Development Update: Release Schedule, Steam Next Fest and AI
We are sorry for being silent over the last months, but after the very intense time at the begin of the year (publisher deal and Steam Next Fest), we decided to calm down a bit, check the feedback, take a breath, check the feedback again, talk to our brand-new publisher, sit back, check the feedback again, do some planning, talk to the publisher and continue to work 😊
Based on the feedback and the possibility to get access to additional budget (via our publisher) we decided that increasing the team size, especially for software development, would be the best step for the project.
To achieve this, we needed to change things organizational and code-wise. So currently we are still in this transformational process while improving the AI in the meantime (code-aspects are really high-priority right now).
As AI improvements or the mentioned organizational aspects are quite difficult to demonstrate via an update, we have not much to share right now, sorry!
But things are going very well for Fata Deum and the mentioned steps will results in an improved development speed during this year and also allows us to already have much better support at the begin of the EA phase (instead of ramping these things up after getting new budget during the EA release).
So, it is very great that our publisher supports us in this direction!
The Steam Next Fest has been a great success and we received a lot of new input (2000+ filled out queries…) so this needed time 😊
The cooperation with the publisher means more money and more quality for Fata Deum before we release to EA, but it also means: a later release!
Thereby, we decided to move the release date to 2023. A good god game needs time!
Steam Next Fest Was a Great Success!
Over 25.000 gamer played the Fata Deum demo and over 2.000 feedback forms have been filled out! We have been able to more than double our Steam wishlists count and have now more than 100.000 outstanding wishlists (still increasing day by day). For an indie developer these wishlists numbers are very important to get enough coverage by Steam during release.
We have more than doubled our wishlist numbers during the Steam Next Fest! (https://steamdb.info/app/1330360/graphs/)
Having 100.000 wishlists is a great success for a small indie team like us and this would not have been possible without your support.
Thank you so much!
Our publisher Hooded Horse did also a great job during the Steam Next Fest so we could reach a new level of visibility. We are now on position 132 in the Steam global wishlists charts. Considering that more than 10.000 games are launched at Steam every year, this is just amazing!
Feedback Evaluation 2.000 filled out feedback forms during the Steam Next Fest… that’s a lot 😊 And we have taken them seriously analyzing each of these feedbacks!
While the overall picture is already quite good, we still have issues with controls and the tutorials ☹ So, this is something we will add another iteration for! We also received a lot of nice ideas we will would like to put in the game either before or after EA release!
Of course, we would love to read that everyone is already totally happy with the game and ship it, but we are willing to get the mentioned issues fixed and ship afterwards!
That is what feedback is for😊 And our publisher sees things very similar.
Next Steps
We will now take a break (summer holidays) and continue to work afterwards! Next available Alpha build will be the big AI patch! So, stay tuned! A real godly opponent will kick your ass soon 😉 (this brand-new experience will only be available for Kickstarter Alpha backers, sorry)
Fata Deum at PAX East
Fata Deum was featured in Hooded Horse’s Publisher Showcase at PAX East. The publisher showcase revealed new content and announcements across Hooded Horse’s strategy games.
Inspired by the god games of old, Fata Deum lets you mold settlements and townsfolk in your image. Will you raise the settlements to splendor, or spur them on to violent debauchery and demons? Watch as a living world grows under your whims.
Join us to watch the stream, and check out the demo yourself!
Inspired by the god games of old, Fata Deum lets you mold settlements and townsfolk in your image. Will you raise the settlements to splendor, or spur them on to violent debauchery and demons? Watch as a living world grows under your whims.
Join us to watch Fata Deum in action, and check out the demo to try it yourself!
Demo Available! Steam Next Fest! Publishing Deal Signed!
Yes, correct!
Starting today until the end of the Steam Next Fest (28.02.2022) the Fata Deum demo is available!
So, jump in and have fun 😊
[previewyoutube="yWLX1rr0mfE;full"]
The demo is available in 12 different languages and includes all currently available features!
The game and the demo improved a lot since the last demo period during Gamescom 2021.
Based on your feedback we improved controls and tutorial significantly, removed bugs, added new features, improved performance and added a localization!
In addition, you can now play one day longer as before (demo ends after 6 days).
We are looking forward to your feedback! Let’s make this game great!
Hooded Horse is Publishing Fata Deum
We are very proud to announce that Hooded Horse Inc., an indie publisher focusing on simulation, strategy and RPG games, is publishing Fata Deum!
They already supported us during the preparations for the Steam Next Fest and will further reduce our workload so we can concentrate on the game development on 100%.
In addition, they boost the development with additional funding!
So that are definitely great news!
Current Progress
The AI is still getting smarter but needs additional work to get finished.
Preparations for the Steam Next Fest and negotiations regarding a publisher deal have been quite time intensive, but no time has been wasted!
The localization of main parts of the game for 11 different languages was also quite time intensive, but has now been finished!
Next Steps
Getting Hooded Horse Inc. on board has changed the situation significantly (in a good way). With additional budget and less work for 42 Bits Entertainment on marketing aspects the development can get a real final boost before going into EA. While we have lost some time to get a deal signed (and finding the right Publisher, of course), this will have a great positive impact on the game on long-term.
We will need some time to check the feedback from the Steam Next Fest (once the party is over) and get additional people on board the dev team. Therefore, we have decided to move the release date to a more general “coming 2022”. Once we are very certain on the final release date, we will provide you an update!
Enjoy the demo!
Game Localization, Steam Next Fest and AI Development
The Fata Deum Christmas Bakery
First of all, we want to use this update to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy your (hopefully) free days with family and friends and stay healthy 😊
At the end of each year the mortals of Fata Deum meet at their local bakery to prepare a delicious Christmas meal!
Even if they believe in you, of course! A bakery doubles your food production and can be built in cities only!
Just as a side note 😉
And now for something completely different:
Game Localization
During the last year we have received a lot of requests for a localization of Fata Deum for a specific language. Initially we planned to provide a localization of Fata Deum for English and German only (for EA release). But based on your feedback and the high interest we decided to provide a localization for the following languages for the EA release already:
English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Japanese, Korean
And we have already achieved a lot in this regard!
A first “very basic placeholder” translation has been done for all languages to check for technical problems (font issues, different sizes, special grammar cases etc.). These checks have already been finished and after some fixes here and there everything works fine!
We are currently in negotiations with different companies to translate all texts for the EA release! So, this is set in stone!
Most people on this planet will be able to play Fata Deum in their native language right from the beginning!
The imp learned some Chinese and Russian words already 😊
Steam Next Fest
As described in our last update we improved the Fata Deum demo a lot based on your feedback. During the last two months we further improved the tutorial and we are now ready to give the demo another go!
But we will wait until the next big event:
The Steam Next Fest (end of February).
Until then we will of course keep improving the game (and the demo)! Stay tuned! Further updates regarding our participation in the Steam Next Fest event are planned for next year 😊
AI Development
The AI is getting smarter day by day! Maybe we should get started to be scared (world domination, etc.) 😉.
The whole AI system, which is used to control the AI gods, the settlement and the prayer logic is finished technically. We are currently fixing bugs and apply a proper balancing / configuration for the different profiles (different gods, different settlement profiles, etc.).
We expect to finish the work on the AI (for the EA release) at the end of January. This is the last big piece of code which needs to be done!
The heart of the AI system is a planner which is able to calculate complex plans (for world domination or getting a coffee) based on its current status and a large set of available actions.
It is like:
You want to build a large city?
For this you need stone, mortals, wood, food.
For this you need a quarry, a residence, a lumberjack, a farm.
The AI is able to react on changing situation, reprioritize its goals and calculate an adapted plan whenever needed (player has a big military force?! => BuildDefenceTower, BuildBarracks, TrainSoldiers).
One thing we need to teach the AI: -which actions are available -under which precondition the action can be executed -what are the effects of an action
This does look like:
Based on these definitions the AI is able to calculate a chain of actions to get to its goal (building a city...). Hopefully, you liked this little technical excursion 😊
Next Steps The preparation for the Steam Next Fest, the localization for 12 languages and the current AI development will be finished around end of February. Afterwards, we will add a second level and take the new feedback (from the Steam Next Fest and from our Alpha Kickstarter backers) into consideration.
We will than focus on balancing, bug fixing, polishing and prepare the EA release marketing-wise. Looking at our current progress and our todo list, we are not able to release in Q1 2022, sorry.
But it is getting really close!
We are moving the release date to Q2 2022 and expect to provide you an update on this estimation shortly after the Steam Next Fest!
Thanks for your patience! Quality first!
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Enjoy your (hopefully) free days with family and friends and stay healthy 😊
Harvest and Controls
During Gamescom a first Fata Deum demo was available for testing and feedback purposes. Thanks again for the feedback! This is great support! There have been two (to be improved ) major aspects, which have been highlighted by many gamers:
Clunky controls
Additional actions during daytime / more interactions with the environment would be great!
Directly after the demo period was over we deeply analyzed the feedback and started to improve the game!
And now a new Alpha build release is available (for Kickstarter Alpha backers)!
Besides many smaller fixes we have mainly focused on improving the controls ( + time control) and add a collecting system, which allows you to harvest resources in the world.
New Controls
We have mostly redone main parts of the camera controls. The old control system was more inspired by common RTS-games: the camera was focused on a specific point on the terrain, loking at it from above. We have replaced this approach by a much more FPS approach, so that you can fly through the world as you like.
As the graphics have improved a lot during the last year of the development, it is ok to get closer, too 😊
Besides this major change, we did a lot of smaller improvements:
Dynamic speed adjustment based on distance to terrain.
Zoom in at mouse pointer
Adaptive zoom based on distance
Right mouse click to move to mouse pointer directly
Fixed bad behavior due to lag.
Improved panning (don’t hassle with selcting building while panning anymore)
Hotkey to deactivate panning
Control is more direct (less damping)
ESC to cancel current ingame menu and to get back from main menu to game directly
Hold STRG to move up and down instead of forward and backward
Separate control for ambient and effect audio volume
…and many more
This sounds a bit theoretically (so hard to show a screenshot or video here..) but it really improved the overall immersive feeling a lot, too.
[previewyoutube="-KGKmpxfdbw;full"]
And all Fata Deum Alpha backers can try out the new control system right now, a new version is released! We will also provide access to a new demo version in the future.. stay tuned!
All this changes have been done based on your feedback! So we are quite confident, that you will like it 😊
Time Control
We also added a feature requested by the community for a long time: time control! You can now pause and continue the game by clicking on the world clock icon in the upper right corner! If you hold the left mouse button you can also speed up time!
[previewyoutube="H0qvy_5S9n4;full"]
Collecting System A god can get bored once in a while when he is waiting for new mana to perform awesome wonders! What will he do in the meantime? He can now manipulate time itself to get new mana faster.. but that should not be a core game mechanism 😊
Instead we added the collecting system, which allows you to harvest resources from the world to support your followers! You can also move resources from one settlement to another, of course. Or you can sacrifice resources on your altar to get extra mana!
But beware! Resources are not endless! Your followers won’t like it if you take their resources!
Further Improvements
We have fixed a lot of smaller bugs or issues which did occur just on some specific systems and we want to say thank you to each gamer who has to struggle with such very specific bugs and helped us to identify the underlying reason! Thanks a lot!
In addition, we improved tutorial logic and added a part to introduce the collecting system. And of course: performance.. as always we did some improvements here!
Next Steps
We will now focus on AI (again) and localization! Again, development has taken more time as expected, but we are very happy with the result (and regret nothing 😊) and the list of “features to be done before EA release” is getting smaller and smaller 😊
We will try to provide a new update before Christmas and provide you with a release update, too.
Thanks again for the feedback! That is helping a lot to make this game better and better (even before EA release)
Stay tuned!
Thanks for the Awesome Feedback!
Many gamers have downloaded and played the Fata Deum demo during Gamescom!
We have received over 400 filled out feedback forms, which really helps us to understand how to improve the game further! The overall feedback was very positive! We have read all of them in all detail!
Of course,we also received negative feedback, but the overall feedback can be summarized in a simplified way:
- Great, the god game genre really gets back! - Great graphics! - Great concept! - Great premise, keep up the good work! - Clunky controls (please improve!) - Sometimes buggy and confusing tutorial (please improve!) - Additional actions during daytime / more interactions with the environment would be great!
Based on the feedback we have already understood how to improve the controls (and we will start to improve them soon!).
But it was difficult for us to understand the current issues of the tutorial (as we know all details about the game…).
Everyone who did struggle with the tutorial is invited to share his/her thoughts either at our Discord
