News

Today we’re announcing our second title, so it’s probably in your interest to know what the plans for Reus are. Let’s start with a short recap.

Since the start Reus was a great project for all of us. It was great in the sense that it was a lot of work, but it was also great in the sense that it was more promising than everything the people in our team had ever made individually. We’re tremendously happy about what it brought to our studio and grateful for the many responses.

Reus is Abbey Games’ first project, and we should admit that not everything went as smoothly as we hoped, especially after release. We had our hands full fixing bugs and we were still walking the long road of porting the game to Mac and Linux. As you may know, by now we have Mac and Linux in beta on Steam, as well as the Windows version that fixes a graphics card issue that too many people have experienced.

We’re really excited to work on our new project, and we’ve already taken some great first steps, for which you should look at the announcement. However, we want you to know that we’re currently still fixing bugs in the beta versions to try and make Reus accessible to people who aren’t able to play yet. Over the the coming months we’ll keep supporting Reus to solve any remaining issues. We don’t have any new content planned for Reus, but we hope that, like us, you will look forward to our new game.

Thanks for the support everyone.

If you want to learn more about our new title. Please visit renownedexplorers.com

Since today the first translation patch is officially online on Steam and in the pipeline for the other platforms. This means that you can now also play Reus in Spanish, Italian, French, Dutch, Brazilian-Portuguese thanks to the hard work of none other than you and your fellow Reus-ers. This also means that the bonus content for these language is available for everyone: new projects and new pieces of nature to grow humanity with.

Because people are still working on other translations of Reus (f.e. German, Polish, Russian) we'll keep running the community translation project. If you want to help get your own language in the game, in exchange for community love, Abbey Games love, and new Reus content, you can get started here.

Italian Reus

Hey giants!

Are you stuck in the midgame with Reus? Or maybe you're looking for a new way to play Reus. Then we got good news for you! 

The newest patch of Reus adds a lot of new gameplay options for you to play with. If you'd like to play on a bigger or smaller planet, you can now change the planet size. We also added options to make Reus faster or more relaxed. You can choose to speed up the giants and their cooldowns, increase the bonuses from transmutation, or make your giants unkillable. 

Looking for a bigger challenge? Try Titan mode, in which you cannot reload to a previous point, or play the game without being able to use the pause to inspect!

To complete the celebration, let's put a cherry on top: What if Reus would have been released 25 years ago? Enjoy the movie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LN3e4AYqBI

Hey giants!

I just wanted give a quick update on the Mac & Linux version. It took us longer than expected to make the ports (it's a though time to have XNA in your game), but it finally seems that things are going well! We'll have a bit of a delay, but we think the port will be ready in about 4 weeks, give or take. Please note that this is a guestimate, and not a guarantee. We just want to give you guys the best guess we have available, so you won't be sitting on your fence without any indication. This stuff is all pretty new to us, and we don't want to release it broken.

This also means that the lowering of the requirements is getting in sight as well. It might take a little longer than the ports though, since there are some more technical brawls to fight there, but if everything goes well (which never happens of course), it will be done quickly.

Thanks a lot for your patience!

We're happy to announce that we have our translation system up and running! Soon, Reus might be in your native language as well.

If you feel like helping us with translation, here's how to get started: http://wiki.reusgame.com/index.php?title=Reus_translation_guide

But there's more! We want to thank you for your support, and that's why we're adding some new content to the game. Read all about it here: http://abbeygames.com/translation-get-your-language-in-reus/

Hey there! We're still busy with the same old stuff, like porting and lowering the specs, while also laying the foundations for our future endeavors. Therefor, I'd liked to share 2 things with you today:

• Challenge results
• Desgin thoughts on Reus

The second part is a little introspective journey through my view on Reus, what it should have been and what it is. Hopefully a good read for those interested in game design!

Challenger!

The challenge is over! We had some participants, but sadly not enough to create a full blown league. That's why I will show you the all-round top 3 contesters! The winners are:

1. Rabbit with a Prosperity of 12880! (No, I have no idea how he does it)
2. AVtime with a Prosperity of 3663!
3. Syneris with a Prosperity of 3573! (close!)

They all surpassed my personal score of 2271. :( Thanks all for competing! If we'll ever have merchandise, we'll know who to send it too. ;)

Thought on Reus

Now that Reus is out for over a month and we sobered up, it's time for me to take a good look at Reus. I especially would like to look at what Reus should have been and what it is now.

 You can probably feel it floating around in the game, but our ambitions with Reus were a little bit different. In our minds, Reus would be a bit more simulative, a bit more like a traditional god game. The village mechanics would have more interactions, and there would be more happening on the world.

However, with our meager student-loans, we soon found out that it wasn't so easy to make a fun simulation as it seems. Simulations really thrive on having a complex, reactive system to support your fantasy. Since the fantasy we were trying to achieve was that of a, well whole friggin world, we kind of overestimated our powers to achieve that in just a year. We soon found out that the simulation we were creating was simply not fun enough. It's pretty common that your game doesn't hit all the snares immediately. However, we only had about 9 months left before the money ran out so, yeah, panic.

What happened next is what definitely made Reus what it is. We really had yet to discover what was really fun in the Reus we had at the moment. There were 3 things that were working specifically well: The giants, greed and the placement game. That worked pretty good, and had a lot of them thematical sense too it. Note that there were no symbioses, Aspects or War just yet. We figured that with the time we had left, the best thing we could do, is focus on the things that made the best possible game out of that.

So we added Symbioses, Apsects, Projects and made a lot of content to explore within 6 months. The focus shifted a little to: This is a fun mechanics, and we must make sure that it can keep people interested. If we still had  time, we can try to improve the rest of the game as well. As you can see in the result, we did managed to cram in some beautifications and improvements. For example, the different kind of villagers, cooler looking wars, and the special villagers and ambassadors that spawn with each projects.

In the end, I’m really happy with the mechanics that rolled out, and see a lot of room for improvement. Next time, we can take more time into expanding the scope of Reus it’s more lacking entities, and blow some more life into them!

Hey all! Another (smaller) update on Reus!

Patch

Yesterday we released a patch with a few fixes. Most importantly, greed will now decrease if a village is not growing to fast, but still is influenced by danger. A lot of project specializations have also been fixed. The patch is available on Steam by joining the beta branch. If we encounter no issues, we'll put the patch live everywhere!

If you still find any bux while testing, please report it at the forums!

Challenge

The challenge is still running! 

Entering is really simple!

• step 1: Play a game with the following rules!
• 30 minutes era
• At the end of the game, you have at least 4 Forest Ambassadors on your giants.
• Your score will be determined by your prosperity
• step 2: Make a savegame in the last minute, and make a screenshot of your score! (use the autosave to get there if you forgot to save in your first run)
• step 3: send an e-mail with your savegame, screenshot and your participation-name (like your forum name) to challenger@reusgame.com!
• step 4: wait until next week to see how well you did, and which ranking you received!

You can enter as many times as you want, but the highest score will be used in the rankings.

Depending on your score, you'll be awarded a gold, silver or bronze ranking, so you can challenge people of similiar skill level. Manuel and I will be joining the fray aswell, so come kick our butts!

Enter before Thursday the 27th, 0:00 Pacific Time!

How's the Team?

Reus certainly has made our lifes quite busy! At the moment, Bas is still working on the ports and the destruction of XNA to lower the specs. We're also working at the features mentioned in the last post. However, the biggest time sink now, is that we're growing as a game company. With all the hassle included. Some are also (finally) finishing their degree! All this stuff is certainly keeping us busy. 

Friends and family are also starting to demand holidays. We've been keeping them clear with pittraps and pitchforks, but we don't know how much longer we can hold them back. All in all, we're still working hard on fixing the things we really think that should be fixed!

That's all for now! Have a nice weekend!

-Adriaan

Hey giants! This week I got 3 topics for you!

• Future Patches: Sneak Peak
• Tech Update
• Community Challenge!

Future Patches: Sneak Peak

I'm happy to announce that in the coming period, we'll be looking to improve Reus even further and get rid of all the issues we've found. To begin with, we really think Reus could use some more game mode and options to spice things up. We're talking about both freeplay and era mode, so no matter what you like, there is more to do! Some of the things we're working on are:

• Titan Mode: How will you do if you cannot reload, save if you exit the game, and can't use pause?
• Annihilation Mode: There is not direct time pressure, but humans grow more and more discontent as time passes...
• More options: We're looking into things like difficulty, giant strength and powers, and planet size to name a few.

This update might take a while to make, but we hope we can offer a lot of more Reus fun to improve longevity and diversity!

Tech Update

As you might know, Bas is busy rewriting the code so Reus runs on Mac, Linux and PC's that do not meet the "hi-def" XNA standard. It's still a long way from done, but we estimate the patch to be done within 2 to 3 months. If we know more, have a date or a breakthrough we'll let you know! Also, please know that we're still fixing bugs if we find them.

Challengers unite!

Always wanted to test your Reus skills against those of similiar prowess? Well, it's time to enter the community challenge then! Entering is really simple!

• step 1: Play a game with the following rules!
• 30 minutes era
• At the end of the game, you have at least 4 Forest Ambassadors on your giants.
• Your score will be determined by your prosperity
• step 2: Make a savegame in the last minute, and make a screenshot of your score! (use the autosave to get there if you forgot to save in your first run)
• step 3: send an e-mail with your savegame, screenshot and your participation-name (like your forum name) to challenger@reusgame.com!
• step 4: wait until next week to see how well you did, and which ranking you received!

You can enter as many times as you want, but the highest score will be used in the rankings.

Depending on your score, you'll be awarded a gold, silver or bronze ranking, so you can challenge people of similiar skill level. Manuel and I will be joining the fray aswell, so come kick our butts!

For now, happy Reus-ing!

Are you bored on a Thursday afternoon, with 5 minutes to spare, and love Reus? Well, then I have good news for you! From today on, I will be posting Reus related info, tips and events right here-o. 

Today I got 3 topics for you:

• The Mountain Patch
• Community Challenge
• Fisherman tips

Mountain Patch

The last 2 weeks, me and the artists have been busy with creating some extra content for Reus. (Bas was too busy lowering the specs/porting the game, while Maarten is busy localizing.) We added some new early game content for those who have advanced into level 3, in the form of new resources and projects. We also added some difficult 1-hour challenges for the real Titans amongst you.

Another added feature that is easily overlooked, is the ability to turn on advanced tooltips. Advanced tooltips show the yields and symbioses of a resource when you hover over it's transmutation button. It's a requested feature by those who liked to have a little more foresight and control over their transmutations.

The next update will take a bit longer, but we are already planning out our next steps. Curious to learn about the next set of features or content to arrive on your planet? Check the Reus news next week, as I will be revealing more bit by bit!

Community Challenge

Do you think that your planeteering-skills are off the hook? Or just want to have a friendly competition with other Reus players?  Then you might have fun joining the community challenge! Starting next week, I'll be posting challenges in which you can easily participate. There will be leagues for different types of players who like a challenge, so anyone is welcome to enter. For more information, or to have a chance to influence the competition with your input go the the strategy forums!

Fisherman Tips

Having trouble getting developments? Do the ones that involve animals, prosperity or a fishing village seem particularly hard? You're not alone: Fishing Village seems to be the most difficult level 1 challenge, and only 25% of the players made it until now. Here is a quick and dirty walkthrough on how to get an effective fishing village!

Step 1: Create an island. The island should be no bigger than 4 patches, so it fits a village perfectly. Make the island either a swamp or a forest. (A swamp is recommended, since it unlocks the right upgrades for your ocean giant) To make a nomad settle there, just put any fish one tile away from the island. This way, you're sure that the humans have no other choice than to build a fishing docks.

Step 2: Fishes! Make good use of the early game fishies! They're really easy to use: The clownfish does well next to another clownfish, and the mackerel does well next to another mackerel. Also don't forget to take a quick peek at the specialization of your fishing docks project, which is sure to spawn. With only 4 fishes, (2 of one type on each side of the island), the village will already grow to 50+ prosperity!

Step 3: Diversify your animals. For this strategy, it's very important that you can make different fishes. Therefore, it's smart to pick animal upgrades first. Depending on your level, you will want the ocean giant to have swamp ambassadors, your forest giant and swamp giant to have desert ambassadors, and your rock giant is best of with a forest ambassador. There are 4 fishes in the early game to use:

• Mackerel: A row of 3 Mackerels provides an excellent range of food. Their massive school symbiosis basically doubles the effectiveness of an Aspect in this setup, so make sure you use it well!
• Clownfish: Clownfish are nice filler to get some wealth, since they synergize with other clownfish and the parrotfish.
• Seabass: You will need either the Hunt aspect or the Predator aspect to get the Seabass, so make a small desert village somehwere else to get the required desert ambassador. Their symbiosis, Predator, makes good use of those Mackerel and Clownfish to get a nice food boost. Aside of the fishing docks,the Seabass is your best way to get food.
• Parrotfish: My personal favorite, whose Barrier Dweller symbiosis benefits from a diverse setup. You'll need either the Exotic aspect or the Herd aspect, which are both obtainable with the ambassadors yielded from the fishing village itself. Note that Barrier Dweller also works with another parrotfish, so putting 2 next to eachother is totally valid!

If you place them smartly, it's a piece of cake to achieve 150 prosperity in 10 minutes!

Step 4: Exploit! Now that the basics are ready, you'll just have to keep an eye on your fishing village. Some important things to keep in mind are:

• Make sure that ocean is full of fish! Let there be no empty patch left within borders.
• Spread some aspects around! Use the Fertility Boost of the Forest Giant to get potent aspects, since lesser apsects only work with natura, which is unobtainable in this setup.
• If they're getting too greedy, use some apsects with danger moderately.
• Note that fishes closer to the village have more impact, since their full range is in borders. The fishes at the borders are less effective, so put your best sources closer to the village.

If you take care of your village, they're sure to hit the 200 prosperity mark within 20 minutes!

That's all for this week! Be sure to come by next week to get some more juicy Reus info!

-Adriaan

Reus is released, and you can get it from one of these platforms! Except for some minor launch issues, the release went very well! We've had a little party at the Abbey, and the game seems to be received really well so far.

We want to thank everyone for their support during the launch, especially the community.

Now that we got some more time on our hands, we'd like to hear from you. We'll be answering your questions on the forums, but contacting us through Twitter or Facebook is also very much appreciated.

18:00 GMT
10:00 PST (USA West)
13:00 EDT (USA East)
19:00 CEST (Europe)

We're very excited!

Just now, we compiled the release version for Reus; the version that you'll be playing in 10 days from now. We'll have a little celebration at the Abbey. For us, this marks the end of working weekends and nights. It marks the end of working on a game we've been working on for the past 1.5 year.

It's time to pop open some Abbey Beer.

In the past 1.5 year, numerous people have contributed to what is now Reus, but I want to specificly mention the developers that worked so selflessly on Reus. Those developers are Jacco Krijnen, Alexander van der Zalm, Dennis Pullens, Mieke ten Dam, Ronnie Dieleman, Marlies Barends, Rick Sorgdrager, Joni van der Leeuw, Yme de Jong, Mitchell Tummers, Tim de Jager, Valentijn Muijrers, Nick Witsel, Adriaan Jansen, Bas Zalmstra, Manuel Kerssemakers and me, Maarten Wiedenhof.

As always, you can subscribe to our mailing list for news as it develops, or check out our forums.

10 more days! Cheers!

Hello everyone. Development on Reus is going very well. We're fixing the last bugs and doing a lot of polishing. Today, we're very happy to announce three important facts.

First - and most notable - we've got a new website! We think it came out very nice. We have RSS and an about page now. Our old one-page website can still be visited here.

Secondly, we're very happy to officially announce our release on Steam, GamersGate, GOG.com and Desura! We'll keep you informed on the details.

And now the big news: we have a release date! Reus will release May 16, 2013. Only a little more than a month to go!

Reus has just been nominated for A MAZE, the Berlin based indie game festival. Over the next few days, the jury will select "The Most Amazing Game 2013". We're one of the eleven nominations, so it's going to be tough!

Abbey Games will be visiting Berlin April 24 through 26, and we'll be at least 6 monks strong.

If you want to discuss Reus, or chat with the developers, head over to forums.abbeygames.com!

Dear friends and followers, we are proud to tell you that today we officially announce our debut game: Reus. Reus is our big passion project we have been working on for little over 8 months in the silent retreats of our Abbey.

Reus is a god game in which you take control of nature through the hands of mighty giants. You possess all imaginable powers over nature. Among them terrascaping, creation of life, control of weather and genetic manipulation. There is only one thing on the planet that you do not control: mankind, with all their virtues and and all their vices. You can shape their world, but not their will. It's your responsibility to maintain a balance in which man is not overpowered by nature, and nature does not fall to man's greed.

We've got a new website, but the old website is still available at http://reusgame.com/archive.