Hello to all! This week we spent a lot of time on an internal build that had the team working on certain unearthed pain points. These pain points were mostly related to the Orders system (think of them as beer "requests" from NPCs or towns/villages), an integral part of progress, fame, and LOTS of coin while playing Ale Abbey.
Nothing to worry about, development as usual 😎
This didn't stop us from working on some "re-branding," making a few changes in the Research Tree UI, and of course some more "under construction" versions for the Abbey's rooms.
Let's get to it!
--UNDER CONSTRUCTION 2
Following last week's momentum, we worked on the under-construction versions of a couple more rooms namely the Cold Cellars (the coldest rooms in the Abbey where certain lager styles end up to ferment a little longer) and the Dormitories.
As was expected, the cold blue-ish hues of the Cold Cellars give this one a lot of room (no pun intended) to showcase its unique look and feel.
With the Dormitories, while trying to play around with other elements, we ended up creating the first under-construction version that introduces a hole in the wall. Who knows, you might be able to get a glimpse of the good ol' Watzmann through it ;)
And, not to be forgotten, the stairs that connect your monastery's floors are also subject to manual labor and thus have their very own versions for it. So here are both sets that lead to the Cellars:
-- Research Tree UI
Although we have been painstakingly working on Ale Abbey's UI, this one has been a thorn in our side for quite some time now. The inspiration from tech trees in other games did bring in valuable ideas and sometimes built amazing cases for what to avoid, but overall left much to be desired.
Although we haven't shared much of it, mostly because Emiliano (our project lead), hates its guts, the tree used to be vertical, making scrolling almost vital and information was all over the place.
So, the biggest leap we took was going from a vertical tree to a horizontal one. It makes better use of the screen, allows for information and unlocking criteria to be better presented on the side, and overall looks more digestible.
If you were to ask the team, it's nowhere near being complete, and it shows, but it's getting somewhere.
Another change was also the way research worked. It used to be that a monk or nun would be assigned as a researcher, a specific route would be pre-selected and this researcher's work in the Laboratorium would slowly unlock that pre-selected path. Now this researcher is gathering research points that can be spent like currency to unlock the much-desired tech and equipment when the player decides to spend it.
There are still a lot of QoL and aesthetic changes that we have yet to implement, so stay tuned!
-- Not re-branding perse... but!
With the cat out of the bag and slowly considering shinier ways to showcase Ale Abbey (some of you might be happy to know that there might be some live video discussions on all things Ale Abbey and beer soon), some re-work on our old branding assets was expected.
First and foremost, Ale Abbey's key art, and more specifically its logotype, will lead the way to more creative ways to promote the game. You will be seeing more of this around our socials:
Adding to that, we did not forgo the chance to work on Hammer & Ravens' studio logo as well. Some of you might have noticed a prompt switch from our old logo to a pixelated version earlier this week and its subsequent change to the more stylized, and frankly awesome-looking version seen below...
We got this question a lot lately, so before you ask: yes, the logo is indeed inspired by Mjölnir, Huginn, and Muninn!
With all hands on deck working frantically around more pressing matters, work on the logotype for Hammer & Ravens will have to wait, but it's coming.
-- What makes a beer rare?
Not an easy question to answer - and could probably get a lot of feathers rustled - but there are ways to see what the rarest beer could be. A huge debate amongst enthusiasts often leans heavily towards a frequently mentioned contender, Westvleteren 12 (XII). This beer is brewed by the Trappist monks at the Saint-Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, Belgium.
What makes it rare? Well:
- Limited Production with the Trappist monks brewing but a limited amount of beer each year, focusing on maintaining quality rather than increasing quantity
- Controlled sales with the beer being practically only available in the abbey's shop and rarely at specific locations in Belgium (don't get excited, the purchases are still limited and buyers have to make appointments for it!)
- Unique brewing process that has remained traditional, and the recipe not having changed significantly over the years
- And then of course the high demand BECAUSE of its reputation, that far exceeds supply and making it almost a collectible!
Given "some" of these criteria, other rare beers could be Emiliano's Pixel Abbey (dark strong Belgian) or Sister Pinta (Wit), his homebrew homages to Ale Abbey, but we would be biased to say so :p
And that's all for today! Enjoy your weekend responsibly and remember to join us next week for some more Ale Abbey news!
-- Hammer & Ravens
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