This update focuses on improvements to the Combat user interface and mechanics. Although fighting is not a major focus of the game, it’s still important that combat feels solid, given how important it is for hunting animals and protecting the tribe. A full change log is listed below. Firstly, here is a screenshot of the new main menu with a beautiful background by our artist Alfonso:

20150528 mainmenupreview

Alpha 6 Changelog

New Features

  • Implement animation for mosquito and fish school
  • Added clay as a resource
  • Added clay statue and clay necklace items
  • Diseases on/off toggle on Generate World Page
  • Entering/exiting combat mode is more prominent (UI changes and music added)
  • Added battle damage reports under human thoughts query panel
  • Bipedal animals get randomly selected proper names instead of being numbers
  • Added tutorial for query panel
  • First implementation of query panel filtering (only vital statistics show up unless filter unticked)
  • Added music volume slider on options page
  • In combat mode, player units and enemies differentiated by green and red text
  • Added ability to select all Warriors from side menu in combat mode
  • Added short tutorial for entering combat mode
  • Implemented new main menu background/music
  • Added path building for increasing movement speed

20150522 Fighting

Gameplay Changes

  • Reduce frequency of fish and mosquito creation
  • Changed ant mount generation from completely random to forming in patches
  • Ant mounds no longer take up space (volume = 0)
  • All animals now have a body, not just bipedal animals
  • Damage amount of variation is dependent on strength of damage
  • Added natural pierce, slash, blunt protection for animals
  • Added damage to clothing durability when body part hit
  • Replace attacking cool down green bars with blue bars
  • Removed tribe member’s sickness/disease from prosperity calculation
  • When in combat mode and selecting Pokians, query panel now autodisplays random selected Pokian
  • Implemented variable attack speeds for different animals
  • Bow reimplemented, creates arrows automatically
  • Arrows disappear through decay after small amount of time
  • Changed sleep progress bar from zZz to blue moons
  • Combat dodge chance varies depending on stamina
  • Stamina reduced by fighting
  • Added aggression comparison to fight or flight AI to decide which animal flees
  • Tweaked plant harvest chance growth so higher in summer/spring and decreases in autumn/winter
  • Tweaked some symptoms effects for more fun

20150604 Path

Fixes

  • Fixed mini-map clicking not going to the correct location
  • Fish school image adjusted so it appears underwater
  • Fixed animal fat using fish image and fish using animal fat image
  • Fixed bubble text alignment
  • Fix tool-tip going too far left when off screen
  • Removed redundant minor/major injury designations from query panel
  • Fixed animal attacking itself after another animal begins attacking it
  • Small tweak to global enemy targeting to stop premature “No more fighting” comment
  • Fixed warriors running away when still in combat mode
  • Fixed tile map not drawing bounds correctly
  • Tweaked combat mode so Pokian doesn’t switch between attacking and running away rapidly
  • Tweaked input processor to stop camera jumping around when assigning movement in combat mode
  • Game window only edge scrolls when it’s in focus
  • When entering/exiting combat mode, close query panels and map menu
  • Fixed sprite getting stuck as explosion cloud
  • Fixed flying weapons not showing up and aligning properly
  • Fixed UI combat arrows not aligned properly for attack
  • Realigned panel summary info to be below top menu
  • Tweaked UI side menu sprites for meeting point and start fire
  • Fix exiting UI state via side menu not removing centered text
  • Slight changes to which thoughts show up on screen
  • Fix text going out of bounds in notes
  • If Pokian in middle of task and decides to do something more important, will put task back on queue for others
  • Fixed destroying animal while fighting causes winner to be stuck in loop

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Twitter – ParsleyPWG
Website – PokingWaterGames.com