Friday Dev Update: New Trading and Fishing
One Man's Trash
There are merchants in the world of Salt that deal in gold, but what if there were others that were interested in trading with another medium? Last week, I implemented a system that allowed for just that. Using it, we will be able to create new types of traders that can ask for any type of item in exchange for their goods.
We are making use of this new trading opportunity in the upcoming patch. This also opens up some fun possibilities for the future. For instance, we could create a strange hermit that believes himself a reincarnation of the great pandas of legend, and thus, insists on a strict diet of bamboo. He would have an inventory full of glorious shiny items that he will only trade for copious amounts of bamboo.
As I said, we are already making use of this new system in the upcoming patch. There will actually be two new NPCs that make use of the system. The way it works is very similar to the way you are used to dealing in gold. Talk to an NPC to open up their merchant interface. Then, select the item you are interested in. Where you would normally see the gold icon, and the price, the gold icon will instead be the icon of the item that want in exchange. You’ll be able to mouse over the icon to see exactly what they want.
Fisherman's Delight
For those out there that enjoy fishing in Salt, I have some good news for you. There is some new fishing content coming with the next patch. The jungle islands will introduce a number of new types of fish to catch around their shores. Some will have special effects when eaten, some used to craft new potions, and others will be valued by a particular new NPC that is all about fishing.
Fishing in Salt is largely a game of learning and chance. Many fish have different ways that they can be caught, or are more likely to be caught. Figuring out what fish can be caught in which way requires some trial and error. What I want to do with the new fishing content is to apply a little touch of direction for some of the fish. This means there will be some fish you can learn about and hints at how to catch them before you catch them for the first time. I think it would be fun to know about a fish you want to catch and make it your mission to catch it. I’d also like to apply this same philosophy to some extent on some fish that are currently in the game. Perhaps a lore book or an npc that give some information on some fish.
Development Update
The update progress for 1.6 is going quite well. We’ve worked on AI to facilitate some new behaviors for jungle island NPCs, created new foliage, trees, and other visuals, implemented new NPCs and merchants, and number of new equipment items, fish, and lore books, and coded a new system for trading with currency other than gold.
In the upcoming weeks, we will be working on adding in new quests, secret content, more items, sounds, and finally testing and polishing the new content for release. I'm looking forward to getting this out to you all.
- John Gamble (Lead Developer)
Oh! Oh! Oh oh! I got a GREAT idea for new fish!!
ReplyDeleteIt would not be an actual fish but...
how bout a message in a bottle?!!!
Think about what that message would say....!
We definitely want to do messages in a bottle! Maybe this is something we can implement when we do multiplayer as a sort of means to leave notes for players.
DeleteGreat work :)
ReplyDeleteYou should listen to the negative reviews on steam, they all complain about one thing,
ReplyDeleteresource gathering.
Getting wood in the game is weird and grind-y and killing deer is near impossible and fruit is way to rare to be considered a valuable option.
read the negative reviews as they do provide SOME insight as to what needs improving (others just complain about the art style, but the art is consistent, which is good)
Hi, I LOVE the game and you're great developers! Question: How can I make sure I have the latest update? Does it install it automatically every time we play? Thanks again! Glo
ReplyDeleteHey there!
DeleteIf you have the game on Steam it should update automatically! If you think for some reason it's not updating, then try restarting your steam client and that should work. If you play the game through a patcher rather than steam, you can simply update it through there as well.