Hey everyone!

As you may have read in Devlog #13, we are currently working on a patch for the recent 1.6 Minerals & Craftsmanship update. This patch will provide some polish to the 1.6 update as well as bring with it some highly requested quality of life improvements.

The 1.6 content patch is now close to being ready, so for this Devlog we will be taking a closer look at what the team has been working on for the upcoming patch…

More Names!

Yes, you read that right… With 1000 new names being added to the game, no more will you be seeing Male #007 or Female #42, well, at least for some time anyway. As a side note, there will be further work on names, in the future, as part of the planned family system.

Another highly requested feature being introduced with the patch is the option to rename villagers. Streamers rejoice! This feature is not just for streamers though, now we can all have Auntie Bob in our villages.

Promotion Sorting

We have received many requests for this one and your wish is our command… Lords and Ladies, we bring you promotion sorting!

You will be able to sort the population by various parameters whilst also being able to easily focus on a villager’s workplace, their house, and the villager themselves, making it much easier to identify those you wish to promote.

Melody Composer

“What’s this?!” Is the burning question we hear on your minds. Well… a brand new feature will be introduced with the patch that will see a Melody Composer added to buildings that contain musical parts.

You will find a simplified version in churches however, one particular musical Masterpiece will allow you to flex your musical talents or make a crescendo of noise if music is not your thing. Either-way lookout for this as you unlock the Masterpieces.

Masterpiece Polish

You may have already read the notes regarding the work we are doing on the Gate Masterpiece in Devlog #13. This, however, is not the only Masterpiece to see some changes and polish in this patch.

As mentioned above one of the Masterpieces will see the new Melody Composer added. We have also taken a look at the Masterpiece effect conditions that are randomly assigned to Masterpiece sets, for example, the stained glass masterpiece will be tied to conditions that are more relevant to its use.

Additionally, more information regarding masterpieces, effects and their conditions can now be found by hovering over the Masterpiece in the build menu.

If you are new to Masterpieces you will be able to find further information about them in a new help topic that can be accessed at any time in the in-game help (?) menu.

Quarry Depots and Visuals

The content patch will see a new function added to the quarry parts. The large crane will now act as a resource depot allowing mined resources to be stored locally rather than requiring a warehouse for storage nearby your quarries.

The stored resources within these depots will also come with improved visuals making it easier to identify the resources at-a-glance.

New Animations

Mooooar animations! With the addition of the new workplace/workstation integration that came with the 1.6 content update, we have been able to open up a whole new range of possibilities for workplace animations.

Bug Fixes and More

A big thank you to everyone that has been sending in bug reports and offering feedback. All of your reports have allowed us to fix a number of issues that will be resolved with the content patch.

As you can see above this patch will apply some polish as well as bring new additions, bug fixes, and more improvements, including:

• New sounds for mining and other workplaces
• Some UI tweaks such as an improved resource list order
• A pop-up when exiting the game, so no more accidental exits
• Changes to the mineral distribution system when prospecting mineral nodes. For example, Iron will be much easier to find earlier in your searches.
• Builder’s proximity priority during work-cycle
• Multiple pathfinding fixes
• And more (A full changelog will be available on release)

If testing goes well, we hope to get the patch out within the next couple of weeks so stay tuned for further announcements.