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!
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.
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
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.
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…
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!
With the new UI out it’s a good time to take a look at what else we have been working on and where our focus is now headed.
Before we do though, we would like to mention our growing team here at Polymorph Games. As a relatively new indie studio we are always looking to expand the team and as such we have seen some new faces since the last Devlog.
We have recently been joined by a senior gameplay programmer that will help us as we move our focus to new and improved gameplay features. We also have been swelled in ranks by a new engine programmer as well as a gameplay programmer that is completing an internship with us.
Getting back to the team’s focus, the first thing of note is that in a revised change to our roadmap earlier this year, we are planning to bring you a game update in the Autumn/Fall whilst in the background we also work toward the bigger Core II update.
Let’s take a look at what the team has been working on…
Art
The art team have been hard at work overhauling the current buildings to create a more cohesive and detailed style throughout the game.
You can see an example below of the completed bakery revamp in all its splendor.
Before/after shot of the Bakery
You’ll see the majority of these as part of a larger update, most likely sometime next year, however we will be bringing 2 new buildings to the game much sooner that have been designed from the ground up with the new and improved styling already implemented.
Currently the focus is on these two buildings which will see both a Candle Workshop as well as a Common Wares Workshop added to the game in the Fall Update. Check out some concept art of the Common Wares Workshop below.
Common wares workshop concept art
Gameplay
In the longer term the gameplay team is now focused on Core Update II which will see a complete overhaul of the Estate system and progression. The final design of the Estate system overhaul is now almost complete and work has begun on its implementation. The team are also working on balancing tools to make for easier balancing as we add more content to the game.
In the more immediate future however, the team has also been working on implementing a new feature for the Fall Update that will bring more immersion when building your village. This feature will see construction step bundles implemented to the game.
These bundles will create a more logical construction process, where materials will be required on construction sites in a relevant order. For example a building’s foundation/basement will be built first and require a specific portion of the overall building resources on site before construction begins. The next step might be walls that require the next bundle of resources.
Construction step bundles essentially break down the overall resource requirements into separate bundles that need to be delivered to construction sites prior to builders starting work on each construction step.
UI/UX
We are still working to further improve the UI with subsequent updates such as the recent UI/UX patch. We still have many more improvements to come.
To this end, the UI/UX team is working on a number of important small improvements and fixes that will come in the Fall Update. Alongside this the team is also working on UX design for the bigger core update, in support of the Estates overhaul, which will require a number of new screens and information panels.
Game Engine & Modding
As you can probably imagine the Engine team is busy working to support any processes that the whole team are working on, such as new Hurricane editor tools for feature integration.
Furthermore the team continues to collate and analyse any crash reports coming in and fixing any instability as quickly as possible. Our crash rate is at an all time low with the biggest crash issue now being graphics drivers. Note: if you are experiencing any crashing on startup please update your GPU drivers with (importantly) a clean install of the GPU drivers.
Modding is also one of the larger projects for the Engine team which has seen them continue to work on exposing more features, such as exposing the mandate system to create custom mandates. They have also been looking to support modders even further with work on Lua debugging support.
In addition to this we continue to work closely with the modding community to gather modding feedback and suggestions, as well as look at ways to improve our feedback gathering to better support the modding community.
We will bring you more news as soon as we have it and keep an eye on our social media channels for more teasers, as we get closer to the Fall Update release.
We hope that everyone has been enjoying the new user interface (UI) which, as mentioned previously, was only the 1st phase of a continuing UI/UX development.
Today we have released patch 1.7.11 which brings some further quality of life (QoL) features to the recent 1.7 UI/UX update, as well as some overall user experience (UX) and accessibility improvements.
The patch will also squash a few medieval bugs as well as address some crash fixes, as we continue to improve on the already stable 1.7 update.
Here are a few highlights of what you will find in today’s patch…
New counters
The recent new UI introduced clickable counters that would help track issues such as missing resources or workers.
Two new counters have now been added that will let you know, at-a-glance, how many buildings are under construction as well as a counter for paint zones issues. Clicking these counters will cycle through said buildings locations for easy tracking.
Manual input: trade quantities
Based on community feedback we know many of you will be happy to see this next feature added.
The trading resource quantities can now be edited manually via numerical text entry, directly into the resource table. The buttons are still there of course and don’t forget you can click and hold the buttons to increase or decrease the quantities in larger steps.
Tree and grass sway
Another great example of community feedback comes with this next change. Tree and grass sway animations have been normalized to run at x1 speed no matter the speed setting above pause. This should help those that suffer from motion/simulation sickness and even those that don’t.
For more severe cases we have also added the option to turn off the environmental animations entirely.
Main Menu improvements
When starting a new game, the map selector now shows a short description of the map, as well as a handy thumbnail image of the map itself. Modders are also able to add thumbnails and descriptions with their own maps, though current ones will need to be updated.
Layouts for both the loading menu and save menu have been improved, making it easier to find the save you wish to play. It’s now much easier to see information pertaining to a save file, whilst easily sorting the list via various sort options. Additionally, it is now possible to filter out autosaves and remove them from the viewable list.
And more…
Distance to workplace information returns with this patch. More specifically when assigning villagers to a workplace using the dropdown, you will now see the distance that workplace is from the villager’s home or village center if homeless. We all love an efficient village!
We are aware of some issues relating to zooming, specifically around elevated terrain, so we have made some improvements to the way that zooming is handled. More work will be done on the camera in future updates but this should help to improve the control over high terrain areas.
Text contrast and shadows have been enhanced throughout the game, which brings a cleaner look but more importantly, increased readability for everyone. Further improvements are also planned as we continue to refine the new UI.
There are many more tweaks in the 1.7.11 patch, as well as a bunch of medieval bugs vanquished and a number of crashes addressed.
As always, we would like to say a big thank you for your continued support and invaluable feedback.
Changelog
add: Textfield functionality to resource trade quantity in the Book
add: Counter – missing paint zone
add: Counter – ongoing construction
add: Collapsible monument parts groups when editing (reintroduced)
add: Distance to workplace when assigning worker via dropdown
add: Full tooltips – estate unlockables
add: Military mission, panel sorting
add: New map selector integration (first iteration)
Today is the day we know many of you, including ourselves, have been looking forward to: the release of the 1.7 New User Interface (UI) update!
As you will see, everything has changed. In the actions bar, you will find all the tools you need to build, zone and delve further into your village details (with the multi-pages Book feature!). You’ll also enjoy a much more detailed informative module at the top, revamped building and villager panels, a new quest module and more streamlined notifications.
You will find a new Quest panel where you can pin quests and keep a track of available missions and an overhauled help menu that will give you some further pointers and information on the games’ systems.
Saves now have a screenshot to help you identify your save at-a-glance, and the settings menu (and game) in general, is much more easy to use and navigate.
That’s not all of course! We have made further improvements to the engine during this time, that should see your fps improve as well as further bug fixes.
In summary, anything and everything is new and we hope you enjoy the new experience the UI will bring to the game!
Behind the scenes of last year development
This last year has been very busy for our small but passionate team. As many of you know, Foundation is made with its own game engine. This gives us the liberty we need to create the game as we envision it, but it also requires more time to develop some features as we also have to develop the tools we require beforehand.
Much of the team have been focused on the programming that was required to implement a whole new UI:
Creating a complete GUI Editor from scratch
Improve massively on our GUI engine
Improve our 2D rendering pipeline
Develop a completely new font rendering system to support font variety and scaling
Refactor the whole UI code base around the new UX
Implement all the new QoL that the new UX required
An overview of our engine custom GUI editor
Other members of the team also worked with Dan, our UI/UX developer to create the multitude of custom art that can be seen throughout the new interface.
With the UI/UX phase one complete and the major groundwork set for later phases, we can now switch our main focus and push on with more gameplay and content additions still to come, in the upcoming Core updates!
1.7 Changelog
add: new HUD
add: new help menu
add: new actions bar
add: new Book feature
add: new sortable villager panel to Book
add: new sortable workplace panel to Book
add: new trade and resources panel to Book
add: new budget overview panel to Book
add: new estates panel to Book
add: new army manager panel to Book
add: new log panel to Book
add: new buildings panels
add: new building status indicators
add: new construction menu
add: search function to construction menu
add: category filters to construction menu
add: new Information panels
add: new issues counters
add: new monthly budget reports
add: new quest Module
add: new pinnable quests
add: new notifications system
add: new tooltips
add: new event pop-ups
add: new custom art – events
add: new custom art – information panels
add: new resource icons
add: new main menu
add: new load/save windows
add: new mods window
add: loading screen
add: new settings window
add: new achievements window
add: savegame – automated thumbnails + save meta info (villager count, playtime, etc)
add: new audio
add: more control remapping options
fix: tavern bridge placement
update: community localizations
improve: building overview tab with worker assignation shortcut
improve: UI Scaling, including clean font scaling
improve: language switching
Modding:
add: static sized arrays support
add: support for atlas cell image assets
expose additional animations
fix: mod unload order
fix: custom type list property always using default value instead of assigned value
A preview build of the upcoming 1.7 UI update is now available via the GOG or Steam beta option tab (access instructions below).
For the past months, we have been working hard on a complete rehaul of the UI. Phase I is almost complete and we are excited to bring you a preview build, so that you can all take a first hands-on look at the new revamped Foundation interface.
We still have some outstanding improvements to make in Phase I, but now is the perfect time for us to gather your feedback. We would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the preview feedback thread here (Steam) or GOG forums. Alternatively, join us on Discord where we have a dedicated channel for the 1.7 UI preview.
Vanilla (non-modded) save games from the current live build should, in most cases, be compatible with the preview build. However, as always with a preview build, we thoroughly recommend trying a fresh game to get the full benefit and experience from this update.
Many mods will require a migration update and will not initially work, and as such, modded saves will likely need to wait for mod updates and the full 1.7 update. We will be working closely with the modding community to help them get updated as quickly as possible during the preview stage.
Preview build saves will be compatible with the full release of the 1.7 UI update
Phase I is a huge foundation [Warning: pun overuse] for more improvements to come with subsequent phases looking to fine-tune the art style, improving usability and UX as well as looking deeper into accessibility features and then final UI polish.
We hope you enjoy the new look UI and we look forward to hearing your feedback.
Access instructions
If you would like to take a look or help test out the update preview you can gain access via:
Steam
Right-click Foundation in your Steam library
Click on properties
Navigate to BETAS
Choose the preview – Next Build Preview option
The game will automatically update but if it does not you may need to restart your Steam client.
Please note: The preview build is work in progress and may contain some bugs. Any Bugs you might find can be reported here on the Steam forums or you can join us on Discord where we have both feedback and bug reporting channels.
GOG
Open the Foundation game, options menu within your GOG Galaxy library
Choose Manage installation -> Configure
Within the Betas channels choose preview
Click OK
The game should automatically update but if it does not you may need to restart your GOG Galaxy client.
Please note: The preview build is work in progress and may contain some bugs. Any Bugs you might find can be reported here on the GOG forums or you can join us on Discord where we have both feedback and bug reporting channels.
It’s been a little time since our last communication but this does not mean we have been resting on our laurels. We know you are all eagerly anticipating the new UI and the improvements that will come with it.
An update on the UI rehaul progress
The very first phase of the new UI implementation is nearing completion. With that said, we would like to share with you some of the work that has been involved with creating the new UI, and to let you know what has been going on in the background for the past few months.
Late last year, we teased you all with some sample images of our UI rehaul. These initial images were conceptual and only a taste of what to expect. Since that time, our UI/UX designer and a good chunk of the team have been busy implementing the full redesign in-engine.
If you have played the game and seen the old UI you will be well aware that although it was functional, it was lacking in many places, not particularly intuitive and also not very aesthetically pleasing. As such, the redesign has required major work. Every menu, icon, HUD element, feedback module… it’s a long list… needed to be updated, redesigned and in some instances built from scratch. Such is the cost of progress.
Once the new design foundation (pun intended) was laid out and agreed upon, work could begin on asset creation, whilst in the background, we ramped up work on the engine. What came out of this was a brand new Interface tool (imaginatively called the GUI editor). This tool effectively allows us to build, visualize and tweak the interface without programming (because yes, the old interface used to be generated purely by code). As we progress, we’re constantly making the editor even more powerful, to allow for new features in the game for you, the players.
On top of this we have been making further updates to the engine to allow for enhanced UI visuals including better font rendering, to improve scaling, for the large differences in resolutions throughout the player base.
Much of the new interface is now in place and we are on the final run toward testing, feedback, tweaking and subsequent release. There are still a few elements that need to be worked on, some remnants from the old UI that need to be replaced and we will need to further tweak and improve on the work so far before release.
We know you are eager to see more teasers of what’s to come and of course we wish to oblige…
In other news
The UI has not been the only focus of recent development work. Some of the team have also been working in the background on more long-term goals such as overall art direction and preparation for future content updates.
Some of you may have noticed the changes to the market tents in a social media post some time ago, this was only the start of a broader improvement in the overall art direction. Further work has since been carried out on buildings such as the bakery and in time we will revamp and enhance the majority of the art and assets within the game.
The art team has also been working to design and create tools that will allow for a better way to render environmental aspects and transitions within the game, such as those between grass, sand and rocks. Similarly, they have been looking at ways in which to improve the look and variation of environmental factors such as vegetation, lighting and overall ambiance.
These changes and improvements to the art style will not be part of the upcoming UI but you will be seeing more of them in the future.
We will update you all with an ETA for the release of the UI update in the coming weeks.
Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a wonderfully festive holiday!
We are thrilled to present to you today, an updated roadmap that contains information on many of the new features and content coming to Foundation this year.
Updated Roadmap & Release Schedule
Our objective is to release 3 major updates over the course of 2021. The first of which will be the much anticipated new UI.
This will be followed by 2 Core Updates that will bring an array of new features and additionally continue to improve on the UI and UX.
We have set out below further information on what you can expect to see in these updates.
Update 1 will bring a major improvement to the game in the form of the UI rehaul. You can expect to see a new HUD, building menus, villager menu, information panels and of course much, much more.
The main HUD will see a plethora of improvements that will contain easily identifiable information on resources, events & quests as well as more information panels for quick overviews of your current village.
Many of the information and management panels will all be tied together in an easily navigable and streamlined “Book” (name subject to change). The Book will include tabs and shortcuts that will link directly to facets including: Villager information, Workplaces, Estates, Budget, Resources and your Army. Each tab will include improved ways to sort and search for information that you need, all at your fingertips.
A new main menu will include more detail when looking through saves, a new options menu, help menu, mod menu,… in fact every aspect of the UI will be new and improved and as such will also bring a host of UX improvements.
We will continue to build upon the UI/UX Update with further updates and improvements after its initial release.
Estate Mechanic
Core Update II will focus on improving the Estate mechanic. Your influence with an estate will vary over time, creating a choice of which estate(s) to invest in. Increasing your influence with one estate will have an effect on other estates and as such will affect the path you choose when building your village.
Building Decay
A new feature will be introduced with Core Update II in the form of Building Decay. Every placeable building will require maintenance and if not maintained the building will decay over time.
In order to maintain buildings within your village, you will need to place and staff a maintenance workshop. Each workshop will prioritize and maintain buildings that require repairs and pull resources that are needed to repair those buildings.
As buildings decay, productivity and desirability will be affected and if allowed to decay too far, buildings will become unusable and will need to be dismantled.
Houses occupied by villagers of lower status than the house, or left uninhabited for too long will begin to decay and may require repair.
Further UI/UX Improvements
Core Update II will also continue to improve upon the UI and UX with more accessibility options and menu improvements, taking into account player feedback as we further build on the previous UI/UX update.
Core Update III will add a number of new features that will change the way in which your village population can vary as well as bring new and improved detail to maps.
Families & Aging
A family mechanic will allow for the birth of children who will age, work, create their own families and eventually pass away, bringing a full cycle to village life.
Diseases
Varying factors will increase the chance of villager disease that will come with consequences to your workforce if left unchecked.
Graveyard
As your villagers now walk through the valley of death they will need a place to be laid to rest.
Map Visual Edges
Map edges will be visually improved.
Terrain Biomes
Varying biomes will add to the variety of map environments.
Resource Fertility
Land fertility will differ, depending on environmental factors allowing for crop-specific fertility.
Cobblestone Roads
A much requested feature will see the introduction of cobblestone roads that will increase efficiency in your villages.
The updated roadmap can be found over on Trello where you can keep up-to-date with all the progress.
Up to Full Release
More features will be implemented up to the full release, including:
A major expansion and overhaul of the narrative elements & events
Vehicles – where appropriate, villagers will be able to own and use horses
A third level of housing status and density
A Safety need will see more use for soldiers and defense structures
New monuments
Information map – a zoomed out map showing an overview of available resource nodes and layers
Map generator
Pastures – allowing for zoning of livestock areas
…and more!
Post Release
The full release will not be the end of development and we will continue to work on features not yet implemented such as a map editor, creative mode and a photo tool as well as work on further DLCs that were planned as part of our original Kickstarter campaign.
