Skip to main content

Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
Tags
(+2)

To address some of your other feedback, I'm glad you like the cabin and cave indicators, although some have already stated that they don't because it takes an aspect of exploration and discovery away. It's impossible to please everyone because some people like some things that other's do not and also, many things are still evolving and half-implemented.  The cabin and cave indicators may not always be shown from the start and could require a point in a skill tree to activate for instance.

Similarly, the carry weight will be able to be increased with a skill point, and/or passively gaining strength over time and also with an upgraded backpack that the player can find or craft. The main reason I lowered carry weight in advance is because the only feedback I received about carry weight and inventory space is that it was too high/too big to even make a real difference anyway, which I agree with, but most things were intentionally made to make the game easier as the current main focus is to find bugs, not gameplay balance. This is also why there are so many starter tools and weapons just laid out to easily grab and test in the starter area. Picking them up does complete the crafting quest they are related to, but that quest has to be active for picking up the item to complete. I could change it, but the main point of the quest is to learn the crafting steps and those items won't all be there in the future to pick up anyway.

Windstone is very stable right now so I'm starting to evolve mechanics to be closer to the difficult challenging level of gameplay that has always been planned, similar to the difficulty of the The Long Dark, rather than a testing ground for bugs. That is why I recently made swimming and rain cause cold among other things that have increased the difficulty of surviving. Making the game more challenging may slow down the discovery of bugs, but the transition has to happen sometime and now seems like a good time.


The Overfed warning:

This pops up if your hunger meter has been over about 90% for too long, in which case stamina-draining actions drain more stamina. Conversely, if you are too hungry for too long, about 10% or lower for a handful of minutes, you will get the Malnourished affect, which has the same effects as Overfed with the addition of reduced carry weight.  Both of these effects are intentionally added to prevent two different exploits. Being Overfed keeps the player from gorging themselves on food that also grants health, while being Malnourished keeps the player from starving themselves to save food for too long. I believe these are a better way to address the issues than the "well-fed" bonus in The Long Dark, which promotes overeating and doesn't have any mitigating affect on starvation other than missing out on a debatably trivial well-fed bonus. Food in Windstone should be managed, not wasted or hoarded. Finding that balance during development will be difficult and will be greatly affected by how easy it is to acquire as much as the effects and rate of consumption.

In addition to adding a skill tree in the next update, I'm working on making water need to be purified before drinking safely, except from certain sources, making the ocean water non potable until desalinated, and adding permadeath, meaning that if you die, that's it, start over. If you don't like that, don't blame me, blame The Long Dark for being my favorite survival  game and inspiration, or just blame me, because I'm sadistic.

In all seriousness though, if there is enough public outcry, (wishfully assuming Windstone will someday gain a player base capable of what could even be called a public outcry) I will add a casual easier mode, but until then and especially now, Windstone is going to get a lot more difficult, purposely ridiculously difficult at times in this testing phase to push the limits and find a good balance and a difficult challenge. 

This ended up being a bit of a road map and long explanation, but I wanted to let you know my deep thoughts on these details especially because you take the time to play test so much and give lots of feedback. 

What is it about the settings menu that you don't like right now? I know it's simple, but it should be working properly or is something bugged that I'm not aware of?

And hey, I like that spider attack electrical malfunction sound! That one got me right in the feels. Cut me real deep Shrek.

(3 edits) (+1)

What is it about the settings menu that you don't like right now?
I was talking about the overlaping of multiple menus. e.g. "loading a save" menu and then graphics menu and switching between all of those submenus.
Those two should be seperate menus. One completely gone when switching to the next.
Not one active and the other one overlaps and the third smirs in there as well and parts of it again getting replaced once the 4th menu button gets clicked and so on... it make not feel like a clean final game...

(+1)

Windstone isn't a final game. I didn't realize there was over lap in the settings menu, or do you just mean multiple elements on different parts of the screen at the same time?

(1 edit) (+1)

I didn't realize there was over lap in the settings menu, or do you just mean multiple elements on different parts of the screen at the same time?

I ment the fact that the menu elements of both "New Game" and "Video Settings" are visible in one and the same screenshot (this is only one example as there are multiple combinations of this)