Game Development: Fall Time Frolicking

[Fostik]

Animals now eat only about 50% during winter.

Will they mature/breed slower, or it will be a good season to impregnate all herds?

[pppp]

I think it would be a good idea to make a list of all actions that are possible and formalize them into one schema that is consistent, intuitive, having as few states (that alert the outcome) and needing as less clicks/keystrokes as possible.

When it comes to keyboard modifiers to clicks I think shift for moving stuff (moving items between containers, picking up stuff, shooing animals, ...), control to impose will or change state (mount/dismount horses/boats/carts, operate machinery, ...) and alt to perform an alternative (means not completely but only slightly different) operation (move more things, initiate repeated actions like area farming or the built in taker instead of picking only one item, ...) could make it easier for new people to get the game.

Just decide on one control schema, so please choose one style (Lucas Arts point and click or EVE online RMB context menu everything) instead of tacking a colourful mix of unrelated control schemes together that leads to the user having to memorize every little thing on its own as there isn't any logical connection between how one thing works to the next.

Are you demanding a written design document ? Srlsy ? That's outrageous. It's against the spirit.

I recently stumbled upon this one.

[Granger]

Are you demanding a written design document ? Srlsy ? That's outrageous. It's against the spirit.

There are moments in life where having a plan is beneficial, don't you agree?

[mdsanta]

... Animals now eat only about 50% during winter.

Mmm... Kettle\Poultry are not bears. Them don't seelp through he winter.
Theoretically in summer time one can say that you can sabstitute the rations with natural vegetation, while in winter - it is all preserved forage.

may be...in winter they eat 100% more? ))

Less crops on the fields, more foor for the cows! yay to saving up food for the off season!

[Ants]

Siege changes when? There's still no way to get through palisade layers.

We've reached the stage of the world where almost no one is playing, so now would be a good time to test out siege/PVP changes so that next world will be better.

[Lunarius_Haberdash]

Yay to saving up food for the off season!

This is my take on the "50%" change. Need more reasons to stockpile and plan, not less.

[Vulgarr]

Added Leaf Piles. As autumn progresses, more and more natural leaf piles will appear. Players can run through them, and scatter the leaves, and they will occasionally drop things. Fun! Feel free to suggest additions to their loot tables.

So far I've noticed grubs, rarely horned beetles, snails and lots of perfect autumn leaves- I appreciate having a semi reliable source of snails and grubs for sure. I think in general adding more bugs to the list would be nice- Or maybe a new rare curio/creepy crawlie food bug type like stick bugs, or even having a new animal type sometimes taking a nap amidst them like raccoons. (We have the fox skin hat- But no raccoon skin cap for the true pioneer stereotype.)

Alternatively- Seeds for decorative/forage classed plants rarely among the fall leaves to excitedly hold onto until spring to plant- That could yield types of wildflowers like sunflowers (Which can be dried for sunflower seeds)

[Axatros]

Added Leaf Piles. As autumn progresses, more and more natural leaf piles will appear. Players can run through them, and scatter the leaves, and they will occasionally drop things. Fun! Feel free to suggest additions to their loot tables.

You should sometimes run on a hedgehog while doing that.

[VDZ]

I think it would be a good idea to make a list of all actions that are possible and formalize them into one schema that is consistent, intuitive, having as few states (that alert the outcome) and needing as less clicks/keystrokes as possible.

Just decide on one control schema, so please choose one style (Lucas Arts point and click or EVE online RMB context menu everything) instead of tacking a colourful mix of unrelated control schemes together that leads to the user having to memorize every little thing on its own as there isn't any logical connection between how one thing works to the next.

I agree with this. Consistency is very important for having a somewhat intuitive control scheme. In my opinion the worst offender is still getting out of a boat, which any longtime player knows is CTRL+LMB but which is nothing like any of the other controls (hell, you can't even drop a cart or wheelbarrow with that) and near-impossible for newbies to figure out on their own, despite being a basic action.

I think it would also help a lot to have the cursor change when a modifier key is held to indicate what will happen if you LMB at that point (e.g. in the current situation a 'Drop' icon when hovering over an item while holding CTRL). People would be able to figure out a lot of inputs without too much trial and error and accidentally discover inputs they were not aware of yet (because the cursor changed while hovering over something specific).

[wonder-ass]

add footprints on snow that stay for x amount of minutes/hours depending on weather so we can track player or animal footsteps