Hello, Merchants!
It has been a while since our last update, and we wanted to touch base to let everyone know what has been happening behind the scenes.
Unity Engine Upgrade
We have been working in a very outdated version of Unity since the beginning. While we've made a few upgrades along the way, this latest update brings us almost fully up to date. What does this mean for players?
First, performance will see a massive improvement. By far the largest we've experienced throughout development. Even after completing only the initial engine upgrade, before implementing the optimizations we have planned, we're already seeing significant FPS gains. It will only get better from here.
Second, we'll be able to push out updates much faster. Bringing our tools up to modern standards gives us much more power at our fingertips, allowing us to make changes, improvements, and iterations far more quickly throughout the rest of development.
The Unity upgrade still needs a little more time. Getting every system working correctly has taken some extra effort, but once it's finished, it will absolutely be worth it. We're already well into the process, and once it's complete, we'll be able to deliver a much smoother game and a much more streamlined future for development.
Tutorial
Anyone who has been with us from the beginning knows we've gone through several iterations of the tutorial, or the Logbook, as we all know it. There's a good reason for that.
The Merchant's Guide to the Kingdom has a unique style of gameplay, with systems and mechanics unlike most games. Finding the right way to teach those mechanics has been a challenge, but based on our most recent iteration and all of the feedback we've received, we're finally confident we've found the right direction for the final tutorial.
We're developing the tutorial overhaul alongside the Unity upgrade, so progress is going well. We simply want to make sure both receive our full attention because these improvements will make the core experience dramatically better for both new players and veterans alike.
Once this patch is out, the road to the full v1.0 launch is very much in sight!
We only have a couple of major features left to implement, some planned improvements to existing systems, and a few more surprises up to and on launch. We're still expecting to release v1.0 well before the end of 2026.
The next patch isn't too much farther away, and after that, we look forward to getting back to much more consistent updates.
Thank you all for your support, feedback, and patience as we work through the final stretch of Early Access.
We'll see you again soon!
-Devs