Hi guys,

This time I don't really have time to make a video about the latest change in my roguelike city builder, called HexLands, so I thought I could talk about it the old fashioned way! :D

Lumbercamps were OP. And this not so small issue (because lumber is a pretty basic thus important resource) made me revamp the whole building "ecosystem".

I created a new, special resource: "Workers"!

The problem was that

• A, You could only build lumbercamps on Forest tiles.
• B, A lumbercamp cost 75 wood… and gave you 250 wood.

This meant that this building was a no brainer… in a bad sense. It turns some wood into more wood… while you can only build them on forests… which are only suitable for lumbercamps! You don’t have to make any real decision, but you must do it to get lumber. It was so boring, it felt like a chore. A few quick and easy solutions came up:

Like changing the building cost to something other than wood.

• Then it would at least feel like a "trade". But I always found it absurd in games that you can BUILD without WOOD! :D

Another solution would have been to create a similarly tiered (so early game building), which could be placed on forests.

• So the player has to decide between this new building and a lumbercamp. Sadly I could come up only with a hunters’/foragers’ hut. Basically a food source alternative to farms, but unlike the farms, these are buildable only on forests, and not on plains.
• But the problem with this idea is that if I can only get wood from forests, while you can get food ALSO from plains, who would waste precious forests on food?
• So I gave up on this direction, but feel free to suggest buildings, because I’d love to have more “forest buildings”!

And now here's the path I took:

• Basically if you want to build a production or service building, you must allocate people from your population!
• It was still relatively quick to implement, because in the end, it's just a new resource:
  • Everytime your population increases, you also get the same amount of “Workers”.

So now when you have a forest tile and a lumbercamp card, think before building it. Because maybe next turn you won’t be able to afford a farm, a mine, or a brewery.

What do you think? This is just a quick and experimental solution, issues could surface any day, so I can’t wait to see or hear your feedback! :)

Also I’m getting closer and closer to the next testing phase, so if you’d like try HexLands, join my Discord server or my subreddit. And of if you prefer development videos, feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel, a new video is coming soon! :)

Anyway, thanks for reading guys, cheers! :)