A new version of Emerald Woods, the chill no-combat solo farming roguelike where you can die, is now available!
Play for free for now (online/windows) at https://slash.itch.io/emerald-woods, we are still in an “Earlier Access” phase, so let us know any suggestions you have in the discord!
There are two big important related gameplay changes in this version; the first one is the addition of a map of a fragment of the world around the starting place, detailing the geography and the location of the nearby stations. Using this, players will have much more guidance to start exploring the land, instead of just wandering randomly. The experiments on how this works in-game have been successful so far but I’m keeping an eye out for any feedback about it. The map can be found in a ruined station, next to the starting cabin.
Genco Stations and offices have been revamped both in appearance and function; the loot you can find on them has been reduced in quantity but increased in relevance as these are the only places where you can find tools that give access to features in the game. Their placement is now also smarter since more control is needed over the number and location of them, and some of them will be locked requiring players to find a key first.
The infrastructure of the template system for locations has been improved along the way, which will allow for more interesting handcrafted content in the future.
The main change in the UI is the removal of the classic roguelikey “message box”, replacing it with shorter messages in the map; a lot of what was being displayed there only made sense for the character-based display since that one lacks a lot of options for visual feedback. As a result, the HUD is now cleaner and the player can focus on the area of action.
Some additional assorted changes:
- The cavern and outdoor lakes are now differentiated
- The quantity of meat obtained from slaughtering big animals is now capped to 2
- Stones in the world are no longer solid
- Reduced quantity of generated stones by 50%
Slashie's Journal 