As you may have noticed Alpha v1.1.8.0418 was released yesterday!!
The new update brought with it some bug fixes and balancing tweaks as well as a few quality of life changes. Amongst other changes, you can now adjust the game resolution and change from fullscreen to windowed mode.
We have improved the budget window to give more information particularly on traded goods.
There have also been some optimisation fixes so you should find you have a few extra fps, particularly on larger villages/towns.
You can see the announcement and full change log here.
As mentioned in the last Devlog we have a tracker for reporting bugs. Please feel free to discuss bugs here on the Forums or Discord but the best place to report bugs is via the tracker which is being monitored by our QA Manager.
A week in focus
This week with the sad and shocking fire in Paris some of the Discord Community decided to try and recreate Notre Dame in Foundation. One of our Moderators, Helron, created this beautiful reproduction:
What we have been working on
This week has seen a focus on the minor QoL update though work continued on the upcoming Major content update. With the release of the 1.1.8.0418 update it is full steam ahead on the next content update.
We will be bringing you more news of the update in the coming weeks.
As always a big thank you to everyone providing bug reports, suggestions and feedback.
That’s it for this week… We hope you enjoy the new QoL update! Let us know if you find any issues and stay tuned for more news.
Welcome to the first issue of the Foundation devlog!
Q. So what is this devlog thing all about?
The community is requesting more information about updates and the progress of the game and this and the future devlogs will hopefully help to keep you updated on what we are working on.
We plan to bring you a weekly (or at least every 2 weeks) devlog with information on what the team have been working on and as we get closer to a major content update, maybe share a few sneak peeks of the new content.
Q. When will you be releasing updates?
Each update we put out will need to be tested and balanced as much as possible and as such if we keep putting out minor updates with small content patches this will ultimately take longer to create fix and balance them all.
Due to the nature of the game and genre it is more efficient for us to build and test major updates with as much content as we can fit in. So expect larger gaps between major updates though we will put out smaller bug fixes and balancing tweaks between major content updates.
Q. So what have you been up to?
Well, it has been a very busy period since the Early Access release, which was followed by a flurry of bug fix patches. The art team have been busy through all this creating new content, animations and environmental effects. We have also been showing the game at PAX east as well as expanding the team to not only increase the speed of production but also to create a better feedback system to you, the community.
We plan to have a new testing and feedback system for each update to try to ensure as bug free releases as possible whilst also feedback to the community regarding any issues that may be found.
The bug/suggestion tracker will be used to its full capability so if you have any bugs please report them to our bug tracker where we can review them and feedback information regarding fixes: https://www.polymorph.games/tracking
We have expanded the team
Since the start of this project the team has grown from the original beginnings with our two co-founders Phil & Leo to a fantastic team of 10 talented people. One of the (not so) new members to the Team is Michael…
Michael has been working tirelessly on new animations for the villagers plus other more hardy beasts 😉
As mentioned above we are working on a better feedback system to the community. Leading this project is Nicolas our new QA Manager, along with myself the Community Manager we will do our best to feedback as much information as possible to keep you all in the loop.
About those updates
As you may have already heard we are working hard on the next major content update, which will see a major overhaul of the mission quest system. This, plus more content will take some time. We will bring you more news regarding the content update in future devlogs.
We are also working on a smaller quality of life update which will be coming soon! The plan is to release the update next week but this will depend on how testing goes and if we find any major bugs in the build.
With the minor update we will be focusing on some food production balancing issues. Fish consumption will be lowered (halved) and flour production will be increased. We also plan to look at some of the costs for buildings, decorative items and in particular Fish trading.
More QoL changes coming with this update will see:
Windowed mode and resolution selection
Auto-save and quick-save cloud options
Auto assign will assign the villager with the closest house
There will also be a variety of fixes and optimisations:
Building will turn red and be forbidden to place. This is currently not working correctly on some buildings
Prevent doors being blocked on higher density housing
Prevent planting in water
Optimise wall rendering
Optimise wheat rendering
These last 2 points should help out some fps issues.
There will be more improvements and fixes to add but as you can see this next minor update will bring some needed fixes and changes.
To close the devlog we will add that the Soldiers and monks will now have seperate needs… Talking of monks…
That’s it for this week, look out for more news next week and if testing goes well we should see an update!
Welcome to the 5th Edition of the Foundation Dev News! In this edition:
Early Access follow-up
Foundation continues to win awards
What we are working on
Expanding the Team
Chats with the Community
PAX East
Early Access Follow-up News
It is now nearly 2 months since Foundation released on to Early Access on Steam and GOG!
The successful Early Access release brought with it a lot of new players with various system specifications. Since then we have been busy fixing crashes and focusing on smaller patches to improve the gameplay experience of the current content.
Some statistics since Early Access launch:
On launch day, there was 1 crash for every 11.17h played
Today, there is 1 crash for every 140.31h played
A total of 1 764 248 hours played. This is the equivalent of 201 years of playtime!!
Foundation Winning Awards
December 2018 saw the return for the 9th time of the IndieDB, Indie of the Year Awards.
Thousands of Indie games were voted on and whittled down to the Top 100 with Foundation coming in second overall for the Best Upcoming Indie, voted for by players.
In addition, we were delighted to take home the prestigious, Editor’s Choice Best in Show Award!
In March, Foundation continued its winning streak by landing the National Bank’s Coup de Coeur Award at the Ubisoft Indie Series!
What We Are Working On
The Early Access release was a busy period of fixes and optimization but you will be happy to hear that we are working hard toward the next content update!
We will be announcing more detail of the upcoming content update soon but for now we are excited to tell you that we will be:
Expanding some of the current in-game features, focusing on improvements to the estate progression system.
Expanding the capabilities of the modding API.
And of course we will continue to fix any bugs and improve the balancing.
Anyone fancy a beer?! 👉*hint*👈
To keep track of any news and announcements follow and wishlist us on Steam or join our fantastic community on Discord!
New Faces At Polymorph Games
Since our last Dev News we have been joined in the Studio by Michael, who has been beavering away animating the Foundation Villagers.
You will soon be seeing more of Michael’s work in-game!
We will also soon be joined by a 2D artist and a QA Manager taking the Team to 10 members, but it doesn’t stop there. We are looking to expand further with the addition of 2 programmers.
Questions With The Team
The Early Access release gave us the opportunity to chat about the future for Foundation as well as enjoy answering some questions from the community. If you missed the streams you can catch up with them here:
Skye Storme Q&A with Philippe:
Obearry talks to Ash our Community Manager:
We talk about Foundation with our friends at Berzerk Studio:
PAX East 2019
We are taking Foundation on the road again next week and heading to Boston, MA for PAX East.
There will be 8 stations to try out the game so if you are heading to PAX East this year come and meet the team and play Foundation at booth #21225
Thanks as always to all our friends, fans and supporters!
Come one, come all! In this Edition of Foundation Dev News:
Foundation Sale ending soon
Our very first award
What we are working on
A new team member
Join us at PAX South
Sale Ends November 28th!!
Only 1 day left to take advantage of 25% OFF Foundation.
Pre-order your Steam key now and get instant access to the Alpha today!*
Get 25% OFF Foundation right now: https://www.polymorph.games/
*Instant access to the Alpha is via a standalone installer. Steam keys will be distributed upon Early Access in Q1 2019
Foundation Wins a MIGA Award!
Earlier this month we attended our first public Exposition at the Montreal Expo Gaming Arcade. It was fantastic to see so many people come out to join us at MEGA!
We had a superb time making new friends and showing off Foundation. To top it all off we won our very first award!
There was some stiff competition for the MIGA awards with some fantastic Independent Studios creating some truly incredible games. To our genuine surprise and excitement we walked away with the award for Best Sound Design!!
Thanks so much to Jonathan Grover of The Grove for doing such an amazing job with the sound design. The whole team are so proud of this achievement and the warm fuzzy feeling we get for the recognition from MIGA, which you can probably see in our faces below!
What We Are Working On
As you may know Foundation will be moving to Steam Early Access in Q1 2019. We have a lot planned and a busy time ahead of us preparing for the Early Access release. Here are a few things we are currently working on:
Environment Rehaul – We are creating lush environments for your villages to nestle in.
UI Improvement – We are working hard on improving the menu system and overall look to the user interface, helping accessibility as well as looking great!
Particle System – A new particle system is under development that will create even more atmosphere to your gorgeous cities.
Steam Achievements
And of course more content for the Early Access release!
We Welcome a New Team Member
We are excited to announce a new member of the Polymorph Games Team! Loup-Gabriel has joined us as our FX Artist!
He has already started work on Particle FX and visual improvements, using the in-house Particle System. With the help of Loup-Gabriel, Foundation will take on new levels of atmospheric environments!
Pax South 2019
We are taking Foundation to Texas!
Phil, Léo, Anne-Marie and Ash are taking Foundation on the road again.
On January 18-20 2019, you can meet the team and play the game at the Foundation booth in San Antonio, TX.
Our composers have been working hard to create the atmospheric Medieval Foundation sound. Many broken Lutes, Citoles and Gitterns later we now have a beautiful Main Theme for Foundation. Check out the Foundation Main Theme Reveal:
Foundation Fall Discount!
Interested in playing Foundation or looking to buy a second key* as that perfect gift? We have you covered!
For a limited time Foundation will be on sale! Get Instant Access to the Alpha and find out what all the hype is about for yourself!
*Second key purchase will enable an invite option via your Polymorph Games account
Peasant & Commoner Backers Access Arrives
We would like to welcome the arrival of the last of our early backers!
As promised all Peasant and Commoner backers will be receiving an email soon with instructions on how to gain access to Foundation and the standalone installer.
As previously mentioned, on November 9, 10, 11, we’ll be attending our first public exposition in Montreal! We will also be joined by the 2 lucky winners of our Facebook competition who will get the chance to say hi! Congrats!!
We will have 3 stations for you to try Foundation, as well as some merchandise to sell!
Final Words
We would like to say a big thank you to all our Alpha backers for your help and feedback!
Thank you all for being the best community ever!! You are truly helping us make Foundation the best Medieval City Builder in the universe!
Today we are bringing you news on the release date of the Second Content Update.
We are also announcing a small delay to the Steam Early Access, don’t worry though as we have a surprise for Peasant and Commoner backers.
And finally a chance to join us at our first public exposition! 🎉
Second Content Update Release Date News!
Yes, you read that headline right! We have been working hard, with help from the community, to address bugs from the preview build. New content is being added and it is all being polished, along with a few balancing tweaks before the release.
We’re sure you are all wanting to know the release date, so without further ado…
Second Content Update Released November 7!
Early Access Delayed to Q1 2019
Firstly we would like to say thank you for your enthusiasm and reaction to Foundation!
We’ve received a lot of positive feedback and great suggestions from you, and this is helping us to improve the game. There’s still much to do and with this in mind…
We have decided to delay the Early Access on Steam until the first quarter of 2019.
This will allow us to address much of the community feedback, polish the visuals and improve the overall experience of the game before making it to the big league!
The delay to Early Access does not mean that you have to wait to play Foundation. You can still buy and play the Alpha via our website. All pledge levels will also receive a Steam Key when Foundation is released on Early Access.
All Peasant & Commoner Backers get Access to the Alpha
The delay to the Early Access does not mean that our EA backers will miss out though. We promised access to all Peasant and Commoner pledges in Q4 2018 and with the Second Content Update we will show our commitment to our words and our backers.
This journey would have been impossible without you and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on Foundation!
On release of the Second Content Update all early backers will receive an email with instructions on how to gain access to Foundation and the standalone installer.
On November 9, 10, 11, we’ll be attending our first public exposition in Montreal! We will have 3 stations for you to try Foundation, as well as some merchandise to sell! If you are in the area, come say hi!
Final Words
Thank you as always for your continued support and feedback!
To all the players, backers, media producers and the community as a whole:
Hi folks! We just published a new minor update. Here is the release note:
– Villagers will mostly use building entrance instead of going through walls
– Builders will be able to build a Monument if at least one building part is reachable
– Use some OpenGL 4.5 features when available
– Support OpenGL 4.3
– Stop the game and warn the user if Windows creates an OpenGL context lower than 4.3
Hello everyone, welcome to our first Foundation Dev News!
It’s been two weeks since the Open Alpha is live and that new players can freely purchase the game and join our growing community. Since then, we did some update that fixed some crashes and helped supporting more PC configurations.
How can you play the game now
You can now purchase the game and get access to the Alpha now. Buy here!
If you pre-ordered the Early Access (Commoner or Peasant backer), you can upgrade your pledge to get access to the Open Alpha! Just create your Backer Account and follow the “Pledge Upgrade” link from your Account.
We’ve moved into our new office
We’ve finally taken possession of our new (and huge) office downtown Quebec City. It feels a bit alone in there while waiting for our friend studio Bishop Games to move in, but the team appreciates the tranquility. Moreover, two new persons will join our team soon:
Starting next Monday, a new programmer will join us. He’ll be responsible to develop tools in the engine and game functionalities.
Mid-August, a new employee will act as Office Manager. Her role will be to alleviate our managing burden and allow us – the Co-Founders – to concentrate on what we’re best at: developing videogames 🙂
What we are working on
A first exhaustive list of all Buildings/Monuments, Jobs, Resources and Needs has been designed. How would you like your villagers to fish, hunt and grow hop to produce beer? Yes, this is but a small preview of what we’ve added to the list.
Two new core systems are being implemented:
The Estate System is how you will progress in Foundation. It will be divided in 3 paths: Kingdom, Clergy and Labour. You will need to develop your village splendor and gain influence to gain access to new buildings and functionalities.
The Lord Manor is part of the Labour Estate
The Event System will add narrative and unpredictability to the game.
An event mock-up
New buildings/monuments are being created and integrated by the artists.
Pathfinding is being improved: Monuments with inaccessible parts will still be allowed to be built. Also, villagers will now enter the buildings by their proper entrance.
UI upscale for 4K screens is being implemented.
A roadmap so you can keep track of the project
It was long due, and we did it, our first roadmap iteration has been created on Trello. Keep track on what we are working on and what’s to come by following the link: https://trello.com/b/i5AX944p/foundation-roadmap
You can help us translate Foundation in your language
That’s right, Foundation can support your native language and you can help us with that here: https://crwd.in/foundation. If your native language is not in there, feel free to contact us at support@polymorph.games so we can add it!
New Community Content
Popular Youtube Videos
Some of the most popular videos made since the Open Alpha:
In English – Xterminator
In French – Bill Silverlight
In Russian – KerneX
Original Player Creations
For those who own the game, don’t hesitate to share your creations in our Discord #share_your_creations channel! Not on our Discord yet? Get the invite directly from your Polymorph Games account.
Foundation Open Alpha is playable now
Don’t forget that you can purchase the game and play the Alpha right now here: Buy now!
If you pre-ordered the Early Access (Commoner or Peasant backer), you can upgrade your pledge to get access to the Open Alpha! Just create your Backer Account and follow the “Pledge Upgrade” link from your Account.
That’s it for now! Thank you for reading and all the best from the Dev Team!
