May your hops be fragrant and your yeast bubbly!
Ale Abbey is a relaxing tycoon game, designed by brewers and developed for everyone, no ale will ever be a failure, but the elusive perfect brew will be a quest of its own! Craft recipes, brew beer, bribe the local lords, feed the poor, and discover the Abbot's dark past.
Management, creativity, and a dash of chance
From the creators of:
We kept the momentum going for many of the things we have been working on these past couple of weeks, but as you're about to witness, we did move the progress bar quite a bit.
All in all, yet another busy week in Hammer & Ravens, with some new additions, new directions, some animated cursors flying about... the whole shebang.
Read on ;)
-- A larger map appears!
A map of your monastery's surrounding area? Hmmm...
In a previous post, we briefly hinted at the possibility of surrounding villages and thus a more active role of their markets in Ale Abbey's economy. Well, we did ruminate on the idea this past week and made some progress...
Although rudimentary, the screenshot above is a small test of visuals that will help us understand other UI necessities as well as the deeper intricacies of the mechanic; multiple villages, multiple names, market details and preferences, and how to plot everything on a map that makes sense - of course.
Having accrued quite the experience creating a very intricate and interdependent map in a previous game we developed (Empires in Ruins) we were initially a little skeptical, if not intimidated, as to the level of depth that would make sense for Ale Abbey... THANKFULLY, it won't be as painful to complete!
-- The Cabinet of Curiosities
Although we love talking about the furniture available in Ale Abbey, we hardly ever used an entire spot in our weekly Something's Brewing for one, singular piece.
But we have a special place in our heart for the Laboratorium and it seems that everything we prepare for this room immediately oozes character. So we give you our favorite most peculiar piece of furniture in the Abbey (for the time being), the Cabinet of Curiosities!
Used to potentially provide certain bonuses (TBD), Yannis is still pushing for some more easter eggs... Oh, yeah, did we forget to mention it already has one?
-- In-game cursor update
For those of you who remember, last week we managed to finalize the decision on what cursor to use for Ale Abbey. This of course means that this week would have been spent testing it, which we did, happily.
Do not judge from the quality of the gif, and do not consider this anywhere close to being done ;) WIP!
There are of course way more parameters to be considered (relative sizes, speeds, options, etc.), anything to make it more fluid and pleasant to the eye, so the promise of further testing is easy to make. More to come.
-- Can one use old techniques in today's homebrewing?
Modern brewing equipment and techniques offer convenience and consistency. There is no doubt about that. Especially when one has to do with homebrewing at an amateur level, the initial lack of know-how is easily covered by the available equipment and techniques of today.
But... reverting to older techniques for the sake of the charm and (potentially) unique flavors that come from using them is a call usually answered by those who like to raise the difficulty levels in their hobbies. Embracing traditional methods can be quite daunting, but it can also bring a new dimension to the brewing experience and offer a deeper connection to the craft's rich history.
So, we have 3 classic techniques you might want to experiment with:
Yannis wanted to talk about Kräusening, AGAIN, but for Emiliano's sake, he didn't. If you were looking for new ways to challenge yourself, one of the techniques above, (or all three!), is still a good way to re-ignite your passion for the hobby!
Remember to enjoy your weekend responsibly, and join us next week for some more Ale Abbey news!
-- Hammer & Ravens
Craving for more Ale Abbey? Or maybe you want to chat with the team and our community? Find us on:
Reviewing Ale Abbey's development progress: the right mixture of news and teasing!
Another week of Ale Abbey's development in review. What has progressed both in front and behind the scenes?
Another quick update on Ale Abbey's weekly development progress!
Your weekly update on all things Ale Abbey, our upcoming Monastery Brewery tycoon!
I can't wait for this game to become my new addiction. Loving everything I'm seeing so far!
Thank you for all the consistent updates :)
thanks for your kind words!! it's really nice to have some feedback on our blog now and then, cheers!! We can't wait to show even more about the game ;)
I've told you many times on Twitter already, but just saying it here too - this looks great, and the attention to detail is very impressive. :-)
Thanks Captain! Super glad to see you here! Yep, we love it, so we pour all of our love and pints into it :D
Are there any plans to put this game on steam for wishlisting etc? I really can't wait play this!
Hi! Yes they are, but due to past experiences, we would like to hit the steam page as soon as we have at least a first trailer, in order not to waste the few seconds of popularity of a new page! We will announce the steam page on all our pages anyway, FB, X, here, Discord, etc! We can't wait for people to play it too!! <3
Amazing idea!
why, thank you!!! super glad you like it!!!