Today's the last Something's Brewing for this year. And what a year has it been... It feels like May, when we started developing Ale Abbey, was but a mere week ago.
We hope that you kept close tabs on our posts over the year so you too could have witnessed that we believed we would start slow and pick it up as we went, but instead we quickly understood that as a team our speed and dedication to Ale Abbey helped us make some serious strides!
With about a day and a half short of leaving 2022 behind, we would like to give you this year's last dev update on Ale Abbey, our upcoming Monastery Brewery tycoon!
--Indie of the Year Awards Results
As you might have gathered from our social media posts the last couple of weeks and IndieDB's banners, the Indie of the Year Awards for 2022 are now complete. The votes have been counted and the categories now sport their winners.
Ale Abbey not only made it in the Top 100 games of the competition but also became part of the Top 10 Upcoming Indies for this year. This category was not part of the Editors Choice awards, but directly linked to the Players' votes! So snatching the 7th position while competing against some amazing titles, we can't be more thankful for all the love and attention we received from every single one of you!
Thank you all and make sure you click on the picture below to see the final Top 10 of Upcoming Indies.
--Work on the environs' aesthetics continues
Following up on last week's post, Watzmann is slowly becoming more prominent in the Abbey's background!
There is still quite some back and forth between our two artists to nail the exact level of detail (to make sure it matches the overall game and other surroundings), as well as make certain other visual effects are introduced to make it fit the bigger picture.
We're quite happy with the results so far and nothing can convince Yannis that there aren't some Empires in Ruins vibes looking at that range; "even Sgt. Heimer would approve!"
--Onwards to a New Year dev cycle
We've already nailed two internal milestones with some great results. Not even halfway through the third one - probably a bit more demanding than the ones preceding it - we already have our goals set for the first few months of the new year. At this stage of development, even the goals themselves are somewhat "flexible" so expect them to be a WIP in and of themselves.
What you can expect in the first few months of 2023 is more work on UX/UI, the basic Monk/Nun implementation, and more SFX, plus a working OST that we will be pushing pretty hard for. And don't forget we haven't released any news about our Publisher yet either ;)
Below, the latest version of the Recipe Creation UI.
And an idea (full of placeholders) that circulates around the team to save space and better the UI.
--Thinking of finally homebrewing this year?
Homebrewing is driven by passion. But passion alone doesn't get any resolution far enough. If you really want to give homebrewing a go this year, there are a few things that you need to prepare for, and a small investment on your part in both time and a bit of money (Emiliano, our Lead Dev, probably has some pretty convincing numbers that show how much you can save in the long run!).
Without any further fluff: copy the following list, and stay true until you crack your first bottle open. Be it a success or not, it will still give you the motivation to go on.
- Do your research about tools & equipment, raw materials, the beer style you want to try first, and the process itself. Prepare both your tools and your mind.
- Impeccable sanitation and great raw materials; should definitely help you limit most mistakes to the process rather than the material used and help you better yourself.
- Be prepared to do a lot of record-keeping; what can be measured, can be managed and you will need to remind yourself of all the details in the recipes you've brewed and the steps you took to brew them. As soon as your beer is ready, you would otherwise have no recollection of most of it.
- Buy brewing tools for the long run; do not go cheap as you will have to use (and early on even abuse) these tools over and over again. Good equipment will also help you with the next point immensely...
- Be wary of temperature control. Boiling and sustaining the boil, being able to decrease the wort's temperature fast enough, and managing temperatures for fermentation. You don't want to botch these as doing so can and will break your brew.
- Brew beers that are more forgiving to begin your adventure; something darker and more flavorful is always the way as you can produce a beer that can at least cover some of the mistakes until you find the ways to fix them ;)
- Finally, always remind yourself, don't be afraid of the process. Homebrewing can be devilishly simple to follow and learn but takes years and failure to master. You will do fine!
Phew... now, get back to your cozy sofa, grab that beer encyclopedia, and rest yourself in preparation for the year to come. We know we will!
Wishing you the best in the year to come! New Year, new goals, and new achievements await to be celebrated with a cold mug brimming with ale!
And... enjoy this coming year responsibly ;)
-- Hammer & Ravens
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