Hello everyone,
We apologize for the long absence; we've been incredibly busy with work. Let's catch you up on our progress.
Upcoming Plans:
- Everything is going well, and we still intend to launch in early access by the end of the year. Next week, we'll wrap up the culture and new diplomacy features, and then shift our focus to pre-release preparations. This includes refining the interfaces, uploading new graphics, fine-tuning the audio, working on optimization, and localization.
- Alongside this, we'll expand our testing. Those who applied for playtesting through the game's page on Steam will be invited for internal testing. We remember you! The final price and release date will be announced once testing concludes.
- For those who volunteered to help with language editing, I'll contact you as soon as we sort out the fonts and upload the localization. This should be in about a week and a half. Sorry for the wait. You can still apply here (especially looking forward to our Chinese friends):
https://forms.gle/DHYb4BzDKkkjUyTr5
What We've Achieved This Past Month:
(pls note that I won't cover everything; some features are still in testing)
Bugs and Stability
We're grateful to our testers, vangolla02021 and Sunika, for helping us identify and fix a particularly elusive crash bug. We couldn't reproduce it on our end and had to rely on multiple game runs with their assistance to pinpoint the issue. We're still working on a full resolution, but we're making progress. Other bugs are also being addressed promptly.
Game Settings
Beyond the previously mentioned family and map settings, we've introduced general game settings.
Scenarios
Choose from one of eight starting scenarios or begin without any. For instance, play as a province where your lords and all peasants are dependent on nectar, or where all lords are blind, or suffer from hemophilia, etc.
Modifiers and Crises
Currently, there are four game start modifiers (e.g., all incoming migrants will be fanatics) and one crisis – the Unholy Horde. However, you can choose to disable these.
Game Difficulty
Apart from the normal and hardcore difficulty levels, we've added a relaxed mode. Here, goods production is more efficient, and neighbors won't bother you unless you initiate aggressive actions against them.
Loyalists and Tactics
Loyalists are a social class of characters that emerge from happy peasants and soldiers, essentially rewarding players for treating their subjects well. They come with many benefits, such as being recruitable for the army (with a morale boost when fighting alongside the king), they don't turn criminal or rebel, and their productivity is 20% higher than regular peasants. However, maintaining their numbers means consistently ensuring a high standard of living, which can sometimes be challenging. They also get deeply upset when their beloved ruler passes away.
Thus, in addition to playing as a slave owner, nectar addicts, and fanatics, we've introduced the option to play as a benevolent ruler who is loved by the subjects.
King's Ambitions
After being crowned, kings undergo a coronation ceremony, before which they define their reign's ambitions. These can range from conquering neighbors, population growth, forming military alliances, achieving high prestige, or fostering a productive economy. This gives you mid-term game objectives.
Inspiration
Happy lords can experience Inspiration, where the strength of all their skills dramatically increases for a day. This is another reason to produce and procure quality goods that make people happy.
Experience from Actions
As many of you requested, we've finally implemented it. Lords now gain experience when performing specific tasks.
We've also enhanced the influence of combat skill in battles. Our testers are pleased that, in their words, there's "now a reason to level up the combat skill".
Dynasty Prestige
Competition is essential. Now, we have a dynasty prestige system to gauge how successful you are compared to your neighbors. The more books, population, vassals, etc., you have, the more prestigious your dynasty becomes. You can see where you stand among your neighbors, and your lords will be pleased to live in the most prestigious city and unhappy if it's an insignificant place.
One of the vital components is city decor, which now costs money and boosts prestige. Prestige also affects neighboring kings' attitudes towards you.
Statistics Menu
We're still refining the interface, but we've introduced a statistics menu to help you better track your economic achievements and trends.
Some (Not All) Global Map Improvements
- You can now dispatch squads and characters already on the global map for tasks.
- Occasionally, genius rulers emerge on the map, our solution for mid-game challenges. Instead of auto-leveling, we opted for challenges from large kingdoms that produce genius rulers in the game's later stages. This feature is recent and still under testing.
- Provinces now trade in a consistent set of goods. You can establish ongoing trade agreements with them. If a province is attacked, it affects the prices of the goods they trade on the global market and with the Holy Caravan.
Next week (or slightly longer), we'll complete two significant game features – the new diplomacy and cultures. I'll update you on these, hopefully, sooner than this time.
After that, as mentioned at the start, we'll begin our pre-release preparations.
Thank you for your patience, and stay tuned; it's going to be exciting.
- D.