[2020] Panda Walker

: You can find the details for this event on the announcement page [url=https://steamcommunity.com/ogg/903950/announcements/detail/2815270122230313800]here[/url].

CHANGELOG

- Added Panda Walker!
- Fixed various unpacking ownership issues.

NEWS ON THE COMMERCE UPDATE

We've been preparing for the Commerce Update and reading your feedback, and we'll be opening a new permanent Beta Branch to test all the changes. All new upcoming updates, including Commerce, will be going to the new branch, while the main branch will stay with a stable version up until all the changes are fully tested and approved.

What it means in practice is that official servers will not be wiped in October and you'll be able to play there normally. Instead, the new branch will be launched on the same date (still TBA) with all the changes we're planning for the Commerce Update. You'll be able to freely choose which version you want to play on at any point and both will fully work with dynamic tile burns and map numbers.

Our intention with this approach is to be able to test and improve on all the core changes before forcing them on the official realm. It will allow for much faster iteration over important aspects of the game like clan sizes or burn times, and actually testing them with all of you without worrying about breaking the official realm. To give you some examples of things that will be tested, we'll be increasing the burn time to 20-30 days, reworking Proxy battle timers, and finally trying out hard clan caps (by popular demand). A very strong focus will be on addressing the zerg problem.

Once the changes are fully tested, balanced, and work as intended, all the improvements will be moved to the official realm together with a proper wipe. Meanwhile, we'll be continuing with our regular content drops, which will also be going to the Beta Branch for the time being.

PANDA WALKER



-Make transporting all your Walkers even easier by packing them onto the Panda! Panda can pack and haul every type of a Walker except another Panda and has 5 whole slots to do so, although limited by total carry weight. In addition to its packing capabilities, it also has deck space for building structures and weapons, and has all other regular Walker abilities like a hatch or modules.
We named it Panda because Lucas didn’t want us to, and we’ll do anything to see if we can break Lucas’ eternal happiness. We got one small frown out of it.





COMMUNITY FEATURE

-Gypster has made videos reading through each weekly blog post!



COMMUNITY QUESTIONS

Want to submit a question to the team? Join our Discord[discord.gg] and keep an eye on #announcements for a link to the form! New forms get posted every few weeks. You can also check out our past Q&As on our {LINK REMOVED}Living FAQ.

Q: What exactly is the plan for the crane? Initially it had a description that stated it was used to move smaller walkers. That was obviously not practical with how the rope snapped somewhat easily. The only real use was for with the lumbermill. Now that walker packers have been added that has replaced the role of what some of us thought was going to be the role of the crane. What is the plan for the crane as a utility tool, if there is one.
A: We originally came up with the crane when the concept of physical trees was first brought up. It was intended to be used as a tool for transporting logs from forest to your stationary lumbermills. Later on we added a feature to lock its tether so it becomes close to unbreakable, allowing it to haul walkers.

For now, we're not thinking about changing its purpose, but we have some ideas for how to improve the functionality and usability, potentially making it stronger but more difficult to operate. We'll also be adding new things to move with the crane, possibly adding interactions with upcoming loot sites and other objects.

Q: Will there be musical instruments in addition to chanting at some point?
A: We weren't planning instruments before, as we wanted a more unique approach to player-made music with chanting, but we do have some ideas brewing in that regard like drums.

Q: Why do backpacks not increase the max carry weight of a player? Is this something intended for the future?
A: We're planning to add a system in the future that would allow special perks applied to any kind of item and increased carry capacity would certainly be one we'd look into.

Q: Hey, how many bricks had to fall on your collective heads that you decided it'd be a good idea to introduce wipes? Did the building fall down? The decision is so moronic and out of touch that I'm genuinely worried about the safety and mental well being of the dev team.
A: To be a dev on the Donkey Crew team, you have to sign a waiver ensuring that you will follow the daily ritual of allowing a donkey to kick you in the face. This helps build character and resilience. So, no, it wasn’t a building.

But to quickly address the “What made us decide to add wipes” question, which we have answered before (see our {LINK REMOVED}Living FAQ): core changes to the game are going to be introduced with the Commerce update that necessitate a wipe. And, as we mentioned above, things are changing around a bit now.

Here’s a teaser of something coming soon: