This week we show the new weather system in action, talk about the process of hiring an animator, and the release of Build 10 for Mar 2.

Weather System

Right now the weather is just eye candy.
Built into the time simulator and will impact the world. For instance, fighting outside in the rain and wind is different than underground in tight quarters.
Weather is season dependent
Weather will impact NPCs and towns
Weather affects the players ability to travel and wellbeing. Ever try to drive through a blinding snow storm? Slow and stressful. Player will need to take seasons and weather into consideration when making big picture plans.
Player will have weather affecting spells. Yer welcome!

Kingdom System

This is the new term for what you previously heard us call the "problem system" or the "blight system". It is what drives the dynamically generated quests.

Wolves, bandits, goblins, spiders, etc. have "kingdoms" where they have a lair(s). Each lair lets them gain more territory to then create more lairs. This is how they spread across the map.
When NPCs or the player enters a "kingdom's" territory it results in encounters: perhaps just seeing something, perhaps a battle.
Players can battle to thin out the population in these territories, and ultimately attack the lair destroying the replication point.
Kingdoms are generated by both the world generator (at time of game creation) and dynamically as a response to situations in the simulator. For instance: Goblins populate the map from the beginning because that is where they live. But bandits are the result of war, economic depression, or unrest.

Hex Interaction

For anyone that has played the pre-alpha hexes are just things in the way between interesting points (like a town or dungeon). No longer true! Each hex has it's own unique character, species populations, and interactions. This won't be fully revealed until late April.

No longer will you just be able to walk directly from town to a dungeon. Now you will need to explore the hex using your Survival skill.
Many other interactions are coming, we just put in a few for now because we had to

Hiring an Animator

We're adding a new permanent member to the team: animator. This person will help make the backgrounds, monsters, and UI come to life. We'll make a decision on this person mid March.
Our design philosophy has always been "work with the players imagination" just like the classic 90's rpgs did. But we can do more to bring the visuals to a modern standard.