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New Stuff!

September 19, 2018 | Dukus | 78 Comments

After a bit of engine retooling, woodworking, yoga, a foray into programming language design, and trying to figure out what the next game will be, I'm happy to say I've chosen a design and am actively working on a new project. It currently has lots of temporary artwork that took less than 10 minutes to make and lots of debug rendering.

After making Banished I had so many ideas for new games it was hard to pick what's next. But given that a lot of the game ideas had similar requirements, I spent some time updating the game engine to have some of the features I'd need. Anything in Banished that could be reused I refactored to be generic, if it wasn't already. I made a lot of additions as well, preparing for multiple prototypes of various designs. I also tried to make some changes that would reduce programming workload and decrease the introduction of bugs.

Now that I've chosen and am working on a specific project, I'm finding that trying to make generic systems in isolation isn't really a good thing in practice. I violated the KISS and YAGNI principles for a bit, and there's a price to pay. Without a specific goal it's impossible to have actually designed things in a way that is fully useful. So most of the things I wrote and refactored need more refactors, additions, and removals. Hmmm.

As an example, I built a wonderful terrain generator that allows me to create giant 250sq km landscapes, control where mountains, oceans, plains, and rolling hills are placed, rivers are generated that flow properly, erosion is performed, and it the results look great. But I don't think I'll be using it in its current form. There are some great concepts in it and I learned a lot, but it'll take a ton of rework to be useful for a specific game.

Unsurprisingly in writing Banished, creating good code for the game as it needed it, and only refactoring the code when things got messy resulting in some great generic reusable systems. 65% of the code from Banished is getting reused. And as I continue to put together the beginnings of a new game, that amount is going up as I find things to pull out of Banished for reuse.

Writing a game engine really needs a game to go with it. Otherwise I'm just guessing.

Now back to programmer art and putting a new game together. More to come!

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78 comments on “New Stuff!”

  1. Great to hear.
    I really enjoyed Banished all this time, but I always wished to play it together with friends.
    If your next game will be similar to Banished, do you see any possibility for coop in it. I would really enjoy that.

    Looking forward to future updates

    Shinji

  2. I’ve loved Banished since your very first sneak peek. Do you have an Indiegogo for this new project? Many of us would love to support this new adventure!

  3. I really enjoyed Banished and I can't wait to see how your new game looks and plays! Exciting stuff.

  4. Yay! This is amazing news, and I've played Banished A LOT with many different mods as well. 😀 I love the game and still seem to go back to it again and again.

    I'm excited to see what game you start creating and will follow along on this new journey.

  5. Love reading your stuff. As someone who isn't a programmer but is in charge of giving work to programmers, it's such a great insight.

    Thank you

  6. I really love Banished. I can't find a game similar that I like. I'm very happy to hear that you are working on something new. I'd be happy to be a tester.

  7. Great news!

    Absolutely agree with your findings of refactoring 🙂

    Looking forward to your next game!

  8. This is the best news i have got all week. I love banished and would also like to see a coop added, keep up the great work. Thank you for making banished it is my favorite city building game out there.

  9. I was wondering when you would start work on another game! Glad to hear the news and I look forward to playing, testing and helping out any way possible.

    J

  10. You should look into how Tarn Adams (of Dwarf Fortress acclaim) for how he does natural terrain generation, depending on how indepth you want to go

  11. Hi Luke !

    i am happy to finally have news !!!

    It looks fantanstic even if you didnt really said what exactly this new game will be.

    But please, this time, i hope you already decided if there will be mods or not from the beginning !!

    I also hope you will think to fully integrated Building animations ! Real 3D Pathing (not 2D like Banished) More controls over the resources. Target specific resource items instead of targetting flags. Cut down the size of the tiles to alot smaller for better control (instead of 1 banished tiles, having 2x2 = 4 tiles for better pathing and controls).
    Please also, dont tight code parts into other part of codes (i.e. TP UI tightly linked to merchant code), ground merchants, allow research requirement if modders want, prerequiring....

    I think you have a better vision now of what modders want to do and how far they can go with their ideas. If of course you will allow mods.

    Hoping to have some news more often and soon. We are all excited !

    -RedK

  12. I’m with Michael! Best news I’ve had all week. Job loss, Dad in hospital, etc. and then I get this unexpected email from Shining Rock!

    Love(d) Banished so much...what a masterpiece.

    Thanks so much for working on your new project and letting us all know ‘what’s up’!

  13. Yeah!

    I wish you the best for your new journey!
    You're a good programmer and your dev blogs are amazing!

  14. Banished was a very impressive piece of software from a single person. I work in coding and there is no way i could do a fraction of what would be required to build a whole game.

    I look forward to anything you create and will be spamming the 'purchase' button as soon as its available.

  15. Luke, thanks for the update about what you are working on next although we still in the dark what kind of game it will be. I hope modding for your new game will be integrated from the start with some more options for modders to change/add stuff.

    The Banished community is still very active and new mods are still rolling out for Banished about each week.

    I know you are busy with the new game but still hope you can join World of Banished to interact so once in a while with us over there. Even if you drop in once a month it would be an awesome gesture. But I also understand if you not want to do it and maybe you read sometimes over there incognito 🙂

    I wish you the best with the new creation and wait patiently for more news about your new game.

  16. This is fantastic news! Glad to hear you're continuing to learn, adapt, and build. Excited to hear about the new project as it continues to coalesce.

  17. Reinforcing what Dan said...let us know if you decide to accept any funding on this project... indigogo, etc.

    Many of us would love to throw some monetary support your way!

  18. Hey, you are truely great at making games. But you alone can’t go far. Please found a company and hire developers so you can concentrate on the overall experience!

  19. Woot! I'm so excited to hear a new game is in the works! Looking forward to see what you've been up toa

  20. Nice! Loved Banished hope this game goes in the similar direction. Please make an Early access

  21. I have a billion things on my Steam wishlist, and more games that I bought than time to play them. But I always come back to Banished. And its one of the few games I play that has music my wife enjoys.

    I can't wait to hear what's next for SRS!

  22. I've been playing Banished since release day, and I'm still playing at least a few times a week. I'd say that's a ridiculous amount of value for the $20 I paid.

    I will buy any game you publish.

  23. Hi
    I love Banished, I watched every update and waited patiently until you finally finished it, so if the new game is half as good and fun to play as your first I will be happy.
    PS
    I am still playing Banished with the wonderful Mods from contributors so a big thanks to all you Mod creators out there also!

  24. Hello, I've asked this question numerous times, but never got the answer. Is there some plan to fix the issue in Banished that once you have over certain population (or city size), the game "slows down", no longer being able to run at the expected rate with v-sync?

  25. I bet that if you put you head down and begin developing M&B Bannerlord game you still going to finish it, before the originall comes out. )))

  26. Yeah Luke is back! I hope the yoga is nice. Peace of mind is the best there is.

    The first thing that came into my mind after seeing the screenshot of the terrain is: Black & White, the god game from 2001! 😀
    That's a good thing haha.

    I'm curious what the future will bring and I'm looking forward to the next blogs, I always loved reading them.

  27. This is very exciting news! I watched you develop Banished from very early on and really enjoy it. I look forward to what you come up with next.

  28. I loved playing Banished.
    With RK's lasted mod still playing.
    Maybe with the new version; look at what the modders added to the base game of Banished; with the view to see what could be added to the new Banished - to increase the variety and complexity - another thought research to get better at the productivity and upgrades for farms and production building.
    Would've to be a tester for this.

  29. Was Pleasantly surprised to see you mention a new project. Might sound weird, but every now and then you would cross my mind and I would wonder if you were going to ever create another game. I was very impressed with Banished and still play it off and on to this day. Best of luck. Excited to see what comes next.

  30. As a developer (non game) I love your posts. Let us know what and where the next game is, and you'll certainly have my purchase.

    Demortes

  31. I am so happy to see yet another post! I bought Banished when it was released because I had enjoyed all of the developer posts so much that by the time the game actually came out, I figured I had already received my money's worth of enjoyment.

    I don't know anything about programming, but reading your posts as you tried to figure out how to deal with issues like pathing and terrain and everything else was really enjoyable. I hope as you develop your new project you keep up the same pattern.

    Thank you for sharing the process that went into creating Banished, and good luck with your next project!

  32. Best news in a long, long while.
    According to the the above comments I'm not the only one who is happy, happy, happy...
    Looking forward to beta testing!

  33. Came into your Banished blog half way through, and enjoyed the game immensely. Looking forward to following this one from the start!!!!!

  34. Exciting to see you posting again. The your previous programming-heavy posts are really interesting to read and I'm looking forward to seeing more about your new game!

  35. My grandchildren play now Banished, they are fascinated by the responsibility they have to overtake. It is really a great game and was a lot for us - the player - to learn by doing.
    Fine to read you have a new project in planing!

  36. Of all the games I have ever played, BANNISHED is the game I always go back to. To hear that you are creating another or even a "BANNISHED II" is joyful news! I can just imagine the modders in our community are doing a happy dance right now. They are an amazing. dedicated group and have kept your original game alive and exciting! Good luck and we all will be following your every post, lol.

  37. I won't mince words here. Banished was a game (when I first saw it) I grabbed and dove right in. To this day I find it necessary to set it aside, think, and continue on to keep my little community going. I've owned the game since it first came out and right now I have a lovely little settlement going bordering on a large village. Not a city to speak of just yet but it took me some time to balance everything to make things work. Banished is an unforgiving game that requires skill. Yes...skill. Think of what it will take to make a small group of people survive and build on that. I remember when the game first came out there were several people who commented "Why can't you have wars or battles?" Are you kidding? Survival is the name of the game. I'm quite content not having to deal with ravaging hordes. All and all a terrific game and I would have to say ( being 61 years old) having started my first video game with Age of Empires and Sim City 3000...this is the best of the best. I salute the one and only developer Luke Hodorowicz for a terrific and constantly playable game. I'm rather excited to see what is coming down the pike next (as he promised something new is about to be developed). And Mr. Hodorowicz...I don't mean to plug but if Banished fans want to do an 'advanced to the future game' I've found 'Planet Base' is 'Banished' being played on Mars. Thanks once again and enjoy!

  38. Great to hear that you have now started on a specific project. I loved (still do) Banished and stumbled on your Devlogs very early on so seeing the game developed from the very beginning was just as entertaining.

    I'll assume this next project will be quite different from Banished but somewhat similar (if you get what I mean) but it would be great if it was a gridless environment (similar to how the game Foundation is).

    Can't wait to read the next update and very much look forward to what you will be making.

  39. The expelled the only game which it is interesting to me to play, but in spite of the fact that I have rather strong computer, more than 2000 inhabitants it doesn't pull. my game weighs 8 gigabytes. Together with MM8 01 at me about 80 more spendthrifts. I hope that a new game won't load so the computer. Thanks in advance for a new game!

  40. Thank you for update and thank you for Banished. That was and is such an amazing game and brought me many hours of joy. Can't wait to see what you come up with next!

  41. OMG! I literally visited a day before this wondering if there were any news on your next game or Banished itself after watching a new lets play on YouTube.

    Looking forward to seeing what you make next 😀

  42. I'm excited to see what you put together!

    Side note: that terrain generator looks cool. As a general map/terrain nerd, I wonder if it would be possible to release that as a standalone. It could be a useful tool among the D&D crowd.

  43. \o/

    Can't wait to find out more.

    As others have said, I would love to have the opportunity to support a new project of yours whether it's Kickstarter or Patreon or Indiegogo or Fig. Do consider it!

  44. It would be the best thing to find ourselfs in front of another game with Bansihed mechanics but with a smart evolutin tree to get you through the ages.

  45. Banished is one of my all-time favorite games, I cannot wait for this new project to come to life. Great news!

  46. Fix your damn forum please, or take that banished money and put it to good use paying a mod and designer to fix it up.

  47. I just want to say that while I'm looking forward to whatever you do next, one thing that I have wanted forever is a 'world simulator' that does weather patterns and river flow and erosion and stuff to generate a highly realistic map.

    I would pay cash money for such a simulator, just by itself, with no game attached.

  48. Would love to see another builder type game. Banished is a fantastic game that I have and will continue to play for years and years. Continue the great work!

  49. I'm soo happy to hear this!!
    I recently found a game that I thought was from you, cause it's almost exactly like banished but with updated stuff and new features. But reading this makes me so excited!!! Cause even though the game was similiar to almost the same, there is no game like Banished!! <33

  50. Yay welcome back! I've been checking this page periodically for years, so imagine the excitement of seeing a new post!

    So happy you're getting back into it, and you have my support in this new project!

  51. Great news!

    I still play Banished a lot, just love it... looking forward to what you are cooking up next!

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