Author: Sarah Northway

  • Rebuild 3: Real-time vs Turn-based

    Rebuild 3: Real-time vs Turn-based

    must have
    Chaos Overlords must have stuck in my subconscious – it looks like Rebuild!
    Time for some 90’s game nostalgia!

    I LOVE strategy games. My affair must have started with Civ I for the Amiga. I played endless times, obsessed with trying to conquer the world as England with only the one starting city. Then there was X-Com, and Master of Orion, and games like Capture the Flag and Chaos Overloads.

    One of my all time favs was Master of Magic, a compelling mix of civilization building and turn-based combat with a magic system that was as much fun to exploit as it was to play properly. There have been some attempts, but I’m still waiting for a true spiritual successor.

    I’ve always been in the turn-based camp: thoughtful instead of twitchy, chilling out instead of stressing out. I still play on harder difficulties and get my ass handed to me by the AI, but it’s cool – it’s all about learning systems and finding new strategies. Winning’s just part of the fun. So when I wrote Rebuild 1, naturally it was turn-based and had a “Nightmare” difficulty that even I couldn’t beat.

    But what about real-time?

    My favorite Starcraft unit, the Zerg Queen, causing trouble.
    My favorite unit, the Zerg Queen, causing trouble for some marines.
    I think of real-time strategy games as those tending towards intense multiplayer action. I always felt exhausted after a game of Starcraft with friends… fun but oh so stressful. And I’ve never been brave enough to try LoL or DotA, I’m so sure they’ll make me feel old and clumsy. So I didn’t consider real-time for the Rebuild series at first.

    The games that drew me back around to real-time were ones like Sim City, Tropico, and Dwarf Fortress: single-player games that tick away in real-time but let you hit a pause button at will. They seem to have more life, some little spark of randomness that makes it feel like I’m interacting with more than a set of rules. For sim games this is especially important, and the Rebuild games are as much sim as strategy.

    So for Rebuild 3 I bit the bullet and added a real-time mode. It was both easier and harder than I’d expected: I got the system working in a couple days, but am still finding bugs in it today. It brought up new performance and interface issues too. Some I rocked (letting you switch between real-time and turn-based) and some I flubbed (it’s hard to tell if the STOP button is a command, or the current state).

    But it’s been worth it! In fact I like real-time mode so much I was tempted to make it the only mode for Rebuild 3. But I kept turn-based in because it’s much easier to test with, and I knew some fans of Rebuild 1 & 2 would never forgive the change.

    These days when I play a game of Rebuild 3, I start out on max speed and try to keep up with survivors coming and going for as long as possible. I take the speed down a notch or two as the game gets busier and my tolerance for mistakes goes down. By the end of a city, danger or no danger, I’ve got one thumb on the space bar at all times nobody spends a moment longer relaxing in the fort than they have to.

    I’m pretty happy that the game works with such different styles. Hopefully everybody else will find their favorite mode and speed too!

  • Rebuild 3: Buildings

    I love the buildings in Rebuild. Each one different, like colorful little candies. Some no longer serve a useful function, for example gas stations and grocery stores once all the gas and food has been scavenged out of them. Others are absolutely key to survival and you won’t last without them.

    You’ll find more rural buildings like farms and suburbs towards the edge of the map, and ones with lots of scavengeable goods like malls and shops in the center. Some buildings are unique and only appear on a few maps, so keep an eye out for them!

    Ones you can create:

    Builders can replace other things with these. If replacing a larger building with a smaller one, the rest will turn to rubble.

    Building Why build it? Produces Art
    Farm Farms produce food every day and provide valuable vitamins you can’t get from canned SPAM. Farming here increases the yield. 1-3 food per day depending on difficulty farm
    Apartment Home sweet home for your survivors, if they don’t mind the 70’s decor and avocado-green appliances. Adds space for 2 survivors Untitled-1
    Church Our churches are multi-faith spiritual centers. Now offering over two dozen afterlives to go to when you die. Increases happiness Untitled-2
    Bar Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. Or settle for any place with alcohol left. Increases happiness Untitled-5
    Hospital Survivors heal faster in hospitals, either due to the placebo effect or because once you’re in there you’ll do anything to get out. Prevents negative events, survivors heal faster here Untitdled-2
    School Survivors can train here to increase their skills. It’s faster and much safer than the usual way. Change jobs after 2 days training Untitled-11
    Laboratory Here our engineers can research everything from zombie behavior to how they used to get the caramel into all those Caramilk bars. Research tech projects Untitled-7
    Workshop A place to make things, fix things, and take things apart. Ammunition, Medicine, Explosives, Zombie Bait, Medkits, Traps, Fireworks Untitled-10
    City Hall A glorious center of government. Civic pride. City must have reached goal size before you can build this. Makes faction alliances possible Untitled-6d

    Worth keeping around:

    These buildings do something useful so you probably don’t want to replace them… but you can’t build new ones yourself.

    Building Why build it? Produces Art
    Police Station & Bank Police stations are the heart of our protection against the outside world. The thick walls can hold out zombies for a long time. +10 defense, and +5 to adjacent buildings. Untitlffed-4
    Housing Suburbs, motels, and trailer parks can house our survivors just like apartments. Space for 2-4 survivors depending on size Untitled-ff12
    Warehouse You never know what you’ll find in these. Boxes of PVC pipes? A room filled with pillows? Expired dog food? Yum! +50 max food Untitled-19
    Fire Department Well I’m not on fire so it must be working. Prevents fires Untitled-15
    Other Farms Bigger farms produce more food. 1-3 food per day per square depending on difficulty Untitled-14
    Parks & Woods Builders can chop wood on these for materials. 3+ wood per week Untitled-16
    Rivers & Oceans Natural boundries can stop zed and other factions. Natural walls Untitled-18
    Power Plant A small natural gas plant that might be simple enough for a few engineers to operate. Unique. Increase happiness once fixed Untitlrrred-9
    Water Treatment Plant The city’s running water is dependent on this plant. Important for health and happiness. Unique. Increase happiness once fixed Untitled-8
  • Rebuild 3: Release Date Announcement

    Rebuild 3: Release Date Announcement

    I’m back in the pacific northwest and moving to Vancouver soon. Not just for a couple months this time… yes, after five years of gallivanting around the world, the Northways are going to stay in one place for awhile. It’s a new adventure, and I’m kind of scared. What if we hate our neighbors? What if we buy the wrong furniture? What if I get bored of Vancouver or hate the weather? What if I get comfortable and don’t want to travel anymore?

    Let’s face it, these are dumb things to worry about compared to the upcoming Rebuild 3 release. Yes, release! But first, the crunch. I’m starting to feel vampiric, staring at my computer screen for so many hours a day I’m not sure I remember what the sun looks like. I’m also going bonkers looking at my list of unplayed games on Steam, though does that stop me from buying more? No. Soon my pretties… soon…

    rebuild3release

    I’m going to release Rebuild 3 PC/Mac on May 29th!

    OMGee I can’t believe I said it! Three years of SO MUCH WORK is coming to an end. If you’d like to jump in and help me playtest, head over to the Steam Windows testing branch now.

    Mobile version

    Rebuild 3 for iPhone, iPad and Android will be coming later this summer!

  • Rebuild 3: Campaign Map

    Rebuild 3: Campaign Map

    Colin walking a dune in Sossusvlei, Namibia
    Sunset in Sossusvlei, Namibia

    Colin walking the rice field highways in Bali
    Colin walking the rice field highways in Bali

    Where we’ve been lately

    Colin and I enjoyed another Christmas in the southern hemisphere. We had a mind-blowing road trip around Namibia where we saw animals. All the animals. So many animals!! Also the world’s tallest sand dunes, blasted moon-like valleys, spectacular cliffs and salt flats that stretched forever.

    Next we spent a month in beautiful Bali, Indonesia, where I worked on Rebuild to the sound of monks chanting at our local temple. I’m an atheist and not into yoga or meditation or spirituality in general, but Bali has this culture of melding art and religion with everyday life in a way that makes it all seem more meaningful. Every day someone has to prepare little offerings to decorate the family shrine, the doorway to their business, the dashboard in their car. The bustle of modern south-east-Asian life (think gridlocked roads and honking scooters) is woven in with daily pilgrimages to local temples to leave offerings and receive blessings. The Bali religion is a mix of Hinduism, monotheism, ancestor worship, animism and superstition. You name it, they probably worship it in Bali. It was oddly like being in a video game world where magic was real and permeated everything around us.

    Religion in Rebuild 3

    Alright, well, none of that’s going into Rebuild 3. Most of the religion in Rebuild is predictable old Christianity, though I imply that the churches are all multi-faith. Religion spreads from devout survivors to their friends if you post them to missions together. Those devout survivors have more conservative cultural views and might disagree with policy choices like encouraging women to be soldiers.

    This is a stereotype, I know, but it’s something I feel we should be thinking about and discussing more. Is religion a positive force that brings communities together and gives meaning to the chaos of the universe, or does it hold us back by reinforcing oppressive cultural norms and magical thinking? Can it do one without the other?

    I often wish I was more challenging with this kind of “political” content in Rebuild, despite the possibility of angry fans. As is, you might not even notice my political leanings unless you read every scrap of text in the game. Rebuild 3 is me (Sarah) trying to be respectful, and reflecting the world as I see it.

    Campaign mode

    In version 0.90 (currently in the Steam testing branch), I added the first half of Rebuild 3’s story mode and the campaign map. The story takes place in the Pacific Northwest of the US and Canada. You start off fleeing the destruction of Seattle, then head north in search of a cure. Every city has some unique element, plotline or alternate ending to discover.

    rebuild_map_550

    The second half (Canada) will be the final piece of content that makes Rebuild 3 complete. It’s almost done! I haven’t picked a release date yet but it’s getting very close, so stay tuned… the Android and iOS versions should follow a few months later in the summer. I still have… ugh… 400 items on my TODO list, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I even found time to write this post.

    Thanks as always to the wonderful beta testers who’ve been so diligent at finding bugs and sending me feedback with each new release. Thanks to everyone waiting for the mobile version for your patience and support. Not long now!

  • Rebuild 3: Luverly Equipment

    Rebuild 3: Luverly Equipment

    Colin and I are still in South Africa, because screw winter. The days are getting longer, the weather hotter, just the way it should be. Perpetually.

    We’ve fallen in to a routine here of working, then doing more work, then working when we have some time between work and work. Progress is being made on Rebuild 3, which eases the feeling I’ve had for the last year of being in a tunnel whose end gets further away the faster I walk. Finally, I’m gaining on it!

    Since we finally have some purdy Adam-art for all the equipment, and close-to-final descriptions and effects, praps it’s time I publish the definitive (*cough version 0.71 cough*) list.

    rebuild3EquipMelee

    Melee Weapons:

    The mandala of pain. And gardening.

    Boring old hand-to-hand. I added some silly melee weapons in Rebuild like the shovel and golf club because I just love the image of bashing a zombie’s skull in with things you find lying around. Once to graduate to firearms, they’re also useful for scavenging or recreation, respecitvely.

    Equipment Description Effect
    Knife Officially Licensed RAMBO First Blood MC-RB2 Survival Knife +2 defense
    Stick Everyone knows Donatello has the longest range attack +1 defense
    Nail Board A board with a nail so big it will destroy them all +2 defense
    Fire Ax A scavenger’s best friend +2 defense, +2 scavenging
    Baseball Bat Swing away +1 defense, perk: Recreation
    Shovel Good for digging your way through a zombie’s skull +1 defense, +1 scavenging
    Golf Club FOOOOOORE +1 defense, perk: Recreation
    Sledgehammer Useful for construction or deconstruction of zombie skulls +2 defense, +2 building
    Pickaxe Can I pick your brain for a minute? +2 defense, +1 building
    Chainsaw Find some meat! +2 defense, +1 building
    Sword Don’t hold it by the pointy end +2 defense
    Named Sword Makes you feel like a Ninja +3 defense, perk: Ninja
    Nunchuks Hope the nose you break is not your own +1 defense
    Mierfa’s Nunchuks Mierfa made these herself after a harrowing incident +3 defense
    Whip Reinact your favorite scenes from Raiders of the Lost Ark +1 defense
    Andy’s Whip More a toy than a useful weapon +3 defense, perk: Recreation

    rebuild3EquipRanged

    Ranged weapons:

    Be prepared.

    Things that go boom. Or in some cases “twack”. Most of these use ammo, which is of the one-size-fits-all variety in Rebuild, working in both your pea shooter and your rocket launcher. It’s easy to make more ammo in a workshop… perhaps too easy… so enjoy all that free ammo now before it gets nerfed in the next update and you’ve got to trade Gustav your firstborn just to make your guns work.

    And how does ammo work? You use up one unit (obviously not one BULLET, duh) for every 3 days spent shooting at stuff. If you run out of ammo, all guns grant +0 defense. There’s a policy that lets you increase or decrease ammo usage.

    Equipment Description Effect
    Pistol Useless without bullets +2 defense
    Pea Shooter Literally shoots peas +3 defense, perk: Green Thumb
    Shotgun Aim in the general direction of the head +3 defense
    Named Shotgun Sturdier than the average shotgun +4 defense
    Hunting Rifle Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless +3 defense
    Van Dijk’s Rifle I must master my rifle as I must master my life +4 defense
    Submachine Gun Ratatatat +3 defense
    Assault Rifle This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine +4 defense
    Flamethrower Smores?? My favorite! +4 defense
    Minigun Can cut a zombie in half at 100 yards, not that that would kill it +5 defense
    Rocket Launcher Eliminate everything in your path, including your path +5 defense
    Crossbow Uses ammo like guns +2 defense
    Boomerang She might fly off, but she always comes back to me +1 defense
    Melanie’s Boomerang Tipped with razors for taking off zed heads +2 defense

    rebuild3EquipTools

    Tools:

    One of the Kickstarter reward tiers was getting to name an item, which is where things like the “Octonoo Binocs” and “Walter’s Go Bag” came from. These souped-up versions of regular items often give a perk as well as an extra skill bonus.

    Yes, the “See Further” perk stacks with the Improved Scouting tech, letting your survivors scout a 3×3 grid instead of just one measly building at a time.

    Equipment Description Effect
    Hammer Bang bang went Maxwell’s silver hammer +1 defense, +2 building
    Wrench It’s all about torque +1 building
    Saw Man those were some bad movies +1 building
    Crowbar Can open almost any object, or at least smash it +1 defense, +2 scavenging
    Named Crowbar For prying open stuff… including rib cages +1 defense, +3 scavenging
    Flashlight Find useful stuff in darkened buildings +1 scavenging
    Binoculars For more efficient long distance scavenging +1 scavenging
    Moore’s Binocs Spy on your neighbors up to 4 blocks away +2 scavenging, perk: See Further
    Octonoo Binocs Official Binoculars of the Octonoo City Bird Watching Club +2 scavenging, perk: See Further
    Toolbox All the tools you need to build your first bidhouse +3 building
    Backpack You could live out of one of these for years +3 scavenging
    Pitchfork Good fer pokin’ +1 scavenging, perk: Green Thumb
    Chemistry Kit A good set of glass beakers and a bunsen burner +3 engineering
    Doctor’s Bag Lets you diagnose almost anything, just not cure it +2 engineering
    Walter’s Go Bag Lets you diagnose almost anything, just not cure it +5 engineering, perk: First Aid
    The Doctor’s Scalpel Lets you diagnose almost anything, just not cure it +5 engineering, perk: First Aid
    Mirror Earth A tale of teamwork by Crawford and Yeo +3 leadership, perk: Team Player
    Terrible Comic So badly written that it inspires you to do better +3 engineering, perk: Easygoing
    Calculator Ancient but solar powered, these things last forever +1 engineering
    Science Book Sleep with it under your pillow and learn by osmosis +2 engineering
    Named Science Book A first edition! Before they fixed all the mistakes! +4 engineering
    Flare Gun Works as a weapon in a pinch +3 leadership, +1 defense
    Radio Communication is the key to good leadership +3 leadership
    Megaphone Can be heard a mile away on a windless day +2 leadership
    Multi-tool Reid Co’s bestselling five-in-one multi-tool +1 to all
    Guitar Soothe the savage beasts and lift the sombre spirits +2 leadership
    Helmet For more effective headbutt attacks perk: Defended
    Top Hat A top-notch hat or the truly refined leader +1 leadership
    Cowboy Hat This town ain’t big enough for two sheriffs +1 leadership

    rebuild3EquipKids

    Pets:

    Children also count as equipment in the code. They grant -1 to all perks (to represent the time it takes to take care of them), and grant a happiness perk called Babysitter. Yes, babysitting is a source of great joy for survivors in Rebuild. When you compare it to other possible duties anyway.

    You might remember the black cat from Rebuild 2 where it was a reward for cleaning our the gambler’s bank. Kickstarter backers got to name it this time around, so you might win: “Yoshi”, “Stevens”, “Gromit”, “Pepsi”, “Cooper”, “Caboose”, “Kamstra”, or “Linus”

    Equipment Description Effect
    Cat Nobody can resist this cat’s charms +1 leadership, perk: Pet Owner
    Black Cat A very special cat +1 to all, perk: Pet Owner
    Pomeranian Adorable, when it finally stops yapping +2 leadership, perk: Pet Owner
    Retriever Wants to be your bestest friend +1 defense, +1 scavenging, perk: Pet Owner
    Bulldog The jowls say it: this is one mean dog +2 defense, perk: Pet Owner

    rebuild3EquipVehicles

    Vehicles:

    Oh, there are plenty of vehicles lying around. But good luck getting any of them to start after rusting in the rain for a decade.

    I haven’t quite figured out vehicles yet… right now they grant the Has Vehicle perk which eliminates the danger of doing missions further than 1 city block away from the fort. But I have several vehicle-related events planned that should make them more interesting than that, and something you’ll definitely want to have.

    Equipment Description Effect
    Bicycle Keep fit and stay ahead of the mob perk: Has Vehicle
    Motorcycle Drive right through those traffic jams +1 defense, perk: Has Vehicle
    Car Surprisingly spacious trunk +1 scavenging, perk: Has Vehicle
    Armored Truck Bulletproof and full of cash +2 defense, +2 scavenging, perk: Has Vehicle

    rebuild3EquipDeluxe

    Deluxe edition bonus equipment:

    (The Fox rocks!)

    One of the Kickstarter rewards (and now deluxe edition bonuses) is some special starting jobs for your main leader, which come with gussied-up versions of some items. They are:

    Equipment Description Effect
    Handle with Care Groovy +5 defense, +2 building
    KITT Heavily armored, but doesn’t actually talk +3 defense, +3 scavenging, perk: Has Vehicle
    The Feynman Lectures Arm yourself with physics +4 engineering, perk: MacGyver
    Note’s Guitar Smooth sound but a sharp edge +4 leadership, +2 defense, perk: Musician
    Construction Hat Doin’ it like a Doozer +3 building, perk: Defended