Anvil Empires Windows game

Originally posted on Steam on June 12, 2023. We are catching up on the backlog and will eventually post the devblogs here as they are published.

Disclaimer: Features discussed in this post reflect what is currently under development and not necessarily what will be shipping with the next test. Anything mentioned below may change at any time due to the experimental nature of Pre-Alpha development. Nothing mentioned here should be taken as a promised feature or additional to the eventual game.

Sawbucks & Powered Saw Mills

In the latest Pre-Alpha, we will be adding in a new way to refine lumber, which will be more tactile and will work within the framework of Power and Workshop Areas introduced in the last test. After chopping down a tree, players will transport their logs to a player designed Workshop Area at a Settlement that will include new equipment for processing them into materials for production and construction.

Logs must be placed on a Sawbuck and sawed into a production ready material like Wood Planks. This will initially be a manual process where players must chop the logs by hand using an Axe. Each Sawbuck can hold several logs at a time, allowing another player to deliver them into a small queue. Higher quality Axes (e.g. Iron) will chop logs more efficiently.

If power infrastructure is available (e.g. a Water Wheel), the chopping process can be streamlined. A Powered Saw Mill can be built over a Sawbuck, which will slowly process any log in the queue. While the process will be slower than chopping logs by hand using an Axe, it will allow for passive production and parallelization.

This feature still requires some supporting content before it can fully replace the legacy method for refining, but it will be included in the next Pre-Alpha test for early experimental testing.

Cisterns

Water will eventually become a critical resource in Anvil Empires. A new way to procure water will be through water infrastructure like Aqueducts and Canals. Cisterns will be a new structure that players can build and connect to their Canal network to supply water to their Settlements. Water will be used for a variety of applications including Cooking and Farming.

When a Cistern is connected to a Canal that has water, it will replenish slowly. The amount of water left in the Cistern is reflected in the structure's visuals. It should be noted that Wells will remain in the game as another source for Water, but their effectiveness will be reduced for now and their mechanics will be revisited in the future water infrastructure and economy are reviewed as a whole.

Family Areas

Family Areas is a very experimental feature that we'll be sneaking into the next Pre-Alpha. In Anvil Empires, the goal is for players to have agency over their Settlement's development, while still being encouraged to share and collaborate with their alliance. Getting this balance correct will require a lot of experimentation and iteration that we expect will extend far into the game's development (even into Early Access).

Family Areas will allow players to section off an area of their Settlement that restricts access to Family Members. Players can be added as a Family Member through the Family Area's user interface. In it's current minimal implementation, this feature will be missing critical functionality but the goal is to get the concept out there in testing as soon as possible so we can begin collecting feedback on what works and what doesn't. Expect this feature to be iterated on or removed in the near future.

Water Pump Art

As prototype features are added to the Anvil Empires Pre-Alpha, the art is often provided in "block in" form, which means that it's a temporary asset to be replaced with more polished art once the associated gameplay has been tested. The Water Pump was one such feature that had it's art asset updated it's after initial implementation.

The Water Pump draws water into an Aqueduct. For the updated model, we looked at many real world references from ancient history, such as this lift that was used to supply water into an Aqueduct for irrigation purposes.

Be sure to add Anvil Empires to your wish list on Steam. If you want to join the community, head over the to official Discord server or Subreddit.