Development Blog #8: Kingdom Two Crowns Free 2.0 update & Royal Wardrobe DLCs

03 Oct 2024Developer post

Source: Steam Community (opens in a new tab)

With the release of Call of Olympus NEXT WEEK (excitement!) we’re also giving the Kingdom Two Crowns base game a 2.0 update. There's loads of quality-of-life updates, and those will be free for everyone who owns Kingdom Two Crowns, regardless of whether you purchase Call of Olympus or not. Some of the improvements we’ve already talked about (like more save slots and the option to disable the tutorial ghost!) but for this blog post we're inviting you to dive a little deeper into the details with one of our programmers, Danijel.

With the 2.0 update of Kingdom Two Crowns we have re-envisioned the visual representation of the game. Can you spot all the details?

Hi, I’m Danijel. Let me introduce you to Kingdom Two Crowns 2.0!

There are many improvements coming to KTC with the 2.0 update (see a longer list further down below) but here are some of my favorites!

Archers, knights and pikemen will no longer guard a side of your kingdom, if it is completely safe! Instead, they will rush to the other side and help where it is still needed. But don't worry, a few archers will still stay behind and hunt so you don't lose your income.
Talking of smarter units, the archers also realized they don't have infinite range and it does not help anyone, if they occupy towers deep within the kingdom. You can now build towers close to your keep without worrying that the archers will take up permanent residence inside, and be unavailable when you need them once the kingdom is expanded. As walls are built and torn down, archers will now only occupy the towers within reasonable distance from the walls.
If you found it hard to guess how much health a beach portal has remaining, you were not alone. Unlike forest portals which slowly crumble to let you know, beach portals were impossible to read. But no more! They have now grown little pustules which pop as they take damage, and once all pustules are gone the portal falls.
If you enjoy playing multiplayer and admire the nature in Kingdom, you may appreciate this one: we greatly improved the multiplayer syncing of both the kinds of trees and bushes, as well as foliage colors and states of trees and bushes as they change colors, lose and regrow leaves with the change of seasons. So, you and your play partner can enjoy the same view when standing next to each other in multiplayer.
We also fixed some annoyances, for example we now apply your saved sound settings during the boot-up sequence. So, if you are used to playing Kingdom with low volume, you don't get blasted by the sound.
Ninjas in Shogun were too fond of their hiding spots and could hide in their old spot within your walls where encountering the Greed is unlikely. Or they would hide in plain sight once their favourite bamboo tree was cut down. This is no longer the case.
You can now interact with a mount that walks towards a stable. You don’t need to wait for it to arrive there anymore!
Islands where you completely eradicated the Greed no longer decay. Yay!
If archers retreating from a fallen wall pass by an empty tower, they will take shelter and shoot the Greed there.

Some funny bugs that we fixed:

The rabbits in O&B no longer play chicken sounds for P2 while in multiplayer.
The rider on the loading screen now gallops with the steed when loading is complete.
You can no longer change the difficulty while looking at the peaceful difficulty confirmation.
P2 can now see the difficulty of the game they joined in multiplayer, instead of labeling everything normal.
In multiplayer, P2 will now also hear the wonderful flute the Shogun merchant plays when dropping coins.
While hunting or defending, if an archer shoots the rope holding a Monarch cage in Deadlands without having the player pay for it, it is now accounted for! Lucky shot indeed.

This and much more will be available on October 8th for all of our players. Thanks, Danijel, for letting us peek behind the curtain to see what you and the rest of the team has been up to!

The Kingdom Two Crowns 2.0 patch notes in detail:

The new save slot system lets you create up to 10 save slots. Your existing save files will be automatically converted to the new system and keep your progress intact.
The new campaign select flow will give you a better overview when you select your preferred difficulty mode and ruler. It will also showcase the new ruler skins available through the Royal Wardrobe DLC’s, also launching alongside this patch!
Added an option to disable the tutorial ghost. The ghost is also a bit less intrusive while it is enabled. However, the Oracle will still show up for certain events in Call of Olympus even with the tutorial ghost disabled, as the Oracle is a part of the story!
Improved the level generation of the game. Walls, farms, and towers are now placed more evenly and with higher priority around the levels. Trees and bushes will overlap less with other structures. Shop placement has also been worked on, and should result in more reliable shop generation and less overlapping structures at the edge of your Kingdom.
The winter season has been rebalanced to match your chosen difficulty level, making easier modes easier and (you guessed it) harder modes harder. Critters will spawn occasionally from the bushes, the number of berry bushes will depend on the difficulty, and the boar will spawn further from your Kingdom walls.
Greed portals will be more reactive to your presence, and their defense waves will scale with the length of the current campaign.
The offensive units have gone through mandatory training for defending your Kingdom where there is actual danger. This means that if one side of the level is clear of portals and threats, all units will focus on defending the side of your Kingdom that is still endangered.
Had a chat with the worker units about their downtime behavior - they will now spread out more evenly throughout your Kingdom to await your next command!
When citizens drop coins, they throw them in your movement direction instead of just dropping them on the ground.
All mounts will now clearly show when they have finished feeding and regained their stamina sparkles.
The bear mount has gotten an overhaul in all biomes where it can be found. We’ve lowered the cost and made improvements to its movement and stamina, and tweaked its attacks. It now regains a small bit of stamina whenever it hits another animal.
Did a balance pass on the difficulty modes - harder modes now have a higher difficulty. Good luck!
Improved VFX and lighting systems, which will improve both the visual look and the performance of the game.
Added an overview of the game’s control scheme in the options menu
And LOTS more!

A Wardrobe fit for a Monarch

We’ve created a new way to support the future development of Kingdom and we’re calling this The Royal Wardrobe – it is a new option in Kingdom Two Crowns that offers new looks for your Monarch. We’ve put together a total of six new skins, inspired by both the original Medieval setting and the new ancient Greece-themed setting. You can however use them in all settings, except for Dead Lands (since in that one the Monarchs are named characters!). The skins are purely cosmetic with no extra in-game functionality. Rather it’s an additional means for players to support the future development of Kingdom. We did allow ourselves to be a bit sillier with this one than we usually are, especially with the Trojan Monarch. We hope you’ll like this very genuine and real Monarch as much as we do!

Thank you, our dear community, for journeying with us on the road to the release! We can’t wait to share the joys of Call of Olympus with you on October 8th🔥

See our previous dev blogs to find out more about Call of Olympus from the developers:

🔥Wishlist Call of Olympus now!🔥

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2736340/Kingdom_Two_Crowns_Call_of_Olympus/

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