Dear readers and dear players, Hello!

The promised big update is out now. Waste no time and check out our Update Release Teaser Trailer!

Status Update -- Liolilol

The start of the year has been disturbed by many events, the availability of the team members didn't always match, and now, like many people, some of our team members are in quarantine.
Thankfully none of that stopped us from working on the game, and despite the fact that we haven't published any DevLogs for quite a while - partly because it's relatively long to do, and because we wanted to focus the available time on the game itself - we are proud to announce that the release of the next version of Tech Age: Rebellion is out!

Flora & Farm Update -- CG Team

Being a Content Update first and an "Experience Update" second , Flora and Farm brings a lot of new and updated stuff to the table.

The Content

The primary focus was to implement the Farming system, notably by adding seed items and adding a lot of variety in the Flora of the island, with all existing plants being growable. Plants also spread (self-reproduce) and die from old age over time. Over 10 new types of plants, ranging from Trees, Flowers, Bushes and Crops, have been added.
The system has potential for much improvement in the future and will likely need fine-tuning. We hope that the island will feel a lot more alive now!

Additional content range from new Cooking Recipes, such as Cooked Jewelbeans and the new Juices, to new Crafting Tables such as the Spinning Wheel and Loom, which allows Threads and Cloths to be made. This was to ensure that the new added resources coming from plants would have immediate use, although this new Textile Industry is just at it's beginning.

Upgraded, electrical versions of new Crafting Tables have also been added - such as the Electric Spinning Wheel. And while we're talking Electricity,  the update also lay down the very basis of the Automation in TAR, thanks to 4 new electrical switches (3 of them are for automation), that will allow the player to do things like automatically turn on and off lanterns when Pawns are nearby, or Turrets when enemies are close by, cut off power to unnecessary devices when power levels are low, and more!

The Experience

We had many things in mind to help improve the experience when playing the game, but our initial plan was to delay working on those issues in the future. As we added more and more new content, it felt as if the game was begging to be improved on, in order to make way for even more new stuff. We obliged.

We've added a Tutorial at the start of a new game, we've improved the UI by doing things such as completely reworking the Filter Screen and the Build Menu, we've expanded or changed information in some UI screens to be more helpful, got many sprites and icons reworked, added a few Quality-of-Life features, and the sound identity and sound systems have been greatly expanded and improved, with over 60 new types of sounds!

There's also the few hints of animations being added, with Weapon fire, bullet and impact animations, as well as the Advanced Solar Panel tracking the sun.

Oh, did we mention that we fixed a gazillion bugs? 

What's Next

As with our previous version release, we'll change gears for a week or two, closely listening and looking at feedback and squashing bugs as they stick their ugly heads out. We've done some serious reworks, rewrites and clean-ups in the game code in this update, so we're looking forward to keeping it as bug-free as possible.

In parallel, and after the bug-fixing phase, we are looking at starting work on a Crowdfunding Campaign. TAR has been in development, with no funding, for over a year. And slowly, as expected, each team member - working in spare time and making a living through contract work, or not - is quickly running into the same corner. To avoid hard slowdowns in development, we'll be changing plans and prioritize Crowdfunding, working on concepts, demo features or scripted scenarios for this campaign, as well as doing all the prep, writing and planning work expected of such an endeavor. More about this in future DevLogs.

Wish us luck, we'll need it. 

Closing Note

For reference, check the full ChangeLog below for more information about what is in this update. Fingers crossed we didn't forget to add anything in there!

Again and as always, thanks for your interest and support, and we hope that you will enjoy this new version of the game. It was a relatively crazy time from our last release until now, but we're glad we are coming out on the other side with a much cooler new version.

If you feel like it, don't hesitate to give us your feelings, suggestions, and your overall feedback - It helps us a lot to hear from our players.
As always, take care of yourself, and happy gaming!

Full ChangeLog

FLORA

• Added “Ouk Tree”, “Pyne Tree” : New trees.
• Added “Tegan Flower”: a cool looking flower.
• Added “Aeraki Fern”: small bushes that reproduce quickly over the island.
• Added “Eloe Bush”: an alien-looking red bush.
• Added “Mirtberry Bush”: early food sources that produce berries.
• Added “Sonaberry Bush”: a rare and slow-growing berry with a invigorating nectar.
• Added “Florotone”, a beautiful color flower, available in seven different colors.
• Added “Jewelbean”, new early-game crop.
• Added “Tayto”, a new crop effective for big food needs.
• Added “Kyklirice”, a new crop that takes a long time to grow, but quick to cook.
• Added “Flaxensilk”, a new crop useful to make cloth and thread.
• Added “Seeds” for all flora plants, making it possible to replant everything.
• Added “Flower Pot”, a new decorative furniture where you can plant Tegan or Aeraki.
• Added “Farmer Table”, a new building to craft seed from plant products.
• Added “Grass Seeds”, a new “Tile” to replace tilled soil back to grass.

• Added research “Island Farming”: unlocks the “Farmer Table”, “Tegan Seeds”, “Jewelbeans Seeds”, “Grass Seeds”, and “Flower Pot”.
• Added research “Bushes Domestication”: unlocks all bushes-related seeds.
• Added research “Florotone Domestication”: unlocks the “Florotone” seed recipe.
• Added research “Flaxensilk Domestication”: unlocks the “Flaxensilk” seed recipe.
• Added research “Tayto Domestication”: unlocks the “Tayto” seed recipe.
• Added research “Kyklirice Domestication”: unlocks the “Kyklirice” seed recipe.
• Added research “Iani Wheat Domestication": unlocks the “Iani Wheat” seed recipe

• Removed old “Tree”.
• Changed “Apple Tree”, Name is now “Apol Tree”, and it now drops plant fibers and “Apol Sapling”, additionally to the wood and apols.
• Changed “Wheat”, Name is now “Iani Wheat”.

• Some plants now grow fruits, leaves or flowers and can be harvested multiple times before the need to replant them.
• All flora plants are generated on the island.
• All flora plants have age and can die from old age.
• All flora plants can spread around.

FOOD

• Added “Manual Organic Processor”, a new building to grind or mill food.
• Added “Manual Juicer”, a new building to produce juice that can boost your pawns.
• Added “Electric Organic Processor”, electric version of the Organic Processor.
• Added “Electric Juicer”, electric version of the Juicer.
• Added item “Tayto Flour”, intermediate food product.
• Added item “Kyklirice Flour”, intermediate food product.
• Added item “Iani Wheat Flour”, intermediate food product.
• Added a new food item “Cooked Jewelbeans”.
• Added a new food item “Baked Tayto”.
• Added a new food item “Cooked Kyklirice”.
• Added a new food item “Kykled Beans”, good food.
• Added a new food item “Farmer’s Lunch”, great food.
• Added a new food item “Apol Juice”, buffs healing.
• Added a new food item “Mirtberry Juice”, buffs mood.
• Added a new food item “Sone-ka Nectar”, tastes golden.
• Added a new food item “Mirtberry Pie”

• Change “Apple pie”, Name is now “Apol Pie”. Recipe now costs flour instead of bread.
• Change “Bread” recipe, now cost flour instead of wheat.

• Added research “Food Processing”: unlocks “Manual Organic Processor”, “Tayto Flour”, “Kyklirice Flour”, “Wheat Flour”, and “Bread”.
• Added research “Juice Making”: unlocks “Manual Juicer”, “Apol Juice”, “Mirtberry Juice”, and “Sone-ka Nectar”.
• Added research “Piecraft”: unlocks “Apol Pie”, and “Mirtberry Pie”.
• Added research “Electric Appliances: Oven”: unlocks “Electric Oven”.
• Added research “Electric Appliances: Processor”: unlocks “Electric Organic Processor”.
• Added research “Electric Appliances: Juicer”: unlocks “Electric Juicer”.

TEXTILES

• Added “Spinning Wheel”, a new building to produce thread from plant fiber or flaxensilk.
• Added “Loom”, a new building to produce plant fiber cloth or flaxensilk cloth from respective threads.
• Added “Electro-Friction Spinner”, electric version of the “Spinning Wheel”.
• Added “Power Loom”, electric version of the “Loom”.
• Added item “Fiber Thread”.
• Added item “Fiber Fabric”.
• Added item “Flaxensilk Thread”.
• Added item “Flaxensilk Cloth”.
• Added item “Color Pigment”.

• Added research “Textile Production”: unlocks “Loom”, “Spinning Wheel”, “Flaxensilk Thread”, “Flaxensilk Cloth”, “Fiber Thread”, “Fiber Fabric”, and “Color pigments”.
• Added research “Powered Weaving”: unlocks “Power Loom”, and “Electro-Friction Spinner”.

ELECTRICITY & SWITCHES

• Added “Cable Switch”, can be flicked by the player to allow/interrupt power flow.
• Added “Solar Cable Switch”, that automatically operates based on the presence of sunlight and allows or interrupts power flow.
• Added “Power Level Switch”, that automatically operates based on the quantity of stored power in batteries.
• Added “Entity Sensor Switch”, that automatically operates based on the detection of entities in a given radius, 3 modes available: Enemies, Allies, and Both.
• Added “Advanced Solar Panel”, bigger and better solar panel.

• Added research “Power Switch: Basic”: unlocks “Cable Switch”.
• Added research “Switch: Solar Controlled”: unlocks “Solar Cable Switch”.
• Added research “Switch: Entity Detection”: unlocks “Entity Detector Switch”.
• Added research “Advanced Solar Panels”: unlocks “Advanced Solar Panel”.
• Added research “Switch: Power Level Controlled”: it unlocks “Power Level Switch”.
• Added research “Electric Batteries”: unlocks “Battery”.
• Changed "Battery" research requirements, now requires “Electric Batteries” research instead of “Electricity”.
• Changed “Electricity” research, it no longer unlocks “Battery”, and “Electric Oven”.

• Power production is now progressive, generators need to warm up before full power output.
• Solar Panel and Advanced Solar Panel now produce different power values based on the time of the day.

COMBAT

• Changed “Iron Helmet” recipe, now cost thread and cloth in addition to iron.
• Changed “Iron Chestplate” recipe, now cost thread and cloth in addition to iron.
• Changed “Shoes” recipe, now cost thread and cloth in addition to iron.

• Changed the way the IAR-4 and auto turret fire: no longer a projectile, but an instantaneous impact instead.
• Changed the stance selection system for pawns, it's easier to set stance for pawns.
• Added an animation when the IAR-4 and auto turret fires.
• Added an animated bullet impact where IAR-4 and auto turret hits.
• Changed the bullet sprite.
• Added an order UI button on Slimes to order pawns set to Aggressive to attack them.
• Made pawns stop when trying to fire with their weapon instead of rushing their target.
• Made pawns and turret smarter when selecting their target (noticeable in larger battles).
• Made Slime look where they go.

GRAPHICS

• New sprite for “Small Crate”.
• New sprite for “Big Crate”.
• New sprite for “Stone Oven”.
• New sprite for “Smelter”.
• New sprite for “Stockpile Zone”.
• New sprite for “Slime”.
• New sprite for “Solar Panels”.
• Added tile transition for sand.

INTERFACE

• Complete rework of the order bar.
• Reworks of many UI buttons (deconstruct, disallow, colonist stance, etc).
• Added the ability to forbid Food items from consumption using the storage panel.
• Items are now displayed with their icons instead of their name in their recipe description.
• Show number of needed items to fulfill your craft order in the storage panel.
• More information in the research screen about what you need for your research.
• Research now displays an alert notification when the selected research project can’t progress.
• Research steps are now hidden, and only currently researchable steps are visible.
• Added an alert when a research is completed.
• Complete rework of the filter screen, to better fit all the new and future items.
• Added a 27 hours clock.
• Changed speed button sprites.
• Changed floor button sprites.
• Small changes in the main menu.
• Fixed Population Screen not opening.
• Changed item on ground count font.
• Requires slightly more zoom before showing item count texts.
• Storage Screen title changed to 'Storage & Crafting'

SOUNDS & MUSIC

• Many reworked sounds, including UI sounds.
• Replaced some music, and added a couple event-specific tracks.
• Expanded sound system - added sound variety and effects.
• Added Night and Caves Ambience sounds.
• Many audio fixes.

• Added/Changed Actions sounds: Building, Chopping, Harvesting, Mining, Cutting, Planting, Smoothing, Tilling, Item Dropping, Equipping Armor, Equipping Weapon
• Added/Changed Combat Sounds: AutoTurret Fire/Take Damage/Destroyed, Bullet Hit/Miss, IAR4 Fire, Slime Take Damage / Deal Damage / Death
• Added/Changed Crafting Sounds: Farmers Table, Juicer, Processor, Loom, Spinning Wheel - all machines Manual and Electric versions
• Added/Changed Objects Sounds: Doors, Power Switches, Power Connection, all 3 Research Tables
• Added/Changed Pawn Sounds: Drink, Eat Cooked, Eat Raw, Sleep, Death, Take Damage, Unarmed (Deal Damage)
• Added/Changed Notification Sounds: Info, Warning, Danger, Death, Research, Tutorial.

SETTINGS

• Removed full screen option (because of an error caused by the Unity update)
• Added Zoom Sensitivity option to control the zoom speed.
• Added Zoom to Cursor option, an experimental feature that makes the camera zoom to your cursor (unfinished feature, disabled by default).

STORY EVENTS

• Small rework to event triggers, so 2 events cannot happen at the same time.
• Changed raid event name and description.

OTHER

• Added Tutorial.
• Update Unity project from Unity 2018.2.20f1 to Unity 2019.3.0f6
• All existing Research Projects were extended - most research now costs resources and can produce interesting/prototype stuff. This is the groundwork for a future feature.
• Increased underground iron generation a little bit.
• Camera zooms are now more smooth.
• The mouse cursor is only locked in the screen window when you enable the “Edge Scroll” in the settings.
• Add an order to smooth the stone floor and rock wall to a nice floor and wall.
• Pawns can now work in diagonal.
• Added “Generic resource costs” - recipes that take “Any Thread”, “Any Petals”, “Any Flour”
• Balancing all existing crafts cost and time.
• Balancing all entities building cost and time.
• Changed nearly all current items, entities or research project descriptions.
• Rocks sometimes drop 2 “Stone” instead of 1.

Congrats on reaching the end of the ChangeLog!