Instructions to opt into the beta/experimental branch:
1. Within the Steam library list, right click 'Dead Monarchy", then select "Properties".
2. Towards the top of the window that pops up, click the "Betas" tab.
3. A dropdown menu list will then appear, select "experimental - Experimental branch".
4. The game should then automatically download and update to this build.
5. Once you have booted up the game, if you see "Build 4" in the main menu, then you are good to go.
The World Map:
Build 6 is the largest update to date as it introduces the world map and player avatar systems to Dead Monarchy. To celebrate, Dead Monarchy is 25% off!
The world map drastically alters Dead Monarchy on many levels and due to real life commitments, I have not actually done much testing. As such, the plan is to keep these next few builds in the experimental branch for a couple weeks before moving it to the live build. Despite being in early access, I am reluctant to go straight to the live build as it may cast the wrong impression on players that are just discovering the game now.
I highly recommend starting a new game with this build, especially if it has been a couple months since you played as previous updates added things like difficulty levels and the perks system.
The rest of this text is almost structured like a tutorial. The tutorial is something I actually need to overhaul as the world map has changed a lot of things, so if you are interested in trying out this latest build (experimental branch), I would keep on reading.
There are now 5 large maps that can be fully traversed, each map represents a biome. You will always start in Bretony (forest biome) and from there, you can travel to other lands via boats.
The player base now has a physical presence on the map as well and it is something you need to actively defend. Any characters that are garrisoned within the base will partake in base assault missions while the main party is out in the world. If you enter the base a day before the siege commences, when you end the day and the siege triggers the day after, your active party can partake in the siege instead. If you are wandering the world and you have no garrison in the base when it is attacked, then you will lose 25% Company Morale and any upgraded buildings will be reduced by 1 level.
Since the player base has a physical presence in the world that also makes exploring the distant lands/maps harder as you can no longer heal (Condition) and repair equipment as easily. As such, two new items have been introduced to all marketplaces in the towns (Herbs and Tools) that can be used to repair and heal condition on characters. To use those items, select the character and drag the item over the portrait or right click to use the item. Healing and repairing within the base will always be cheaper, but it is something the player needs to plan for when traveling beyond Bretony as you no longer have a base of operations.
Some buildings have been taken out the base, but in the future I will consider adding new ones. The buildings that have been taken out (camp, marketplace, headquarters) have been assigned to the towns that populate the maps. Each map has 10 towns and the towns have various vendors.
Different vendors sell different weapons and armor. I have to mention again that this is the first pass of the world map, the armor will feel a bit skewed but that is the next update I am working on. Lots of things still need to be added to the world map or tweaked, in order for it to feel as streamlined as the game did before the world map was added.
Monarchs now also have a physical presence on the world map, each map will have a lair that contains a Monarch. The Monarchs will move around the map though and will not always be present at their own bases. If a Monarch is present, the icon for it will appear on the map, if there is no icon it means the Monarch is elsewhere meaning it will show up on a contract. As of now, the game still revolves around hunting down and killing the 5 Monarchs.
Contracts for now are the main way the player will sustain their company. Contracts replace the old UI system that was used to distribute missions. The missions themselves have not changed, it is just how they are distributed that has changed. There are three difficulty levels for contracts (easy, medium, hard) and the old difficulty levels have been assigned to those three levels. IE, the old mission difficulty level 1-4 is now all considered as easy level contracts.
Every town has a single contract at any time that will be easy, medium or hard. As the days progress, the contracts will expire and new ones will be replaced if the player does not accept them. The player can only ever have one active contract. If the player accepts the contract, the player is asked to go to a marked location, complete the contract and then return to town. Again as of now, I am still tweaking the values and rewards, there are still things left over from the old builds that need to be tweaked for the world map.
A new quest/contract UI will appear in the top left hand corner whenever the player is on an active contract and you can cancel the contract by pressing the X button. If the player does cancel a contract or completes the contract, there will not be another contract immediately available at the same town, the player will have to wait for some time before a new contract is assigned to it or to just travel to another town. Sometimes though, a new contract may appear soon after the previous one was completed/canceled if a new day begins shortly after.
The way time progresses has been completely changed as well, although it is also subject to tweaking. When the player is out in the world, time progresses based on movement. So there are 24 hours in a day and the hours will increment based on player movement. When a new day is triggered, daily wages and food are distributed, contracts roll for renewal, shops are restocked, Monarchs are shifted around etc etc, so a bit of strain is naturally placed on the CPU and as such, it will take a few seconds to finish. At this point, it is kind of like ending your turn in a Total War game. I will try to look for better solutions for optimization though in the future.
The other way to progress time is to end the day while you are in the player base, ending your turn in the player base will add 24 hours though. So if it is the 6th hour on day 3, ending your day in the base will progress it to the 6th hour of day 4.
Changing how time scales has also changed the amount of time it takes to upgrade new buildings. Since resources are also tied to specific biomes and the biomes are tied to the maps which require physically walking there in most cases, the requirements for buildings have been tweaked to reflect these new changes. Again this is subject to community feedback.
As mentioned earlier, there is now a player avatar as well. The player will be able to name the avatar before starting a new game as well as the company and the name of the player base. The player avatar will most likely be your strongest character, as it has boosted stats and stat development. It also starts out with some decent armor. Player avatars also have unique portraits to make it easier to distinguish. The player avatar cannot be garrisoned within a base (IE put into reserves), it will always be in your active party as it is you. The player avatar will never leave you either even if Company Morale is at 0% but it is still subjected to Company Morale penalties. This means that the only way you can lose the game is if your player avatar dies. That also means that if your player character is participating in a siege battle, it is an extremely risky thing to do as you cannot retreat from a siege battle.
Lastly, I have added in some basic "filler terrain" which basically serves to hide map edges. In the future, I may add in some basic environmental props as well.
The world map adds another pillar to Dead Monarchy and represents a huge step forward. A couple years ago, I really did not think this was possible, especially for one guy. Not only is this now a reality but I ended up starting on the world map several months earlier than I had originally anticipated. I suppose the harsh reality is I had to compromise somewhere and that ended up being my health.
There is a lot more work to do, but I thank everyone for their support and especially patience. Thank you for understanding my own personal struggles, all the thoughtful comments really do help. If you wish to further your amazing support, please consider writing a review!
What's Next?
For the remainder of this year, I will be implementing some of the feedback that I have received on the forums. I am also sure that I will receive feedback on the world map update so I will be focusing on that as well as finally doing my own testing of the world map. Going into the new year, the next major content update will be the armor overhaul. I will be updating and adding new armor models, reworking how armor works and probably also start adding in some new weapon models. The plan for next year is to alternate between the world map and the perks system.
Here are some screenshots of the new weapon models that are currently in the works. At this point, I am leaning towards having both unique models and also having texture variations between each model. Researching and designing the weapons took a lot of work, ultimately I am keeping things grounded and more "realistic".
Also, here are a couple of new armor models that will replace some of the European armor sets. I wasn't too fond of the tabbards. These sets will probably be used by the noble houses that reside within Bretony when the human factions get added in. Previous tabbards were a bit too short and I wanted something modular that I could easily texture.
Build 6 Patch Notes:
The changelog for this update does not really reflect the amount of work that has been done over the past few months, but it should sum up the major points.
New Stuff:
- Added 5 maps to explore, each map has 10 towns. Entire systems have been overhauled to accommodate to the world map.
- Player avatar has been added. The player now has a character that represents the player. It has its own unique portrait and has boosted stats and stat growth. If the player avatar dies in combat, it is game over.
- New music tracks have been added to all 5 maps.
Various Tweaks:
- The new combat animations have been temporarily removed, I need to rework them.
- Changed swamp ambient audio to something a little less intrusive.
- Added in basic filler environments for terrains that can be optionally enabled. This is basically if you do not want to play with a black void surrounding the battle maps. These environments will most likely be improved on in the future, I may add more environmental props.
- Updated the retreat zone highlights to something a little more visible. Moving onto a retreat tile will now cost your full turn (12 AP).
- The player base now has a physical presence on the map and can only be accessed while the player is in Bretony. There is now a garrison mechanic where if the base gets attacked, only the garrisoned members will fight, if no one is garrisoned the base buildings will be reduced by 1 level and Company Morale will be reduced.
- Going on expeditions is a lot harder now beyond Bretony as you do not have support from a base. New items (Herbs and Tools) have been added to marketplaces that will increase Condition by +5 and fully repair equipment.
- Monarchs now have a physical presence on the map. You can attack their bases just like they can attack yours, but Monarchs will not always be at their location either. If they are not in their bases, they will show up during contracts. So now, the player can take the fight directly to the Monarchs instead of just waiting for them to show up.
- The way missions are distributed has been completely reworked. Missions now dubbed as contracts, are given out by the various towns that you visit, there are 3 difficulties. Level scaling and loot still remains the same as of now and will need to be tweaked.
- When the player takes on a contract, a new UI will show up in the top right hand corner. There will be a quest marker (coin) on the map showing you the location you need to travel to. You can cancel the active contract by clicking the X button within the UI.
- A bug where if all your characters retreat but during the retreat, one of them dies and triggers an endless loop should have been fixed.
- Reworked the daily intake and wages UI to hopefully be clearer as to what is being deducted per day.
- Time is now progressed based on movement and is incremented in days not weeks anymore. As such, building upgrade times and resources have been tweaked, this is still subject to change.
- Tweaked some of the lighting, but more work needs to be done (when I get time).
Cheers,
Kevin.