Development Update — Nestables
Hello? Is this thing still on?! We admit it has been far too long since the last development update for Nestables and for that we apologise. Still, unlike many crypto games which have sadly disappeared into the either, development has steadily continued on Nestables since our last public update to you. For those of you in our Telegram, we have continued to answer community questions and showcase the occasional update.
One of the things we are keenly aware of in the crypto space is that too many projects ride an unsustainable hype train and that is something we have been keen to avoid. Still, with Nestables getting closer to a substantial open testing phase, it is time to kick things up a gear again!
So, what have we been up to since the last development update? Lots! This report will focus on the main areas of focus. A number of the larger areas of work include a substantial amount of balancing, testing and bug fixing which is difficult to show visually but take up significant amounts of time and effort.
Three new traits have been added to the game which will be available for newly born Nestlings. These traits are (left to right) clay mining, gold panning and sand mining.
Cooking and smelting activities now require the player to add a fuel type. Fuels include items such as wood or you can make more efficient fuels such as charcoal and biofuel (crafted from wood and compostables).
New food items and ingredients have been added to the game including roasted mushrooms, strawberry oatmeal bars, vegetable stew, grandiose potato roast, wild berries, flour variants and more!
There are two tiers of seeds in Nestables now. Tier 1 has cheaper seeds that produce less, grows faster and requires a lower level of research to access. Tier 2 contains more expensive seeds that produce more, grow slower and require a higher level of research.
New models have been added for the different mine types to improve visual cues. In addition to this, changes have been made to encourage players to further explore and unlock additional areas of their Nest. For example, placing your ore mine near stones will see a boost to the amount of ore collected. Same for clay mines near clay piles, sand mines near sand dunes etc.
Naturally occurring trees now behave similar to the decorations the player can buy and place.
Specifically, they provide a % performance boost to wood chopping. The boost from nearby trees stack, so a well-placed chopping place in a wooded area can provide a hefty bonus.
Quests
A significant focus of work since the last update has been on making improvements to the different quest systems, including expanding the current daily quests. Serial quests have been introduced which will introduce and encourage players to explore different aspects of gameplay. Serial quests also include the starter tutorials for the game which will introduce players to the basic gameplay mechanics of Nestables. These quests are given by Charlie, the pink Merchant Nestable.
Serial quest categories include:
- Traveler Quests — Exploration related, getting players to explore their Nest and likely the last questline the player will finish.
- Greenskeeper — A focus on farming, along with an introduction to tea brewing and composting.
- Masterchef — All things cooking!
- Handyman — Introduction to the building editor and smelting.
A new form of Repeatable Quests has also been implemented:
These quests are different to the daily or serial quests. They reward the player with a trade instead. Quest rewards have the potential to include research tokens and unlearn tokens. Research tokens allow Nestables to complete a research topic of their choice. Unlearn tokens remove the learned knowledge in one area and allow the player to re-use it for another topic.
General changes / fixes include:
- Farming trait has been reworked to give a % boost to farming related activities instead of a chance for a double harvest
- Building Editor UI Update
- Many AI tweaks, including a new inactive mode and ability to press Space while selected to activate AI for that Nestable
- Reduced the size of the selection indicator on the portraits panel
- Exploration level requirements update (rebalanced several times)
- Re-balanced and updated the building material costs
- Significant balancing work for farming, construction time, foraging and tea brewing
- New Sand Miner research topic
- Added a building “salvage” mode which returns 50% of the resources used
- Various UI tweaks and improvements across the game
- Bug fixes, more bug fixes and even more bug fixes
- Meadows of flowers will provide a Nestable affection boost
- Additional Nestlings will require increased affection from the Nestable parents. E.g. 100 affection for first Nestling, 200 for the second.
- Gameplay balancing here, there and everywhere
Finally, most of the Enjin blockchain integration for Nestables is complete. There are some outstanding areas which won’t be completed until closer to full launch (as this integration changes) but the game incorporates all of your Nestables items from the Enjin transition that occured.
Finally, what will 2025 bring for Nestables?
Stay tuned!
~ Tribal Gaming
