Hello everyone, February is here and I think it’s high time I let you guys know what we’ve been working on for Alpha 12.
That’s why from now on, every 24 hours, daily on 6pm CET, I’m going to show one small new thing about Alpha 12 here. You’re welcome to discuss!
So, here we go. We’re going to start small and keep you guessing about the main topic of the update.
The first thing is… jokes!
That’s right, people are going to tell each other jokes now and they can go over well or… not so well 
Alright, Day 2 and today I’ve got 2 pieces of news for you:
The first one is another interaction… insults:
Insults can drive a wedge between villagers and lead to conflict all around. Some people even feel good making an example out of others, but the village community will suffer.
The second piece of news is… Savegames from Alpha 10 and Alpha 11 are going to be compatible with Alpha 12!
At least in my tests it seems to work without any issues now. If you have any problem continuing your old village history, let me know - though you may want to start a new one either way.
Tomorrow you’re going to get the last one of the new interactions I’m going to show you…
Day 3 brings the final new interaction I’m going to show you for now:
If by now you think “Alpha 12 is going to be the Relationship Update” you’re not totally wrong.
We’re glad to finish yet another point on the Roadmap by having relationships be part of it.
However, you’re still missing the biggest piece of the puzzle and the actual focus of the Update 
That’s going to be revealed tomorrow.
And here it is: Alpha 12 is going to be the Family Update! 
There is going to be a full life cycle, relatives and family relationships. You’re going to have to provide education for the kids for them to grow up to be a useful member of the village - but sometimes they don’t wanna study!
Release date: Next Friday
Alright, now that you know what it’s all about, it’s time to let you know about more details regarding the gameplay. First, checkout the relationship panel:
It’s a new menu in the character overview and there are quite a bunch of things that can happen here. Every relationship is at a level and through interactions that level can go up or down. You can see the progress in the bar at the bottom.
Each relationship can have additional modifiers, like
"Impressed": Every positive interaction will have be twice as good
"Annoyed": won’t talk to a certain villager anymore
"Related": When 2 villagers are relatives in one way or another.
Relationships are also necessary in order to fulfill villager expectations. These shouldn’t be that demanding, though.
Important news: Because kids are now part of the village, the villager limit is going to be raised from 11 to 13.
It’s also a little easier to get your first few colonists now.
And the final piece of info for today: The children’s character overview.
There are a couple of key differences to be noted, like the “profession” menu is missing. That’s because kids are unable to do any real work for you.
Instead, they have 2 main tasks:
The happiness during childhood will determine positive and negative traits when the kid is growing up.
The education will be a powerful tool to get their adult life started with a bunch a experience stars in various professions already.
Some people say the world belongs to the youth - but you shouldn’t discount the wisdom of the elders.
Having lived a long, and hopefully fulfilling life, they are now enjoying their twilight years.
Not everyone is content with getting older though - some people tell tales of a magic elixir with the power to reverse the aging process for a while. Taking this elixir is not without consequences however…
The elixir is a little hidden in game. Some players may never find it on their own, while others could find it on the first day.
Let me know when you found it so we can know who was the first 
And today we take another look at the interface. Check out what happens on a birthday:
Here you can see the effect a good or bad childhood can have and how you can use child education to your advantage. You can make very skilled people this way if you try to go hardcore with it
And something visual for your viewing pleasure: A dad bending down to hug his daughter:
Only 2 more updates until release!
Seems apt that the Alpha 12 update is all about relationships and is being released on Valentines Day.
Really just waiting to start a new game and try out the updates - 3 days and counting down…
Ohh, and thanks Daniel for keeping it compatible to previous Alpha - not overly important to me, but does cause some angst with fans still mid-game on their island
Definitely! The date was a coincidence, but it works out nicely.
I hope you’ll enjoy it!
Today I’d like to show you some new building options for the kids’ rooms:
Tomorrow’s update is going to show a fun little extra for winter and then it’s release time!
And the “fun little extra” for today is…
You can now build snowmans together. It’s mostly for fun, but it also brightens villager’s days.
Release tomorrow!
Hey !! Do we have a time for when the update is being released? 
