Another busy week for the team with quite a lot of time spent on Ale Abbey's backend (so not much that would make visual sense).
Still, we have another sweet special post for you today. We don't only talk about this week's work on revisiting "under construction" assets for the monstery's rooms and a quick progress report on Ale Abbey's map, but also our very recent (and very first) Discord Q&A session.
Let's get to it!
-- Map evolves further
Slowly following the work we've been doing these last couple of weeks on Ale Abbey's map we had some progress clearing up some of the assets on the map and testing highlighting any selected villages/towns on it.
Although the progress with the map seems to be slow, remember that even if this is just the visual representation of it we still want to ensure that relevant information (from the settlement's size, citizens' status, etc) can be seen at a glance.
More nuanced information (like details on style preferences and buying power) will be presented with an extended UI that will pair very naturally with the rest of the map.
-- UNDER CONSTRUCTION
And of course, it's not only the team working on how to make that map shine, your little helpers will do a lot of menial work around the Abbey as well. And where there is work there is "temporary" mess. So here are some changes we have been making to make the transition from about-to-build to ready-to-be furnished status for the Abbey's rooms a little more obvious.
You should be able to recognize the Abbot's/Abbesse's room by now, even in this state :)
The Cellars with their different color palette and differences in lighting.
And of course the Brewery.
You can expect to see some newer versions in the coming weeks, as all of these are WIP with quite a few more rooms to follow and loose ends to tie.
-- Our first Q&A
If you have been following our socials you might have heard about a Q&A we ran in our brand new Ale Abbey Discord server! This Q&A was put together by Steven from Shiro Unlimited and gave Emiliano & Yannis a chance to answer questions that came directly from our followers! We touched upon an array of subjects around Ale Abbey, like the state of the game, what we expect to work on and see in the future, and of course beer and brewing!
Here's a recording for your listening pleasure. We promise that the mix of our European accents makes the whole thing sound quite cool actually!😅
-- Wait. There's tomato beer?!
While having our Q&A we got educated by one of the server's community members (shoutout to Zet/d), on the existence of tomato beer. Yes, although Yannis had a Michelada at some point in the past, and really (REALLY) enjoyed it, we were not expecting this to be a thing that close to home.
Tomato beer is a thing in CIS countries (Commonwealth of Independent States), and although at first one would think its "peculiar" and potentially niche, it seems to have quite the fervent following!
So we did some digging around and in case you were wondering how you too could try this at home (perfectly safe, we promise!):
a) Gather your ingredients
- Beer (make it a light lager or pilsner)
- Tomato juice or tomato paste mixed with water
- Salt & black pepper
- Some additional spices like garlic powder, paprika, or cayenne pepper (not uncommon to find recipes that include horseradish or mustard for an extra kick!)
b) MIX
- Prepare the Tomato Juice: If using tomato paste, mix it with water to achieve a juice-like consistency. Otherwise, use ready-made tomato juice.
- Seasoning: Add a pinch of salt and black pepper to the tomato juice followed by any other spices you might want to experiment with
- Mixing: Pour the seasoned tomato juice into a glass, filling it about a third of the way. Then, slowly pour the beer into the glass, allowing the foam to settle before adding more beer. This ensures the flavors mix well without too much froth.
c) Serve! It's still beer... so, chilled!
And that's all for today! Enjoy your weekend responsibly (preferably with some extra tomato juice), and remember to join us next week for some more Ale Abbey news!
-- Hammer & Ravens
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