Ostriv

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 8
Sun, 30 June 2024




Added/changed:

    Can now relocate the town hall to another building and demolish it




    "Take from other granaries/warehouses" can now be set for each resource separately




Added additional help tips on the start of the game




Can now hire managers at stables and cowsheds to replace dead draft animals




Another brick fence model




    Some widows/widowers will now remarry. Orphans who has grown up should now also marry properly

    Iron ore can now only be stored in a stone storage

    Added a personal log entry for parent's death

    Added a slight variation to rowhouse colors

    Optimized pathfinding

    Added some additional info in some help pages

    Slightly changed rowhouse floor height to better fit to human proportions

    Can now import limestone

    Reduced the game startup time

    Optimized grass trampling

    Optimized plough rendering

    Optimized citizen decision updates

    Optimized model scaling

    Optimized chicks rendering

    Optimized info overlays rendering performance

    Slightly optimized memory usage on trees



Fixed:

    Tents had a relocate button which they didn't need

    Settings utility didn't start recently

    Some resources were not selectable in "Find resource"

    Citizens could get stuck in endless labor cycle while trying to move out

    Replaced plough ox inherited its skin from a dead one

    Fishing boat animation didn't work in the latest update

    Wooden logs had storage space

    "Allow chopping trees" didn't reset on replanting the area

    Other minor fixes



A lot of people asked of the ways to support us outside of buying the game, so we made this little symbolic DLC which not only helps ensure the future of Ostriv, but also adds a nice decorative building:

Ostriv - Patron of the Arts

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2365430/Ostriv__Patron_of_the_Arts/


If you already have it, you can buy it for your friends.

[Asid]

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 8 hotfix 5
Mon, 12 August 2024



Added/changed:

•    Made easier to watch the messengers visiting time



•    Added "Сrops" overlay for easier crop rotation setup



•    Stone storage will now default to "None" when just built


Fixed:

•    Underage orphans could accidentally get married

•    The latest addition in the deal dialog didn't work properly

•    New settlers gone shopping before even hopping off from a wagon

•    Occupied space indication didn't work properly on some very big towns

•    Granary workers could deliver to nearby stores from sub-optimal sources other than their own granary in some cases

•    Crash related to sheep slaughtering

•    Some info overlays interfered with other UI elements

•    Minor UI fixes

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 1
Wed, 9 October 2024



Added/changed:
    • The game will now automatically increase UI scale on higher screen resolutions (if not set manually)
    • Trade screen will now highlight resources which you have in exports stock


     
    • Added an option to turn off wind ambient sounds at high altitude
    • Elaborated some info in ashery help page

Fixed:
    • Crash when orphans move in with their older sibling in some cases
    • Crash when a forestry is demolished in some cases
    • Crash when building a hay dryer on trees in some cases

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 5
Tue, 26 November 2024



Added/changed:

    - Added an option for gradual harvesting of orchards to reduce spoilage

    - Increased maximum number of workers at a trading post/dock to 6

    - Slightly optimized performance around supply chains

    - Slightly improved lighting on trees when viewed from distance


Fixed:

    - Couldn't store fishing nets and threads in warehouses

    - Crash when clearing trees for a field

    - One more case of white lines

    - A memory leak related to big hay barrack

    - New sound options didn't save between sessions

    - Crash when an old citizen moves in with relatives

    - The game could hang on exit

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 21 & some news
Wed, 19 February 2025




Added/changed:

    - Limeworks workers will now prioritize removing a small remainder of quicklime from the kiln



Fixed:

    - Planted trees could have some navigation problems

    - Field lost its link to a farm if entrance blocked

    - Yearly supply limits didn't always work properly

    - Navigation issues with fishing docks on map 3 (may need to rebuild the problem buildings in older saves)


So, about that deadline. This time I broke my rule about not having a release date for anything and it was a mistake. For instance, I had 2 days allocated for a new feature: help pages for every type of resource. When I got to implementing it, it quickly became apparent that the whole in-game help system could use some more substantial overhaul. What you see here is the current work-in-progress:



It's now taking 6 days and it's not finished yet. And of course it's all tied to the new buildings and resources in Alpha 6, so it can't be released separately. Our work is mysterious and important and, as such, very unpredictable. That's why games always either get delayed or botched.

I want Alpha 6 to be released as soon as possible more than anyone else, but I also want it to be actually worth revisiting for everyone. It's a rare opportunity and I don't want it to be wasted.
Sorry to disappoint, but you know that making the best game possible has always been my highest priority. Alpha 6 will be out when it's ready.

Thank you for your patience. We're under construction.

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 25
Mon, 31 March 2025



Alpha 6 is so big, its features are spilling into hotfixes. I think it makes sense to polish out some of the less exciting features with the community before Alpha 6 arrives and brings new players.

Added/changed:

    - Building categories are now separating food and non-food production


    - Added the trade limits window, which allows more control of what stays in town and what goes for export


    - Added a help page about trade limits


Fixed:

    - Crash on save in some cases

    - Could put graves too close to water leading to navigation problems

    - People could forget about their dead relatives graves after loading a save

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 27
Sat, 10 May 2025



Gonna talk a bit about Alpha 6 development and things which make it longer than expected (once again).

One of the new features is about making resource consumption much more sensible and reallistic. As of Alpha 5, your citizens only strive to have 4 types of food (or 6-7 if they are on the richer side). Of course it's too simplified to be believable.

In Alpha 6 every food resource will have nutritional value, but as it turns out you can't just choose foods by nutrition. When I tried that, the citizens would just buy all the calorie-packed foods and ignore all the vegetables. Another issue is that each food type has it's own consumption rate (most people can't eat 100g of garlic at once, but everyone can eat 100g potatoes). People would rather choose foods by taste, not by technical specs.



There's also no difference in local market price for different foods in Alpha 5 and resource amounts are quite arbitrary. Alpha 6 goal is to make all numbers make sense and thus make it easier to set actual prices for different foods, which would also have an effect on purchasing decisions.

Yet another factor is citizens class differences (there will be a bit more administrative roles with higher wages in the town) which lead to different expectations for products on the market.

It's been a long time since the game had this level of rebalancing and all the little details should play along together and don't break the parts which actually work. It takes some time to experiment and choose all the right solutions, but I believe this will bring a lot of new depth to the game.


Meanwhile, here's what's available in this little update:

Added/changed:

  - Added background colors in treasury stats to improve readability

  - Total population wealth is now visible in population stats

  - Optimized fences rendering when viewed from afar

  - Added an icon to tell if a resource is set to be collected by a building which also produces it



  - Updated some help pages

  - Can now force lime kiln burn before the whole batch collected





Fixed:

  - Taken loans didn't save between sessions

  - Some stone bridges could block navigation on water

  - Fields and reforestation areas could cause blocked paths in some cases

  - Corrected some spelling mistakes

  - Barbers sometimes couldn't stop visiting the same fracture patients repeatedly and taking their money

  - Lime kiln resources were collected even if it's deactivated

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 28
Sun, 29 June 202



Added/changed:

  - The game is now set on pause if user logged out or some other system events happened

  - Arcaded rowhouses can now be build either with a store or extra apartment

  - Can now flip (mirror) any building (with C key by default)


Slightly improved the pine model


Fixed:

  - Minor UI corrections

  - Some random issues with fishing spots

  - Crash related to blocked buildings

  - Sheep could be sheared an extra time after relocation

  - Navigational issues related to rows of graves near water

  - Fencelsess houses could create navigation issues when demolished

  - "no market stalls nearby" warning was shown for rowhouses with store

  - Brewery water supplies could get stuck if a well is demolished

  - Coastal buildings could unfairly block navigation in some cases

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 32
Fri, July 25, 2025



I know some of you are disappointed about not having the big content update for so long. And my recent mistake of setting an ETA didn't make it any better. So I guess another portion of excuses is due:)

While Alpha 6 is the current big thing, my goal from day one has always been to release a finished game. And while the feedback received during the last 5 alpha iterations is invaluable and I really believe this community-based approach was the best choice for Ostriv, the whole deal of keeping the game playable and enjoyable on every step of the way is obviously taking a great deal of development time. So I've got this idea of making a much wider step this time to get much closer to the final release. The more final game mechanics I can bundle in this iteration, the sooner we'll be able to reach the fabled 1.0 version. There's a slight chance that this will be the last update of this size before the final release.

Alpha 6 will have at least 13 new buildings. I also made plans for additional 11, but not sure which will get into Alpha 6, bacause some mechanics are going to need more time, as usual, and in the end of the day there should be balance between the size of the update and wait time. I guess no one will forgive me another year of development.

It also gets more challenging to support both versions of the game in a single code base, because I need to be able to both work on Alpha 6 and deliver fixes for the current public version, so the code is now all littered with macros like this:



These macros isolate the unfinished functionality and choose the numbers depending on the type of build. Alpha 6 will have most of the numbers overhauled as they are being rebalanced to make more sense (1 unit will be 1kg for most resources). Numbers from old saves will be converted, of course.

Sometimes I forget to split the code properly and you get leaks in hotfixes (some of you may have noticed The Greasing Incident). Of course these mechanics are not yet ready to be publicly released.

Meanwhile here's what today's little update has inside:


Added/changed:

  - Houses and apartments will now be set on hold if previous family was relocated

  - Added notification icons with tooltips in all production buildings to show resources missing for a batch



  - Status strings like "not enough X for Y production" are not shown anymore

  - Can now right-click on any slider in the game and set the value manually



  - Logs will now lye perfectly on slopes so the game is finally playable



  - Can now change village house appearance with (by default) F2 key before construction


Fixed:

  - It was possible to break the lighting on rowhouses with some manipulations

  - Crash related to having multiple town hall buildings

  - One of the rowhouse types had less apartments than expected

  - Foresters stopped planting trees when storage is full in some cases

[Asid]

Alpha 5 patch 9 hotfix 34
Thu, 4 September 2025



This update contains some invisible work to make all production more unified and data-driven, so it will later be much easier to implement modding of custom production buildings. But as with any code changes, new bugs may be introduced. So please keep an eye on and report any unexpected changes in production.

Also since I've last spoken, another 4 buildings were added to Alpha 6 plan (all from Trade & Transport category). They just keep coming, sorry.. There is some new logistical stuff happening since there will be a new concept of "upkeep resources". All those sacks, baskets and tools won't appear from thin air anymore. At the same time it shouldn?t overcomplicate things, so the new challenges are mostly solved by building new buildings. And we all love building new stuff.

Meanwhile, here's the current stuff:

Added/changed:

  - Not showing "Supply sources don't have the required resource" if stored over target amount

  - Buildings using both charcoal and firewood will need 3 times as much firewood for the same amount of charcoal

  - Carpentry building renamed to more appropriate Cartwright

  - Cartwright will now build and repair for closest orders first

  - Slightly improved the wooden church model

  - Added help page for thatchery

  - Minor UI changes

  - Can now enable to show connection to specified supply sources




Added a nice bell tower to go with your church (purely decorational as of now)



  - F2 for changing building appearance works for rowhouses too now


Fixed:

  - Citizen jumped on a bridge instead of walking under it

  - Crash in late game (4000+ population)

  - There could be a secret invisible building which hired some extra construction workers

  - Crash on town hall demolition

  - A faulty case of navigation blocking by fields and village houses

  - Workers who used boats and wagons came home already rested

  - Soapworks, Glassworks, Ashery didn't enforce minimal number of workers

  - Initial settlers could have a child with negative age in some cases

  - Plants and fences could float in the air after construction nearby

  - Hay actually almost didn't spoil on hay dryer in winter