Foundation

A New Era of Organic City-Building Simulation!

Dev News

by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Release Notes, Update News

Update 1 – Quality of Life Update is now live!

Hello city builders!

We are excited to bring you the very first post-1.0 Quality of Life update. This update delivers greater freedom, flexibility, and clarity as you develop your medieval cities, thanks to improved tools, smarter systems, and additional polish throughout.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the highlights!

Monument Editing Improvements

Monuments are the crowning glory of your city, and this update gives you more control than ever before. Entire Monuments can now be moved as a whole, allowing you to select and reposition all parts from different sub-buildings, including unattached ones. Whether you’re rethinking the placement of your Castle or fine-tuning a sprawling Monastery, making sweeping adjustments has never been easier.

For greater precision, multi-part selection has been expanded to allow selections across sub-buildings:

  • Use CTRL + Click to select parts from different sub-buildings, 
  • Use CTRL + A to highlight everything at once.

You can also find new checkboxes in the Monument Editing Window to quickly select multiple sub-buildings. To make adjustments even smoother, the Undo and Redo functions now let you roll back or reapply edits across the entire Monument.


New Part Replacement Tool

We know how much players enjoy refining their Monuments, and now it’s easier than ever to do so without starting over. The brand-new Part Replacement Tool allows you to swap out similar parts, such as doors, rooms, or walls on the fly.

Functional parts will retain their properties when replaced, so your design adjustments won’t undo your careful planning. Once swapped, the new part can still be adjusted and manipulated, giving you creative freedom without compromise. To keep things fair, part of the cost of replaced parts will either be refunded or deducted from the cost of their replacements.


Gate Snapping

Thanks to the new Gate Snapping system, gates now automatically align and snap to both walls and fences. Adding gates to a growing settlement is now quick and seamless, with no tedious wall adjustments – just snap and build.

In addition to the new snapping feature, we have merged walls and fences together and added them to each Monument’s build menu. There’s also a handy new button to easily flip a wall if you happen to build it the wrong way around. This will make building your Fortifications a breeze!


New Visibility Layers

Managing a growing city might sometimes feel overwhelming, so we have added new toggleable visibility layers to help you focus on what matters most. You can now switch Trader and Visitor tracking, Patrol Coverage, Housing Downgrade, and more on and off via the Visibility Layer Window.

A brand-new Housing Occupancy layer has also been introduced, making it easy to spot housing availability at a glance. With the information at your fingertips, there’s no need to guess where to place new homes.


Improved Patrols

Safety is key to a thriving medieval settlement, and patrols are now smarter and more efficient. Patrols now scale more efficiently with larger groups, cutting wasted movement and ensuring better coverage. Patrol zoning is now defined per workplace, giving you greater control over where your guards are deployed. Note: In older saves, patrol zones must be reapplied to each Watchpost.

We’ve also improved how patrol ranges are displayed. Instead of showing a circle for every single patroller, you’ll now see one clear circle per patrol group, making it easier to visualise coverage. Furthermore, Watchposts now provide a status notification when no patrol zone is defined, helping you avoid oversights. To top it off, Housing Safety now increases gradually as patrols move within range, creating a more organic patrol experience.


New Building Parts and Visuals

Housing has been improved with new third-tier density shapes and visuals, allowing your neighbourhoods to grow more organically as they evolve. The Windmill now includes storage add-ons, allowing you to expand its capacity and improve efficiency.

You’ll also find new Stone Bridge gate parts, adding a sense of strength and grandeur to your river crossings. In addition, the City Belfry has undergone a visual overhaul, and all Workplaces and Monuments (with tiled roofs) now offer customisable roof colours, helping you tailor their appearance to complement your city’s unique style.


Complete Outfit Overhaul

Your inhabitants now have a fresh new look, with a complete overhaul of all character outfits, bringing more variety and richer colours to every character in Foundation, including Villagers and notable figures such as the Seneschal, Abbess, and the King himself. Every job now has a unique, fitting, and recognisable look, adding depth and personality to your growing settlement.

Alongside the outfit overhaul, every job, gender, and envoy now has an individual portrait that matches their new outfit. That’s around 90 new and updated portraits to accompany 130 brand-new outfits, plus 70 fully updated existing outfits.


A New Monument: The Modest Church

Finally, as a thank you for your incredible support and patience, we’ve added a brand-new Monument – the Modest Church – free for everyone to enjoy! Its elegant design fits seamlessly into your village aesthetic, adding variety to your cityscapes and expanding your creative possibilities


Other Changes and Improvements

In addition to these headline features, this update comes with a wide range of polish, tweaks, and smaller improvements. Further highlights include:

  • Shift-clicking to place multiple parts now retains the properties of the copied part.
  • Esc now closes more windows, including The Book, Map, and Help.
  • Guests now fill their needs in a random order, creating a more natural flow.
  • Visual polish applied to the Monastery, Keep, Windmill, and more.
  • Updated tooltips and help content, including clearer explanations when the build button is disabled.
  • Numerous other refinements across the UI and building visuals.
  • Sheep now have a charming idle eating animation.
  • More places for Villagers to enjoy free time.
  • And much more!

This Quality of Life update is all about giving you more control, clearer feedback, and richer immersion as you build your settlements. We hope these tools help you create even more incredible cities!

Thank you once again for your continued support! Your feedback makes updates like this possible. We cannot wait to see what you build next!

The Polymorph Games Team

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Devlog, Update News

Update 1 – Quality of Life Update, coming November 26, 2025!

Big news, city builders!

Thanks to all your feedback and suggestions, we will soon be releasing the first post-1.0 Quality of Life Update for Foundation!

Arriving November 26, 2025, Update 1 – Quality of Life Update, will bring a wide range of improvements, new tools, new building parts and visual upgrades, giving you more freedom, flexibility, and style options as you shape and expand your medieval cities.

Check out the YouTube Reveal Trailer below to see what’s coming!

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Update News

Foundation Release Date Announcement & Demo Out Now!

Hello City Builders,

After spending over 5 years in Early Access, we are excited to reveal the release date for Foundation, along with a playable Foundation Demo!

Foundation’s Full Release Officially Set for January 31, 2025!

Foundation’s Full Release will introduce an extensive array of new features, content updates and improvements that will make Foundation feel almost like a new game. Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

NEW AND REVAMPED GAMEPLAY

  • Choose Your Ruleset: Customize your new games using a selection of adjustable rules, perfect for players who want a more relaxed and creative vibe or those looking to challenge themselves further.
  • Revamped Aspirations: Discover new ways to play by selecting an Aspiration, which will challenge you to construct a different type of village. Will you focus on building a prolific priory? Or perhaps a magnificent stronghold to please the King?
  • New Villager Residential Tiers: Expand your city further with the highest density and quality residential tiers, allowing for more village customization options.
  • Improved Progression System: Unlock content in a smoother and more rewarding way via a refined progression system that adds depth and strategic planning to your city-building journey.
  • New Military System: Take on new challenges with a refreshed military system that will have you create Companies that you can send abroad and have them bring back precious resources.
  • Heraldry System: Create and customize your village with the new coat of arms editor.
  • Paved Roads: Meet the needs of high-tier housing with our new paved road mechanic, tailored to support your most developed areas.
  • Improved Wall: Walls are now fully integrated into the building system, some of which will add fortification coverage to your village.
  • Enhanced UI and Quality of Life Updates: Benefit from a significantly streamlined user interface, including a massive overhaul to the Monument design experience, implemented to improve gameplay and enhance your city-building efficiency.
  • New Onboarding Experience: Whether a new player or a veteran, the updated onboarding quests and visual aids are now easier to follow, helping everyone find a perfect start to their village.
AN ENTIRELY UPDATED ART DIRECTION

  • Dynamic Environment Overhaul:Experience Foundation in new ways with enhanced maps, updated map edges, refined lighting, and immersive environmental changes that add more depth to your city-building experience.
  • Revamped Art and Assets: Discover updated visuals, including an elaborate new Manor House and the brand new Castle Monument, bringing more detail and realism to your cities.
  • New and Improved Animations: Enhanced animations bring your villagers to life, adding even greater immersion.extended with new parts.
  • Extendable Buildings: Some workplaces, such as the Woodcutter Camp, Warehouse, and Stonemason, can now be extended with new parts.
  • All Buildings Have Been Revamped
  • Cosmetic Time of Day Switcher: Switch between night and day to see your village come to life during the darker hours.
  • Photo Mode: Capture in-game moments with the new photo mode to keep for yourself or share with the community.

And So Much More! This is just the tip of the iceberg. Countless other improvements and surprises await you in the full release!

Announcing a Price Increase from December 18, 2024

As Foundation approaches its full release, we are announcing a price increase from December 18, from 29.99 USD to 34.99 USD.

This price increase marks the end of Foundation’s Early Access, reflecting years of development and investment into the game, an expanded team, and the need to adapt to inflation. We are committed to providing high-quality updates and support after the release and are excited about the future.

If you’ve considered joining us, now is the perfect time to jump into Foundation before the price change!

Foundation’s Demo Out Now!

We are very excited to present you with a glimpse of the Foundation Full Release version via a Demo! This demo allows you to play endlessly with some of the first-tier content and provides an exclusive preview of some major features, including Housing, Trade, Fortifications and Patrols, Environment overhaul, a vastly improved UI, as well as many more improvements.

This demo will give players a taste of what’s to come in the Full Release.

Note that it does not reflect what’s in the Early Access version of the game.

Enjoying the demo? Don’t hesitate to wishlist the game to get notified once it releases!

We’d like to end this announcement with a special thanks to our fantastic Foundation community that has supported

We’d like to end this announcement with a special thanks to our fantastic Foundation community that has supported us over the years. Your contributions have been instrumental in shaping Foundation into what it is today, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally share this next chapter with you!

Thank you once again for your amazing support. We’re so excited to share this new chapter with you. Stay tuned, and we’ll see you in Foundation on January 31, 2025!

The Polymorph Games team

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Devlog, Update News

Devlog #19: Development News

Hello everyone!

As the summer draws to a close and we see the first glimpses of autumn starting to show, it’s time for us to bring you some development news on Foundation!

How is development going?

We are sure this is a question on all of your minds and we’d first like to note that the game’s development is on track for our target release date.

Development is moving at a great pace and a lot has happened since our last Devlog:

  • Most gameplay features have been integrated such as Patrols, Walls and Fortifications and a new Military gameplay iteration.
  • We have worked a lot on the overall art direction of the game, including the lighting, vegetation and building revamps.
  • We are still hard at work on more technical features, like high density housing and paved roads.
  • We had a Community Private playtest where 150 players were invited to test and provide feedback (more on that later)

When will you reveal the new content and release date?

We will make further announcements as soon as we have integrated all that we feel needs to be in the game before publicly showing it. We are specifically working hard on the high density residential and the new environmental vegetation.

In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek of our work on the environment. This is in-engine stuff but please keep in mind that it’s work in progress.

How was the community Playtest and what was the feedback?

As we mentioned above there have been many changes since Devlog #18 and these changes and features have been integrated into the game. Players were invited to sign up for a private playtest on Discord so that we could gather feedback and make further improvements where necessary.

150 players took part in the private playtest and had a chance to test out the changes and work so far. The playtest ran from July 4 to July 15 and 98 of those playtesters completed the feedback form.

Of those 98 playtest responses, over 40% of them tested the game for more than 20 hours. 10% of the playtesters were totally new to the game, which gave us valuable insight into the learning curve for new players.

The feedback we gathered from the playtest was very positive and we received a lot of constructive comments. Some general conclusions from the playtest:

  • Safety, Patrols and Fortification were much appreciated, and we identified areas of improvement.
  • We had the new iteration of the Military system tested. A lot of interesting feedback was received, but that showed us there’s still some further iterations to do on this system.
  • Playtesters told us how much they love to build and customize their cities which has further focused us on the creative aspect of the game.
  • There was a lot of feedback on the UI/UX which will be a top priority for the full release.

Will there be another playtest?

Probably yes. 

We expect to do one more playtest before the full launch. If you would like to take part in any future playtests please join us on our Discord server for further playtest information.

What are you working on now?

On top of all the improvements and refinements based on the above playtest we are also focusing our work on:

  • High density housing  
  • Environment overhaul
  • Road handling and paved roads
  • Full art revamp of all remaining buildings
  • Improving the overall monument creation experience
  • Polish, polish, polish!

We will be back with further news once the last planned elements for the release version are ready to show. Stay tuned and thank you for your [more than we should be asking] patience!

The Polymorph Games team

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Devlog, Update News

Devlog #18: Dev News, Spring Sale & Bundle

Hi everyone and welcome to Devlog #18! 

We would first like to say a big (belated) welcome to 2024! This year the game marked its 5th year in Early Access and we have come a long way in those 5 years. There have been big changes to the game and we are powering through the final stretch to the full release of Foundation!

What we are working on right now

What are we working on is always the question we like to answer. The answer to this is nearly everything! The main theme of course is getting the game and all the planned content complete and ready for the full release and end of Early Access.

Some of the things we are currently working on include:

  • Map Edges – time to remove those hard-on-the-eyes map edges
  • The Castle – We know this is the one you are all waiting for!
  • Walls and Fortifications – Walls will have a cost to build like everything else but will also be part of the wider gameplay mechanics
  • Military Gameplay Improvements – Tied into the walls and fortifications, several changes are being worked on, such as setting patrols and creating “companies”
  • The Whole Art Direction –  including fully overhauled buildings as well as major environmental improvements
  • Monument Design Experience – Adding capabilities such as the ability to replace parts and move an entire monument, as well as a full user interface revamp

Oh! And of course Housing and Residential improvements and changes. A lot of work is going on to get the Housing visuals where we want them to be, as well as bring in the 3rd tier high-density residential. The biggest factor is having the housing look authentically medieval within our style setting but ultimately give housing that wow factor!

Residential concept art

Due to the work-in-progress state of current development, we aren’t quite ready to show too much of what we have been working on, partly to not spoil a bigger reveal announcement but also due to things just not being polished and ready quite yet.

We are aware that you want to hear more and you will soon! Look out for a big announcement coming in the next few months!

Early Access Updates

Some of you may be wondering when the game will receive a new update. As previously announced, the next major update will be the end of Early Access and the Full Release of the game. We do not plan to release any more updates between now and the full release. 

With the final development at full steam ahead, the whole team is dedicated to completing the game, polishing the rough edges and presenting to you the Foundation that we imagined and that you want.

We can’t wait to show you the result of all the hard work and share the date of the full release. 

Watch this space!

Steam Spring Sale: Buy Foundation at a Discounted Price!

If you haven’t got the game yet why not take advantage of the Steam Spring Sale?! Get Foundation with a 25% Discount, right now!

Medieval Foundation Bundle

In a first for us, we are proud to announce our first-ever Bundle offer in the form of the Medieval Foundation Bundle. 

We are honored to collaborate with the team behind Medieval Dynasty to offer an additional 10% OFF when you buy the bundle or complete the set.

That’s all for now but we’ll be sharing more news in the coming months and in the meantime please keep sharing any feedback and bug reports on our official Discord server.

The Polymorph Games Team

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Release Notes, Update News

The 1.9.7 QOL Update is Live!

Hello everyone!

We are excited to announce that the 1.9.7 QOL update is now available on Steam & GOG!

1.9.7 is the first of our Quality of Life (QOL) updates as we work toward the game’s Full Release. For more information on the recent change to our release plan, check out the link at the bottom of this announcement.

Your feedback is very important to us and we have looked to address some of the most requested QOL features in this update, as well as further improvements we have been planning. Let’s dive right in and take a look at what you will find in the 1.9.7 QOL update…

Interior Access

Previous to 1.9.7, some monument buildings required a separate door, which could limit creativity and also did not make sense for a monument as a whole. Now, with 1.9.7 buildings will check interior access to the whole building, meaning that a single door could be enough. For example, an entrance to your treasury could be part of an attached Great Hall.

Furthermore, so that you can check that your buildings are accessible, we have added a handy toggleable tool that will clearly show when your buildings have interior access, letting you know if they are fully navigable or not.

Buildings Function Status

Buildings now have a clear function status with feedback to the player that will indicate when they can no longer work if one of their construction requirements is missing. Restoring the condition will resume the workplace.

Ghost Construction Preview

Another much-requested feature was the ability to see your ongoing construction sites when placing new buildings. Now in 1.9.7, all other buildings under construction will show as ghost visualizations, making for much easier placement of new construction projects or when editing Monuments.

Improved Construction Flow

One issue frequently raised in the community centered around how builders were affecting the construction flow. Previously, builders would be sent to construction sites based on their proximity to a site. This could cause projects to be completed in an unexpected order making it hard to plan.

With 1.9.7, builders will now prioritize constructions based on the order in which they were started making it easier to plan your projects. We have also improved the algorithm so that builders will be dispatched more evenly between different types of construction projects so that all your builders don’t get tied up on any mega-projects.

Traveling and Work Time

We have now removed the villager’s travel time from their overall work time, enabling your villagers to use their work time more effectively. For instance, crop yields and production cycles will be more consistent, despite any long distances your villagers may have to walk to get to work.

Villagers require to fulfill their needs of course, so efficiency can still be lost with large work-to-needs fulfillment distances.

Improved Map Generator

We have made some major improvements in 1.9.7 with an overhauled Map Generator. You’ll find improved visuals and shaders making it much easier to identify elevations on the Map Gen minimap.

Additionally, we have addressed a couple of bugs and implemented further improvements, so that you should no longer encounter any micro-territories or broken territories on your maps nor find any inaccessible mineral deposits.

Resource Favorites

This one has been at the top of many of your feature requests… It is now possible to choose your favorite resources to add to the Resource Bar! Mark as many favorites as you wish in the resource window of the Book.

The Monastic Emissary & Mandate Window

A new building function has been added to the Monastery! The Emissary Office will employ a Sister or Brother in the role of Emissary (similar to the Bailiff role), dealing with Clergy privileges and mandates. Consequently, we have also revamped the Mandate Window to take into account the new Emissary role.

Housing Upgrades/Downgrades

When a House is upgraded or downgraded, it would previously revert to its foundation construction stage and could easily be mistaken for a brand-new house. To remove this potential confusion, houses will downgrade or upgrade to a later construction step, making it more clear what tier of housing it is, as well as no longer looking like a fresh construction.

And More!

Indeed! There’s more! We have a bunch of bug fixes coming with the 1.9.7 QOL update. You can check out the full changelog below.

Changelog

New

  • Added Interior Access visualization and construction toggle
  • Players can now specify their favorite resources in the top resource bar
  • Added a Bailiff option for the Monastery: The Monastic Emissary, a Brother/Sister working at the Emissary Office
  • Ghosts of buildings under construction are now displayed when you are in Construction/Edit mode

Update

  • Construction sites are now prioritized by start time, not by closest distance
  • Workers should go to their workplace before starting their work time
  • Display attach node only when snap mode is toggled or part needs to be mandatory attached
  • The Market Monument has been turned into a building with parts instead of a Monument with sub-buildings.
  • Moved the Clergy Privilege and Clergy Influence mandates to the Monastic Emissary
  • Overall improvement of the Mandate window & tooltips
  • Improvements to monument attach nodes
  • House Upgrade/Downgrade transition improvements to show construction steps and not new build
  • Tavern Kitchen – worker quantity now scales with building capacity
  • Treasury – Gold coins are no longer lost when the maximum treasury limit is reduced
  • Various UI improvements

Fix

  • Soldiers – soldiers using the barracks as their houses could not fulfill their needs when the monument is being expanded.
  • Bailiff – Changing the bailiff resulted in the edict “contractual wage” to not be applied until reload.
  • Book – Logs – Newcomer notification was not updated “live”
  • Monument Editing – Display all possible attach nodes when a part is being placed / moved.
  • Cloister – Could not start construction if function was switched
  • Monument Editing – Prevent parts from being attached to house attach nodes.
  • Building Highlight – Sometimes, a building would remain highlighted even if the window is closed and the cursor is not on the part.
  • Mandate Window – The window did not close when the Great Hall was destroyed.
  • Deliver Wood Quest – Displayed requirement was 50 but required 100 to complete
  • Unlockables – Show part’s description when there is no building function
  • Missing Unlockable descriptions on Candle & Commonware extension
Map generator

Update

  • Improved elevation texture visuals

Fix

  • It was possible to have a broken territory on specific generated map seeds
  • Some territory regions were too small
  • Some maps had unreachable village path exits
  • Some setting changes could create unwanted bumps on islands
Modding
  • Expose – COMP_BUILDING:getEditMode
  • Expose – Mandates
  • Territory Tooltip – Always shows “coins / week” even if resource is changed
  • Support buying from trade routes with certain condition
  • Updated modding wiki

We look forward to hearing any feedback and please let us know if you find any issues. Feedback and bugs can be posted on the Steam or GOG forums, or come and join us on our official Discord server.

Also, check out the recent announcement of a change to our release plan here.

The Polymorph Games Team

 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Update News

Important Changes to Our Release Plan

Hello everyone!

We have some important news to share with you today about the ongoing development of the game.

The final gameplan and core game is now at a stage where we can work towards a full release of the game. All of the major features still to come are being worked on simultaneously and are in most cases intertwined. Due to the way these features are reliant on each other it no longer makes sense to continue with our previous plan of releasing smaller updates that ultimately won’t work well as standalone features.

Due to this we have decided that the next major release will be the full release. This will allow us to focus on integrating all remaining features into the game and delivering a more polished, higher quality game. It will also have the added benefit of reaching the full release sooner so that you can get the best gaming experience and enjoy Foundation to its fullest.

We know you will all want to know how soon, however, we don’t have a release date to announce at this time as we still have plenty of work to do, but do know that development is progressing well. Foundation is an ambitious game, and we will of course keep you updated with any news as soon as we have more to share.

Early Access Adopters

For all our Early Access backers, this doesn’t mean we won’t be releasing any updates before the full release. On the contrary, we will continue to work on bug fixes as well as Quality of Life (QOL) features and improvements, based on community feedback, so that we can improve on the core game experience in preparation for the final release. With this in mind, we will be announcing our next QOL update soon!

A BIG Thank You!

Foundation’s development journey has been an unbelievable experience made so much better by all of you, the fantastic community, that has helped us along the way. We would like to thank every Early Access adopter for supporting us and helping us deliver a high quality game that we wanted to create and also one that you want to play for many years to come. We continue to welcome all feedback from the community and we can’t wait to unveil the full release of the game for you all to enjoy!

The Polymorph Games Team

 
by Polymorph Games on Update News

The 1.9.6 Desirability Update Is Now Available!

Hello everyone and welcome to Update 1.9.6! 

This version brings forth significant changes to the game, including a brand-new Desirability and Beautification experience. We’ve also implemented multiple Quality of Life (QOL) improvements in response to community feedback such as the sub-building flow. Without further ado, let’s get down to the details!

New Desirability System

Desirability represents the overall attractiveness of an area within your village and is at the heart of this update. In the past, the Desirability of an area was quaternary: low, average, high or very high. We’re changing this formula to a more binary approach where you have a better control over housing quality.

Housing Quality

The first thing you’ll notice when clicking on a house are new Housing Quality details, the first one of which is to be located within a Residential Area. Furthermore, in order to upgrade, a house will need the following: 

  • Desirable Neighborhood (away from noisy and dirty environments)
  • Beautification Area (close to buildings or decorations that provide a Beautification bonus)
  • Villagers of Commoner status or higher looking for such a house
Housing Quality factors

Village Embellishment

As part of the new Desirability system, you’re now encouraged to beautify your village with the help of decorations. Decorations contribute to the creation of Beautification Areas, which are needed to upgrade houses from low to medium quality. 

Each decoration applies its own Beautification radius according to a combination of their visual footprint and quality. Adding multiple decorative elements next to each other will increase the Beautification Area by merging their area of effect.  

A new Beautification visibility layer has been added so that affected areas can be easily identified.

Beautification Areas merging and expanding

Housing Degradation

Housing Degradation is a new mechanic introduced in Update 1.9.6. Rather than being only able to upgrade, houses can now also degrade in quality. This happens when one of the criteria under Housing Quality is no longer met. Note that this is something you are able to control, when you decide if an area has the requirements for higher house quality or not.

Example of a housing requirement that is no longer met

Changes to Needs

Foundation was always meant to remain a calm and pleasant experience where you can play at your own pace, so it was important for us to ease down a bit the pressure of filling the needs of your villagers, especially when you have your first Commoners.  As such, we’ve separated the Needs in two main categories:

  • Essential Needs – must be fulfilled, else they trigger a shortage leading to a Happiness penalty
  • Additional Needs – will not trigger a shortage unless they’ve been fulfilled once

This will allow you to progress at your own pace, without the pressure of your villagers leaving because of unfilled needs. Note that once filled once, the additional needs will trigger a shortage if they are not met anymore.

In the same vein, we’ve reduced the amount of information displayed in the villager window, to keep the most relevant information.

Essential and additional needs grouping introduced in 1.9.6

Other Improvements

Improved Monument and Sub-Building Experience

Following player feedback, we’ve made a number of changes taking aim at monuments and sub-buildings’ navigation.

New monument windows

Resources and Progression Tabs Modifications

The Resources tab (F3) from the Book has been simplified for easier identification of tradeable resources. Icons to purchase and sell resources are now disabled by default and only enabled if players have access to a trade route that either purchases or sells said resource.

Updated Resources window

You will also notice that the Splendor cost of each Estate unlockable from the Progression tab (F5) is now displayed in their tooltip, even if the requirements have not been reached yet.

Great Hall Influence cost

If you haven’t already, give our latest Devlog a read if you want to learn more about what’s next for Foundation.

Changelog

New

  • Houses now have House Quality requirements to upgrade, which are displayed in their building window: 
    • Desirable Neighborhood
    • Beautification Area
    • Villager of Commoner (or above) status looking for such a house
  • Tooltips have been added to the the house window UI
  • Buildings providing Beautification now have a Beautification Area. The range is based on the decoration’s Beautification value and its visual footprint
  • Noisy or filthy buildings can create an undesirable area, which affects Neighborhood Desirability. Such is the case for the following: 
    • Brewery
    • Butchery
    • Cheesemaker
    • Charcoal Hut
    • Dairy Farm
    • Fisher’s Hut
    • Gold Smelter
    • Hunter’s Hut
    • Iron Smelter
    • Quarries
    • Sawmill
    • Sheep Farm
    • Stonecutter Camp
    • Stonemason Hut
  • Upgraded houses can now revert to a prior level if their Desirability requirements are not met. This happens after reaching a deadline and only if players don’t remedy to the situation
  • Added the following visual filters:
    • Beautification
    • Undesirable Neighborhood
  • Needs are now split into two categories:
    • Essential Needs (must be fulfilled)
    • Additional Needs (facultative)
  • Contextual help
    • Housing Quality
    • Beautification
    • Prosperity
  • Help menu:
    • Beautification
  • Important notification : Equipping your soldiers

Update

  • Renamed the “Comfort” need to “Housing”
  • Localization
  • Help menu
    • Desirability
    • Housing

Balance

Legacy Desirability (House Placement)

  • Pre-1.9.6 Desirability (Legacy Desirability) has been specialized into a system that dictates Villagers where to settle
  • Beautification no longer provides Legacy Desirability
  • The following buildings provide Legacy Desirability:
    • Village Center
    • Churches (except Chapel and Abbatial Churches)
    • Market Stalls
    • Tavern’s Service Counter
    • Well
  • Villagers now follow these rules:
    • They settle in Residential Areas
    • They settle close to the Village Center
    • They aim to settle close to Need providers
    • They aim to settle close to their Workplaces
  • The Desirability Visibility layer has been removed

Decorations’ Costs & Effects

  • As Beautification Decorations no longer provide Legacy Desirability; costs and Beautification values have been modified:
    • Village Tree Beautification value has been increased from 1 to 2
    • Village Tree upfront cost has been increased from 7 to 20 coins
    • Tall Banner upfront cost has been reduced from 25 to 20 coins
    • Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 330 to 320 coins
    • Plant Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 82 to 80 coins
    • Knight Statue upfront cost has been reduced to 320 coins
    • Sheep Statue upfront cost has been reduced from 325 to 320 coins
    • Cypress upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
    • Large Wall Banner upfront cost has been reduced from 90 to 80 coins
    • Polished Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 50 to 45 coins
    • Stone Gateway upfront cost has been reduced from 85 to 80 coins
    • Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 25 to 20 coins
    • Grand Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 730 to 720 coins
    • Elegant Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 255 to 245 coins
    • Marble Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 415 to 405 coins
    • Elegant Stone Arch upfront cost has been reduced from 130 to 125 coins
    • Polished Fountain upfront cost has been reduced from 135 to 125 coins
    • Elegant Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 82 to 80 coins
    • Large Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 127 to 125 coins
    • Elegant Post upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
    • Polished Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 135 to 125 coins
    • Large Font Beautification value has been decreased from 6 to 4
    • Large Font upfront cost has been reduced from 190 to 80 coins
    • Small Font upfront cost has been reduced from 190 to 180 coins
    • Elegant Balustrade upfront cost has been reduced from 47 to 45 coins
    • Simple Tree Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 22 to 20 coins
    • Polished Planter upfront cost has been reduced from 22 to 20 coins
    • Wall Fountain Beautification value has been increased from 2 to 5
    • Wall Fountain upfront cost has been increased from 25 to 125 coins
    • Quatrefoil Basin upfront cost has been reduced from 50 to 45 coins

Masterpiece Beautification

  • Masterpiece parts now yield Beautification in addition to Splendor at no extra cost
  • Automated Fountain
    • Automaton Tower, Columns yields 1 point
    • Marble Basin yields 1 point
    • Marble Steps yields 1 point
    • Automation Tower, Spire yields 1 point
    • Automaton Tower, Fountain yields 1 point
    • Bird Automaton yields 1 points
    • Jacquemart yields 2 points
  • Fountain Sculpture
    • Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Axe Lady, Gold yields 3 points
    • Laborer, Gold yields 3 points
    • Shoveler, Gold yields 3 points
    • Pickman, Gold yields 3 points
    • Axe Lady, Marble yields 2 points
    • Laborer, Marble yields 2 points
    • Laborer, Gold yields 2 points
    • Shoveler, Gold yields 2 points
    • Quatrefoil Basin yields 2 points
    • Octogonal Basin yields 2 points
  • Gem Encrusted Cross
    • Large Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Small Pedestal, Hexagonal yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Small Pedestal, Square yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Large Pedestal, Square yields 1 point, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Cross of the Faith yields 10 points
    • Stepped Base, Hexagonal yields 2 points
    • Stepped Base, Square yields 2 points
  • Knight Statue
    • Octogonal Plinth yields 2 points
    • Octogonal Pedestal yields 1 point
    • Small Octogonal Pedestal yields 1 point
    • Alcoved Pedestal yields 1 point
    • Square Plinth yields 2 points
    • Large Pedestal, Square yields 1 point per tiling
    • Blue Banner, Swallowtail yields 1 point
    • The Vainquisher, Gold yields 5 points
    • The Peacekeeper, Marble yields 3 points
    • Small Bowmen, Marble yields 2 points
    • Small Knight, Marble yields 2 points
    • Blue Banner, Round yields 1 point
  • Lush Garden
    • Stone Pillar yields 1 point per tiling
    • Stone Basin yields 1 point per tiling
    • Bush Pergola yields 1 point
    • Royal Balm Bush yields 1 point
    • Stone Planter, Quatrefoil yields 1 point
    • Pear Tree yields 1 point
    • Plum Tree yields 1 point
    • Almond Tree yields 1 point
    • Stone Planter, Diamond yields 1 point
    • Almond Espalier yields 1 point
    • Plum Bush yields 1 point
    • Stone Fountain yields 1 point
    • Ogive Bush yields 1 point
    • Oval Bush yields 1 point
    • Roses Pergola yields 1 point
    • Round Bush yields 1 point
    • Stone Planter, Round yields 1 point
    • Stone Bench yields 1 point
  • Officinal Garden
    • Sunvines Planter yields 1 point
    • Tailor’s Tongue Planter yields 1 point
    • Treillis Fence yields 1 point
    • Royal Balm yields 1 point
    • Cleansing Fountain yields 1 point
    • Sunvines Pergola yields 1 point
    • Crossmint and Pennybane Planter yields 1 point
    • Cattlegold Planter yields 1 point
    • Rainmilk and Tailor’s Tongue Planter yields 1 point
    • Knightworth Planter yields 1 point
    • Seeling Planter yields 1 point
    • Royal Balm Planter yields 1 point
    • Crossmint Planter yields 1 point
    • Rainmilk Planter yields 1 point
  • Shrine
    • Stone Alcove, Wide yields 1 point
    • Stone Alcove, Narrow yields 1 point
    • Marble Altar, Wide yields 1 point
    • Marble Alter, Narrow yields 1 point
    • Votive Candle yields 1 point
    • Votive Candles yields 1 point
    • Indigo Spire Flower yields 1 point
    • Fragrant Bouquet yields 1 point
    • Pleasant Bouquet yields 1 point
    • Cardinal’s Robe Flower yields 1 point
    • Sunvines Cluster yields 1 point
    • The Mother of Peace, Marble and Gold yields 10 points
    • Stone Steps yields 1 point
    • Stone Bench yields 1 point
    • Votive Stone yields 1 point
  • Majestic Stained Glass
    • King and Monk, Stained Glass yields 15 points
    • Mother and Child, Stained Glass yields 15 points
  • Giant Gate
    • Buttress yields 1 point
    • Fortified Gatehouse yields 5 points, plus 1 point per tiling
    • Round Turret yields 1 point
    • Great Tower, Rounded yields 3 points
    • Great Tower, Squared yields 3 points
    • Watchtower yields 1 point
    • Wooden Brattice yields 1 point
    • Stone Brattice yields 1 point
    • Wooden Hoarding yields 1 point
    • Stone Gate yields 1 point
    • Small Window, Closed yields 1 point
    • Small Window yields 1 point
    • Small Window, Fortified yields 1 point
    • Wall Banner, Blue yields 1 point
    • Wall Flag, Blue yields 1 point
    • Wall Heraldic, Blue yields 1 point
    • Wall Heraldic, Spliced yields 1 point
    • Wall Heraldic, Splits yields 1 point
    • Wall Heraldic, Striped yields 1 point
    • Lancet Window yields 1 point
    • Porticullis yields 1 point
  • Stone Bridge
    • Beautification values have been removed from the Stone Bridge structure (its decorations still yield Beautification)

Masterpieces’ Costs, Splendor & Ordering

  • Golden Cross
    • Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Splendor yield has been reduced to 2 Splendor
    • Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Large Pedestal, Hexagonal base Upkeep value has been reduced to 2 Coins
    • Small Pedestal, Hexagonal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
    • Small Pedestal, Hexagonal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Small Pedestal, Hexagonal tiling Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Small Pedestal, Square base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
    • Small Pedestal, Square base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Small Pedestal, Square tiling Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Large Pedestal, Square base Splendor yield has been reduced to 2 Splendor
    • Large Pedestal, Square base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Large Pedestal, Square base Upkeep value has been reduced to 2 Coins
    • Stepped Base, Hexagonal base Marble cost has been reduced to 40 Marble
    • Stepped Base, Square base Marble cost has been reduced to 40 Marble
    • Stepped Base, Hexagonal and Stepped Base, Square have been reordered before the other bases.
  • Knight Statue
    • Octagonal Plinth base Splendor is set to 2 Kingdom Splendor
    • Octagonal Plinth base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
    • Octagonal Plinth base Marble cost has been reduced to 30 Marble
    • Octagonal Plinth base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Octagonal Pedestal base Splendor is set to 1 Kingdom Splendor
    • Octagonal Pedestal base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
    • Octagonal Pedestal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
    • Octagonal Pedestal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Small Octagonal Pedestal base Splendor is set to 1 Kingdom Splendor
    • Small Octagonal Pedestal base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
    • Small Octagonal Pedestal base Marble cost has been reduced to 10 Marble
    • Small Octagonal Pedestal base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Alcoved Pillar base Marble cost has been reduced to 20 Marble
    • Square Plinth base Splendor is set to 2 Kingdom Splendor
    • Square Plinth base Upkeep is set to 2 coins
    • Square Plinth base Marble cost has been reduced to 30 Marble
    • Square Plinth base Tools cost has been reduced to 5 Tools
    • Removed Costs and Yields from Large Square Pedestal as it is stored in the Tiling part
  • Fountain Sculpture
    • Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil base Splendor has been reduced to 2 Kingdom Splendor
    • Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil base Upkeep has been reduced to 2 coins
    • Fountain Pedestal, Quatrefoil tiling Marble cost has been reduced to 5 Marble
    • Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal base Splendor has been reduced to 2 Kingdom Splendor
    • Fountain Pedestal, Hexagonal base Upkeep has been reduced to 2 coins

Food Grace Period Delay

  • Increased Villager Food first consumption Grace Period delay to 180 days
  • Increased Monastics Food first consumption Grace Period delay to 180 days

Improvements

Monuments

  • Monuments now have their own category filter in the Build menu
  • Monuments’ building windows have been cleaned in a bid to enhance the player experience:. 
    • Down to two tabs: Monument Overview and Sub-Buildings
    • Upkeep and effects have been moved below the monument’s description
    • The Edit Building option now shows all Sub-Buildings with their respective Upkeeps and Effects
    • Players can change the functions of existing Sub-Buildings
    • Players can add more Sub-Buildings
    • The list of parts in Preview mode has been simplified to only show the size and the action buttons
    • The Sub-Building back button has been simplified to only show the Parent Monument’s name
    • Free Build is now found at the end of all available Sub-Building functions

Book

  • Resources tab (F3): label icons used for the Buy from them and Sell to them sections have been modified to up and down arrows in an effort to convey trading feedback more efficiently
  • Progression tab (F5): Influence cost information for Estate unlockable elements is now displayed in the tooltips

Main menu

  • Players can now sort mods using a Date Updated filter

Other Fixes and Tweaks

Advanced Onboarding Starting Conditions

  • In addition to previous conditions, the Commoner Promotion Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
    • You have at least 30 population
    • You have a job that requires a Commoner
    • You have a Serf is ready to be promoted
  • Decorative Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
    • You have unlocked the first Decorative unlockable
    • You have a Commoner
  • The quest for the Decorative Advanced Onboarding now requires you to unlock the first Decorative unlockable.
  • In addition to previous conditions, the Monastery Promotion now checks for either:
    • You have 10 Manuscripts
    • You have a job that requires a Monk/Nun
    • You have reached the Tier 3 Clergy
  • Fixed incorrect notifications in the the Monastery Promotion Advanced Onboarding
  • In addition to previous conditions, the Second Food Advanced Onboarding now checks for either:
    • You have at least 30 villagers
    • You have a job that requires a Commoner
    • You have reached the Tier 3 Common Path

Bug Fixes

  • Churches could only have one masterpiece part
  • Rare crash with a monk visiting a Hospitium
  • The ‘Near Riverside’ masterpiece condition wasn’t updated when removing or adding an individual part 
  • Workers didn’t fetch additional resources if they were missing some during a work cycle

Modding-specific

  • Exposed the scissors prefab for Tailors
  • Vehicles can now be unassigned from agents
 
by Polymorph Games on Dev News, Devlog

Devlog #17: Desirability, Safety, Castle and More!

Hello everyone and welcome back to Devlog’s! Today we present you with Devlog #17 and news from the team. We know it’s been a while since the last Devlog but now is a perfect time to update you all on the current progress of upcoming updates and what we have been working on.

First, we would like to take a moment to thank everyone for their feedback on the recent updates. There have been a lot of changes to the game which we have been happy to see very positive feedback for. We are aware of some needed quality of life (QOL) improvements highlighted by the community, such as the sub-building flow which we are working on improving for the next update. Please do keep your feedback coming as it helps us improve the game as we continue development.

Fall Plan

With the now expanded team we are working on multiple updates concurrently. These are namely the upcoming 1.9.6 update which focuses on Housing Desirability & Beautification, the new Safety system and the Kingdom update. Let’s take a closer look at what we have been working on…

Upcoming update 1.9.6 (Desirability & Beautification)

Though not a major update, calling it a minor update doesn’t do it justice. Update 1.9.6 brings some significant changes that will pave the way for the Kingdom update. More on the Kingdom update in a moment.

This update will bring a change to the Desirability system. Where currently houses will be allowed to upgrade if a housing area is desirable enough based on a single factor, with the new system houses now have different requirements in order to upgrade to the next tier. Essentially, Beautification will be an additional and separate factor when it comes to housing upgrades.

With the new system, houses will only upgrade from low to medium quality if all of the following criteria are met:

  • Desirable neighborhood – Build away from undesirable buildings
  • Beautification – Build within a Beautification area
  • At least one villager of Commoner status or higher looking for medium-quality housing

Note: Removing a house requirement will eventually result in the house being downgraded or its occupant moving away.

These changes will allow you to have better control over where you wish housing to upgrade as well as potentially downgrade housing.

Desirable Neighborhoods

Houses need to be built in pleasant neighborhoods, away from noise, bad smells and grime and hence undesirable environments. Some buildings will now have a clearly defined undesirable area based on the building’s footprint. These will include buildings such as the Lumber Camp, Sawmill, Gold Smelter and all types of Quarries. Medium-quality housing needs to be outside of this undesirable area.

Beautification

Beautification is now becoming a Desirability factor in its own right. For houses to upgrade they must be in an area of Beautification, i.e. within a clearly defined Beautification area created by decorations or buildings that provide Beautification.

The range of the Beautification area will be based on a decoration’s Beautification value combined with its footprint. The overall Beautification area will increase if placed next to another similar area.

Information Layers

In order to accommodate the above changes we will be updating the visibility layers.

  • The Housing Desirability layer will now show residential areas, undesirable areas as well as any medium-quality housing areas.
  • A new Beautification layer will show Beautification areas, items supplying Beautification and housing affected by Beautification.

Other Improvements

Update 1.9.6 will also come with more QOL improvements to the game as a whole including an improved Monument experience with improved sub-building flow and a new dedicated Monument tab in the Build menu, and more. You can check out the full changelog on release.

The 1.9.6 update is very close to an experimental deployment, so keep an eye out for further announcements if you would like to try it out before its full public release on the main branch.

Also In The Pipeline…

As mentioned earlier, we are working on multiple updates concurrently, so what else is in the pipeline?

Safety System

The Safety system will be a new way to control Housing Density via Patrols and Fortifications. The system itself requires a number of changes to integrate it into the game and work is progressing well. We will bring you more news on this in a future communication.

Walls

The current system for walls has always been a temporary measure and we are now working on incorporating walls into the construction flow. Walls will be integrated into Monuments with their own construction costs and visual building steps.

Kingdom Update

The Kingdom update is also being worked on and it is going to be huge! We won’t go into too much detail here but progress on this update is now well under way. The new Castle Monument is under construction (hype!) as well as a new system to create Companies and Battalions to send your Army off to war. Stay tuned for more news but we will leave you with this teaser…

Don’t forget to follow us on social media to keep up-to-date with future developments, teasers and more!

 

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