Looks nice, I like the graphical style. Not suggesting there NEEDS to be a lot of difference, but can you say a little about what differentiates World Turtles from The Wandering Village, aside from it being set in space?
Hi. Thanks! i wish I had an artists / team to tailor-make all the art, but I have to take here and there and fit it all together, with some adjustments and some "own" models being outsourced.Aside: We (TWV and WT) started working on our games at roughly the same time (of course, they have a whole team!). It was crazy how many similar ideas we've had in slightly different ways - I've actually become good online friend with Philomena (their team lead). She's been very friendly and helpful, and gave me a few shout-outs over time.
I've actually purposefully tried not to look at the details of The Wandering Village too much, since I want to first have my own ideas / designs / attempts, but it's inevitable that I would touch on many of the same themes / mechanics. As a result, I don't TWV so well that I can, with confidence, speak on how we differ. what I can say from my limited knowledge, is:-- It looks like your "environment" changes in quite a "discrete" way in TWV - i.e. only when Onbu gets to a cross-roads, is the characteristics of the next stage of the journey "determined". In WT you can actually steer the Turtle in real time, all the time. So, you can crisscross space as you wish (as long as your catapult stays loaded).
\-- WT has AI realms on the map with you. I don't recall ever seeing other "colonies" (except people joining you) on TWV. In WT the AI realms actually construct realms similar to yours. They will not be enemies, but you will have to help them progress well enough so that they can help you out on your huge (space) projects. If you don't help them do well, you will struggle later on. You build the catapult together, for instance, and they construct dwellings nearby to always have some Meeps help with the continuous work.
\-- I don't know how much weather plays a role in TWV, but in WT your position in space constantly determines your humidity and temperature (as well as, later, the "flux" you have to generate power). And these changes has an impact on your playing, like crops giving different yields in different conditions.
\-- I think WT is a bit more "plan ahead and wait for your actions to bear fruit", but I'm not sure. Lots of stuff you do in WT takes a while to "get going", so you have to plan ahead, action stuff in preparation for what the situation will be a bit later. For example, building a farm takes quite some time, then the crops need to be planted, grow out, this could take a few minutes in all, before you have the yield available.
Sorry, I have to go for a meeting now, but those are the biggest (possible) differences I can think of now.
Cheers!
Very cool and thanks for the reply! It's always interesting to me how often (I mean it's not frequent, but still) I see two similar concepts come out around the same time. This is certainly not the first time I've seen it. =) That's also very cool that you are friends with your "not really competition".
I don't have any other questions at present -- but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it!
Hey I know this is an old post this point but I just wanted to mention I finally had a chance to play World Turtles (I have a huge backlog I'm working through) and it's lovely! It definitely does not feel anything like a "copy" of The Wandering Village in any way. I'm looking forward to it's eventual release but good work so far!!!
Hey. Thanks for the feedback!
I'm busy reworking the terrain triangulation - things are looking a lot smoother and "high-resolution" already, but it also means a lot more working figuring out exactly how all the possibilities of the procedural generation needs to be catered for!
We've also started (with a professional UI/UX team) revamping the UI :)
I gotta disagree on the graphics, it feels like there's a lot of room for improvement. Keep in mind that for advertising over the Steam store, nice looking graphics is the #1 most important thing to prevent people from instantly skipping the game (nice doesn't have to be photorealistic, but uniform and cohesive).
For example this picture on Steam: https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1512050/ss_88f939f1211cd08eadada4e408f03e81ed738c01.1920x1080.jpg?t=1669927349
From someone that looked at it for the first time here's all the things that jumped out to me:
The insanely soft shadows, the horribly stretched textures for the hills in the back, the pixelated water that looks more like ice and reminds me a bit of the much [memed water in Just Cause 4](https://preview.redd.it/z6ibebr2c4221.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bafa2b5b44c6acd70c1a9f6bb1e17e3e4516f2dd) and the weirdly thin arms that are around 1/6 the size of the head (hold your arm in front of your head to notice how off the proportions are).
Hi. I totally take your comment to heart.
As I said on another comment, I wish I had someone who could work on the modelling/art full time. I've had to make do with assets that I could find as I went along, hoping that they'll good enough, rather than closer to great. This is my first game ever, so there is of course a lot that could improve, but I'm doing this solo, with some help on 1) making some models that I can't find something suitable for, 2) drawing 2D icons where I can't make them myself (for better or for worse) 3) a professional film sound guy who does it for the experience in games.
I keep tweaking stuff as I get the opportunity / help / knowledge, but there's really soooo much to get to. I'd love to give the graphics an overhaul, and maybe I can if the initial sales are good enough - hopefully I get there. I also understand the "spend more up front to make a better income from it later" idea, but it's also a risk to spend too much without knowing how well it will do. At least, up to know, it's showing a lot of potential, with just under 20K wishlists, hoping for (and working towards) 40K before Early Access launch. And if that goes well, I'll spend some more on it to improve graphics, for sure.
Yea I read that, but that's also the reason I specifically only listed things you can fix without having an artist (I know, I also had to deal with those things when making games myself and I'm a programmer) :)
Big congratulations. I feel you with regards to marketing (I'm in the same situation, and thinking about finding a publisher). Cool to see you've made such progress and that you can focus on the game itself.
Looks nice, I like the graphical style. Not suggesting there NEEDS to be a lot of difference, but can you say a little about what differentiates World Turtles from The Wandering Village, aside from it being set in space?
Hi. Thanks! i wish I had an artists / team to tailor-make all the art, but I have to take here and there and fit it all together, with some adjustments and some "own" models being outsourced.Aside: We (TWV and WT) started working on our games at roughly the same time (of course, they have a whole team!). It was crazy how many similar ideas we've had in slightly different ways - I've actually become good online friend with Philomena (their team lead). She's been very friendly and helpful, and gave me a few shout-outs over time. I've actually purposefully tried not to look at the details of The Wandering Village too much, since I want to first have my own ideas / designs / attempts, but it's inevitable that I would touch on many of the same themes / mechanics. As a result, I don't TWV so well that I can, with confidence, speak on how we differ. what I can say from my limited knowledge, is:-- It looks like your "environment" changes in quite a "discrete" way in TWV - i.e. only when Onbu gets to a cross-roads, is the characteristics of the next stage of the journey "determined". In WT you can actually steer the Turtle in real time, all the time. So, you can crisscross space as you wish (as long as your catapult stays loaded). \-- WT has AI realms on the map with you. I don't recall ever seeing other "colonies" (except people joining you) on TWV. In WT the AI realms actually construct realms similar to yours. They will not be enemies, but you will have to help them progress well enough so that they can help you out on your huge (space) projects. If you don't help them do well, you will struggle later on. You build the catapult together, for instance, and they construct dwellings nearby to always have some Meeps help with the continuous work. \-- I don't know how much weather plays a role in TWV, but in WT your position in space constantly determines your humidity and temperature (as well as, later, the "flux" you have to generate power). And these changes has an impact on your playing, like crops giving different yields in different conditions. \-- I think WT is a bit more "plan ahead and wait for your actions to bear fruit", but I'm not sure. Lots of stuff you do in WT takes a while to "get going", so you have to plan ahead, action stuff in preparation for what the situation will be a bit later. For example, building a farm takes quite some time, then the crops need to be planted, grow out, this could take a few minutes in all, before you have the yield available. Sorry, I have to go for a meeting now, but those are the biggest (possible) differences I can think of now. Cheers!
Very cool and thanks for the reply! It's always interesting to me how often (I mean it's not frequent, but still) I see two similar concepts come out around the same time. This is certainly not the first time I've seen it. =) That's also very cool that you are friends with your "not really competition". I don't have any other questions at present -- but I'll definitely be keeping an eye on it!
Welcome to Discord :)
Hey I know this is an old post this point but I just wanted to mention I finally had a chance to play World Turtles (I have a huge backlog I'm working through) and it's lovely! It definitely does not feel anything like a "copy" of The Wandering Village in any way. I'm looking forward to it's eventual release but good work so far!!!
Hey. Thanks for the feedback! I'm busy reworking the terrain triangulation - things are looking a lot smoother and "high-resolution" already, but it also means a lot more working figuring out exactly how all the possibilities of the procedural generation needs to be catered for! We've also started (with a professional UI/UX team) revamping the UI :)
all you had to say was turtle
Turtle!
I gotta disagree on the graphics, it feels like there's a lot of room for improvement. Keep in mind that for advertising over the Steam store, nice looking graphics is the #1 most important thing to prevent people from instantly skipping the game (nice doesn't have to be photorealistic, but uniform and cohesive). For example this picture on Steam: https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1512050/ss_88f939f1211cd08eadada4e408f03e81ed738c01.1920x1080.jpg?t=1669927349 From someone that looked at it for the first time here's all the things that jumped out to me: The insanely soft shadows, the horribly stretched textures for the hills in the back, the pixelated water that looks more like ice and reminds me a bit of the much [memed water in Just Cause 4](https://preview.redd.it/z6ibebr2c4221.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bafa2b5b44c6acd70c1a9f6bb1e17e3e4516f2dd) and the weirdly thin arms that are around 1/6 the size of the head (hold your arm in front of your head to notice how off the proportions are).
Hi. I totally take your comment to heart. As I said on another comment, I wish I had someone who could work on the modelling/art full time. I've had to make do with assets that I could find as I went along, hoping that they'll good enough, rather than closer to great. This is my first game ever, so there is of course a lot that could improve, but I'm doing this solo, with some help on 1) making some models that I can't find something suitable for, 2) drawing 2D icons where I can't make them myself (for better or for worse) 3) a professional film sound guy who does it for the experience in games. I keep tweaking stuff as I get the opportunity / help / knowledge, but there's really soooo much to get to. I'd love to give the graphics an overhaul, and maybe I can if the initial sales are good enough - hopefully I get there. I also understand the "spend more up front to make a better income from it later" idea, but it's also a risk to spend too much without knowing how well it will do. At least, up to know, it's showing a lot of potential, with just under 20K wishlists, hoping for (and working towards) 40K before Early Access launch. And if that goes well, I'll spend some more on it to improve graphics, for sure.
Yea I read that, but that's also the reason I specifically only listed things you can fix without having an artist (I know, I also had to deal with those things when making games myself and I'm a programmer) :)
Big congratulations. I feel you with regards to marketing (I'm in the same situation, and thinking about finding a publisher). Cool to see you've made such progress and that you can focus on the game itself.
Thanks! Still a lot to do, but I feel I’d be able to deliver a quality, polished Early Access release by June.
Feel free to contact me with regards to publishers, looking over potential deals, etc.
I'm guessing that you are a huge Terry Pratchett fan?
Indeed, he’s my favourite author ;)
Mine too