Oh boy! It feels like ages since we last published a devblog. Time goes fast when you are having fun and trying to prepare a game for release! So, I figured it’s about time we published an update on how the development is progressing. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/bf768963e1f176ad79359cf811a57b5eed14b48f.jpg[/img] [i]You might have figured it out already, but the troop we recently teased was a Zombie! The human troops of the Loth faction will return to fight once more after their deaths. That’s what I call commitment![/i] Carl, our game designer, has been working with all the texts of the game. And I do mean ALL of the texts. As we are preparing the game for translations we need to make sure that all the pesky spelling errors and sloppy copy gets eliminated. He is also adding more lore-focused flavor texts to really make the game world feel coherent and alive. Kim, our freelance writer is also doing her part to improve the texts, but specifically focusing on all the dialogue in the campaigns. At the same time our design intern, Albin, is helping out with providing context to all the lines of text in the game. Meaning that he describes where the text is visible in the game and what it actually means to the player. This is very important to the translators as it gives them a much better understanding of how the game is actually played. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/bdfb0af53937cf77ea144872968b6c1f4892c433.png[/img] [i]This is how the context texts look in the translation tool we use. The translator can use it to double-check specific phrases.[/i] The programmers have been hard at work with eliminating bugs. We took a one-week vacation from ordinary development to just focus on smashing most of the worst offenders. In total the team was able to fix 77 bugs, meaning that the game now plays much better than before! After the bug fixing the programmers created a limited press demo version for journalists and YouTubers. We have been distributing this demo to a select few exclusive gaming media outlets and gaming content creators. Why? Well, we are happy to announce that on the 1st of March you’ll be able to see much more material from the game. Expect things like an analysis of the gameplay and comments regarding the current state of the game. We’ll notify you on all of our social channels when the videos and articles go live! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/dc587bb0417ee6e18e9a1ffc8de668452ca8ed46.jpg[/img] [i]This is the main menu shown in the press demo. Please note the text “Alpha preview build - Not final product”. That means that things you see in the preview articles and videos can and will change.[/i] There have been tons of quality-of-life improvements and small visual tweaks made by both the look and feel team and the code team. Here are just a few of them: [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/f3e8e9303089d0906f8af424076403a9674409ec.jpg[/img] [i]The pathfinder used to happily suggest a path right through the enemy's zone of control. Tssk tssk. Poor tactical thinking if you ask me! [/i] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/d8b8e86e49ee4b7bd032deaf1535408e928dbb65.jpg[/img] [i]The pathfinder now avoids the zone of control, avoiding the frustrating need for manually choosing a path around it. [/i] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/7b40b2542360729e3c30fc684a87abfe0c87a2bc.gif[/img] [i]A lot of our testers have asked for it and we finally gave in. We’ll now have a damage preview if you hover over enemies in combat. If you don’t like this feature it can be turned off via options. [/i] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/999775392c7a46801b0bb8e2290b737054212343.gif[/img] [i]David has made sure that even the destructible terrain objects have a nice gib effect. Bring out the wood chopping axe and let the splinters fly like birds in the air![/i] Most of all team members have also been focusing on the defense and siege mechanisms of the game. A big change is that the defense towers no longer fire arrows on the Adventure map. Instead, it adds a small garrison to the towns and can also be upgraded to include ballistas in the defending towns. When battle is initiated, all the troops provided by the towers in the town are merged into two troop stacks and added to the town’s defenses. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/ac1b6d8d8c1db42249dc51e68e907f5b488c22ab.gif[/img] [i]Here’s what it looks like when you build towers for the Arleon faction. If you upgrade them they will also provide ballistas. [/i] The AI is also getting better and better. It is getting the most attention from Niklas and Robin. But also from Marcus, who is supposedly on parental leave but still manages to squeeze a few hours into the production each week in order to also care for his digital… baby? Improvements include, but are not limited to: The AI´s recruitment will not instantly interrupt current tasks, meaning that things like exploration will get proper time to be finished. In previous versions, the AI would just stop and turn back instantly if the need for more troops was considered to be too high. But it will now wait until the current task is "done" or its forced predicaments for that task changes. This will indirectly make the AI more expanding and seem more offensive. Recruitment will now be forced if an AI Wielder has given its troops away to another Wielder. This avoids having weak AI Wielders roaming the map. If you, as a player, claim an AI map entity or kill an AI Wielder, it will increase the AI’s grudge towards you. High grudge means higher probability of you being selected as a war target. AI will now also send more than one Wielder if a threat is large. This also automatically includes spreading out offense/defense if the threat is considered smaller. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/a40a0b512c9a92926a9296ec630be93887702b4c.png[/img] [i]I’m not entirely sure what this sketch from Marcus means, so I’ll just leave it here and let you try and figure it out for yourselves. Drop a comment below and let me know if you can figure it out![/i] Finally, just to let you know: We still haven’t decided the release date or the price point for the game. But the plan is still to release the game in Q2 this year. So, no need to ask about the release date. But feel free to drop a comment and tell us what you think of this update and if there is anything in particular that you want to know more about! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//40723472/18a99e12c1da7cafaf97b680563bb99250ee9beb.png[/img] [i]Anders has created a variation of Adventure map walls for all of the factions. Can you spot which one is from which faction?[/i] That’s it for this time. Stay safe people and drop a comment if you have any questions, comments, or just general appreciation for what we are doing! /Magnus and Team Lavapotion --- [i][b]Please note that this is a dev blog. Features and graphics mentioned or displayed above may or may not change during the development process.[/b][/i]