it would be great if you hired someone to draw the sprites and a debugger so you could focus on coding more and developement would speed up by a thousandfold!
just a farfetched idea i thought of so it'd be great if you replied!
Wizard Towers.
A single unit with ultra-long range attack, but also one that, in the bottom bar with "move" and "rest" has a "burn" option, which creates a tile of flames. They would take a while to set it up, and it would be temporary, but it would help with mountain chokepoints and stuff if you haven't built out that much yet.
On a recent game I utterly destroyed the masklings. I mean, I methodically claimed, dismantled, and abandoned their settlements. But now I'm wondering about continuing using that world. I mean, there isn't much more combat I can do. Even if I migrate it into the upcoming morale update and suppress a settlement to create a rival empire, it still won't be the same. Could you throw in some kind of maskling revival? Essentially, they could rebuild a new village, starting from scratch. Unless you have settlements spread across the map, you might not know about it until all your fancy new settlements that don't have walls go up in flames.
I posted it in another thread, but I think it would be cool if migrants/traders/invaders would sail in from the edge of the map. The difficulty and frequency could be tied to some metrics relating to the players advancement. You could have multiple factions, possibly tied to the direction they came from, so some might just send trade envoys and be friendly while others might launch invasions. Some may just attempt to colonize unclaimed areas and be largely neutral.
Obviously this would all have to wait until the boat and diplomacy updates, but I think it could really add a lot to the end game.
Masklings rebuilding could be tricky. From a technical standpoint it'd be pretty straightforward, but from a gameplay standpoint I could see it devolving into a tedious game of whack-a-Maskling. I've been toying with the idea of shipping experimental features as mods, so you could toggle them off and on, and this might be a good candidate for that.
I agree that end-game challenge is currently a major problem. Mostly, I think, because there's little getting in the way of player growth, and Maskling growth is capped. The Morale update should partially address this, as will the Nobles update. Long term, though, there needs to be a larger, more threatening enemy.
I did a bit of planning and design yesterday, and here's what I'm currently looking at for AI settlements. Some of these may show up as built-in mods, rather than in the core game, and some may be cut.
My vision for the diggers is to have them inhabit an entire underground world. There would be caves dotted along the world that lead to the cave "layer", which is effectively a second world map. By travelling underground you can exit through a cave in a different area on the surface.
It could add a neat dimension to trade and warfare, with armies appearing from caves potentially well inside your empire.
There isn't a way to see it in game, but it's stored in the save file.
In the BronzeAge directory, under "saves", open the world's save file (these files are big, it might take a bit).
The seed is stored on the second line, something like this:
<world schema="1" name="Itera The Lands Of Hammering" seed="62777761" date="1/13/0543 4:13:09 PM" hostility="0.25">
Yours will look slightly different, this is taken from a save from a previous version of Bronze Age.
The next update will add at least one more level of administration center, with higher Administration supply.
If you'd like, you can check out the Tyrrany Mod which adds structures that produce Administration.
Agreed. When diplomacy gets added I plan to diversify the enemy AI, and include a lot of human AI as well. Steppe nomads would be a great fit, especially for the Mesopotamia map type.
I'm not sure nomads would work well as a playable race, though. Bronze Age relies on the city-building aspect for its core game play, and nomads tend to have small, temporary settlements.
I think however you should work on gathering a group of people, the number and amount is up to you, to make the game "better". You already are working on a website and many things by yourself i assume, if you look at this game from a financial and/or business standpoint like i am now you can clearly see people would invest in this.
Things to think about:
The fact is that I already have a job. Bronze Age is my hobby, and as much as I like working on it, and all of the interactions with players around it, I have a family to feed. Bronze Age doesn't pay the bills.
Additionally, how am I supposed to gather sponsors if I'm not charging for the game? Wouldn't investors want their money back at some point?
NO, sponsors are people who pay you for your game (not buying the game, see below)
I have over 50+ sponsors which gave me over 40-50g for my own business. Sponsors (in this tense, different definitions) are companies, or businesses (large or small) who will pay you to put their name somewhere on the product. The amount is up to you, they sometimes will contact you for this (in my case) or you have to contact them (your case) you wont Advance without asking TO advance.
I think you took what i said in the wrong way when i said think of it as a fun job, it wont pay the bills if you dont Make it pay the bills. A game in this small of a formula or stage will Not pay the bills i can 100% assure you that. If you want it to pay the bills (like i said) you gotta think of it as a second fun job. My business when i started it out was simple, i sold plants to individual people online made about 30$ a month now i make around 24$/hr including expenses. And that took months and months and a few years of meeting people, and researching different things.
I recommend you research on how to make a proper Business plan.
If anyone invests in your Game and requests their money back, do not give them their money back. That is NOT how you invest in something like this or other.
Sponsors do NOT look if you charge for anything (side note).
Do note the business i own has absolutely nothing to do with games.
Anymore questions feel free to ask, as im happy to answer.
Hope you have a good day :)
Thanks,
Nate.
And another suggestion for the game:
I made a small world i got going (didn't kick me that time, but it does with other new games though) and the spam of villagers doing something is Crazy, i get a pop up about every 10 seconds that says they are doing something. And they're restless rate raises all the time constantly Even when in reality your town would do less in a year and people would be fine. Think that's the one negative thing ive said about this game sadly lol. Still building up my lil' village though. :)
Inside game editor (world editor) i know, this is possible by editing an exist save file but its not very easy and takes long time
Tower ranges overlay same from classic version
Olive trees simply another happiness source, "Olive trees --> Olive grove --> Olive Press" equivalent to "Grapes --> Vineyard --> Winery". olives can be found commonly in mediterranean generation around grasslands or savannas
Taskmaster levels: lvl1: like current but only gives +2 administration and -2 happiness, lvl2: upgrade cost: -10 wood -5 limestone -1 worker (building time is unspecified), result: +4 adm -4 hpy -1 worker, lvl3: upgrade cost: -10 wood -10 limestone -1 worker (building time is unspecified), result: +6 adm -6 hpy -1 worker
"Northern" world type that feather: no deserts/savannas/swamps/ no grapes/fertilized soil/ rarely mountains/grasslands/forests/oceans commonly new biomes: (snowy/ice/frozen/could) (grassland variant)/(snowy/ice/frozen/could) (pinewood/pinewoods/sprucewood/sprucewoods/spruceforest/spruceland/sprucelands/pineland/pinelands/pineforest/coniferforest/coniferwood/coniferwoods/coniferland/coniferlands/taiga)/(pinewood/pinewoods/sprucewood/sprucewoods/spruceforest/spruceland/sprucelands/pineland/pinelands/pineforest/coniferforest/coniferwood/coniferwoods/coniferland/coniferlands/taiga)/(snowy/ice/frozen/could) (mountain variant)/(snowy/ice/frozen/could) (ocean variant) new hexes: pines hexes that equivalent to trees hexes (slower walking, +1 more wood product then normal trees), snow hex (slower walking, you cant place farms on it, cant place pasture on it), ice hex (slower walking, cant place anything on it), deposit/trees/anything with texture of snow hex instead of grass, trees/peaks with texture of snow on top (like a snowy peak), gravel (cant place farms on it), trees/deposit/anything with texture of gravel (gravel texture is like a brown hex)
Granite a rare type of stone that allow you to go to even higher level then limestone on buildings like walls, housing, bakeries, windmills. granite can commonly found in deserts or savannas next to hill spawns.
There are some good ideas in there.
A game editor inside the game most likely isn't going to happen. I could set up a converter to handle maps made by an outside tool, but that's very low priority right now.
Tower range overlays are a good idea.
Olive trees for happiness would make sense. But I think Bronze Age is ok for happiness sources now.
A northern world type could be neat. Might make for a good small update in winter, a thematic holidays update.
2nd idea post
If you are interested of more world generation features/types you can try Anatolia type: "generate oceans near the borders of world and belts of hilly biome in the middle most of the land is desert or savanna no marsh/forests and rarely grapes/fertilized(?) soil", Balkan type: "lushy green forests/coasts/mountains(uncommon) commonly grapes" Europe type: (because of europe being so big and i selected only part of it the name of the world generation may change. locations: austria, north italy, swiss, south germany, slovenia, and most importantly for this type is french) "lot of grapes, commonly forests, commonly rivers, uncommonly coasts, anything else is normal" Archipelago type: (suppose to resemble the greece archipelago) "small islands with small sea between them, hard to find resources like tin copper or limestone, beside that anything else is normal".
New ideas:
1. Roads and bridges will be in decoration menu instead of civil, i think it make more sense to be a decoration after all is not really do anything beside faster transport/enable transportation, also make the civil menu to be less full and easier to find stuff on the menu as well. or, you can merge the decoration menu with the civil one.
2. AI will be able to destroy bridges especially if a trade route is going through the bridge only of course if the AI tribe is hostile. friendly AI should complete roads and bridges as well, for example, let's say you build a bridge from one side of a river the AI should complete the bridge from his side.
3. If you thinking about idea num 2 you may as well like this one, limestone upgrade to the bridges, make them stable and harder to destroy.
4. Sculptures: a decoration, lvl1 three limestone sculptures on a mudbrick stand, lvl2 three copper sculptures on a limestone stand, lvl3 three bronze sculptures on a copper stand. this idea is just a bonus.
5. Shorting the process of getting silk, by removing the item 'raw silk' and the structure 'silk weaver' from the game the process will be silkworms -> silk shed -> luxuries instead, make the swamp with the rough terrain to be more reliable to get settled. i almost never start in a swamp also because they bit rare and i don't want to start in a rough terrain such as swamps, don't get me wrong the rough terrain of mountains still worth it because of the more valuable resources. please consider applying this idea.
6. Massive overhaul:
new: sheep (item), donkey (item), riders (military unit), sheeps (resource), riders barracks (structure), shepherd (structure), sheep pasture (structure), donkey pasture (structure) mill (structure).
removed: pigs (item), windmill (structure).
new lvls: grill (1), fishing dock (2), mill (2), butcher (2), riders barracks (2), tradehouse (1), shepherd (2).
explanation: pigs are no longer give up meat, instead sheeps will do, also will give luxuries if used by the shepherd. the trade house will require donkeys, and will be upgradable to level two with wolves, after the wolves upgrade the caravan will move faster like the rats of the muskilings (donkeys consumption is 1, wolves consumption is 3). fishing dock will be upgradable up to level three, copper hooks and bronze hooks, in sense of balancing the fishing dock will yield: meat = level but the wood consumption upgrade by two each level. butcher up to level three, the butcher will receive new tools made out of copper and bronze, but the butcher will work differently, on first level the bucher will consume one sheep for one meat, on the second level the butcher will consume two sheep for two meat, on level three the butcher is more efficient he will consume two sheeps for three pieces of meat. mill will replace the current windmill and there is a good reason behind this, the mill third level is unique, the mill will consume one donkey instead of using up a worker, grill have a limestone level which will work the current grill and the first level will work like the old grill, this leveling supposed to make the grill easier to use. shepherd have three levels copper knife and bronze knife are the upgrades, on the first level consume three sheeps for one luxury, on the second level consume two sheeps for one luxury, on the third level consume one sheep for one luxury. riders and rider barracks, simply a new military building and a melee unit that consume donkeys, the special feature is they move fast as the muskilings rats, the barracks is upgrade able to level three just like normal barracks. if you read everything thank you for reading it's appreciated.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Raw silk has a use in that it allows you to distribute silk production. Producing raw silk is only possible in swamps, and benefits from agricultural bonuses. Processing raw silk into luxuries is labor intensive, however, and benefits from industrial bonuses. Fully optimized silk production requires two settlements.
New idea for diplomacy change:
If you have above two settlements, and total population above 450 people, and one of the settlements is not happy with your rule, they will create a new tribe that will be hostile towards you, and swich your unhappy settlement to be owned by this new tribe. This can happen only to humans types and not to muskelings.
I'm sure the unhappy status need to be advanced so only if 65% of the settlement is unhappy they will worn you that they consider leaving you, and above 80% they will automatically leave after one season.
That sounds similar to what I'm thinking of for loyalty. Though in loyalty there will be an additional stat authority, which is produced by some buildings in your capital.
The balance between authority and how much population is living outside your capital will determine how rebellious other settlements are.