As roughly a week has passed since my last update, here's
v1.1 sneak peek #2! I'll try to do these once a week, to give some insight into the development proces and to gather some feedback while I'm working.
Currently I'm doing some exploration into several new directions, just to see where the ideas take me. I will use the results of this exploration to decide what the scope of the next update is going to be, after which I can work out those ideas in more detail.
Where last week was a week of berry bushes, this week my main focus was on another plant that is high on my wishlist:
Reeds.
<a class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image" data-fileid="2105" href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/Reeds.png.324b308fdfa63518bced0f7f719cdcc6.png">[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/Reeds.thumb.png.fbfec1e676ba0eabf32c50e3377b300b.png[/img]</a><a class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image" data-fileid="2106" href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/ReedsW.png.09a597e962cf591d018bade88ad88787.png">[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/ReedsW.thumb.png.c46c54c9b54ab9ab11d8755437e728a2.png[/img]</a>
As you can see in the pictures, these reeds will grow on the waters edge naturally. I don't intend to have them grow along all the riverbanks; there will be some with reeds and some without. I'm still fiddling a bit with the spawning behaviour, but I'm already pretty happy with how natural it looks. As for all my resources, I intend to make several different species, for a nicely varied environment.
Thatch changes?
I'm currently in a heated debate with myself about how to deal with the resource for reeds. One of their main uses in the real world ofcourse is for thatching as well, but I feel that both grasses and reeds giving the 'thatch' resource directly would make it even more difficult to attain a healthy balance.
One idea I have is to create a production chain for the thatch: Instead of directly receiving thatch from harvesting grasses or reeds, you would receive 'grass bundles' or 'reed bundles'. These would then need to be processed by a new building into 'thatch', that can be used for construction.
A nice advantage of this change would be that these 'grass bundles' and 'reed bundles' could also serve as a basic resource for other new production chains (for example paper or wild cereals from grasses, or fishing equipment from reeds). A disadvantage could be that it becomes harder at the start of the game to obtain thatch and start building.
Updates to old models
The last thing I've been working on this week is to do experiment with some improvements on the models of v1.0. <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/5518-necora/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="5518" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/5518-necora/">@
Necora</a> and <a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/3183-ketchup/&do=hovercard" data-mentionid="3183" href="<___base_url___>/index.php?/profile/3183-ketchup/">@
Ketchup</a> kindly suggested and explained to me the concept of multi-materials, which enables a whole new range of possibilities to make their behaviour even more natural. This means for example that on top of losing their flowers in winter, my herbs will also be able to have swaying leaves, and to get snowed under in winter. I'm not sure yet how exactly I am going to make use of this new technique, as I am still trying to figure out some new tricks with the Material files, but I'm pretty confident that I will manage to improve the old models conciderably for v1.1.
[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/Herb06W.png.cecee042044e9498f83550b2d6702671.png[/img][img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2017_04/Mushroom03W.png.e95562010085db411d261b8146f93300.png[/img]