Orcish Inn Pre-Alpha 0.0.9: Randomized Map Generation Update news

Orcish Inn 0.0.9 is available, an update about semi-randomized maps and more! Before you start up the launcher and download the new version, you should check out the roadmap of Orcish Inn, two sections below. Regarding the download: if you are new to Orcish Inn, you can get the launcher right here (scroll down a bit):

The reason this update took so long is mainly because I exhibited Orcish Inn on a festival called AMAZE. The highlights of this update are:

• Challenge Mode and Semi-Randomized Maps: the new challenge mode presents you a randomly adapted map every time you start a new session.
• Major Performance Improvements: if Orcish Inn lagged before, try the new version and tell me if it got better/playable or not.
• Item Tooltips: items have tooltips now, stating some basic information like satiation of food.
• Painted Easter Eggs: some of you sent me Easter egg paintings, which got part of the game.
• Reworked Tutorial: shorter and new markers indicate where to click and interact (the tutorial is still not final!).
• Movement via NumPad: not really a highlight, but I wanted to make sure that you don't miss the chance to move your character with the activated numeric keypad now.

The full changelog:

When I started developing Orcish Inn a year ago, I thought I'm making (again) a small game, while checking out Steam features this time. I didn't even expected that I made it through Steam Greenlight and as I published first screenshots and videos, I got overwhelmed by the feedback and excitement since then. I decided to try a public pre-alpha, because I wanted to go sure that people are interested in the game and not only what I say and promise and again people enjoyed playing it and liked the idea of an orcish tavern simulation where farming meets business. I struggled over the last weeks regarding the question if it still makes sense to have that very small game and while feature creep and ambitions are a very, very dangerous trap in game development, I decided to dedicate at least another year of development to Orcish Inn. There is just so much potential and given the fact that I'm still highly motivated, is a very good sign. I mean, I see these orcish faces for more than a year, nearly every day, 6-7 days a week.

I made a detailed plan for the coming months, with a summarization presented down below. The public pre-alpha was a good idea and I'm incredible thankful to all of your feedback and patronage, which really already improved the Orcish Inn formula so much and there is still much of your feedback waiting for being implemented.

The following roadmap shows the big picture of Orcish Inn, with an anticipated final release in April 2016. It's very hard for me to determine how much time I need for a certain feature, so it's likely that I'm either faster or (more likely) slower than specified. In both cases I could move the release date, throw out features or add/replace other ones... in general, the whole roadmap is just an overview. Perhaps I'm making a part of the pre-alpha not public (still thinking about that). The presented roadmap is a shortened version, as I didn't want you to bore you with all the little details. Here we go:

• Public Pre-Alpha: core mechanics and basic features and content (Now-December)
• Alpha: content creation, interface/menus and Steam features (January-March)
• Beta: testing (April)

May

• Semi-Randomized Map Generation: map system rework and a scenario system as well as semi-randomized maps (mostly utilized in the content creation later)
• Inventory Rework: inventory GUI improvements, changing hawker offers over time, inventory limit and debuffs for heavy weight, food decay (?) and eating gets more comfortable
• Clan System Rework I: new clan satisfaction GUI (in the hub book), new satisfaction categories for future features (like food satisfaction)

June

• Lodging: orcs get drunk and have a "rest" satisfaction (like "beer" and "comfort") depending on how well the sleeping room is furnished
• Pub Brawls: orcs get not only drunk but aggressive, until they go on rampage and damage everything (player can counter it with different methods)

July

• Socket System: randomized items placeable in objects, e.g. "Increases production speed of malt box/wort boiler/beer brewing kettle by 10%"
• Farming Rework: changing how trees grow (tree saplings), adding new objects the player can change the ground properties (wetness etc.) with, including a well, a drainage and a totem system (affecting the environment like decreasing eutrophy)
• Tax System: player gets a task every now and then, which has to be solved (to avoid negative consequences), considers it as a forced quest with a time constraint

August

• Tavern Games: orcs have a "entertainment" satisfaction and player can ensure it gets filled with objects like a jukebox, a slot machine, a dice game and so on (the player can play, too)
• Animal Husbandry: animals the community voted on

September

• Winter Rework: orcs have a "warmth" satisfaction and the player has to stay warm, too (winter gets harder in general)
• Clan System Rework II: new clan appearances, questlines and clan-related upgrades instead of general upgrades

October

• Cooking and Serving Food: orcs have a "food" satisfaction, player can cook various meals and collect recipes (don't want reveal too much, as this will be super awesome!)
• Exploration Tours: player can visit new areas and points of interest within a game, mainly to gather resources

The rest of the year I want to dedicate to smaller stuff, like a fishing rework (crafting baits) and more. As said, this all can change. I'm also open for your feedback, so feel free to comment below. For the rest of May, I will tackle the inventory and the clan satisfaction rework. So expect an inventory limit (and an increased use of chests) as well as the end of the temporary clan interface in the coming weeks.

• Orcish Inn on Steam: Orcish-inn.stevencolling.com
• Orcish Inn on Twitter: Orcish-inn.stevencolling.com
• Patreon with Orcish Inn related rewards: Patreon.com

(the new main menu and the option to start the tutorial or the new challenge mode)

(Easter eggs people sent me can be found and investigated)

(in the challenge mode, the player can fly around and check out if the generated map is fine)

(the map generation spawns rivers and places objects randomly)

Cheers,
Steven Colling