Dev Update: September 2023
It’s been an action-packed month for Palia – from the Maji Market to the Temple of the Flames, not to mention befriending Tau and dozens of other feature updates – we hope that everything you’ve seen in Patch 0.167 and 0.168 has made you even more excited for what else is to come.
In case you missed our very first Dev Update last month, Dev Updates are regular check-ins from the Palia development team where we cover your most requested features and recent hot topics.
We see tons of chat coming from the community every day (congratulations to Discord for hitting 300k members!). And while we may not be able to cover everything you’ve discussed in the below Dev Update, we hope that these sneak peeks will give you lots to look forward to in the months to come!
Coming Soon
Obstacle Course
We’ve always envisioned Palia as a game that is capable of containing many different types of experiences. While our core experience is that of a community sim, just building the pieces to make that experience enables us to more easily make experiences that are more typical in other game genres with some of the same components.
With that in mind, we have an experimental feature dropping in an upcoming patch: an obstacle course.
Early look at the Obstacle Course feature.
Note: There have already been visual changes since this image was taken, like fog being added to the environment!
Moving in Palia is already pretty fun, and many of you spend a lot of time trying to climb to the top of anything you can lay your eyes on. However, a focused platforming challenge is still a different experience to what is typical in Palia. Obstacle courses are often challenging and test players differently than most of our existing content does. As such, we don’t think this is an experience that will appeal to all Palians, but we think that’s ok as long as there is a core group it does speak to.
Because we don’t want people to feel like this is an experience they have to participate in, we have not put any unique rewards behind completing it that a cozy gamer would feel like they absolutely had to have. E.g. There is no unique plushie locked behind completing this activity. Completing the course is more about earning a sense of accomplishment and being able to show that off than any other reward.
Flow Tree Groves
We’ve seen a lot of feedback around Flow Trees being too rare - even more rare than expected for magical, glowing purple trees. As the temples begin to awaken, more flow has begun to churn throughout the land. Because of this, you will start to see groves of Flow Trees start to emerge!
Flow Tree Groves will appear as small groupings of Flow Trees, in various sizes. Once per Palian day, a small grouping of flow trees will appear for players to find in Bahari. You will be able to see a visible plume of Flow from a further distance than you would with a single Flow Tree. Coupled with the Flare Arrows and Proximity Chat discussed below, gathering folks in the server to chop down Flow Trees will be easier than ever!
Flare Arrows
We know that signaling your location on a map to other players can be difficult in a variety of situations across Palia. With that in mind, we’ve been tinkering with Flare Arrows, and can’t wait for this new addition to help players with this challenge moving forward.
Early look at the Flare Arrow testing.
Here’s how they work:
Flare Arrows deal no damage, and do not alert nearby creatures. It will leave a lingering visual effect in the sky for one minute, high into the air. The color of the flare will be randomized. Players will only be able to have one active Flare Arrow at a time, and firing a Flare Arrow while you already have one active will cancel out the first one.
Start saving your resources now so you can be ready to alert your friends as soon as they’re added to Palia! This is the recipe:
- 5 Heartwood + 5 Flint + 1 Crystal Lake Lotus
- Crafts 5 at a time
We can't wait to see these light up the sky!
Proximity Chat
In addition to Flare Arrows, another frequently requested feature we’re looking into for the near future that will support spontaneous multiplayer communication and activities is Proximity Chat!
Proximity Chat will be a new text channel that allows players to send messages exclusively to players in their vicinity. We hope it'll make it easier for players to have more intimate conversations, roleplay, and coordinate gameplay.
In our local tests it already feels so freeing to be able to just chat with the person next to you instead of spamming the whole server. You can expect to try this feature for yourself in the next couple months!
Ammo & Bait and Quest Pouches
We have seen a lot of feedback around managing bag inventory when players are out in the world. To save you some trips back and forth to your housing plot, we are adding separate places for you to store ammo, bait, and quest items, called “pouches”. There will be two different pouches, an Ammo & Bait pouch and a Quest Item pouch.
Early visual development for Pouches.
You will be able to manage the items in these pouches by simply toggling to dedicated tabs in your Player Menu. When created or looted, Ammo & Bait and Quest Items will go directly to these dedicated pouches; no management required.
You start with one complete row of dedicated ammo and bait slots.
Ammo & Bait pouch upgrades will be purchasable with gold through Zeki’s General Store, and will add additional rows of ammo and bait inventory just like the backpack upgrades. When Players have purchased all of these, they’ll have a total of 40 available ammo and bait slots.
However, the Quest Item pouch has unlimited capacity. You will no longer need to worry about Quest Item management at all, and will be able to carry all quest items on your person at all times. Look forward to us starting to implement this feature in the next few patches!
Improvements to the Workbench
On last Patch’s episode, you saw our first step towards improving the experience with the Workbench when we introduced the ability to multicraft. This update means you can now craft multiple batches of ammo, decor, furniture, and anything else you can find at the Workbench in quantities up to 99, instantly, as long as you have the materials.
Coming up next, you can look forward to even more improvements, including sorting options and updated tabs with several other additional changes to follow in patches beyond that.
Who doesn't love a workbench screenshot.
Mining and Starstones
The Maji culture is deeply influenced by the stars and moons. Part of this culture that we haven’t yet shared in Palia are “Starstones”, which reflect your “Luna Sign”. A Luna Sign is the phase of the Dragon Moon you were born under. Similar to how we assign birthstones to months in real life, each Luna Sign has an associated Starstone.
You will be able to find these Starstones in various rarities in random drops while mining. These Starstones will sell for a very high value, and buff the economic potential of mining significantly. If you choose not to sell them, you can gift them to Villagers, who will respond positively when receiving their Starstone.
We’ll be sharing more details as this feature develops, so keep checking back on our monthly Dev Updates!
The Future of Cake Parties
It is also time to share that in the upcoming 0.169 patch (rolling out next week), the Celebration Cake will be rebalanced. We recommend having a bake sale this weekend!
We will share all the details in the Patch Notes next week, but rest assured: Cake parties aren’t going anywhere, but we did need to find the right balance for all our skills. For now, be sure to gather up the Jammers, Leafers, Ovens, and everyone else for another rousing weekend of Cake Parties! 🎂
On The Horizon
- Kneeling Emote (Next Patch!)
- New skin tones & facial features
- New hunting creatures
- Additional improvements to the Requests system
And we haven’t forgotten about one of our most popular requests, your downright demands, to [REDACTED] [REDACTED]. We’re just as excited as you are! 💪🌭💗
As we like to always remind folks: Please keep letting us know what you want to see, whether it’s in Palia’s Discord, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. We have a lot more in store for you, and we’re eager to hear what you think!
Hope to see you there~