Banished (Settlers/Tropico type game) - Released

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SMOGZINN

Lifer
Jun 17, 2005
14,359
4,640
136
It seems pretty neat... but just one guy? I dont know that raises some red flags for me. No one can be good at all aspects to game development: core design, AI, graphics. Jack of all trades is a master of none.

When you have 'just one guy' developers what that really means is that he hired people as needed to help out on certian parts of the job. Most likely he hired a artist to do a lot of the art assets, and hired musicans (or simply bought music rights from some), and probably had other consultants help him out on code as he got stuck.
 

clok1966

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
1,395
13
76
Very interested in this game, one I actually held off on, and now it appears its good. I was in the STEAM forums (shouldn't be surprised they said it sucked, every new game sucks in the Steam forums). The complaints where , its just building, and got repetitive quick.. (keep in mind this is not me, but complaints in tye STEAM forums).. I really like building games... Currently play alot of Prision Architect, and TOWNS (so, i like it), it sounds this is more finished ..
 

ThinClient

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2013
3,977
4
0
It seems pretty neat... but just one guy? I dont know that raises some red flags for me. No one can be good at all aspects to game development: core design, AI, graphics. Jack of all trades is a master of none.

It took him nearly 4 years to do it.

Don't be a judgmental butthead. This guy DID pull it off.
 

ThinClient

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2013
3,977
4
0
So, I bought 4 sheep. Instead of walking down the 2-tile-wide main highway through my city, they disappeared between the trader and the pen. It took me a few moments to find them, but when I realized what path they took to the pen, I lol'd and took a screenshot.

There are 2 sheep below the surface. LOL

DRx5jPp.jpg
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
Soooo.... ummmm... from the screenshots you guys have posted this game looks depressingly gray... :p
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,784
6,343
126
In my 11 hours of play so far, managing the Population Demographics seems to be my biggest challenge. The few times I have skirted failure it has almost always been due to a Population Bubble coming to its' end, leaving key tasks under manned.

After a couple of Banished Years having my Food get as low as 3(three) each Winter, I quickly learned the value of Storage. My Food is now 20k in Storage, with approx 10k at the Trading depot. All that for just a Population of 80-90. It allows for Population Bubbles and for Refugees.

Everytime Refugees show up I get all excited about how it's gonna fix everything. Unfortunately I have so many unfilled Jobs that 30 seconds after they arrive I eagerly await the next batch. :D
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,784
6,343
126
released on 2/18? damn

Ya, I kinda got sucked in. Each time I checked the time, 2 hours had passed and I was kinda shocked. The game always has a challenge to overcome and it lets you see victory just beyond your finger tips but you never quite get there. Then something starts happening and a new challenge occurs where you were not expecting.

It's kinda like Civilization or the Sims in that way. The mind gets so involved with making everything work just right that Time becomes nonexistent. Or something.
 

Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,779
882
126
It does look awesome from the videos I have seen but with no intentions of some kind of multiplayer in it plus it is a bit expensive for $20 compared to other games out there.
 

Northern Lawn

Platinum Member
May 15, 2008
2,231
2
0
The game is so slow i can watch curling while playing it but it's good. I'm kind of getting frustrated at how my population starves for no reason I can see... other than lack of food. I think it wants you to spend 80% of your manpower just go for food in the summer and 100% in the winter.
 

Dresdenboy

Golden Member
Jul 28, 2003
1,730
554
136
citavia.blog.de
It seems pretty neat... but just one guy? I dont know that raises some red flags for me. No one can be good at all aspects to game development: core design, AI, graphics. Jack of all trades is a master of none.
There are enough other people and games to learn from. And for some things like graphics you might also contract someone.
 

ThinClient

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2013
3,977
4
0
The game is so slow i can watch curling while playing it but it's good. I'm kind of getting frustrated at how my population starves for no reason I can see... other than lack of food. I think it wants you to spend 80% of your manpower just go for food in the summer and 100% in the winter.

If you'd like tips on how to play the game, play the tutorials. Remember cavemen of old? Hunters and Gatherers. That's a huge hint.

Also, the game has speed controls. I always play on 10x.
 

BoberFett

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
37,562
9
81
I'm kind of getting frustrated at how my population starves for no reason I can see... other than lack of food.

That seems like a plausible reason to starve. :p

I'll probably be picking this one up, the city building was always my favorite part of RTSes. You have all sold me on it.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
4,762
0
76
This game is like settlers bit a little bit more real. I love the fact that the seasons matter a great deal, that you never quite have enough hands to do all the jobs and that its really hard to get a village balanced. Its not that the balance of the game is off, its the harse reality of a cold winter that destroys crops. If you are fixing a problem already in full flow your done for, you need to see the problems coming.

A simple planning tool you can use is that it appears 1 person consumes 100 food in a year. Combined with the knowledge that an efficient food producer (at least in the beginning) can produce about 500 food means you should be able to build a reasonable amount of slack and storage into your system to avoid starvation. It wont stop other problems from occurring and killing your people but starvation is easily solved if you know the rough numbers.
 

Dumac

Diamond Member
Dec 31, 2005
9,391
1
0
It does look awesome from the videos I have seen but with no intentions of some kind of multiplayer in it plus it is a bit expensive for $20 compared to other games out there.

Why does every game have to have multiplayer? How would multiplayer even fit into this game?

This game seems like the type you could sink some serious hours into on singleplayer.
 

Northern Lawn

Platinum Member
May 15, 2008
2,231
2
0
That seems like a plausible reason to starve. :p

I'll probably be picking this one up, the city building was always my favorite part of RTSes. You have all sold me on it.

As much as I have loved it in the last 24 hours I would hold off if I were you. The game seems fixed, you can't feed the people. I had people starving in the middle of summer with every single adult except one, on food. Total bs. Your crop is halved by 50% after one season and then again the next, same with fishing and hunting, the numbers go down fast, you can't get enough food.

I literally spent hours with 3-4 people, juggling them as labourer and builder while 15 people were trying to get enough food and it still wasn't enough.

I might be done with the game but I'm going to try one more time only this time I'm using the speed up button because it's fixed.
 

Kalmah

Diamond Member
Oct 2, 2003
3,692
1
76
As much as I have loved it in the last 24 hours I would hold off if I were you. The game seems fixed, you can't feed the people. I had people starving in the middle of summer with every single adult except one, on food. Total bs. Your crop is halved by 50% after one season and then again the next, same with fishing and hunting, the numbers go down fast, you can't get enough food.

I literally spent hours with 3-4 people, juggling them as labourer and builder while 15 people were trying to get enough food and it still wasn't enough.

I might be done with the game but I'm going to try one more time only this time I'm using the speed up button because it's fixed.

I just ended a game with 200+ population. :p It's not that hard. It's all about prioritizing in the beginning and upping your surplus of everything as the pop increases.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,784
6,343
126
As much as I have loved it in the last 24 hours I would hold off if I were you. The game seems fixed, you can't feed the people. I had people starving in the middle of summer with every single adult except one, on food. Total bs. Your crop is halved by 50% after one season and then again the next, same with fishing and hunting, the numbers go down fast, you can't get enough food.

I literally spent hours with 3-4 people, juggling them as labourer and builder while 15 people were trying to get enough food and it still wasn't enough.

I might be done with the game but I'm going to try one more time only this time I'm using the speed up button because it's fixed.

You must be doing something very poorly. Make sure you have Houses near all the various Work places to cut down on travel. Build a Market and assign at least 1 person to work there.
 

Northern Lawn

Platinum Member
May 15, 2008
2,231
2
0
You must be doing something very poorly. Make sure you have Houses near all the various Work places to cut down on travel. Build a Market and assign at least 1 person to work there.

The biggest problem I think I have is citizens not doing what they should. If I'm trying to build a hunting lodge, nobody will go there for like half a year, they're off carrying food or idling, literally ignoring me.

I also thing some of the stats get stuck. If I take out the wood cutter that stat, at least one time stayed stuck at the same number and now it's happening again with medicine. I made the herbalists and the number stays the same.

IT's wierd because everything was going fine, I had school with 5 students, hospital with doctor but no paintence, blacksmith, woodcutter, 3 fisheries, two hunting lodges and gathering and I was fine all through the last winter then come summer staving. I had about 8 people starve to death in the summer and hit winter with no food or wood... the game is fixed.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,784
6,343
126
The biggest problem I think I have is citizens not doing what they should. If I'm trying to build a hunting lodge, nobody will go there for like half a year, they're off carrying food or idling, literally ignoring me.

I also thing some of the stats get stuck. If I take out the wood cutter that stat, at least one time stayed stuck at the same number and now it's happening again with medicine. I made the herbalists and the number stays the same.

IT's wierd because everything was going fine, I had school with 5 students, hospital with doctor but no paintence, blacksmith, woodcutter, 3 fisheries, two hunting lodges and gathering and I was fine all through the last winter then come summer staving. I had about 8 people starve to death in the summer and hit winter with no food or wood... the game is fixed.

The only thing that I have found that needs fixed/adjusted is related to Feeding people. If you assign a task that's too far from their home, they'll get hungry and need to return all the way home before they can eat. Some kind of food carrying capacity or alternate building where they can eat is needed.

Things to keep in mind:

1) When you build a House, a certain amount of Food and Firewood will be transferred to it. If your storage of these is low, it could cause a shortage for others who don't live in that house

2) Some buildings, like Hunting lodges, Gatherers, others can take more than 1 Worker.

3) Resource buildings need to be located in the proper environment. Foresters/Gatherers in Forests, for eg

4) Avoid overlap in resource gathering between same buildings.

5) Build Barns/Stock piles near Resources to cut down on travel

6) Keep track of Resource limits, your workers will stop working once the limit is reached. That can be a serious problem once your population increases. Food/Fire wood, for eg should be set way above what you need.