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Foundation

A New Era of Organic City-Building Simulation!

A Look at Foundation’s Future

Hi everyone!

Now that the holidays are decidedly behind us, it’s time to think about what the future holds.

There’s little doubt that 2022 will be a pivotal year for Foundation. We know you’re eager to learn more about the game, hence why we’re sharing an exclusive look at what’s going on behind the scenes…and hopefully answer some of your burning questions!

Laying down the cards

After three years in Early Access (time flies!), we are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Looking back, we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but acknowledge that there’s still a lot of work left to do. Still, we’re confident that we’ll cross the finish line before long.  

Our current focus is on Core Game II (1.9), which we’ve actually already talked about last year. We can’t stress enough just how much of a game changer this new release will be. We’ll have more details to share about it very soon. In the meantime, here’s some up-to-date info about the new features being worked on right now by the team for this massive update:

Gameplay Types & Progression

Prosperity

As part of our overhauled progression system, your village will now score points according to various metrics (territories, population, etc.). We’re calling this system Prosperity (which is not to be confused with Splendor). The idea behind it is to allow you, the player, to progress in the game without imposing a specific playstyle. For example, you will be able to progress by focusing on a large populated city, but you’ll also be able to progress by focusing on a prolific monastery. Aiming for higher scores isn’t just for bragging rights: you’ll unlock new buildings and put in place new politics (edicts) along the way.

Estates

The Estates are evolving and will be closely tied to different gameplay types. Each Estate will have their specific advantages over some core features of the game. For instance, the Labor Estate will fare well in villager taxation, the Clergy Estate on luxury resources and the Kingdom—you probably guessed it—on military campaigns. Also, get ready as having a high Splendor with an estate will negatively impact influence with other estates. This is just a quick overview of our intentions. More on that later! 

Victory conditions

We know several players would love to see endgame content added to Foundation and 1.9 will deliver on that front. Victory conditions are late game objectives you can complete to score rare player celebrations in Foundation—and their own achievements. Pick one or more victory conditions to track and try to complete all the prerequisites…if you dare! 

Narrative

If you’ve been following us on social media, you know we hired a talented narrative designer a couple of weeks ago. Core Game II will be the first occasion to see his work applied to the world of Foundation. What does that mean?

Well…we’re not ready to spill the beans quite yet, but here’s a nugget of information for you: our new narrative events aim to make your experience more open-ended. Since 1.9 redefines our global game progression, we wanted to establish the first step of what we could describe as a “dialogue” between players and Foundation. In that sense, the game will feel a lot more responsive by serving events tailored to your play style.

New onboarding

Core Game II is an opportunity for us to review Foundation’s early game and more precisely its onboarding. Since we’re introducing a lot of new features to the game, it’s important that our tutorials and in-game messaging are on point. We’ve put a lot of effort into explaining our systems and helping players understand the steps they need to take in order to build—and maintain—successful villages. 

And more! Look forward to our new blog series that will delve deeper into upcoming features included in 1.9

The Core Game II (1.9) update is scheduled for release in the first half of 2022.

Looking even further

Apart from the work being done on Core Game II, our team is working in parallel on other important additions that will see the light of day before/at release. Here’s a few of them:

Residential Revamp

We are rehauling the residential experience to make it more fluid and informative while improving the game’s overall organic layout. Villagers will still build and upgrade (up to a 3rd level) houses by themselves but through blood, sweat, and tears, they’ll be better at it than ever!

Gone are the days where unused space could really hinder your village’s development. Improvements to our painting tool will help determine more precisely where districts are formed and ensure residential space (as defined by the player) is sufficient. The tool will be able to predict how many villagers can be housed within a specific zone.

Map Generator

We already gave you a glimpse of our Map Generator. Work on this feature has progressed steadily since then and is already showing promising results. We know this is one of the most anticipated features and we want to make it right, hence why we’re keeping things a bit under wraps for now.

New Terrain Biomes

One way to add more uniqueness to maps is by making sure biomes are different enough from each other. How are we going to do it? Well, for starters, we want to improve vegetation a lot—even going as far as having different vegetation depending on elevation. Think leafy on lower altitudes and coniferous on higher altitudes. What we’re not aiming for is to add tropical or desert biomes, as we feel they don’t quite fit with our design.

Accessibility

We strive to make Foundation more functional, accessible and enjoyable by all types of players. Expect even more accessibility options in the future, including improved colored text contrast and colorblind-friendly signs/feedback.

Modding

We will continue to support the modding community. One way to do so will be by exposing more real-time interactions, but we also plan to let modders edit the user interface (UI), among other things.

Quality of Life (QOL)

Delivering a smooth gameplay experience has always been a top priority for us. On that point, we can say this year will introduce a number of interesting QOL changes, included but not limited to: more tooltips, improved handling of panels and ESC key behavior, new Book shortcuts and UI customization (resize).

We are doing everything in our power to get Foundation our of Early Access before the end of 2022. We will keep you updated as we go.

 

The 1.8.0.6.1108 Patch is LIVE!

Hello everyone! 

We have just deployed Foundation’s 1.8.0.6.1108 Patch!

This is a minor patch that aims to fix some of the most common issues encountered since the release of 1.8. 

Here’s what’s included:

Changes

  • CandleWorkshop: Extension now modifies recipe
  • Minor adjustment to the Candle Workshop model
  • Adjust building window to properly show recipe modifiers
  • Wait for a villager to finish his/her work shift before changing jobs

Fixes

  • Building Window refresh when building parts get unlocked
  • Church message tooltip 
  • Performance issue when unemploying a villager
  • Visual issue which doubled the maintenance cost in the preview building window
  • Resource depot causing infinite fuel bug with fuelmonger mod 
  • Building description update when building and part are built at the same time 
  • Top module not showing resources at 0 when loading a game
  • Some work interactive location could become locked after work shift switch
  • Crash on launch on Linux Proton

Modding-specific

  • COMP_WORKPLACE can now be instantiated
  • Fix: Crash when changing a particle emitter system at runtime

We hope you enjoy this patch and as always, we will be waiting for your feedback!

 

1.8 Fall Update is now live!

Consulter la version française de cet article

Greetings beloved builders,

We hope you’ve been enjoying the user interface update we pushed last June. We know you’re eager for even more Foundation content, which is why today should be of particular interest to you as we officially launch the 1.8 Fall Update to shake things up! 

New Buildings For All! 

One of the most widely requested features for Foundation is the addition of new buildings for your settlements. You’ll be glad to know that the team has been hard at work to introduce not one, but two fresh production buildings for the game: the candle workshop and the common wares workshop!

Candle Workshop
Common Wares Workshop

Sharp-eyed players will also notice “Citizen” promoted villagers now have a second “Goods” need under their status. In addition to common clothes, they will now require common wares to be 100% satisfied. Talk about being entitled!

Construction Step Bundles for Added Immersion

While looking at ways to improve Foundation, it became apparent that the construction process for buildings needed work. We’ve asked ourselves how we could create a more logical and immersive experience. Before 1.8, builders would try to complete their tasks and stop if resources were insufficient. Now, they have to gather the required materials to the construction site beforehand. Only then will they be able to start working. 

To go into more details, materials will be brought following the bundles’ order, to complete them as fast as possible. If a bundle is missing a material that is not in inventory, then the transporter will start to bring the resources for the other bundles.

Building parts’ progression can be easily seen by hovering over the construction progress bar

Construction steps allow more flexibility for your city planning with the added benefit to be more in line with what you’d expect from working on buildings. You can start with the foundation of, say, a church, and come back to it later in order to complete work on the next step. This way, you’re never stuck in a rut! 

The Ins and Outs of Stockpiling

One feature we recognized as in need of improved communication relates to stockpiling

This feature allows you to prevent villagers from using resources by toggling the stockpiling function on or off in the resource panel. Or, alternatively, directly in the resource list of the Book. Very helpful when looking to complete delivery missions! 

With 1.8, we have improved this communication with a warning when there are missing resources in a workplace due to stockpiling. Additionally, the stockpile icon now shows over resource icons in other panels and windows such as workplace inventories.

New stockpiling presentation within workplaces

Even more QOL changes

Each new update is a chance for us to optimize the overall gameplay experience and refresh our existing systems. The 1.8 update is no exception. Here’s a preview of what’s in store for you the next time you launch Foundation:

  • Added related resources in the villager needs tooltips
  • Added tooltips on information module checkboxes
  • New trader blocked notification
  • Added inventory for all workplaces in condensed view
  • Improved inventory issues feedback
  • Building panels remember collapsed groups of parts
  • Estates layout is now more compact
  • Confirm renaming with Enter key
  • And more!
The new Needs tooltip in all its glory!

Continued support towards the modding scene

Modding is close to our hearts. We enjoy how imaginative some of you are with Foundation. Get your creative juices flowing, because 1.8 introduces custom mandates for bailiffs! You heard that right: thanks to mods, bailiffs are no longer limited to gaining influence or inspecting mineral deposits. We can’t wait to see what you’ll end up with! 

Previously, one of the only ways to contact modders was through the report tool—which proved to be a problem, as it’s not designed for this. Starting with 1.8, we fixed this by adding web links to all mods so it’s easier for you to connect with mod creators. The new link will open a browser where you can comment and get help directly from the mod creator.

Weblinks to Mod.io in Foundation

We also added a dropdown filter for your mods. Rejoice!

Mods dropdown in Foundation 1.8

We are eagerly looking forward to hearing from the community about the 1.8 update for Foundation!

1.8 Changelog

add: Common Wares Workshop
add: Candle Workshop
add: Additional parts can be unlocked for these buildings
add: construction step bundles
add: new tooltips
add: new resource icons
add: workplaces condensed view now displays a combined inventory (condensed view)
add: “trader blocked” notification
add: confirm renaming with Enter
add: collapsed masterpiece parts groups are remembered through all building panels
add: construction bundles topic in the help menu
add: tooltips and localization for building parts “Locate” and “Destroy” buttons

update: community localizations
improve: stockpile communication
improve: storage issues feedback
improve: hyperlinks style
improve: buttons (red/disabled/small)
improve: compacted estates layout
improve: now communicates max instance of a part
improve: dynamically update when unlocking building parts

fix: wooden keep doors
fix: info module buttons

Modding

add: custom mandates for bailiffs
add: debugging tools
add: weblinks to mod.io
add: mods dropdown sorting
add: expose wax resource

improve: minimized text cutoff in mod buttons that were too short

Modding Wiki

Modding documentation and changes can be found over on the modding wiki.

– The Polymorph Games Team

 

Devlog #15

Hey everyone!

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.

 

Minerals & Craftmanship 1.6 Update is now live!

Lords and Ladies, we are excited to present to you the Minerals & Craftmanship 1.6 Update, now live on Steam & GOG!

Savegame compatibility warning: 1.5 saves will be compatible but some of your buildings may be removed if they were placed on one of the new mineral deposit sites.
Also, note that your builders will now require a Builders’ Workshop.

It’s a big one, so let’s take a look at some highlights of what you can expect in the new update and let you get quickly into discovering the new minerals and crafting up some masterpieces!

 

WHAT’S NEW

 
Discover and Extract New Minerals!

New Mineral deposits can be found scattered throughout the maps, containing nice shiny new minerals, from gold-rich veins to glittering quartz nodes. These deposits can be prospected by your Bailiff in order to identify the ore they contain.

Inside the Mineral deposits your Bailiff will find both rare minerals as well as more common ones such as Iron. Once discovered the minerals can be extracted by clicking the deposit and building a quarry.

 
Extend your Buildings and Build Masterpieces

Buildings can now be extended with new parts. The first building extensions will take the form of crafting workstations that can be added to the Builders’ Workshop. These crafting workstations will allow your builders to craft various objects such as sculptures and stained glass.

Note that Builders’ Workshops are now mandatory for the building of any construction.

Masterpieces are sets of specific parts that can be added into a monument or be built as a standalone building. They are unique creations that will give your village unique perks once built. In total, there are 9 Masterpieces to discover and build.

Each masterpiece will unlock when specific conditions have been met. For example, this could be when your soldiers emerge victorious from a faraway mission.

 
New Productions

All of the new minerals can be used in production buildings as well as in the new Masterpieces. Further, new production buildings have been introduced to refine these minerals to be ready for use, such as the new Gold Smelter that turns Gold ore into Gold bars, the Glassworks that will work quartz into glass as well as a Jeweler who will make good use of any gold and gems you might find.

 
Bailiff Mandates

The Bailiff’s role has been expanded and can now undertake Mandates. These mandates will range from prospecting the new resource deposits to gaining influence with an Estate or researching blueprints. Yes, the scholar was unhappy and has now left!

 
Pathing Inside Buildings

Villagers can now path through monuments! This means that Monks can now get to those inner courtyards and soldiers can protect the pass. Pathing inside buildings will allow particular villagers to enter and exit through separate monument doors. Pathing will have conditions so that only those that should be allowed through can get through.

 
Visits

Word of your settlement is growing stronger. Not only will there be visits from envoys but there will be new visitors arriving at your village. Pilgrims might visit your shrine masterpiece and one of your monuments, that is perfect for taking in guests, might also receive a visitor under certain conditions.

 
Even More New Features

As you may know, we are working on a full UI overhaul. In the meantime, you will notice a new notification panel that will help to see warnings of potential issues in your village as well as a log of your missions and quests including currently active quests.

Bridges can now be raised in height as well as length. Yes m’lord, you can now raise your bridges up high, the sky is the limit!

 
The List Goes On…

The Minerals & Craftmanship update will also include:

  • New animations
  • New modding functions and capabilities
  • New sounds
  • New improved grass and cliff visuals
  • 9 new achievements
  • Plus many fixes and improvements

You can check out the full changelog below:

 

1.6 Changelog

 
Gameplay

New features

  • New: Minerals sources that can be prospected and extracted
  • New: Production chains related to minerals
  • New: Masterpieces
  • New: Productions chains
  • New: Buildings can now have multiple placeable parts
  • New: Builder now has his workshop
  • New: Builder’s workshop can be extended with crafting extensions
  • New: New unlockable builder’s workshop parts
  • New crafting feature: craft sculpture and stained glass
  • New: Bailiff can have mandates assigned like prospecting minerals and influencing estates
  • New: New notification panel
  • New: Pathing can now go through buildings that have multiple entrances

Improvements

  • Add: Completed monument parts activate its function, (no need for an entire monument to be built before it becomes usable)
  • Add: Gold has been separated in two new resources: Gold Coins and Gold Bars
  • Add: Improved performance when editing a monument
  • Add: Transporters will now carry materials to construction sites
  • Add: New uniformized build flow between buildings and monuments
  • Add: “getting started” section to help menu
  • Add: Davenport now sells gems
  • Add: Allow multiple transporters to carry materials to construction sites
  • Add: localization
Art

Buildings

  • New Builder’s workshop and crafting extensions: sculpture, stained glass, jewelry
  • New mineral sources and quarries installations
  • New Glass Smelter
  • New Gold Smelter
  • New customizable fountain, stained glass

Characters and animations

  • New miner’s job outfit and animations
  • New Glass Smelter & Gold Smelter animations

Environment

  • New grass texture
  • New cliff texture
Bug fixes
  • fix: soldier/monks could get stuck on bridges
  • fix: Wooden Keep Door B
  • fix: tavern bridge bug
  • fix: transporters and builders flow (pause & builder allocation)
  • fix: missing tavern chimney texture
  • fix: path finding issues when house upgrading
  • fix: crash when the same game file is empty
  • fix: crash when closing the game due to unsupported OpenGL version
  • fix: rare crash with promotion
  • fix: clear preview on bridge
  • fix: freeze on clear preview
  • fix: wooden bridge entrance PATH & slope locator position
  • fix: showing bulldozer button on destructible building when under construction
  • fix: mod list disappearing when scrollbar is added/removed
  • fix: crash when destroying building too close to map edges
  • fix: rare crash during tax collector collection
  • fix: drop-down scroll bar behavior
  • fix: wooden keep stair colliders
  • fix: a crash in mod list menu
  • fix: rare crash in workplace list window
  • fix: building parts are not child of the core part anymore
  • fix: crash with public lounge function activationfix: crash with
  • notification window
Modding
  • Add: mods hot-reload with Ctrl+Shift+R
  • Add: creation of new asset and data types, and extending existing asset, component and data types
  • Add: creation of behavior trees and custom behavior tree nodes
  • Add: access to events
  • Update: example 02 mod bridge
  • Update: Remove Mover from Building Part Asset
  • Update: Batch all Modding logs in a single file to avoid opening too many files
  • Update: Foundation log file and mod log file are now readable during execution
  • fix: asset retrieval by scripting ID was not allowed in some cases
  • fix: VS Code snippets
  • fix: restore some missing textures

The full modding changelog can be found on the modding wiki.

Let us know what you think or discuss the game with our awesome Foundation community on our official Discord server.

– The whole Polymorph Games team

 

Minerals & Craftmanship 1.6 Update: Release Date News

Exciting news!

The Minerals & Craftmanship Update will be released on Tuesday, July 14

The 1.6 preview build has now been thoroughly tested and the additional content is coming together. All this means we can today announce the release date for the upcoming Early Access 1.6 update.

Announcing a New Addition: The Masterpieces

In addition to the content previously announced we have also been working on a new feature coming in the 1.6 update… Masterpieces!

Masterpieces are unique sets of parts that will become available via inspirational events that will occur during gameplay. Once obtained the masterpiece parts set will be available to incorporate into any monument, transforming it into a unique monument.

Each Masterpiece can only be built once and will make full use of the new minerals and crafting stations now available.

There will be a total of 9 Masterpieces for you to discover and build in the 1.6 update release. All 9 Masterpieces will come with their own exclusive effects such as the work in progress, Shrine Masterpiece pictured below.

Pilgrims visiting the Shrine

The Shrine will be unlocked via a miracle event and once built will become a place of pilgrimage for people far and wide and will come with the added effect of increasing immigration to your settlement.

New Achievements

To complement the new Masterpieces, each one will unlock a related Steam achievement. This will take the take number of achievements available in the game to 21.

New Animations

As well as all the new content coming in the new update we have also been working to increase the immersion. The 1.6 update will additionally come with new workstation animations to bring the new buildings and content to life.

The Jeweller checking the quality of her work
A builder scrutinizing new plans
A new statue takes shape
Finally…

If you hadn’t already seen the previously news, here is a brief summary of what you can expect in the Minerals & Craftmanship Update, coming on July 14!

  • New feature: Masterpieces
  • New discoverable mineral resources
  • Bailiff Mandates (Including prospecting for minerals)
  • New buildings capabilities
  • Artisan workshops
  • New production chains
  • Pathing inside buildings
  • New modding features

– The Polymorph Games Team

 

Minerals and Craftmanship Preview Update 1.6.0.0522 is now Live!

Happy Friday everyone!

Just in time for the weekend, the Minerals and Craftmanship Preview Update 1.6.0.0522 is now Live!

We are looking to gather focused information and feedback on the new content. Therefore, for testing purposes, only the Valley map is available to play in the preview build. To get the full experience of the preview build we have also limited the save files on the preview build so you will need to start a new game that you will then be able to save and load as normal in the Preview.

Note: Custom maps are still available however these will not currently contain the resource nodes that are part of the update.

Mods will also require updating by the mod creators and modding community and will not be immediately playable.

Let us know what you think…

We hope you enjoy the Preview and we would love to hear what you think.

If you would like to send in your feedback you can do so via this feedback form.

You are, of course, also welcome to discuss the game and report bugs as usual on the Steam discussions forums or join us on our Discord server.

Thank you in advance and we look forward to hearing from you and reading your feedback!

Changelog

We have a bunch of new features and content included in this preview build of the upcoming update. You can find a changelog below and more detailed information on some of the new content can be found in our previous announcement here.

Gameplay

New features

  • New minerals sources that can be prospected and extracted
  • New production chains related to minerals
  • Buildings can now have multiple placeable parts
  • Builder now has his workshop
  • Builder’s workshop can be extended with crafting extensions
  • New unlockable builder’s workshop parts
  • New crafting feature: craft sculpture, stainedglass and jewels (not all available yet)
  • Bailiff can have mandates assigned like prospecting minerals and influencing estates
  • New notification panel
  • Pathing can now go through buildings that have multiple entrances
  • New customizable fountain

Improvements

  • Parts that are built instantaneously activate its function, thus, no need for an entire monument to be built before it becomes usable
  • Church capacity is now considering multiple cores
  • Gold has been separated in two new resources: Gold Coins and Gold Bars
  • Improved performance when editing a monument
  • Transporters will now carry materials to construction sites
  • New uniformized build flow between buildings and monuments

Art

Buildings

  • Builder’s workshop and artisan extensions: sculpture, stainedglass, jewelry (not all available yet)
  • New mineral sources and quarries installations
  • New Glass Smelter
  • New Gold Smelter
  • New customizable fountain, stainedglass

Characters and animations

  • New miner’s job outfit and animations
  • New Glass Smelter & Gold Smelter animations

Environment

  • New grass texture
  • New cliff texture

Modding

  • Add mods hot-reload with Ctrl+Shift+R
  • Add creation of new asset and data types, and extending existing asset, component and data types
  • Add creation of behavior trees and custom behavior tree nodes
  • Add access to events
  • More details can be found on the wiki

 

Preview build access instructions (Steam)

If you would like to take a look at the Minerals and Craftmanship Preview build you can switch over to it via the Steam Betas in your Foundation properties.
 
  1. Choose Foundation (Steam Library)
  2. Click Manage (Cog)
  3. Click Properties
  4. Click Betas (tab)
  5. In the “Select the beta” dropdown choose Preview

(If you don’t see the preview option restart Steam)

Preview build access instructions (GOG)

If you want to take a look at the Minerals and Craftmanship Preview build you can switch over to it via the GOG Betas in your Foundation configuration details.

  1. Choose Foundation (GOG library)
  2. Click settings
  3. Click Manage installation
  4. Click Configure
  5. In the “Beta channels” dropdown choose Preview
 

Update and Preview build News

Hey Everyone!

We are excited to announce that we will soon be bringing you a new update, that we have named, the Minerals and Craftmanship Update!

The update is nearly ready and the full release will come in a few weeks but in the meantime, those of you eager to take an early look will be able to test some of the new features, in an upcoming Preview build!

More news on the preview build and how to gain access will be coming in the next few days.

Please note: Though custom maps are still available, we are looking to gather focused information and feedback on the new content. Therefore, for testing purposes, the preview build is focused on the Valley map.

If you would like to help out and share your feedback with us, then firstly, thank you! All feedback is very important and useful to us and in the development of the game.

Please let us know what you think of the preview build via this feedback form.

Minerals and Craftmanship Update:
preview build 1.6.0

We are bringing a multitude of changes and improvements in this update and you can check out some of the highlights that will be playable in the Preview Build, below.

Discoverable resources

One of the biggest and most exciting new features coming with the update are discoverable resources that will need to be prospected to know what kind of mineral they contain. Once prospected, you will be able to build a quarry over the mineral source to extract it. Some of these resources will be common and found in multiple nodes however some will contain more rare minerals.

New buildings capabilities

Prior to this update, there were two building types: single buildings and monuments. In this update, they now all have the same capabilities. This means a single building could have parts added to extend its functionalities. The first single building to exploit this new feature is a new one: The Builder’s Workshop.

At last, builders now have their own workplace! This building will be extendable to add new artisan workshops with crafting capabilities, like the scultpure or stainedglass workshop.

Artisan workshops

Parts that need more detailed, artistic work, like stained glass and sculptures will need to be first crafted in artisan workshops from the extended Builder’s Workshop. These artisan workshops will take advantage of the new resources that will be available to you in the discoverable resource nodes and the workshops themselves will allow you to create all new unique parts and Masterpieces for your village.

Masterpieces

Masterpieces are outstanding pieces of art that need to be crafted by artisans and that will provide a lot of splendor. More details on this soon…

New production chains

The workshops are going to require processed materials that will form part of new production chains. One such discoverable resource you will be able to find is gold ore which will require smelting into gold bars via a Goldsmelter before being used in your artisan workshop

An improved role for the Bailiff: The Bailiff Mandates

The bailiff will be introduced earlier into the game than previously and, for a cost, will be able to accomplish mandates for his lord. Among other things, he will be able to prospect for minerals and study blueprints.

Path inside buildings

One feature we have wanted to push for a while is the capabilities for villagers to use doors that communicate with one another. As such, villagers are now able to path through buildings by entering a door and going out from another. For example, Monks will be able to path through enclosed Cloisters, or villagers will be able to access enclosed courtyards via an inner courtyard entrance/exit but only through buildings that they are allowed to based on certain rules.

Multiple gameplay and feedback improvements

The Minerals and Craftmanship Update is a good time to consolidate on the work so far in the game and as such you will find many Quality of Life improvements some of which you will be able to see in the preview build.

There is now a new notification panel that will make it easier to track quests and keep an eye on issues in your village.

As noted above there are new building capabilities. To keep things consistent, all buildings will be placed and built in similar building workflow fashion to monuments. i.e. Placing a building will require that you also choose to start construction. You can still use shift + click to place multiple buildings which will bypass the requirement to click “start construction”.

We have also introduced another new change to the way you create monuments. You will first need to place a building marker before placing any parts to a monument. This building marker can then be moved and in doing so will allow you to move your whole blueprint before final placement and construction.

Grass has seen improvements in this update with a greater variety to shades and depth giving a more realistic look to grasslands.

Other improvements include cleaning up placeholder text, {img1} as well as new sounds and new animations.

New modding features

The new update will bring some huge features for the modding community which will allow modders much more freedom to create new assets, behaviours and also make changes and extend vanilla components and functions.

The preview build will include the ability to create custom behaviour trees and nodes. This will enable modders to use both our existing nodes as well as define their own nodes when creating new behaviours for villagers.

Custom assets, as well as custom structures, will now be available for use by modders. This means that modders will no longer be confined to using our asset types and can now define their own. Complex data related to these assets and components can then be stored in custom structures.

All of these additions and changes will allow much more flexibility for modding. As an added bonus we will also be opening up our own core components to allow some engine and game structures to be extended. This will allow, for example, new bridge building functions or workplace building functions to be assigned to core components.

Can you imagine the potential horrors, such as an “Antenna farm” mod?!

You will be able to see all the new modding changes in the release notes and changelog here, on release of the preview build.

More to come

Although the preview build is already jam-packed full of new content and improvements we will continue to add more as we work toward the full update release.

In the meantime, stay tuned for more information on the Preview build release coming soon.

-The Polymorph Games Team

 

Insights: The music of Foundation

If you have played Foundation you have most likely noticed the immersive soundtrack that compliments the game and evolves as you play. Just as the game is in development, so too is the soundtrack that paints a musical background picture as you build your village.

Today, we are updating the Foundation Soundtrack. An additional 8 tracks will be added, plus a bonus, solo piano arrangement, exclusive to the OST, taking the soundtrack to a total of 21 tracks.

The Foundation soundtrack is available now on Steam and GOG!

As your village grows and your villagers gain status, the music also grows alongside it, from the early game, single instrument compositions to later, level 2, ensembles.

To create the epic musical background for Foundation we looked to Audinity, veterans of the medieval/historical video game genre. Their portfolio includes games from Paradox (Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis IV), THQNordic (Knights Of Honor 2: Sovereign, The Guild series) alongside smaller indie developers like ourselves.

Ash, our Community Manager, had the pleasure of chatting with Yannick and Robin, founders of Audinity, to get a deeper insight into who they are and their work on Foundation.

—————

Ash: Can you start off by telling us a little about yourselves? How you got into music composition and more particularly video game soundtracks?

Robin: My name is Robin Birner, I am a German composer from Bamberg, that’s in the northern part of Bavaria, and together with my partner in crime Yannick I have been writing music for video games ever since I was 16 years old. I have always been fascinated with video game soundtracks from an early age and got deeper into music when I started playing the piano as a child. Later on, because I got bored by the piano, I started playing the church organ and finally got my hands on modding my favourite video games. That’s also when I met Yannick and the rest, as they say, is history.

Yannick: I am Yannick Süß (sorry to all non-German-speaking people who don’t know how to pronounce that weird-looking surname in German, it actually means “sweet”!), I am a video game composer from Munich, Germany and just like Robin, one half of Audinity. Since last year, I also develop and realise video game music concerts together with orchestras, ensembles and event organisers.
Music has always been an important part of my life – I originally wanted to become a pianist, but then I realised that I lacked the skills and that it also was much more fun to just play and rearrange my favourite video game and film music tunes on the piano, instead of just practising scales, which ultimately led to me starting composing music myself. Several years later, writing video game music is what I now do for a living, together with Robin. 

Ash: You have worked on some big games already with Paradox and THQNordic. Can you tell us more about Audinity and how you came together?

Yannick: We first met when both of us were still going to school! When I was 16, I was writing music for The Guild 2 – Renaissance by JoWood Entertainment (which later became THQ Nordic) and realised that I would need some help with it. At the same time I was part of the team of a modding project for a German video game, and they told me that I would work together with another composer which turned out to be Robin – who was even living very close to me! We met for a pint of beer in my favourite Irish Pub, and that beer basically started Audinity! We worked together on The Guild 2 – Renaissance as our first joint project, founded our company Audinity soon after and, most importantly, have developed a great friendship (although we sometimes appear like an old married couple as we have been told several times already…)

Robin: It has been 10 years already, so I think we are allowed to sometimes behave a little like an old married couple.

“We decided that we simply HAVE to work on this game”

Ash: You have been involved with Foundation for some time now, when did you become aware of the game and how did you get involved with Polymorph Games on Foundation?

Robin: There is a saying that “Sometimes the best things in life happen by accident.” That was for sure the case with Polymorph Games. In late August 2017, I stumbled upon the only existing YouTube video of Foundation, consisting of an interview with Phil and Leo at gamescom in Cologne. They talked about the concept of Foundation and showed a rough prototype of the game, which was already very impressive.

During the interview it became clear that Foundation was more than yet another city builder. It pushes the boundaries of the genre by introducing gridless city building as well as many features from some of our favourite video games. After a brief conversation with Yannick, we decided that we simply HAVE to work on this game and to reach out to the developers. In the end you could say it all happened thanks to the YouTube algorithm.

Ash: We are very lucky to have you working on Foundation! Can you tell us more about how you collaborate to create beautiful music? Do you have a studio you jam together in or do you try to keep as much distance between each other as possible?


Yannick: Well, let me say it cost us blood, sweat and tears when we once tried to compose a song together in the same room, that might be a story for another time… no, in all seriousness: we have separate studios, but yes, we work very closely together on all of our music, with lots of constructive discussions, brainstorming and extensive feedback sessions before we send out music to a client. Working together for about 10 years now, we have kind of musically grown towards each other, so we have learned to compose our video game music so that it sounds as if it came from one person only. This is very important if two people are working on the same soundtrack, you want a homogeneous style and sound.

“Foundation looks different than other games and thus has to sound different, too”

Ash: Whilst we are on the topic of style and sound, Foundation is a medieval city-builder and as such is going to require some knowledge of medieval instruments. Do you get to play any instruments to create the soundtrack?

Yannick: Over the years, we have developed our own expertise of writing music for historical and in particular medieval video games, so we have grown some special knowledge about medieval instruments and music. But when it comes to playing medieval instruments, we prefer to leave that to the experts. In the Foundation Main Theme for example, you can hear some beautiful live recordings of a medieval viol and a saz. We also use virtual instruments for the in-game music though, you can make them sound ultra realistic nowadays.

Ash: Have you used any particularly unusual objects to create a sound you were looking for in the past or on Foundation? 


Robin: Yes, indeed – we used Yannick’s vocal talent for the main theme, but later agreed on removing it from the track. It doesn’t get more unusual than that, right? All jokes aside – there are a lot of manipulated instruments in the soundtrack: From stretched church bell sounds to pitched down Cisters. We always try to bring in some unique elements to our music to make it stand out.

Ash: Your main focus and experience seems to revolve around the medieval period do you have a particular interest in historical games and is it something you felt was the right fit for Audinity or has the medieval focus evolved naturally?

Yannick: Both Robin and I have always loved to play medieval strategy games and still play a match of good old Age of Empires 2 against each other now and then. I personally have always been very fond of authentic medieval and renaissance music and have studied it extensively. So being able to write the style of music that you love for the kind of games that you love is actually something we both couldn’t be happier about. We have worked on many historical and medieval video games over the years and we love it.

“One of the most important requirements a sandbox game like Foundation has, is non-fatiguing music”

Ash: How did you go about researching the music style for Foundation? It must be particularly hard with very little to go on to create an authentic medieval sound, where there any particular influences you took when creating the soundtrack?


Yannick: First of all we tried to create a unique sound for Foundation, something that hasn’t been heard in other medieval or citybuilder games before. Many games in that genre have orchestral music that is sweetened with some medieval phrases or instruments. Foundation looks different than other games and thus has to sound different, too. So we had the idea to not use orchestral instruments in the in-game soundtrack at all and only use authentic medieval instruments. For the musical style itself, we tried to be very authentic in order to create a medieval mood, but since the visual style of the game itself is not aimed towards ultra realistic we tried to incorporate that style into the music as well.

Ash: We have only mentioned the Foundation Main Theme so far but there are already a great number of tracks you have created for Foundation. Can you tell us a bit about the requirement for different pieces within the game? 


Robin: One of the most important requirements a sandbox game like Foundation has, is non-fatiguing music. A game you can play for a thousand hours needs music which doesn’t get on your nerves if you hear it countless times. Right now, we achieve that by having three levels of tracks in the game. 

Once you start a new game you will notice that there is no music at all until you have placed your town centre. From there the music gradually evolves based on the size of your medieval city. As soon as a town centre exists, you hear what we call “level 1” music, which consists of short melodic snippets played by one single instrument. 

Those snippets are approximately one minute in length and written in such a way that they organically blend with the game’s ambience. For those of you who don’t own the game yet, you can listen to the “Terroir” track on the soundtrack to get an impression of how it works.

Then we have “level 2” music, which completely replaces the “level 1” tracks once your village has reached a certain size.

Now the music, consisting of small medieval ensembles playing “village dances” and fully fleshed-out arrangements, becomes more prominent.

Also, the main theme is featured in “level 1” as well as “level 2” in suitable arrangements, so it blends nicely with the rest of the music.

This means the main theme does not merely appear secludedly in the main menu but is also part of all stages of gameplay. For us, that is really important to give the player a sense of following a continuous pathway on his or her journey throughout the game and to interconnect all levels. 

Ash: How did you go about creating the contrasts between the level changes? What musically signifies a change between a serf and a commoner for example?

Yannick: We wanted the music to reflect the development of the village. At the beginning of the game, the village is still small and not much populated. So at that stage in the game we just use some medieval instruments that play solo phrases and then fade away again to just sound effects for a while. The music for the commoners is much more lively and we use an ensemble of medieval instruments that play together, because the village itself is bigger, more populated and more is going on now. The music tracks are now longer, more consistent and not as fragile as in the early stages of the game.

Ash: Whilst playing the game and during the game development has your work changed? Have you played the game and thought ‘that’s not right!’?

Robin: Thankfully, that has not been the case on this project. It was very important for everyone involved to add music to the game as soon as possible to prevent that from happening.

Ash: That also shows that you understand the game and the musical requirements for it, I know that you do enjoy playing Foundation when you can Robin! Germany is well known for it’s love of strategy games, is the Citybuilder/Strategy game a passion of yours?

Robin: I think it’s safe to say that Yannick and I are both passionate players when it comes to Citybuilder and Strategy games. It’s true that I play Foundation whenever I can, but. (un)fortunately, music kept me pretty busy over the last couple of months. One of the many great aspects of Foundation is the amount of time you can spend just watching your city come to life. I enjoyed that a lot before the Early Access launch.

Ash: I have already lost count of the number of hours sat mesmerised by my growing cities! I’m very privileged to be part of the team and seeing things grow in the background too. How have you found working with the team at Polymorph Games?


Yannick: We love working with you guys! Seriously, it’s a fantastic experience – we enjoy being in close contact with you and the developers, Philippe and Léo give very professional and constructive feedback to our music that is easy to work with! A particularly fantastic experience was when you guys invited us to join you in Boston for PAX East this year! Spending time with you there, we again realised more than ever before that you are not just skilled video game developers but also a bunch of really great people that we are happy to know.

“We had the idea to use Gregorian chants for the Main Theme, when we sent it to the team, they were just asking what this weird vocal stuff is supposed to be?!”

Ash: I guess we owe you a beer for that compliment! But it can’t all be sweetness and light. Have you had any disagreements on the Music composition for Foundation?


Robin: While collaborating in a highly subjective creative field like music often results in disagreements, I can proudly say that so far Foundation is the project with the least disagreements we have worked on. There are various reasons for that, the most influential one being that we decided to set ourselves strict limitations to work with – such as to only use certain instruments or keys for the music. Once everyone agrees on what not to do, you automatically will have less disagreements. That being said, you should probably ask us again after release because there is still some music to write…

Ash: There is a life-lesson right there! Has there been anything that you tried that didn’t work?


Yannick: I was hoping to keep this secret but…  we had the idea to use Gregorian chants for the Main Theme. I put myself before a microphone, sang my heart out and recorded myself several times to imitate a Gregorian monk choir, even with super deep latin lyrics! When we sent the first draft to the team, they were just asking what this weird vocal stuff is supposed to be and that we better leave this out. Retrospectively this was probably a good decision though…

Ash: Ahaha! Maybe you should record a personal chant album, I hear there is a market for it!
Is your work now complete on Foundation? Or is there still more to come that the community will get to hear in the future?


Robin: There is way more to come. We have recently finished another batch of music, which was added to the game in the Fall Update and doubled the amount of “level 2” music. In addition to that our plan at the moment is to have another musical evolution for the later stages of the game, so stay tuned for a lot of new tracks for the Official Soundtrack Release as well.

Ash: One last question. For anyone thinking about getting into video game music composition do you have any tips or advice?

Yannick: There is no golden path to follow. Just be yourself, show your passion for video games and be very patient. 

Robin: Don’t try to follow the path from someone else. Rather create your own path. Take music seriously but not yourself. Collaborate. Because in the end it’s all about collaboration.

Ash: Thanks for taking the time out to give us some deeper insights into Audinity and your work on Foundation. It is as always an honour and a pleasure and we look forward to hearing more of your work in-game!

 

Celebrating one year of Early Access!

To our dearest Foundation fans!

February 1st is a very important day for us:

It is the 1 year Anniversary of Foundation hitting Early Access on Steam and GOG!

To celebrate this important moment with you, we are releasing an Anniversary Update containing a special surprise!

After updating the game you can find the surprise under the Decoration building menu.

The update also contains some fixes and improvements to the recent Winter Content Update and you can see the changelog below.

That’s not all! We are also giving away multiple game keys on Social Media. Like and comment on our Anniversary post on Facebook or Retweet us on Twitter for a chance to win a Steam key!

Finally, you can get 20% off the game in our special Anniversary Sale starting today on both GOG and Steam!

If you would like to play and help shape the final stretch of development then it’s a perfect time to jump in.

A Year in Review

Both the team and the game have come a long way in the past year. The team has risen in number, recruiting some fantastic talent that is showing through in the gameplay, assets, and technical expertise.

The Hurricane engine is constantly evolving and improving with new in-house tools and optimizations to allow everyone to get the best playing experience. Gameplay and in-game assets have also been worked on heavily, with new and updated monuments, game mechanics and systems being introduced such as the recently expanded military missions.

We are extremely impressed by the display of love we are receiving from the community and this is fueling us to continue the work on further development on the road to the Full release.

Updated Roadmap

Hitting the 1-year Anniversary is also a great time to look at the future and what is in store for the further development of Foundation. You can take a look at our updated roadmap on Trello

Road to Full Launch

Just as Foundation is organic, so too is Foundation’s development. As the game evolves, we are continually brainstorming and developing exciting new ideas that we are bringing to the game.

Ultimately, we want Foundation to be as we envision it, and with this in mind, we have decided to extend the Early Access development so that we can complete the roadmap and vision for Foundation.

We would like to thank everyone that has backed the Pre-Alpha and subsequent Early Access Alpha and for those who just bought the game, welcome!

Anniversary Update Changelog

  • Add: desirability tooltip display
  • Add: Expose additional content to modders
  • Fix: Crashes in various rare instances
  • Fix: UI scale bugs
  • Fix: Comonners now stay in level 1 house but get a satisfaction modifier
  • Update: remove distance from village center in villager view
  • Update: Housing Desirability Adjustments
  • Update: Desirability Added to Roman + Legacy church
  • Update: Desirability Tweaks on trees.

– The Polymorph Games Team

 

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