. For the axes there are handaxe head, carving axe head, broad axe head, woodsman's axe head and so on. And for the spears there are kaumolais spear head, northern spear head, and so on. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted so the heads aren't commonly found on their own. When the haft breaks the head and broken haft do drop on the ground, along with pause prompted game message. You can then carve a new haft and haft the head to assemble a working weapon or shovel again. The broken hafts are of no use and are best utilized as firewood. Crafting hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The following self-explanatory options are available there: * Axe haft * Spear haft * Shovel haft * Haft a weapon or tool * Remove the haft The first three options are used to craft a new haft, followed by the actual hafting option to assemble a working weapon or shovel. You may also remove the haft at will for example to replace worn out haft early on. However, removing the haft may damage it a little bit so it's not recommended to do unless necessary. Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself require CARPENTRY skills. The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished weapon or tool usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the item quality even below the head quality itself. Thus the finished axe, spear or shovel quality now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft. There are new game encyclopedia (F1) entries for the relevant topics: AXE HEAD, AHE HAFT, SPEAR HEAD, SPEAR HAFT, SHOVEL BLADE and SHOVEL HAFT - added: hafts wearing out in use Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break. Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat. In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving. The haft wear out level can be noticed in character's inventory with the progressing wear bar. Hafts are in the risk of breaking apart when they've worn to about 80% of the original condition. Accumulating haft damage can also lead to decrease in the axe or spear overall quality. - modding add: new crafting requirement entries {Hammering tool} This defines requirement for a tool that is used to hammer things in place. It's used in hafting an axe. The butt of an axe is commonly used as a hammering tool, but clubs, pieces of firewood or stones can be also used as a substitute. {Axe or carving knife} This defines requirement for a tool used in rough woodworking and carving. It's used in crafting hafts to carve out their rough shape from a slender tree trunk. Axe is the preferred tool here and always the best option, but usage of knives is allowed as a substitute - even though they make the task significantly slower. The common woodworking axes such as handaxe, carving axe, and woodman's axe are the most suitable ones. If a knife is used the sturdy ones such as skramasaksi, northern knife, kaumolais knife or hunting knife work the best. Both of these entries can be utilized in diy_*.txt and biy_*.txt modding at will. - modding add: [nowear] and [wearpct:num] tags to specify haft wear out accumulation rate Axe, spear and shovel hafts wear out also when they are used as tools in crafting or building tasks. There are these two new tags to customize the wear accumulation rate as the intensity of tool usage varies depending on the task. [nowear] tag means that the used tool doesn't wear out at all. [wearpct:num] specifies custom wear out percentage rate (1-100) in relation to the highest rate (100) where tool is used intensely during the whole task. Examples: {Axe} [nowear] Here an axe is needed, preferably a carving axe, and it doesn't wear out at all in the said crafting/building task. {Cutting_weapon} [wearpct:25] Here a cutting weapon, preferably an axe, is needed. It wears out in 25% rate compared to the continuous intense axe work. Maybe the axe is needed only 25% of the time in this crafting/building task. - removed: hard staff and throwing axe These two weapons have been removed for being somewhat anachronistic and not that important. - added: pausable tanning Tanning is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tanning simply use the tanning option again standing beside the partially finished item. This applies only to the last and most laborous stage of the tanning process which is softening the hide with a beater. The preceeding, faster processes of cleaning the skin need to be done in one go. Partially tanned hides will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - added: pausable arrowmaking and arrow shaft crafting Making arrows and arrow shafts is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused arrowmaking simply use the same option to make arrows or arrow shafts again standing beside the said partially finished items. For blunt arrows this means using [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Blunt arrow" option. For all the other kind of tipped arrows use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow" option. And for the arrow shafts you would naturally use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow shaft". Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - changed: maximum number of arrows or arrow shafts to craft in one batch The maximum arrow or arrow shaft batch production quantity is increased up to 10 at one go. - changed: arrow shaft crafting time Now that the making of arrow shafts is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 90 minutes. - changed: blunt arrow crafting requirements Now that the blunt arrow making is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 2 hours.
Number of slender tree trunks required is also modified so that you can craft three blunt arrows out of one slender tree trunk. Blunt arrows are now also prone to outcome quality modifiers, so your tools and expertise determines if the finished blunt arrows will be curved or superior or something in between. - modding add: [yield:num] tag [yield:num] tag is used to specify for how many produced items the single raw material entry is enough for. Ie. how many finished items it can yield. The tag is used in diy_glossary.txt for making blunt arrows as follows: {Slender trunk} [yield:3] This means one slender tree trunk can yield three produced items ie. blunt arrows. So, for example to craft six blunt arrows you would need 2 trunks. Crafting 7-9 blunt arrows you would need 3 trunks, and so on. - enhanced: rendering of the terrain type images Terrain type images on zoomed-in map are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the images appear more crisp and clear. - fixed: being able to fish facing away from the water - fixed: companions performing some tasks too fast Due to miscalculations in companion time counters they managed to complete some tasks, eg. felling trees, all too fast. The issue was mostly noticed in woodworking tasks, but you may find some other companion performed tasks also to appear in slower more reasonable pace now. - fixed: villagers not reacting if you attacked a hired companion of their own group in their own village - fixed: villagers accepting too many items if they were offered in one go during the first trade - fixed: terrain type image not updating when climbing across terrain boundary This happened only when using the climbing skill. - fixed: the fish splashing and spawning despite of the ice Occasionally you might find fish splashing in the water even at locations with ice cover. This happened if the water froze again after the spawning had already started in the open water. - fixed: Bewitched Wolf quest not generating correctly This quest might have been missing for few versions, so enjoy if it now comes your way. - fixed: triggered item traps remaining in set status This might rarely happen with loop snares and paw-boards. The graphics also show the traps being set and ready, despite of the fact that they were actually triggered already. - fixed: placing any items to a pine tree with bear skull produced the bear skull placement message Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-02-29 18:36:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

The work with new version, 3.83, is soon finished and we hereby ease the anticipation with an early beta release for Windows. Thus, version 3.83 beta for Windows is now available as a beta branch you need to opt-into at your Steam Library. This will be explained below. Once the Windows version stability is confirmed, wrapping things up for all the supported operating systems will follow and we aim to have have 3.83 stable version released this month. The most notable additions in version 3.83 are weapon/tool hafting and the haft wear out mechanics, and pausable arrowmaking and tanning. Find full changelog at the end of this post, but first let's have a closer look at the hafting and haft wear out mechanics.

Hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts

Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Haft refers to their wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills. In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required. The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.

Hafts wearing out in use

Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break. Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat. In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving.
Here's a bear fighting scene with a companion called Aimo. Aimo's spear haft breaks at the critical moment, but he wisely proceeds to grab the fallen spear head. If need be, spear heads can be used as sort of substitute for a weapon, although far less effectively than a proper spear.

How to opt-into 3.83 (beta) for Windows

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is urwbeta383win Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.83 (beta) appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta version just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous stable version 3.82.

Changelog

Version 3.83 (beta) changelog ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: hafting spears, axes and shovels - and their separate heads and hafts Axe and spear items now consist of two parts; the heads and hafts. Shovel item now also consists of two parts; the iron blade and haft. Wooden shovel is an exception as it's made out of single piece of wood. Haft refers to the wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When the haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head, or shovel blade to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon or tool. For hafting, there are now new craftable "axe haft", "spear haft" and "shovel haft" items. In reality the haft shape and proportions do vary depending on the axe or spear type, but in order not to make things overly complex the two generic spear and axes hafts work for all the different types of spears and axes. The different axe and spear heads now also exist as separate items. For the axes there are handaxe head, carving axe head, broad axe head, woodsman's axe head and so on. And for the spears there are kaumolais spear head, northern spear head, and so on. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted so the heads aren't commonly found on their own. When the haft breaks the head and broken haft do drop on the ground, along with pause prompted game message. You can then carve a new haft and haft the head to assemble a working weapon or shovel again. The broken hafts are of no use and are best utilized as firewood. Crafting hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The following self-explanatory options are available there: * Axe haft * Spear haft * Shovel haft * Haft a weapon or tool * Remove the haft The first three options are used to craft a new haft, followed by the actual hafting option to assemble a working weapon or shovel. You may also remove the haft at will for example to replace worn out haft early on. However, removing the haft may damage it a little bit so it's not recommended to do unless necessary. Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself require CARPENTRY skills. The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished weapon or tool usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the item quality even below the head quality itself. Thus the finished axe, spear or shovel quality now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft. There are new game encyclopedia (F1) entries for the relevant topics: AXE HEAD, AHE HAFT, SPEAR HEAD, SPEAR HAFT, SHOVEL BLADE and SHOVEL HAFT - added: hafts wearing out in use Hafts of the axes, spears and shovels now wear out in use, and will eventually break. Axe hafts wear out in all the regular woodworking and timbercraft tasks where they are used. Shovel hafts and wooden shovels wear out in digging pits and preparing the soil. Spear hafts mostly wear out in combat. In all the cases the wear is relative to the task the weapon or tool is used for. Thrusting a spear into a large moving animal such as elk or bear may put the haft under serious strain. Likewise, felling big timber is more strenuous for the axe haft than doing casual carving. The haft wear out level can be noticed in character's inventory with the progressing wear bar. Hafts are in the risk of breaking apart when they've worn to about 80% of the original condition. Accumulating haft damage can also lead to decrease in the axe or spear overall quality. - modding add: new crafting requirement entries {Hammering tool} This defines requirement for a tool that is used to hammer things in place. It's used in hafting an axe. The butt of an axe is commonly used as a hammering tool, but clubs, pieces of firewood or stones can be also used as a substitute. {Axe or carving knife} This defines requirement for a tool used in rough woodworking and carving. It's used in crafting hafts to carve out their rough shape from a slender tree trunk. Axe is the preferred tool here and always the best option, but usage of knives is allowed as a substitute - even though they make the task significantly slower. The common woodworking axes such as handaxe, carving axe, and woodman's axe are the most suitable ones. If a knife is used the sturdy ones such as skramasaksi, northern knife, kaumolais knife or hunting knife work the best. Both of these entries can be utilized in diy_*.txt and biy_*.txt modding at will. - modding add: [nowear] and [wearpct:num] tags to specify haft wear out accumulation rate Axe, spear and shovel hafts wear out also when they are used as tools in crafting or building tasks. There are these two new tags to customize the wear accumulation rate as the intensity of tool usage varies depending on the task. [nowear] tag means that the used tool doesn't wear out at all. [wearpct:num] specifies custom wear out percentage rate (1-100) in relation to the highest rate (100) where tool is used intensely during the whole task. Examples: {Axe} [nowear] Here an axe is needed, preferably a carving axe, and it doesn't wear out at all in the said crafting/building task. {Cutting_weapon} [wearpct:25] Here a cutting weapon, preferably an axe, is needed. It wears out in 25% rate compared to the continuous intense axe work. Maybe the axe is needed only 25% of the time in this crafting/building task. - removed: hard staff and throwing axe These two weapons have been removed for being somewhat anachronistic and not that important. - added: pausable tanning Tanning is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused tanning simply use the tanning option again standing beside the partially finished item. This applies only to the last and most laborous stage of the tanning process which is softening the hide with a beater. The preceeding, faster processes of cleaning the skin need to be done in one go. Partially tanned hides will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - added: pausable arrowmaking and arrow shaft crafting Making arrows and arrow shafts is now pausable task allowing you to have breaks and continue at will later on. To continue paused arrowmaking simply use the same option to make arrows or arrow shafts again standing beside the said partially finished items. For blunt arrows this means using [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Blunt arrow" option. For all the other kind of tipped arrows use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow" option. And for the arrow shafts you would naturally use [M]ake -> "Arrows" -> "Arrow shaft". Like the other partially crafted items these will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - changed: maximum number of arrows or arrow shafts to craft in one batch The maximum arrow or arrow shaft batch production quantity is increased up to 10 at one go. - changed: arrow shaft crafting time Now that the making of arrow shafts is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 90 minutes. - changed: blunt arrow crafting requirements Now that the blunt arrow making is pausable the time required to craft one is increased to more reasonable level of 2 hours.
Number of slender tree trunks required is also modified so that you can craft three blunt arrows out of one slender tree trunk. Blunt arrows are now also prone to outcome quality modifiers, so your tools and expertise determines if the finished blunt arrows will be curved or superior or something in between. - modding add: [yield:num] tag [yield:num] tag is used to specify for how many produced items the single raw material entry is enough for. Ie. how many finished items it can yield. The tag is used in diy_glossary.txt for making blunt arrows as follows: {Slender trunk} [yield:3] This means one slender tree trunk can yield three produced items ie. blunt arrows. So, for example to craft six blunt arrows you would need 2 trunks. Crafting 7-9 blunt arrows you would need 3 trunks, and so on. - enhanced: rendering of the terrain type images Terrain type images on zoomed-in map are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the images appear more crisp and clear. - fixed: being able to fish facing away from the water - fixed: companions performing some tasks too fast Due to miscalculations in companion time counters they managed to complete some tasks, eg. felling trees, all too fast. The issue was mostly noticed in woodworking tasks, but you may find some other companion performed tasks also to appear in slower more reasonable pace now. - fixed: villagers not reacting if you attacked a hired companion of their own group in their own village - fixed: villagers accepting too many items if they were offered in one go during the first trade - fixed: terrain type image not updating when climbing across terrain boundary This happened only when using the climbing skill. - fixed: the fish splashing and spawning despite of the ice Occasionally you might find fish splashing in the water even at locations with ice cover. This happened if the water froze again after the spawning had already started in the open water. - fixed: Bewitched Wolf quest not generating correctly This quest might have been missing for few versions, so enjoy if it now comes your way. - fixed: triggered item traps remaining in set status This might rarely happen with loop snares and paw-boards. The graphics also show the traps being set and ready, despite of the fact that they were actually triggered already. - fixed: placing any items to a pine tree with bear skull produced the bear skull placement message Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2024-02-19 15:24:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

The best of 2024 to all of you who roam the unreal world!

We'll open the new year with a glimpse into what's cooking in the development chambers at the moment. And that is, hafting of the axes and spears is underway. It's relatively complex and fundamendal addition and I guess we'll be putting out a new release when it's all finished. There's still lots of work to do, but here's a first sneak preview of the upcoming hafting mechanics. So, in the next release axe and spear items will consist of two parts; heads and hafts. Haft refers to their wooden handle or shaft, which can break over time or upon damage. When a haft breaks the separate head remains, and can be hafted again. Hafting is a process of attaching axe or spear head to a new haft, making it a complete working weapon again. Now let's meet our test character Terhi and let her show how the hafting in UnReal World goes.
One day the haft of her trusty woodsman's axe broke leaving the head lying on the ground. For all the different axes and spears their heads now also exist as separate items. Blacksmiths still sell these weapons readily hafted, so the heads aren't commonly found until the axe or spear haft breaks.
Crafting the hafts and the process of hafting can be found from [M]ake menu under a new [H]afting category. The first two options are used to craft a new haft, and the latter for actual hafting to assemble a working weapon with the head and the haft. Terhi now proceeds to craft a new axe haft.
Both crafting the haft and hafting task itself requires CARPENTRY skills. Terhi has managed to craft a fine axe haft, and then she proceeds to actual hafting. In this list of hafting requirements there's a new "hammering tool" entry. Axe haft needs to be pounded tightly into the eye of the head, so a hammering tool is required. The butt of another axe, if available, is the best option but you can do this hammering also with a club, solid firewood or even a stone.
The hafting is done and she managed to assemble a decent woodsman's axe. Let the timberwork continue! The haft quality and success in hafting has significant impact on the finished axe or spear usability. Poor hafting may result in lowering the weapon quality even below the head quality itself. The finished axe or spear quality thus now refers to overall usability with the used haft, and the success in hafting. On the other hand, you may also manage to raise the finished weapon quality higher than the head quality itself with a perfect and perfectly fitted haft. So, this is how 2024 starts feature wise. Stay tuned. urw_sage These are future features - not yet functional in current version 3.82.

[ 2024-01-12 17:38:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

The year is nearing its end - so let us send you our winter season's greetings with this post. Firstly, we wish you all the best with the festivities and holiday season you might have at hand, and happy new year! Then, as a season's speciality let us entertain you with little something recreational from the real world at present-day Savo. The winter has come, and for devs like us it means the balance between coding and cross-country skiing must carefully maintained. So, a week ago Erkka (co-designer) came over for a visit - and we went exploring the real world on skis.

Sami (UnReal World creator) with the red hat, Erkka (UnReal World co-designer) with the green hat. Over the years, we've found ourselves doing many kind of media works more or less related to the game world or inspired by the iron-age culture. And now, quite spontaneously, we ended up doing small stop-motion animation - and then thought of publishing it as 2023 season's greetings at Enormous Elk YouTube channel. There's more, and surely more sophisticated content to explore, if the channel wasn't familiar to you already. We call it Tanssivat tontut in finnish, which would translate as Dancing goblins or Dancing household spirits in english. https://youtu.be/du2pkQUN9Fg?si=aOPZkYand2qcKmFW And lastly, for myself the last weeks have been more busy with horseback riding and archery than coding. In early December I did three horseback archery demonstrations at different stables which required quite a bit of both time and energy. But hey, sometimes one has to ride a horse to endure extended still sitting periods in front of the computer. And maybe it's good for one to try out the bow for real if he intends to simulate archery in the game. So, this also falls into category of in the real world at present-day Savo. Let the bow skill speculations start. https://youtu.be/oPaZKJluLDQ?si=vAzUS2KX986sx7ux Let's see you in 2024, with all sort of new achievements, features and adventures to follow in the real and unreal world. Cheers!

[ 2023-12-17 17:58:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Autumn sale has begun and we welcome new adventurers into the far north with a generous discount until 28th of November. And with the Autumn Sale also the Steam Awards 2023 nominations have started. In case of UnReal World, we really can't help but to pick "Labor of Love" as our nomination category.
Outside the development chambers it's hardly autumn anymore. The days grow shorter and shorter, and soon after the noon you can already start to prepare for the dusk. It's 31 years of UnReal World development behind - and still no end in sight. It's some four more months of snow and freezing temperatures ahead - and it's all good. That's all folks. You are welcomed to enter and invited to nominate. :urw_sage: :urw_fire: :urw_elk:

[ 2023-11-21 18:06:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings to those who roam, or are about to roam the unreal world! We're happy to announce a new version release: Version 3.82 is now live and released for Windows, Linux and OS X. This version brings you a whole new fishing method, bunch of fish life improvements and a basket of crucial bugfixes. Find the changelog below.

Changelog

Version 3.82 changelog Version: 3.82 ** Saved characters from version 3.80-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: retrievable broken off arrowheads Occasionally arrows do break upon hitting a target, and now the arrowheads can be also occasionally, but not always, retrieved and re-used. Only the arrows of decent or higher quality will loose the arrowheads in retrievable condition and the arrowhead itself almost always suffers from the quality degrade. If the arrow breaks from hitting a non-living target you will find the arrowhead on the ground together with the broken arrow item. If the arrow breaks upon hitting a living target the broken arrow part will drop on the ground and the arrowhead gets stuck into target's body. These stuck arrowheads are not visible to the player character when looking at NPCs/creatures, but can be found and retrieved only from the target's dead carcass. - added: lippo fishing, a new fishing method Lippo is a kind of a dip net with a long pole used for catching fish from rivers and shallow waters. Lippo fishing is foremostly practised only at certain times of the year; when the fish to be caught are migrating upstream to their spawning locations, and during the active spawning period. Fishing with a lippo in the rivers and rapids is done by standing on rocks in the river. The location is often suitable when there are several rocks around as these are the usual places where both resting and spawning river fish are around and can be caught. Additionally, a lippo can also be used from the shore if the spawning fish are noticed by the shoreline. The lippo is lowered into the water, down to the bottom, and carefully dragged around in order to catch resting or spawning fish into its hoop. Start using your lippo either by [a]pplying the lippo from the inventory or using the FISHING skill. - added: LIPPO encyclopedia (F1) entry - added: craftable lippo You can craft a lippo from [M]ake menu under [F]ishing category. A lippo is constructed in such a way that it has a wooden hoop into which multiple small birch saplings are tied to. These saplings are tied together at their open ends, so that they form a net like construction around the hoop. The hoop with this net is then fixed to a long wooden pole. The applicable character skill for crafting a lippo is NETMAKING. - added: spawning periods for the relevant fish species The following fish now have their unique spawning periods; pike, bream, salmon and lavaret. During the spawning period the fish gather up at their species specific spawning locations. This can be then taken advantage of by spearfishing or using newly featured lippo fishing. - added: splashing and water ripples from the fish activity As the fish spawn in shallow waters they do splash in noticeable way, and there are now splashing sounds to be heard and round water ripples to be seen indicating the fish activity. These are essential cues in order to find the actual fish spawning locations. There's splashing audio to be heard but you are also notified with a game message. For example "You hear a splash from the east." or "You notice a lavaret splashing in the water." And then there are modestly animated water ripples, a new visual effect that can be noticed in the water where the fish activity has taken place. - added: encyclopedia (F1) entries for PIKE, BREAM, SALMON and LAVARET You'll find information for example about their spawning periods and habitats, and the related fishing means. - improved: spearfishing It still remains possible to catch lone roaming fish with luck and patience, but now the spearfishing can be considered most effective for catching the spawning fish. Upon spearfishing you will be now notified about the ongoing fish spawning periods. The messages will tell if the chosen location might be good considering the spawning fish, or if the spawning might be going on elsewhere. These are hints to consider in order to find a good spot, but you are naturally free to try out your spearfishing luck also regardless of the spawning periods and locations. There are also some changes in the spearfishing messages thorough the process. - changed: rain visual effect slightly softened with randomized alpha blending - added: ROUNDSHIELD encyclopedia (F1) entry - updated: FISHING ROD encyclopedia (F1) entry with a bit of baiting information - fixed: not being able to use withes as tying equipment when crafting skis - fixed: encyclopedia tooltips in the inventory not displayed for items with additional item part descriptions Tooltips were missing for items such as "Hunting bow with no string" or "Fishing rod with iron hook". Now the base items (ie. "Hunting bow" and "Fishing rod") are properly parsed in these cases too and the tooltips displayed accordingly. - fixed: Old Man's Punt quest dialogue confusions The quest progression dialogue had gotten tangled with blacksmith related dialogue. - fixed: NPC archers could shoot arrows from beyond player character's visible range - fixed: NPC archers could use and shoot back the arrows that had originally hit them - fixed: blacksmith product price estimation oddities Quest rewards were discounted from the final blacksmith product prices, but the blacksmiths didn't bring this up in their dialogue which caused confusion and wrong estimations. This was most notable when quest reward would compensate for the whole price and resulted in blacksmith trade preference being blanked (ie. "..give me your .") Now blacksmiths will speak about how much the possible reward compensates, and give items truly for free with applicable rewards. Blacksmiths might also have given wrong price estimation for batch of product because of not calculating the number of finished items properly. - fixed: blacksmiths failing to produce ordered items Blacksmiths often failed to produce ordered items because of carrying too much load. This prevented the ordered items to be added in their inventory. Blacksmiths kept building up the excess load because the items they got as a payment weren't never removed and restocked from their inventory. Now blacksmiths will restock their inventory before attempting to carry the finished ordered item. - fixed: usage of TEXTILECRAFT from the skills window or via hotkey not working for migrated characters - fixed: TEXTILECRAFT skill not improving for migrated characters - fixed: Chat command causing fade to black after being forcefully woken up by an NPC Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-10-09 17:30:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here we go with a brief development news about what's bubbling under at the moment. Well, a good bunch fishing related additions, we can tell you. There will be improvements to some old fishing methods and a completely new form of fishing to be featured. And to have it all done with our desired ambition we'll also feature spawning periods and habitats for the different species of fish. And these can be then taken advantage of with the old and new fishing forms. It's quite a sidetracking, snowballing bunch of additions, but slowly coming together so nicely that we can briefly highlight it already. Now pikes, breams, salmons, trouts and lavarets (at least) will be given their spawning periods and habitats. Gathering of the spawning fish can be then taken advantage of with suitable fishing means. For example pikes will come to spawn in early spring at shallow shoreline waters with rich vegetation. During that time the spearfishing from the shore can be quite succesful. As we know, spearfishing is already an existing fishing method in the game, but now it will become a bit more detailed for example with information given related to ongoing spawning periods and the chosen location.
Ingir proceeds with spearfishing and the game notifies about the chosen location being good considering the ongoing pike spawning period. Lippo is a certain kind of dip net with a very long handle, and it was used in special kind of fishing at rivers and rapids. It is a new fishing tool in the game that can be crafted by the player character, and it will be used in this newly featured form of fishing.
Ingir has arrived at the rapids with an intention to craft herself a lippo. Lippo fishing was practised especially when the certain fish, salmons or lavarets for example, gathered at the rivers to spawn. But lippo can be also used to catch roaming river fish outside their spawning period too. In this fishing method the lippo is casted into the water, down at the bottom of the river, and then moved carefully in order to scoop the fish into its net. The roaming fish in the rivers and rapids will occasionally rest beside the rocks and skerries and these are the locations where lippo needs to be used.
Ingir needed to row with a punt to reach a skerry in the rapids. Maybe there are fish resting behind the neighbouring rocks, she thinks and reaches out to pick up the lippo. Just a quick briefing. There more to this. Stay tuned.

[ 2023-08-31 15:40:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.81 is now built, released and live for all the supported operating systems. This version is now the default branch and if you have automatic updates on your game will update automatically. This version is mostly about craftable and repairable fishing nets, preliminary introduction of pausable crafting and some bugfixes. Find full changelog at the end of this post, and now let's highlight the most exciting addition...

Craftable and repairable fishing nets

Now it's possible to both craft a net from the scratch, and to repair worn-out nets. These are both pausable tasks allowing you to finish them in parts as you please. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well.
Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. For the history and realism sake a good use of written sources along with actually interviewing old net makers were carried out to come up with the many values and mechanics. And still there's a room to add some advanced fishing net care and maintenance features in the future. It might be interesting for some if we opened up our research and field studies later on, but here's just one curiosity: There's a tool called netting needle which has been essential in netmaking. It's a tool the player characters can craft in the game as well. In our interviews with a certain old net maker one question was: "We're the nets ever made by hand alone, without a netting needle, and is it even viable?" Ville, a real person in real world - an old fisherman - just kept staring for a really, really long time and said "Everyone had their own netting needle." Other interviewees also confirmed that netting needles were always needed, even when repairing the nets, and during the fishing season people would carry them around just in case. Well, the game mechanics allow netmaking without a netting needle too, but you will only find it impractically slow.
Netting needle.

Changelog

Version 3.81 changelog Version: 3.81 ** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: craftable fishing net It is now possible to make a fishing net by the player character. The option can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well. Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. In the game making a net is newly featured pausable task allowing you to finish it in parts as you please. - added: NETMAKING skill Netmaking is a skill for weaving and constructing fishing nets. Success in netmaking determines the quality of the nets crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version. - added: pausable crafting In this version we are introducing pausable crafting for a few selected items. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting. Crafts that can be currently paused are: * Net * Chop felled tree into blocks * Split firewood from a block * Split a trunk into boards With the pausable timbercraft options you can now also use unhandy and inferior tools eg. stone-axe in board making as there's no upper limit of how much time can be used to get the work done. Pausable crafting works similarly to pausable building. You can cancel the process at will, and then continue at will. The crafting will be continued when you try to make the said item again standing beside the partially finished item. For example, if you try to [M]ake a fishing net beside a partially crafted net the crafting continues. Partially crafted items will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - added: different tile graphics for a set net Tile graphics for a set fishing net is now different resembling its float line on top of the water. - updated: "Net" game encylopedia (F1) entry - changed: the weight and price of the net item Both have been increased. The weight because of the rock weights taken into account, and the price because of the true workload. - added: netting needle, a new item Netting needle is a wooden tool used to weave fishing nets. It can be crafted by the player character from [M]ake menu "Fishing" category. Netting needle allows weaving the net conveniently with proper knots and tight mesh of uniform size. - added: repair worn-out nets The option to "Repair worn-out net" can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Repairing a net is also pausable task and can be cancelled and continued at will. To continue paused net repair works the same as continuing paused net crafting; if you use the repair option again beside the partially repaired net the crafting will continue. - added: harvesting pine bark Pine bark can be harvested from big pine trees all-year round. Pine bark chunks are used used in making of net floats. - added: "Bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry - added: ball of birch-bark strip as village resource Villagers now gather and stock balls of birch-bark strip. These can be then traded for by the player characters if need be. Birch-bark availability in villages is based on the culture, and it naturally gets restocked only when the birch-bark harvesting season is on. - updated: "Birch-bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry - added: timbercraft product quantities affected by the used tool, ie. an axe When making boards, blocks of wood or firewood you'll get fewer products when using an unhandy axe for the said tasks. The effect is most notable when the axe is far from preferred one, eg. making boards with a stone-axe. - adjusted: blacksmiths titled as masters always produce masterwork goods There was a small skill range where blacksmiths titled as masters produced fine, but not masterwork goods. This has been adjusted so that now masters always produce masterwork goods. - fixed: using STEALTH from skills menu prompted nothing Now it says the skill is automatically used when necessary. That is, when your character gets [h]iding. - fixed: firemaking failing at fertilized locations Fire data couldn't be properly set to locations with fertilization data. - fixed: some diy/biy descriptions corrupting the material requirement text output Adding descriptive texts eg. '+(needed for this and that)' to some diy/biy entries caused text output corruption in the displayed list of required materials. This was noticed with some cordage at least. - fixed: math failures when using withes (on the ground) in constructions There was a rare occasion where using withes on the ground might cause math failures to the number of materials used or required. This was noticed with building a fence gate, but might have occurred elsewhere too. - fixed: animals leaving droppings far too often after 255 game days Yep, it was char<>int kind of mistake in the dropping interval calculations. - fixed: some encumbrance penalty calculations Excess penalty didn't always capped at 100%, and the weight of worn clothes you could carry without penalty wasn't always calculated correctly. - fixed: making stone arrowheads not allowing using stones on the ground for grinding - fixed: wading mode text alignment not centered - fixed: repeat the last action display for arrow and bowstring was blank Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-08-03 16:36:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

In the midst of summer schedule challenges we're hereby releasing version 3.81 first for Windows and follow with Linux and OS X builds in early august. Version 3.81 for Windows is available as a beta branch you need to opt-into at your Steam Library. This will be explained below. This version is mostly about craftable and repairable fishing nets, preliminary introduction of pausable crafting and some bugfixes. Find full changelog at the end of this post, and now let's highlight the most exciting addition...

Craftable and repairable fishing nets

Now it's possible to both craft a net from the scratch, and to repair worn-out nets. These are both pausable tasks allowing you to finish them in parts as you please. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting.
Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well.
Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. For the history and realism sake a good use of written sources along with actually interviewing old net makers were carried out to come up with the many values and mechanics. And still there's a room to add some advanced fishing net care and maintenance features in the future. It might be interesting for some if we opened up our research and field studies later on, but here's just one curiosity: There's a tool called netting needle which has been essential in netmaking. It's a tool the player characters can craft in the game as well. In our interviews with a certain old net maker one question was: "We're the nets ever made by hand alone, without a netting needle, and is it even viable?" Ville, a real person in real world - an old fisherman - just kept staring for a really, really long time and said "Everyone had their own netting needle." Other interviewees also confirmed that netting needles were always needed, even when repairing the nets, and during the fishing season people would carry them around just in case. Well, the game mechanics allow netmaking without a netting needle too, but you will only find it impractically slow.
Netting needle.

How to opt-into 3.81

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is urwversion381 Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.81 appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!

Should you encounter showstopping problems with version 3.81 just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the previous version 3.80.

Changelog

Version 3.81 changelog Version: 3.81 ** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: craftable fishing net It is now possible to make a fishing net by the player character. The option can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Weaving a net is laborious task and the mere amount of yarn alone may be demanding to obtain. The other material requirements include thicker cordage for the supporting lines, rocks for weights and birch or pine bark for floats. Traditionally the rock weights were sometimes wrapped inside birch-bark pockets for more durable attachment. This is optionally doable in the game as well. Making a net is process of several days, and that is why nets were usually woven indoors during the wintertime. In the game making a net is newly featured pausable task allowing you to finish it in parts as you please. - added: NETMAKING skill Netmaking is a skill for weaving and constructing fishing nets. Success in netmaking determines the quality of the nets crafted. For migrated characters this skill is created upon the first load in this version. - added: pausable crafting In this version we are introducing pausable crafting for a few selected items. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have breaks in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been developed further this will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting. Crafts that can be currently paused are: * Net * Chop felled tree into blocks * Split firewood from a block * Split a trunk into boards With the pausable timbercraft options you can now also use unhandy and inferior tools eg. stone-axe in board making as there's no upper limit of how much time can be used to get the work done. Pausable crafting works similarly to pausable building. You can cancel the process at will, and then continue at will. The crafting will be continued when you try to make the said item again standing beside the partially finished item. For example, if you try to [M]ake a fishing net beside a partially crafted net the crafting continues. Partially crafted items will remain on the ground and can be picked up only after they are finished. They are rendered with a different tint and described as "partially crafted", "half-crafted", "largely crafted" etc. when looking at them. - added: different tile graphics for a set net Tile graphics for a set fishing net is now different resembling its float line on top of the water. - updated: "Net" game encylopedia (F1) entry - changed: the weight and price of the net item Both have been increased. The weight because of the rock weights taken into account, and the price because of the true workload. - added: netting needle, a new item Netting needle is a wooden tool used to weave fishing nets. It can be crafted by the player character from [M]ake menu "Fishing" category. Netting needle allows weaving the net conveniently with proper knots and tight mesh of uniform size. - added: repair worn-out nets The option to "Repair worn-out net" can be found at "Fishing" category in the [M]ake menu. Repairing a net is also pausable task and can be cancelled and continued at will. To continue paused net repair works the same as continuing paused net crafting; if you use the repair option again beside the partially repaired net the crafting will continue. - added: harvesting pine bark Pine bark can be harvested from big pine trees all-year round. Pine bark chunks are used used in making of net floats. - added: "Bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry - added: ball of birch-bark strip as village resource Villagers now gather and stock balls of birch-bark strip. These can be then traded for by the player characters if need be. Birch-bark availability in villages is based on the culture, and it naturally gets restocked only when the birch-bark harvesting season is on. - updated: "Birch-bark" game encylopedia (F1) entry - added: timbercraft product quantities affected by the used tool, ie. an axe When making boards, blocks of wood or firewood you'll get fewer products when using an unhandy axe for the said tasks. The effect is most notable when the axe is far from preferred one, eg. making boards with a stone-axe. - adjusted: blacksmiths titled as masters always produce masterwork goods There was a small skill range where blacksmiths titled as masters produced fine, but not masterwork goods. This has been adjusted so that now masters always produce masterwork goods. - fixed: using STEALTH from skills menu prompted nothing Now it says the skill is automatically used when necessary. That is, when your character gets [h]iding. - fixed: firemaking failing at fertilized locations Fire data couldn't be properly set to locations with fertilization data. - fixed: some diy/biy descriptions corrupting the material requirement text output Adding descriptive texts eg. '+(needed for this and that)' to some diy/biy entries caused text output corruption in the displayed list of required materials. This was noticed with some cordage at least. - fixed: math failures when using withes (on the ground) in constructions There was a rare occasion where using withes on the ground might cause math failures to the number of materials used or required. This was noticed with building a fence gate, but might have occurred elsewhere too. - fixed: animals leaving droppings far too often after 255 game days Yep, it was char<>int kind of mistake in the dropping interval calculations. - fixed: some encumbrance penalty calculations Excess penalty didn't always capped at 100%, and the weight of worn clothes you could carry without penalty wasn't always calculated correctly. - fixed: making stone arrowheads not allowing using stones on the ground for grinding - fixed: wading mode text alignment not centered - fixed: repeat the last action display for arrow and bowstring was blank Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-07-31 10:58:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Summer Sale 2023 is on ... ...and we warmly welcome new adventurers into the Far North with a decent discount. Simple as that. You know what to do. It has already become our tradition also to post a summery set of photos from around the development chambers, so here we go again and into the summer we shall take you...
A quiet village road by the midnight leading past Sami's (UnReal World creator) development chambers. It's midsummer, nightless night and the sun barely sets at all.
Vasta hanging at sauna entry, waiting for the sweaty dev. Vasta is a kind of broom to beat and treat oneself with during sauna bath. Attention new adventurers; you can try that out in the game too.
It's calm on the surface, but despite of the summer there's some new code bubbling under. Stay tuned.
Midnight, midsummer. Attention new adventurers; the seasonal day and night cycle may blow your mind in the game too. The midwinter nights are far away, somewhere in the distant horizon, but you should be prepared. urw_fox

[ 2023-06-30 10:07:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

The current version 3.80 is now few weeks fresh and working smoothly. And we've been working on a new update for this summer. So how about just a little update about the little something upcoming? Very well. And let's do it with a sneak preview screenshots. So, what is to be highlighted now and to be featured in the next release is ...

Fishing nets craftable by the player character

Player characters will be able to make fishing nets. Thinking of the mere amount of yarn alone it's not all too simple craft to collect the material for. You'll also need rocks for the weights, and birch-bark to wrap the weights with and to make floats. And then there is also a special tool required ...
Netting needle. That's the tool you'll need. It's a wooden tool for weaving the net with proper knots. As a curiosity for history enthusiasts, one of the oldest known fishing nets in the world, the Antrea Net dated to 8540 BCE, was laced with knots that indicate use of netting needle. The same kind of fishing net knots have been used by Baltic Finns in much, much later dates. UnReal World takes place around 800-1200 CE.
Netting needle
Net weight - a decent size rock wrapped in birch-bark.

Introducing pausable crafting

In the next screenshot our character has started weaving the net. And after 6 hours of work the progress bar hasn't even reached the tenth of the remaining time...
Now what's that about? Well, that means in the next version we'll be also introducing pausable crafting for making a net - and for few other tasks. This will be the start of featuring a possibility to have a break in long crafting tasks and continue at will later on. After the mechanics have been tested properly it will be expanded to cover wider range of crafting. Which will make quite a difference, you'll see. So making a net won't be a task of few hours, or even few days, but can easily last for a week or more. After four or five days of weaving the net our character takes a look at the half-finished work in progress...
Luckily for us all, the upcoming version is already more than half-finished by now. July 2023 seems like good month for yet another release. urw_sage

[ 2023-06-13 17:35:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

You know, there is Enormous Elk - an indie production team founded by Sami Maaranen (UnReal World creator) and Erkka Lehmus (UnReal World co-designer). Then, there is UnReal World - by Enormous Elk. And now there is also Ancient Savo by Enormous Elk, as Erkka's side-project game has reached its public beta release.

Ancient Savo

Ancient Savo is an open-ended resource-management game, with no combat elements. Cold, hunger and accidents are your only enemy. Both 2D and 3D graphics, you can freely switch between them. Play as a settler family in 1200CE Eastern Finland, in a region called Savo. Build your home in pristine woodlands. Live off the land, raise a family, send your adult offspring to start homesteads of their own. Ancient Savo is released and available here at Itch.Io. See the beta version trailer here: https://youtu.be/1m18A9_RKsw [hr][/hr]
Ancient Savo draws a good deal of inspiration from the same pool as UnReal World - the roots, cultural history and ways of life of the ancient Finns. It is a different game independently continuing on its own path - as does the UnReal World. However, familiriaties, similarities and overlapping ideas within these two may supplement one's gaming experience in these two titles.

[ 2023-06-09 16:24:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.80 has reached stable stage and is now released and live for every adventurer out there. Those who were playing the beta version will discover new features with the improved arrowmaking and spotting blacksmith orders on the map of known areas (F6). For those who only now enter the version 3.80 it should be noted that the most fundamental addition in this version is featuring the NPC blacksmiths and the process of ordering metalworks from them. Let's take a look at the changelogs - starting with a few screenshots to highlight the latest additions since the beta.

Version: 3.80 changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.70-> are compatible with this version. ** The latest additions since the 3.80 beta: - added: pending blacksmith orders shown on the map (F6) When viewing the map of known areas (F6) villages with pending blacksmith orders are now marked with a white circle. Clicking the location will also show the pending order briefing along with the general village information. For example: "Sartolais village at Darkwoods. Blacksmith order, shovel, placed 5 days ago." And when the order has been claimed the markers will get removed. You still need to decide by yourself when to go claim the order as it's not told when it's ready, but only when the order was placed. - added: ARROWS category to [M]ake menu This category contains the arrowmaking related handcraft options. These options were previously under WEAPONS category. There are also several new options related to the arrowmaking improvements. These are explained below. - improved: arrowmaking with new arrow parts Arrows are now assembled from separate arrow parts which you need obtain or craft beforehand. The new arrow parts and improved arrowmaking procedure goes as follows: * arrow shafts Arrow shaft is a new item. Arrow shafts need to be crafted separately, after which they can be used in arrowmaking. Now the arrow shafts need to be made of either leaf tree saplings or wood slats, which is a new lumber item explained later on. Straightness of the shaft is very important in order to make fine arrows so the quality of the finished shaft matters a lot in the arrowmaking. * arrowheads Arrowheads are now unique items and need to be obtained or crafted separately, after which they can be used in arrowmaking. There are two new iron arrowhead items called "broadhead" and "arrowhead". These can be obtained from the village blacksmiths. There are also new "stone arrowhead" and "bone arrowhead" items which can be crafted by the player character. * arrowmaking As mentioned before, arrowmaking options can be found under "Arrows" category in the [M]ake menu. When you want to craft a tipped arrow there is only one generic "Arrow" option for that. This single option is used to craft an arrow with any type of arrowhead, except the blunt arrow. The arrowheads to use is selected first and this determines the following requirements and if the outcome is (a regular) arrow, broadhead arrow, stone tipped arrow or bone tipped arrow. There are naturally also options for crafting the arrow shafts and arrowheads. And those are what you should go for first, and then assemble the arrow from the parts you've gotten. There are also new game encylopedia (F1) entries for the new arrow parts; arrow shaft, broadhead and arrowhead. * blunt arrow crafting requirements In addition to new features there are also changes to old arrowmaking options, such as making a blunt arrow. Blunt arrows are now crafted from a slender tree trunk. One trunk is enough for several arrows, if you want to craft a batch of them at once. Moreover, blunt arrows don't need feathers anymore and thus become the simplest arrows to craft. Historically there's been both kind of blunt arrows, with and without feathers, but with enough challenge brought in with the new arrow parts we've now chosen them to be featherless. Blunt arrow graphics and game encyclopedia (F1) entry has been updated accordingly. - added: wood slat, a new lumber item Slat is a narrow flat piece of wood split from a board. As mentioned above, slats are used as raw material for making arrow shafts. Slats can be crafted via "Lumber" category in the [M]ake menu. - added: arrowhead and broadhead as new blacksmith products As briefly mentioned above these two types of iron arrowheads can be now obtained from the blacksmiths. All the blacksmiths everywhere can make arrowheads. - fixed: entering fortified village from the west located the character on the wall - fixed: NPCs might build a fire on prepared soil - fixed: game freezes with the sequence disabling background music and quitting The additions featured already 3.80 beta release: - added: blacksmith NPCs and ordering metalworks from them Blacksmith is a new NPC type who you can meet in the villages. Blacksmiths can produce different kind of metalworks on demand. This is a fundamental addition which will make a big difference to obtaining iron tools and weapons. Blacksmith products are culturally dependent and can range from fishhooks to swords. There's also variety among the levels of blacksmith expertise. All the blacksmiths can produce the basic tools needed for the every day life of their local culture, but only the few talented ones can forge more demanding items, like a sword. * All the cultures do have blacksmiths, but their areal availability varies. Not every village has a blacksmith, but in general there are several within each cultural area. * You can ask villagers if there's a blacksmith around. The option for this is found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode. If their blacksmith is a highly skilled one villagers are proud to let you know that right away. * Ordering something from a blacksmith is initiated by talking to them. Ordering options become available upon greeting a blacksmith, or can be found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode. * Blacksmiths vary in their expertise, but all of them can produce at least decent quality items. The more talented blacksmiths can produce fine or even masterwork items. They will let you know the level of their expertise and outcome of their goods loud and clear. * Not all the blacksmiths will produce the same items, and the cultural variety makes the most difference there. Also, only the few most talented blacksmiths will be able to forge the most demanding items, such as swords, helmets or specialized knives such as Kaumolais knife or Skramasaksi. * It should be clear already that metal armours are not really known or used by the local cultures, so blacksmiths do not produce those - except for helmets. So the availability of NPC blacksmiths doesn't change the fact that metal armours do remain as rare imported goods, as they should be. * Of the swords, a few talented blacksmiths may produce broadswords and shortswords but the other types of swords found in the game are of foreign origin and remain to be rarely found as imported goods. The northern peoples aren't familiar with swords at all, so to find a sword forging blacksmith one has to seek among the wealthy western cultures, or at Kaumo and Reemi. * You can order one item at a time, which will be payed for after it's ready. Upon confirming your order you can ask what the blacksmith would like as a payment from your current inventory, but you don't have to have enough goods for the payment yet upon placing an order. When the order is then being bartered for, even if you wouldn't have enough goods at first you can cancel the trade and come back to try again with more wealth. * Meanwhile your order is being made you can ask the blacksmith how is it coming along. They will give you an estimation about the remaining production time. Depending on the item the production times vary from few days to a month. * If you don't come claim your order within half a year it will be given away. This may naturally lower your reputation among the blacksmith, and the village. - added: BLACKSMITH game encyclopedia (F1) entry Village blacksmiths and ordering their goods described in short. - updated: culture and weapon related game encyclopedia (F1) entries All the culture descriptions have been updated with relevant blacksmithing information and assorted corrections. Certain sword and axe descriptions have been updated to emphasize that those are foreign weapons not known by the local cultures. - added: villagers can tell about sages and blacksmiths in the neighbouring villages Upon asking villagers if there's a sage or blacksmith around, and if there is not, they will now let you if there's one in the vicinity or neighbouring villages. You will then be given directions how to reach the village in question. - added: animal droppings Certain animals now leave visible droppings, i.e. feces, that can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in map level. The droppings aren't featured for all the animals, but for those whose droppings are commonly noticeable and relevant. For example the following wild animals can leave droppings: hare, fox, badger, lynx, wolf, reindeer, elk and bear. The domestic animals such as sheep, cows and pigs also leave droppings. The droppings of different species look a bit different, and upon looking at the droppings with game commands you will be told which animal's droppings it is. For example: "You see here an elk droppings." If the droppings are somewhat recent, less than a day old or so, you will be also be told that it's fresh droppings in question. Even if you wouldn't be able to specify their age the droppings work as an indicator of the animal presence at the area. The droppings may remain visible for weeks, but will eventually disappear. - added: using animal droppings as fertilizer Using animal droppings as fertilizer isn't necessary, but it's possible - if you feel like it. You can either spread droppings on the ground before preparing the soil and planting your crops, or spread them around after the planting. In the former method the droppings are then mixed in the soil upon preparing it, which is better. The fertilizing effect is simplified and any amount of droppings will help a little. You don't have to fertilize every tile of the field, but just quite casually spread the droppings here and there. This extra fertilizing helps plants to sprout and grow more succesfully, so somewhat higher yields can be expected from the fields fertilized with droppings. The effect isn't too dramatic though, since the slash-and-burn agriculture in use already includes fertilization with the ash from the burned woods. When collecting droppings they appear under a new "Miscellanous" item category in character's inventory. - added: SMOKING and FIREPLACE game encyclopedia (F1) entries These will explain the smoking and fireplace heating up processes. In the cookery menu SMOKING encyclopedia entry dialog is shown at Smoking option. - fixed: getting "carry too much" pick up restriction even if the character's inventory wasn't really full - fixed: possibility of de-hairing bird skins, or already de-haired skins It was redundant, and confusing. Now the game notifies you about this being needless. - fixed: animals and NPCs drowning in shallow waters or small puddles The issue made NPCs occasionally drown in village wells or puddles, or the animals drown in shallow shoreline waters if they were moving about there a lot eg. when tied in place. - fixed: quest journal sometimes showing excess NPC portraits on the latter pages - fixed: meadsweet flowers tile missing - text corrections: a good bunch typos and grammar corrected, some messages rephrased. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-05-22 17:04:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're happy and excited to announce a beta release of UnReal World version 3.80. Being a beta release some of the new features are still slightly under construction and there might be higher bug potential, but the essential new additions are completely playable and we haven't ran into stability issues either. To play this beta version you need to opt-into it at your Steam Library. This will be explained below. The most fundamental addition in 3.80 (beta) is featuring the NPC blacksmiths and the process of ordering metalworks from them. For those who haven't followed the earlier news about it we'll toss a selection of screenshots here, and you can find the full changelog later in this post.

How to opt-into 3.80 (beta)

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is version380beta Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.80 beta appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!

Your old characters are compatible with this version, but it's recommended to first start a new character to play a bit to see if everything is working okay at your end and showstopping problems aren't encountered. You may also backup your old character folders before loading them into this beta. Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the current stable version. However, characters who have entered into version 3.80 may experience oddities if reverted back to the previous versions because of new NPC types.

Changelog

Version 3.80 (beta) changelog This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: blacksmith NPCs and ordering metalworks from them Blacksmith is a new NPC type who you can meet in the villages. Blacksmiths can produce different kind of metalworks on demand. This is a fundamental addition which will make a big difference to obtaining iron tools and weapons. Blacksmith products are culturally dependent and can range from fishhooks to swords. There's also variety among the levels of blacksmith expertise. All the blacksmiths can produce the basic tools needed for the every day life of their local culture, but only the few talented ones can forge more demanding items, like a sword. * All the cultures do have blacksmiths, but their areal availability varies. Not every village has a blacksmith, but in general there are several within each cultural area. * You can ask villagers if there's a blacksmith around. The option for this is found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode. If their blacksmith is a highly skilled one villagers are proud to let you know that right away. * Ordering something from a blacksmith is initiated by talking to them. Ordering options become available upon greeting a blacksmith, or can be found from "Ask for help/company" chat mode. * Blacksmiths vary in their expertise, but all of them can produce at least decent quality items. The more talented blacksmiths can produce fine or even masterwork items. They will let you know the level of their expertise and outcome of their goods loud and clear. * Not all the blacksmiths will produce the same items, and the cultural variety makes the most difference there. Also, only the few most talented blacksmiths will be able to forge the most demanding items, such as swords, helmets or specialized knives such as Kaumolais knife or Skramasaksi. * It should be clear already that metal armours are not really known or used by the local cultures, so blacksmiths do not produce those - except for helmets. So the availability of NPC blacksmiths doesn't change the fact that metal armours do remain as rare imported goods, as they should be. * Of the swords, a few talented blacksmiths may produce broadswords and shortswords but the other types of swords found in the game are of foreign origin and remain to be rarely found as imported goods. The northern peoples aren't familiar with swords at all, so to find a sword forging blacksmith one has to seek among the wealthy western cultures, or at Kaumo and Reemi. * You can order one item at a time, which will be payed for after it's ready. Upon confirming your order you can ask what the blacksmith would like as a payment from your current inventory, but you don't have to have enough goods for the payment yet upon placing an order. When the order is then being bartered for, even if you wouldn't have enough goods at first you can cancel the trade and come back to try again with more wealth. * Meanwhile your order is being made you can ask the blacksmith how is it coming along. They will give you an estimation about the remaining production time. Depending on the item the production times vary from few days to a month. * If you don't come claim your order within half a year it will be given away. This may naturally lower your reputation among the blacksmith, and the village. - added: BLACKSMITH game encyclopedia (F1) entry Village blacksmiths and ordering their goods described in short. - updated: culture and weapon related game encyclopedia (F1) entries All the culture descriptions have been updated with relevant blacksmithing information and assorted corrections. Certain sword and axe descriptions have been updated to emphasize that those are foreign weapons not known by the local cultures. - added: villagers can tell about sages and blacksmiths in the neighbouring villages Upon asking villagers if there's a sage or blacksmith around, and if there is not, they will now let you if there's one in the vicinity or neighbouring villages. You will then be given directions how to reach the village in question. - added: animal droppings Certain animals now leave visible droppings, i.e. feces, that can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in map level. The droppings aren't featured for all the animals, but for those whose droppings are commonly noticeable and relevant. For example the following wild animals can leave droppings: hare, fox, badger, lynx, wolf, reindeer, elk and bear. The domestic animals such as sheep, cows and pigs also leave droppings. The droppings of different species look a bit different, and upon looking at the droppings with game commands you will be told which animal's droppings it is. For example: "You see here an elk droppings." If the droppings are somewhat recent, less than a day old or so, you will be also be told that it's fresh droppings in question. Even if you wouldn't be able to specify their age the droppings work as an indicator of the animal presence at the area. The droppings may remain visible for weeks, but will eventually disappear. - added: using animal droppings as fertilizer Using animal droppings as fertilizer isn't necessary, but it's possible - if you feel like it. You can either spread droppings on the ground before preparing the soil and planting your crops, or spread them around after the planting. In the former method the droppings are then mixed in the soil upon preparing it, which is better. The fertilizing effect is simplified and any amount of droppings will help a little. You don't have to fertilize every tile of the field, but just quite casually spread the droppings here and there. This extra fertilizing helps plants to sprout and grow more succesfully, so somewhat higher yields can be expected from the fields fertilized with droppings. The effect isn't too dramatic though, since the slash-and-burn agriculture in use already includes fertilization with the ash from the burned woods. When collecting droppings they appear under a new "Miscellanous" item category in character's inventory. - added: SMOKING and FIREPLACE game encyclopedia (F1) entries These will explain the smoking and fireplace heating up processes. In the cookery menu SMOKING encyclopedia entry dialog is shown at Smoking option. - fixed: getting "carry too much" pick up restriction even if the character's inventory wasn't really full - fixed: possibility of de-hairing bird skins, or already de-haired skins It was redundant, and confusing. Now the game notifies you about this being needless. - fixed: animals and NPCs drowning in shallow waters or small puddles The issue made NPCs occasionally drown in village wells or puddles, or the animals drown in shallow shoreline waters if they were moving about there a lot eg. when tied in place. - fixed: quest journal sometimes showing excess NPC portraits on the latter pages - fixed: meadsweet flowers tile missing - text corrections: a good bunch typos and grammar corrected, some messages rephrased. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-04-24 11:43:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

As announced earlier, we're working on a fundamental new addition of featuring blacksmith NPCs and possibility of ordering various iron goods from them. Our hopes to have it all completed this month has proven slightly too optimistic, so the release will take place in April. The good news is there's far more done, than still to be done. That is, if we manage to avoid time consuming sidetracking and spin-offing, as this is indeed an addition that can easily grow and expand with to-dos and ideas popping up here and there. Let's continue with some dones and to-dos after a screenshot of a new NPC in town:
By now there's a solid groundwork done for the blacksmith NPCs;

• new NPCs tiles have been drawn
• blacksmith NPC generation is in effect
• blacksmith availability and their level of expertise among different cultures have been considered and in effect in the village generation
• chat options for talking about and ordering goods are set and working
• blacksmith item production works and ordered items get created
• chat options for asking about the ordered item and obtaining it when ready are working
• trading for the ordered item works

In a nutshell the process of ordering goods from a blacksmith goes like; You talk with the blacksmith about the possible goods to order, and then confirm your choice. Blacksmiths will give you an approximation of how long the item production will take, and you can ask about the remaining production time later on too. When the item is ready you go to talk the blacksmith again and the trading for the item starts. So you pay for the ordered goods when they are ready, not beforehand. This way you don't have to carry your wealth around all the time, but can go fetch it when the time to trade for the ordered goods is at hand. It's the usual trading system in use so you can try to offer offer whatever goods you want. You can also ask beforehand what the blacksmith would like as a payment from your current inventory. Time for another screenshot where some of these factors are seen in action;
Then, what still remains to be done is to;

• go through the item lists and consider what items blacksmith will produce, considering their culture and expertise.
• set production times, and few other variables, for the items they produce.
• check everything
• check everything again
• test everything
• repeat the previous
• fix, adjust and possibly rewrite something
• final adjustments
• release

Phew.... forging the forging code is a serious business, but we're getting there and it will be a blast. Stay tuned. urw_sage

[ 2023-03-28 20:07:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Dear adventurers, it's time for a sneak peek into the few upcoming features. We are hopeful and excited to have a new version released this very month, and these are the two major additions to expect.

Blacksmith NPCs and ordering their products

We'll be featuring blacksmith NPCs to be found in the villages, and possibility of ordering various iron goods directly from them. You order, they'll forge, and you will then pay and obtain the item when it's ready. This will be a fundamental new addition, and will also bring in numerous related spin-off features.
Not all the villages will have a blacksmith, but it will still be easier to find one to make you that knife, axe, sword or tool you need than to run through several storehouses in several villages in a search for a missing equipment. The available blacksmith products will vary a bit depending on the cultural areas, but all the blacksmiths can make at least the most basic and essential iron goods, tools and weapons.

Animal droppings - an indicator and a fertilizer

Smells like a new feature? Yes, indeed. Certain animals will leave visible droppings, i.e. feces, that can be found in the terrain on zoomed-in map level. The droppings aren't featured for all the animals, but for those whose droppings are commonly noticeable and relevant. For example: hare, fox, badger, lynx, wolf, reindeer, elk and bear. The domestic animals such as sheep, cows and pigs also leave droppings. The droppings of different species look a bit different, and upon looking at the droppings with game commands you will be told which animal's droppings it is. For example: "You see here an elk droppings." If the droppings are somewhat recent, less than a day old or so, you will be also be told that it's fresh droppings in question. Even if you wouldn't be able to specify their age the droppings work as an indicator of the animal presence at the area. What will be featured as well, is that the droppings can be used as a fertilizer on your fields. It will be possible - if you feel like it - but not necessary, as the slash-and-burn cultivation already includes fertilization with the ash from the burned wood. However, the extra fertilization helps your crops to sprout and grow more successfully, so somewhat higher yields can be expected from the fields fertilized with droppings. In these screenshots our adventurer has found bear and elks droppings - indicating the presence of the animals at the area.

Now we'll go forge some more code, and you can expect the release news in this month. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-03-03 18:09:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Composed and performed by the devs themselves, wished for by the adventurers, the primeval musical journey into the far north is now available! Enhanced UnReal World Soundtrack brings you the game musics plus three selected spin-off hit songs along the way in both .mp3 and lossless audio formats. It's quite well known that Sami (creator) has been developing the game for ages, but he's been also been creating and performing variety of music for ages. And ever since the early days of UnReal World together with Erkka (co-designer) they've enjoyed and pursued creating primitive and traditional music together. And along that long way we've been constantly wished for more musical works, or even a compilation album. So, here you go: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295510/UnReal_World_Enhanced_Soundtrack/ Well, that's enough reading for now - let's get into listening instead. Enjoy!

[ 2023-02-18 16:00:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

The second bugfix patch for stable version 3.72 has been released to address the following issues: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version: 3.72.2 - fixed: tool selection automation when crafting a bone fishhook Knife (for initial shaping) and rock (for sharpening the hook) weren't selected automatically from character's inventory. Moreover, if more than one rock was available you needed to erroneously specify how many of them to use in the process. - fixed: character portait disappearing after scrolling the message log - fixed: NPC archers sometimes shooting rocks or tree trunks This happened when they ran out of arrows. This bug was most often revealed when fighting the Njerpez. - fixed: random items sometimes appearing in character's inventory after rod fishing This was caused by unintended inventory re-ordering when the bait was all used up. Even though this bug was noticed in relation to rod fishing the faulty mechanics may have caused some other rare item appearance oddities as well. We are quite hopeful that the fix will address these issues too. - fixed: building a cellar at the location of an already existing cellar This was erroneously possible. - fixed: digging a pit at the location of an existing cellar This was erroneously possible, and also made the existing cellar disappear. - fixed [windows]: entering a message log custom entry accepted only a very short message This was SDL related, and to our knowledge appeared only on Windows. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With release of this patch the current version is hopefully freed from the most troublesome oddities, and our focus can turn from the bug hunting towards the future features. Stay tuned! Oh, and stay tuned for the shortly upcoming soundtrack as well: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2295510/UnReal_World_Enhanced_Soundtrack/ That's all folks! Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2023-02-14 16:32:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

Onto a musical journey into the Far north we shall take you ... ...as UnReal World Enhanced Soundtrack will be released in February 2023. The soundtrack will contain the game musics plus three selected spin-off hit songs in regular (.mp3) album format and downloadable lossless audio. One of the extra tracks is a musical piece currently in progress to be premiered on this very soundtrack. UnReal World game musics are performed and created by the devs themselves, and most of the musics we hear in the game are selected sections of longer tracks. Some of these songs have been released along the way independently, and are now re-mastered and collected together on this enhanced soundtrack. For a foretaste, Enormous Elk YouTube channel features these two upcoming tracks: https://youtu.be/jdSW9Z46DhE https://youtu.be/7KAFk657dvw If you weren't aware, the channel also contains a good bunch of UnReal World related spin-off stuff, and the recreational endeavours of two-man team called Enormous Elk. We'll see and hear more in February!

[ 2023-01-30 13:49:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Some OS X systems had troubles with map screen rendering, caused by SDL2 and Metal combination. Now this quickfix for OSX hints SDL to always use OpenGL instead which should clear the issue: - [OS X] fixed: lower part of the map not drawn correctly urw_sage

[ 2023-01-06 13:07:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix patch for Linux and OS X has been released. You can find the changelog below. On OS X there were some weird random oddities namely with map rendering and menus. We certainly hope this hotfix clears 'em all. Because nature of OS X issues seemed to be system related don't hesitate contact if you're still bothered with some weirdness. Version 3.72 (patch #1) for Linux and OS X ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - [os x] fixed: walking through walls - [os x] fixed: fistful of random oddities with map view and menus - fixed: character portrait being shown in message log screen - fixed: character portrait not showing up after using encyclopedia in skills menu - fixed: arrows picked from villages not tagged as unpaid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Should you encounter any more showstoppers let us know and we'll continue the bug hunting. In the meantime there's previous stable version available which you can opt-into. To play the previous version 3.71 check the betas using code urwversion371 and opt-into the 3.71 "beta branch" that appears. And hey, we also wouldn't mind hearing the good news if this patch now cleared the issues on your end, dear OS X adventurers! Cheers!

[ 2023-01-03 16:23:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hotfix patch for Windows has been released to address the following issues: Version 3.72 (patch #1) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ - fixed: audio issues On some systems audio got played wrong, and the audio loading failures also made the game crash prone. The issues were linked to SDL_mixer version in use we've now reverted back to using SDL_mixer 2.0.4. - fixed: character portrait being shown in message log screen - fixed: character portrait not showing up after using encyclopedia in skills menu - fixed: arrows picked from villages not tagged as unpaid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you had trouble running with 3.72 due to audio problems we dearly hope this patch fixes them for you and for all - and for good. Should the problems persist for you we'll continue the bug hunting, and in the meantime there's previous stable version available which you can opt-into. To play the previous version 3.71 check the betas using code urwversion371 and opt-into the 3.71 "beta branch" that appears. And hey, if this patch brings you from the unfortunate muffled and crash prone audio league back into proper stable UnReal World again let us know! Cheers!

[ 2022-12-28 16:50:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings! Let us mention a few important things in the midst of the midwinter....

The Winter Sale

Yes, it's on. And we warmly welcome the new adventurers into the Far North with discounted price.

Recent release

A new UnReal World version 3.72 just released just a few days ago: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/351700/view/6361928485951374872 There's been few reports about sound and world gen problems with the new version, but there's also previous stable version available if things seems to fail with your system. So fear not to enter. To play the previous version 3.71 check the betas using code urwversion371 and opt-into the 3.71 "beta branch" that appears.

Season's Greetings

Season's greetings to everyone, and happy holidays - if you are fortunate to have one! Let's see you in 2023, or maybe even slightly before if our midwinter bughunting proves especially succesful.

[ 2022-12-22 18:09:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.72 is now released and live.

As always, unless mentioned otherwise, your old characters are compatible with this version. Aaaand here's the changelog: Version 3.72 (stable): - improved: NPC archery checks to avoid hitting unintended friendly targets Before shooting an arrow NPCs can now consider the risk and possibilities of hitting an unintended friendly target, ie. members of their own party. Depending on their risk assesment the shooting NPCs may then choose to take or not to take a shot. The higher the risk, the less often you'll see the NPCs using their bows. These improvements will change NPCs archery behaviour to quite an extent, especially if there are several NPCs being engaged in a fight or hunt, and moving within the risky zone. In general you will see NPCs being more careful with archery than before. Now you can also feel more relieved about your own archer companion's behaviour. They won't be taking seriously foolhardy shots which might put you, your dogs or anyone else in your party at risk of being wounded by an unintended arrow hit. This will also sometimes make hunting with companions to proceed differently than before. See, if there's is a pack of dogs, or melee armed companions, running in front of capable archers it might be that they have difficulties to find a spot to make a safe shots to the target. Many new scenarios may arise, and occasionally you may need to build new tactics based on the new NPC behaviour. Lastly, in the heat of the archery combat accidents can still happen. That possibility hasn't been excluded, but now these things should happen way, way more rarely than before. - improved: aggressive NPCs waypointing to their enemy Agressive NPCs may now choose to use slightly winding routes to their enemy, instead going for the shorthest and straightest route. These new tactics aim to give NPC archers some free space for shooting, and to increase chances for group of NPCs to nicely encircle their enemy. - added: vastas can be found in village saunas during the appropriate season Villager made vastas will now appear in the village saunas during the season when it is possible to make them. This is mostly an atmospheric addition, but also works as an indication for the player character that the birch trees are now in good leaf for making a vasta. - added: random character name option Upon creating characters and choosing their name you can now randomize a culturally relevant names for them. Pressing tab or asterisk (*) will bring up random names which you can then confirm with enter, or modify at will. - added: water temperature affecting to spoilage rate of the fish caught in nets The colder the water the longer the fish will now keep good in the nets. The effect isn't all too drastic, but still functional. In the coldest waters during the wintertime you can expect a few days longer preservation times compared to the average. - changed: name/sex/culture character creation selections order -> culture/sex/name As the random character name option needs to know the culture and sex to pick up a relevant names these selections now come before choosing the name. - changed: "quick and easy" character creation mode now randomly chooses also the culture and sex Previously there was no randomization in that regard, but Kaumolais male was always chosen. Otherwise this character creation mode mode remains the same assigning rest of the options automatically and starting nearby a village. - added: "Harvest and pick" agriculture option The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but this newly added option also automatically picks up the harvested plants to character's inventory. For clarification the existing "Harvest" option is now renamed as "Harvest down" in the Agriculture menu. - added: domestic animals in the villages will withdraw from player character's way Moving towards a domestic animal will now make it to withdraw from your way. This is to prevent the character from getting jammed eg. in small buildings with village dogs. - modding: increased maximum number of character portraits in each category up to 250. - added: watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map. - enhanced: message about the markers at wilderness location Instead of given information about each marker with their own message now a summary of all the markers is given in one sentence. For example: "There is a shelter, set traps and a punt at this location." - added: confirmation to start a fire on some occasions You will be asked a confirmation to start a fire in the following conditions: 1. There are valuable items to be burned down where you are about to build a fire. 2. You are building a fire indoors at other than fireplace location. These confirmations will prevent the unfornate cases of accidentally setting your house or valuable belongings on fire. - adjusted: party members fire making safety checks From now on your companions won't ever start a fire at a location with items on the ground. Previously they might accidentally set a pile of items on fire. - enhanced: rendering of the portraits Character portraits are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the portraits appear more crisp and clear. This enhancement affects to various game screen where portraits are being used; quest info display, list of ancestors, character profile, chat screen, etc. - added: two new character portraits, one western and one sage - SDL update: updated to newest SDL 2.24.0 Updated SDL release includes a good deal of bugfixes which may have hampered some systems. - reworded: "The sauna" game course task description The task description of taking a sauna bath was outdated. Now it's reworded to feature the current mechanics. - fixed: minimum number of fibre plants required to extract one bundle of fibre Previously 15 plants were always required, which was a result of failing math. Now the amount depends on the plant and its' fibre yield, and the minimums are 5 flaxes, 8 hemps or 15 nettles. - fixed: flowering plants providing also seeds when treshed The seed production code apparently has gotten broken somewhere in the earlier versions, and you got them upon treshing even if the plant was still flowering. Now it's fixed back as it was and you get seeds only after the flowering period. - fixed: sacrificing food in a container mistakenly removed the container too - fixed: auto-cut yarn weights calculated wrong This bug manifested itself eg. in smoking and drying cookery recipes. After retrieving the auto-cut yarn you found it heavier than expected. - fixed: extracting fibre from retted but not dried nettles was possible - fixed: extracting fibre from bundles of nettle fibre was possible - fixed: carried weight statistics not updating immediately after cancelled crafting - fixed: character's height in metric units displayed wrong This was a conversion issue within character profile screen. - fixed/adjusted: squirrels won't climb to safety in saplings Previously they were mistakenly considered being high up in a tree even if it was a mere sapling. - fixed: heavy missile weapons getting stuck to small animals This is a legacy issue which is hopefully fixed for good now. The bug manifested itself eg. in a situation where you threw a javelin at a bird, the weapon got stuck and the bird flies away carrying it. --- That's all folks. Cheers and enjoy the release! urw_sage

[ 2022-12-19 18:23:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

In January this year Sami (UnReal World creator) announced taking a year-off from the development chambers to celebrate the 30th Jubileum of UnReal World. It was winter then. Now it is winter again, and among the snow and pleasantly freezing weather we are happy to stop by to announce that stable version 3.72 will be released next week. The upcoming version has been available as beta branch for a good while already, but with a few last additional tweaks and features it then becomes default and live for all of you, dear adventurers. And as the year turns to its' end the fourth decade of UnReal World development is about to start.
Sami (UnReal World creator) slowly heading back to development chambers.

[ 2022-12-16 15:40:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.72 beta is now available for all the supported platforms - Windows, Linux and OS X. OS X build was the last in line and considering the stability of Windows and Linux betas released earlier there's really no need to hesitate to opt-into this release - regardless of your operating system. There is dozen of new features, fistful of fixes, and still more features pending to be added on our way towards the stable release which should be out still this year. You'll find the full changelog and instructions how to Opt into the beta later in this post, but let's highlight some new features first. Random character names
Upon character creation you can now randomize culturally relevant names for them at will. Here a Kuikka-tribe female is being created with a random name of her culture. Harvest and pick agriculture option
The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but now there's an option cut and pick the crops to character's inventory at one go. Watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map
When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map.

Changelog

Version 3.72 (beta) for Windows changelog - added: random character name option Upon creating characters and choosing their name you can now randomize a culturally relevant names for them. Pressing tab or asterisk (*) will bring up random names which you can then confirm with enter, or modify at will. - changed: name/sex/culture character creation selections order -> culture/sex/name As the random character name option needs to know the culture and sex to pick up a relevant names these selections now come before choosing the name. - changed: "quick and easy" character creation mode now randomly chooses also the culture and sex Previously there was no randomization in that regard, but Kaumolais male was always chosen. Otherwise this character creation mode mode remains the same assigning rest of the options automatically and starting nearby a village. - added: "Harvest and pick" agriculture option The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but this newly added option also automatically picks up the harvested plants to character's inventory. For clarification the existing "Harvest" option is now renamed as "Harvest down" in the Agriculture menu. - added: domestic animals in the villages will withdraw from player character's way Moving towards a domestic animal will now make it to withdraw from your way. This is to prevent the character from getting jammed eg. in small buildings with village dogs. - modding: increased maximum number of character portraits in each category up to 250. - added: watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map. - enhanced: message about the markers at wilderness location Instead of given information about each marker with their own message now a summary of all the markers is given in one sentence. For example: "There is a shelter, set traps and a punt at this location." - added: confirmation to start a fire on some occasions You will be asked a confirmation to start a fire in the following conditions: 1. There are valuable items to be burned down where you are about to build a fire. 2. You are building a fire indoors at other than fireplace location. These confirmations will prevent the unfortunate cases of accidentally setting your house or valuable belongings on fire. - adjusted: party members fire making safety checks From now on your companions won't ever start a fire at a location with items on the ground. Previously they might accidentally set a pile of items on fire. - enhanced: rendering of the portraits Character portraits are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the portraits appear more crisp and clear. This enhancement affects to various game screen where portraits are being used; quest info display, list of ancestors, character profile, chat screen, etc. - SDL update: updated to newest SDL 2.24.0 Updated SDL release includes a good deal of bugfixes which may have hampered some systems. - fixed: sacrificing food in a container mistakenly removed the container too - fixed: auto-cut yarn weights calculated wrong This bug manifested itself eg. in smoking and drying cookery recipes. After retrieving the auto-cut yarn you found it heavier than expected. - fixed: extracting fibre from retted but not dried nettles was possible - fixed: carried weight statistics not updating immediately after cancelled crafting - fixed: character's height in metric units displayed wrong This was a conversion issue within character profile screen. - fixed/adjusted: squirrels won't climb to safety in saplings Previously they were mistakenly considered being high up in a tree even if it was a mere sapling.

How to opt-into 3.72 beta

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is version372beta Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.72 beta appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!
  

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the current stable version. That's all, dear adventurers. Cheers and enjoy! urw_sage And stay tuned for more ...

[ 2022-11-24 21:23:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're happy to announce that 3.72 beta has been now finished and built also for Linux. This beta has been available for Windows for a good while already, and has proven pretty stable already. Let's hope the Linux beta continues on the same good path. More features are pending to be added, and OS X beta is still pending to be finished. You'll find the full changelog and instructions how to Opt into the beta later in this post, but let's highlight some new features first. Random character names
Upon character creation you can now randomize culturally relevant names for them at will. Here a Kuikka-tribe female is being created with a random name of her culture. Harvest and pick agriculture option
The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but now there's an option cut and pick the crops to character's inventory at one go. Watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map
When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map.

Changelog

Version 3.72 (beta) for Windows changelog - added: random character name option Upon creating characters and choosing their name you can now randomize a culturally relevant names for them. Pressing tab or asterisk (*) will bring up random names which you can then confirm with enter, or modify at will. - changed: name/sex/culture character creation selections order -> culture/sex/name As the random character name option needs to know the culture and sex to pick up a relevant names these selections now come before choosing the name. - changed: "quick and easy" character creation mode now randomly chooses also the culture and sex Previously there was no randomization in that regard, but Kaumolais male was always chosen. Otherwise this character creation mode mode remains the same assigning rest of the options automatically and starting nearby a village. - added: "Harvest and pick" agriculture option The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but this newly added option also automatically picks up the harvested plants to character's inventory. For clarification the existing "Harvest" option is now renamed as "Harvest down" in the Agriculture menu. - added: domestic animals in the villages will withdraw from player character's way Moving towards a domestic animal will now make it to withdraw from your way. This is to prevent the character from getting jammed eg. in small buildings with village dogs. - modding: increased maximum number of character portraits in each category up to 250. - added: watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map. - enhanced: message about the markers at wilderness location Instead of given information about each marker with their own message now a summary of all the markers is given in one sentence. For example: "There is a shelter, set traps and a punt at this location." - added: confirmation to start a fire on some occasions You will be asked a confirmation to start a fire in the following conditions: 1. There are valuable items to be burned down where you are about to build a fire. 2. You are building a fire indoors at other than fireplace location. These confirmations will prevent the unfortunate cases of accidentally setting your house or valuable belongings on fire. - adjusted: party members fire making safety checks From now on your companions won't ever start a fire at a location with items on the ground. Previously they might accidentally set a pile of items on fire. - enhanced: rendering of the portraits Character portraits are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the portraits appear more crisp and clear. This enhancement affects to various game screen where portraits are being used; quest info display, list of ancestors, character profile, chat screen, etc. - SDL update: updated to newest SDL 2.24.0 Updated SDL release includes a good deal of bugfixes which may have hampered some systems. - fixed: sacrificing food in a container mistakenly removed the container too - fixed: auto-cut yarn weights calculated wrong This bug manifested itself eg. in smoking and drying cookery recipes. After retrieving the auto-cut yarn you found it heavier than expected. - fixed: extracting fibre from retted but not dried nettles was possible - fixed: carried weight statistics not updating immediately after cancelled crafting - fixed: character's height in metric units displayed wrong This was a conversion issue within character profile screen. - fixed/adjusted: squirrels won't climb to safety in saplings Previously they were mistakenly considered being high up in a tree even if it was a mere sapling.

How to opt-into 3.72 Linux (or Windows) beta

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is version372beta Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.72 beta appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!
  

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the current stable version. That's all, dear adventurers. Cheers and enjoy the surprise! urw_sage

[ 2022-11-12 18:56:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The spooky times are at hand, and once again we are taking part in the ongoing festivities with a sale and haunting imagery. So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...

It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.

Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.

Kekri Goat

Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition? Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well.

Themed in-game visuals for the spooky period

Again this year the we have launched a special Kekri-themed game title screen for duration of the festivity period. Themed title screen becomes live shortly after this annoucement, so allow the game to update and enter your UnReal World for more haunting imagery.

Celebrate & Participate

We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year. urw_sageurw_fireurw_tree

[ 2022-10-25 17:02:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Surprise, surprise! The autumn has come, there's hint of winter in the air. The nights have gotten darker and longer, and there's been rainy days too. Perfect weather for coding, one might say. And you know what, that's what's been happening in the silence of the coding chambers lately. So here we are, flexing our coding and release muscles with a new, seemingly unexpected release packed with a dozen of new features and a fistful of fixes. This version 3.72 comes out as a beta release you need to Opt into, and for starters it's only for Windows. More features are pending to be added, and OS X and Linux versions will follow in time. Not to worry, the story continues. You'll find the full changelog and instructions how to Opt into the beta later in this post, but let's highlight some new features first. Random character names
Upon character creation you can now randomize culturally relevant names for them at will. Here a Kuikka-tribe female is being created with a random name of her culture. Harvest and pick agriculture option
The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but now there's an option cut and pick the crops to character's inventory at one go. Watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map
When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map.

Changelog

Version 3.72 (beta) for Windows changelog - added: random character name option Upon creating characters and choosing their name you can now randomize a culturally relevant names for them. Pressing tab or asterisk (*) will bring up random names which you can then confirm with enter, or modify at will. - changed: name/sex/culture character creation selections order -> culture/sex/name As the random character name option needs to know the culture and sex to pick up a relevant names these selections now come before choosing the name. - changed: "quick and easy" character creation mode now randomly chooses also the culture and sex Previously there was no randomization in that regard, but Kaumolais male was always chosen. Otherwise this character creation mode mode remains the same assigning rest of the options automatically and starting nearby a village. - added: "Harvest and pick" agriculture option The good old harvest option only cut down the crops, but this newly added option also automatically picks up the harvested plants to character's inventory. For clarification the existing "Harvest" option is now renamed as "Harvest down" in the Agriculture menu. - added: domestic animals in the villages will withdraw from player character's way Moving towards a domestic animal will now make it to withdraw from your way. This is to prevent the character from getting jammed eg. in small buildings with village dogs. - modding: increased maximum number of character portraits in each category up to 250. - added: watercraft marker icons on zoomed-out wilderness map When leaving punt or raft on the zoomed-in map the corresponding marker icon is now shown on the zoomed-out wilderness map. - enhanced: message about the markers at wilderness location Instead of given information about each marker with their own message now a summary of all the markers is given in one sentence. For example: "There is a shelter, set traps and a punt at this location." - added: confirmation to start a fire on some occasions You will be asked a confirmation to start a fire in the following conditions: 1. There are valuable items to be burned down where you are about to build a fire. 2. You are building a fire indoors at other than fireplace location. These confirmations will prevent the unfortunate cases of accidentally setting your house or valuable belongings on fire. - adjusted: party members fire making safety checks From now on your companions won't ever start a fire at a location with items on the ground. Previously they might accidentally set a pile of items on fire. - enhanced: rendering of the portraits Character portraits are now rendered directly to the screen using the available resolution. This makes the portraits appear more crisp and clear. This enhancement affects to various game screen where portraits are being used; quest info display, list of ancestors, character profile, chat screen, etc. - SDL update: updated to newest SDL 2.24.0 Updated SDL release includes a good deal of bugfixes which may have hampered some systems. - fixed: sacrificing food in a container mistakenly removed the container too - fixed: auto-cut yarn weights calculated wrong This bug manifested itself eg. in smoking and drying cookery recipes. After retrieving the auto-cut yarn you found it heavier than expected. - fixed: extracting fibre from retted but not dried nettles was possible - fixed: carried weight statistics not updating immediately after cancelled crafting - fixed: character's height in metric units displayed wrong This was a conversion issue within character profile screen. - fixed/adjusted: squirrels won't climb to safety in saplings Previously they were mistakenly considered being high up in a tree even if it was a mere sapling.

How to opt-into 3.72 Windows beta

• First, quit the game if you were playing it.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam Library, and select Properties from the drop-down menu.
• Click BETAS and you'll see a dialog where to enter beta access code.
  
• The access code for this release is version372beta Type in the access code and press Check Code button.
• Selection to Opt into 3.72 beta appears. Click it, the update starts, and you've got it!
  

Should you encounter showstopping problems with this beta just go back to BETAS selection and choose None from Select the beta you would like to opt-into drop-down menu. This returns your game back to the current stable version. That's all, dear adventurers. Cheers and enjoy the surprise! urw_sage

[ 2022-10-10 11:27:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

You see a canoe here. The paddle wielded as a primary weapon. You pust the canoe into water and jump aboard. And there, in the real world, 120 kilometer long Kokemenjoki ("Kokemki River") awaits...
So, a little while ago Sami (UnReal World creator) went for a 130 kilometer river canoeing trip, and here comes a little photo greetings from that magical journey. We travelled with an indian canoe through the whole Kokemki River in southwestern Finland, all the way to the Gulf of Bothnia, and on top of that some 10 kilometers out to the Reposaari island at Bothnian Sea.

















[hr][/hr]It took six amazing days of adventuring, and there are a lot more sceneries to show and stories to tell. For those who are keen to see more I will go through the whole journey in day-by-day series of posts at my buymeacoffee page. Take a peek, all the content is available for everyone. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SamiMaaranen/posts But should you then feel like buying a coffee for a weary paddler one of the upsides is that every supporter gets e-mail notifications when future posts are up. [hr][/hr] Let's keep adventuring. urw_fox

[ 2022-08-23 10:49:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Survival Fest is on and we welcome you to join to this sale of the fittest. Just follow your survival instinct into the far north where UnReal World awaits. We're all about survival. GWR Gamer's Edition has labeled UnReal World "The first open-world survival videogame", and the devs are famous studying and trying traditional skills and techniques in real life to come up with credible game mechanics and atmosphere. The game itself has survived for 30 years, and continues to thrive as a unique low-fantasy roguelike set in the far north during the late Iron-Age. The world of the game is highly realistic, rich with historical atmosphere and emphasized on survival in the harsh ancient wilderness.
Sami (UnReal World creator) roaming the real world, developing the unreal.

[ 2022-08-01 19:32:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Summer Sale is on! So lay back, wipe the sweat off your forehead, and feel free to enter into the far north for discounted price. It's easier there in the summer - you'll see. It's been enjoyable adventuring in the real world too, so let's share a some selected content about how life has been around the development chambers of both Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer). Firstly, here's a new primitive music piece by the said fellows. The recording took place in the spring around Erkka's chambers: https://youtu.be/jdSW9Z46DhE And secondly, few images from around Sami's neighborhood:


Cheers and happy summertime!

[ 2022-06-28 17:02:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings everyone! As you may know I'm spending sort of a year off from coding and concentrating more on the real world stuff. But the absence from the development chambers doesn't mean a radio silence. I'm happy to post a little news and photo feeds occasionally to stay in touch with You adventurers out there, and that's what people have wished for too. So here we go ... I recently had a minor accident with my right hand and now need to keep a cast for a month, but that's not stopping the roaming in the woods. Hehe, you know this from the game too - the many activities might be slower, but doable. So here's a photo greetings from one beautiful May day in the grove forest. These woods are half an hour walk away from UnReal World development chambers. This is a very special place since there are lot's of conifer forests to see here in Finland - as you may have noticed in the game too - but this kind of grove like leaf tree habitats are more rare.






And by the way, if peeks into these 2022 real world endeavours is your cup of coffee I'm building up a habit of more regular posts at my buymeacoffee page: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SamiMaaranen It's kind of like an alternate media channel to see and support not the game development, but the game developer's lifestyle. Or whatever. Take care everyone, -Sami (UnReal World creator, gap year adventurer)

[ 2022-05-30 18:45:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Going Rogue: A Festival of Persistence has started here on Steam and oh yes, that's a sort of celebration that suits us so very well! From the player's point of view it often requires persistence to roam the harsh wilderness pursuing your way to survive in the far North. From developer's point of view it also has required quite a bit of persistence to keep developing the game for the past 30 years. UnReal World has its' roots very deep in the roguelike genre. Sami (UnReal Word creator) was an avid player of the pioneer roguelikes such as Hack/Nethack, Moria and Omega back in the day. And it was those games that inspired him to get on the roguelike path and start creating UnReal World. Taking a look at the screenshots from 1992 and 2022, it appears we've stayed somewhat true to our roots ...
1992 - UnReal World 1.00b
2022 - UnReal World 3.71 ...but well, on the inside it's been a journey of 140,000 lines of code so far. Should you wish to experience all that Going Rogue sale is one chance to enter into the far North with a discounted price. Cheers! Long live the roguelikes! urw_sage

[ 2022-05-02 17:07:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

On Thursday 24 February, president Putin launched a devastating attack on a sovereign country of Ukraine and ever since the Russian forces are continuing to pound Ukrainian cities, including residential areas, with missile strikes and artillery fire. There is no excuse for this war. The civilians, including children, are suffering to the extent where Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II has emerged. We support Ukraine and have made contributions to relief efforts. We support Russians that stand against the senseless actions of the Russian government. We have players from all over the world, from Ukraine and Russia too. The majority of common people are not to blame for the madness and destruction, but the common people are to suffer from Putin's war. It needs to stop. We ask you to raise awareness, and work for the peace. Do not stand aside, do not tolerate this, and help if you can. In nearly every country you can find organizations such as Red Cross and Unicef who accept donations for Ukraine. For news, if you haven't been following, for example The Guardian has summary article of Russias war in Ukraine with pictures, maps, and videos: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/07/russia-war-ukraine-complete-guide-maps-video-and-pictures You are online, you can find more news sources too. If in your country the world events are being filtered by the propaganda, censorship, restriction of information or freedom of speech try to reach beyond that. It takes some effort, but we support your efforts. And once more; raise awareness of what is happening, work for the peace, do not stand aside and help those in need.

[ 2022-03-07 19:02:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

This year, in 2022, we are celebrating the 30th Jubileum of UnReal World. The game was first released in the summer of 1992, so the 30-year milestone will be reached this summer. Now what will this special year of celebration bring upon us, and the game? When it comes to coding and development, I will be taking it real easy. It is likely that we'll see some updates to the game, but mostly I'll be devoting my time for variety of other things. So I'll kind of celebrate the 30 years of development by taking a year off from the usual coding flurry. This also allows me to better contemplate on the future of the game as there some challenging overhauls in our sight. One is moving to higher resolution and modern aspect ratio. The year is early, and these thoughts are scattered, so more news on this front will follow later on. But yes, it is truly so that I will take a year off from the usual, practical, hands-on development. Planning, brainstorming and a little something easy paced remains, though. Nevertheless, during this year of celebration we will be bringing you some recreational content from the North, out and away from the development chambers. What it will be exactly remains to be seen, but I'm sure this year off will bring along many occasions, incidents, experiments or artistic projects to share or publish. There are some ideas bubbling under already. On this thursday, 27th of January, it will be my 47th birthday. I started working on UnReal World at the age of 15 and two years later, at the age of 17, the first version was released to the public. Now the 30th Jubileum, or 47th birthday, may feel like an occasion to offer me a drink or something, and for that purpose I quickly created "buy me a coffee" page. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SamiMaaranen It's a simple support channel I've been asked to allow even earlier. Now it's up and will remain so at least for this year. I'll reserve the right to decide the drink to buy with your support :) , but big cheers anyway! So these are the news to start this year with. Feel free to comment or ask if something comes to your mind. Yours, Sami (UnReal World creator)
The developer is currently out the office ...
He's skiing in the woods following two elks...
He will be back occasionally and eventually.

[ 2022-01-24 14:38:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

The midwinter and holiday season is at hand, and Steam Winter sale is also about to start soon. It is time to send you our warmest Season's Greetings with a few moody photos from this very day. Thank you for 2021 to those who already roam the UnReal World, and welcome into the Far North, all you new adventurers.
We have just passed the Winter Solstice on northern hemisphere, and the amount of daylight now slowly starts increasing. Otherwise the winter in Eastern Finland continues in decent -20 degrees celsius temperatures with delightful amount of snow. Sami (UnReal World creator) heads towards the real world in horizon.
Merry Christmas, Tree. This mighty spruce grows beside the village road, not very far from the development chambers. Now let's survive the midwinter, and see you again in 2022!

[ 2021-12-22 17:00:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Nominations for Steam Awards 2021 has started together with Autumn Sale, so get involved now.

Does 29 years of continuous development equal to Labor of Love?

Labor of Love, that's the category that suits UnReal World the best. First released in 1992 the game now sports 29 years of development with 140,000 lines of code - and counting. UnReal World has two Guinness Gamer's World Records due to being...well...a labor of love - and it's made by two-man team deep in the Finnish wilderness...
Sami (UnReal World creator) coding in the woods. Well, actually the development mostly takes place indoors but you get the picture, right. Now did you actually have another title in mind that suits the category better? Be that as it may, this is our two cents suggestion for a true Labor of Love nominee.

[ 2021-11-24 18:01:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

A small bugfix patch has been released to address the following issues: - fixed: some faulty animal snow penalty calculations On few occasions the fatigue rate of animals moving in the deep snow wasn't calculated right. This could result either in animals tiring too easily, or too little. - fixed: distributing offered traded items among foreign traders wasn't always working You might still end up in "can't carry" trade situation, even though the trading party would have capacity to carry the offered goods. Hopefully this is fixed for good now. - fixed: Crash/shutdown related character data loss on Windows systems On Windows system crash or computer power loss might result in character corruption which at its worst erased character data to the extent of making them unrecoverable. This issue has been now addressed with extra safety measures and internal backups which hopefully prevent the worst case data losses for good. Should you experience Windows crash the game now tries to recover character data automatically from internal backup files upon loading the character again. You may still loose some moments or few map loads in the character's life but the game hopefully goes on more reliably. - fixed: UrW mobile controller not working on some systems That's all folks! Happy adventures! urw_sage urw_fire

[ 2021-11-17 13:46:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

Once again we are taking part in the ongoing [strike]Halloween[/strike] Kekri Sale with the pleasing numbers and haunting imagery. So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...

It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.

Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.

Kekri Goat

Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition? Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well.

Kekri-themed title screen

Again this year the we have launched a special Kekri-themed game title screen for duration of this sale & festivity period. The theme screen becomes live shortly after this annoucement, so allow the game to update and enter UnReal World for more haunting imagery.

Celebrate & Participate

We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year. urw_sageurw_fireurw_tree

[ 2021-10-29 17:46:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

UnReal World version 3.70 has reached the stable stage and is now released and live. Your game will auto-update and characters from the previous version are compatible with the new version. If you were playing 3.70 beta versions, you should know that there's also new content added since the last beta. And if you weren't playing beta versions at all, then prepare to discover a lot. You'll find changelogs later in this post, but first a little look at the key features with a few screenshots.

Key features of version 3.70

The key features of version 3.70 version deal with the moon and the moonlight, fibre processing with new textilecraft skill, snow penalty for all the creatures and snow crust, lots of new character portraits, tying equipment adjustments and additions, crafting fishing rods and hooks and usage of baits, option for metric units, and so on. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post.
Trudging through the deep snow the escaping elk tires itself easily while the hunter gliding with skis on snow crust travels easily.
There are lots of new character portraits added, and also an option to ask whereabouts of village water supply.
The autumn nights are already dark, but during full moon there's enough light for example to go fishing - with self-made fishing rod and hooks, that is.
Textilecraft in action. We have a new batch of harvested nettles retting in the water, and prepare to spin some yarn from earlier extracted nettle fibres.

Version 3.70 changelogs

First, here's changelog since the latest 3.70 beta version. New content to be aware for those who have already been playing the beta versions. 3.70 (stable) changelog - new content since 3.70-beta 3 - added: whole lotta new portraits, and specific portait categories for old men and sages A good bunch of new portraits have been added for kids, female and male characters. There are also two new portrait categories specifically for old men and sages. Portraits in these categories are exclusive for those type of NPCs and can't be associated with other NPCs nor chosen as a player character portrait. MIGRATION NOTICE: NPCs generated in the previous versions continue to appear with their previously generated portraits. - added: bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow Bowstrings are now featured as a craftable item of their own. Bowstrings wear out in use and thus need to be replaced every now and then. Crafting any bow now requires also a bowstring item, so you need to have a bowstring ready in order to make a functional bow. * crafting a bowstring Bowstrings can be crafted from [M]ake-menu under [W]eapons category. Bowstrings are made out of multiple strands of yarn twisted together, but also thin cordage can be used for a makeshift bowstring. Upon crafting a bowstring you can select the material, yarn or cord, to be used. It's faster to make a bowstring from a cord and the required length is also far lesser, but bowstrings made out of cords are also always of lesser quality. Your textilecraft skill determines the success of making a bowstring. Due to item usage complexity bowstring crafting is hard-coded and not to be found in editable diy_*.txt file. * bowstring breakage and replacement Good quality bowstring can last up to thousand of shots or so. The lower the quality the faster the bowstring is prone to break. When the bowstring breaks a message is displayed and the bow gets described as "bow with no string". Naturally you can't shoot with such a bow anymore until a new bowstring is added. You can check out condition of a bowstring in strung bows with nventory command. Upon selecting a bow to examine you will see how the bowstring looks like. You can add a new bowstring to a bow with no string with [a]pply command. First apply the bowstring, and then select a bow to be strung with the string. - added: [a]pply command can be used to remove hook from a fishing rod or to unstring a bow Sometimes you want to remove the old fishhook or bowstring at will and it can be done with [a]pply command. To remove a hook from a fishing rod [a]pply the fishing rod on dry land. The reason for doing it on dry land is that otherwise the fishing attempt will be initiated. To remove a bowstring from a strung bow just [a]pply the bow anytime. If you try to attach a fishhook or bowstring to fishing rod or bow that already carries those item parts you'll be notified of these new removal mechanics. - added: spruce quick-bow - a simple craftable makeshift bow Spruce quick-bow is the most simple and quick to make type of a bow. It's made out of a single branch that is cut from a standing spruce tree. It goes without saying that this type of bow is not a high performance weapon, but it is efficient enough for hunting squirrels and other small game. Spruce quick-bow can be crafted from [M]ake menu "Weapons"-category. There's also SPRUCE QUICK-BOW game encyclopedia [F1] entry available for more information. - removed: primitive bow and juniper bow - newly introduced spruce quick-bow replaces these. - adjusted: villagers reclaiming heavy loads Previously villagers would crowd endlessly around items they wanted to reclaim and restock if the load of whole stack was too heavy to pick up. Now they try to pick up such loads in smaller stacks, and if that should fail also they will eventually give up. - added: craftable cords and ropes from yarn You can now craft cords and ropes from yarn. These options can be fround from [M]ake menu under [T]ying equipment category. - adjusted: cord and rope crafting requirements and applicable skill Crafting any cord or rope now also requires a branch which is used as an aid for twisting the strands firmly together. The applicable skill for crafting yarn based cords and ropes is now textilecraft. - changed: generic "cord" item name and quality The generic craftable makeshift "cord" item which is made out of strips of clothing is now called "cloth cord" and its finished quality always remains on inferior side. - updated: game encyclopedia [F1] entry for CORD and ROPE - adjusted: "Set a net" now shows only tools in "Fishing" menu - modding add: 'first word' value for [naming:] tag Using 'first word' with [naming:] tag will get value of the first word of selected material/item name. For example, material requirement and naming such as: {Cord} [remove] [name:%s product] [naming:first word] would result in finished item called 'yarn product' if 'yarn cord' was selected as the material, or 'linen product' if 'linen cord' was selected. And so on. - adjusted: fatigue accumulation when moving by watercraft Type of the vessel and implement used to move it now matters to how fatiguing it is to move by watercraft. In general it is more strenuous to move by raft than by punt. The implement used to move the vessel also matters. Shoving the watercraft ahead with sesta takes more effort than paddling. - adjusted: companions pay more attention to closing doors Companions now always try to close the doors they pass. This is to avoid them letting domestic animals, or warmth, to escape from your settlements. - fixed: possibility of NPC portrait being the same as player character's portrait - fixed: carried load unit (lb/kg) in statistics window not changing if system of measurement was changed during the gameplay - fixed: sneaking while skiing on snow crust didn't reduce the speed - fixed: dried cuts as fishing baits got used up in one single fishing attempt - fixed: [nominlen] crafting tag not calculating tying equipment stacks properly - fixed: NPC's excess bartered good might be distributed also to the village animals - fixed: auto-shortening of tying equipment in crafting recipes not always reducing the weight accordingly - fixed: boy NPC weights generated wrong and too low - fixed: plants not burning in fire Version 3.70 major changelog - since the first beta release - added: snow crust Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person - and some animals as well. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on skis eventually became faster than their fatiguing prey. This hunting method and many other wintertime scenarios now become possible with the additon of snow crust mechanics. * If the snow crust can support somebody or not depends on how hard and thick the crust is, and how heavy the load of the person or animal is. Similarly to ice mechanics the snow crust also supports skiing person better than a walking person. The crust mechanics work similarly for player character, NPCs and animals. * Information about the crust type, if there is any, is told when you look at snowy ground tiles. The crust information is added to the snow depth information so you get messages like "waist deep snow with hard crust", "knee deep snow with faint crust", and so on. * Skiing on crust is faster and less fatiguing. There's also a new ski message notifying you about skiing on the crust. Similarly walking on crust is naturally faster than trudging in the deep snow. It's practically as easy as walking on any solid surface. * There are new movement samples for walking or skiing on crust, so the sound of character's movement also works as an indicator of the phenomena. - improved: mobility and fatigue penalties for moving in the snow Previously there was one overall reduction to character's mobility when moving in the snow without skis, but now the actual snow depth affects to how much the mobility is actually reduced. The same goes for fatigue as it now accumulates slower or faster depending on the snow depth. Shortly, the deeper the snow the harder and slower it is to trudge through it without skis. - added: snow penalties for animals and NPCs NPCs and animals now suffer from the snow penalties similarly to player character. All the snow penalty mechanics now work the same for player character, other human beings and animals. The actual snow depth that starts to hinder the animals is naturally relative to their size. A human knee deep snow is a little extra strain for an adult elk, but for example a wild boar or dog would suffer from it more significantly. The new snow depth mechanics bring in many new factors to animal movement and hunting scenarios. It should be noted that there also several animals that are adapted to moving in the snow without much difficulties at all. There are for example hare, lynx, glutton, weasel, ermine, squirrel and so on. For animals like these the snow penalties appear far lesser, and they have their species specific snow movement adjustments in action. - added: more prone to stumble when wearing skis Whenever stumbling is checked a character wearing skis is always less agile and more likely to stumble than without skis. - added: village areas always have reduced snow depth The village area is considered so stomped that the snow depth is always low. Otherwise NPCs and player characters might needlessly fatigue themselves merely by walking around the village. - added: foreign traders can share the excess trading load Previously a single foreign trader wouldn't accept more traded furs than he could carry. This made trading of heavy pelts often all too awkward. Now foreign traders can share the excess load so that if the NPC you are trading with can't carry it all the excess items are distributed to his fellows who can. - changed: observing surroundings from a tree - no more see-though trees You can't see through trees anymore when observing surroundings after climbing up a tree. The overall visibility is still better but foremostly because being higher allows you to see beyond elevations that would normally block your field of vision. But visual obstacles such as trees now do remain visual obstacles. - added: the moon, and the moonlight The weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. There are eight different moon phases now graphically presented in the horizon window, and the map gets blue moonlight tint according to the amount of moonlight provided. Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be of a great help significally extending the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. The moonlit nights are now a really different experience, and remember that it doesn't even have to be a full-moon for the moonlight effects to be noticed. - added: smoothly changing visibility based on time of day The change in visibility, ie. how far the character can see, now happens on minute basis. This means the visibility decreases and increases with the sunsets and sunrises much more smoothly than previously, when it was calculated on hourly basis. The visibility is also now more realistically calculated from the angle of the sun relative to the horizon. During the darkest seasons you will now experience the darkness falling faster, but also more smoothly, together with the quickly setting sun. The summer night expreriences don't change all that much compared to the previous version, but whenever the visibility changes even a little it now happens in smaller and smoother steps. - changed: plant harvest time information messages There are few changes in messages when looking at plants that aren't yet ready for harvesting. The used expression now speaks of "fully ripe" instead of "can be harvested", because its sometimes useful and possible to harvest plants even before they are matured. In case of herbs that are gathered for their flowers the harvest time expression now refers to when the plant will be flowering, instead of when it's fully matured for harvesting. - added: plant fibre processing with a new TEXTILECRAFT skill You can now extract fibres from nettle, hemp and flax and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill has been added. Plant fibre processing involves several stages of work, which are explained in detail below. There's also game encyclopedia (F1) entry about TEXTILECRAFT containing the essential information. All the textilecraft options can be found in the general [M]ake menu, or by using the textilecraft skill. And this is how the plant fibre processing is done: * RETTING First, the fibres must be separated from the stalks of harvested plants. This process is called retting, and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, varying from 5 to even 25 days. The warmer the water, the faster the retting process is. The retting doesn't occur at all in very cold water so it can't be done for example in the winter. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they can be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. Pros and cons of this are explained in EXTRACT FIBRE chapter. * DRYING When retting is complete, the plant stalks are dried outdoors in loose bundles. The stalks need to dry out fully so that they can be crushed in the following work phase of extracting the fibre. Drying takes about a week, and once dried they can be also stored for future and processed when theres need and time for that. * EXTRACT FIBRE Lastly, the fibres can be now extracted from the stalks. This is done by breaking the retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. Traditionally this was done with a special device called loukku, but in the game we use more primitive method of beating the stalks for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres this way is hard physical work and commonly carried out with several people working together. If you have companions around they will help you with the task. After the breaking phase, obtained bundles of fibre are scraped free from remaining coarse parts and extraneous material. This is done in steps, first removing the biggest extraneous parts and gradually proceeding towards the finer ones. Traditionally special tools, combs and brushes were used to clean the bundles of fibre as effectively as possible. In more primitive fashion it can be also done by whisking, rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand. In the game this is the method used, and the equipment available for breaking is applied here as well. If need be, nettle fibres can be also extracted directly from the stalk by hand without the preceeding steps. To do it simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time and dexterity, but can be a useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working time and amount of usable fibre extracted. So as your mastery in textilecraft increases you can expect to get higher fibre yield in shorter time. Extracted fibres are obtained in small bundles, eg. "bundle of hemp fibre". These items are categorized as PLANT type in character's inventory. * SPIN YARN Spinning fibres into yarn can be done either by hand, or with a spindle. Spinning by hand is naturally slower than using a spindle. Spindles are recognized also as ground items so you don't have to carry it with you. If you have companions around one of them can assist in spinning by holding the bundle of fibres for you. Obtained yarn can be then used in crafting of many different items. - added: flax - a new cultivated plant Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but not as commonly grown as hemp. It doesn't survive in the very north and is grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. Kiesseliset and Reemiliset in the east, and Driikiliset, Sartolaiset and Koivulaiset in the west do grow flax. Flax flowering is featured in the game, although the flowers can't be picked. The seeds develop after the flowering, but flax can be also harvested earlier for fibre alone. - game encyclopedia [F1]: updated entries about LINEN, FLAX, HEMP and NETTLE - added: spindle - a new craftable item for spinning fibres into yarn. - added: yarn as village product Villagers can now produce and stock yarn made of either nettle or hemp. The type and availability of yarn depends on the culture and village population. - changed: some craftable items now require yarn as the tying equipment type Yarn is now required for example when making arrows, loop snare and fishing rod. There can be minor changes in the required lengths as well. - added: leather cord, a new craftable item Leather cord is made simply by cutting long, thin strands of leather. It's craftable from Tying equipment category in Make menu. - added: "strong cordage" tying equipment requirement type Strong cordage covers all the ropes and spruce withes. That's what you need to use when strong cordage is required in crafting and building. - modding add: {Strong cordage} material tag - changed: some craftable items now require strong cordage as the tying equipment type Strong cordage is now required for example when making raft, big deadfall trap and bear trap. - added: "thin cordage" tying equipment requirement type Thin cordage covers cords and yarns. That's what you need to use when thin cordage is required in crafting and building. - modding add: {Thin cordage} material tag - added: making clothes requires thin cordage Crafting of leather and fur clothes now require varying lengths of thin cordage for sewing the parts together. Yarns and cords can be used for that. This requirements covers most of the clothes but few pieces such as caps and cloaks can be crafted without any cordage. - added: more use for cured animal skins All the cured skins now work as kota covers, and cured furs work similarly to tanned furs as ground covers and blankets for more comfortable sleeping. - added: straw - a new item part of certain plants Straws are byproduct of threshing plants such as nettles and hemp. Straws don't have specific use of their own but do serve as material for fibre processing. Straw items were added for the sake of being able to thresh valuable plants for seeds and leaves first, and still have the straw remaining for fibre. - modding add: a new flora header tag: [straw] There is a new tag that can be added to plant header in flora_*.txt files. [straw] tag indicates that the plant leaves a straw after it is threshed. The tag is currently in use for hemp and nettle, for their fibre processing possibilities. - modding add: a new flora property [FIBRE_YIELD:1,2,3] There is a new property for plants in flora_*.txt files. [FIBRE_YIELD:value] property can have value of 1,2 or 3 and it defines how much fibre the plant yields when processed with textilecraft options. - modified: nettle plant properties and habitats They sprout about a month earlier than previously, in seedtime month, and have new habitats; wetland, pond and cliff. - added: textile plants can be harvested for fibre while they're still growing Harvesting growing textile plants can be done at the age of 30-35% of their full growth time. This needs to be done with "Harvest" agriculture option, as using pick up command just collects the young leaves or so. - added: post spruce, a simple wilderness condition shelter Post spruce ("asentokuusi" in Finnish) is a temporary shelter made by felling a spruce tree to lean against another. Some low branches are cut to make space in the midst of the trees, and the cut twigs are laid on the ground as insulation. This simple shelter gives you protection from the elements and is commonly used for spending a night in the wilderness. The option to set up a post spruce is found under "Building options", and requires the same tools as felling young trees in general. The twigs for the ground insulation are cut and laid automatically. - added: sleeping on spruce twigs Sleeping on spruce twigs now gives a little extra warmth and protection from the cold. Sleeping on furs is still the most comfortable way to spend a cold night, but spruce twigs come as a good alternative. About half a dozen spruce twigs will provide enough insulation from the cold ground. - added: automated cutting of tying equipment to required lengths in crafting Tying equipment is now automatically cut to required lengths in crafting. However, with this new condition in effect the selected equipment must meet the minimum required lengths - with a few exceptions which are dealt later. For example: If "5 feet cord" is required you can use any cord 5 feet or longer, but not shorter pieces. If the selected cord is longer than required it will be automatically cut to length and you'll find the remaining portion in your inventory. When multiple pieces of certain length tying equipment is needed the requirement is now described for example as "5 feet cord * 2", meaning that you need two pieces of 5 feet cords. This is a change compared to previous versions where such requirement would have been descriped as the total calculated length eg. "10 feet of cord". That is the default way of handling tying equipment requirements now, but there are few exceptions to the rules described above. The exceptions are: - using birch-bark strips in crafting - tying equipment requirements in smoking and drying processess - making a raft In these cases the tying equipment requirement is descriped as total calculated length and can be composed of several shorter pieces - just like it used to be. There's also new crafting tag [nominlen] which can be used to ignore minimum length requirement where necessary. - modding add: [nominlen] tag for length-based materials This tag, which stands for "no minimum length", can be used to indicate that length-based material requirement can be composed of several shorter pieces. For example: {Cord} =5= [nominlen] [remove] This means that 5 feet of cord is required but you can come up with the total length using several shorter pieces. If [nominlen] tag wasn't used here the selected cord would need to be at least 5 feet long. - added: little girls as new NPC type MIGRATION NOTICE: Villages generated in the previous versions contain only NPC types of that particular version so you can't expect to find little girls from migrated villages. - changed: "kid" and "child" NPC descpriptions changed to generic "boy" description - adjusted: children NPC attributes and skills Previously children NPCs didn't differ all that much from the adults, but now their physical and mental attributes have been checked and adjusted. In general children are now weaker and more vulnerable to physical harm. But even if they lack the strength and endurance of the adults the level of some attributes eg. dexterity and agility can surprise sometimes. Children may sometimes choose to participate in fights if their village is threatened, but in general children are now more eager to flee upon serious danger. Boys are often slightly more eager to fight than girls who wisely rather run to alarm adults, and even the neighbouring villages if need be. - added: withes are auto-selected when making fences - added: roasting (turnips) in embers Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers. For the convenience of timing you can start roasting in embers already when the fire is clearly dying and about to burn out soon, given that enough embers has been produced already. - modding add: new cookery method tag [ember-roast] Using this tag the associated food item is prepared by the ember-roast method. Glowing embers automatically becomes a requirement when using the tag. - added: chat option to ask location of the village water supply "Ask for directions" chat section now has an option to ask location of the village water supply. - added: configurable display of units in imperial or metric system with more precision There's now configuration option to choose which system of measurement, imperial or metric, you wish to use for displaying units in the game. The default is to use imperial system, and it can be changed from in-game setup options menu. - added: craftable fishhooks and fishing rod You can now craft a fishing rod, and wooden and bone fishhooks. Fishing rod item description now also tells the type of the hook attached eg. "Fishing rod with wooden hook". - added: fishhook material matters to its effectiveness Iron hooks are the best kind, then come bone hooks, and wooden hooks are the least effective. - added: usage of baits in rod fishing When rod fishing you will be now asked what to use as a bait. Using baits is not necessary, but recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation. - added: FISHING category to [M]ake menu The category contains fishing related handcraft options, which are as mentioned above, crafting of fishing rod and different types of hooks. - added: fishhooks snapping off from a worn out fishline Fishhooks may occasionally snap off as the line wears out in use especially around the hook. This wear is relative to the number and size of fish having nibbled the line over time. So, with big catches you can also expect a faster wear. If the hook snaps off a message is displayed and the fishing rod gets described as "fishing rod with no hook" - but it can be also repaired with a spare hook. - added: [a]pply fishhooks to repair a hookless fishing rod You can repair a hookless fishing rod with a spare fishook with [a]pply command. First apply the fishhook, and then select a fishing rod to repair. - added: map zoom level is saved with the character - adjusted: skin sizes of seals - changed: berry porridge recipe Less berries, more water and flour, and slightly shorter cooking time. - added: a dozen of new character and NPC portraits - adjusted: saplings are now lesser obstacle for projectiles You can still hit them occasionally, but it's far more easier to shoot/throw past them. - improved: file write safety in case of sudden power loss or shutdown - fixed: high CPU usage, especially on some Linux and OSX systems + few more fixes. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hey, now we really have to say that's all folks, since we've reached single post character limit and can't list everything here. See news.txt in your game folder to read the last dozen of fixes. Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2021-10-09 18:01:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

First a little reminder, then a little peek into the future features -- and into nearby woods as well where the creator can be spotted crafting UnReal World gear for real.

Opt-into 3.70 beta

There hasn't been serious showstoppers with 3.70 beta, so there's also no reason why you shouldn't opt-into that very beta-branch. If you aren't exploring the far north with version 3.70beta already, just take a look at here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/351700/view/2980802142084765582

Craftable, breakable bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow

With the beta-version rolling so smoothly we've been relieved enough to also continue working on the few features that didn't quite make their way into first beta releases. So when the stable version comes, it's won't only stabilize the newly added goodies but also adds some new stuff to explore. For example craftable, breakable bowstrings as a separate functional part of a bow. Yes, that's where the textilecraft additions will bring us now. Bowstrings will be featured as a craftable item of their own, and they wear out in use and thus need to be replaced every now and then. Bowstrings are made out of multiple strands of yarn twisted together, but also thin cordage can be used for a makeshift bowstring. It's faster to make a bowstring from a cord and the required length is also far lesser, but bowstrings made out of cords are also always of lesser quality. Good quality bowstring can last up to thousand of shots or so. The lower the quality the faster the bowstring is prone to break. When the bowstring breaks a message is displayed and the bow gets described as "bow with no string". Naturally you can't shoot with such a bow anymore until a new bowstring is added.

Spruce quick-bow

Another bow related addition is a spruce quick-bow - a new type of craftable bow. Spruce quick-bow is the most simple and quick to make type of a bow. It's made out of a single branch that is cut from a standing spruce tree. It goes without saying that this type of bow is not a high performance weapon, but it is efficient enough for hunting squirrels and other small game. This type of bow is strongly based in history, specifically that of the Saami hunters, and it is a fascinating method to make a bow quickly out in the wilderness. You can see Sami (UnReal World creator) crafting a spruce quick-bow in the woods in this video (on his traditional archery related YouTube channel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYR91okTjlM Heh. It's surely different to craft these things with lines of codes in the digital realm than with an axe in the northern wilderness, but it's nice to master the both ways :) And there's even more features still pending to be added for the stable release. Stay tuned.

[ 2021-08-23 09:01:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

3.70 beta-3 for Windows, Linux and OS X has been released to fix a few bugs. Those who have opted-into 3.70 beta release will have their game automatically updated - if enabled. On Windows version the listed bugs have been remedied already, but now all the supported platforms are in sync. With this patch there should be no critical beta bugs anymore, and polishing the lesser annoyances continues. Version: 3.70 (beta 3) ** Saved characters from version 3.50-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - fixed: weather for migrated characters getting corrupted Migrated characters now experience reset of the weather upon loading them in 3.70 beta3. So the weather of migrated characters isn't exactly same as when they were saved, but as the reset is based on time of the year the change is most often quite unnoticeable. - fixed: laggy movement on some map areas This was related to how seeing through saplings was handled, and on some occasions data checks endedup in slow loop. - fixed: domestic animals triggering your traps - fixed: small weight units (g, oz) shown in carried load statistics together with false basic unit (kg, lb) Now carried load is shown in basic units - either kg or lbs. - fixed: character creation modes "easy" and "too easy" unexpectedly quit due to option points miscalculations - typo: "kgs" abbreviation used in metric system units. It's now always singular "kg", as it should be. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take a look at original 3.70 beta release post for more information about what this beta-version is about, and how to opt-into: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/351700/view/2980802142084765582

[ 2021-07-13 19:51:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

3.70 beta-2 hotfix for Windows has been released to fix a few bugs. Those who have opted-into 3.70 beta release will have their game automatically updated - if enabled. Patches for other platforms will follow later on. Changelog for 3.70 beta-2 for Windows: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - fixed: domestic animals triggering your traps - fixed: small weight units (g, oz) shown in carried load statistics together with false basic unit (kg, lb) Now carried load is shown in basic units - either kg or lbs. - fixed: character creation modes "easy" and "too easy" unexpectedly quit due to option points miscalculations - typo: "kgs" abbreviation used in metric system units. It's now always singular "kg", as it should be. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take a look at original 3.70 beta release post for more information about what this beta-version is about, and how to opt-into: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/351700/view/2980802142084765582

[ 2021-07-04 10:59:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.70 beta has been launched. Things are fairly stable already, but as it's beta release the bug potential is higher than usual. Also, some features are still pending to be polished to their final stage in patches to follow.

Key features of version 3.70

The key features of version 3.70 version deal with the moon and the moonlight, fibre processing with new textilecraft skill, snow penalty for all the creatures and snow crust, new character portraits, tying equipment adjustments, craftable fishing rods and usage of baits, option for metric units, and so on. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post. We think you may want to opt-into 3.70 beta now...

How to opt-into beta release

This is password protected beta-releasae. The password you need to know is: 370betaXXXZZZ

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab.
• Enter the password mentioned above into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE].
• Now 3.70 beta is available.
• Select "3.70 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
• Close the dialog, the game updates, enjoy!

Should you encounter crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box. And here comes the changelog...

Version 3.70 beta changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.50-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: snow crust Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person - and some animals as well. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on skis eventually became faster than their fatiguing prey. This hunting method and many other wintertime scenarios now become possible with the additon of snow crust mechanics. * If the snow crust can support somebody or not depends on how hard and thick the crust is, and how heavy the load of the person or animal is. Similarly to ice mechanics the snow crust also supports skiing person better than a walking person. The crust mechanics work similarly for player character, NPCs and animals. * Information about the crust type, if there is any, is told when you look at snowy ground tiles. The crust information is added to the snow depth information so you get messages like "waist deep snow with hard crust", "knee deep snow with faint crust", and so on. * Skiing on crust is faster and less fatiguing. There's also a new ski message notifying you about skiing on the crust. Similarly walking on crust is naturally faster than trudging in the deep snow. It's practically as easy as walking on any solid surface. * There are new movement samples for walking or skiing on crust, so the sound of character's movement also works as an indicator of the phenomena. - improved: mobility and fatigue penalties for moving in the snow Previously there was one overall reduction to character's mobility when moving in the snow without skis, but now the actual snow depth affects to how much the mobility is actually reduced. The same goes for fatigue as it now accumulates slower or faster depending on the snow depth. Shortly, the deeper the snow the harder and slower it is to trudge through it without skis. - added: snow penalties for animals and NPCs NPCs and animals now suffer from the snow penalties similarly to player character. All the snow penalty mechanics now work the same for player character, other human beings and animals. The actual snow depth that starts to hinder the animals is naturally relative to their size. A human knee deep snow is a little extra strain for an adult elk, but for example a wild boar or dog would suffer from it more significantly. The new snow depth mechanics bring in many new factors to animal movement and hunting scenarios. It should be noted that there also several animals that are adapted to moving in the snow without much difficulties at all. There are for example hare, lynx, glutton, weasel, ermine, squirrel and so on. For animals like these the snow penalties appear far lesser, and they have their species specific snow movement adjustments in action. - added: more prone to stumble when wearing skis Whenever stumbling is checked a character wearing skis is always less agile and more likely to stumble than without skis. - added: village areas always have reduced snow depth The village area is considered so stomped that the snow depth is always low. Otherwise NPCs and player characters might needlessly fatigue themselves merely by walking around the village. - added: foreign traders can share the excess trading load Previously a single foreign trader wouldn't accept more traded furs than he could carry. This made trading of heavy pelts often all too awkward. Now foreign traders can share the excess load so that if the NPC you are trading with can't carry it all the excess items are distributed to his fellows who can. - changed: observing surroundings from a tree - no more see-though trees You can't see through trees anymore when observing surroundings after climbing up a tree. The overall visibility is still better but foremostly because being higher allows you to see beyond elevations that would normally block your field of vision. But visual obstacles such as trees now do remain visual obstacles. - added: the moon, and the moonlight The weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. There are eight different moon phases now graphically presented in the horizon window, and the map gets blue moonlight tint according to the amount of moonlight provided. Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be of a great help significally extending the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. The moonlit nights are now a really different experience, and remember that it doesn't even have to be a full-moon for the moonlight effects to be noticed. - added: smoothly changing visibility based on time of day The change in visibility, ie. how far the character can see, now happens on minute basis. This means the visibility decreases and increases with the sunsets and sunrises much more smoothly than previously, when it was calculated on hourly basis. The visibility is also now more realistically calculated from the angle of the sun relative to the horizon. During the darkest seasons you will now experience the darkness falling faster, but also more smoothly, together with the quickly setting sun. The summer night expreriences don't change all that much compared to the previous version, but whenever the visibility changes even a little it now happens in smaller and smoother steps. - changed: plant harvest time information messages There are few changes in messages when looking at plants that aren't yet ready for harvesting. The used expression now speaks of "fully ripe" instead of "can be harvested", because its sometimes useful and possible to harvest plants even before they are matured. In case of herbs that are gathered for their flowers the harvest time expression now refers to when the plant will be flowering, instead of when it's fully matured for harvesting. - added: plant fibre processing with a new TEXTILECRAFT skill You can now extract fibres from nettle, hemp and flax and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill has been added. Plant fibre processing involves several stages of work, which are explained in detail below. There's also game encyclopedia (F1) entry about TEXTILECRAFT containing the essential information. MIGRATION NOTICE: For characters created in previous versions textilecraft-skill will be generated with their first load in this version. All the textilecraft options can be found in the general [M]ake menu, or by using the textilecraft skill. And this is how the plant fibre processing is done: * RETTING First, the fibres must be separated from the stalks of harvested plants. This process is called retting, and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, varying from 5 to even 25 days. The warmer the water, the faster the retting process is. The retting doesn't occur at all in very cold water so it can't be done for example in the winter. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they can be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. Pros and cons of this are explained in EXTRACT FIBRE chapter. * DRYING When retting is complete, the plant stalks are dried outdoors in loose bundles. The stalks need to dry out fully so that they can be crushed in the following work phase of extracting the fibre. Drying takes about a week, and once dried they can be also stored for future and processed when theres need and time for that. * EXTRACT FIBRE Lastly, the fibres can be now extracted from the stalks. This is done by breaking the retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. Traditionally this was done with a special device called loukku, but in the game we use more primitive method of beating the stalks for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres this way is hard physical work and commonly carried out with several people working together. If you have companions around they will help you with the task. After the breaking phase, obtained bundles of fibre are scraped free from remaining coarse parts and extraneous material. This is done in steps, first removing the biggest extraneous parts and gradually proceeding towards the finer ones. Traditionally special tools, combs and brushes were used to clean the bundles of fibre as effectively as possible. In more primitive fashion it can be also done by whisking, rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand. In the game this is the method used, and the equipment available for breaking is applied here as well. If need be, nettle fibres can be also extracted directly from the stalk by hand without the preceeding steps. To do it simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time and dexterity, but can be a useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working time and amount of usable fibre extracted. So as your mastery in textilecraft increases you can expect to get higher fibre yield in shorter time. Extracted fibres are obtained in small bundles, eg. "bundle of hemp fibre". These items are categorized as PLANT type in character's inventory. * SPIN YARN Spinning fibres into yarn can be done either by hand, or with a spindle. Spinning by hand is naturally slower than using a spindle. Spindles are recognized also as ground items so you don't have to carry it with you. If you have companions around one of them can assist in spinning by holding the bundle of fibres for you. Obtained yarn can be then used in crafting of many different items. - added: flax - a new cultivated plant Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but not as commonly grown as hemp. It doesn't survive in the very north and is grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. Kiesseliset and Reemiliset in the east, and Driikiliset, Sartolaiset and Koivulaiset in the west do grow flax. Flax flowering is featured in the game, although the flowers can't be picked. The seeds develop after the flowering, but flax can be also harvested earlier for fibre alone. - game encyclopedia [F1]: updated entries about LINEN, FLAX, HEMP and NETTLE - added: spindle - a new craftable item Spindle is a wooden tool used for spinning fibres into yarn. - added: yarn as village product Villagers can now produce and stock yarn made of either nettle or hemp. The type and availability of yarn depends on the culture and village population. - changed: some craftable items now require yarn as the tying equipment type Yarn is now required for example when making arrows, loop snare and fishing rod. There can be minor changes in the required lengths as well. - added: leather cord, a new craftable item Leather cord is made simply by cutting long, thin strands of leather. It's craftable from Tying equipment category in Make menu. - added: "strong cordage" tying equipment requirement type Strong cordage covers all the ropes and spruce withes. That's what you need to use when strong cordage is required in crafting and building. - modding add: {Strong cordage} material tag This tag defines strong cordage is needed as tying equipment. - changed: some craftable items now require strong cordage as the tying equipment type Strong cordage is now required for example when making raft, big deadfall trap and bear trap. - added: "thin cordage" tying equipment requirement type Thin cordage covers cords and yarns. That's what you need to use when thin cordage is required in crafting and building. - modding add: {Thin cordage} material tag This tag defines thin cordage is needed as tying equipment. - added: making clothes requires thin cordage Crafting of leather and fur clothes now require varying lengths of thin cordage for sewing the parts together. Yarns and cords can be used for that. This requirements covers most of the clothes but few pieces such as caps and cloaks can be crafted without any cordage. - added: more use for cured animal skins All the cured skins now work as kota covers, and cured furs work similarly to tanned furs as ground covers and blankets for more comfortable sleeping. - added: straw - a new item part of certain plants Straw refers to mere stalk of certain plants. Straws are byproduct of threshing plants such as nettles and hemp. Straws don't have specific use of their own but do serve as material for fibre processing. Straw items were added for the sake of being able to thresh valuable plants for seeds and leaves first, and still have the straw remaining for fibre. - modding add: a new flora header tag: [straw] There is a new tag that can be added to plant header in flora_*.txt files. [straw] tag indicates that the plant leaves a straw after it is threshed. The tag is currently in use for hemp and nettle, for their fibre processing possibilities. Other plants can be modded to leave straws at will, even though the game mechanics don't currently have specific use for straw. - modding add: a new flora property [FIBRE_YIELD:1,2,3] There is a new property for plants in flora_*.txt files. [FIBRE_YIELD:value] property can have value of 1,2 or 3 and it defines how much fibre the plant yields when processed with textilecraft options. - modified: nettle plant properties and habitats They sprout about a month earlier than previously, in seedtime month, and have new habitats; wetland, pond and cliff. - added: textile plants can be harvested for fibre while they're still growing It is possible to harvest nettle, hemp and flax before they are fully ripe. This is for the sake of being able to obtain fibres also from the growing plants. Harvesting growing textile plants can be done at the age of 30-35% of their full growth time. This needs to be done with "Harvest" agriculture option, as using pick up command just collects the young leaves or so. Young harvested plants provide less fibre than fully grown ones, but being able to utilize them also during their growing season is a necessary asset at times. - added: post spruce, a simple wilderness condition shelter Post spruce ("asentokuusi" in Finnish) is a temporary shelter made by felling a spruce tree to lean against another. Some low branches are cut to make space in the midst of the trees, and the cut twigs are laid on the ground as insulation. This simple shelter gives you protection from the elements and is commonly used for spending a night in the wilderness. The option to set up a post spruce is found under "Building options", and requires the same tools as felling young trees in general. The twigs for the ground insulation are cut and laid automatically. There's also game encyclopedia [F1] entry about POST SPRUCE available. - added: sleeping on spruce twigs Sleeping on spruce twigs now gives a little extra warmth and protection from the cold. It's simple and much used option in wilderness conditions especially during the wintertime. Sleeping on furs is still the most comfortable way to spend a cold night, but spruce twigs come as a good alternative. About half a dozen spruce twigs will provide enough insulation from the cold ground. - added: automated cutting of tying equipment to required lengths in crafting Tying equipment is now automatically cut to required lengths in crafting. However, with this new condition in effect the selected equipment must meet the minimum required lengths - with a few exceptions which are dealt later. For example: If "5 feet cord" is required you can use any cord 5 feet or longer, but not shorter pieces. If the selected cord is longer than required it will be automatically cut to length and you'll find the remaining portion in your inventory. When multiple pieces of certain length tying equipment is needed the requirement is now described for example as "5 feet cord * 2", meaning that you need two pieces of 5 feet cords. This is a change compared to previous versions where such requirement would have been descriped as the total calculated length eg. "10 feet of cord". That is the default way of handling tying equipment requirements now, but there are few exceptions to the rules described above. The exceptions are: - using birch-bark strips in crafting - tying equipment requirements in smoking and drying processess - making a raft In these cases the tying equipment requirement is descriped as total calculated length and can be composed of several shorter pieces - just like it used to be. There's also new crafting tag [nominlen] which can be used to ignore minimum length requirement where necessary. - modding add: [nominlen] tag for length-based materials This tag, which stands for "no minimum length", can be used to indicate that length-based material requirement can be composed of several shorter pieces. For example: {Cord} =5= [nominlen] [remove] This means that 5 feet of cord is required but you can come up with the total length using several shorter pieces. If [nominlen] tag wasn't used here the selected cord would need to be at least 5 feet long. - added: little girls as new NPC type There's now a new NPC type descriped as "girl". Such NPCs are little girls, inhabitating villages with their family. MIGRATION NOTICE: Villages generated in the previous versions contain only NPC types of that particular version so you can't expect to find little girls from migrated villages. - changed: "kid" and "child" NPC descpriptions changed to generic "boy" description - adjusted: children NPC attributes and skills Previously children NPCs didn't differ all that much from the adults, but now their physical and mental attributes have been checked and adjusted. In general children are now weaker and more vulnerable to physical harm. But even if they lack the strength and endurance of the adults the level of some attributes eg. dexterity and agility can surprise sometimes. Children may sometimes choose to participate in fights if their village is threatened, but in general children are now more eager to flee upon serious danger. Boys are often slightly more eager to fight than girls who wisely rather run to alarm adults, and even the neighbouring villages if need be. Combat skills of the children have been also checked and adjusted to quite inferior level. The lack of strength is now seen especially with their unarmed combat skills. If they land a kick or punch there's not much power in it. Armed with a knife or so they may cause some proper wounds, but in general children rarely pose a real threat anymore. - added: withes are auto-selected when making fences Withes are now preferred tying equipment when making fences, and they are automatically selected if available either on the ground or in character's inventory. - added: roasting (turnips) in embers Roasting in embers is featured currently only for cooking turnips in traditional fashion, but more use for the method will likely follow in the future. Find the new recipe "ember-roasted turnips" under "Vegetable recipes" in cookery menu. Roasting in embers requires good amount of embers so it can't be expected to work in the remains of just any little fire. The fire should be burning for several hours before enough hot embers will remain for the method to work. For this reason roasting in embers is usually proceeded after substantial fire was lighted anyway out of necessity. It takes about an hour for turnips to cook in embers. For the convenience of timing you can start roasting in embers already when the fire is clearly dying and about to burn out soon, given that enough embers has been produced already. The game will notify about the lack of enough embers so the necessary conditions can be figured out quite easily. - added: ember-roasted turnips as cultural dish to be found in villages Eastern and western cultures are familiar with the ember-roasted turnips and this ordinary dish can be now occasionally found in the village storehouses, or carried by NPCs. - modding add: new cookery method tag [ember-roast] Using this tag the associated food item is prepared by the ember-roast method. Glowing embers automatically becomes a requirement when using the tag. - added: two orientations for prone character avatar Just like with standing avatar there are two orientations for prone character avatar. These are now in effect and changing according to the facing direction. - added: chat option to ask location of the village water supply "Ask for directions" chat section now has an option to ask location of the village water supply. The option is available within the village area when talking to any village member. - added: configurable display of units in imperial or metric system with more precision There's now configuration option to choose which system of measurement, imperial or metric, you wish to use for displaying units in the game. The default is to use imperial system, and it can be changed from in-game setup options menu. The configuration option name in urw_ini.txt is [UNITS: with possible values METRIC and IMPERIAL. You can also change the system of measurement by editing urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder. If the option is missing add the following line there to use metric system: [UNITS:METRIC] You can also configure precision of the units displayed eg. how many decimal fractions to use. To do that edit or add [UNITS_PRECISION: option in your urw_ini.txt. Possible values are 0,1 or 2. The default is 1. [UNITS_PRECISION:1] The chosen system of measurement is only an interface level change and doesn't affect to syntax of crafting, building or cooking recipes where imperial units remain in use. As the imperial units are the internal base units the conversion to metric measurements doesn't always produce nicely readable whole numbers, but where possible some rough rounding will be used. For example, wilderness map scales of 100 meters is rounded to 100 yards in imperial system. Also, length unit foot is 1/3 meters in the game so that cordage lenghts remain readable when using metric units. Some smallers units, ounces and grams, which were absent from the interface before are now also used when necessary. This way we'll be seeing more easily readable values with less rounding needed. MIGRATION NOTICE: NPCs who have their quests generated in the previous version may still speak about quest related distances in kilometers even if the imperial units are in use. - added: craftable fishhooks and fishing rod You can now craft a fishing rod, and wooden and bone fishhooks. Fishing rod item description now also tells the type of the hook attached eg. "Fishing rod with wooden hook". MIGRATION NOTICE: Fishing rods generated in the previous versions now all appear with iron hooks, regardless of what their original hook properties might have been. - added: fishhook material matters to its effectiveness Iron hooks are the best kind, then come bone hooks, and wooden hooks are the least effective. The differences aren't dramatic though, but there's slight penalty for using bone and wooden hooks. - added: usage of baits in rod fishing When starting rod fishing you will be now asked what to use as a bait. Using baits is not necessary, but naturally highly recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation. - added: FISHING category to [M]ake menu The category contains fishing related handcraft options, which are as mentioned above, crafting of fishing rod and different types of hooks. - added: fishhooks snapping off from a worn out fishline Fishhooks may occasionally snap off as the line wears out in use especially around the hook. This wear is relative to the number and size of fish having nibbled the line over time. So, with big catches you can also expect a faster wear. If the hook snaps off a message is displayed and the fishing rod gets described as "fishing rod with no hook" - but it can be also repaired with a spare hook. - added: [a]pply fishhooks to repair a hookless fishing rod You can repair a hookless fishing rod with a spare fishook with [a]pply command. First apply the fishhook, and then select a fishing rod to repair. - added: map zoom level is saved with the character - adjusted: skin sizes of seals For the grey seal the skin yield has been doubled, and for the ringed seal increased about 20%. - changed: berry porridge recipe Ratio of the ingredients has been adjusted based on the real-life experiment. Less berries, more water and flour, and slightly shorter cooking time. - added: a dozen of new character and NPC portraits - adjusted: saplings are now lesser obstacle for projectiles You can still hit them occasionally, but it's far more easier to shoot/throw past them. - removed: possibility to kick down fences Old mechanism that wasn't needed nor working properly anymore since we've already got deconstruct option. - improved: file write safety in case of sudden power loss or shutdown Some extra measures has been added to overcome unexpected shutdown related data loss regarding character file, window position data, and culture data. - fixed: high CPU usage, especially on some Linux and OSX systems The game reached very high CPU usage on some systems, which is now hopefully fixed. It was related to reading incoming SDL events which are now waited rather than constantly polled. - fixed: in villages, building a fire to location with still warm embers was mistakenly considered a breach - fixed: animals freed from traps mistakenly considered trapped and perishing because of that - fixed: birds mistakenly flying still - fixed: character's mobility suffering from faulty snow penalty During the usual winter month characters movement was reduced due to snow penalty even if there wasn't any snow on the ground. Moreover, this faulty snow penalty was in effect also indoors. - fixed: multiple creature selection listing irrelevant NPCs when picking from or packing a creature - fixed: birch saplings blocking the line of sight - fixed: cutting branches and peeling bark from saplings - fixed: when thrown object or projectile hits a saplings the resulting message didn't mention the tree being a sapling - fixed: birch withe material requirement eg. in the making of vasta also accepted spruce withes - fixed: shortening tying equipment not reducing their price value - fixed: resting for a turn [.] at settlement tile activated zooming in - fixed: small silver items not always degrading in sacrificing - fixed: looking at animals with no encyclopedia entry shows the previous animal's info entry -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all folks! urw_sage Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the possible beta bugs being minor and scarce. But whatever their size and annoyance level may be, we've got our bows prepared for shooting them down.

[ 2021-06-27 16:23:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Summer Sale is on!

So lay back, wipe the sweat off your forehead, and feel free to enter into the far north for discounted price. It's easier there in the summer - you'll see. And before the sale is over, a new release will be launched.
Sami (UnReal World creator) may seem outwardly calm and laid back, but on the inside he is actively preparing for release of UnReal World version 3.70 - which will take place before the summer sale is over.

[ 2021-06-24 17:05:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Steam Open World Sale has begun and we wholeheartedly cherish this special event and celebration of infinite exploration. It's very much our genre, since early 90s, and acknowledged with (debatable) merits such as ...
But we don't really want to ramble about the game. See, the store page shows and tells all you need to know. Now feel free to lose yourself in the most intricate, detailed and enchanting iron-age game world for discounted price. Then, let's move on to additional content to celebrate the special open world event for real...

Picture feed from the real world

Those who have followed the development do know that for Enormous Elk game development isn't actually clean indoors job. We tend to practise what we code, pursue the traditional lifestyle to varying extent, and draw a lot of inspiration from the real world experiments and adventures. As a special way to celebrate the ongoing Open World Sale we've compiled you this picture feed of the two man dev. team doing their infinite exploration outside the development chambers. This is an assorted collection of dev's life along the way in the real world. Enjoy!
Erkka (co-designer) on the left with frame drum, Sami (creator) on the right with kantele, at gorgeous Orinoro gorge in eastern Finland.
Sami doing elks calls in the woods.
Erkka walking horses in the woods.
Traditional log building with traditional equipment. Erkka on the left, Sami on the right.
Erkka's sauna warming up on a winter day.
Broad beans are flowering while Sami is cooking something.
Sami takes a look at the open arctic world.
Rowing in the summer evening.
Roasting the catch in the rain.
Sami after threshing rye in the barn in all traditional, and smoky fashion.
Erkka after some muddy work.
Find a dev among the sheep.
Sami is getting a feel of the wilderness.
Erkka chopping firewood.
Sami doing mounted archery.
Breakfast for Erkka.
Summery coffee break for the two-man dev. team.
Skiing with a shovel preparing to settle here for a night.
Sami's bicycle trip to gather a bunch of wild greens was a success.
And so was Erkka's fishing trip.
Happy islander.
It's winter. It's open world.
On Hornankallio cliff Sami takes a look at the familiar landscape - not too far away from his development chambers.
The Road goes ever on and on ... And if the road goes smoothly the next update, UnReal World version 3.70, will be released in June, 2021.
Cheers! urw_sage urw_sage

[ 2021-05-27 17:09:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Code is pouring and bubbling in development chambers as we head towards yet another version update. And now it's a little sneak preview time with our textilecraft test character Kuitu Kaumolainen ... The biggest single addition to the upcoming version is featuring mechanics to extract fibres from certain plants and process them into yarn. For this, a new TEXTILECRAFT skill was created, and lots of spin-off features regarding fibre processing and cordage also followed. Fibres can be extracted from nettle, hemp and flax - which has been added as a new cultivated plant. Let's start from there ...

Flax

Flax is an old cultivated textile plant, but in Iron-Age Finland it wasn't even as commonly grown as hemp. One reason for this is that flax doesn't survive in the very north so in the game it's grown only by certain cultures south of Kaumo. As a curiosity, the finnish word for flax ('pellava') originally meant the nettle plant ('nokkonen') which speaks about importance of this age-old wild source of fibre. But nevertheless, flax is in the game now and it can be grown, harvested and processed for fibre.
Kuitu Kaumolainen has found his way to Kiesse, a region where flax is grown. At Kaumo where he's from they only produce nettle or hemp fibres. Blue flowering flax is easily spotted from the field, and it could be harvested for fibre already.

Textilecraft options

Processing plant fibres into yarn involves several stages of work, and it's all done by using your TEXTILECRAFT skill. Character's expertise in textilecraft affects to required working times and the amount of usable fibre or yarn produced. After the plants are harvested the fibres must be then separated from the plant's stalks. This process is called "retting", and it is done by soaking the plants in the water for several days. Sufficient soaking time depends on the water temperature, with the warmer being faster.
Kuitu Kaumolainen harvested 100 flaxes and headed by the lake to start retting the stalks. Here you can see all the textilecraft options to proceed with fibre extracting and spinning them into yarn.

Extracting fibres is hard work

It took two weeks for Kuitu's flax to soak properly. After that it took one more week to dry them. And only then Kuitu can start extracting the actual fibre from the stalks. Extracting fibres is done by breaking the dried retted stalks so that the woody core shatters and falls away leaving the loose fibres free. The stalks are beated for example with a club on a solid working surface. Extracting fibres is hard work and commonly carried out with several people working together. Traditionally there has been a custom to arrange specific work parties for processing fibres of each village together with the neighbouring people. And in the game your companions can actually help you with the task. Obtained bundles of fibre are then scraped free from remaining coarse parts. Traditionally special tools were used, but it can be also done by rubbing and whacking the bundles against a hard surface, or with tools at hand.
Kuitu starts extracting fibres from the dried retted flax stalks at his shelter. He is about to beat the stalks with a club on top of a log. These dried retted stalks could have been also stored for future and the fibre extracted when there's time and need for that.

Spinning yarn

It took lees than half an hour to extract the fibres from his 100 flax stalks and Kuitu got 16 bundles of flax fibre. Fibres can be then spun into yarn either by hand, which is slower, or using a spindle. Spindle is also a new craftable item, and very easy to make. So Kuitu crafts a spindle and starts spinning. He decides to go for full length yarn. When starting spinning it is possible to choose how long yarn you wish to spin on one go.
Kuitu manages to spin 80 meters of linen yarn in less than two hours. It could be then used in crafting of different items such as loop snares, arrows - or fishing rods.

Nettle specialities

In the next version it will be also possible to craft fishing rods, and hooks out of wood or bone. And a working fishing rod naturally needs a line too. Now Kuitu has his linen yarn which could be used as line, but the whole process of extracting flax fibres with retting and drying took weeks. That's quite a long time if there's an urgent need for little piece of yarn. Luckily there's also faster wilderness condition option for utilizing plant fibres - and that is a nettle. Nettle fibres are a speciality as they be extracted directly from the fresh plants without retting and drying processes. To do it you can simply use "extract fibre" option directly to freshly harvested nettles. This method takes more time, but is an useful option when only a small amount of fibre is needed. The nettle stem is crushed by hand, and the fibres carefully stripped off. It doesn't take long before Kuitu finds some nettles. Textile plant harvesting is made possible for fibre even when they are still growing.
Kuitu harvests some nettles. Then he simply extracts the fibres by hand, and spins some nettle yarn. If he would like to produce a lot of yarn, this would be too slow to be practical, but now he's only after fishing rod line,

Wooden hook, nettle yarn - and baits

Kuitu finds a slender tree trunk, fashions a wooden hook out of a branch, and proceeds to assemble a fishing rod. Now we should mention that In the upcoming version usage of baits in fishing is also featured. Using baits is not necessary, but naturally highly recommended. Catching a fish every now and then without a bait is still possible, but for reliable rod fishing and decent catches baits are now quite essential. You can use pretty much every food item as a bait and portion of the selected item will be used during the fishing attempt. Pieces of raw meat and fish can be considered decent baits for predatory fish, but for example crumbs of bread may also work for some fish. You can also use a whole small fish, eg. roach or perch, in order to attract a bigger predatory fish. With this addition in effect the type of fish caught with rod fishing is now more dependant on the baits used. It's not likely that you'll catch a pike with an empty hook, but having a small roach as a bait might work. And that little roach might have been caught with quite moderate bait such as bread crumb, or even with some tasty vegetation.
Kuitu makes his survival fishing rod, with a wooden hook and nettle yarn. The work with the several less laborous features continues but we're getting closer to release every day. It's always quite impossible to say when everything is completely wrapped up and working, but maybe - just maybe - we might have this version out in june. Cheers! For those who are more curious about the real life practises here's a short documentary in Finnish showing how the flax is processed. Having read the above I trust you will understand what is happening even without subtitles. The gear used differs slghtly from the more primitive method of the game, but the steps are the same; sow, harvest, ret, dry, extract, spin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNFD_CUlxZU

[ 2021-05-11 13:31:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The last weekend some quite exciting weather engine achievements and accompanying real life adventures were made as Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer) spent some creative time together. Now there are two new essential weather features on the table - both still somewhat under construction, but most likely to be seen in the next version. And the features are...

The moon

Our weather engine now models the moon in detail, with its' changing phases and moonlight affecting to the nighttime visibility and brightness. Lots of tuning is still pending, but we can already see that the full-moon nights in the game will be a different experience.Especially during the darkest seasons moonlight can be a of great help and extended the available hours for working, hunting or travelling. Just have a look at the screenshot compilation below.
Left: A casual midnight by the lake in dirt month as it appears currently in the game. Right: The same scenery with the new moon code in action. It's full moon and our nighttime visibility is a much different.

Snow crust

Snow crust is a springtime phenomena where surface of the snowpack becomes so hard that it can completely support a walking or skiing person. The crust results from partial melting of the snow surface by warm spring day sunlight followed by re-freezing when the temperature drops again, usually after the sunset. The crust normally only lasts for part of the day, but being able to travel on snow without sinking in there at all is a great asset for a hunter. Elks were traditionally hunted on skis during crust as it can't support the heavy animals and hunter gliding on crust with skis now became much faster than their prey. Lots of work is still needed before snow crust support is all coded, but that's the intention. Now it also requires proper snow penalty to be added for NPCs and animals, and reworking the skiing code to some extent too. (And if you were thinking of skiing NPCs so were we.) The last weekend it was both full moon and snow crust possibility, so we also went experiencing these things in real life. Naturally these both are familiar experiences already, and as countryside kids we've learned possibilities of snow crust for work and leisure all the way from our childhood. But if you'd like to see the magic of skiing in moonlight without any artificial light, or get an idea about difference between skiing in slushy spring snow compared to the crust, we've got a short videoclip for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOcb_cm5UkE

[ 2021-03-29 16:26:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

What kinds of rituals were involved in eating during Iron-Age? Which UnReal World foods the dev would like to try out? Would players find the games food tasty? How do flatbreads or ember-roasted turnips actually look like when cooked?

An exhibition about video game food culture has opened at Finnish Museum of Games. UnReal World is featured in the exhibition in many ways ... ... and the most delicious parts are now served to you within a special downloadable content! The Cake is a Lie exhibition is on display 24.1.2021 31.8.2021 at Finnish Museum of Games, Tampere, Finland. Even though visiting the physical exhibition is not a possibility for most of us everyone can still get a good taste of it with downloadable publication they have made available.

Deep and delicious downloadable content

From Screen to Plate is an expansion, or DLC to the exhibition. This downloadable .pdf publication explores the writing of videogame food blogs and books, glances at cooking simulators, and marvels at UnReal Worlds Iron Age eating habits through an interview and an entire menu to try out. UnReal World menu is based on the actual dishes you can cook in the game, but now with the recipes and instructions printed out you can try cooking them for real. In the interview Sami (UnReal World developer) talks about the food and its meaning in the game, also covering historical viewpoints and folklore behind the game mechanics. This publication is really something to take a look at to learn more about the food in UnReal World, and in some other games too. You can download the publication from the links below. There's English and Finnish edition available. "The Cake is a Lie - from Screen to Plate DLC" (in English) "Kakku on vale - ruudulta lautaselle"-julkaisu" (in Finnish)
The publication is also available as printed A5 booklet for those who have an opportunity to go see the physical exhibition.

Thanks and respect for the Finnish Museum of Games and organizers for the exhibition and the publication. It was our pleasure to participate, and the outcome is plain yummy.

For those who can understand it (or just enjoy listening to foreign language) here's curators say and a sneak peak into the exhibition in finnish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqA06pNmWN4 Cheers! Keep on roasting in the free world... urw_fire

[ 2021-03-07 14:16:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

We wish You all happy 2021!

This comes perhaps a little late, but the timing gives us an opportunity to remind you of few things. Firstly, there's till time to enter UnReal World for discounted price before the Winter Sale 2020 turns to its end. And secondly, our new video greetings have been released just today.
Happy this year!

A fresh video greeting "Survivor's Feast" is now up in the video greetings DLC package.

We have a habit of occasionally creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight the supporters. These video works have been brought on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players. Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains seven video greetings in total, and more will follow in time. https://store.steampowered.com/app/505100/UnReal_World__Video_greetings/ If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. Cheers!

[ 2021-01-04 18:15:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

The midwinter and holiday season is at hand, and Steam Winter sale has begun. Now let us send you our very best and most delicious Season's Greetings, as it's time to celebrate the period with Iron-Age feastings. You may be aware that over the years we have practiced and experimented with many different survival, bushcraft and traditional skills and techniques to gain firsthand knowledge of the ways of the ancients, and to add a special touch of realism to the game mechanics. Practise what you code, so to speak. This midwinter we tried out quite ambitious Iron-Age cooking as well. These are the kind of dishes you can prepare in UnReal World too, but they surely taste good in our time too.
Roasting turnips on embers.
Flatbreads and cooked turnips.
Tasty bits of broadbean-turnip-mushroom stew.
Let the Iron-Age feasting start. This is not our first go with traditional food for traditional devs, but the first time it's been carried out and documented this precisely. The reason for this delicious study is an exciting upcoming exhibition. In 2021 Suomen Pelimuseo (The Finnish Museum of Games) is arranging an exhibition about the food in videogames. In addition to insight about the subject in various videogames there shall be a publication presenting different menus from different games with recipies you can try out yourself. UnReal World is one of the titles included. We'll let you know when the exhibition starts. But now let's survive the midwinter, feast as everyone prefers, and see you again in 2021. Cheers!

[ 2020-12-22 18:09:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Once again we are taking part in the ongoing [strike]Halloween[/strike] Kekri Sale with the pleasing numbers and haunting imagery. So let the new adventurers be respected with the discount, and the ancestral spirits with our special Kekri costumes and customs...

It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.

Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we.

Kekri Goat

Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition? Yes. He dresses up as Kekripukki.
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well.

Kekri-themed title screen

Again this year the we have launched a special Kekri-themed game title screen for duration of this sale & festivity period. So just enter UnReal World for more haunting imagery.

Celebrate & Participate

We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year. urw_sageurw_fireurw_tree

[ 2020-10-29 17:02:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

For a short period of time a pathway has opened to get into the realms of certain traditional roguelikes for discounted price. Steam offers Awesome Traditional Roguelikes bundle - with UnReal World naturally included - until 13th of August. We, and all the games included, also offer individual Daily Deals so you can decide whether you wish to pick a good fistful roguelikes, or just a selected one. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/15790/The_Traditional_Roguelikes_Bundle/

[ 2020-08-11 17:30:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

So, there's still summer left and there are no showstoppers discovered in the latest version -- that equals getting off to holidays now. We can call this latter summer holiday, and I have feeling I'll spend quite a long one. It's likely autumn, or early winter, before we get back to development chambers again. You can still reach me by e-mail, but expect delays with replies. And on rainy days I may rarely pop up at the community hub too. You'll surely hear from me every now and then even during this holiday period, but I'll be far more absent than present. Take care, help each others out, stay safe and have some good times and adventures! Off to holidays then...

[ 2020-08-01 17:54:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey, we have a new release out now!

And hey, the Summer Sale still continues for a little while, so the quick ones can take a tactical advantage to get straight into version 3.63 for discounted price. And well, version 3.63 is kind of a summery release in itself. There's features and fixes on all fronts, but some is specifically related to the lush of the summer. You can find the full changelog below but here's a moody image of certain real world item which you can now find in UnReal World too.

...as I'll go now gently beat myself with this one, you can enjoy the new release -- and do the same in there at will.

Version 3.63 changelog

- added: separate key command for commanding your pets and companions [!] Talking to someone and commanding your pets and companions are now separate commands. Commanding is now done with with [!] key, and the good old [C] key is used only to talk to someone in normal fashion. The game notifies you about the new [!] key command when talking to companions in normal way, or when talking to someone when there are pets out of sight. These little messages hopefully make it easier to get the new command policy memorized. Also, if you mistakenly try to [C]hat with pets the list of commands is still displayed. If there are no pets or companions around at all trying to command them [!] just displays an informative message and doesn't proceed into fruitfless target selection. Also, if there are no companions in sight the menu for shouting commands doesn't anymore contain needless "Choose a target in sight" option. - improved: fire mechanics Various features have been added to make fire burning, its' warming effect, obtained information and visual appearance more detailed. * Burnt-out fire graphics is related to the amount of fire burned at the site. Small fires leave small remains, large fires leave large remains. * Remains of fire accumulates over time so sequential fires burned at the site will increase the remains. The remains will still eventually disappear with few days pause in fire burning. * embers graphics has been added and remains of burnt-out fires will be now appear glowing red for awhile. For how long the embers will be glowing depends on the amount of fire burned. * when looking at burnt-out fire it's now also told if there are glowing or still warm embers. This information gives an idea eg. about how recent a campfire found in the wild might be. * glowing embers from nearby burnt-out fires helps you to start new ones. This is automatically checked if you start making a fire with glowing remains at adjacent tile. - added: smoking requires continuous maintaining of fire In the previous versions smoking succeeded if the room was heated once, and the process required no further maintenance. Now the heating must be maintained through the whole process. It's not critical to maintain an exact temperature but the fireplace in your smoking cabin should be warmed up properly on daily basis. Should you forget it one day it's still possible to compensate by heating it up even more the next day. If the heating is completely neglected you will find your smoked foodstuff all spoiled. If the heating has failed only to some extent you may find some of the smoked foods spoiled. - added: gradual heating up and cooling down of fireplaces and sauna stoves When warming up a fireplace or sauna stove it now takes some time before the stones get properly heated up and start releasing warmth into the room - and this process is gradual. As a rule of thumb you should keep fire burning at least 3 or 4 hours to get fireplaces and sauna stoves properly heated up. The cooling down is gradual as well and fireplaces and sauna stoves will retain warmth hours and hours after the fire has burnt out. The warmer the fireplace or sauna stove has been the slower it will also cool down. With these changes in action you can't expect to have a nicely warm room at an instant you light up a fireplace. Or you can't have a sauna bath right after lighting up a sauna stove. However, the fireplaces are designed so that they release some heat when the fire is burning. This allows you to still effectively warm up by the fireplace while it is still only getting heated up. Also, now you might notice having to warm up the fireplaces longer and more carefully than in earlier versions to have your cottage nicely warm during the coldest winter days. With gradual cooling down of fireplaces the winter morning temperatures inside your cottage may sometimes apppear surprisingly low compared to the earlier. This is because in earlier versions fireplaces retained constant and exceedingly high temperature for very long-time after the fire had burned out. - added: sauna stove tile slightly stylized It's a bit darker and has smaller mouth now. This is to better distinguish sauna stove from a common fireplace. - added: building a sauna stove Sauna stoves can be now built by the player character. Youll find the option from [M]ake menu -> uilding -> [W]ooden building. - improved: throwing water on the sauna stove Before it was necessary to use sauna scoop to throw water on the sauna stove. Now it's done simply by [a]pplying a water container beside the sauna stove. An option for throwing water from the container appears when the condition is met. Messages about the results are also updated and now it is told if you get mild or proper steam - depending on how hot the sauna stove is. Theres also a sound effects added so you can hear how the sauna stove really hisses. With these additions sauna scoop now becomes a deprecated item. It continues to exist in object galore, but with no real use. Upon using sauna scoop you only get a message to use new mechanics instead. - added: leaf trees now grow and lose their leaves gradually according to the season You can see leaf trees gradually getting more lush in green in the spring, and again losing the leaf cover in the late autumn. - added: vasta a kind of broom to beat and treat oneself with during sauna bath Vasta is a kind of broom made out of leafy birch twigs and used during sauna bath to gently beat oneself in order to get the muscles relaxed, body massaged and skin cleansed. Vasta can be made by yourself from [M]ake menu under tility articles. Making of vasta requires bunch of leafy birch twigs which can be collected from birch trees using your TIMBERCRAFT skill. To use vasta [a]pply it while taking a sauna bath. Theres also sound effect added so you can hear what the beating with vasta really sounds like. Using vasta improves the healing effects of sauna bath. Theres also game encyclopedia [F1] entry about vasta available. - added: collecting leafy birch twigs When collecting branches from birch trees (by using your TIMBERCRAFT skill) you now get leafy birch twigs if the season is right. If not, mere branches are collected. There are appropriate messages to indicate if the leaves aren't big enough just yet, or already gone old. This addition is foremostly added for making vasta which requires leafy birch twigs to be used. - added: shout commands activated when pets are too far to respond to talked commands When commanding your pet that is too far away you are now automatically given options for the possible shouted commands. Foremostly this makes "Come" always an available command for dogs. - added: wandering Njerpez can be met in small groups too Njerpez warriors don't wander all alone anymore but can be met in small groups, or pairs as well. If a conflict will arise from these encounters you have to be extra careful now. A group of wandering Njerpez can also have multiple dogs with them. - adjusted: wandering Njerpez commonness based on the region Wandering Njerpez are most commonly met in the east and south-east. That's an old rule which hasn't changed, but in the previous versions the borderline of their existence and non-existence was strict and rigid. Now the wandering Njerpez commonness is more gradual, decreasing the further into the west and north you go. Now it's been also verified that Njerpez raiders don't ever try to reach regions of western and northern cultures, so that's where to settle if you want to avoid raiders completely. - added: pause for spacebar when player character falls through ice - added: non-weapons can be thrown even when both hands are wielding something This makes it easier to bait a trap, feed a dog, toss firewood into the fire and so on as you don't have to unwield anything to be able to throw such things. - added: reindeers can be milked It's now possible to milk reindeer does. The period when the milking is possible is the same as with cows, but the yield is little lesser. - adjusted: milking period of sheep shortened with few months Sheeps now yield milk only from swidden month to harvest month. - added: character age and days played now appear in

rofile screen This info is displayed at top of the screen saying eg. "You are 16 winters old, and have lived 7 days of adventuring life." - removed: character [L]og screen It's been considered useless for a long-time, and it's no longer in use at all. - fixed: fresh bloodscapes sometimes disappearing instantly upon map load - fixed: throwing water on the sauna stove not increasing the temperature This had gotten broken somewhere along the way when adjusting temperature checks. Now its fixed and you will again notice the character getting warmer upon throwing water on the sauna stove. - fixed: no message or results of arrow breakage when it happened upon hitting a creature Now if an arrow breaks upon hitting a creature the breakage message is displayed and broken arrow will remain at the location. - fixed: companions that were commanded to stay put did still engage into fights - fixed: continuing early interrupted fence building requires the raw materials again - fixed: character not falling into the water if thin ice at the location is broken by dropped items - fixed: planted crop graphics appearing at picked mushroom location - fixed: when dropping items selecting the only item in filtered inventory category drops it immediately ignoring the other selections -------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2020-07-08 16:24:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Summer Sale has started allowing you to get UnReal World and enter the far North in discounted price. Simple as that. And before the sale is over, there will be a new patch released. Look forward to that.

[ 2020-06-26 17:44:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Having hard time learning UnReal World keyboard commands? Interested in modding keyboard macros for repeated tasks? Or just wishing to use a touch screen to play the game on your desktop computer instead of the physical keyboard? We have some good news for you! There is UnReal World Mobile Controller app now available for Android devices and it does exactly those things. Tap a "BUILD FIRE" button on touch screen and your character starts to build a fire. Tap "EAT" button and it will open a list of your food items, and you can use the Mobile Controller buttons to choose the item to eat. Edit a XML-file to customize the Mobile Controller virtual buttons, so that you can have buttons so arranged it best fits your personal playstyle. The app comes in two versions; A free version with Google ads and with the standard virtual button layouts. And a paid full version which doesn't have ads and also allows you to use custom layouts. Find the UnReal World Mobile Controller at Google Play. Mobile Controller Full version Mobile Controller Free version The app idea was suggested by a fellow indie inventor Ilmari Tamminen from Vaakalintu Ltd. He did a whole lot of the design work, while Erkka (UnReal World co-designer) did the coding. This thing has been cooking for quite some time and now it's officially released. Mobile Controller works with UnReal World version 3.62 onwards.

[ 2020-03-24 18:08:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's time for the first release of 2020. Version 3.62 now released consists of some half a dozen additions and dozen of fixes as follows:

Version 3.62 changelog

Version: 3.62 (stable) ** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: trading cap for meat and fish Villagers stop accepting meat and fish in trading when if they have decent reserves already. This cap isn't fixed but depends on village population. Also, cooked meat and fish are often accepted in larger amounts than raw. - added: digging and filling up pits are now pausable tasks You can stop these processes at will and continue later on by [a]pplying your shovel again. - changed: pits are now simply called pits instead of former vague term 'hole in the ground'. - added: tracks getting covered and decayed by snowfall and rain Snowfall and rain now affect to tracks getting covered and decayed. You'll notice these effects by tracks getting less visible, and eventually disappearing completely. How fast this happens depends naturally on amount of the rain or snowfall. Severe snowfall may cover even the fresh tracks in an hour or so. Decay caused by rain is often lesser, but still noticeable. The older the tracks are the sooner they are prone to decay and disappear in case of both elements. - added: tracks left by children now appear smaller This includes graphical presentation and description of the tracks eg. "You see here small human tracks." - added: aggressive village dogs calm down together with their masters In case of minor breaches villagers might punish you for a while and calm down after you had learned your lesson - but their dogs didn't react accordingly. Now village dogs will calm down if their masters do so. This doesn't prevent village dogs from being a serious threat as they don't always reason the power of their attacks the same way the humans do and may cause lethal wounds by accident. - adjusted: precautions regarding character save failures Additional precautions to overcome rare cases of character data blanking upon unexpected termination of the game have been added. - adjusted: map maintenance routines The adjustments remedy rare occasion of too frequent maintenances of fresh characters with heavily explored zoomed-in maps. - fixed: overlapping tracks modifying the existing track information Things like animal size and track freshness were sometimes mistakenly modified by overlapping tracks. - fixed: watercraft mistakenly transported with the character when zooming out right after getting on shore - fixed: everlasting small bones Certain bones would never get eaten up completely no matter how long dogs would chew on them. - fixed: carcass disappearing if the creature dies while making a hole in the ice - fixed: human tracks described wrong NPC description was mistakenly added to track description. It said eg. "You see here craftsmanhuman tracks." instead of intended "You see here human tracks". - fixed: quality improvement when items decay to stale stage Foodstuff and skins might mistakenly improve a bit in quality when decaying if their original quality was the lowest possible. - fixed: sages of some cultures not replying with valid phrases when asked for their skills and expertise - fixed: animals released from the forest cover not following character on zoomed-out map level This got broken along with NPC pet ownership additions. Now it works again as it should. - fixed: some cave treasures you heard of were never to be found The bug was caused by map maintenance being prone to mistakenly remove cave treasure locations. - fixed: partially skinned carcasses mistakenly turning skinned upon map load This bug usually manifested itself when skinning got interrupted and the character fell asleep, which also initiates map save and re-load. - typo corrected: angrered -> angered --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2020-03-16 15:03:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Today, February 28th, Finland celebrates Kalevala Day and the Day of Finnish Culture in honor of The Kalevala - a 19th century work of epic poetry regarded as our national epic. That's something to celebrate, but we've got some more for you on this special day... In early 2020 we received an interesting e-mail from a player (Cheers, Travis!) sending congratulations on a milestone: UnReal World had lasted 10,000 days in the real world. This was calculated from the date stamp in executable file of version 1.00b distribution archive. We don't even remember the exact release date, but it was summer of 1992. So the continuing lifespan of the game is at least 10,000 days - and well, it's quite something. Needless to say, The Kalevala and UnReal World go well together. It is not so much about direct influence as a book, but the game draws inspiration from the same pool of oral tradition, folklore and mythology of our ancestors. Of this content some is rooted in ancient unrecorded history dating back thousands of years, and some is closer to Iron Age - where the game takes place. So let this day be a celebration of The Kalevala, but also 10,000 days of digital Finnish Culture in the form of UnReal World.

10,000 days...

10,000 days is a long time. Lines of source code in the game now sports somewhere around 140,000. On average that makes: 14 lines of code per day for 10,000 days. Changelogs for version releases contain around 15000 lines of text, so that makes: 1,5 lines of changelog entries per day for these 10,000 days.

...and continuing

That's just some numbers to give an idea of the long history, which is continuing as we speak. It seems to be 69 days since the last announcement. So on average there should be around 966 new lines of code and 103 lines of changelog entries written. We haven't checked but we are continuing. Would you buy an old but continuously developed fenno-ugric roguelike from these guys?
From the left: Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer) of UnReal World We wish you happy Kalevala Day and the Day of (digital) Finnish Culture. Let's continue.

[ 2020-02-28 18:17:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's evident that you have noticed it already...

Steam Winter Sale has begun

...but we thought of reminding you personally in case you want to give it a shot.
Sami (creator) and Erkka (co-designer) in the real world, not too far away from the development chambers. We've given our shots for this winter and are ready to enter the holiday season. The last release of this year (version 3.61) came live just a few days ago and has been happily received.

Best of the season to all of you, and see you again after yet another winter solstice!

[ 2019-12-21 14:58:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last update of the year 2019 is live now. In addition to fistful of bugfixes there's also a small bag of new features of which some are long-awaited and suggested improvements. Enjoy!

Version 3.61 changelog - with some screenshots

Saved characters from previous versions (3.40 ->) are compatible with this version. - added: companions can help you with hauling and pushing items Unoccupied companions spontaneously help you when pushing or hauling heavy loads is being proceeded. - added: fence gate Gates can be [o]pened and [c]losed just like doors. They can be also built by player character from [M]ake menu under uilding options.
Screenshot from version 3.61. This settler is happy to finally be able to add gates to his fence. There are two gates to be seen in half-constructed pen. - added: when [C]ommanding animals the animal name is displayed in the menu title For example, if you would command a dog called Rekku the menu title appear as: "ANIMAL COMMANDS: REKKU" This helps owners of multiple animals to be sure they chose to command the desired one. - added: target selection if multiple creatures occupy the same location where an action is to be done If there are multiple creatures at the location where you proceed to execute certain actions you will be asked to select the target creature. This applies to following actions: - melee attack - packing and unpacking animals - looking at the location - added: limping and animal size tracking information When examining tracks now you can also see if the creature is limping. This requires character's TRACKING skill to be 25% or more. Severity of the actual leg injury can't be interpreted so crippled animals also leave limping tracks. Animal size, big or small, can be also seen from their tracks now. This is so obvious that only absolutely untrained trackers will fail to notice it. Moreover, the actual track graphics are also shown smaller or larger depending on the creature size. Notice that as the young animals smaller in size their tracks pretty much always appear as small ones. The new information is displayed in tracking messages for example like this: "You see here fresh limping tracks of small elk..."
Screenshot from version 3.61. A flock of forest reindeers have escaped from the hunter. There's bunch of tracks to be seen, and now we really want find out where did the crippled one go. - added: tree in front of the character automatically selected when cutting branches You don't have to specify a direction for cutting and peeling actions if there's a tree in front the character you. That tree is always automatically selected for these actions. - added: chat option to ask for a sage in the village When chatting with NPCs there's now a way to find out ask if there's a sage in the village. "Is there a sage around?" chat line can be found from "Ask for help/company" chat options. If there's a sage you will be told his whereabouts in the village. - changed: need for heated room, fireplace or fire are checked first in cookery recipes It's more convenient that way as you aren't bothered with meaningless ingredient selections if these requirements aren't met. - fixed: failed hideworking with "somebody else got the skin" message diplayed and no skin obtained This rare occurrence might happen if the hideworking got cancelled at the very last minute of the hideworking process. - fixed: agriculture graphics representing a planted tile disappearing soon after planting certain crops This was a result of crops mistakenly entering wintering state if the planting was done early enough, and thus the planted graphics was removed. They still sprouted properly though. - fixed: wrong inventory weight with certain startup scenarios When starting a new character the inventory weight was displayed wrong until you made your first move. - fixed: gaining skill options during character creation by hovering over encyclopedia hotspot - fixed: wrong tying equipment requirements when making patches of items This was noted eg. when making arrows. Crafting multiple arrows mistakenly increased both tying equipment length and amount requirements. - fixed: pushing duplicates items The issue was related to ice breaking messing up item data while pushing action was proceeded. - typo corrected: "coffing" -> "coughing" in herb effects dialog ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cheers! urw_sage

[ 2019-12-17 17:43:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Autumn Sale

The dev's cat said it. Autumn Sale is on, allowing you to enter the far north with discounted price.

Winter update is coming

Autumn is actually long gone here in Finland and the winter is coming -- and so is yet another update. The latest major UnReal World release 3.60 is still warm but we're already heading for a new patch before the year is over. So be prepared. It's gonna be about bugfixes, extending some new goodies the latest major version launched, and also a bunch of little suggestions featured. Aaand here we'll take moment to get your full attention with hi-res winter scenery with the dev and cat. The cat is on the left, if you are new to UnReal World and were wondering.

Steam Awards

Oh yes. 2019 Steam Awards is also going on. If you're hesitating what to vote for The Labor of Love Award it seems like UnReal World kind of fits in there. The criteria speaks of things like: This game has been out for a while. Yes. Since 1992. 28 years or so. The team is well past the first unveiling of their creative baby, but being the good parents they are, these devs continue to nurture and support their creation. Oh yes. Continuos development since 1992. This game, to this day, is still getting new content after all these years. Yep. I think we said something about very recent and near future patches already in this post. You'll find the nomination buttons on the store page. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Now you should have plenty of buttons to click and stuff to do, so let's continue later on. Best of the [strike]autumn[/strike] winter to all of you!

[ 2019-11-27 17:08:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Sale & Release

Now don't spook out, but UnReal World version 3.60 is now live. The beta period for this version is over and the new version is auto-updating for the game owners on Steam as we speak. You can find more details about the release below, and we're sure you have already noticed that we are taking part in the ongoing [strike]Halloween[/strike] Kekri Sale big time with the pleasing numbers and content images. Join us... into the Far North we shall take you...

It's Kekri, not halloween, in the Far North.

Kekri is an ancient Finnish harvest festival celebrated in the fall when the annual agricultural activities were all accomplished and the harvest collected. Kekri meant the end of the crop year, which was a big turning point. It was the time when the souls and spirits of the dead wandered around and visited the living. The ancestors were respected and welcomed. Sauna was heated up for them, and meal prepared too. The living celebrated accordingly, and so do we. We have harvested and processed the bugs and to-dos since the last beta and now together with Kekri celebrations 3.60 stable is out.

Kekri Goat

Kekri time included tradition of Kekripukki (Kekri goat) figure. People would dress up as horned creatures, wearing furs or coats upside down, and went around in their disguises and were offered food and drink. So, what does a decent developer of tradition rich game do to follow the tradition?
Well, hello there, any foods or drinks to offer? Some purchases will do as well. By the way, we are coming up with Kekri-themed title screen which updates to your UnReal World at some point during this sale & festivity period.

Version 3.60

Those who participated in 3.60 beta branch already know what it is about. For those who only now got their hands on it we'll briefly mention that the key features deal with NPCs, companions, domestic animals, village properties, and crafting additions. You can find the full changelog in this previous beta release post: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791441301369/announcements/detail/1589132691050003005 And since that previous beta release, we've worked out the following for this 3.60 stable release: UnReal World version 3.60 (stable) changelog: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - added: tree saplings There are now small saplings of spruce and birch trees appearing on zoomed-in maps. Saplings are not obstacles for movement like the bigger trees but you can walk right through them. Saplings can be cut down like any trees, and they have use in making of withes. MIGRATION NOTICE: Saplings can be found only on newly generated maps. If your character has explored the world extensively you may want to run map maintenance (key command [7]) which removes unimportant previously generated zoomed-in maps. - added: withe - a new type of tying equipment Withes are tying and binding equipment made from flexible, slender saplings of spruce or birch trees. Your character can make withes from [M]ake-menu under Tying equipment category. - added: WITHE game encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: fence building now requires two bands of tying equipment Fences have been traditionally tied with spruce withes, which are the preferred and convenient choice, but any other tying equipment will work as well. - added: villagers now cook their raw meat and fish Villagers will now cook raw meat and fish in their possession. This doesn't necessarily happen instantly upon obtaining the meat or fish, but at convenient moment for the villager in question. - added: inventory auto-filtered to show timber when birch-bark raw material requirement selection is being made - changed: upon planting something the sprouts are not immediately visible Only after some days you will be able to see the sprouts of what you had planted. Before the sprouts, planted tiles appear in thicker prepared soil graphics so you will be able to recognize them. - adjusted: village dogs don't bark at sleeping characters Watchdogs barking at restfully sleeping characters made it impossible to have good nights sleep in a village. - fixed: using length based items as weight based crafting material got their properties modified confusingly For example tanning with birch-bark strips. - fixed: hunting NPCs might choose to hunt player character's domestic reindeers - fixed: villagers rejecting traps in trading, claiming that they have enough even though they had none - fixed: raft weight reasoned They've been super light earlier, but now weigh around proper 1200 pounds. This makes hauling the only option for moving rafts around on dry land. - fixed: young leaves could be picked immediately when plants sprouted Now the plant needs to be few weeks old before picking of leaves is possible. - fixed: double animal skin when skinning the same carcass as your NPC companions - fixed: young animals meat yield occasionally being as high as that of the adult animals - fixed: NPC butchering/skinning processes in the background might cause player spend times to jump or reset - fixed: NPC owned dogs not leaving tracks in the wilderness - fixed: tying equipment return issues after drying/smoking If several stacks of food was dried/smoked at the same location using same kind of tying equipment all the tying equipment got returned when the first batch of food was ready. - fixed: player crafted items occasionally appearing as roasted foods (if there was NPCs cooking nearby) - fixed: when looking at tree harvested of its bark the tree info mistakenly said "partially felled" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celebrate & Participate

We wish you happy Kekri time - or happy Halloween if that suits you better. All in all, now just celebrate and participate in the festivities at this special time of the year. urw_sageurw_fireurw_tree

[ 2019-10-28 17:10:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Windows players have been able to explore version 3.60 beta branch for few weeks already, and now we have built and synced in also Linux and MacOS versions. There's been few hotfix patches already, and all the supported platforms are up-to-date with them. Things have been stable and playable, and hopefully the trend will continue with Linux and MacOS builds. Our to-do list is still not completed so polishing and expanding many features continue as we stride towards the stable tag. If you have already opted into 3.60 beta branch, the following is no news for you, but for the convenience we'll repeat the instructions and changelog here.

Key features of version 3.60

The key features of version 3.60 version deal with NPCs, companions, domestic animals, village properties, and crafting additions. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post. One of the most awaited additions is wandering NPCs now actively hunting animals on detailed map level. This opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before.
Screenshot from version 3.60beta. The player character has followed an elk, freezing and starving. He bumps into a scene never witnessed before. There's a pile of elk bones, raw elk meat and few arrows. And an adventurer, who has apparently downed that elk, now carrying it's winter fur and some cuts he had already roasted. This is just one example of scenes which could have been witnessed by player character, turn by turn, from the start of the hunt to very act of utilizing the carcass. We think you may want to opt-into 3.60 beta now...

How to opt-into beta release

This is password protected beta-releasae. The password you need to know is: 360betaXXXZZZ

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab.
• Enter the password mentioned above into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE].
• Now 3.60 beta is available.
• Select "3.60 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
• Close the dialog, the game updates, enjoy!

Should you encounter crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box. And here comes the changelog...

Version 3.60 beta changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: active hunting mechanics for wandering NPCs Wandering NPCs in the wilderness now actively hunt animals, and also utilize the kills the best they can. NPCs seek the game based on their cultural preferences, and within their hunting possibilities. The very act of NPCs hunting, or chasing the game, is rarely witnessed by the player character but bones and remains found in the woods can now tell a story of another human hunter at the area. This addition opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before. Two imagined but possible examples: One day an arrow flies beside your head and is soon followed by a woodsman running past you. Half a day later you meet him again happily roasting the squirrel he eventually managed to shoot down. Or you may suddenly bump into wounded and therefore aggressive bear who rushes at you with no warning - only because it had been angered earlier that day by another hunter. And so on... - added: hunting NPCs utilize their kills and roast the raw meat Hunting NPCs can now skin and butcher carcasses and roast the meat. They also try to utilize otherwise obtained raw meat, so after trading raw meat to wandering woodsman you may notice them proceeding to cook it. Unlike player character, NPCs don't leave the meat by the fire and pick it up when it's done, but they stay put by the fire while roasting is being done. BETA NOTICE: NPCs are not able to cure or tan animal skins. That's pending to be added later on. - added: dog companions for wandering NPCs Wandering woodsmen and adventurers you may encounter in the wild can occasionally have dog companions with them. And just like dogs owned by player characters these will also protect their masters. - added: footwear wearing out in use Shoes and boots now wear out in use ie. when walking or otherwise moving around by foot. Footwear material determines their durability. If used extensively on a daily basis an average working lives of different footwear materials are: * birch-bark - two weeks * fur - a year * leather - a year and a half Walking barefooted, or using simple birch-bark shoes, is now more reasonable activity during the summertime as you may want to prolong the working life of your precious winter boots. Footwear will break apart completely when they are worn out down to 50% of their original condition. - tweaked: armour and cloth quality having greater impact on their durability As a rule of thumb high quality items are more durable, and low quality items wear out faster in use. This is already seen with wear out rate of eg. weapons and tools. Now the quality based durability is extended to cover all the armous and clothes. You can expect rough armours to wear out faster in combat, and fine shoes to last longer on your journeys, and so on. - added: armour and cloth quality having impact on their protective values High quality armours and clothes now provide more protection, and the low quality ones provide less. In most cases this covers more than one coverage aspect, but always at least the most important aspect for the item in question. For example, fine fur clothes are warmer and maybe have more protection against blunt strikes too but masterwork quality fur clothes may also be more resilient against edges and tears as well. - added: trying to use village goods for your own crafting is considered a breach Villagers now react to player character's attempts to use village raw materials, eg. boards and tree trunks, for player character's own crafts. This is considered a minor breach but ignoring villagers fair warnings it may lead to eventually getting banished from the village. - added: measure of length for tying equipment Tying equipment such as ropes and cords now have a length property. The unit of length we use is foot (ft), and should an item have a length property it is displayed both in inventory menu and when looking at items on the ground. This addition foremostly affects to crafting material requirements which can be length based from now on. MIGRATION NOTICE: All the items which are designated to have a length property should convert automatically. So, your old ropes and cords should appear with their new proper lengths in this version. - added: new crafting category under [M]ake menu: "Tying quipment" This category contains the usual ropes and cords, which were previously found in "Utility articles". - added: join and shorten options to manipulate tying equipment lengths Under "Tying equipment" category within [M]ake menu there are options for joining and shortening ropes and cords as sometimes specific length is desired. You may not want to spend full length rope on something that requires only a short piece, or you may need to join cords together to come up with long enough string for a specific craft. - changed: tying equipment requirements in crafting are now length based Instead of requiring certain number of cords and ropes all the tying equipment requirements are now length based. - reasoned: required tying equipment types in some crafting recipes For example: When making arrows, previously you could use any "tying equipment" in the process - including ropes. Now arrow making requires "cord", a little finer and more specific tying equipment. - added: tying equipment used in cookery do not disappear in the process anymore You can pick your ropes and cords back after the smoking and drying processes are done. - added: harvesting and utilizing birch-bark Birch-bark can be now harvested with the common 'Peel bark from a tree' TIMBERCRAFT option. Birch-bark is peeled and removed from a tree in long strips which are then wound to a ball for storage. (As a trivia, this kind of balls are called 'Sommelo' in Finnish.) Peling birch-bark strip is slower process compared to harvesting other types of bark which are removed from the tree as sheets. Birch-bark can be also used as tanning material. - changed: time of the year matters in harvesting bark You can't no longer harvest bark all year around. The best season for peeling bark is early summer. The process gets more difficult and the yield decreases accordingly outside the proper bark harvesting period, and eventually it becomes completely impossible. - changed: bark item properties * Alder and rowan bark items are now called a "sheet of [tree type] bark". * Bark sheet weight has been decreased down to 0.5 lbs, but you may now obtain several sheets from a single tree. * Yield of harvested bark is not constant but depends on character's success in bark peeling, determined by their TIMBERCRAFT skill, and the season when bark is collected. - added: birch-bark rope A new rope item made of birch-bark strips. - added: craftable birch-bark items It is now possible to craft the following birch-bark items. Character's CARPENTRY skill determines success of all these birch-bark crafts. * birch-bark box * birch-bark basket These can be found are under "Utility articles" within [M]ake menu. * birch-bark rope This can be found are under "Tying equipment" within [M]ake menu. * birch-bark shoes * birch-bark cap These can be found are under "Clothes" within [M]ake menu. - added: craftable clothes added to diy_glossary.txt Sub-section "clothes" has been added to main crafting definition file diy_glossary.txt and all the craftable clothes can be now found there. - adjusted: cloth crafting times and material requirements All the material requirements have been increased to slightly exceed the finished cloth weights. Crafting times of some small clothes have been reasoned by increasing or decreasing the required time. - modding add: =length= raw material requirement tag Required length of raw material for crafting can be indicated with a numerical value between equals signs (=). The length unit is foot and value has to be whole number. The tag can be naturally applied only to items that have a length property. For example: {Birch-bark strip} =5= [remove] This means that 5 feet of birch-bark strips are required, which are then removed in the process. - modding add: [LENGTH:] item property tag This tag is used to specify item length. It's usage is intended for specifying length for modded ropes and cords so be sure to use it within proper item type context. Results for other than tool type items can be unpredictable. [LENGTH:] - length in feet For example: [LENGTH:4] - the item is 4 feet long - added: companions can help you with laborous tasks thus shortening the working time Unoccupied companions now spontaneously help you with many different tasks. Their labor input helps to finish the physical work in shorter time, but doesn't otherwise affect to result or quality of the task outcome. The help companions provide is imagined to be something they can do without specific tools, but the kind which makes it easier and faster to finish the work together. For example: When building a log wall it helps to have extra hands around for moving and setting the logs in place even if the player character would be the one who does the necessary carving. When softening the skin with a beater as a final stage of tanning process it helps to have somebody around to check, adjust or tighten the skin if necessary. When setting and retrieving nets it helps to have somebody to row the watercraft. The tasks where companions can currently help you are as follows: * all the building tasks * building trap constructions * setting and retrieving nets * harvestring bark * tanning stages of cleaning, applying tanning material and final softening * crafting rafts * crafting leather ropes * crafting birch-bark containers and ropes The tasks are 10-20% faster to perform with a companion and in many cases having multiple helping pairs of hands shortens the time 5-10% more per companion. However, the benefits of helpers is gapped at three (3) companions, so having more than three helpers doesn't shorten the working time any further. It depends on the task how many helpers is the optimal number, and this varies from one to three companions. Companions do help you with these tasks completely spontaneously, without any commands, if they are free from other chores and can reach the player character. You will be notified about companions helping you with specific messages displayed right after starting the task. These messages also tell if you are being assisted with the optimal maximum number of companions for the task in question. If you receive help from some companion(s), but the task would be even easier with more helping hands the message is, for example, as follows: "You get some help with this task from Ahti." And if you have the optimal maximum number of helpers the message is, for example, as follows: "Tapio, Korjus and Visa help you with this task." - modding add: header tag to specify companion help possibility for do-it-yourself crafts and building There is a new tag to be used in biy_* and diy_* headers: [assist:value] This defines maximum number of companions whose labor input can help to shorten the working time as described above. The value can be 1, 2 or 3. - added: several new companion commands Companion usefulness is seriously boosted with the following new tasks they can now do on demand. Their skills affect to outcome of the tasks so companions' expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. * butcher and skin a carcass Companions can be commanded to butcher and skin carcasses. They go for the closest carcass and first skin it if possible, and then cut it for meat and fat. These products will end up in companion's inventory, or are left by the carcass if they are too much to carry. Companion's hideworking skill affects to obtained skin quality. * roast meat or fish Companions can be commanded to roast raw meat or fish they happen to be carrying. Unlike player character, companions don't leave the meat by the fire and pick it up when it's done, but they stay put by the fire while roasting is being done. Companions roast ten pieces of meat at a time, and if not given another order they try to keep on cooking until everything is roasted. * make logs Companions can be commanded to carve trunks into logs. A few trunks are processed in a row. * make boards Companions can be commanded to split boards from trunks. A few trunks are processed in a row. Companion's timbercraft skill affects to quality of finished boards. - added: asking NPCs about their general skills Within "Ask for help/company" chat mode there's now an option to ask people about their skills and expertise. The skills NPCs speak of when asked are hideworking and timbercraft as these have significance with the new companion commands added. - added: villagers refuse to sell all of their animals Previously you could empty a village of its animals with sequential purchases. Now villagers refuse to sell them all and always want to keep few of each species to themselves. - added: village dogs now roam freely The dogs you may find in villages are not penned anymore but roam freely at the village area. This not only adds atmosphere but allows dogs now to truly defend the village if need be. MIGRATION NOTICE: This applies only to new villages you enter. Villages created in earlier versions for migrated characters still have the dogs penned. - added: watchdog behaviour for village dogs Village dogs now alert of the approaching strangers by barking. Now the player characters may be greeted by approaching barking dogs when they first enter a village. This dog behaviour gets gradually toned down when the player character becomes more familiar with the village. - added: color variety for domestic animals All the domestic animals may have subtle varieties in their coat colors. This adds flavour to the game world, but also makes it easier to distinguish different colored pets from each others just by their looks. - adjusted: snakes There was a fistful legacy issues related to snakes which are now fixed and balanced as follows: * snakes now cause point type wounds Previously they caused tear wounds, which wasn't quite right. * snakes now hibernate during the winter as they should Previously they were active all year around, which wasn't quite right. * snakes are now slightly more common than previously * snakes are now venomous, as they should be The snakes in the game are vipers. They are venomous species but the bites are usually not highly dangerous. If the venom is discharged upon a bite it will take several days for the snake to refill its venom glands. However, the snakes can naturally bite without venom too. - adjusted: colorful outcome of eating certain mushrooms - changed & reasoned: birch-bark item weights Many birch-bark items weighed too much and have been adjusted as follows: [previous weight] -> [weight now] Birch-bark shoes 0.8lbs -> 0.13 lbs Birch-bark cap 0.9lbs -> 0.15 lbs Birch-bark necklace 0.1lbs -> 0.05lbs - changed & fixed: foreign traders won't accept more furs than they can carry Previously foreign traders dropped their excess load after completed trade and this opened an exploit where dropped furs could be picked up and used again in trading. Now foreign traders simply reject the offered items they can not carry. - balanced: villagers' interest to buy paw-board fox traps Trading paw-board fox traps could be used an exploit as villagers did buy them without any reasoning. Now there's a cap for villagers' interest in paw-board fox trap. - fixed: tufted duck populations were far too rare. Now they appear more commonly. - fixed: cancelled unpacking of pet/companion on a tile with plants caused harvesting to proceed without confirmation - fixed: being able to wear fur footwear with shoes or boots already worn Fur footwear, despite of their vague name, are essentially fur boots. And only one pair of shoes or boots can be worn at a time. - fixed: being considered defeated (against robbers) when knocked out even if you still had companions/animals active The fights which deal with special consequences for the player character's party upon defeat will now continue despite of the player character being unconscious until the true result is resolved for all the participants. This includes both fighting the robbers, as well as some village fights where villagers choose to deal with nuisances in non-fatal manner. - fixed: bears active and awake in the winter Now they hibernate during the winter as they should. - fixed: double tree trunk when felling the same tree as your companion - fixed: forced swimming in shallow water gets you stuck after 100% fatigue This is fixed by character automatically getting to wade mode if the water is shallow enough, and while when wading it is possible to rest by standing still. - fixed: wading on land Getting out of water whilst swimming made the character wade on the first land-tile reached. - fixed: [roast] cookery method decreasing also other than non-meat/fish weights The intention was to make roasting to reduce meat/fish cooked weight, but it mistakenly extended to cover other ingredients as well. - fixed: only one fistful of young leaves regardless the plant patch size Harvesting the young leaves you always got only one fistful of them even though there were more plants in the patch. This is now fixed (or re-reasoned) and bigger the patch the more young leaves you can expect to get. However, young plants still yield less leaves compared mature plants so the harvest is still usually smaller than the patch size would indicate. - fixed: lavaret (fish) missing price per weight value - fixed: same types of fish caught on different gaming sessions not stacking This was due to redundant randomized value existing in fish data. - fixed: no stags among forest reindeers - fixed: companions refused to fell any trees if there was a bear skull pine relatively close by - fixed [typo]: player owned pigs sometimes mistakenly descriped as "board" (instead of boar) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all folks! urw_sage Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the possible beta bugs being minor and scarce. But whatever their size and annoyance level may be, we've got our bows prepared for shooting them down.

[ 2019-10-06 11:12:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Firstly, this first beta is available only for Windows at this point. Other platforms will follow in-time. We're sorry for the prolonged waiting time, but couldn't help it, and really needed to start 3.60 betas rolling. And they get rolling from now on. Things are fairly stable already, but our to-do list is still not completed. So bear in mind that many of the features now available will be polished even further in patches to follow as we stride towards the stable tag.

Key features of version 3.60

The key features of version 3.60 version deal with NPCs, companions, domestic animals, village properties, and crafting additions. The list of additions and fixes is long and you can find the full changelog at the bottom of this post. One of the most awaited additions is wandering NPCs now actively hunting animals on detailed map level. This opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before.
Screenshot from version 3.60beta. The player character has followed an elk, freezing and starving. He bumps into a scene never witnessed before. There's a pile of elk bones, raw elk meat and few arrows. And an adventurer, who has apparently downed that elk, now carrying it's winter fur and some cuts he had already roasted. This is just one example of scenes which could have been witnessed by player character, turn by turn, from the start of the hunt to very act of utilizing the carcass. We think you may want to opt-into 3.60 beta now...

How to opt-into beta release

This is password protected beta-releasae. The password you need to know is: 360betaXXXZZZ

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab.
• Enter the password mentioned above into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE].
• Now 3.60 beta is available.
• Select "3.60 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
• Close the dialog, the game updates, enjoy!

Should you encounter crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box. And here comes the changelog...

Version 3.60 beta changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely bugs, things are still somewhat under construction, and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. - added: active hunting mechanics for wandering NPCs Wandering NPCs in the wilderness now actively hunt animals, and also utilize the kills the best they can. NPCs seek the game based on their cultural preferences, and within their hunting possibilities. The very act of NPCs hunting, or chasing the game, is rarely witnessed by the player character but bones and remains found in the woods can now tell a story of another human hunter at the area. This addition opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before. Two imagined but possible examples: One day an arrow flies beside your head and is soon followed by a woodsman running past you. Half a day later you meet him again happily roasting the squirrel he eventually managed to shoot down. Or you may suddenly bump into wounded and therefore aggressive bear who rushes at you with no warning - only because it had been angered earlier that day by another hunter. And so on... - added: hunting NPCs utilize their kills and roast the raw meat Hunting NPCs can now skin and butcher carcasses and roast the meat. They also try to utilize otherwise obtained raw meat, so after trading raw meat to wandering woodsman you may notice them proceeding to cook it. Unlike player character, NPCs don't leave the meat by the fire and pick it up when it's done, but they stay put by the fire while roasting is being done. BETA NOTICE: NPCs are not able to cure or tan animal skins. That's pending to be added later on. - added: dog companions for wandering NPCs Wandering woodsmen and adventurers you may encounter in the wild can occasionally have dog companions with them. And just like dogs owned by player characters these will also protect their masters. - added: footwear wearing out in use Shoes and boots now wear out in use ie. when walking or otherwise moving around by foot. Footwear material determines their durability. If used extensively on a daily basis an average working lives of different footwear materials are: * birch-bark - two weeks * fur - a year * leather - a year and a half Walking barefooted, or using simple birch-bark shoes, is now more reasonable activity during the summertime as you may want to prolong the working life of your precious winter boots. Footwear will break apart completely when they are worn out down to 50% of their original condition. - tweaked: armour and cloth quality having greater impact on their durability As a rule of thumb high quality items are more durable, and low quality items wear out faster in use. This is already seen with wear out rate of eg. weapons and tools. Now the quality based durability is extended to cover all the armous and clothes. You can expect rough armours to wear out faster in combat, and fine shoes to last longer on your journeys, and so on. - added: armour and cloth quality having impact on their protective values High quality armours and clothes now provide more protection, and the low quality ones provide less. In most cases this covers more than one coverage aspect, but always at least the most important aspect for the item in question. For example, fine fur clothes are warmer and maybe have more protection against blunt strikes too but masterwork quality fur clothes may also be more resilient against edges and tears as well. - added: trying to use village goods for your own crafting is considered a breach Villagers now react to player character's attempts to use village raw materials, eg. boards and tree trunks, for player character's own crafts. This is considered a minor breach but ignoring villagers fair warnings it may lead to eventually getting banished from the village. - added: measure of length for tying equipment Tying equipment such as ropes and cords now have a length property. The unit of length we use is foot (ft), and should an item have a length property it is displayed both in inventory menu and when looking at items on the ground. This addition foremostly affects to crafting material requirements which can be length based from now on. MIGRATION NOTICE: All the items which are designated to have a length property should convert automatically. So, your old ropes and cords should appear with their new proper lengths in this version. - added: new crafting category under [M]ake menu: "Tying quipment" This category contains the usual ropes and cords, which were previously found in "Utility articles". - added: join and shorten options to manipulate tying equipment lengths Under "Tying equipment" category within [M]ake menu there are options for joining and shortening ropes and cords as sometimes specific length is desired. You may not want to spend full length rope on something that requires only a short piece, or you may need to join cords together to come up with long enough string for a specific craft. - changed: tying equipment requirements in crafting are now length based Instead of requiring certain number of cords and ropes all the tying equipment requirements are now length based. - reasoned: required tying equipment types in some crafting recipes For example: When making arrows, previously you could use any "tying equipment" in the process - including ropes. Now arrow making requires "cord", a little finer and more specific tying equipment. - added: tying equipment used in cookery do not disappear in the process anymore You can pick your ropes and cords back after the smoking and drying processes are done. - added: harvesting and utilizing birch-bark Birch-bark can be now harvested with the common 'Peel bark from a tree' TIMBERCRAFT option. Birch-bark is peeled and removed from a tree in long strips which are then wound to a ball for storage. (As a trivia, this kind of balls are called 'Sommelo' in Finnish.) Peling birch-bark strip is slower process compared to harvesting other types of bark which are removed from the tree as sheets. Birch-bark can be also used as tanning material. - changed: time of the year matters in harvesting bark You can't no longer harvest bark all year around. The best season for peeling bark is early summer. The process gets more difficult and the yield decreases accordingly outside the proper bark harvesting period, and eventually it becomes completely impossible. - changed: bark item properties * Alder and rowan bark items are now called a "sheet of [tree type] bark". * Bark sheet weight has been decreased down to 0.5 lbs, but you may now obtain several sheets from a single tree. * Yield of harvested bark is not constant but depends on character's success in bark peeling, determined by their TIMBERCRAFT skill, and the season when bark is collected. - added: birch-bark rope A new rope item made of birch-bark strips. - added: craftable birch-bark items It is now possible to craft the following birch-bark items. Character's CARPENTRY skill determines success of all these birch-bark crafts. * birch-bark box * birch-bark basket These can be found are under "Utility articles" within [M]ake menu. * birch-bark rope This can be found are under "Tying equipment" within [M]ake menu. * birch-bark shoes * birch-bark cap These can be found are under "Clothes" within [M]ake menu. - added: craftable clothes added to diy_glossary.txt Sub-section "clothes" has been added to main crafting definition file diy_glossary.txt and all the craftable clothes can be now found there. - adjusted: cloth crafting times and material requirements All the material requirements have been increased to slightly exceed the finished cloth weights. Crafting times of some small clothes have been reasoned by increasing or decreasing the required time. - modding add: =length= raw material requirement tag Required length of raw material for crafting can be indicated with a numerical value between equals signs (=). The length unit is foot and value has to be whole number. The tag can be naturally applied only to items that have a length property. For example: {Birch-bark strip} =5= [remove] This means that 5 feet of birch-bark strips are required, which are then removed in the process. - modding add: [LENGTH:] item property tag This tag is used to specify item length. It's usage is intended for specifying length for modded ropes and cords so be sure to use it within proper item type context. Results for other than tool type items can be unpredictable. [LENGTH:] - length in feet For example: [LENGTH:4] - the item is 4 feet long - added: companions can help you with laborous tasks thus shortening the working time Unoccupied companions now spontaneously help you with many different tasks. Their labor input helps to finish the physical work in shorter time, but doesn't otherwise affect to result or quality of the task outcome. The help companions provide is imagined to be something they can do without specific tools, but the kind which makes it easier and faster to finish the work together. For example: When building a log wall it helps to have extra hands around for moving and setting the logs in place even if the player character would be the one who does the necessary carving. When softening the skin with a beater as a final stage of tanning process it helps to have somebody around to check, adjust or tighten the skin if necessary. When setting and retrieving nets it helps to have somebody to row the watercraft. The tasks where companions can currently help you are as follows: * all the building tasks * building trap constructions * setting and retrieving nets * harvestring bark * tanning stages of cleaning, applying tanning material and final softening * crafting rafts * crafting leather ropes * crafting birch-bark containers and ropes The tasks are 10-20% faster to perform with a companion and in many cases having multiple helping pairs of hands shortens the time 5-10% more per companion. However, the benefits of helpers is gapped at three (3) companions, so having more than three helpers doesn't shorten the working time any further. It depends on the task how many helpers is the optimal number, and this varies from one to three companions. Companions do help you with these tasks completely spontaneously, without any commands, if they are free from other chores and can reach the player character. You will be notified about companions helping you with specific messages displayed right after starting the task. These messages also tell if you are being assisted with the optimal maximum number of companions for the task in question. If you receive help from some companion(s), but the task would be even easier with more helping hands the message is, for example, as follows: "You get some help with this task from Ahti." And if you have the optimal maximum number of helpers the message is, for example, as follows: "Tapio, Korjus and Visa help you with this task." - modding add: header tag to specify companion help possibility for do-it-yourself crafts and building There is a new tag to be used in biy_* and diy_* headers: [assist:value] This defines maximum number of companions whose labor input can help to shorten the working time as described above. The value can be 1, 2 or 3. - added: several new companion commands Companion usefulness is seriously boosted with the following new tasks they can now do on demand. Their skills affect to outcome of the tasks so companions' expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. * butcher and skin a carcass Companions can be commanded to butcher and skin carcasses. They go for the closest carcass and first skin it if possible, and then cut it for meat and fat. These products will end up in companion's inventory, or are left by the carcass if they are too much to carry. Companion's hideworking skill affects to obtained skin quality. * roast meat or fish Companions can be commanded to roast raw meat or fish they happen to be carrying. Unlike player character, companions don't leave the meat by the fire and pick it up when it's done, but they stay put by the fire while roasting is being done. Companions roast ten pieces of meat at a time, and if not given another order they try to keep on cooking until everything is roasted. * make logs Companions can be commanded to carve trunks into logs. A few trunks are processed in a row. * make boards Companions can be commanded to split boards from trunks. A few trunks are processed in a row. Companion's timbercraft skill affects to quality of finished boards. - added: asking NPCs about their general skills Within "Ask for help/company" chat mode there's now an option to ask people about their skills and expertise. The skills NPCs speak of when asked are hideworking and timbercraft as these have significance with the new companion commands added. - added: villagers refuse to sell all of their animals Previously you could empty a village of its animals with sequential purchases. Now villagers refuse to sell them all and always want to keep few of each species to themselves. - added: village dogs now roam freely The dogs you may find in villages are not penned anymore but roam freely at the village area. This not only adds atmosphere but allows dogs now to truly defend the village if need be. MIGRATION NOTICE: This applies only to new villages you enter. Villages created in earlier versions for migrated characters still have the dogs penned. - added: watchdog behaviour for village dogs Village dogs now alert of the approaching strangers by barking. Now the player characters may be greeted by approaching barking dogs when they first enter a village. This dog behaviour gets gradually toned down when the player character becomes more familiar with the village. - added: color variety for domestic animals All the domestic animals may have subtle varieties in their coat colors. This adds flavour to the game world, but also makes it easier to distinguish different colored pets from each others just by their looks. - adjusted: snakes There was a fistful legacy issues related to snakes which are now fixed and balanced as follows: * snakes now cause point type wounds Previously they caused tear wounds, which wasn't quite right. * snakes now hibernate during the winter as they should Previously they were active all year around, which wasn't quite right. * snakes are now slightly more common than previously * snakes are now venomous, as they should be The snakes in the game are vipers. They are venomous species but the bites are usually not highly dangerous. If the venom is discharged upon a bite it will take several days for the snake to refill its venom glands. However, the snakes can naturally bite without venom too. - adjusted: colorful outcome of eating certain mushrooms - changed & reasoned: birch-bark item weights Many birch-bark items weighed too much and have been adjusted as follows: [previous weight] -> [weight now] Birch-bark shoes 0.8lbs -> 0.13 lbs Birch-bark cap 0.9lbs -> 0.15 lbs Birch-bark necklace 0.1lbs -> 0.05lbs - changed & fixed: foreign traders won't accept more furs than they can carry Previously foreign traders dropped their excess load after completed trade and this opened an exploit where dropped furs could be picked up and used again in trading. Now foreign traders simply reject the offered items they can not carry. - balanced: villagers' interest to buy paw-board fox traps Trading paw-board fox traps could be used an exploit as villagers did buy them without any reasoning. Now there's a cap for villagers' interest in paw-board fox trap. - fixed: tufted duck populations were far too rare. Now they appear more commonly. - fixed: cancelled unpacking of pet/companion on a tile with plants caused harvesting to proceed without confirmation - fixed: being able to wear fur footwear with shoes or boots already worn Fur footwear, despite of their vague name, are essentially fur boots. And only one pair of shoes or boots can be worn at a time. - fixed: being considered defeated (against robbers) when knocked out even if you still had companions/animals active The fights which deal with special consequences for the player character's party upon defeat will now continue despite of the player character being unconscious until the true result is resolved for all the participants. This includes both fighting the robbers, as well as some village fights where villagers choose to deal with nuisances in non-fatal manner. - fixed: bears active and awake in the winter Now they hibernate during the winter as they should. - fixed: double tree trunk when felling the same tree as your companion - fixed: forced swimming in shallow water gets you stuck after 100% fatigue This is fixed by character automatically getting to wade mode if the water is shallow enough, and while when wading it is possible to rest by standing still. - fixed: wading on land Getting out of water whilst swimming made the character wade on the first land-tile reached. - fixed: [roast] cookery method decreasing also other than non-meat/fish weights The intention was to make roasting to reduce meat/fish cooked weight, but it mistakenly extended to cover other ingredients as well. - fixed: only one fistful of young leaves regardless the plant patch size Harvesting the young leaves you always got only one fistful of them even though there were more plants in the patch. This is now fixed (or re-reasoned) and bigger the patch the more young leaves you can expect to get. However, young plants still yield less leaves compared mature plants so the harvest is still usually smaller than the patch size would indicate. - fixed: lavaret (fish) missing price per weight value - fixed: same types of fish caught on different gaming sessions not stacking This was due to redundant randomized value existing in fish data. - fixed: no stags among forest reindeers - fixed: companions refused to fell any trees if there was a bear skull pine relatively close by - fixed [typo]: player owned pigs sometimes mistakenly descriped as "board" (instead of boar) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all folks! urw_sage Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the possible beta bugs being minor and scarce. But whatever their size and annoyance level may be, we've got our bows prepared for shooting them down.

[ 2019-09-15 15:03:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's september. It's release month. We're making final touches, tests and preparations to allow first beta of upcoming version 3.60 to go live in few weeks. It is also likely that the first beta will be released for Windows only, and other platforms will follow later on. This is because our OSX and Linux maintainer is super busy this month, and aiming for synchronized release would delay things far onto October. When the rumble starts we'll be seeing several beta versions on our way towards stable tag as there's still stuff on 3.60 to-do list. As you may know, the main focus of upcoming version is laid on NPCs and companions. Several new NPC/companion features have been mentioned in previous posts, and we'll hereby highlight one more big addition:

Companions can help you with laborous tasks thus shortening the working time

Unoccupied companions now spontaneously help you with many different tasks. Their labor input helps to finish the physical work in shorter time, but doesn't otherwise affect to result or quality of the task outcome. The help companions provide is imagined to be something they can do without specific tools, but the kind which makes it easier and faster to finish the work together. For example: * When building a log wall it helps to have extra hands around for moving and setting the logs in place even if the player character would be the one who does the necessary carving. * When softening the skin with beater as a final stage of tanning process it helps to have somebody around to check, adjust or tighten the skin if necessary. * When setting and retrieving nets it helps to have somebody to row the watercraft. The tasks where companions can currently help you are as follows: * all the building tasks * building trap constructions * setting and retrieving nets * harvestring bark * tanning stages of cleaning, applying tanning material and final softening * crafting rafts * crafting leather ropes * crafting birch-bark containers and ropes The tasks are 10-20% faster to perform with a companion and in many cases having multiple helping pairs of hands shortens the time 5-10% more per companion. However, the benefits of helpers is gapped at three (3) companions, so having more than three helpers doesn't shorten the working time any further. It depends on the task how many helpers is the optimal number, and this varies from one to three companions. Companions do help you with these tasks completely spontaneously, without any commands, if they are free from other chores and can reach the player character. You will be notified about companions helping you with specific messages displayed right after starting the task. These messages also tell if you are being assisted with the optimal maximum number of companions for the task in question. If you receive help from some companion(s), but the task would be even easier with more helping hands the message is, for example, as follows: "You get some help with this task from Ahti." And if you have the optimal maximum number of helpers the message is, for example, as follows: "Tapio, Korjus and Visa help you with this task."
Screenshot of upcoming version 3.60. Companion helps the character with setting the net.

[ 2019-09-04 11:05:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

Yes, yes. Yet another version is cooking up. That's not news. That's how it goes with UnReal World. But what it will be about, and when to expect a release? That would be more like news. And that's what this post is about. Summer is always a busy season. There's so much happening that it's hard to even summarize what's happening. Many of the warm days and nightless nights get spent on recreational activities, but working hours in the development chambers have been also been busy and sweaty. Now lets take a look at what has happened, and to where all this is taking us. Some of this stuff may have been announced already, but it doesn't hurt to drool once again. The main focus of upcoming version is laid on NPCs. This applies to both companions you can hire for yourself, and wandering woodsmen you may meet in the wild. But that's not all. I'll cover some of the upcoming new features in the chunks of text below. I won't add screenshots this time, but a few selected historical image sources from Finnish museums and archives. Some of these may not be era-accurate, but mood and theme suitable nevertheless.

Wandering NPCs will actively hunt animals, based on their cultural preferences, and also utilize the kills the best they can.

This opens up possibilities for numerous exciting incidents to take place as the woods with hunters and their game now becomes far more alive and complex than before. The very act of NPCs hunting is propably rarely witnessed by the player character but traces and remains found in the woods can tell a story of another human hunter at the area. Wandering woodsmen and adventurers may now also occasionally have dog companions with them. And just like the dogs owned by player characters these will also protect their masters.
"Hunter with his gear" Photographer: Sirelius U.T. 1898 National Board of Antiquities / Suomalais-ugrilainen kuvakokoelma / SUK36:263 License: CC BY 4.0

Companion usefulness gets boosted with several new tasks they can do on demand

New companion commands are: * butcher and skin carcasses * roast meat or fish * make logs and boards Companions skills naturally affect to outcome of the tasks so their expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. That's cool, you might think. And you also might think of few other tasks companions could do. Indeed. Same here. We actually do have a few more things regarding companions still under construction. Currently we're working on mechanisms to allow unoccupied companions automatically to help you with laborous tasks (eg. building) thus shortening the working time. Well, we haven't concentrated solely on living things. Here's a few of probably the most interesting additions and features regarding item galore;

Harvesting and utilizing birch-bark

It will be possible to harvest and utitilize birch-bark in crafting. Birch-bark is peeled and removed from a tree in long strips which are then wound to a ball for storage. (As a trivia, this kind of balls are called 'Sommelo' in Finnish.) It will be possible for player character now to craft birch-bark shoes, caps, boxes, baskets - and also birch-bark ropes.
Ball of birch-bark, 'Sommelo'. The National Museum of Finland / Yleisetnografiset kokoelmat / VK5354:11 License: CC BY 4.0

Measure of length for tying equipment

Tying equipment such as ropes and cords now have a length property, and tying equipment requirements in crafting are now length based. There will be also options for joining and shorterning ropes and cords as sometimes specific length is desired.

Armour and cloth quality having impact on their protective values

High quality armours and clothes now provide more protection, and the low quality ones provide less. In most cases this covers more than one coverage aspect, but always at least the most important aspect for the item in question.

Footwear wearing out in use

Shoes and boots now wear out in use ie. when walking or otherwise moving around by foot. Footwear material determines their durability.
Reindeer fur boots, 'Nutukkaat'. The National Museum of Finland / Suomalais-ugrilaiset kokoelmat / SU4724:35 License: CC BY 4.0 Let this be enough for summery summary about what to expect. Now then there's that other question... When we're done with those "few more things" still pending to be added it is time to start wrapping things up for a beta release. I'm quite reluctant to set or mention any deadlines as they usually don't keep, but if we think it out loud then... It shouldn't take more than few weeks to finish the most urgent pending to-do's. Then a week of extensive testing and adjusting the latest additions, and then if everything goes fine it's time to start final packaging. So... ...we could be seeing first beta of the brave new version in early september. And from there on, what has been laid in there will still be evolving and growing, stabilizing and multiplying. How's that? Sounds like a plan to me. urw_sage

[ 2019-07-30 19:12:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

I'm a bit late to announce this but it is live now:

Steam Summer Sale

and you can get

UnReal World for discounted price until 9th of July.

Why the announcement is late is because while the sale was launching I was busy attending to 'science-art-forest' themed seminar and workshops at Koli in eastern Finland - a location famous of its hills and cliffs which are well-known national sceneries of Finland. In addition to presentation about working with the game I also performed an archery demonstration in the most awesome location I have ever shot a bow. Summer is full of opportunities. Let's not hesitate. Cheers!
Archery demonstration, shooting with Japanese bow.
Giving a presentation about UnReal World and the related stuff..
The highest summit of Koli; "Ukko-Koli".

[ 2019-06-29 17:55:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Things have been cooking and development has evolved up to an extent where a sneak peek of what to expect in the future is in place. We don't have a deadline for the upcoming release, it's a work in progress, but we do know what the core content will be about. The core content of the next release will focus on NPCs. The most important additions will concern the wandering woodsmen you may meet in the wild and the companions you can hire for yourself. They'll be given a bit more wits, tasks, and meaning for their existence in the game world as follows.

Who let the dogs out?

Let's start with few a introductory features regarding NPCs and dogs.

• Wandering woodsmen you may encounter in the wild may occasionally have dog companions with them - and their dogs will also protect their masters.
• Village dogs are now released out of their pens to roam freely at the village area. This allows dogs to truly protect the village from possible threats. Intruders may be now first greeted with alarm barks and approaching watchdogs.
• Moreover, all the domestic animals may now have subtle varieties in their coat colors. Adds some flavour, but also makes it easier to distinguish different pets from each others just by their looks.

Free roaming dogs and domestic animal color variety.

Actively hunting wandering NPCs

NPCs who roam the woods can now actively hunt animals. They seek the game based on their cultural preferences, and within their hunting possibilities. The very act of NPCs hunting, or running after a game, is probably rarely witnessed by the player character but bones and remains found in the woods can now tell a story of another human hunter at the area. As we know, the hunts can end in unimaginable ways, so many different scenarios may arise from the NPCs now taking their chances with the wildlife - and occasionally maybe even the very same wildlife that you were after. Witnessing an NPC hunting scene. Seal-tribe woodsman has been met in the wild, and he's busy trying to shoot down a squirrel.

New companions commands

Companion usefulness gets boosted with some new tasks they will be able to do on demand. Currently it's been added:

• butcher and skin a carcass
• make logs
• make boards

...and the list is likely to grow with a few more crucial tasks. There's a great level of complexity to make companions proceed these tasks with similar detail than the player character so tasks to be added are prioritized with the quality over quantity. The list of companion commands - so far:
As companion skills naturally affect to outcome of the tasks their expertise can be sometimes used to obtain higher quality goods than what the player characters could produce by themselves. We also need to add an chat option to ask NPCs about their general skills and expertise so you know what kind of craftsman you've hired. The companion was commanded to butcher and skin one of the reindeers we managed to hunt down. We got meat now, and a fine reindeer skin, which is way better hideworking result than what Jurks could have done in his current condition.
Exciting times ahead. The work continues, more is to follow. Stay tuned. These are future additions - not yet function in current version 3.52

[ 2019-04-21 12:01:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Once again it is time for new video greetings to thank you, dear UnReal World Steam players. For more than half a decade already we've had a habit of creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight the supporters. These video works have been brought on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players.

A fresh video greeting "Goto Sauna;" is now up in the video greetings DLC package.

Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains six video greetings in total, and more will follow in time. https://store.steampowered.com/app/505100/UnReal_World__Video_greetings/ If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. If you're curious about what the video greetings may be about you can browse the older stuff at: Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Cheers!

[ 2019-04-03 18:57:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

For the sake of inspiration and related interest how would you like a little picture story from the real world adventures of unreal world developer?

This is what may occasionally happen behind the scenes outside the development chambers.

So, I went skiing the other day, and the ski trip then turned into a tracking exercise. Soon after entering the forest I spotted some lynx tracks, but our paths then departed as I went about my own trails.
Later, when returning home, strange curly tracks caught my attention - and sparkled my tracking instinct. I guessed that this might be the same lynx now dragging its kill, and had to confirm the theory.
I scouted the area, found lots of hare tracks, and then the lynx tracks which eventually turned into sneaking tracks as it approached the location.
The hare's last dance with the lynx went to many directions until finally the place where it ended was found, with some hair and (not too old) bloodscape.
There, the lynx had dragged its kill to a more peaceful location for eating it. That was some twenty meters away, among thick young spruce trees. Not much was left of the hare, but a few hairy bits on the snow.
Afterwards, I had to search for my backpack for half an hour as I had left it somewhere on the snow in excitement. urw_tree

[ 2019-03-14 09:58:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

The time has come for me to start reaching back into the development chambers after the sick leave. My fractured shoulder is still far from fully healed, but computer work seems doable, so here we come development year 2019. Slowly but steadily that is, as the priority remains in exercising the injured arm a lot to increase mobility - rather than to get it stiff from the office work. Oh boy, little did I know how slowly fractured shoulders heal. Somebody made a remark that this might be my hardcore first hand research on injuries and recovery. :) Well, yes, going through this actually got me thinking of going through game's recovery rules in case of fractured joints. I've been of the arm sling for five weeks now but it will still take months before I can shoot a bow again, and raising the injured arm above the shoulder level is a feat I have been doing reliably only for a week or two. And there's no way I can do it with carrying load of more than few pounds, so any hard work that requires both arms is out of the question. It also takes time to learn to move the arm 'normally' again, as the early pain didn't allow all the proper muscles to be used with some arm trajectories. It is easy to understand how easily deformed body postures are born. But here I am, dedicated to work on the arm and the game as much as possible during the 2019. I've gone through the swamp of e-mails lately and hopefully answered to everything urgent - but if you miss a reply, please do re-send your e-mail. Getting back on the track with the forums will take a bit longer, but soon enough you can expect replies to pop up here and there. Luckily my physiotherapist has also given me permission to ski, just guaranteed that I do not fall on the injured arm in any circumstances. 2019, here we come.

[ 2019-02-02 13:14:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

There went the winter solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere, and we're heading towards the increasing daylight. I've also got my fractured shoulder off the sling by now, but the recovery continues. All the movements are painful, and I'm increasing the range of motion bit by bit. The official sick leave has been extended until January 2019, and my absence from the forums continues. But you'll be fine, and I'll be back eventually. Thanks for all the warm words and understanding and wishes. Winter Sale is going on here on Steam so once again it's good time to grab UnReal World for yourself, or gift a friend into the Far North. And lastly, huge big seasons greetings to each and everyone of you, from the tiny dev and the winter tree. Merry whatever, fellow adventurers!

[ 2018-12-24 11:28:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

You know what... During the past two decades it hasn't been too many times that I have been on a sick leave, or unable to work on the game due to medical condition, wounds or injuries. But now a week ago I fractured my shoulder when falling of the horse during horseback archery training. Doctors orders are to wear arm sling for the next two weeks. After that a new xray will reveal how the recovery goes. Luckily no operation was needed. I just have to rest and wait, and so do you. So, I'll enter on a sick leave now and report back after two weeks. I am mostly unable to answer to emails or at forums, but we'll try to handle the urgent cases somehow. Not to worry, I will survive. Game development and archery endeavours to be continued when the doc says so. My current wounds and injuries screen looks like this :)

[ 2018-12-01 16:53:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Time for a small but essential patch update. Additions in the now released version 3.52 are foremostly bugfixes for smoother survival, but some balancing of exploitish issues is also featured. Find the full changelog below. Cheers! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 3.52 (stable) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** - balanced: villagers' interest to buy boards Previously trading boards could be used an exploit as villagers did buy them without any reasoning. Now there's a cap for villagers' interest in boards and they only buy the amount they want to have as a reserve. This varies from village to village, and some villages are not necessarily interested in player character's board trading attempts at all. - added: NPCs will store the obtained timber in the village NPCs may obtain timber (eg. boards) through trading. Previously NPCs just carried the heavy loads around causing unncessary burden for themselves. Now they eventually store the timber in the village. - added: roasting meat/fish decreases its weight We tought this was featured already, but no. Now roasted meat/fish loses about 25% its weight in the process. - updated: NORTHERN BOW game encyclopedia info + image added - added: new NPC kid portrait Still not much variety with kid portraits, but if you are into portrait customization more of them can be now added for kids as well -> truegfx/kid?.png - fixed: character creation extra skill point issue for 0% skills Increasing and then decreasing skill for 0% level skills mistakenly allowed two points then to be spent on the said skill. - fixed [rare condition]: quest generation and companion rehire delays Long lived migrated character might encounter extremely long intervals between new quest generation and earlier NPC companions willingness to be rehired. - fixed [rare condition]: bird thief quest sages forgetting about the quest This occurred only with long lived characters. Sages involved in the quest first talked about it normally, but might not recognize the quest anymore after a while. - fixed: kids not recovering from wounds and injuries - fixed: young animal skins were worth the same as adult animals skins Now the price is reasoned according to the skin size. - fixed: when trading with NPC the accepted items they couldn't carry just disappeared from their inventory after the trade Now the excess items NPCs can't properly carry are put on the ground as a common village property. - fixed [rare condition]: aquatic birds flying still above the frozen waters This was a result of aquatic birds terrain exploration routines failing to find them new meaningful areas to check if the waters at their habitat got completely frozen. - fixed [rare condition]: irrelevant quest related persons appearing in chat dialog Sometimes you were given chat options to ask whereabouts of irrelevant quest related persons in the village. - fixed: young animals giving as much fat as the adults Now the fat yield from young animals is more or less smaller depending on the cub/calf actual age and size. - fixed: nameless villagers ie. occasional blank NPC names -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ 2018-10-28 12:28:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

The second world record received acknowledges UnReal World as a forefather of the genre.

So... Back in 2016 we got (and proudly hold) the record for longest update support for a videogame in GWR Gamer's Edition 2017. And now, in the recently published Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2019 UnReal World gets the record for "First open-world survival videogame". Oops, we kind of created a videogame genre, but we do not regret :) The book happily presented at the end of this post is a Finnish edition, and here's how GWR mentions the record in English: [quote]"The second millennial decade has witnessed an explosion of open-world survival games, particularly on the Steam platform with the success of PC tiles such as DayZ, Ark: Survival Evolved and the battle-royale shooter PlayerUnknown's Battlegrouds. The genre's trues roots can most likely be traced back to the indie sandbox RPG UnReal World, first released in 1992. Set in Iron Age Finland, player's principal aim was to survive its challenging and harsh environments. Incredibly, the game was still going strong and receiving updates, as of September 2017. The game was developed by two people - head creator Sami Maaranen and programmer Erkka Lehmus (both Finland). As of September 2017, it held the record for longest update support for a videogame."[/quote] (Yeah, it's out-of-date info with latest updates as the books live in press-time info. And in case somebody wonders about the near future updates a new bugfix and balancing patch is actually to be released this month.)

Cheers and thanks to all of you for making history and taking part in creation of a videogame genre with us.

Erkka (co-designer) at the left, Sami (creator) and Alli (the cat) at the right. And if you take a look at our previous GWR post it seems like have started a tradition with these world record promo pictures as well ;)

[ 2018-10-21 09:55:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

The summer is passing, the holidays are mostly over, and the time has come for me to return to the development chambers and slowly start getting back on track with the coding chores. When leaving on holidays somebody said to expect to see at least one fishing holiday picture. Well, unfortunately I managed to be so very absent from the forums that I basically didn't post a thing, but as a substitute for the past silence here's half a dozen random summer pictures for you. Now it's whole lotta e-mails and post to go through to get an idea of how the community and unreal world has survived the summer of 2018. And then, some fresh lines of code... One at a time...

[ 2018-08-14 12:12:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Midsummer and the nightless nights... that's priceless. UnReal World... it's on summer sale until 5th of July. Just recently released version 3.51 is trucking alright, so we are good to hit the holidays now. Finnish summer will surely bring us some rainy days too so some tweaking, fixing and even patching may take place during the summertime. But officially I'm mostly absent from development chambers until early august. Best wishes, enjoy the seasonal goodies and I'll be sure to do the same...
Midsummer midnight 2018, just outside the UnReal World development chambers.

[ 2018-06-29 18:32:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here comes a minor but significant new patch before I'll start settling for summer holidays. The additions in this version 3.51 mostly consist of balances, fixes and additions related to interacting with both the spirits and NPCs. Many small game hunters should be happy to know that for example the unreasonably harsh forest spirit mood changes are now toned down. Find the full changelog below. I wish you all great adventures in both real and unreal worlds - and nice and cosy summertime, if that happens to be your local season. Cheers! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 3.51 (stable) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** - added: map of known areas (F6) remembering the toggleable settings to show or not to show cultural areas and map markers This was once featured, but got broken somewhere along the way. The settings are remembered after exiting F6 map view and persist until toggled otherwise. The display for both cultural areas and map markers is on by default when the game is first started. - added: ask NPCs to find quest related persons in villages You can now ask villagers if certain quest related persons are around. This is done by automatically appearing chat options within the common greet dialog. For example: "Is Sampsa around?" or "Where can I find Tornia?" All the quest related persons, including the original quest giver, are covered within these chat options if you are aware of them. There are some exceptions though; NPCs who are involved in quests themselves can't be asked for others whereabouts, but there are always enough common villagers around to assist you. When it comes to finding quest related persons in other villages the chat options become available only when you are in the right village where the person can be actually found. This can be considered slightly gamey in our standards, but it is more helpful that way. - adjusted: no more multiple villagers with same names Possiblity of two NPCs having the same name within a single village has been removed. In seriously crowded clustered villages it is theoretically possible that villagers might run out of unique names, but real chances for that to happen are practically non-existent. MIGRATION NOTICE: Within villages created in the previous version two persons with same names may still exists. - added: dozens of new northern names Due to aforementioned adjustment it was necessary to add lots and lots of new names for northern men and women. - improved: NPC name randomization routines NPC culture has more distinguishable influence to their given names. There's noticeable variation between the eastern and western names, but especially the current wider range of northern names now appear unique from rest of the world. - added: light a torch with another torch If you are already carrying a lit torch a new torch can be lit of it. This is done in normal fashion by [a]pplying the torch to be lit. - balanced: forest spirit's attitude in regards to hunted animals - size and significance matters When an animal is felled the forest spirit's mood change and need for compensation by sacrifices now depends on the size and significance of the animal. Previously almost all the killed animals were valued equally by the spirits which resulted in small game hunters often receiving unreasonable disgrace. Now it is far more tolerable to hunt smaller game and get along with only casual sacrifices every now and then. - fixed: only one sacrifice allowed per day If any kind of sacrifice to any spirit was performed even the different kind of sacrifices during the same day were considered excess. This was not intentional, and is now fixed back to normal: You can perform multiple sacrifices on daily basis as long as they are targeted at different spirits, ie. forest or water spirit, or if the act of sacrificing is a part of unique spell. - fixed: spoiled food items were seemingly accepted as sacrifices Now it is foolish to try that sort of sacrifices. - fixed: former companions never agreed to be hired again Despite of their "maybe in the future" responses former companions did never reach proper status to be hired again. This is fixed now and companions can be rehired after a varying NPC dependant timespan from few months to full year. MIGRATION NOTICE: Rehiring possibility timespan may appear glitchy as companionship date information was broken in the previous version. For most succesfull rehiring of former companions try it at villages that were visited long time ago. - fixed: skinning young animals mistakenly gave adult animal size skins Now skins obtained from young animals are more or less smaller depending on the cub/calf actual age and size. - fixed: village items getting easily corrupt upon crash Crash security improvements added in version 3.50 are hereby improved/fixed in regards to certain crash vulnerable village items. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[ 2018-06-17 14:43:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

For more than half a decade already we've had a habit of creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight UnReal World buyers and supporters. About a year ago we started bringing the video works on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players.

A fresh video greeting "Moment of reminiscing" is now up in the video greetings DLC package.

Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains three videos to start with, and more will follow in time. As the Video Greetings package grows we'll find ways to keep the file sizes decent. Currently the package consists of five HD video works around 900 MB in size all together. http://store.steampowered.com/app/505100 If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. If you're curious about what the video greetings may be about you can browse the older stuff at: Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Cheers!

[ 2018-04-24 16:56:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

It is happening again...

...yet another release, I mean. ːurw_fireː After quite a long period of balancing and wrestling with glitches in the preceeding beta versions we are now ready to tag version 3.50 stable - and also managed to squeeze in this finalizing bugfix release also one long-awaited feature; healing the bleeding wounds of your pets. The version 3.50 itself as whole is quite package of new content so if you haven't been playing the beta version you better take a good look at the changelog below. As this is stable release it becomes the default branch and auto-updates for you. The previous version characters will migrate and work just fine with the new version. The most important changes in 3.50 concern the numerous spirit world and spells related additions and overhauls. But oh there is so much more...gender and age specific animal generation, skulls and teeth, antlers and bones...and so on. Below you can find the full changelog for version 3.50. After the short list of the latest stable release notes find the long list of all core additions since first 3.50 beta version. Let the adventures in the Far North continue. Cheers! ***

Version: 3.50 (stable) changelog

** Saved characters from version 3.40-> are compatible with this version. ** ** If you are new to version 3.50 scroll down and read changelogs since the first beta version. ** - added: treat bleeding wounds of your pets and companions It is now possible to try to stop bleeding of the wounds of your pets and companions. The attempt is started by using physician skill, or opening [F7] wounds screen, when facing a bleeding pet or companion. If bleeding wounds are found you'll be asked whether you wish to try to treat them. The actual wound to treat is then auto selected based on its severity. The actual game mechanics of applying physician skills to your pets and companions are the same as treating your own wounds. Herbs can be used in the process, the success or failure messages are the familiar ones, and so on. - added: crash security to overcome creature and item losses when travelling with companions and watercrafts There's now extra data save added upon each map load to provide crash security and to minimize certain creature and item loss potential. Previously it was quite often the case that the pets and companions you were travelling with would disappear upon a crash. The same sort of crash related disappearence might also happen to the items you were transporting with a watercraft - including the watercraft. This sort of losses should be history now. Crashes may naturally lose some progress in the game world, but all the creatures and items should stay intact and be available upon returning to post-crash UnReal World. Finally, let us remind that force quitting seems to be the most usual type of unexpected UnReal World termination and this addition should not in the least to be taken as an encouragement for safer force quitting. - balanced & fixed: weight of some clothes Some were found too heavy, and a few were found too light. The corrections go as follows (with old weight in parenthesis): * Woollen tunic - now weighs 4.6 lbs (was 5) * Nettle cloak - now weighs 2.6 lbs (was 6) * Woollen cloak - now weighs 5.3 lbs (was 6.5) * Fur cloak - now weighs 11.5 lbs (was 14) * Woollen overcoat - now weighs 6.3 lbs (was 5.5) * Fur overcoat - now weighs 13.5 lbs (was 15) * Leather leggings - now weighs 6.3 lbs (was 2.9) * Fur leggings - now weighs 7.4 lbs (was 3.5) - fixed [rare condition]: all too frequent map maintenance with some old characters - fixed [rare condition]: sages offering the old style teaching of new ritual for some migrated characters - fixed: triggered traps sometimes appearing as readied and erect - fixed [rare condition]: too fast melting of ice in the spring - fixed: animals tied in place with a rope remaining tied even if the rope was destroyed (eg. by a fire) - fixed [rare condition]: spiritworld related entries cluttering the data stack and causing misleading hoarding warnings - fixed: animal pens in the villages appearing too close to the western border The problem was that your dog might end up located in the village animal pen when entering the village from the west. - fixed: BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION setup option not checking whether the carcass actually could be skinned Now the confirmation, if enabled, is asked when applicable only if the carcass actually can be skinned. - fixed: wounded adventurer quest sometimes generating too lightly wounded adventurers This made the intended quest giver adventurers not speak about their hardships at all even though the villagers would hint about it. - fixed: milk from rams and bulls

Version: 3.50 beta changelog

- added: wounded or starving dogs may refuse to attack on command If your dog is seriously wounded or starving it may refuse to attack on command. Even the suffering dogs still defend their masters and themselves from charging predators and enemies, but are just reluctant to act as war dogs who always run after a given target completely despite of their own condition. This addition may encourage you to keep your dogs more safe and better fed from now on. - added: redrawn 8 directional tiles for watercrafts Both punt and raft now appear bigger and prettier in completely redrawn fashion. The watercraft tile direction does change based on the last actually rowed direction. Credits for these tiles goes to Paulo Spinola. - added: specific animal purchases Upon purchasing animals you may now get to choose small or big animals from the list. NPCs still decide which animals they wish to sell so the size you would prefer may not always be on the list, but the animal description now always matches what you'll get. For example, if you go for purchasing a sheep with no size mentioned you are guaranteed to get that average size sheep - not a big or small one. - added: young animals Cubs and calves have been added for relevant wild animal species eg. elks, bears, reindeer and hares. In case of large species ie. elks and bears, the young ones usually remain with their mothers in the wild for a year or two before becoming independent. So now you may occasionally encounter an elk mother wandering together with her calf, or a bear mother followed by her cub. Mother animals may act more unexpectedly or aggressively than usual when they're still taking care of their young ones -- and that's especially true in case of bears. - added: different gender dogs In addition to plain dogs, which are male, there are now also female dogs. MIGRATION NOTICE: for dogs generated in the previous version their gender is randomized upon first load. - added: different gender bears Male and female bears are now distinguished, females being descriped as "female bear". Male bears are larger and stronger than the females, and may also appear slightly more aggressive if necessary. - changed: some animal descriptions There are some animal terminology and description changes as follows: * male elk description changed from "stag" to "bull elk" * bears are now descriped as plain "bear" if they're male, or "female bear" if they're female * domestic pigs now have gender-based description Previously they were all called pigs, but are now descriped either a "sow" (female) or a "boar" (male) * reindeers now have gender-based description Previously they were all called reindeers, but are now descriped either "reindeer doe" (female) or "reindeer stag" (male). This goes for both dometic and wild reindeers. MIGRATION NOTICE: animals generated in the previous version may still appear with their old names. - changed: resources of animal origin named in gender-neutral fashion For example, you'll now get elk cuts even if the animal gender based description would have been "bull elk". Or, you'll now get pig cuts regardless of the pig having been descriped as sow or boar. (However, a few exceptions to this rule may still occur here and there.) - added: ant nests Ant nests can be now found in the forest. They are needed in performing certain spells but currently have no other use or function. - added: antlers & bones Antlers and bones can be now harvested from carcasses. * antlers Male elk and both sexes of reindeers have antlers. For now, antlers simply appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. * bones Bones can be harvested from almost any carcass except for the birds and very small creatures. Harvested bones appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. Currently the bones you get are imagined to be the long bones (eg. leg bones) containing the marrow. Each carcass yields four of such bones. The bone size naturally varies depending on the carcass. Antlers and bones appear in your inventory as tools but have only little usage on their own. Dogs do like bones and as they are marrow-containing ones it's also nutritiously wortwhile to feed them to your dogs. Otherwise antlers and bones serve the best as trophies and new raw materials to be utilized via modding if you like. - added: skulls & teeth Skulls can be now harvested from a few species of dead animals whose skulls, or teeth, have meaningful ritual or magical usage. Currently these animals are bears and seals. Animal skull appears on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. It is also possible to remove and pick teeth from a skull by [a]pplying it. - added: meeting the spirit of the forest Naturally this otherworldy creature has existed in the game world for a long time, but now it is possible for characters to actually see and meet him - although it is still a rare occasion. The spirit of the forest is famous of being relatively talkative. As a ruler of the forest and its animals he likes to make remarks about your relationship with the forest. In case of being very pleased the spirit of the forest may offer hunting advice, or even reveal where certain animals roam. - added: a quest related to meeting the spirit of the forest - overhauled: ritual screen [F4] -> "Spells and magic means" screen It's now known as "Spells and magic means" screen and all the new spells are listed there as well. New spells" refers to spells featured in version 3.40, which are learned within quests and performed by following the instructions given in spell description by using the common game mechanics and actions. Previously you could view new spell descriptions only from the quest journal, but now it's all available within the spells screen. Whenever a new spell is learned it will also appear in this new list of spells. Spells screen also lists some relevant "old spells" which we've had in use for ages and which are performed automatically upon selection. However, most of the "old spells" have been removed completely to bring existence of magic means to our desired new level. Bringing the selector on any spell in the list displays its information dialog. If necessary, a selection is then made by mouse click or enter. In addition, there are also hotkeys for quick spell selection. In most cases the spell selection merely shows the spell information dialog as the new spells are performed manually by following the descriped game mechanics and actions. The old spells, eg. blood-stanching incantation or general sacrifice, automatically put to action upon selection. This kind of spells are also colored differently in the list. - changed: re-organization and removals within the old spell system and spirit world features * RITUAL skill removed It was truly redundant skill, serving only as an alternative way to bring up rituals screen. * feature of periodically learning rituals is removed, but the related messages kept and improved Automatically becoming aware of new spells over time is history and now new spells can be learned only from NPCs within quests. The good old occasional messages regarding how you feel about your relationship with the spirits are still featured. (Eg. "You feel pleasant.") Moreover, there's now a lot wider range of these spiritworld relationship related messages and they may vary depending on if the pleased or angered spirits are forest or water folk. * most of the old rituals are removed We've saved only a few relevant rituals from the old days, and we are happy with that. Some of the old rituals were seriously outdated and unbalanced in many ways. In case of migrated characters some old rituals are replaced with the new (3.40 ->) spells. Here's a list of removed old rituals with the replacements spells where applicable: Completely removed old rituals: - permission to fell a tree - blood-stanching prayer - the oath of iron - banishing the evil water guardian - greet the supernatural guardian - the origin of fire Removed old rituals with migration replacement spells: - permission to sleep -> replacement spell: "greeting the earth upon going to sleep" - hunter's request to catch a fox -> replacement spell: "making foxes to come at the bait" - fisher's request for a catch -> replacement spell: "gaining fisherman's luck" - fisher's sacrifice for a catch -> replacement spell: "rod fisherman's sacrifice" - favourableness of the trap -> replacement spell: "fox trap favorableness" * these are the old rituals that were kept as is, or improved as descriped below: - blood-stanching incantation Works the same as previously. - general sacrifice The act of sacrificing is now always known by every character from the start, and has a wider usage than before. It still works as an act of its own, but now also gets associated with other spells as a multipurpose way to please certain spirits for a certain reason. If there's a spell that requires sacrificing which is not described by other means then the general sacrifice does the trick. For example, if there was a spell described as: "Reindeer hunting luck is achieved by sacrificing berries on reindeer tracks in the morning." Then, to perform the spell you would probably need to find reindeer tracks, be standing on them in the morning and then use "general sacrifice" spell choosing berries as an item to sacrifice. - updated: SPELLS encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: VALUABLES encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: SACRIFICES encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: silver valuables as a sacrifice Previously sacrifices were limited to food items, but now sacrificing silver items is also possible and necessary in rare cases. You will notice the general sacrifice item selection now allowing to pick an item from both food and valuables categories. However, silver sacrifices are always related to certain new spells and are not completed unless the conditions are right. Upon using silver items as a sacrifice some shards of the item are cut and carved away, and eventually the item gets used completely. This makes silver items both higly appreciated and costly offerings. - added: more spells About a dozen of new spells have been added. Like explained above the spells can be learned from NPCs within quests, but there are also some new spells which every character knows from the start. Here's vague summary about the newly added spells: * bear skull rite This spell is known by all the characters from the very beginning. It's crucial common knowledge about what to do with the skull of a downed bear. Killing a bear should now always call for executing this spell at least. * bear teeth related spells Bear teeth are powerful charms especially for hunters, and now there are spells associated with them. * bird and hare trapping There are new spells to better succeed with bird and hare trapping. * ant nest related spells Ant nests aren't merely a terrain feature but also a place for executing certain spells, once you learn them. * spirit of the forest related spells There are new spells for both encoutering and gifting the spirit of the forest. * bear hunting related spells There are new spells to better succeed with bear hunting. - added: new spells for new characters Upon character creation some of the new spells are now randomly assigned for a new character. Depending on the character's culture the given spells are emphasized on either hunting or fishing, or both. New characters usually start with four spells, and the spells screen is shown during character creation just like before. Of the old rituals general sacrifice is now known by every character from the start. - added: valuables to be found in the villages Valuables such brooches, pendants, bracelets and so on can be now rarely found in the villages. Type of these stocked valuables depends on the culture. Even though it is not in the least common for every village to stock valuables the possibility for having acquired some them exists for every culture. - changed: game-course completion reward "Learn three new rituals" changed to "Learn two new spells" - added: skinned/cut/burnt carcass coloring Skinned carcasses now appear in fleshy red color. Cut or eaten carcasses appear dark reddish, and burnt carcasses blackish depending on the cut/burn degree. - added: BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to NO) If the option is enabled a confirmation prompt appears if you try to butcher a carcass before skinning it. This is to avoid accidentally cutting up the whole carcass and losing the skin. To enable the option add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION:YES] - added: SPEND_DELAY_ADD configuration option This option can be used to slow down the time consuming actions if you find the game turns running too fast for your taste during the time spending dialog. The given value is in milliseconds, adding that much more delay for each game turn. Good value to try slowing things down a bit would be 10 and nobody really wants to go higher than 100. To use eg. 10 millisecond turn delay add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [SPEND_DELAY_ADD:10] - added: EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to YES) Yes/No confirmation is now asked if you try to eat a mushroom that is not completely known to you, or a known poisonous mushroom. Notice that this applies only to raw mushrooms. When it comes to cooking we assume characters being on track about what they want to do. The option is on by default, as it's most convenient for newcomers. To disable the option (as it used to be) add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION:NO] - added: confirmation dialog for emptying containers (with other than liquid contents) As the contents are discarded for good upon emptying containers the confirmation is justified, especially for newcomers. If the container has liquid content the confirmation is not asked as losing the liquid upon emptying should be quite obvious. - adjusted: skiing fatigue rate decreased, walking in deep snow more penalized Skiing fatigue accumulation rate is decreased which makes skiing more profitable than previously. In addition, walking in deep snow is now slightly more fatiguing than previously. As a result difference between walking in deep snow versus skiing should be more signficant now. - adjusted: fishing equipment (eg. fishing rod) availability increased among certain cultures Somewhat increased among kaumolaiset and kiesseläiset, and slightly increased among koivulaiset and islanders. - added: fire burns away the ground cover Lichen, moss etc. ground cover now gets destroyed from under a burning fire. Only very small fires may leave the ground cover intact. - added: winter skin/fur descriptor As we know winter furs are more valuable, and it's been like that for a long time. Now there's finally also an indication of wintertime furs and skins within the item description. For example: "Fine winter fox fur" or "Poor winter bear-skin" - renewed & optimized: drawing of rain and snowfall Previously rain and snowfall were drawn in putpixel fashion which was often more or less sluggish. Now rain and snowfall presented by tile graphics with improved look and fast rendering. - fixed: animals with no proper dexterity/strength being able to sometimes open doors - fixed: turnip seeds could be used as "vegetable" ingredient in cooking - fixed [rare condition]: NPCs foolishly drowning/freezing to death in small ponds at the village yard - fixed: bogbean anti-inflammatory herb property was mispelled in flora files and thus not effective - fixed: fresh or untanned skins not getting destroyed by a burning fire - fixed: villager kotas might mistakenly contain "inside of a building" tiles instead "inside of a kota" tiles - fixed: some treasures you heard of were never to be found The bug was caused by map maintenance being prone to mistakenly remove treasure locations. - fixed: missing chance to get also decent quality crafts at very high skill - fixed: companions and dogs not always attacking robbers on command - fixed: stone-axe and some knives attack and defense class values wrong The following weapons still lacked the intended attack/defense class changes. Here's the list of fixed ones with "old -> new and current" attack/defense class. * Stone axe attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Kaumolais knife & Northern knife attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Broad knife & Hunting knige attack/defense: 1/1 -> 1/0 * Knife attack/defense: 1/0 -> 0/0 MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapons obtained or created in the previous version still carry the faulty values. - fixed: too high quest generation interval in case of some rejected quests Some quests (eg. robbers) might come in your way again too quickly if they were first rejected in the past. - fixed: robbers occasionally staying at the same region for all too long - fixed: knife price Regular knife (called "knife") price was too low (< squirrel hide) and is now increased to intended value of 6 squirrel hides. - fixed: arctic fox hide price was the same as of regular fox Now arctic fox hide is more valuable, as it should be. - fixed: zooming out at the very left edge of terrain didn't remember the position when zooming in the next time - fixed: buying animals decreasing quest reward credits - fixed: depopulating a village might occasionally cause cultural area to be removed also from unvisited nearby villages Unvisited nearby villages then appeared as vagabond villages when you entered them, but had no proper population or buildings. - fixed: "crater" villages ie. village generation failures when the surrounding terrain was of much higher elevation - fixed: indifferent ripe and growing tile graphics with some plants For example lake reeds, milkweeds and heathers had the same tile graphics regardless of being ready or almost ready to harvest. - fixed: trousers mistakenly cover feet MIGRATION NOTICE: Trousers obtained or created in the previous version still appear with feet coverage - fixed: animal in the forest cover quest completion troubles if the tracks got seriously messed up by other animals The freshest tracks of the missing animal you can identify do matter. Previously it could rarely happen that you needed to burn the twigs on tracks of other animals who had replaced the original freshest tracks. *** That's all folks! ːurw_sageː

[ 2018-03-25 09:34:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Year of The Dog has begun, and UnReal World is participating in the ongoing Steam Lunar New Year Sale. So feel free to help yourself or your fellow adventurer with the reduced price purchase. Our last news also concerned sales and seasonal event, and even though the newest UnReal World (opt-into) version 3.50 beta is still in beta phase, it's proven very so very playable that you shouldn't hesitate to update. Here's how to opt-into 3.50beta:

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab, and select "3.50 beta" in the dropdown box
• Close the dialog, the game updates, and you are now ready to get going with the fresh beta.

And here's 3.50 beta changelog. It's the Year of the Dog and ever so suitably we've got dog related additions in this version as well.

Greetings from on the road

I bring these sale news and greetings to you from the North but this time just from a neighbouring country. As we speak, I'm travelling and visiting people and places in Norway. So it's greetings to You - old and new adventurers - from on the road. Welcome aboard, and let there be happy adventures in real and UnReal World.
Dev on the move, on a train from Stockholm to Oslo.

[ 2018-02-16 16:21:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Winter Sale is going on, so once again it's good time to grab UnReal World for yourself, or gift a friend into the Far North. As the sale brings in many new adventurers I'll first hereby take moment to say welcome all you new adventurers. And then, the important things at this very time of the year:

3.50 beta

In addition to current default version (3.40) there's also fresh beta version which you can opt-into at will. As the early showstoppers have been found and fixed by now it's highly recommended now. Earlier we had the beta-branch password protected but not anymore for more convenient start. Here's how to opt-into 3.50beta:

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab, and select "3.50 beta" in the dropdown box
• Close the dialog, the game updates, and you are now ready to get going with the fresh beta.

And here's 3.50 beta changelog.

Season's Greetings

The time has come to say seasons greetings to all of you, from Finland - in case you didn't know. It was the winter solstice yesterday, and now we're slowly heading towards the increasing daylight. And I'll be heading towards the holiday season and wish you all great times whatever you may, or may not be celebrating. Here's the huge big seasons greetings to each and everyone of you, from the tiny dev and the winter tree. Merry whatever, fellow adventurers!

And even more (season's) greetings

For those who are new to what the game and the devs are about, let's take a moment to introduce in more personal way. In addition to future game development to follow in 2018, also a trad.archery channel will follow. Both the bows and the code have become equally familiar during the past two decades. As play you'll find about the latter, and here's how the former is handled by Sami, Creator of UnReal World, as establishing Ugri Archer channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnxu6bbBJI For more diverse set of videos by the two-man dev. team Enormous Elk, Sami and Erkka (co-designer), you can take a peek at Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Happy adventures everyone!

[ 2017-12-22 16:36:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

3.50 beta 2 hotfix for Windows was released a few days ago, and now also OSX and Linux beta builds are up to date with the fixes. Those who are playing beta will get auto-updated. 3.50beta2 fixes, now applicable on all platforms, are: --------------------------------------------------------------------- - fixed: spells screen background music not stopping upon exiting the screen by selecting manually performed spell - fixed: crashes upon talking to villagers (in villages with lots of animals) - fixed: kota villages not recognized as proper villages, and not stocked with goods either - fixed: animals who ate carcasses dropped their own bones on the spot instead of the bones of the actual eaten species ---------------------------------------------------------------------

[ 2017-12-15 11:45:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

3.50 beta hotfix for Windows was just put live, and those who are playing beta will get auto-updated. Other operating systems will have to wait a little longer. The following were fixed (in Windows version) -- and naturally still persist in OS X and Linux 3.50 betas. 3.50beta2 for Windows - changelog: ------------------------------------------------ - fixed: spells screen background music not stopping upon exiting the screen by selecting manually performed spell - fixed: crashes upon talking to villagers (in villages with lots of animals) - fixed: kota villages not recognized as proper villages, and not stocked with goods either - fixed: animals who ate carcasses dropped their own bones on the spot instead of the bones of the actual eaten species ------------------------------------------------

[ 2017-12-12 18:34:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

The special sale and celebration continues now gets supplemented with the release of the first beta of UnReal World version 3.50. It's available as beta-branch you can opt into manually at will. There's possibility of minor bugs, and the work with new goodies and features continues, but things are mostly nicely stable and good to go already.

Find the full changelog at the bottom of this post, and now here's how to get your hands on 3.50 beta.

This is password hidden beta-relesae. The password you need to know is: betarelease350

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab.
• Enter the password into 'Beta access code to unlock private betas' field, and press [CHECK CODE]. (The password is betarelease350)
• Now 3.50 beta is available.
• Select "3.50 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
• Close the dialog, the game updates, and you are now ready to get going with the fresh beta.

Should you encounter some crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box. Here comes the changelog. Let the adventures in the Far North continue. Cheers!

Version: 3.50 beta 1 changelog

BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely to be bugs and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. Your current Steam version characters are compatible with this version. - added: wounded or starving dogs may refuse to attack on command If your dog is seriously wounded or starving it may refuse to attack on command. Even the suffering dogs still defend their masters and themselves from charging predators and enemies, but are just reluctant to act as war dogs who always run after a given target completely despite of their own condition. This addition may encourage you to keep your dogs more safe and better fed from now on. - added: redrawn 8 directional tiles for watercrafts Both punt and raft now appear bigger and prettier in completely redrawn fashion. The watercraft tile direction does change based on the last actually rowed direction. Credits for these tiles goes to Paulo Spinola. - added: specific animal purchases Upon purchasing animals you may now get to choose small or big animals from the list. NPCs still decide which animals they wish to sell so the size you would prefer may not always be on the list, but the animal description now always matches what you'll get. For example, if you go for purchasing a sheep with no size mentioned you are guaranteed to get that average size sheep - not a big or small one. - added: young animals Cubs and calves have been added for relevant wild animal species eg. elks, bears, reindeer and hares. In case of large species ie. elks and bears, the young ones usually remain with their mothers in the wild for a year or two before becoming independent. So now you may occasionally encounter an elk mother wandering together with her calf, or a bear mother followed by her cub. Mother animals may act more unexpectedly or aggressively than usual when they're still taking care of their young ones -- and that's especially true in case of bears. - added: different gender dogs In addition to plain dogs, which are male, there are now also female dogs. MIGRATION NOTICE: for dogs generated in the previous version their gender is randomized upon first load. - added: different gender bears Male and female bears are now distinguished, females being descriped as "female bear". Male bears are larger and stronger than the females, and may also appear slightly more aggressive if necessary. - changed: some animal descriptions There are some animal terminology and description changes as follows: * male elk description changed from "stag" to "bull elk" * bears are now descriped as plain "bear" if they're male, or "female bear" if they're female * domestic pigs now have gender-based description Previously they were all called pigs, but are now descriped either a "sow" (female) or a "boar" (male) * reindeers now have gender-based description Previously they were all called reindeers, but are now descriped either "reindeer doe" (female) or "reindeer stag" (male). This goes for both dometic and wild reindeers. MIGRATION NOTICE: animals generated in the previous version may still appear with their old names. - changed: resources of animal origin named in gender-neutral fashion For example, you'll now get elk cuts even if the animal gender based description would have been "bull elk". Or, you'll now get pig cuts regardless of the pig having been descriped as sow or boar. (However, a few exceptions to this rule may still occur here and there.) - added: ant nests Ant nests can be now found in the forest. They are needed in performing certain spells but currently have no other use or function. - added: antlers & bones Antlers and bones can be now harvested from carcasses. * antlers Male elk and both sexes of reindeers have antlers. For now, antlers simply appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. * bones Bones can be harvested from almost any carcass except for the birds and very small creatures. Harvested bones appear on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. Currently the bones you get are imagined to be the long bones (eg. leg bones) containing the marrow. Each carcass yields four of such bones. The bone size naturally varies depending on the carcass. Antlers and bones appear in your inventory as tools but have only little usage on their own. Dogs do like bones and as they are marrow-containing ones it's also nutritiously wortwhile to feed them to your dogs. Otherwise antlers and bones serve the best as trophies and new raw materials to be utilized via modding if you like. - added: skulls & teeth Skulls can be now harvested from a few species of dead animals whose skulls, or teeth, have meaningful ritual or magical usage. Currently these animals are bears and seals. Animal skull appears on the ground when the carcass has been completely butchered for meat. It is also possible to remove and pick teeth from a skull by [a]pplying it. - added: meeting the spirit of the forest Naturally this otherworldy creature has existed in the game world for a long time, but now it is possible for characters to actually see and meet him - although it is still a rare occasion. The spirit of the forest is famous of being relatively talkative. As a ruler of the forest and its animals he likes to make remarks about your relationship with the forest. In case of being very pleased the spirit of the forest may offer hunting advice, or even reveal where certain animals roam. - added: a quest related to meeting the spirit of the forest - overhauled: ritual screen [F4] -> "Spells and magic means" screen It's now known as "Spells and magic means" screen and all the new spells are listed there as well. New spells" refers to spells featured in version 3.40, which are learned within quests and performed by following the instructions given in spell description by using the common game mechanics and actions. Previously you could view new spell descriptions only from the quest journal, but now it's all available within the spells screen. Whenever a new spell is learned it will also appear in this new list of spells. Spells screen also lists some relevant "old spells" which we've had in use for ages and which are performed automatically upon selection. However, most of the "old spells" have been removed completely to bring existence of magic means to our desired new level. Bringing the selector on any spell in the list displays its information dialog. If necessary, a selection is then made by mouse click or enter. In addition, there are also hotkeys for quick spell selection. In most cases the spell selection merely shows the spell information dialog as the new spells are performed manually by following the descriped game mechanics and actions. The old spells, eg. blood-stanching incantation or general sacrifice, automatically put to action upon selection. This kind of spells are also colored differently in the list. - changed: re-organization and removals within the old spell system and spirit world features * RITUAL skill removed It was truly redundant skill, serving only as an alternative way to bring up rituals screen. * feature of periodically learning rituals is removed, but the related messages kept and improved Automatically becoming aware of new spells over time is history and now new spells can be learned only from NPCs within quests. The good old occasional messages regarding how you feel about your relationship with the spirits are still featured. (Eg. "You feel pleasant.") Moreover, there's now a lot wider range of these spiritworld relationship related messages and they may vary depending on if the pleased or angered spirits are forest or water folk. * most of the old rituals are removed We've saved only a few relevant rituals from the old days, and we are happy with that. Some of the old rituals were seriously outdated and unbalanced in many ways. In case of migrated characters some old rituals are replaced with the new (3.40 ->) spells. Here's a list of removed old rituals with the replacements spells where applicable: Completely removed old rituals: - permission to fell a tree - blood-stanching prayer - the oath of iron - banishing the evil water guardian - greet the supernatural guardian - the origin of fire Removed old rituals with migration replacement spells: - permission to sleep -> replacement spell: "greeting the earth upon going to sleep" - hunter's request to catch a fox -> replacement spell: "making foxes to come at the bait" - fisher's request for a catch -> replacement spell: "gaining fisherman's luck" - fisher's sacrifice for a catch -> replacement spell: "rod fisherman's sacrifice" - favourableness of the trap -> replacement spell: "fox trap favorableness" * these are the old rituals that were kept as is, or improved as descriped below: - blood-stanching incantation Works the same as previously. - general sacrifice The act of sacrificing is now always known by every character from the start, and has a wider usage than before. It still works as an act of its own, but now also gets associated with other spells as a multipurpose way to please certain spirits for a certain reason. If there's a spell that requires sacrificing which is not described by other means then the general sacrifice does the trick. For example, if there was a spell described as: "Reindeer hunting luck is achieved by sacrificing berries on reindeer tracks in the morning." Then, to perform the spell you would probably need to find reindeer tracks, be standing on them in the morning and then use "general sacrifice" spell choosing berries as an item to sacrifice. - updated: SPELLS encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: VALUABLES encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: SACRIFICES encyclopedia entry [F1] - added: silver valuables as a sacrifice Previously sacrifices were limited to food items, but now sacrificing silver items is also possible and necessary in rare cases. You will notice the general sacrifice item selection now allowing to pick an item from both food and valuables categories. However, silver sacrifices are always related to certain new spells and are not completed unless the conditions are right. Upon using silver items as a sacrifice some shards of the item are cut and carved away, and eventually the item gets used completely. This makes silver items both higly appreciated and costly offerings. - added: more spells About a dozen of new spells have been added. Like explained above the spells can be learned from NPCs within quests, but there are also some new spells which every character knows from the start. Here's vague summary about the newly added spells: * bear skull rite This spell is known by all the characters from the very beginning. It's crucial common knowledge about what to do with the skull of a downed bear. Killing a bear should now always call for executing this spell at least. * bear teeth related spells Bear teeth are powerful charms especially for hunters, and now there are spells associated with them. * bird and hare trapping There are new spells to better succeed with bird and hare trapping. * ant nest related spells Ant nests aren't merely a terrain feature but also a place for executing certain spells, once you learn them. * spirit of the forest related spells There are new spells for both encoutering and gifting the spirit of the forest. * bear hunting related spells There are new spells to better succeed with bear hunting. - added: new spells for new characters Upon character creation some of the new spells are now randomly assigned for a new character. Depending on the character's culture the given spells are emphasized on either hunting or fishing, or both. New characters usually start with four spells, and the spells screen is shown during character creation just like before. Of the old rituals general sacrifice is now known by every character from the start. - added: valuables to be found in the villages Valuables such brooches, pendants, bracelets and so on can be now rarely found in the villages. Type of these stocked valuables depends on the culture. Even though it is not in the least common for every village to stock valuables the possibility for having acquired some them exists for every culture. - changed: game-course completion reward "Learn three new rituals" changed to "Learn two new spells" - added: skinned/cut/burnt carcass coloring Skinned carcasses now appear in fleshy red color. Cut or eaten carcasses appear dark reddish, and burnt carcasses blackish depending on the cut/burn degree. - added: BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to NO) If the option is enabled a confirmation prompt appears if you try to butcher a carcass before skinning it. This is to avoid accidentally cutting up the whole carcass and losing the skin. To enable the option add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [BUTCHER_CONFIRMATION:YES] - added: SPEND_DELAY_ADD configuration option This option can be used to slow down the time consuming actions if you find the game turns running too fast for your taste during the time spending dialog. The given value is in milliseconds, adding that much more delay for each game turn. Good value to try slowing things down a bit would be 10 and nobody really wants to go higher than 100. To use eg. 10 millisecond turn delay add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [SPEND_DELAY_ADD:10] - added: EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION configuration option (defaults to YES) Yes/No confirmation is now asked if you try to eat a mushroom that is not completely known to you, or a known poisonous mushroom. Notice that this applies only to raw mushrooms. When it comes to cooking we assume characters being on track about what they want to do. The option is on by default, as it's most convenient for newcomers. To disable the option (as it used to be) add the following line to urw_ini.txt setup file in your installation folder: [EAT_MUSHROOM_CONFIRMATION:NO] - added: confirmation dialog for emptying containers (with other than liquid contents) As the contents are discarded for good upon emptying containers the confirmation is justified, especially for newcomers. If the container has liquid content the confirmation is not asked as losing the liquid upon emptying should be quite obvious. - adjusted: skiing fatigue rate decreased, walking in deep snow more penalized Skiing fatigue accumulation rate is decreased which makes skiing more profitable than previously. In addition, walking in deep snow is now slightly more fatiguing than previously. As a result difference between walking in deep snow versus skiing should be more signficant now. - adjusted: fishing equipment (eg. fishing rod) availability increased among certain cultures Somewhat increased among kaumolaiset and kiesseläiset, and slightly increased among koivulaiset and islanders. - added: fire burns away the ground cover Lichen, moss etc. ground cover now gets destroyed from under a burning fire. Only very small fires may leave the ground cover intact. - added: winter skin/fur descriptor As we know winter furs are more valuable, and it's been like that for a long time. Now there's finally also an indication of wintertime furs and skins within the item description. For example: "Fine winter fox fur" or "Poor winter bear-skin" - renewed & optimized: drawing of rain and snowfall Previously rain and snowfall were drawn in putpixel fashion which was often more or less sluggish. Now rain and snowfall presented by tile graphics with improved look and fast rendering. - fixed: animals with no proper dexterity/strength being able to sometimes open doors - fixed: turnip seeds could be used as "vegetable" ingredient in cooking - fixed [rare condition]: NPCs foolishly drowning/freezing to death in small ponds at the village yard - fixed: bogbean anti-inflammatory herb property was mispelled in flora files and thus not effective - fixed: fresh or untanned skins not getting destroyed by a burning fire - fixed: villager kotas might mistakenly contain "inside of a building" tiles instead "inside of a kota" tiles - fixed: some treasures you heard of were never to be found The bug was caused by map maintenance being prone to mistakenly remove treasure locations. - fixed: missing chance to get also decent quality crafts at very high skill - fixed: companions and dogs not always attacking robbers on command - fixed: stone-axe and some knives attack and defense class values wrong The following weapons still lacked the intended attack/defense class changes. Here's the list of fixed ones with "old -> new and current" attack/defense class. * Stone axe attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Kaumolais knife & Northern knife attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Broad knife & Hunting knige attack/defense: 1/1 -> 1/0 * Knife attack/defense: 1/0 -> 0/0 MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapons obtained or created in the previous version still carry the faulty values. - fixed: too high quest generation interval in case of some rejected quests Some quests (eg. robbers) might come in your way again too quickly if they were first rejected in the past. - fixed: robbers occasionally staying at the same region for all too long - fixed: knife price Regular knife (called "knife") price was too low (< squirrel hide) and is now increased to intended value of 6 squirrel hides. - fixed: arctic fox hide price was the same as of regular fox Now arctic fox hide is more valuable, as it should be. - fixed: zooming out at the very left edge of terrain didn't remember the position when zooming in the next time - fixed: buying animals decreasing quest reward credits - fixed: depopulating a village might occasionally cause cultural area to be removed also from unvisited nearby villages Unvisited nearby villages then appeared as vagabond villages when you entered them, but had no proper population or buildings. - fixed: "crater" villages ie. village generation failures when the surrounding terrain was of much higher elevation - fixed: indifferent ripe and growing tile graphics with some plants For example lake reeds, milkweeds and heathers had the same tile graphics regardless of being ready or almost ready to harvest. - fixed: trousers mistakenly cover feet MIGRATION NOTICE: Trousers obtained or created in the previous version still appear with feet coverage - fixed: animal in the forest cover quest completion troubles if the tracks got seriously messed up by other animals The freshest tracks of the missing animal you can identify do matter. Previously it could rarely happen that you needed to burn the twigs on tracks of other animals who had replaced the original freshest tracks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all folks! ːurw_sageː Cheers, have fun, and let's keep our fingers crossed for the bugs being little and scarce.

[ 2017-12-06 16:28:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

A special sale for a bunch of finnish games on Steam has started. This is to celebrate the centenary of Finland's independence and will last until 8th of December. This 100th year of Finland's independence culminates on 6th of December, for that is our official independence day. During the centenary sales period we are also celebrating the extraordinary Indie-dependence days for it's been 25 years of playable UnReal World releases. In other words, the game has been out there for 1/4 of its development nation's official existence. We celebrate with the sales, new video greetings and finally the release of 3.50 beta version on 6th.

Now join the celebration; finally grab that Steam copy, or gift it to your friend, take a look at the video greetings, enjoy adventures in the Far North in the current version, and stay very tuned for the beta release tomorrow.

From left to right; Erkka (co-designer), and Sami (creator) shake hands for it's the special Indie-dependence day. 1/4 centenary of playable UnReal World releases, and full centenary of Finland's independence. Our indiedepence day video greetings are available for Steam purchaser in free Video Greetings DLC which you can add to your cart at will. The package now contains four videos, and more will follow in time. As the Video Greetings package grows we'll find ways to keep the file sizes decent, but for now it's full HD work around 900 MB in size. http://store.steampowered.com/app/505100 If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder.

Cheers, Thanks and Respect to all of you.

[ 2017-12-05 18:01:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Very exciting times are at hand... We've reached beta stage with the upcoming version 3.50. Test builds have been compiled and proven playable and we are shortly ready to move onto releasing the first 3.50 beta version. This will be opt-into release, for the beta usually means some bugs as well. By the way, did you know that this year is 100th anniversary of Finland's independence? Doesn't matter if you didn't, but it's a big year for the country and it all culminates on 6th of December - for that is our official independence day. On that very day we are celebrating the extraordinary Indie-dependence day for it's been 25 years of playable UnReal World releases. In other words, the game has been out there for 1/4 of its development nation's official existence. It's either an old game, or a young nation. We try to aim beta release to take place on 6th - but depending on our schedules it might come either a bit earlier or later. Because of the special anniversary a portion of finnish games on Steam are also taking part in special sale period arranged for us. Before the sale is going on we can't exactly say when it starts or ends, but you should know that UnReal World celeberates with the sale, and it's around the corner. We'll be also releasing a little indiedependence day video within the video greetings DLC to celebrate the occasion. It's three nights, at the most.

[ 2017-12-03 14:49:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

For more than half a decade already we've had a habit of creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight UnReal World buyers and supporters. About a year ago we started bringing the video works on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players.

A fresh video greeting "Greetings from Horseback" is now up in the video greetings DLC package.

Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains three videos to start with, and more will follow in time. As the Video Greetings package grows we'll find ways to keep the file sizes decent, but for now it's full HD work around 500 MB in size. http://store.steampowered.com/app/505100 If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. If you're curious about what the video greetings may be about you can browse the older stuff at: Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Cheers!

[ 2017-08-14 14:54:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Six Cards for the adventurers under the northern sky, Five Backgrounds for the settlers in their cabins of wood, Nine emoticons for the community bound to cheer and sigh, One badge, six levels, for the players struggling to survive for good in the ancient north where you are free to roam or to settle. Umm... you get the picture, right? So...

UnReal World trading cards are here

Yes, our Trading Cards are now live and released. And naturally with the finely tailored badges, emoticons and backgrounds included in the set. There you go...
One background, one trading card, one badge -- and one developer -- in action.

Trading Cards and Backgrounds -- unique glimpses of the game world

It's all about deep thought, ambition, setting suitable design and talent. Thus, Trading Card and Background artwork is drawn by Finnish comic artist Tuuli Hypén. Her creations are completely fresh moody imagery of carefully cherished and selected scenes. Beautiful, collectible, profile decorating unique glimpses of the game world for you.

Emoticons and Badges -- something old, something new

The badges kind of represent a coming-of-age story... It's the familiar looking survivor, now only in hi-res and detailed, progressing through the course we have used to follow with many characters. Slowly acquiring wealth, equipment and skills on the way. And if you pay great attention to the details, in our setting appropriate badge artwork also the beard length is a sign of progress. The emoticons come from the game world and tiles... There's Noaidi's mushroom, and there's Elk. There's Njerpez Warrior and there is Fire. And a few others, to boost your communications.

Umm, but what are Steam Trading Cards?

Oh, you are new to Steam Trading Cards? Well, they are virtual cards earned by playing games on Steam. Sets of cards can be turned into game badges and tradable Steam community items. Check out the introduction page, and find detailed FAQ at the bottom: http://steamcommunity.com/tradingcards

And What is UnReal World?

Oh, you are new to UnReal World? Well, it's the cult classic open-ended wilderness survival roguelike RPG taking place in the ancient North during the late iron-age. Throughout the years, UnReal World has been praised for its incredible depth, realism, atmosphere and immersion. With more than two decades of development it also sports Guinness World Record for Longest Update Support For a Game. Well, it's also turn-based, content over graphics, requires you to read and think quite a bit, and keyboard controlled. But if you can survive that then lose yourself in the intricate, detailed and enchanting iron-age game world in which northern folklore, knowledge and way of life play an important part. Into the far north we shall take you... ...and have some trading cards drop on your way as well.

[ 2017-08-05 17:53:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

You dream of a summer release. You aim your fingers at the keyboard and code. You fail to deliver a summer release. You know, that's what has happened to me. Like mentioned in earlier posts I dreamed of a summer release, and a proper long holiday afterwards. But...we're behind the schedule with several planned goals and just can't make it. Deadlines and summer - I should have known they don't go together. So, hopes to come up with a new patch is thus postponed after the summer. I'll be entering summer vacation shortly, for the whole august. This means I'll be more absent in regards to game related forums and e-mail activity. Coding is to be continued in the autumn then, but some additional content is still to be expected sooner...

Steam Trading cards

Yeeees, the trading cards. That's what we will be releasing before I leave the development chambers. It's actually the trading cards (with emoticons, badges and all that extra) which have postponed my general working schedule more than expected. Ambitions can take time, you know, but we already love the outcome ever so much. So at least for Steam players there will be something new in UnReal World to browse during the summer. A proper, loud and clear announcement of Trading Card release will be posted when the time is at hand. You can still prepare yourselves, foreign and domestic card traders -- it's going to be beautiful!

Greetings from horseback

You aim your bow at a target from the horseback and shoot. You are doing horseback archery. You know, and speaking of dreaming, that has also happened to me. For as long as I've been doing primitive and traditional archer I've dreamed of one day going for horseback archery. Until this summer it's been horseback riding and archery separately, but this very year I've picked up and entered this form of archery and horsemanship I've always craved for. This is going to be a dedicated horseback archery year for me, and whether I'm on a vacation or not, we just might see the next video greetings consisting of horseback archery footage. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with these few still shots. First from the horseback, then by the tranquil summer lakes around my neighborhood.



Best wishes. We'll catch up with everything in the autumn. But I'm sure at some point I'll be tempted to post a few holiday greetings as well.

[ 2017-07-27 12:18:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Summer it is, and we've been steadily trucking towards yet another version. Once it's wrapped up it's gonna be summer holidays for me, and new features in UnReal World for you. Summer it is, despite of the current weather in Finland including little snow and sleet every now and then, chilly days and almost frosty nights. But the weather engine still isn't bugged ;) What's cooking then -- and when the soup is ready? I wouldn't want to speak of schedules but I put my hope in July. We'll have some fresh stuff out then...at the latest...I suppose. And this summer we don't release only yeat another new version of the game, but also our first Steam feature... ta-daa... Trading Cards!

UnReal World Trading Cards

Trading Cards for UnReal World are coming this summer. Yet again we like to do things with deep thought, love, ambition and talent and that's why the card artwork is drawn by Finnish comic artist Tuuli Hypén. (Some of you may remember her classic "conflict in the woods" drawing based on the old title screen.) We've cherished and talked about the card themes and plots during the spring, the creation is in progress, and below you can find a sneak preview collage consisting of drafts, sketches and semi-finished artwork. Trading Cards are likely to be launched even before the actual next version is finished. We'll start with six cards, and most likely expand the pack in the future. Prepare yourselves, foreign and domestic card traders!

Upcoming game content features

Then, a few words and screenies about the upcoming new game content -- to be expected this summer. Like always, we're adding new freatures on many different fronts but let's highlight some of the probably most widely interesting here: * Bones and antlers Antlers and bones can be now harvested from carcassess. They have only little usage on their own but do serve as trophies and new raw materials to be utilized via modding if you like. * Skulls and teeth Skulls can be now harvested from a few species of dead animals whose skulls (or teeth) have meaningful ritual or magical usage. Skulls can be furthermore applied to pick teeth from them. Bear teeth for example are well-known for their magical powers. Screenshot: By the sacred bear memorial rite tree Panu takes a look at the sturdy bones after hanging the bear skull in place.
* New spells, more spells, spells screen overhaul We're giving up the old ritual system for good, and now focusing on the new kind of spells and spells system first showcased in version 3.40. This means removal of some of the old spells, but also featuring more and more new spells. Ritual screen will be known as "Spells and magic means" screen and all the new spells are listed there as well. "New spells" refers to spells featured in version 3.40, which are learned within quests and performed by following the instructions given in spell description by using the common game mechanics and actions. Currently you can view new spell descriptions only in the quest journal, but now it all will be available within the spells screen. Whenever a new spell is learned it will also appear in this new list of spells. Bringing the selector on a any spell in the list displays its information dialog. If necessary, a selection is then made by mouse click or enter. In addition, there are also hotkeys for quick spell selection. In case of the new manually and mechanically performed spells the spell selection merely shows the spell description and instructions to follow in order to perform the spell. The old spells (eg. blood-stanching incantation) are colored differently and automatically put to action upon selection. Screenshot: The new spells screen with quite a bit of spells known. Hovering the selector over the first spell shows the description.
* Cubs and calves - rise of the young animals Cubs and calves have been added for relevant wild animal species eg. elks, bears, reindeer, hares etc. In case of large species ie. elks and bears, the young ones usually follow their mothers in the wild for a full year after the birth. So, now you may occasionally encounter an elk mother wandering together with her calf, or a bear mother followed by her cub. Mother animals may act more unexpectedly or aggressively than usual when they're still taking care of their young ones -- and that's especially true in case of bears. Few screenshots - the adventures of fghfg among cubs and calves :) Bear mother with its cub. Careful now. You don't want to position yourself in between those two.
Ooo.. isn't that sweet... not a hunting day today.
* Ant nests For some this is a mere curiosity, for some an absolute necessity. Anyhow, ant nests can be now found in the forest. They are needed in performing certain spells but have no other use to the player character currently. Screenshot: It's raining - and it's ant nest!

Stay tuned... Deeper and deeper into the Far North we shall take you...

[ 2017-06-03 16:21:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

The spring is in the air. Here's a squirrel in a big pine tree at my backyard. It said to me that today we should release a new patch.
So we did, and here's the changelog. With this last fistful of crucial fixes and a few additions we'll tag version 3.40 stable. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Version 3.40 stable changelog:

- added: trapped animals will eventually die Depending on their nutrition and overall physical condition it usually takes from few days to a week for a trapped animal to perish. - added: when examining a single piece of clothing/armour the item name is shown in the armour coverage screen - added [info]: character creation screen now notifies about wrong character names Eg. if there's already a character folder with the same name you'll be informed about it and asked to enter a different name. This clears occasional newcomer failures to proceed with character creation. - adjusted: craft and task times calculated more independently to overcome time-related abuses Previously you could predict quality of crafts and success of tasks from the time required to complete them. A shorter time meant greater success for example in case of crafting, hideworking or rod fishing. Now the time taken is calculated independently although still naturally based on the applicable skill. In general higher skill mastery level is still prone to get things done faster, but it's not possible to predict the outcome from the required time anymore. - adjusted: trident breakage values Tridents were too fragile and breaking too easily. With their wear/break/fracture levels corrected all three tridents are significantly more durable now. - adjusted: attack and defense classes of some weapons Weapons have been checked for their attack and defense class values. Some corrections and rethinking has been proceeded as follows, with one item weight adjustment in there as well. Changes are represented in [old values] -> [new values] format. The higher the number the better the attack/defense class. * Broad axe attack/defense: 3/1 -> 1/1 weight: 8.5 lbs -> 5.5 lbs * Carving axe attack/defense: 2/2 -> 2/1 * Woodsman's axe attack/defense: 3/1 -> 2/1 * Stone axe attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Spear attack/defense: 3/2 -> 4/2 * Kaumolais spear attack/defense: 4/2 -> 5/2 * Small trident attack/defense: 3/2 -> 3/1 * Wide trident attack/defense: 4/4 -> 4/2 * Club attack/defense: 3/1 -> 2/1 * Kaumolais knife & Northern knife attack/defense: 2/1 -> 1/1 * Broad knife & Hunting knige attack/defense: 1/1 -> 1/0 * Knife attack/defense: 1/0 -> 0/0 * Grainflail attack/defense: 4/1 -> 3/2 MIGRATION NOTICE: Weapons created or obtained in the previous version still carry their previous version values. - added: default setup options file (defaults/urw_ini.def) to be copied in place if needed There is a new defaults/ folder containing urw_ini.def file which is the original setup file. Upon first starting the game this file is copied into game's installation folder as urw_ini.txt which is then our editable setup file. (If urw_ini.txt already exists no copying occurs.) - fixed [quest]: wounded adventurer occasionally generated out of village boundaries The bug usually manifested with a false adventurer figure appearing on the overworld map far away from the village. - fixed: armour coverage screen showed bodyparts with zero protection value with the last displayed color This was the case for example when checking out blunt or squeeze protection values for nettle and linen clothes. Now zero protection value is shown with very dark (almost black) red color. - fixed: dead NPC with seemingly zero weight in "Not all who wander are lost" start-up scenario - fixed [modding]: {[TERRAIN:]} crafting requirement tag not properly recognizing "sea" terrain type - fixed [quest]: escorting NPC to a village mistakenly accepted arriving at Njerpez villages - fixed: "How is it going?" chat option occasionally missing from certain NPCs - fixed: troubles of shooting arrows from frozen water puddles at mires The arrows did prematurely hit the ground due to faulty terrain elevation calculations. - fixed: withered mushrooms had no visible tile graphics - fixed [rare condition]: buried treasures being generated on mire islands where it's impossible to dig them up - fixed [rare condition]: all the start menu entries bringing up "About" screen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers!

[ 2017-03-07 14:39:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

For half a decade already we've had a habit of creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight UnReal World buyers and supporters. Six months ago we started bringing the video works on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players.

A fresh video greeting "Sliding just fine" is now up in the video greetings DLC package.

Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. The package now contains two videos to start with, and more will follow in time. As the Video Greetings package grows we'll find ways to keep the file sizes decent, but for now it's full HD work around 380 MB in size. http://store.steampowered.com/app/505100 If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. If you're curious about what the video greetings may be about you can browse the older stuff at: Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Cheers!

[ 2017-02-15 14:48:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Last Wednesday, 4th of January 2017, it was opening of The Finnish Museum of Games in Vapriikki museum centre at Tampere. And there we went. It was a pleasure to attend, to see the history being made with the museum opening, and of course to see UnReal World being part of the exhibition. The Finnish Museum of Games tells the story of how digital gaming in Finland started, how it developed over the years and how it made it to where it is now. All the information there is available also in enlish. Many kind of great and crazy games to see and try, with video interviews and unique game related item collections to widen the experience. There are also theme rooms from different decades since 70's with not only the authentic gaming gear and games, but the authentic interior design as well. Want to enter a room of finnish youngster in 80's and play a little something with commodore 64? Or would you like to take a look of some handwritten game design notes from creators of say UnReal World? Well, you better visit the Finnish Museum of Games then.

It's open now and it's a pure joyride! Whenever it's possible for you, go and see it for yourself!

Here are the links, and find some opening night joyride pics at the bottom. http://vapriikki.fi/pelimuseo/ https://www.facebook.com/suomenpelimuseo/ https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/pelimuseo/ For finns here's comprehensive article about the museum, and we are mentioned there as well: http://www.aamulehti.fi/kulttuuri/kun-poikien-puuhastelusta-kasvoi-miljoonabisnes-suomalaiset-pelit-saivat-vihdoin-arvoisensa-museon-24183576/ The Finnish Museum of Games, we salute you! Cheers and thanks to the staff!

[ 2017-01-06 18:20:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Version 3.40 is now set as our default release branch. Though it's still tagged beta 3 we're proud and happy to set it live as official midwinter 2016 release for everyone. Those of you who aren't familiar with 3.40 already can take a look at beta release post about most important 3.40 additions - or view news.txt in your Steam UnReal World folder. (For those who for some reason need to play previous stable version 3.32 instead you can use prevstable332 password to unlock branch to opt-into playing version 3.32.) And yeah, Steam Winter sale is also going on. If you're celebrating a festivity where giving presents is a custom maybe you'd like to take advantage of the sale and give your friend a gift to bring them into the Far North.

Merry midwinter times to all of you! Thank you for 2016 - and let's continue..

[IMG=http://www.unrealworld.fi/images/offtopic/xmas-cheers-2016.jpg]

[ 2016-12-22 20:41:13 CET ] [ Original post ]

The third beta of version 3.40 is now live and released. It's mostly a bugfix patch, but one might find a few delighting additions in there as well. The patch update is automatic for those who have opted into 3.40 beta-branch. And those who haven't may want to take a look at Version 3.40 beta release post and opt into manually at will. This update is also our 3.40 release candidate patch. Things have been good and steady with the new version and if no showstoppers are found we'll be soon ending the beta period and tag this one stable. I'd like to see that happen before 24th.

Version 3.40 beta 3 changelog

- added: zoom option for map of known areas [F6] You can adjust zoom level by mouse wheel, or with the following keys: CTRL and + to zoom in CTRL and - to zoom out CTRL and 0 to toggle between normal and maxed out map view - added: game encyclopedia [F1] entries of the new valuable items Information about all the newly added valuables is now available in the game encyclopedia [F1]. Time to get to know those brooches, combs, bracelets, rings and pendants you may find. - fixed: NPCs mistakenly speaking of a reward covering some of your trades in villages where no reward was given - fixed: quest journal [F2] showing wrong details when selecting a quest on other than the first journal page - fixed: map of known areas [F6] crash potential due to excess amount of custom map markers Trying to view marker details with more than 10 custom map markers within the cursor radius caused a crash. The crash potential is fixed now and in case of spammed markers the information for only the first 10 markers within the cursors radius is shown. Be reasonable with your markers. - fixed: inventory mess up potential if torch burnt out when certain inventory related activity eg. eating was going on - fixed [rare condition]: false automatic player character attacks getting triggered at random targets at the area You might see "You attacks [creature]!" messages, or even get prompted for attack maneuvers. - fixed: feathers not burning in the fire - fixed: torches burning out while idling - fixed: burnt fire destroying dug holes in the ground - fixed: undergarment coverage Women's undergarment now covers also elbows, forearms, knees and calves. Coverage of these bodyparts was mistakenly absent before. - fixed: woollen leggings coverage They now cover also the hips. - corrected: bunch of linen, nettle adn woollen cloth weights and prices There was some inconsistency and clear faults with weights and prices of clothes such as shirts, undershirts, tunics and undergarments. There are no radical changes, but the weights and prices have been checked and adjusted where applicable. MIGRATION NOTICE: clothes obtained or generated in the previous version still carry the old values. - fixed: some typos here and there ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers!

[ 2016-12-18 15:03:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

The second beta of version 3.40 is now live and released. It's a bugfix patch and an automatic update for those who have opted into 3.40 beta-branch. And those who haven't may want to take a look at Version 3.40 beta release post and opt into manually at will. Work with all the new goodies and features still continues.

Version 3.40 beta 2 changelog

- fixed: not always getting the stone back when deconstructing small deadfall trap - fixed: credit reward not taken into account when forming a message where NPCs tell you how much of the trade the items you have offered covers The credit worked as it should, but the message was broken in case of paying for picked village items. You might get messages such as "this is very marginal" even though the offered items with the credit counted in actually was close to asked price. - fixed: quest related NPCs appearing in emptied/abandoned villages - fixed: quest dialog typos "About that %s..." - fixed: learning old (before 3.40) rituals (was completely broken) Characters never learned them during the gameplay. - fixed: village data corruption potential when saving and loading different village located characters during one gaming session This could result for example in [unpaid] tags persisting with items you tried to trade for. - fixed: whole inventory stack always selected when using upper case letters to select things from inventory This was due to addition of holding SHIFT down to select the whole item stack interfered with producing upper case letters. - changed: Markers of completed quests are not displayed in Map of known areas [F6] anymore Within Quest journal [F2] you can still display markers of any quest at will, including the completed ones.

Cheers!

[ 2016-11-14 17:40:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

The time has come to release the first beta of UnReal World version 3.40. It's available as beta-branch you can opt into manually at will. And you should. Work with the new goodies and features continues, but things are nicely stable and good to go already. The meat of version 3.40 are the quests and new kind of spells, but variety of tasty lesser cuts are to be found as well. For example treasure caches, meeting and seeing the spirits for real, and overhauled glossary of valuables. Some crucial bugfixes are in there as well, of course. Find the full changelog at the bottom of this post, but first... Here's how to get your hands on 3.40 beta:

• Close UnReal World if you happen to be playing it right now.
• Right-click UnReal World in your Steam games library and select "Properties".
• Select "Betas" tab.
• Select "3.40 beta" in the dropdown box ('Select the beta you would like to opt into').
• Close the dialog, the game updates, and you are now ready to get into UnReal World 3.40.

(Should you encounter some crazy problems with the beta, you can always switch back to current stable version by choosing "NONE" from the beta dropdown box) Here comes the changelog. Let the adventures in the Far North continue. Cheers!

Version: 3.40 beta 1 changelog

BETA NOTICE: This is a beta release. There are likely to be bugs and some of the listed improvements will be tweaked and polished further in patches to follow. Your current Steam version characters are compatible with this version.

- added: Quests

There are quests - and that's big. We start with around 15 quests in this version, and more will follow in the future. It's quite impossible to pinpoint it all, but here's a few lines about the most important ideas,features and mechanics regarding the implementation of quests. The quest system as a whole is an enormous (and laborous) addition. We haven't taken the easiest path, but use verbose dialogue, procedural generation and randomization to maintain replayability and immersion. Quests don't come in your way in linear or fixed fashion. Not in the the same order, not from the same NPCs, not in the same locations, and so on. Some of the quests may appear several times, some only once. The plots vary from everyday chores and problems to folklore and mythology based stories and incidents. We've paid attention to making quests also to fill in the game world and the worldview of the player (character) to good and interesting extent. There are both mundane and otherworldly things to discover, solve and learn. Quests bring a lot to the game, but open-ended and non-linear roaming, adventuring and surviving remains the essence. You are likely to get involved in quests relatively rarely. Perhaps only once or twice a month or so. And in the end it's completely up to player characters as to what extent, if at all, they want to unfold the quests and stories there now exist. * quest generation Quests are generated on the fly during the gameplay depending on various factors, world events and pre-conditions. Things like cultural area, season, nearby landscape, character's familiarity, reputation, carried equipment or skills may all affect to whether a certain quest will appear or not. For example, a certain quest might get generated only if the character is somewhat known, has flawless reputation, it's autumn and there's a big lake nearby. Another quest may require character to be a stranger but of the same culture as the quest giver. However, if the world events and conditions are suitable the quest generation also keeps on trucking in the background regardless of player character's whereabouts, actions or status. So, there are quests and new kind of events in the world - and then there's the ordinary open-ended life of the character. These two just may occasionally meet. * obtaining quests Quests can be obtained by talking to people. This applies both to villagers and lone wandering NPCs, although villager given quests are more commonly met. Quests can be accepted or ignored at will, so you are free to decide in what to get involved. All the quests are told within the chat dialogue which is often versatile and not too straightforward. The dialogue proceeds based on the chat options, questions and answers, you choose. You don't always necessarily get to know all the details or tidbits. And sometimes you may learn seemingly trivial things about the UnReal World in general within the quest dialogue. There are basically three ways to find out about a quest: 1. You talk to NPC and find out about a quest. 2. NPC comes talk to you and tells about a quest. 3. You talk to NPC, asking "How is it going?", and they tell you about a person/situation which can be investigated further and may then lead to getting involved in a quest. So the general "How is it going?" chat option now serves as a way to ask if somebody in the village has a known quest or problem of which the other NPCs are also aware of. If there is, NPCs will hint you about it and mention who you should talk to. This kind of hints about quests are often quite vague and call for asking the NPC in question for more information. Within this sort of quest hint dialogue you can pretty much always ask where to find the NPC in question. Notice that NPCs may also rarely have personal problems or quests of which the other villagers are not aware of. * quest journal [F2] A new information page, quest journal, has been added. Quest journal is viewed with [F2] key command and it contains the list and details of quests the character is currently involved in, or has completed in the past. Quest journal main page shows the list of quests along with their titles, quest giver information, assignment and expiration dates. You can then select a quest from the list to view it in detail. Detailed quest information is provided by showing all the relevant talk lines you have heard from NPCs. We don't use ordinary "your goal is to..." quest summaries, but instead you'll see the exact information you've been told. Should you discover new information from NPCs along the way the quest journal details will update accordingly. From the quest details page you can also view the quest related map markers. See below. * quest related map markers Quests also add markers on the map of known areas. Locations of the related NPCs you have met and talked to are always marked on the map, but there can be also markers of important quest related areas - if you have found about them. There's "[F6] Map locations" option at the bottom of each quest details page. It shows the map of known areas with markers of the said quest. Like all the map markers also the quest related markers can be pointed and clicked, or selected by keyboard, to view the associated information. There are two types of quest related markers: 'Quest location' and 'Quest related area'. 'Quest location' marker shows locations of NPCs you have obtained quest related information from. These are the locations where you originally heard NPCs talking about the quest. Clicking the marker shows the quest in question and the related NPC description. You often need to return back to the quest giver after completing the quest further away, and these markers help you to find your way at the important quest related people you have met. 'Quest related area' marker indicates a specific quest related area or location somebody has told you about. Quest related locations are always described also verbally within the quest dialog, but in some cases the area markers appear to indicate rough whereabouts of the place in question. Size of the quest related area markers can vary, and they foremostly give you an initial idea of the area where to head for further investigation. Clicking the marker shows the quest in question and what the marked area is about. * quest rewards You may get rewarded by NPCs for completing a quest. There are different types of reward, and here's briefing of the most important ones. In addition, completing quests also quite often increase your reputation in the eyes of the whole village, or the solitary NPC in question. - items NPCs can reward you with variety of items. Sometimes these are plain ordinary items, but there are also new items you can obtain only by completing quests. These new special items are often somehow magical or enchanted in nature. NPCs will describe you the properties and usage of the new special items within the quest dialog. - get taught in skills You can get rewarded with a lesson in certain skill which improves the said skill with 3-6 points the next time you use it in true situation. The lower the skill level is the greater skill improvement results from a given lesson. Having to actually use the skill after the lesson means that in case of a tracking lesson the improvent requires tracking skill to be used where there actually are tracks to spot. And in case of a sword lesson, the improvement requires a true sword combat maneuver to be executed. And so on. - village goods of your choice for free You can get village goods up to certain value for free. Upon getting this kind of reward NPCs usually tell you the value of the reward in squirrel hides which gives a rough idea about what you can expect to get. The village goods you can get for free can be anything that villagers would also normally trade, and you can choose the goods from storehouses or individual NPCs. In practice this reward works like having a certain amount of trading credit. After picking up your selections the items appear as 'unpaid' and you claim them to yourself through trading options the same way as you would normally trade for unpaid items. But now upon starting to trade, with the reward active, villagers tell you how much of the selected items your reward covers. If your reward doesn't cover all of the trade you need to pay for the remaining amount by normal means of trading. If the reward covers all of the trade you don't naturally have to pay anything, and the remaining value of the reward can be claimed later on. You can change your mind, decide whether to accept the deal or not and all that just like in normal trading. It is the same with getting reward provided items from individual NPCs. Start trading, make your selections and they will tell you how much, if at all, you need to pay. Moreover, individual NPCs are usually more willing to give their goods as a reward as they would in normal trading situation. You don't have to use the reward right away or at once, but can spend it at any time you desire. Everytime you claim some free goods NPCs will remind you about how much of the reward still remains. - spells You may learn new spells both as a quest reward and during the quest dialogue in general. These new spells vary from hunting and fishing spells to interacting with the spirit world. Sometimes the spells itself or following the magical means NPCs describe are required to complete certain quests. See separate spells section below for more information. - treasure tales NPCs who know about treasures may reveal the information about what is hidden and where as a reward. You'll usually obtain enough verbal information to go search for the treasure, but the rough whereabouts of the treasure also gets marked as quest related area on the map of known areas.

- added: new spells, in a new way

There are around 20 new spells and magical means to learn and perform. The new spells differ a great deal from the common rituals (F4) in their content and way of performance. We'll get into details below, but this all can be very well consideredthe start of the spell system and spirit world overhaul. The new spells are based on the worldview and beliefs of the ancient Finns - with a greatest ambition. All the new spells are based on the actual collected hunting and fishing spells. We've pursued, in a lack of better words, for historical and mythological accuracy This comes down not only to spell backgrounds or verbal description but also to how the spells were actually performed. The new spells are not simply selected from the list for the magic to happen, but performed with the actual player character actions which vary for each spell. * The new spells can be learned from NPCs within quests. Verbal information to perform these spells can be then found within quest dialog in the quest journal. (In the future versions we'll make the new spells appear in the ritual screen [F4] as well.) As the spell descriptions are sometimes verbose and contain background information too they can also reveal you a little something about the people's worldview and beliefs in general. * The new spells are often "do like this and that will happen" kind of things. To perform a spell in question you then need to follow the instructions by using the common game mechanics and actions. For example, if the spell instructions would say "throw three rocks at a spruce tree before the sunrise and your loop snares will be favourable" the spell would be performed by throwing three rocks at a spruce tree before the sunrise. That's just an example and not an actual magical mean there is in the game, but you get the picture. When the spell required actions have been executed there's no notification of any kind about a succesfully performed spell. If you did the right actions you've performed the spell right, and some magic did happen. If the spell actually worked in the game world or not, well, that is hopefully to be noticed at some point. That's how the spells work. * Effects of the spells and magical means are vague and subtle as usual. Some spells are simple, some are more complex, but most often they consists of seemingly ordinary things that have magical meaning behind them once you know it. There are rarely evident results to be noticed, but nevertheless the magical, ritualistic and mythical actions you learn and perform have impact on the game world. - added & improved: valuables Dozen of new valuable items have been added with deep thought, based on archeological findings and inspired by historical references. The assortment of valuables now consist of brooches, combs, pendants, bracelets and rings made of bronze and silver. All the valuables are now also culturally dependent. Valuables are still very rare and mostly carried by wealthy traders, or found in treasure caches. - added: valuables for foreign traders Foreign traders may now carry some valuables for trading. - added: treasure caches People may have hidden their wealth and valuables for variety of reasons at varying locations, and you may sometimes stumble upon these treasure caches. They can be found by mere accident, but far more likely after hearing treasure tales from NPCs within certain quests. The most common locations for treasure caches are caves, cliffs and islands. Treasures can be also buried in the ground and can't be easily found unless you have heard where to dig. Different cultures have different opinions about what can be considered a treasure worth of hiding, so the items to be found in treasure caches are culturally dependent. Hiding the rare valuables is common for all the cultures, but treasures of UnReal World more often consist of everyday items such as tools, weapons, grains, clothes or furs. - added: meeting and seeing the spirits for real Many kind of spirits and otherworldly creatures have always existed in UnReal World, but they haven't appeared for player characters in visible form - until now. Now it's remotely possible for some player characters to actually see certain spirits in the game world. - added: holding SHIFT down selects the whole stack when selecting items in inventory with ENTER or mouse click - added: telling a difference between running and walking tracks Upon examining tracks you can now distinguish animal running tracks from the regular walking tracks, depending on your tracking skill and strength of the tracks. When running tracks are spotted they are simply mentioned to be "running tracks" instead of just "tracks". For example: "You notice here [track and animal information] running tracks." - changed: 'f'ire and 'b'utcher commands removed from [r]epeatable tasks As these commands have hotkeys of their own it was in vain to have them occupy [r]epeat list. - changed: dog skin is now classified as fur - adjusted: forest reindeers are now a bit more timid than previously - fixed: bug potential of domestic animals getting transported from their pen at overworld map - fixed: rafting characters occasionally located on dry land when zooming in near certain terrain types - fixed: occasional decent quality crafts from worse quality raw materials - fixed: boil recipe requirements order A cooking pot was asked before the water, which isn't preferred order. Now it's water first, then a cooking pot. - fixed: wrong flatbread graphic tile - fixed: containers disappearing when utilizing a stack of containers filled with required ingredients/raw materials - optimized: hungry dog food searching routines Having multiple leashed hungry dogs following you could cause slowdown on certain zoomed-in areas due to their food searching routines. This has been optimized now for way faster performance now. - fixed: [unpaid] tag persisting if unpaid items were offered back to NPCs during the trade This occasionally resulted in items becoming impossible to trade for after NPCs had stocked them back to storehouses. - fixed: all the village dogs wanting to follow you if you bought one of them This resulted in irrelevant confirmation messages when zooming out nearby villages. - fixed: village fields the player character had visited for the first time in early spring not always getting resown properly - fixed [rare condition]: crashing on zoomed-in maps with lots of holes in the ice and creatures falling through the ice - corrected: woollen dress weight, It was 5 lbs, which was too low. Now woollen dress weighs 6.5 lbs.

[ 2016-10-28 12:13:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oh yes, we're aiming for a new version release in October with the meat of it being the quests and the new kind of spells. I'll be still wrestling with the final additions until the end of this month, but no longer. Then it's time to wrap things up for You to unfold on some pretty unpredictable October day. Been writing down the list of new features too and hereby you'll get to read a sneak preview about the big two to expect. Let's have a few screenshot in there too for easier digest. Some of this has been hinted about earlier, but putting it all together is in place now. And there's still September left to write a few more chapters - both the code and the news ;) This is a list of future features to be released in October:

Quests

There are quests - and that's big. We start with around 15 quests in this version, and more will follow in the future. It's quite impossible to pinpoint it all, but here's a few lines about the most important ideas, features and mechanics regarding the implementation of quests. The quest system as a whole is an enormous (and laborous) addition. We haven't taken the easiest path, but use verbose dialogue, procedural generation and randomization to maintain replayability and immersion. Quests don't come in your way in linear or fixed fashion. Not in the the same order, not from the same NPCs, not in the same locations, and so on. Some of the quests may appear several times, some only once. The plots vary from everyday chores and problems to folklore and mythology based stories and incidents. We've paid attention to making quests also to fill in the game world and the worldview of the player (character) to good and interesting extent. There are both mundane and otherworldly things to discover, solve and learn. Quests bring a lot to the game, but open-ended and non-linear roaming, adventuring and surviving remains the essence. You are likely to get involved in quests relatively rarely. Perhaps only once or twice a month or so. And in the end it's completely up to player characters as to what extent, if at all, they want to unfold the quests and stories there now exist.

quest generation

Quests are generated on the fly during the gameplay depending on various factors, world events and pre-conditions. Things like cultural area, season, nearby landscape, character's familiarity, reputation, carried equipment or skills may all affect to whether a certain quest will appear or not. For example, a certain quest might get generated only if the character is somewhat known, has flawless reputation, it's autumn and there's a big lake nearby. Another quest may require character to be a stranger but of the same culture as the quest giver. However, if the world events and conditions are suitable the quest generation also keeps on trucking in the background regardless of player character's whereabouts, actions or status. So, there are quests and new kind of events in the world - and then there's the ordinary open-ended life of the character. These two just may occasionally meet.

obtaining quests

Quests can be obtained by talking to people. This applies both to villagers and lone wandering NPCs, although villager given quests are more commonly met. Quests can be accepted or ignored at will, so you are free to decide in what to get involved. All the quests are told within the chat dialogue which is often versatile and not too straightforward. The dialogue proceeds based on the chat options, questions and answers, you choose. You don't always necessarily get to know all the details or tidbits. And sometimes you may learn seemingly trivial things about the UnReal World in general within the quest dialogue. There are basically three ways to find out about a quest: 1. You talk to NPC and find out about a quest. 2. NPC comes talk to you and tells about a quest. 3. You talk to NPC, asking "How is it going?", and they tell you about a person/situation which can be investigated further and may then lead to getting involved in a quest. So the general "How is it going?" chat option now serves as a way to ask if somebody in the village has a known quest or problem of which the other NPCs are also aware of. If there is, NPCs will hint you about it and mention who you should talk to. This kind of hints about quests are often quite vague and call for asking the NPC in question for more information. Within this sort of quest hint dialogue you can pretty much always ask where to find the NPC in question. Notice that NPCs may also rarely have personal problems or quests of which the other villagers are not aware of. Finding out about the quest with "How is it going?" query.
And continuing to ask where to find the person in question:

quest journal - [F2]

A new information page, quest journal, has been added. Quest journal is viewed with [F2] key command and it contains the list and details of quests the character is currently involved in, or has completed in the past. Quest journal main page shows the list of quests along with their titles, quest giver information, assignment and expiration dates. You can then select a quest from the list to view it in detail. Detailed quest information is provided by showing all the relevant talk lines you have heard from NPCs. We don't use ordinary "your goal is to..." quest summaries, but instead you'll see the exact information you've been told. Should you discover new information from NPCs along the way the quest journal details will update accordingly. From the quest details page you can also view the quest related map markers. See below. Quest journal main page.
And detailed quest information is provided by showing the relevant talk lines. In this screenshot, most of the text is blurred in order not to spoil the fun.

quest related map markers

Quests also add markers on the map of known areas. Locations of the related NPCs you have met and talked to are always marked on the map, but there can be also markers of important quest related areas - if you have found about them. There's "[F6] Map locations" option at the bottom of each quest details page. It shows the map of known areas with markers of the said quest. Like all the map markers also the quest related markers can be pointed and clicked, or selected by keyboard, to view the associated information. There are two types of quest related markers: 'Quest location' and 'Quest related area'. 'Quest location' marker shows locations of NPCs you have obtained quest related information from. These are the locations where you originally heard NPCs talking about the quest. Clicking the marker shows the quest in question and the related NPC description. You often need to return back to the quest giver after completing the quest further away, and these markers help you to find your way at the important quest related people you have met. 'Quest related area' marker indicates a specific quest related area or location somebody has told you about. Quest related locations are always described also verbally within the quest dialog, but in some cases the area markers appear to indicate rough whereabouts of the place in question. Size of the quest related area markers can vary, and they foremostly give you an initial idea of the area where to head for further investigation. Clicking the marker shows the quest in question and what the marked area is about. Clicking for more details about "Quest location" marker (and two villages):
...and the "Quest related area" marker::

Quest rewards

You may get rewarded by NPCs for completing a quest. There are different types of reward, and here's briefing of the most important ones. In addition, completing quests also quite often increase your reputation in the eyes of the whole village, or the solitary NPC in question. - items NPCs can reward you with variety of items. Sometimes these are plain ordinary items, but there are also new items you can obtain only by completing quests. These new special items are often somehow magical or enchanted in nature. NPCs will describe you the properties and usage of the new special items within the quest dialog. - get taught in skills You can get rewarded with a lesson in certain skill which improves the said skill with 3-6 points the next time you use it in true situation. The lower the skill level is the greater skill improvement results from a given lesson. Having to actually use the skill after the lesson means that in case of a tracking lesson the improvent requires tracking skill to be used where there actually are tracks to spot. And in case of a sword lesson, the improvement requires a true sword combat maneuver to be executed. And so on. - village goods of your choice for free You can get village goods up to certain value for free. Upon getting this kind of reward NPCs usually tell you the value of the reward in squirrel hides which gives a rough idea about what you can expect to get. The village goods you can get for free can be anything that villagers would also normally trade, and you can choose the goods from storehouses or individual NPCs. In practice this reward works like having a certain amount of trading credit. After picking up your selections the items appear as 'unpaid' and you claim them to yourself through trading options the same way as you would normally trade for unpaid items. But now upon starting to trade, with the reward active, villagers tell you how much of the selected items your reward covers. If your reward doesn't cover all of the trade you need to pay for the remaining amount by normal means of trading. If the reward covers all of the trade you don't naturally have to pay anything, and the remaining value of the reward can be claimed later on. You can change your mind, decide whether to accept the deal or not and all that just like in normal trading. It is the same with getting reward provided items from individual NPCs. Start trading, make your selections and they will tell you how much, if at all, you need to pay. Moreover, individual NPCs are usually more willing to give their goods as a reward as they would in normal trading situation. You don't have to use the reward right away or at once, but can spend it at any time you desire. Everytime you claim some free goods NPCs will remind you about how much of the reward still remains. - spells You may learn new spells both as a quest reward and during the quest dialogue in general. These new spells vary from hunting and fishing spells to interacting with the spirit world. Sometimes the spells itself or following the magical means NPCs describe are required to complete certain quests. See separate spells section below for more information. Reward covers some of the items this character wants to get:
And somebody promises a spell as a reward:

New spells, in a new way

There are around 20 new spells and magical means to learn and perform. The new spells differ a great deal from the common rituals (F4) in their content and way of performance. We'll get into details below, but this all can be very well considered the start of the spell system and spirit world overhaul. The new spells are based on the worldview and beliefs of the ancient Finns - with a greatest ambition. All the new spells are based on the actual collected hunting and fishing spells. We've pursued, in a lack of better words, for historical and mythological accuracy This comes down not only to spell backgrounds or verbal description but also to how the spells were actually performed. The new spells are not simply selected from the list for the magic to happen, but performed with the actual player character actions which vary for each spell. * The new spells can be learned from NPCs within quests. Verbal information to perform these spells can be then found within quest dialog in the quest journal. (In the future versions we'll make the new spells appear in the ritual screen [F4] as well.) As the spell descriptions are sometimes verbose and contain background information too they can also reveal you a little something about the people's worldview and beliefs in general. * The new spells are often "do like this and that will happen" kind of things. To perform a spell in question you then need to follow the instructions by using the common game mechanics and actions. For example, if the spell instructions would say "throw three rocks at a spruce tree before the sunrise and your loop snares will be favourable" the spell would be performed by throwing three rocks at a spruce tree before the sunrise. That's just an example and not an actual magical mean there is in the game, but you get the picture. When the spell required actions have been executed there's no notification of any kind about a succesfully performed spell. If you did the right actions you've performed the spell right, and some magic did happen. If the spell actually worked in the game world or not, well, that is hopefully to be noticed at some point. That's how the spells work. * Effects of the spells and magical means are vague and subtle as usual. Some spells are simple, some are more complex, but most often they consists of seemingly ordinary things that have magical meaning behind them once you know it. There are rarely evident results to be noticed, but nevertheless the magical, ritualistic and mythical actions you learn and perform have impact on the game world. The actual spellbooks we've used for adding the new spells. These are reprints of collected ancient hunting and fishing spells of the Finnish people, first published back in 1890's. Ancient hunting spells (left) and ancient fishing spells (right) of the Finnish people. There are 782 hunting spells and 409 fishing spells described in the books. Clearly there's still quite a bit of more spells to add in the future.
That's it. Briefly. And of course the next version will include some lesser additions and tweaks too.

[ 2016-09-19 20:25:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

GWR Gamer’s Edition 2017 was published today and what do we find there? UnReal World gets a world record with “Longest update support for a game” title. Basically, that means that since the first version release there has been a constant stream of updates, for a record-setting 24 years in a row. It’s some record for us and the game, but it’s also a record for you dear players, fans and followers. It is your support and feedback which has made it possible to keep up the journey this long. I take this as a great acknowledgement both for UrW and for the whole roguelike genre in general. The genre is famous of long running labour of love projects. There are also other games started back in 90’s with a long development history. What did put us in the book is probably the extra-ordinary continuity till this day, the work being carried on by the very same original developer(s), with no hiatus or pauses during this nearly quarter of a century. Special greetings to the players who have been playing the game for all these 24 years. Very special greetings to the players who asked back in 1992 if there are going to be any future updates. :) Cheers and thanks to all of you for making history with us.

[ 2016-09-08 15:45:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

For half a decade already we've had a habit of creating characteristic video greetings with varying themes to thank and delight UnReal World buyers and supporters. And now we'll start bringing the video works on Steam as a free DLC for UnReal World Steam players. Feel free to add Video Greetings to your cart if you like. We'll launch the DLC with one video to start with, and more will follow in time. As the Video Greetings package grows we'll find ways to keep the file sizes decent, but the launch (and the latest work) is full HD work around 175 MB. If you grab the Video Greetings DLC you'll find the videos within your local UnReal World files in BonusMaterial/ folder. And the game main menu also shows BONUS MATERIAL option which guides you to the right folder. If you're curious about what the video greetings may be about you can browse the older stuff at Enormous Elk YouTube channel. Cheers! PS. Might take a while before the DLC appears on Store page, but not too long.

[ 2016-07-26 13:31:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

We recently went to Tampere City for a special occasion. To meet staff of the upcoming Finnish Museum of Games for talks and interviews about a certain game. Yeah, that’s right, there’s going to be Museum of Games opening in Finland in 2017, and UnReal World is one of the titles selected to the exhibition. The visit included also an interview to be archived for the future, for the future researchers - and generations. So I guess we are officially preserved now :) The Finnish Museum of Games tells the story of how digital gaming in Finland started, how it developed over the years and how it made it to where it is now. You better take a look at Suomen Pelimuseo / The Finnish Museum of Games website (brief english info also available) and go see the exhibition for yourself in 2017. Here's rare exhibit of me and Erkka (co-designer) in urban environment -- which is actually not that uncommon, but just rarely documented. The Finnish Museum of Games will open in the Vapriikki Museum Centre at Tampere in January 2017.

Game on!

As a related thingie, just today InkTank blog takes a trip down gaming memory lane and posts their list of the 9 most important Finnish video games in history. I'm sure pretty much everyone will find few familiar titles there.

[ 2016-05-31 08:19:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

No more felling trees with the fish or other deadly funny glitches have been found so we're happy and good to go live with version 3.32. There are no changes compared to few days ago released 3.32 beta-branch, but many additions, tweaks and bugfixes compared to the previous official live version 3.30(p1). The most notable features in this update concern the changes and additions regarding companion's item ownership and net fishing. Find the full changelog after a preview screenshot. 3.32 preview. Companion is about to leave tomorrow, stating that he needs to be paid.

UnReal World version 3.32 changelog:

- added: need to pay companions & companion inventory restrictions * companion inventory restrictions You can't anymore freely pick all the items of your companions to yourself. Companions now tend to keep their most valuable and usable personal items to themselves, and usually only the cheap items and food are freely pickable. However, all the items you have delivered to your companion can be picked back at will if they are not in use (wielded or worn) at the moment. So it is still safe to pack or lend your companions even the most valuable goods you have. * need to pay companions for their days of service and items claimed Companions now require some reward for their days of service. Their price is roughly a value of one squirrel hide per day of service and you can pay them basically with any valuable goods. Also, if you have claimed companion's items to yourself they expect to be paid for those items too. In short, companions now always expect to leave with more valuable inventory than what they had upon recruitment. A day before companions are about to leave they'll let you know how they feel about their equipment and whether they expect to be paid more. If more payment is wanted simply deliver items to your companions and they'll let you know when they are happy with it. You don't have to do it at once but have the whole day to settle the payment. Talking to your companion at any time ("Greet" or "Ask for help" chat options) will also make them speak their mind about the remaining payment. If you fail to pay companions before they leave you'll be reminded about it the one last time. From there on you can still deliver goods to settle the payment, but ex-companions don't necessarily stay around for too long. Failing to pay companions lowers your reputation in their village, and makes hiring new companions there quite difficult. * migration notice Companions hired in the previous version behave differently. They still have unrestricted inventorys, and may or may not ask for payment when parting. - tweaked: recruiting companions who carry village property from failed/cancelled trades There are two new conditions to prevent exploiting companion recruiting with returned village goods: * Companions don't count the returned village property as their own when checking if they have enough equipment to join you. * When companion agrees to join you they won't keep carrying the returned village property but drop it on the ground where other villages come to reclaim it. - changed: children won't anymore participate in picking up village property left on the ground after failed/cancelled trades This is because you can't do one-to-one trading with children, and sometimes you would like to go for that with some items NPCs just picked. - added: NPCs wearing the new clothes/armours they get NPCs can now actively wear the new clothes/armours they have obtained. They'll usually go for wearing new clothes/armours after being delivered or having picked some. Delivering useful pieces of clothing/armour to your companion is now worthwhile, even though NPCs make the final decision whether they will wear something or not. - added: pull heavy items to your location with [;] pick up from adjacent tile command If the items you tried pick up from adjacent tile were too heavy to lift you'll be asked if you want to pull them to your location. - fixed [rare condition]: segfault upon launching the game on some Mint/Ubuntu systems - fixed [rare condition]: NPCs being able to fall asleep while in the water At its worst this resulted in villagers foolishly drowning/freezing to death. - fixed [modding]: [naming] tag not working properly when crafting while NPC is felling a tree - fixed: creature total injury not always increasing if the number of maximum unique injuries was reached This resulted in occasional difficulty to finish creatures with minor impact wounds. - fixed: corrupt description of "An Island" game course task - fixed: finishing tasks (eg. felling a tree) by grinding when too tired to continue When tasks were cancelled because of being too tired to continue repeating the command still always added one minute of progress and you could finish the task by this sort of grinding. Fixed now. - fixed: bears (and possibly other creatures too) occasionally entering into indecisive fighting mode They might keep constantly switching between attacking and fleeing without really making any attack maneuvers. Fixed now. - adjusted: tiny increase in lynx and glutton aggressiveness potential, especially in case of them being wounded. - added: daily tolerance for stimulant herbal effect Consuming stimulants doesn't anymore decrease the exhaustion seemingly indefinitely, but stops when a certain daily level is reached. - tweaked: net fishing * catch check time window now hourly based Net fishing catch checks are now hourly based instead of previously used morning based checks. This means you can catch fish with nets within a shorter time window. Even within an hour from setting the net - if you're lucky and the conditions are right. Naturally the longer the nets have been set the greater the catch usually grows so hasty checks usually provide only a few fish. Despite of the shorter time window it should be still remembered that in addition to your fishing skill level the factors such as terrain, water depth and time of the day also contribute to what kind fish and how much of it your net is likely to catch - if at all. * gradual catch spoilage Catch spoilage due to fish eventually dying in unretrieved nets is now gradual. You may still be able to get some of catch good and edible even if the nets have been left unretrieved for days. In general it's still advisable to check your nets at least on every other day. * setting multiple nets to same tile now forbidden - tweaked: NPC sleeping related oddities and exploits * NPC won't anymore fall asleep outside when it's raining. * Njerpez and foreign traders met in the wild won't fall asleep so easily anymore if they're within player's sight when the encounter happens. Sleeping NPCs in the wild still can encountered, but this fixes the exploitish procedure of encountering people at night hoping them fall asleep on the next move. - tweaked: restricted possibility to [w]ield skis Skis are put on by [a]pplying them but having been able to wield them too caused confusion. - changed: pine-marten aggressive sound is now 'snuffle' instead of 'snort' ** End of changelog **

[ 2016-05-18 10:40:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

You can opt-into UnReal World version 3.32 from properties -> betas, and select 3.32. We already went live with this version, but soon bumped into tree felling bug, fixed it and now thought it's probably better to have 3.32 first out as beta-branch. If no criticals are found, we'll go live with it in few days. ------------------------ The most notable features in this update concern the changes and additions regarding companion's item ownership and net fishing. In addition there's fistful of lesser tweaks and bowl of bugfixes. Take care, and find the changelog below:

UnReal World version 3.32 changelog:

- added: need to pay companions & companion inventory restrictions * companion inventory restrictions You can't anymore freely pick all the items of your companions to yourself. Companions now tend to keep their most valuable and usable personal items to themselves, and usually only the cheap items and food are freely pickable. However, all the items you have delivered to your companion can be picked back at will if they are not in use (wielded or worn) at the moment. So it is still safe to pack or lend your companions even the most valuable goods you have. * need to pay companions for their days of service and items claimed Companions now require some reward for their days of service. Their price is roughly a value of one squirrel hide per day of service and you can pay them basically with any valuable goods. Also, if you have claimed companion's items to yourself they expect to be paid for those items too. In short, companions now always expect to leave with more valuable inventory than what they had upon recruitment. A day before companions are about to leave they'll let you know how they feel about their equipment and whether they expect to be paid more. If more payment is wanted simply deliver items to your companions and they'll let you know when they are happy with it. You don't have to do it at once but have the whole day to settle the payment. Talking to your companion at any time ("Greet" or "Ask for help" chat options) will also make them speak their mind about the remaining payment. If you fail to pay companions before they leave you'll be reminded about it the one last time. From there on you can still deliver goods to settle the payment, but ex-companions don't necessarily stay around for too long. Failing to pay companions lowers your reputation in their village, and makes hiring new companions there quite difficult. * migration notice Companions hired in the previous version behave differently. They still have unrestricted inventorys, and may or may not ask for payment when parting. - tweaked: recruiting companions who carry village property from failed/cancelled trades There are two new conditions to prevent exploiting companion recruiting with returned village goods: * Companions don't count the returned village property as their own when checking if they have enough equipment to join you. * When companion agrees to join you they won't keep carrying the returned village property but drop it on the ground where other villages come to reclaim it. - changed: children won't anymore participate in picking up village property left on the ground after failed/cancelled trades This is because you can't do one-to-one trading with children, and sometimes you would like to go for that with some items NPCs just picked. - added: NPCs wearing the new clothes/armours they get NPCs can now actively wear the new clothes/armours they have obtained. They'll usually go for wearing new clothes/armours after being delivered or having picked some. Delivering useful pieces of clothing/armour to your companion is now worthwhile, even though NPCs make the final decision whether they will wear something or not. - added: pull heavy items to your location with [;] pick up from adjacent tile command If the items you tried pick up from adjacent tile were too heavy to lift you'll be asked if you want to pull them to your location. - fixed [rare condition]: segfault upon launching the game on some Mint/Ubuntu systems - fixed [rare condition]: NPCs being able to fall asleep while in the water At its worst this resulted in villagers foolishly drowning/freezing to death. - fixed [modding]: [naming] tag not working properly when crafting while NPC is felling a tree - fixed: creature total injury not always increasing if the number of maximum unique injuries was reached This resulted in occasional difficulty to finish creatures with minor impact wounds. - fixed: corrupt description of "An Island" game course task - fixed: finishing tasks (eg. felling a tree) by grinding when too tired to continue When tasks were cancelled because of being too tired to continue repeating the command still always added one minute of progress and you could finish the task by this sort of grinding. Fixed now. - fixed: bears (and possibly other creatures too) occasionally entering into indecisive fighting mode They might keep constantly switching between attacking and fleeing without really making any attack maneuvers. Fixed now. - adjusted: tiny increase in lynx and glutton aggressiveness potential, especially in case of them being wounded. - added: daily tolerance for stimulant herbal effect Consuming stimulants doesn't anymore decrease the exhaustion seemingly indefinitely, but stops when a certain daily level is reached. - tweaked: net fishing * catch check time window now hourly based Net fishing catch checks are now hourly based instead of previously used morning based checks. This means you can catch fish with nets within a shorter time window. Even within an hour from setting the net - if you're lucky and the conditions are right. Naturally the longer the nets have been set the greater the catch usually grows so hasty checks usually provide only a few fish. Despite of the shorter time window it should be still remembered that in addition to your fishing skill level the factors such as terrain, water depth and time of the day also contribute to what kind fish and how much of it your net is likely to catch - if at all. * gradual catch spoilage Catch spoilage due to fish eventually dying in unretrieved nets is now gradual. You may still be able to get some of catch good and edible even if the nets have been left unretrieved for days. In general it's still advisable to check your nets at least on every other day. * setting multiple nets to same tile now forbidden - tweaked: NPC sleeping related oddities and exploits * NPC won't anymore fall asleep outside when it's raining. * Njerpez and foreign traders met in the wild won't fall asleep so easily anymore if they're within player's sight when the encounter happens. Sleeping NPCs in the wild still can encountered, but this fixes the exploitish procedure of encountering people at night hoping them fall asleep on the next move. - tweaked: restricted possibility to [w]ield skis Skis are put on by [a]pplying them but having been able to wield them too caused confusion. - changed: pine-marten aggressive sound is now 'snuffle' instead of 'snort' ** End of changelog **

[ 2016-05-16 14:48:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

I recently had a pleasure to participate at Roguelike Radio, and the show is up now for you to listen. This is episode 121 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson, Darren Grey, Tarn Adams and Sami Maaranen discuss Simulation in Roguelikes: Episode 121: Simulation

[ 2016-05-02 19:50:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thank you

Firstly, I'm here to say big thanks to all of you buyers, gifters, supporters and players for these first seven weeks of adventures in the far north on Steam. It's been a pleasure and let us continue the journey. There's no end in sight. Me and these age-old hay barn wall logs say Thank You!
We've also had a trademark habit of providing recreational video greetings every now and then. That habit is to be continued and we'll be seeking a nice way to start distributing those video greetings for UnReal World Steam buyers. (Maybe a semi-regularly updating DLC package, downloadable at will. We'll see.)

Quests

Those who haven't been following the game for too long may not be aware that one of the next big things to expect in the future are the quests. We'll likely see quite a few updates with lesser features prior to launching quests, but it's something that deserves an early highlight -- so let's do that. The quest system has been on the table and steadily crafted in the background for more than a year already - our ambitions there are the kind that don't allow things to be rushed. We're not taking the easiest path to add quests, but use verbose dialogue, procedural generation and randomization to maintain replayability and immersion. Quests will fill in the game world to great extent, but even so UnReal Will remain open-ended and non-linear experience as it stands now. Quests can vary from mundade problems to intricate events inspired by mythology and folktales. More versatile interaction with NPCs and more concrete presence of folklore creatures are both to be expected when we've got it all done. If the spirits are favourable we may see at least some portion of quests in action this summer. Meanwhile, here's a bunch of preview screenshots about what to expect from UnReal World quest system. It's a big thing to pinpoint. The screenshots merely scratch the surface. Quests can be obtained from NPCs. Sometimes they'll come to talk to you. Sometimes you get a hint you may want to follow.
Quest dialogue is often verbose, and you're still completely free to decide if you want to get involved.
Quest journal. This character is involved in three different quests. Quest briefing would be to be seen by clicking the desired quest.
Into the Far North we shall take you... Enjoy your stay. ...and stay tuned for future updates.

[ 2016-04-15 14:28:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Scarcity is a basic need of a man, and updates are a basic element of development. Hence a small patch update to fix few glitches and oddities is released. Find changelog below -- and adventures ahead. 3.30 patch 1 changelog: - fixed [rare condition]: items/materials being worked on not always removed properly eg. trunk not removed when carved into log, or berry shrub not emptied despite of being picked - fixed [rare condition]: difficulty to produce colon symbol (:) on some keyboards - fixed: disappearing animal leashes - fixed: some NumLock related hassle when playing with NumLock ON * double numbers getting produced in text input fields when using numpad to type numbers with NumLock ON * number binded commands (eg. attack commands) occasionally getting triggered when moving around * jumpy target selection by keyboard if NumLock was ON - fixed: some knives mentioned belonging to (old) group of daggers when examining them in inventory In action dagger classified weapons still use the knife skill, so this was mostly a mere description hassle. - fixed [rare condition]: consuming clothes instead of food Happened when switching windows while [e]at menu was open. - fixed [OS X]: map refresh problems in target selection with FAST_TARGET_CURSOR mode on - tweaked: NIGHT BRIGHTNESS setup option maximum value increased to 60 (was 30)

[ 2016-03-09 17:26:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

UnReal World released on Steam The button has been pushed and UnReal World is now released and live. Welcome into the Far North on Steam! I'll be checking out things and posting answers at Community Hub discussions for some time, and then release myself into well-earned sauna. There are also experienced players at the Hub so hopefully answers to most urgent gameplay questions will flow just fine. Write a review, respect the elements and help out your fellow hunters! The release version number is 3.30 - changelog available here. Cheers!

[ 2016-02-26 16:24:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy and proud to let you all know that UnReal World Store Page and Community Hub on Steam is now open.
It's right there where the stone knife points, and maybe you see the same yourself, but a modern way to find your way there goes as: UnReal World Steam Store Page You can help us with the Steam launch. Write a review and spread the word, post a story and help your fellow hunters! And we've also got a brand new UnReal World trailer to watch and share: UnReal World Trailer 2016 on YouTube Price of UnReal World Steam Release will be 10.99 USD, and we'll launch with a week long discount period. Let's meet you all in the Far North on Steam real soon!

[ 2016-02-22 17:01:24 CET ] [ Original post ]