Hooded Horse and developer Eremite Games released the Favoring Update for their Early Access fantasy roguelite city builder, Against the Storm. In addition, the community vote results are in for the fifth species to be added to the game are in.
Favoring was one of the first mechanics added to the game. Now roughly three years late, this mechanic had begun to become problematic for both the balance and long-term health of the game. Originally when favoring was introduced, there wasn’t any other tools to combat Resolve drops. The mechanic was added to deal with low Resolve values near the leaving threshold and as a tool for boosting a given species Resolve when one encountered bad RNG for recipes or resources.
While favoring solved these issues initially, over time the mechanic started to become increasingly problematic. Favoring could be turned on and off without any consequence. There were no bad decisions associated with its use and favoring could be redirected to another species at any moment. No bad decisions also meant no good decisions.
Other mechanics were obstructed by favoring, players could juggle or rather quickly switch between species favoring to prevent them from leaving, and the mechanic did not make sense in terms of flavor. The developer had been thinking about all these problems with favoring and how to fix them. Gradually new tools to help manage Resolve drops and help with RNG problems have been added allowing for a favoring nerf.
After multiple discussions a set of criteria was established for the new favoring mechanic. There should be a consequence for the mechanics use, remove species juggling, and should be simple to use while not disrupting other systems. Going forward favoring will now have a 60-second cooldown. This fits the criteria the developer had established and does not require a big rework or rebalance of core systems.
A second big change in the Favoring Update are changes to logistics. Workers in production buildings will now get ingredients from other nearby buildings. The range for this is limited, however, this change will eliminate the need to always have to go back to the warehouse. A handy visualization of connections is available when selecting a building. This change helps to support the thematic fantasy of linked structures and should provide a slight efficiency boost for those who construct specialized production zones. An example is a mill next to a bakery.
Also included in the update is a new glade event that can be converted in the Altar of Decay decoration. There are a total of 64 changes in the Against the Storm Favoring Update with 53% of them inspired by the community. A complete list of changes and other Against the Storm Favoring Update details are available in this developer post.
The community has voted on what the next species will be. There were three possible choices for which the community could pick: Frogs, Bats, and Foxes. In the end, the community picked Foxes as the fifth species to join Against the Storm.
Foxes will be introduced to an Early Access build sometime in April. Currently the architectural style for Foxes has been established. The development team is working on finalizing their traits, perks, and other visual assets before their in-game introduction.
Against the Storm is available in Early Access on Windows PC via Humble Bundle, Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store for $19.99 / £17.99 / €19.99. Follow @AtS_CityBuilder on Twitter, like @AgainsttheStormGame on Facebook or join the game’s Discord for more information.
Hooded Horse (@HoodedHorseInc Twitter, @HoodedHorse Facebook, YouTube) is a publisher of strategy, simulation, and role-playing games. Based in Dallas, Texas, the publisher features partners across the world. Since 2020 their portfolio has grown to 17 titles that includes Manor Lords, Mars Tactics, Terra Invicta, and Old World.
Eremite Games (@EremiteGames Twitter, YouTube) is a small indie game development studio based in Wrocław, Poland. The studio’s first title was the Android turn-based strategy game Shattered Plane that is set in a fantasy Slavic universe. Currently the studio consists of a five member team of friends with years of experience in AAA, indie and mobile game development all of whom share a passion for strategy and RPG games. Currently the studio is busy working on their debut PC title Against the Storm.
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