Sinathir
One year anniversary + new version
It has been a year since Sinathir got released to the public, so I decided to talk a little about what has happened through out the year, about the future of the project and also about the newly released version.
The past
When Sinahir got released, it was in highly unfinished state (And it still is). I have been working on this project several years before it even got released to the public. Development was and still is, very slow. I work on it in my free time and only when I want to and it is most likely going to stay that way.
I work on the game alone. I have a few people who playtest the game sometimes when I ask them to, but that's about it. I don't mind working alone, the only thing that bothers me is the amount of time I have to spend testing the game before each release to catch as many bugs as possible. And even then, many bugs still get through.
Release of the initial version of Sinathir went nicely. No technical problems on my or itch part, the game worked and those who played it and wrote me back said they liked the game. The game didn't get extremely popular, which I expected and don't really mind since it is not my goal to make new fortnite. People are still viewing my page daily and through out the year, the game got downloaded roughly 200 times. I think this is pretty good number all things considering. Game doesn't look very good graphicaly speaking, it is still very clunky and the premise is very niche. On top of that, I'm not advertising the game anywhere (except few posts here and there on image boards). Comments and e-mails are not as common as I'd like them to be, but they happen and that is good enough for me.
It is obvious it would have been better to released the game in its finished state. Sadly, I don't think this was an option. Development is really slow and it will take years to finish it. On top of that, I don't want the game to end up like for example "cube world". Developer of that game was making the entire thing by him self without any outside input and the result was a game that almost nobody liked because of its flawed mechanics. This could have been prevented easily by allowing people to test it while he was still working on it. Creating game and putting everything people suggest in it is not a good idea, but doing the exact oposite and developing it in a vacuum is not a good idea either. I really wanted to get some feedback so that's why I released the game early.
The pressent
The game is moving forward. Slowly and surely. I keep on improving alredy existing features and I also keep adding those that are still missing. I released a roadmap for this year some time ago. Nobody complained yet, so I will continue doing in the direction I set out.
I mainly want to focus on finishing the unfinished features and slow down with adding new stuff. Missing dialogue, items, quests, maps, hangouts,... There is still plenty to do.
The future
Once I'm happy with all the futures in this limited map size, I will simply start adding new maps and expanding the game. Three main factions will be added, main story line with multiple endings, many new NPCs, jobs, quests, dungeons,... I have great plans for Sinathir. Hope I can finish it before I die though.
And for those who are new to the project, here is one of the first screenshots I ever took with with newest one. Just so you can see how much the game progressed and how I improved in pretty much every way.
When I started working on this project, I had zero experience in programing, 3D modeling and everything else related to game development. Except for working with RPG maker. I had some experience with that.
New version
This version SHOULD be compatible with previous version. There will be some weirdness before you skip one week, but everything else should be alright afterwards.
I wanted this anniversary to be a little special, so I worked a little more on the curent version. The main goal was to add more functionality to one NPC. Roman can now follow you around, has improved shop inventory and also has a proper schedule like other NPCs.
As for the other things I worked on, plenty of bugfixes, visible muscle definition, new outfit, reworked light control system, more static enemies, lipstick option and more.
Visible muscle deffinition is in its first stage. Graphics for it are not great, but they are serviceable for now. I mainly wanted to implement the calculations for it.
Game now calculates the average strength you should have. If you go above this average value, the muscle definition sprite will change in opacity. The bigger this difference, the higher the opacity. This means that you can gradualy see your character getting stronger, but also getting "weaker" if you stop training for longer period of time. This is only a cosmetic feature, but I want to add some events that will be affected by it.
I also added one new event that will award you with new outfit and a lipstick. Simply using the lipstick will give your character black lips. Using it again will turn them back to normal. Another cosmetic feature, but an important step in adding more future customisation options, like make up, contact lenses and so on.
Random encounters in caves are now disabled and are replaced by "static" enemies like in other areas. They randomly walk around and have a cone of vision. Dungeons are untouched for now. This means that you can actualy run from your enemies on the map or avoid them completely. As a trade of, you can't run away from fights anymore. They respawn every week.
Lastly, I reworked the lighting and weather system. Old system was really buggy and barely worked. It was raining in the interiors, lighting and weather changes didn't save properly and setting light up was very time consuming. So I finaly decided to rework this system. Now it is much better and easier to control. There might still be some minor bugs though. Transitions not playing out correctly, interiors being too bright, raining in some buildings and so on. This is because I forgot about that specific instance and is only a question of finding out about it and fixing it. I tried to check everything but you never know.
Those are the main points I wanted to talk about. Full changelog is below. Next version will focus on basic animal husbandry. I will most likely write another post before releasing next version. And as always, be sure to report any bugs you find. Either here or write me an e-mail.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone who played the game and enjoyed it. Hope you end up liking all that is to come.
Full changelog:
- Fixed small graphical issue with age switching in the unlocks cave
- Added basic muscle definition system
- Fixed rain in most interiors
- Fixed item glow only working after watching a cutscene
- Fixed priority errors on some maps
- Roman now has a schedule and can be persuaded to follow you
- Cutscenes now won't trigger if participants are in your party
- Party members will become invisible in cutscenes
- New event / cutscene
- New outfit
- Black lipstick added
- Fixed choice explanation window appearing when it should be hidden
- Solving the cure quest now gives you 50% discounts at both shop keepers
- Replaced random encounters in most caves by weekly respawning static encounters
- Changed items sold by Roman
- Removed some unused dialogue options
- Fixed bridge not getting repaired correctly
- Completely overhauled weather / light control system
- Fixed some crashes in teh kobold cave
Changes for 0.14.1
- Fixed crash when entering options menu from the title screen
- Added new healing skill to Helena and forbid "First aid" from being used outside of battle
- Fixed broken lighting when leaving caves from certain spot during night
- Fixed game crashing when interacting with the dynamite use spot from other side
- Fixed a bug in the "one of us" quest that prevented you from learning body skills. On old save, you will get them when using the pebble bench in Helenas room.
- Fixed pebble bench crashing the game when you have only body blood stone skill.
- Fixed some lighting issues during the cult initiation cutscene
Comments
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Finally got a chance to check out all the updates. Been having fun with it so far! Noticed a few bugs, tho:
I haven't found a blood stone yet, which I think is what's necessary to learn magic. I'm excited to try that out. I think I've learned everything in the science skill tree, but I don't see a recipe for making syringes like the one you get as a reward from Tadeus, or anything similar. I was hoping to play around with mutation. Is there more to the science skill tree I haven't discovered yet? Does it require trial and error to discover more alchemy recipes?
Also, I mentioned the prices of alchemy ingredients and products way back when I first tried this game. I think you may have fixed things a bit so now one doesn't lose money making weak healing powder, but the prices still seem a bit wonky. I understand this probably isn't a priority, but I thought I'd lay out my observations.
If you're interested, I think the simplest solution would be to just make Cata Plant, Reg Leaf, Corpse Weed, and Razorbark sell for 2 silver each. This would offer a strong incentive for the player to make their own Weak Healing Powder, both for their own use and for selling. It still wouldn't make a ton of sense that Corpse Weed and Razorbark sell for the same despite being much more rare, but oh well :P
Found another bug that seems to prevent me from making the magic pebbles. The rock refiner in Helena's room seems to work fine, but when I try to use the crafting station on the right, the game crashes.
Also, I was wearing glasses when I turned in the blood stone and got my initiate robes, and now they're gone :P
Thanks for reporting all those bugs. Especialy with those pictures. It really helps a lot.
I fixed all of them and uploaded new version 0.14.1. Changelog is in this post at the bottom. This version should be fully compatible with saves from 0.14.
However, I was unable to replicate the vanishing glasses. I put them on and finished the "one of us" quest. I got my powers, went to the monolith and I still had them. Did I do everything like you did, or did you do something differently?
As for your questions and suggestions:
Science together with machinery is still very malnourished. If you look at the roadmap in previous posts, you can see I'm planning on improving it drasticaly in June. This means not only new recipes for crafting and alchemy table, but also new uses for old and new items, new stations, new events and more. Tadeas will teach you most science skills, but Olaf also has some if I remember corretly. There are some hidden recipes but I wouldn't really try experimenting for them since they are hidden for a reason (The items either don't work correctly or are too OP or too weak).
As for mutations, you should be able to make weak mutagen if you learn from Tadeas. You can also get it by killing some enemies. Using it directly will lower your integrity. Once it reaches 0, you will mutate. There are minor and major mutations. Minor are not visible and they increase your atributes a bit. Major are visible and they change some things. Few NPCs will refuse to talk to you if you have major mutation, Hunters around the map will turn hostile and kobolds will let you enter their cave without attacking you or finishing the fish quest. You can wear the church robes to make NPCs talk to you again. Chosing the "Mutant" background at the start of the game will give you one major mutations, make your maximum integrity 50 instead of 100 and you will lose some integrity every week, esentialy making you mutate more over time. Right now, there are only lizard mutations, but I want to add atleast four different ones in the future. Those strong syringes can be get from the dungeon in the forest:
And as for the prices, the ingame economy is still broken, mainly because I didn't really touch it since the early development. In early private versions, there were no crafting points so you could make infinite amount of items as long as you had the resourcess. This made making money insanely easy and made working close to pointless once you unlocked all the recipes. I "fixed" that by basicaly aplying the runescape economy model, where crafted items are cheaper than the raw resourcess. Things changed by adding the crafting points, but I still want to add some mechanics to limit the posibility of someone finding easily made items and then selling them for insane amounts of money.
I believe I have to do the folowing before I can seriously start adjusting the item prices.
It never really made sence why someone would by hundreds of feathers when he had no use for them.
This change will only get better as the development progresses. Meeting new NPCs will open new trade oportunities. Adventurer will pay more for a healing potion then for example an alchemist. Blacksmith will pay less for a gold bar then a jeweler.
This is pretty obvious. Selling hundreds of wood logs should lower their price since the market will be flooded with them.
It's nice to have a nicely developed economy system, but it is pointless if there is nothing to buy for the money. Right now, money is mainly used for learning recipes or buying some minor items like food or healing. And once you buy some armor, tools and weapon, there is nothing to buy. I want to change that. Renting a house, room in an inn, renting a large field, hiring mercenaries, buying expensive working stations, hiring workers,... I have plenty of ideas that are more interesting than boring expensive weapons and armor.
I plan on working on most of those bullet points in upcoming months. If everything goes as planned, I will release animal husbandry together with NPCs buying only certain items and maybe items having different prices for different people. This should be relatively easy to do and once I have that finished, I will start working on adjusting prices of all items. Might happen next month.
Again. Thank you for reporting all those bugs and writing suggestions. It relly helps me a lot and it also feels nice to know that someone cares enough not only to report bugs, but also to write suggestions.
Hmmm, I'm unable to reproduce the problem with the glasses, too. I suspect I must have reloaded my save at some point, but forgot I didn't have glasses then. I apologize.
Ah, that all makes sense. Thank you for such a thorough reply! I'm excited for more updates :)
I've befriended the kobolds, and have been avoiding the bandits so far. I had no idea at all that Mr. White was already in the game! Where did I miss the hint on how to get him to appear? Do the insane kobolds count toward the 50?
I started a new game, and noticed a few things that *might* be bugs.
After being mistaken about the glasses, I thought it prudent to double check all of these. I started yet another new game as a Psychopath. Billy was at Suong's and the cutscene happened, and then I went and killed an insane kobold and my mood was reduced. I got the "soon to be fat" achievement as soon as I looked at the sign, same as always.
Right now, there are three enemy classes. Animals, humanoids and abominations. Killing animals and humanoids lowers your mood. Abominations lower your mood by just encountering them in battle. Ordinary kobolds are considered humanoids,insane kobolds, and other freaks are abominations, so only killing bandits and ordinary kobolds counts.
Psychopath trait will remove mood penalty from killing animals and humanoids, but you will still get the penalty for fighting abominations so it works as intended. However, non-psychopath characters are better in the long run.
There is a mechanic that makes your character more used to killing the more you do it. At the start, killing an animal will give you penalty, but after about 30 of them, you will no longer get penalised.
Humanoids are slightly different. The penalty for killing them at the start is huge. Large group of kobolds can easily lower your mood by 32. However, this penalty gets lower the more you kill. After about fifty kills, the penalty turns from 4 to 3 and it gets progressively lower. And after about 200 kills, you will actualy be getting a bonus mood instead of negative. Psychopaths don't receive any bonuses no matter the amount of kills.
Character backgrounds fall into two categories. Minor and major. Minor give you some small buffs to stats, give you some simple skills or cheap items. These don't change the way your character plays and you can completely ignore these bonuses if you want. They just give you the general idea of what you want your character be in the long run. Major backgrounds change the way you play the game much more, but also come with a disadvantages. Psychopath is a good choice for combat focused characters, but (in the future) it will make your social life harder. Mutant makes your character grow stronger over time, but some NPCs will refuse to talk to you and some will outright attack you. I will be adding more of these in the future. What I have right now is just a small taste.
The Suong introduction is intentional and plays out the same for every background. It plays differently depending on the location you meet her for the first time. Inn and forest are the same. House has a variation with Billy and without Billy.
The game actualy has quite a few of these "hidden" features. I don't remember all of them, but here are a few:
I want to have as many of these as possible in the final game, so that repeated playthroughs are more entertaining and always show something new. I tend to slip in one of these into most updates without really writing about them into the changelog.
The achievements require some more work, since some of them have wonky triggers. They should all work, but they either trigger too soon or too late. I will check on them.
Also, The friendly kobolds in the cave and the hostile kobolds in the forest are suposed to be different clans. It is not yet apparent, since I don't have the graphics for them yet and they don't really have any dialogue or quests. You can kill the wild ones without any fear of angering the cave kobolds.
Wonderful! Thank you again for such a thorough response! I appreciate you being willing to take the time to reply to my inquiries. It makes me anticipate future updates more, as well as helping me to better enjoy the game as is!
I don't want to take up more of your time that could be spent working on the game :P However, I really like little secrets like those you mention, but am not great at finding them. Perhaps you could eventually include some sort of hint system in the game? Maybe like a fortune telling npc that appears randomly on the map sometimes, and gives cryptic hints on how to find a new secret? I'd really enjoy something like that! Anyway, just something to think about :)
I released a major patch recently so I'm taking a small break. Replying won't slow me down a bit.
As for the hint system, I had one in the game few versions back, but I removed it when I was overhauling timed events. You could ask NPCs about news and they would tell you if they saw some traveling trader, random monsters or some timed quests.
I will be introducing this system back in the future, but I will keep most of the "hidden" events a secret. To a degree. As the lore and dialogue gets properly added into the game, talking with other people or reading books will give you enough hints to find out about them, but they won't spell it out loud. For example, Billy will say how he hates his blunderbuss off handedly and that he would like to see what Olaf uses as a weapon one day. Good enough hint for people to know what to do next.
This is going to get added however in far future, since I want to finish other things before focusing on dialogue.
Excellent work as always! I'll report back after I've given it a few tries.
I noticed there is a crash when selecting 'Options' on the Main menu. I get an error message stating: "Script 'Footprints' line 64: NoMethodError occurred. undefined method 'tileset_name' for nil:NilClass"
I can access the options menu while in the game just fine though, so it isn't a big deal
Thanks for reporting. Fixed the bug and will release new version once I fix little more of them.