After many long work weeks, we are finally ready to release several monumental updates during the next 9 days. And today we are excited to present you with the new Tutorial Campaign.
Tutorial Campaign looks at the outbreak of 100 year war between England and France, and covers majority of MKW gameplay features. Including 7 playable scenarios and 2 long cinematics. Campaign is complete with full English narrative for nearly 5000 words of dialogue, and translation into all our supported languages.
Please note that we are still actively polishing and improving this massive tutorial campaign, but it`s fully playable. Although still a little bit rough around the edges.
Towards the end of this week, we plan to release the first part of DirectX 11 update. This will be a Opt-In Beta release at first, as we`ll take another week to iron out all the final bugs and minor issues. Sometime next week we expect to release DX11 update from Opt-In Beta to Live.
Please keep in mind that this is a first part of DX11 update, and does not include many visual improvements - our focus was fixing various bugs, increasing performance, and letting players change resolution/windowed mode in-game.
In addition, by next week we`ll be releasing first part of unique units for each nation. Each nation gets unique unit roaster with their own stats and names, however, at this point all the art remains the same.
Thank you for your continuous support, and we hope you`ll forgive us some instability with the game build during the next week or so, as with update of this magnitude some bugs will inevitably sneak in.
And so, presenting Update # 59: -New Tutorial Campaign
Our Biggest Update - in two weeks.
Hey Everyone,
As you might have noticed we went into full-on stealth work mode, and haven`t release any new updates for well over a month. And after countless work days we are finally ready to set a reease date for the upcoming update.
This will be our biggest update for MKW ever, and will completely transform the experience. We were planning to release this update in two parts, but instead decided to release it all at once at the very end of September.
So lets go over the main features of this awesome update.
DirectX 11 & new game engine As of you might know - we have been working on this for nearly a year. This is a total engine rewrite, including updating the graphics code from DirectX9 to 11, among so many other things. And while you will only notice a small difference in graphics for now (we still need to enable all the cool DX11 effects and filters), but the difference in performance is huge! In addition we have fixed numerous startup issues with the game that effected some players for years. And finally - we are adding option to play the game in windowed mode and to change resolution right in the main options menu.
Story Driven Tutorial Campaign One of the main problems for MKW was terrible on-boarding experience with a nearly useless tutorial. Over a third of all new players never got to finish the tutorial and would give up on the game. We decided to take the most radical solution, and come up with one of the best tutorials seen in the genre.
A full feature tutorial campaign with 9 scenarios covering almost every aspect of gameplay. I`m sure even our veterans will learn a few things. And instead of a long dry tutorial, we decided to go all the way - and create a story driven campaign, with complex plot and hundreds of lines of fully voiced dialogue, historically accurate narrative and beautiful cinematics. For these of you who might have played KW2B campaign - it`s similar, but taken to the next level.
And with this update we`ll be releasing this tutorial campaign in full, with English voice acting.
And in conclusion - once again I hope our loyal and hardcore fans will forgive us this delay. We are almost there:)
Regarding Delays - Work on Tutorial Campaign
Hey Everyone,
As you might have noticed it`s been a month since our last update, and we wanted to explain the delays.
One of the main problems for Medieval Kingdom Wars so far has been bad on-boarding experience for our players. To share some stats - over a third of all new players never got to experience the campaign and usually quit the game after an hour with our current crappy placeholder tutorial.
And in order for us to properly finish the Early Access period, without rushing the game out for release, we really had to take a step back and solve this major problem.
The only solution is to create a very detailed and fun tutorial campaign, that hooks the players onto the game with the very first mission, and then over several hours covers every aspect of the campaign gameplay. And this is just what we have been busy working on. An 9 scenarios campaign, fully voiced, immersive with great story-line, with much higher quality and level of detail
(than our current placeholder tutorial)
I`m happy to say that a lot of progress has been made already, and we should be finished by the end of the month.
I hope our loyal and hardcore fans will forgive us this delay. I can only imagine how much you guys want to see new updates, including diplomacy and so much more. But unfortunately we have to take this step back to create a new tutorial campaign - as without it the production timeline would suffer.
Summer Roadmap, Upcoming Updates and our Biggest Sale
Hey Everyone,
To promote MKW and to celebrate the progress we are running our biggest sale this week at 55% off. And the work continues full steam ahead as we near the Beta milestone. With nearly 60 updates since launch a year ago, things are about to get very interesting as we nearing completion on several huge projects that`s been in the making for months. And as soon as we get through this, it`ll be time to rework and polish, including long overdue work on interface and combat.
So without further introduction lets take a look into production plans for the next four months. Bellow list only includes the biggest features of each update.
And if you have any questions or need clarifications - please don`t hesitate to ask:)
And so - off to work, to make this beautiful 4 months plan happen. Thanks for all your continuous support, and here`s to the Beta milestone.
SUMMER 2018 DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP
---Completed---
Update 58 - Part II - Ye Shall Not Crash (much) - Beta Build Only
Hey Everyone,
And we are back, with a massive update 58 Part II. This is a good one! To start things off we have finally fixed the last crash issues in-game. And while only time will tell if there`s still an extremely rare crash bug or two left in-game, everyone should have a solid stable experience with MKW now.
In addition you will notice that we increased the limit of troops under your control at once to 16 - please let us know how`s that working out for everyone, should we keep this change?
And of-course nearly 70 other changes and improvements, including some major steps forward when it comes to town defense AI and game`s performance.
And while we are slicing through remaining bugs, as well fine-tuning and balancing; It`s a good time to drop by our forums, and let us know if you have discovered a new bug or want something changed or improved.
We hope you enjoy this update! And so, presenting Update # 58 Part II:
Big Changes -Fixed the last crash issue during combat
-Increased number of selected units to 16
-Eliminated lag when attacking large towns
-Eliminated lag when tasking 8 battalions on a busy battle field (still a bit with 16)
-Greatly increased performance with Highest Model quality visual option
-Tasking multiple battalions now take up to 1.5 seconds for group of 8
-Units will no longer be able to sneak in through closed gates if tasked before closing
-Fixed potential crash when changing game language
-Scaled up majority of buildings especially economy buildings
Fixes and Improvements -Fixed various issues with gates, like double gates, or no gates
-When friendly AI attacks a city that recently has changed hands to a friendly or player, AI will not attack this city but move on
-Added a cap of max 5 prisoners to be captured when besieging a city
-Reduced memory load from various language files by good 500 mbs
-Increased amount of resources given in Skirmish on default
-Low, Medium, High resources in Skirmish now actually work
-Fixed issue with Storehouse not increasing resources on town reload or even deducting resources
-Better position for buildings banners, less chance to click it and not select the building
-Chinese localization - fixed additional errors in Chinese fonts, incorrect symbols for ( ) and !
-Chinese localization - fixed text objectives in tutorial being very small
-Fixed hamlet banners being on screen when going to Skirmish after playing Campaign
-Region banners are more transparent and look more different from town banners, not to confuse the two
-New Campaign window portraits don't flicker when changing nation or lords
-Steward portrait doesn't flicker in tech window when buying something
-In Steward Tech window, can select any tech with pop-up staying open allowing to examine the tech
-Fixed odd flashing and pause about 20 minutes into managing towns
-Building plots now look normal on lowest settings
-Adjusted campaign intro cinematic not to zoom in on irrelevant town but continue fly by
Balancing Changes -Trees no longer grow until level is reloaded
-AI gets less time to conquer player hamlet and town, 20 and 35, from 25 and 40
-Default town storage capacity reduced to 3000
-Catapult removed two other shot abilities
-Catapult fixed the firing FX for normal and flamed Projectile
-Catapult nerfed and fixed over powering damage and rate of fire
-Catapult flaming project now has a much less change to start a fire
-Ballista and Trebuchet fire projectile now have a strong chance to start a fire
-Economy changes - Peasants are 50% more expensive, but also 50% more productive
-Economy changes - livestock max food amount increased by 50%
-Economy changes - chicken and cow over time passive food income increased by 60%
-Economy Changes - Iron and Stone mines 30% more productive, mine level upgrade adds 50%
-Re-balanced movement speed - Heavy armored units and heavy siege units significantly slower
-Re-balanced movement speed - Medium armored units are a little bit slower
-Rebalanced movement speed - Light units regain same speed or a bit faster
Update 58 - Part I - The Small Update
Hey Everyone,
We continue with our goal of polishing and fixing everything about the game in preparation for DirectX 11 launch later this summer. Today`s update brings fixes to the most requested areas - meanwhile we continue work on the bigger update to be released early next week.
And while we are slicing through remaining bugs, as well fine-tuning and balancing; It`s a good time to drop by our forums, and let us know if you have discovered a new bug or want something changed or improved.
And heads up for the next update - we plan to have all the crash bugs finally fixed:)
We hope you enjoy this update! And so, presenting Update # 58 Part I:
-Fixed several broken hamlets giving an empty space
-Translated all the recent text, including tooltips
-Units on the worldmap gain level when trained from leveled up buildings
-Orleans - redesigned city walls to added walkable palisade
-Orleans - redesigned city and removed staircases that made it exploitable defense
-Nantes - fixed issues with ladders not attaching to the inner keep walls
-Nantes - fixed issues with inner keep towers not letting units in or out
-Caen - completely reworked the area by the main gate to allow AI to attack it better without getting stuck
-Plains Hamlet design now has a walkable palisade by the gatehouse
-Fixed houses sticking out through the wall in some hamlets
-Updated all hamlet designs where workers would get stuck in walls when gathering wood
Update 57 - Fixes and Improvements (Part II)
Hey Everyone,
As we continue with polishing MKW, we have another massive update for your today, concluding build 57. Aside from a lot of fixes, balancing and improvements this update also come with several major changes to gameplay. And - fingers crossed - fixes the last crash issue during gameplay.
Few changes of note - leveling up all buildings now has a world map impact - from better happiness to higher income. You can now capture prisoners in battles, and there`s now a penalty for not having unity diversity in your army. In addition we reworked the research tree, and trained the AI a bit - get ready to face multiple armies at once.
We`ll continue with another big update early next week. We also plan to conclude our quest in fixing any and all possible crash bugs left in-game.
And so, presenting Update # 57 Part II:
Big Changes -Potential fix for the crash during combat
-Significant Strength penalty applies if there`s not enough unit type diversity in the army or garrison
-All buildings level increase income, reduce upkeep, and improve happiness
-Enabled capturing prisoners in battle
-Fixed large number of bugs in Research tree
-Fixed research tree techs available for research ahead of the line progress
-Research tree changes might effect older saves
-More battle camera changes, increased the tilt
-2nd Army AI will no longer train elite units right away, but will advance and improve over the years
-In campaign creation, map centers on selected lord's first holding and shows town names
-Greatly increased chances of two armies attack
Fixes and Additions -Combat game speed changed to 1.5 max, helps reduce lag
-Added name banner for the Manor building
-Enabled building Ballista on stone wall Bastions
-Fixed winter terrain on the world map appearing during summer
-Citizens in Hamlets updated to carry tools
-Fixed various issues with King succession
-Fixed showing Kingdom is destroyed after changing Kings
-Auto-save in battles is now 7 minutes instead of 10
-Auto save options changed to 5,7 and 15 minutes
-If a player nation is mistakenly marked dead, player will become king on reload
-Fixed issue with some towns having impassible inner stone walls
-Removed random smoke effect from village houses
-Added smoke FX to Armory and Blacksmith
-Fixed issues with selecting army on the world map or selecting the wrong army
-Fixed issues when managing town and clicking to attack local citizens
-Fixes issues when attacking towns and hamlets and misclicking on citizens
-Corrected storehouse description
-Updated several incorrect techs descriptions
-Fixed issues with upgraded gatehouse elevation
-Supporting 2nd AI army will now have building plots when attacking towns
-Longer victory cinematic
-Various fixes for Norwich level walls and gatehouse upgrades
-Redone Norwich intro and win cinematic
-Orleans and similar maps removed the two un-usable town gates
-Dover - correct gatehouse by the Keep (elevation), and removed floating tower
-Fixed some army camps not having accessible trees
Balancing Changes -Significantly less upkeep for Militia and Hunters
-Greatly increased upkeep of military buildings
-Greatly increased happiness bonus of Church and Hospital
-Mill is no longer a drop off point for resources, bring a horse cart
-Slightly increased building income
-Reduced cost of Knight Templar, increased cost of Knight Hospitaller
-Chevalier price increased, feudal knight reduced
-Adjusted some costs in the Research tree to make more sense with what items unlock what tech
Update 57 - AI on a War Path (Part I)
Hey Everyone,
Another game changing update today, and AI is on a war path, it`s out for blood.
AI just learned a neat trick - sending multiple armies to attack at once, and hope your ready to see two full stacked siege armies come after your towns. Not only does this ramp up the difficulty, but makes for amazing 4 army battles or sieges. We also made AI a lot more aggressive.
We also continue with balancing and polishing everything about the game. This update comes with a total re-balance of the economy, covering every area of the game. Few changes of note. Trade Items are now generated once per season instead of monthly. We also greatly increased army upkeep, especially how it scales with more advanced units.
Also we`r glad to see so many new faces joining us during the Summer sale! Thanks for your support!
And so, presenting Update # 57 Part I, we`ll follow up with the second part of this update later this week.
-AI will now often use two armies at once
-Good chance of a 4 army battles or town defense battles
-Re-balanced world map AI to be a lot more aggressive
-AI Armies will grow quicker with each game year
-AI will use double army attacks more and more as years go by
-AI will invite a second nearby army even on easy difficulty now
-Major change to Trade Good production - instead of monthly it`s now once per season ever 3 months
-Unit Upkeep greatly increased, up to 5 times more
-Building upkeep slightly increased and re-balanced
-Building and unit income reduced
-Research unlocking Knights Templar moved further in the tech tree
-Taxation now effects happiness much less
-Returns from selling items to the Steward reduced ~30%
-Wining battles now generates significantly larger reward in Silver
-Added minimap for Norwich and copied levels
-Fixed some level design issues in Norwich and copied levels
Update 56 - Major Step Forward
Hey Everyone,
With this weeks update we are taking a break from major features and instead working on polishing, fixing and balancing every area of the game. However, you will find plenty of new content as well - from new town levels to the first of the UI tooltips.
Every area of the game, especially the economy and auto-resolve aspect has been completely re-balanced. You will also notice the new approach to the game camera, as well as beautiful new town of Norwich. All in all this massive update comes with over 60 changes big and small.
Meanwhile work on DirectX 11 update continue, though already couple of weeks behind schedule we are confident we will release this update later this July.
Also the summer sale is upon us, so we would like to welcome anyone picking MKW on a 50% off sale now. Welcome and hope to see you in-game.
Please keep in mind - we had multiple patches this week, so we unified the updates notes bellow into one big update.
And so, presenting Update # 56:
Included in the second part of the update -Complete redesign of the Steward tech tree - now techs consume logical trade goods
-Zoom in out is now smoother and a bit slower
-Small reduction to max zoom out on the battle map
-Fix problem with jumping shadows on max zoom in
-Serfs now has a bit more hit points and attack, and adds 1 strength to the armies and towns
-Stopped Serfs, horse carts e.t.c from gaining levels, always level 0
-Changed healing inside near towns - much slower, and less difference due to game difficulty
-Similar healing changes for AI, but reversed.
-Increased the damage to the armies for flawless victories, especially with two armies
-New darker background for tool-tips, much easier to read
-Fixed issues with palisade walls from the previous update
-Fixed issues with stone walls not saving from the previous update
-Added tool-tips for all the town and army buttons - upkeep, strength, happiness e.t.c
-Added tool-tips to the top left buttons on the world map
-Fixed some location on the Norwich level where units would go into rocks
-Templar Knight is now weaker than Hospitaller
-Knight Hospitaller rebalanced to be the strongest infantry
Fixes and Additions -Tooltips support for World map GUI
-Added tooltips to most of the world map GUI buttons and options
-New Skirmish level: Castle of Norwich
-Several smaller world map towns now use Norwich as base level
-2nd defending army in large city battles now spawns on walls
-Supporting army in army vs army and hamlet battles is a lot more aggressive now
-Fixed bug with supporting AI army building your army camp walls
-Fixed issue with player units taking no damage when auto-resolving AI Army vs 2 player Armies
-When winning Auto-Resolve vs AI Town do not give starting garrison - just Level 0 (2 chickens and 2 peasants) (Same as player would get for wining in battle)
-Corrections to the tech tree to mark tech that are implemented globally, and these that just unlock stuff
-Fixed town Viterbo not showing on the world map
-Fixed major issue with weird triangles appearing on screen when destroying buildings - stone mine was the problem
-Fixed issue with certain bridges or tight passes not letting the army pass on the world map
-Reworked the world map camera controls - higher zoom out, but limited zoom in
-Reworked the battle camera controls - higher zoom out, but limited zoom in
-Disabled camera tilting, camera now auto-tilts on zoom
New Technologies -Pax Europa reduces cost of diplomatic gifts/insults by 30%
-Unigenitus Dei Filius slows discontentment changes of citizens
-Bendictus Deus hastens contentment changes of citizens
-Trade Fairs increases trade item production slightly
-Trade Partnerships increases trade item production slightly
-Exaction increases silver reward from battle by 30%
-Field Scouts gives player max population cap if in AvA or attacker in AvT without having to build tents
-Watch Towers increases view range of armies and towns on world map
-Caisson Storehouse increases storage capacity from Storehouses
-Merchant Warehouse further increases storage capacity from Storehouses
Balancing Changes -Building level up cost increases much less with each level
-Building level up cost completely re-balanced, moderately reduced for most buildings
-Economic building level up cost greatly reduced for economic buildings
-Second army controlling AI will no longer create really advanced units
-Armies will always loose at least 1 unit when two armies are used at once
-Winning army units sustain a lot more damage, but battalions always survive
-Diplomacy - bribe to boost relations 30% cheaper, to damage relations 60% cheaper
-Happiness - on Default +50 points happier.
-Happiness - city garrison increases happiness 100% more
-Hamlet and City Tax income increased by 50%
-Silver income from buildings increased by 200%
-Silver income from units increased 100%
-Mounted Hobelar, 30% cheaper, and 25% boost to stats
-Archery Range building stone cost greatly reduced, wood cost increased
-First two starting techs in each category are significantly cheaper and available early game
Rolling out Update 56 Part I
Hey Everyone,
This week we are unrolling the big update 56 in two installments. And today it`s time for the first part of this big update (second part will follow tomorrow or Friday)
Every area of the game, especially the economy and auto-resolve aspect has been completely re-balanced. You will also notice the new approach to the game camera, as well as beautiful new town of Norwich. All in all this massive update comes with nearly 50 changes big and small.
Meanwhile work on DirectX 11 update continue, though already couple of weeks behind schedule we are confident we will release this update later this July.
The second part of the update will include additional tooltips, world map changes and auto-resolve balancing later this week.
And so, presenting Update # 56 Part I:
Fixes and Additions -Tooltips support for World map GUI
-Added tooltips to most of the world map GUI buttons and options
-New Skirmish level: Castle of Norwich
-Several smaller world map towns now use Norwich as base level
-2nd defending army in large city battles now spawns on walls
-Supporting army in army vs army and hamlet battles is a lot more aggressive now
-Fixed bug with supporting AI army building your army camp walls
-Fixed issue with player units taking no damage when auto-resolving AI Army vs 2 player Armies
-When winning Auto-Resolve vs AI Town do not give starting garrison - just Level 0 (2 chickens and 2 peasants) (Same as player would get for wining in battle)
-Corrections to the tech tree to mark tech that are implemented globally, and these that just unlock stuff
-Fixed town Viterbo not showing on the world map
-Fixed major issue with weird triangles appearing on screen when destroying buildings - stone mine was the problem
-Fixed issue with certain bridges or tight passes not letting the army pass on the world map
-Reworked the world map camera controls - higher zoom out, but limited zoom in
-Reworked the battle camera controls - higher zoom out, but limited zoom in
-Disabled camera tilting, camera now auto-tilts on zoom
New Technologies -Pax Europa reduces cost of diplomatic gifts/insults by 30%
-Unigenitus Dei Filius slows discontentment changes of citizens
-Bendictus Deus hastens contentment changes of citizens
-Trade Fairs increases trade item production slightly
-Trade Partnerships increases trade item production slightly
-Exaction increases silver reward from battle by 30%
-Field Scouts gives player max population cap if in AvA or attacker in AvT without having to build tents
-Watch Towers increases view range of armies and towns on world map
-Caisson Storehouse increases storage capacity from Storehouses
-Merchant Warehouse further increases storage capacity from Storehouses
Balancing Changes -Building level up cost increases much less with each level
-Building level up cost completely re-balanced, moderately reduced for most buildings
-Economic building level up cost greatly reduced for economic buildings
-Second army controlling AI will no longer create really advanced units
-Armies will always loose at least 1 unit when two armies are used at once
-Winning army units sustain a lot more damage, but battalions always survive
-Diplomacy - bribe to boost relations 30% cheaper, to damage relations 60% cheaper
-Happiness - on Default +50 points happier.
-Happiness - city garrison increases happiness 100% more
-Hamlet and City Tax income increased by 50%
-Silver income from buildings increased by 200%
-Silver income from units increased 100%
-Palisade no longer requires Iron cost upfront, only wood
-Mounted Hobelar, 30% cheaper, and 25% boost to stats
-Archery Range building stone cost greatly reduced, wood cost increased
-First two starting techs in each category are significantly cheaper and available early game
