In this special 50th double length episode we show the tech we've been promising for 3+ years. It's real. It works. The simulated people, places, and monsters all intersect to create interesting choices and quests worth doing. We've summited everest. While there is still much work left to do, it's allllllll downhill from here.

In this episode:

We show the implementation of monsters and lairs in the game world
The recent addition of bodies when someone dies
Concerns about translation
Introduce the Fan Hall of Fame
Answer a fan question about lovers, spouses, and a harem

A Dream Realized

When we set out on this adventure I thought we could "fake" a lot of things behind the scenes and still give an authentic experience. Unfortunately mid April that proved not to be the case. It was too hard to generate a family history backwards. We'd have to start at the beginning and go forwards. Instead of abstractly saying 100 people eat 1 grains per week, we had to build a world simulator where each person wakes up on their own schedule and decides for themselves when to eat and why.

NPCs work jobs because they want money to buy food, clothing, and shelter. Monsters reproduce and spread, patrolling territory and taking resources they need for survival. Nobles guide the evolution of a town based on their personality, while trying to keep the people happy and stay in power.

Enter the player able to do whatever they want in a fully realized world. I've never seen anything like it. I look forward to you experiencing it too.

When is Build 11?

We address this a bit in the video: not sure yet. We have a number of polishing up issues to tackle before we push out a build. This is refinement not development so we are real close. I think 2 weeks should do it, but we don't know.

One of the biggest issues is the performance of passing time with the news system. It's taking up 85% of the CPU time. Why is it an issue all of a sudden? Because Nic commented it out as he was doing his performance improvements many months ago. We turned it back on, because we needed it for the quests, and wow. Is that thing ever a pig. So we'll see.

Fan Hall of Fame

To recognize and appreciate our exceptional fans that have journeyed with us on this long road, we've started a fan hall of fame. Those who have watched all of these video updates, discussed with us on the forums, asked questions, or just dropped lines of encouragement, we have a special hall of fame for you. Didn't see a name that should be there? That's ok! I didn't do an exhaustive search yet of everyone's contributions and interaction. I just grabbed 7 names, in no particular order, that immediately stood out in my mind:

Willsama
Bendon Marche
Dhuran
Don Bloomfield
Clayton Shaffer
Gameboon Treehugger
Gabor

Nominate a fan for the hall of fame (even yourself, it's ok! I need all the help I can get.) and we'll get em on the list.

What do you get? Can't say yet. But it'll be good!