DarkGold

I wanted to share the work of 2 artists I found, as I was exploring artistic styles. Amok Island: https://www.amokisland.com/ Sarah Abbott: https://sarah-abbott.co.uk/flora These artists are working in styles that align with a digital collage aesthetic, which I felt combined all the things I was initially drawn to in mosaic and inlay. I like: A focus on geometry (reflecting the simplified shapes in block based games) Flatness + Layering (reflecting the way the flat color of the pixels are assembled in a 3D world) Depiction of natural forms and color palette Repeating patterns Strong composition These elements also seem like they could lend to a strong logo design. This style is quite different to the painterly style of the original Vintage Story logo, and the new proposed one. I wonder whether or not it will resonate with people. Edit: I think these styles also feel like a contemporary take on the Arts & Crafts movement, which evokes a vintage feeling. I think the Arts & Crafts movement, might be why some of the hand drawn imaginings of the logo, like the one LadyWYT shared here, seem so fitting. Previous post where I was looking at style:

When I moved from the sketch to the colored concept of my logo design, I thought about how I wanted the texture of the leaves to be geometric. With some discussion leaning away from the cut-out style of the new proposed logo, and towards the current logo's painterly style, I wanted to reflect the distinct color blocks of pixels, but in a more organic way than cell shading and squares. I had a vibe in mind, but I wasn't exactly sure what that looked like, so wasn't sure how to go about rendering it. Over the last day or so I've been able to figure out what that style looks like and apply a mock up of that style to the logo I designed (not a proper rendering of it, with every leaf where it should be, just rough version to get an impression, since the rendering style is time consuming). I wanted to share what it looked like in case it resonated with or inspired anyone else. My thoughts: In order for the extra detail to work in the foliage, I had to boost the fidelity of the highlights and shadows in the more metallic surfaces. This is less cohesive with the minimal bevel highlights on the text, compared to the flatter version of the logo, but I think it still works together. The contrast of the green shades has been kept relatively low, so that the detail gets lost in the color block at smaller logo sizes. Overall, I'm not sure it's an improvement to my logo, but I was glad I was able to experiment with the style. It could be something that works in other contexts. In trying to describe this style after the fact, in order to find well executed examples of it to draw inspiration from, I stumbled across brilliant examples of mosaic and inlay that inspired me. I like the way mosaic is frequently made up of tiny geometric tiles. I like the way inlay uses texture in panels to great effect and is absent of the grout that creates a line art like effect in mosaic. More food for thought. Original post:

Yeah, I shared this impression, I like that idea. I'm really glad you shared a version that didn't include a clock, because it was good to see what it looked like without one and let me consider whether I felt the clock was a more essential element or not. I think there are 2 time related mechanics, but they aren't the usual time mechanics of pausing, running out of or rewinding time that you see in games; they are less direct. Seasons, and how you really need to farm around them, is something I consider a mechanic that relates to time. The way respawning is canonical has a Groundhog Day kind of aspect to it; the seraph is brought back time and time again, even if the world doesn't seem to reset like in Groundhog Day. Things that happened in the past are also important to the narrative. And the typical journey of a seraph to follow the narrative might take years (as they are tracked in game), so outside mechanics, there's a very narrative element of time present. I had considered playing with the visual depiction of seasons in place of a clock, but I couldn't think of an elegant way to do it in a logo that didn't stray towards accidentally being interpreted as elemental (winter, ice), or think of a good color palette. I feel we see elemental magic a lot in fantasy games and it's nice Vintage Story is operating in a very different design space, so didn't want to drag any impressions of an elemental design space in by accident.

Third pass. Original colors, tiny tweak to face color A version with a silver edge (root saturation boosted to compensate for lack of saturation in frame) A version with a dark edge and a dark face (root lightened to compensate for darkness in background) Overall, I prefer the earthy tones of the original. It's hard to go metallic without losing warmth (and I think those warm tones feel more "vintage" and evoke earth). This is about as far as I can take this, with the skills I have. Would be happy to see others experiment. Original post: Second pass with a little polish after feedback:

Received uniform feedback that the darker roots were preferred so iterated on that one. A little polish, and trying some different colors for the face as per coolAlias and Nicodemus's feedback. On the left is the color closest to white on different backgrounds. On the right are 3 hues (green, brown, blue, from top to bottom), a bit darker and more saturated. The shadows in those leaves are also darker in order to compensate. Darker colors than that had trouble next to the roots/leaves/gear.

I like how @Zorkman rearranged the elements in this design. I wanted to see what a version that put everything inside a clock (a fob watch, to feel more "vintage") looked like, so I did a sketch. I also wanted to see what it would look like without line art, and block colors, so I did a couple of versions exploring that.

Just some thoughts I had as I was reading through the discussion. I think the clock is an interesting element of the logo, because despite clocks not being present in the game (so far as I have seen by the end of chapter 1), time is so important in the game, and clocks symbolically communicate the importance of time. The passage of time, the slow pace of the game, the relevance to "temporal gears". A clock, as a symbol for time, captures this well.

I agree... ...it certainly does seem like the normal bread recipes assume natural yeasts and that a clay container could replace an iron one, so it shouldn't inherently be gated behind the iron age. I would say the only reason that pumpernickel should not use exactly the same recipe as normal rye bread is because the pumpernickel with a 6 month shelf life is distinguished by a few things in its creation not present in the standard bread recipe: Grain instead of flour, a closed vessel the bread is baked inside to prevent the exit of steam, significantly more patience than normal bread (more like making charcoal than baking bread and watching it rise). For these reasons, even if we were to say the player did not need to make an iron tin (and assuming natural yeast), I still think it would be interesting to have a method that puts water and rye grain (rather than flour) in a lidded clay vessel, and cooks it over a much longer period. The problem with simply sticking that in the oven is that the oven doesn't currently have a low and slow mode, so normal oven temperatures are either too high for the creation of pumpernickel or not held at a low enough temperature for long enough. Perhaps the oven might be upgraded through the addition of an iron hatch (as used on the coke oven), so that it can gain a second cooking mode that operates with the door closed? I want the strong benefits of historical pumpernickel (incredible shelf life, nutritional density) to be present in game without making it the only strategy worth pursuing in the early game. By increasing production time (and maybe fuel costs), I hope there will be sufficient reason players don't default to it when not travelling, rather than by reducing nutrition compared to spelt. When one is at base, storing flour and making bread on demand (rather than pumpernickel) should be preferable.

Stockfish is another well preserved food item that would be an alternative to salting fish. It takes a long time to produce (3 months), is made outdoors over winter, and would require a drying rack to be added to the game. It probably acts as an ingredient more so than food, so would require rehydration or would be added to a cooking pot meal. A lot of time invested for not a significant benefit to the player when compared to salting or fishing fresh perhaps, but nice if you want to take meat on long inland journeys and haven't found salt yet. You spend more time and production is limited to a certain time of year (opposite to that of farming) rather than use salt to preserve the food.

Other historical travel rations like hard tack and pemmican are also things I'm interested in. Both are often rehydrated before eating, so I think there is an interesting mechanical opportunity for them to be more or less satisfying, depending on if they are eaten before or after rehydration (more effort, more reward, less convenient for uninterrupted travel). I suppose the inconvenience of rehydration might still be less than that of camping with a firepit (at which point porridge is relatively convenient, as grain is relatively long lasting), as it may not involve heat, but simply combining water and a dehydrated ration in a bowl. Either way, it requires the player to carry more things to get a greater benefit (water, a bowl). Hard tack, presumably having a very similar recipe to the existing in game recipe for bread, I think might require some effort in introducing new preparation methods to distinguish it. Adding a low and slow mode to the oven, as suggested for pumpernickel bread, would help. It seems like it would be a pre-iron age technology, so I'm not sure how effective such an accessible long lasting food should be. Will it be worth a player's time to make it if it isn't very satisfying? Pemmican seems like something that would be prepared in stages. The first step would involve drying meat by adding a low and slow mode to the oven or some sort of drying rack that sits over a firepit to the game, rather than curing with salt. Then rendered fat would be added in a recipe. If berries could be dried, dried berries could also be added through this recipe. This also is a pre-iron age technology, so quite accessible to the player. I worry that the intermediate ingredients (dried meat, dried berries) might not be strong additions to the game in and of themselves. I think pumpernickel exists within a unique niche if it is gated behind the iron age, as it can be a more rewarding food since it is further down the tech tree. This lines up with some of the qualities the food itself has; unlike hard tack or pemmican, it doesn't require rehydration before it is more satisfying to eat. It can truly shine in its specific purpose without strongly competing with other food options due to being a later game food.

I recently learnt about the impressive shelf life of pumpernickel bread from this YouTube video. One of the things I wanted while exploring in Vintage Story, after advancing to the iron age, while making my way through Chapter 1, were some more long lasting travel ration options. Pumpernickel bread seems like it could be one of these options; it has a strong historical precedent, and would utilise existing materials in game well with a little extention. What does it use that's already in the game? Rye grain (not flour), water, the oven. What would be added to the game to support it further? An iron baking tin (making it an iron age technology) made of sheet metal. A sourdough starter (that has a small time investment to get going, and can be fed to make more and keep it alive). Maybe a way for the oven to burn more low and slow. What is the benefit of making this advanced bread? It has a much longer shelf life than normal bread (6 months in medieval times), making it a great travel ration. It's convenient to carry.

I took a break from Vintage Story for about 3 weeks, and came back today to see version 1.22 stable was out. Very exciting! I followed this tutorial on YouTube to copy my base, a couple of outposts, and dock. Then I backed up my save data, updated to 1.22 and created a new world with the same settings and seed as my 1.21 world. I added the content I had copied from the old world to the new world. It went very smoothly. I was pleased to see the contents of all containers, my animals, crops, and my ship carried over. I also used the creative tools to replant my fruit tree orchard. There were just 2 minor issues with the lantern change on the ship and mount that required swapping from the large lanterns to the small ones to fix. I also noticed any rawhide shirts had vanished from chests they were in, which I assumed was because their recipe changed. No great loss. A sapling that had been copied over also needed to be picked up and placed down again to fix the amount of time it would take to mature due to the time difference between my old and new world. The new world, using the same seed, is very similar to the old world. Terrain seems mostly the same, but some traders have moved and the distribution of mushrooms is different. This makes sense, as both mushrooms and traders were updated in 1.22. Overall, I found the experience smooth and straightforward (following the tutorial), and am so glad Vintage Story includes these tools.

While it's clear to me that Vintage Story is a game that is currently easier to play if you hunt animals (leather is currently important, who knows if there will be alternative fabric/material options in the future), and I personally enjoy skillful archery hunting challenges in games, I do also see a common thread of alternative options being added to the game (resin and oil instead of fat in recipes, soybeans). I think adding a spyglass type item that could ID animals would not only be mechanically useful to players engaging in a standard way, but also interesting if people want to do no hunt type runs, but enjoy the joys of collection through photography rather than taxidermy. Just a thought. No need to add a photography system to the game, just one of those things some players might enjoy in their own way.

I only recently started doing some more decorative (rather than primarily practical) building around my base. I built a gallery to house some of the clutter I'd collected on my journey so far, display my seashell and gem collections, hang paintings and display armor stands. I'm very excited for the cabinets coming in version 1.22 that will increase my options here. Now that I had a nice little gallery, I decided it was a good time to make a bug net. I had seen the butterflies on my island and looked forward to collecting them when I had somewhere nice to display them. Now that I am collecting butterflies, I notice that I can't tell which butterfly I am looking at via tooltip before I catch it, I must skillfully visually ID it if I want to know. I kind of like the challenge of visual ID, but with some butterflies looking quite similar (male vs female), it would be nice to tell which butterfly I am looking at via text before catching it. I can't help but feel bad for video game creatures when their death is in vain; if I already have one type of butterfly in my collection, I don't need a second of the same type, so catching a second only to discard it is a shame. This again brings me to desire a spyglass type item that will allow me to ID creatures from a distance. I had previously said that I would like to avoid walking up to a predator to confirm if it is indeed a predator, and be able to better ID deer variants from a distance. I would also like this tool to be able to tell me what butterfly I am looking at without having to net it.

Great suggestions! Dropping/raising the anchor to add/remove a boat marker would definitely be something I use. I agree; an update to the current ruins marker would be appreciated. I use it, but I initially used the cracked vessel marker for ruins before I noticed that's what the pillars icon was for. Cool to hear the trader icon might be getting an update in line with the changes.