elwood612

Now hear me out! I'm aware that game balance is a thing, and far be it from me to suggest making hauling overpowered. But I think that there's an option here for a cool mechanic that doesn't trivialize existing hauling mechanics. Introducing: the Pushcart upgrade. This would be an upgrade for resource producing buildings (sawmill, carpenter, etc). Note: this would NOT be an upgrade for worker stations! Simply because I don't think that would fit very well with the game as it currently stands (what happens to the upgrade when you switch the building to Builders? Do the carriers always have a pushcart? etc) So. 1st step: research the upgrade. This probably costs some knowledge, and would be researchable after the Iron Furnace. Yep, it's late game, but let's face it, the late game needs some love. 2nd step: upgrade each individual building you want to benefit from pushcarts. This works the same as any upgrade already in the game (advanced funnels, farmhands, etc). It costs some iron and some knowledge. 3rd step: ??? 4th step: Profit. When a carrier (or the building's own workers) picks up a resource from the upgraded building, they use a pushcart to transport the items: instead of balancing the items on their head, a pushcart sprite appears in front of them with the items. This doubles (at least!) their carry capacity, but villagers with pushcarts get a significant movement penalty when not on roads. Pushcarts would probably magically disappear when the items get delivered, I feel like you don't need the realism of keeping track of every single pushcart. This incentivizes having a robust road network. It incentivizes building a select number of strong buildings rather than spamming many weak ones. It helps alleviate the need for insane population numbers, since you can get away with fewer carriers overall. And it gives the late game some flair, since the occasional pushcart will now be seen walking down the roads, adding to the sense of progress you've made since the beginning. You could also have fun with certain biomes: maybe cold snaps put ice on the roads and make the pushcarts unusable? Maybe heatwaves cause carriers with pushcarts to becomes exhausted and need to eat more often? Who knows. As always, loving the game, and loving the new updates. I'm on day 120 of my first veteran playthrough, having a real blast. Thanks to all the developers!

Good to hear honestly. Focus on gameplay & story improvements, and have fun with it! This looks like a very successful launch for you guys! I mean (theoretically of course) - what would multiplayer look like in Wandering Village? Co-op campaign, each on our own Onbus? I think that 2 people on the same Onbu would get cramped very fast. But even if we get our own Onbu.. what do we do together? Trade, I guess? Idk.. I find that multiplayer rarely enhances any game with a strong story, and often cheapens the experience. And Wandering Village has a very strong theme working for it. I remember playing co-op with my brother on Emperor: Rise of the Middle Kingdom. But it was frustrating because we never used the Pause button at the same frequency, so the game would randomly speed up to catch up. And it honestly didn't add much to the experience anyway.

Possibly? Not sure about that. We know they can die from exposure though. I like your idea! Yes, finding a forever resting spot for Onbu is basically the idea. I just think that Onbu has this natural urge to keep walking and it would be a shame to deny him that. The game is called Wandering Village, after all. But yours would be a more "final" ending for sure, and beautiful as well. I think they're similar ideas when you get down to it.

Yeah, this seems to be a common issue, I've seen a lot of people say this. I have never touched any of the things that hurt Onbu, it just feels wrong. It's also possible to mitigate the issues they're supposed to solve through other methods, which raises the question - why are they even in the game in the first place? It really feels like the vestiges of some sort of moral choice system which got removed, but they kept this content because they'd already made the textures. It feels quite out of place.

Yes, 100% agree about Breath of the Wild, a lot of space in that soundtrack. Another game that does this surprisingly well is Skyrim. Sure, we all remember the great Skyrim soundtrack. But when is the last time you actually played it? You'd be surprised at how many silent tracks there are, which lets the whole world breathe, and ensures you don't get sick of the music.

Just a random thought I had today while reflecting on the fact that the Wandering Village doesn't really have an ending. As others have pointed out, the statue you get to build is a neat idea, well-executed - but it either comes too early and doesn't feel like the end, or too late and you've already died. Tying it to the Day count, while unavoidable, is an artificial limitation that doesn't work, because most players end a city builder when they feel like they've had enough. But it is nice to have some sort of closure. So on to the idea: I propose a new biome. The Ocean (or Beach, or Beach of Bones). Don't laugh at my bad photoshop below. The idea is simple: this is the last biome you encounter, and the end of your journey. Oh, Onbu doesn't stop walking, that would be out of character for him (her? them?). But it's a temperate, scenic biome that allows the player to "wrap things up", so to speak. Finish that last farm, upgrade those last roads, take some final screenshots. Go out at your own speed, basically. How would this work? The player would choose to go there. After completing the statue (and maybe a certain population? Or enough tech researched?) Onbu starts to encounter mysterious bone piles after certain intersections, and only in one direction. Some kind of hint could go along with them ("Wherever this leads, this feels like the beginning of the end") and the player could choose to keep following them or not. If they want to keep exploring, jungles and shrines and so on, so be it. But if they follow the bones (4 or 5 times in a row, maybe), they encounter the Last Biome. No more crossroads. Straight forever. One last chance to turn away right before, when you first see it on the map. Can still go there later, just follow the bones again. Still get some events, since you're still walking next to other biomes. So an occasional cold snap when you walk past mountains, and so on. But nothing too severe, just enough to break up the monotony. Onbu will often just stop and sit, usually around sunset. Emphasizing that this is a final place, not a new adventure. He likes to walk, of course - but he's happy here. Maybe he can stare at the whales, or close his eyes and purr (he's a big cat, right?). This one you might not like, but bones of animals (and other Onbu?) could be scattered along the shore, as far as the eye can see. Evidence that other lifeforms found their way to this more peaceful place, and presumably died in their sleep. Clean, white bones, not scary green bones like the other dead Onbu. A final resting place, if you will. Of course, some kind of message from the Village Elder could indicate that this biome is perfect to flourish in. Reduced threats, good temperature for a wide range of crops. And Onbu seems to like it! Again, the point is, this is the end of the game. A lot of city builders don't have good endings (or any endings), which can suck when the narrative focus is strong (like Wandering Village). But having an ending forced on the player constrains their freedom, and removes the ability to just enjoy the village being a village. If the player chooses when to go to "The Ending Place", and can keep playing there at a leisurely pace, then that gives them some closure, and adds some finality to the story. Would also be a great transition to the credits, wink wink, nudge nudge. My two cents on this Wednesday afternoon. Alright, back to work.

100% agree. Nice mockup Zaru. Could even do different colored backgrounds for different types of resources? Food would be green, resources would be red, mycelial & organic would be brown, that kind of thing.

I agree that the late-game needs more of something, but I don't think it's space. I'm on day 150 on my current playthrough and still have tons of space left, and one huge trunk left too. I'd love to see a "Wheel" tech unlock, which would allow carriers to use push-carts, only on roads. I'd love to see brick-making. I'd love to see leisure activities (parks? harvest festivals? even just benches to eat on, instead of chowing down by the side of the road?). I'd love to see more uses for iron and glass. I'd love to see religion of some kind. A lot of room for improvement in the end-game, but I have faith in these devs. They've put a lot of thought into what already exists in the game.

Hello all! I have been thoroughly enjoying my time with The Wandering Village and Onbu. Took me a few tries but I finally got up to 120 people and the end game. This is hella impressive for an Early Access game, and I can't wait to see how it evolves! Here is some feedback, in no particular order: I realize development focus might be shifting to consoles at this point, but I think some form of edge scrolling would be appreciated for PC users. For first time players, it would be helpful to know what biome you're currently in. Those colors, while pretty, aren't super clear the first time around, and it doesn't say what biome the pinkish zone is supposed to be until you enter it. Also for beginners, adding a meter for Onbu's happiness would be helpful. The tail wag and strut is a good idea, but there's no indication of how much I'm affecting his mood by petting him, drilling into his back, etc. This feels off, because for every other "state", you get not only a current level, but how much it's changing by. Maybe adding another circle next to "Hunger" and "Sleepiness" could work? I get not wanting to overwhelm the UI, but this just doesn't feel consistent with how much info we get elsewhere. Speaking of which, the UI feels unpolished. No offense, like I said I enjoy the game very much! But if you're going to do a top bar, commit to a top bar. The UI keeps encroaching on the screen, and a lot of the info is stuff I rarely need to see (I don't know if I've ever needed to know the time of day...). Different information for different camera views is a good idea, I think it should be enforced more strictly. A lot of Onbu's info could be relegated to the Onbu view, and the "Day 12" counter could be relegated to the world view, down by "distance traveled." The resources tab could stand to be a bit more organized (could you do some visual grouping perhaps? Food in green, resources in brown, that kind of thing?), and it could possibly take up the entire top bar instead of spreading downwards? The UI is both overwhelming and sometimes not specific enough (see Onbu happiness), it deserves an upgrade. The dirt road texture is too similar to the stone road texture. I'm sure this is planned, but just in case: please let us upgrade roads directly, instead of tearing out the old roads to make better ones. It's not realistic, it's not fun, and this is the only city builder I can think of that does it this way. The priority tool is handy, but limited because you can only go up to level one. What if clicking the same object multiple times with the priority tool incrementally increased priority? I would no longer have to click on the object and manually set priority to 3. Less menus = much yay!! Love a city builder that makes good use of warehouses. Could we get some more functionality for them? Some sort of "Get" state, where carriers will prioritize bringing materials here. We could maybe click the resource once to set it to "Accept", then again to set it to "Get" and give it a green ring or something. An "Empty" state (as opposed to just "Refuse") could be useful too, although that may already be how the game behaves, I couldn't tell. On that note, what if warehouses had a single inventory, instead of per item? So a warehouse could hold 500 items: could be 500 wood, could be 50 of everything. Would help us stay organized easier, and would lead to more strategy concerning supply routes and distribution. Made a bug report about this, but the "Poison Forest" song consistently cuts out for me for a split second at the end of the track, then repeats. Really a shame, because those poison forests are hugely immersive and scary. Speaking of audio, there was a bug that happened once (didn't make a report when it did, sorry!!) where all the music cut out, and it didn't start playing again until I entered a new biome. Couldn't replicate it. But it was actually really cool!! It made me appreciate the sound work that already exists, and made me wish for more ambiance! More village noises, different nighttime ambiance... Most importantly, I really think you should incorporate some silence tracks in your soundtrack. Even just 10 or 20 second ones would be super immersive for players. Especially right after a toxic storm! Feels weird to just return to normal biome music. Your music is awesome, don't get me wrong, but after 20 hours anything gets repetitive. Why is the "Large Mothertree" smaller than the "Mothertree"? Even at a population of 120, my village still feels mostly agrarian. This one is more big picture, but maybe some more late-game industrial buildings could help separate the mid-game from the end-game? Let us make bricks, they would look great on those cottages. Make the Decontaminator bigger and more of an involved process to use. Have more late-game buildings require iron (I only ever build one foundry, and assign one citizen to it, that's more than enough) and glass. How do you feel about push-carts? It feels weird to me that the village never evolves beyond Kevin balancing 3 rocks on his head. Carts could be a "tool" option at the Worker's station, similar to compost at farms, and they could carry up to 10 of an item, but would only work on roads. Would further incentivize roads, and would help make the end-game look more advanced. The tech tree feels like a missed opportunity for some lore. Could we maybe be reading the constellations? Or perhaps flipping through ancient tomes? It just feels like the tech tree is there because other games have it. Everything in the Wandering Village feels so unique and refreshing, the tech tree should too. Anyhow, I've blabbered on long enough. As you can tell I quite enjoy this game! Thank you for your dedication and hard work, it's truly inspiring!