[Dev Blog] Summer Event

Dear Settlers,

Today we want to introduce a new part of our Dev Diary section: Dev Blog.
These texts are provided by (surprise!) the development team in order to give some insights into design decisions about features.


What is the summer event about?

Sneak Peek can be found >here<
Dev Diary can be found >here<

The following Dev Blog provided by BB_Stokely deals with the current summer event.

Who am I?
I am BB_Stokely, a game designer who was in charge of this year's summer event.


In the following text I will answer some of the typical questions popping up on forums
and I will explain to you why we implemented the feature as it is now.


Why click adventures instead of military adventures?

Two years ago we had another football event that basically consisted of military adventures. The community feedback was quite mixed. Some of you mentioned finishing the adventures rather quickly which resulted in a time span without new tasks. New players were unable to participate, because the minimum required level was 26. On top of that, some of you were not that interested in playing military adventures at all. So game design pondered on what can be changed. Again, we wanted to use the adventure maps resembling a football field. Due to feedback it was decided not to implement military adventures this time. Instead, the idea was born to use bandit camp buffs that had been introduced with the epic raids. After some adjustments, the buff option was used.

http://static.cdn.ubi.com/0034/archi..._06_WM/map.jpg

The buffs come with further advantages:
Each camp skill can be defeated with several buffs. The buffs can be created in the provision house by using special event resources. As the type of available resources differ per player, the challenge is to decide on clever buff production compositions in order to increase the efficiency. Furthermore, a lot of game mechanics can be used for this event. This enriches the gameplay with a huge variety of possibilities on how to receive the resources for the event buffs: Explorers can find the resources, collectibles can be picked up from the home island, daily quests or playing military adventures are additional opportunities to get the items.

Why was there a strange balance on the test server?

The balancing proved to be very difficult to obtain, because so many different features were used; at the end of the testing phase, a complex calculation was required and a mistake was discovered. Thanks to your feedback, the team was able to find the glitch and to correct it.

Why do I produce a header out of an elastic spring and a helmet?

A good sense of humour was always part of ”The Settlers Online”. However, a classic football match would not match with the humour of ‘The Settlers Online’ and the era of the game scenario. An important aspect was to attach skills to the football camps and at the same time something was needed to defeat the skills. Because we were not able to grant (new) skills to the generals for this specific feature, it was decided to create new buffs that rely on new resources.

Why the grout and why the explorer?

Both main event items were designed to fit the needs of many players who have to deal with lack of space on their island. Both items come with possibilities to empower a home island without using any additional building space. The explorer provides buffs to improve the efficiency of buildings. The new opportunity to upgrade a first batch of buildings to level 6 is another method to improve the economy. The farms, the stone masons and the marble masons are some of the most used buildings after the residence, hence, the level 6 option was added.

I hope that these insights provide a better understanding on some of the new features designed for “The Settlers Online”.

Happy Settling!
BB_Stokely

For feedback, please go here.

BB_Ravel