Medieval Kingdom Wars
New Updates This Summer & Sale Event
Apologies for not posting any news for a bit, as I had to take time off work due to personal reasons. All better and back at it now, so wanted to post an update on the situation and progress with more updates.
Right now I`m continuing work on finishing reworking and polishing MKW tutorial campaign, that should be complete later this month.
Meanwhile as work continue on Kingdom Wars: Plague - later this summer, we`ll continue to port more improvements and features from KW:P to MKW with several incoming updates. However these are only expected in the second half of the summer.
Also for the next two weeks we are running the biggest sale on MKW we had so far. And hopefully with larger player population there will be more availability for multiplayer skirmish mode.
Thanks for the continues support, and once again apologies for the delays on my end with wrapping up some needed updates.
Update 25 - Reworked Tutorial
After a long break we are back with more MKW updates. Apologies for the delay, and to make up for it we are working on the second MKW update right away - and plan to launch our 26th update towards the end of next week.
For today`s update we have worked on a full rework of the tutorial campaign. One of MKW`s biggest issues was introducing new players to the game - with many giving up after the first few tutorial levels. The reworked tutorial is now much faster, easier and streamlined, while using most of the same content. So far several tutorial levels have been updated and we plan to finish this work for the next update.
We also looked into resolving a few long standing issues effecting some players, however most of the focus was on the tutorial campaign. In the update next week we are bringing a lot of new features and bug fixes to MKW, as we`ll be copying some of the progress made on Kingdom Wars: Plague to MKW - with improvements for AI, performance as well as doing some balancing work.
We can`t wait to share the next update with you, and once again sorry for the delay.
And now lets take a look at what changes our 25th update brings
Changes and Additions
- Various performance improvements to most of the tutorial campaign
- Shortened introductory cinematic
- Intro cinematic update with some new visuals and scene mods
- First campaign chapter made 10 minutes shorter
- Redesigned intro cinematic for ch1
- Various bug fixes and improvements for ch1
- Shortened and polished ch2
- Ch3 redesigned to be much faster, up to 15 minutes faster
- Various polish and fixes for Ch3
- Various fixes and polish for Ch4
- Fixed issue on repaid and rebuild of gates
- Fixed a bug with gate rebuilding taking very long time
- AI will no longer spawn too many ballista and catapults
- Fix AI build order issues related to siege weapons
- Fixed rare crash when selecting units
- Improvements to lag spike when selecting units for the first time
- Minor balancing improvements for higher tier units being a bit too OP
- Fixed startup issues on some system starting the game with no sound
Update 25 Coming in March
First of all - apologies for a the delays here - planed to release the 25th update at the end of February, but after numerous delays and deciding to include additions new features in this update - it only looks like we`ll be ready later in March.
With the 25th update I focused on fixing a long standing problem where Tutorial campaign would turn many players off the game, and they would stop playing after an hour. And indeed - Tutorial Campaign had it`s problems - it was trying to do too much, and at time was extremely drawn out and slow. To this extent I`m reworking it from the ground up - while content is mostly the same, it`s extremely streamlined and the whole tutorial campaign will now take 2 hours instead of 6 to complete.
We have also worked on a major new features - players now will be able to build wall on the world map, with no need to go into the city.
In addition - this update includes some major combat AI improvements - especially to how it uses siege weapons to breach the walls, and we are also looking at some issues with units ignoring orders.
Having had to focus on the tutorial campaign for the upcoming update, I left some bigger projects for the 26th update that will be released right after - aiming for later on in March.
Can`t wait to share the upcoming updates with you, and thanks for the continuing support!
Update 24 - New Combat AI & Performance
And we are back with one of our biggest updates to MKW in a while! After countless days of work, and long nights testing, we are finally happy to present the completely reworked combat AI. This update also really helps with combat performance issues, especially during these large 3 AI sieges.
This update also greatly improves level design in hamlets and larger cities, as well as includes couple of dozen commonly requests fixes by our players that we collected on our forums and discord.
And as you might have heard we have a busy schedule for 2021, with a number of large updates and content planned for MKW this year. We expect the next major update to be released in 3 weeks from now. Thanks for your continuing support!
And now lets take a look at what changes our 24th update brings
Major Changes & New Features
- Total rewrite of the combat AI - much tougher and smarter
- Major performance improvement during combat
- Major performance improvement especially during large town sieges
- All hamlets redesigned for the gates to face middle of the map and potential enemies
- Citizens will not get killed during town sieges – does not distract units though
- Players can no loner gather wood from house towns inside large towns
- Large towns are now at disadvantage in skirmish - due to limited wood
- Level design update to all large towns - added decorative trees
Reworked Combat AI
- AI attacks in much larger and better prepared waves
- AI uses siege weapons a lot better
- Defensive AI will now place defenders on walls during battles
- AI will now correctly build large armies, and not stop at only max of 15 units
- Fixed major issue with AI getting stuck when attacking Hamlets and not progressing
- Fixed major issue with AI getting stuck when attacking some of the large towns
- Fixed various instances where AI will not do anything after one attack
- Defensive AI will eventually build siege weapons
- AI will now build walls in campaign hamlet battles
- Defensive AI will leave defenders on walls when launching attacks
- AI will build a lot more siege weapons
- AI will now build units and buildings in army vs army combat
- AI army vs army AI will not just blindly attack, but also defend and flank
- Fixed issue with AI not having stone for siege weapons
- Fixed issues with second AI on the same team usually not doing anything
Changes and Additions
- Fixed issue on the Paris type map with attackers camp not building walls correctly
- In large towns relocated some of the wall markers, to group them better - makes AI work better
- Town Houses no longer give wood
- Fixed tax rate string in Spanish overlaping
- New flyby cinematics for hamlets
- Various fixes with Hamlets level design
- Easier to see if player can afford the tech or not on the Stewards window
- Foot Knights and Swordsman will no longer have super long bad looking formation
Balancing Changes
- First Tutorial level is few minutes shorter now and easier to win
- Forth Tutorial level is now much faster and easier to win
- Reduced Mounted Plated Cavalry stats by about 20%
- Trees now have a lot more resources in them
- Even small trees in town now give a lot of wood
- Doubled the price of the Fire Cart
- It`s now a lot more expensive to rebuild gates
- Lowered passive food income rate from cows and chickens
- Much faster to capture town flag, especially if defender almost has no units
Major Update Incoming
We want to start by wishing everyone Happy New Year! All of us hope it`ll be a better one.
We have big plans for Kingdom Wars games in the coming year, including completing Kingdom Wars: Plague later in the year, doing updates to the original Kingdom Wars and Kingdom Wars 2, and of-course, moving forward with several large updates for Medieval Kingdom Wars.
With MKW our plan is to continue releasing sizable updates very 5-7 weeks for the rest of 2021. Overall game experience and content will continue to improve and expand.
To start things of - we have major update 24 coming in the next few days. In this update we focused on both combat performance, as well as greatly updating and improving combat and world map AI.
Skirmish vs AI will finally become challenging, with AI properly attacking and defending. On the world map AI will start progressing and researching units as the years goes by.
This update also comes with a dozen of most commonly requests fixes by our players that we collected on our forums and discord.
Once again - all the best wishes in the new year, and can`t wait to share this update in a few days!
Update 1.23 - Optimization & Reworked Combat
We have some exciting news, as the work on the major update 23 is finally complete.
Apologies for the delay, but some of the elements of this update were quite complex and required some time. Following this update for the rest of November and December we`ll be switching to smaller, more common updates.
With this update we focused on optimization and performance - greatly decreasing loading times, to boost both the FPS and CPU performance. You can expect quite smoother experience in all game modes, even in very large town combat
We also rebuilt melee combat from the ground up - starting from the way battalions look, to how they fight. You will no longer see units just standing next to each other taking damage or swinging swords in the air
And finally update comes with dozen of other improvements made while working on the Plague, from interface to the way menu operate and more, this really helps to streamline the gameplay experience.
Please keep in mind - that we have a World Map corrections updated on the horizon that fixes various mistakes with town position and names on the world, and a lot more.
Update 23 Patch Notes
Now lets take a look at what changes our 23rd update brings
REWORKED COMBAT
- Completely reworked unit battalion formations, sizing and shape
- Units will no longer swing weapons at each other several meters apart
- Units will no longer stand by each other dealing damage and not actually fighting
- Units now approach each other in battle to form closer battles lines, with other standing back if there`s no space
- Battles between melee units now take on average 30% longer
- Fixed issues in naval combat where units will keep on fighting for a very long time
- Reduced the protection bonus to units that are on walls, speeds up the sieges a little bit
- Range units now do a lot less damage, and are less OP - all ranged armies will no longer work
- Siege weapons can now survive a bit longer vs ranged fire, making sieges less dead locked
- All unit hitpoints reduced by about 30% that rebalances melee battles together with other changes
OPTIMIZATION
- Main menu loading time reducing by up to 80%, by reworking how it`s created. Campaign creation scene changed
- Major improvement to visual performance in large battles, with up to 30% less FPS drop
- Minor reduction in unit quality on all settings - but with big FPS gains
- Normalized and optimization all the lord and king textures - diplomacy menu now opens much faster
- Saved over 500mb in visual memory usage by optimizing textures
- Improved new level loading speed on all levels by up to 15%
FIXES & ADDITIONS
- When starting a new campaign, GUI will point which towns player can control with convenient arrows
- Double click on the world map no longer opens call to arms, only opened with the middle mouse button
- Fixed issue with GUI layout for difficulty for the new campaign creation being broken
- Palisade Gate now looks very different from rest of the palisade wall
- Reworked various common GUI icons like closing windows and others for a cleaner GUI
- Removed huge Notre Dame cathedral showing up in many of the capital cities
- Improved performance in the first tutorial battle level
- Naval combat tutorial is much faster, and easier for the player
- Minimal zoom is a bit higher
Major Update 1.23 - Coming Soon
We have some exciting news, as the work on the major update 23 is finally nearing completion.
Apologies for the delay, but some of the elements of this update were quite complex and required some time. Following this update for the rest of November and December we`ll be switching to smaller, more common updates.
As for the ETA - the best case - we`ll have this update out by Sunday evening , or worst case by Wednesday, depending on how the beta testing of the update continues.
And for the preview, here`s some of the bigger changes:
-Performance was one of the main areas of focus - from greatly decreasing loading times, to boost both the FPS and CPU performance, on average we showed off 30% of the loading times, and you can expect quite smoother experience in all game modes, even in very large town combat
-Reworked combat - combat got a total makeover, from the way battalions look, to how they fight, you will no longer see units just standing next to each other taking damage or swinging swords in the air
-The other part of this update was to copy dozens of improvements made while working on the Plague, from interface to the way menu operate and more, this really helps to streamline the gameplay experience.
-And finally we took the time to include fixes to a few annoying issues that plagued the game for a while
Looking forward to sharing this update with you in a few days!
Major Sale Event, Update and Bundle
Having resumed production of regular updates (with major updated released yesterday), we are starting the big sale drive today, with Medieval Kingdom Wars on a 50% sale for the next two weeks.
In addition, we have created bundles that reward players who have already purchased our other titles, like Kingdom Wars 2 or The Plague with an additional 15% off.
Meanwhile work continues, as we are back to weekly updates, and with world map expansion DLC on track for later this Fall.
If you have missed details on yesterday`s update, you can find them here. We have redesigned the combat to address a lot of player complaints. Units now fight each other instead of swinging weapons in the air while standing meters apart.
This update also brings some solid improvements to GUI, improves various diplomacy issues, and also completes Spanish and Italian translation.
https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/499660/view/2874940914770231731
Update 1.22 - Resuming Updates
Hope everyone is staying safe. We have a lot of news and exciting update for you today!
Introducing Update 22
We are glad to finally present the long-awaited update 22. Please read on for patch notes. This update includes a few new features like a preview of how and where battalion will form when you task it, as well as things like GUI rescaling and minimap improvements, and a lot of other fixes and improvements.
Resuming Updates
We are back to actively updating MKW, and you can expect a solid update every 2-3 weeks this Fall. Today`s is just the first of four updates that will be adding cool new tech and features from the improvements we made to our engine while working on The Plague Kingdom wars.
Upcoming World Map Expansion
As we complete the work on porting rest of Plague tech and improvements to MKW, we will finally release the big DLC that adds the highly expanded World Map. We expect this to be ready towards November.
The Plague Bundle
As you might have heard, we have recently release The Plague: Kingdom Wars. To make it easier for our players to take the plunge and purchase the new installments we have setup the "Complete the set bundles", which gives everyone who purchased MKW additional 15% off The Plague: Kingdom Wars
This might seem like bittersweet news. But rest assured - this only means great things to MKW. We are continuing regular MKW updates for at least the rest of 2020, and our work on The Plague: Kingdom Wars will not impact MKW updates.
Update 22 Patch Notes
With that said, lets take a look at what today`s major update brings us.
Performance
- Major scaling GUI update with various improvements in all menus for all resolutions
- Added battalion formation and location preview when tasking units
- New Campaign menu redesigned to show more lords
- New Campaign menu now highlights the current selected lord
- Minor improvements to unit tasking – a bit faster and more accurate
- Minor improvements to performance – during large scale combat
- Fixed some of the big towns not saving one of the buildings
- Minor reduction to the zoom in level
- Polished the translations, correction a lot of errors especially in Russian and German version
- Repaired the proxy – fixing most issues when trying to play multiplayer games
- Resolve a number of connection issues between players when playing with friends
- Fixed common bug with parts of the screen flashing oddly – especially on shadows
- Fixed various visual issues during campaign cinematics
- Fixed various issues with minimap
- Minimap now updates while the game is paused
- Fixed very rare crash when sending units to climb to a wall
Massive 70% sale on MKW & The Plague: KW is released
Our team has exciting news to share, as the sequel to MKW has been released today! To celebrate this we have started a massive 70% sale on MKW. An affordable way to get into the genre, for these not ready to take the plunge and try Plague: Kingdom Wars.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1300700/The_Plague_Kingdom_Wars/
Upcoming Major Updates
As our team is wrapping up work on The Plague, we are working on copying cool new tech and upgrades from the new game to MKW. These updates will make the bulk of the upcoming Update 22 and 23 later this summer, and will really help improve MKW.
To give you some previews of the cooler features:
-Total war like unit positioning preview when tasking soldiers
-Custom campaign game save
-Major performance improvements due to the new engine updates
-Large number of fixes and improvements to AI, combat and pathfinding
...and a lot more. We`ll post a detailed preview towards the end of next week.
World Map Expansions DLC
And as we have mentioned in our previous announcement, we can`t wait to release a huge DLC later this summer or early fall, that will feature a 4x bigger world map.
This new world map expansion will bring over 20 additional Kingdoms, and features areas from Constantinople and Middle East to North Africa, Poland and Sweden. And while it will be a little bit smaller than world map in the Plague, it more that double the playable area of MKW.
Thanks for your support, and can`t wait to share these cool updates with our MKW players!