Greetings Knights, First, we would like to thank everyone who checked out the game, gave us feedback, left a review, downloaded and played the game. We are now currently featured in the Steam Summer Sale frontpage. As a student project, this is a huge milestone for us and it would not have been possible without all of you! With this update we are bringing a lot of improvement to the game and a new shiny Game Mode for you to enjoy: Challenge Maps! Challenge Maps consist in a series of different scenarios with different characteristics: in some of them you can freely build your Castle without worrying about the Golden Horde, in other ones the Golden Horde will get even more aggressive than in Hard difficulty. Some of these maps are still experimental, let us know what you think about them and which ones are your favorite, we are all ears! We heard your feedback about Endless. We smoothened the difficulty curve along the entire experience.
Talking about Mongolian business, here is the patch notes with all the major changes that this patch brings to the table. I’ll see the bravest Knights at the end:
PATCH NOTES 1.1.5:
New Features:
New Game Mode: Challenge Maps are now available to play! You will be offered 13 different new maps, from relaxing scenarios where you are able to build your empire in peace to extreme difficulties where the Mongols will overwhelm you with their armies.
Added 6 new shiny achievements for you to unlock! These achievements will challenge you to reach certain conditions in a single game!
Visuals:
Reworked terrain on the Skirmish (and Challenge Maps) selection screen.
Added destruction animations to the Military Camp.
Added destruction animations to Keep level 2 and Keep level 3 upon defeat.
User Interface and User Experience:
Changed text on the timer for Skirmish and Endless.
Changed and improved text on some Védelemopedia topics.
Replaced some old video on the Védelemopedia with new ones.
Added new topic to the Védelemopedia: Rally Points.
Fixed typos on tooltips, unit descriptions, difficulty descriptions and Challenge Maps description.
Moved the game version number to the options menu.
Reworked visuals on the Options Menu.
Game Modes:
Challenge Maps:
Adjusted spawn points so that enemy units don't fall under the ground.
Renamed certain maps to better reflect their design.
Added description on all Challenge Maps.
Adjusted position of the “No Mercy” level.
Adjusted last waves in the following maps: Crossfire, Desert.
Adjusted early waves in the following map: Valley.
Adjusted overall structure of the waves in the following maps: Extreme, War.
Endless - complete overhaul:
Curated waves extended to 30 minutes (up from 20).
Adjusted and improved the entire system behind the Endless mode.
Hard difficulty:
Reduced raid frequency at the beginning of the game.
Greatly reduced units on the final wave to avoid decrease in performances.
FIXES:
Fixed a bug where going to the Main Menu from Score screen would give a black screen.
Fixed a bug where Walls weren't always blocking the NavMesh.
Fixed a bug where Elite Unit upgrade cost is multiplied when multiple barracks are selected.
Fixed a bug where you could queue up multiple Elite Unit upgrades from multiple Military Buildings.
Fixed a bug where Enemy Raid Formations stand still next to the NavMesh border.
Fixed a bug where not all entities were being removed when exiting game.
Fixed a bug where going back to the Main Menu or quitting the game was taking a lot of time.
Fixed a bug where in-game UI was still interactable when Pause Menu or Védelemopedia was still open.
Fixed a bug where drag-selection was still possible when Pause Menu or Védelemopedia was still open.
Fixed a bug where health bars of damaged buildings were not staying on after deselecting the building.
Fixed a bug where enemy archers would play their attack animation, but no arrow would be fired.
Fixed a bug where Elite archer upgrade in barracks wasn’t getting a checkmark when bought.
Fixed a bug where formation would stand still and not attack anything until they were being provoked.
Fixed a bug where Enemy Raid Formations weren’t targeting anything after they've destroyed a building.
Fixed a bug where music stops when pressing back to menu button on in pause menu, even if you cancel in the confirmation window.
Fixed the “Abrakadabra” achievement, which was previously unlocked after harvesting only 50 wood.
KNOWN ISSUES:
Cancelling units from the Military Building production queue doesn't always work.
Combat Audio is sometimes still playing when your keep is destroyed and you're looking at the stats.
Mongolian formations spinning like whirling dervishes.
Sawmill, Quarry and Iron mines sometimes like to leave the resource number on top of the buildings along the map.
Upgrade buttons on resource buildings are selecting/unselecting when hovering over it.
VFXs still stockpile gunpowder charges while game is paused.
Some unexpected typos in the Challenge Maps' descriptions.
Thanks for taking the time to read these notes! As always, this update could not have been possible without you. During the past week, we received an incredible amount of feedback, both here on Steam and on our Discord server. This is what really keeps us motivated. On behalf of the whole team, a huge thank you.
This game belongs to all of you.
I will see you all in the next update, may your Stone Keep hold against the entire Golden Horde!
Full Release - Patch 1.0!
Greetings Knights, as a student project, this patch marks a huge milestone for us. We have been busy at work for weeks developing this update and we were able to improve the game only thanks to the feedback you gave us here on Steam, on our Discord channel or on our social media. This is the biggest update yet and contains a huge list of improvements and features. First of all, we released a new game mode: Endless! Test your skills on the battlefield against a never-ending stream of Mongolian armies. Lots of new visuals have been added as well, including new models for the Keep, post-processing effects and much more.
For those Knights brave enough to get to the end, here is the full list of changes:
PATCH NOTES 1.0
New features:
New game mode: Endless is now available to play!
Added 25 unlockable achievements.
Auto-alignment formations: when selecting different type of units, they will now automatically position themselves in the front or back row depending on their role (e.g. archers will always go in the back row, Man-at-arms on the front).
Shiny new visuals to all the levels of the Keep.
User Interface & User Experience:
Reworked context windows for all units and buildings.
Updated UI rendering layer.
Reworked text on the difficulty selection screen.
Reworked tooltips layout and visuals.
Added best score to each Skirmish map window.
Added best score to Endless mode window.
Added confirmation screen when quitting the game or going back to the Main Menu from the Pause Menu.
Reworked buttons on the Pause menu.
Uniformed all the text to only use two fonts.
Added contextual text to the timer of Endless mode.
Reworked Score Screen layout and visuals.
Rebalanced points gained from military, economy and time scores.
Made time score available only from Endless.
Added description and stats on Mongolian units.
Changed description of units available to the player.
Rephrased partial score points to not be confused with actual numbers.
Added Replay button to the Score Screen on Endless.
Reworked Védelemopedia layout.
Reworked Védelemopedia topics and their descriptions.
Added videos for all the topics in the Védelemopedia.
Adjusted layout of Keep and Armory tab.
Moved “Garrison of Archers on the Keep” Upgrade to the Keep tab.
Added new icon for Wooden Keep (Keep Level 2).
Updated placeholder videos in the Védelemopedia with newer ones.
Split Védelemopedia into BASICS and ADVANCED section.
Added locks to the banners in the skirmish selection map for difficulty yet to be unlocked.
Non-clickable icons, such as icon portraits, are now squared.
Added new custom community icon for the game.
Added visuals to the Options Menu.
Options & Usability:
Added new graphical settings to the Options Menu:
Ultra settings including volumetric light.
Color blind modes.
Terrain detail density.
Framerate cap.
Added 3 different color blind modes to the Options Menu:
Deuteranopia
Protanopia
Tritanopia
Visuals:
Added different visuals for Wooden Keep, Stone Keep.
Added Palisade to starting Keep and Wooden Keep.
Added vegetation and landmarks to the terrain.
Added transition from palisade to stone walls upon researching Stone Keep.
Added different animated flags to Keep, palisades and walls.
Added destruction animations to Stone Keep (Keep Level 3).
Added defeat camera sequences.
Added ruins of destroying buildings along the map.
Added new icons for all the mastery upgrades.
Added border meshes.
Added terrain foliage optimization.
Added several post-processing effects.
Added volumetric light.
Reworked pre-existing icons in the Keep menu.
Reworked textures for the Sawmill.
Reworked textures for the Military Camp.
Reworked and improved Stone Keep and Stone walls textures.
Reworked Iron visuals to be more readable.
Reworked wheat field to pop-up more.
Reworked and set-dressed top of the mountains.
Reworked unit banners to look darker and more readable.
Implemented a non-volumetric version of the Fog of War.
Improved variety of trees in the starting tile.
Balance changes - UNITS:
Archers to Mongolian Infantry multiplier nerfed: 1.1 (down from 1.2).
Archers stats nerfed:
<*> Attack damage to 4 (down from 6). <*> Attack Speed to 2 (down from 3). <*> Cost to 120 wood and 100 food (up from 100 wood and 100 food).
Elite Archers stats nerfed:
<*> Attack damage to 6 (down from 8) <*> Attack Speed to 4 (down from 5)
Men-at-arms nerfed
<*> Hit Points to 190 (down from 200) <*> Cost to 100 food (up from 50 food)
Elite Men-at-arms nerfed:
<*> Hit Points to 250 (down from 260)
Elite Spearmen nerfed:
<*> Hit Points to 160 (down from 180)
Wall Archers nerfed:
<*> Hit Points to 130 (down from 150) <*> Attack Damage to 10 (down from 12) <*> Cost to 3 wood, 3 iron per unit (from 3 wood, 3 food) <*> Training time to 25 seconds (up from 22 seconds)
Mongolian Horse Archers:
<*> Hit Points to 100 (up from 60)
Balance changes - UPGRADES:
Sword & Shield mastery
Hit Points to 10 (up from 6)
Attack Speed to 10 (up from 6)
Arrow Mastery
Arrows area of damage to 2 (down from 4)
Spear Mastery
Cost to 300 wood, 200 iron (up from 300 wood, 100 iron)
Elite Archer upgrade
Cost to 300 wood, 150 iron (from 200 wood, 300 food)
Elite Man-at-arms upgrade:
Cost to 300 food, 150 iron (up from 300 food)
Elite Spearmen upgrade
Cost to 100 food, 200 iron (from 300 food, 200 iron)
Spear Upgrade
Cost to 150 iron (down from 200 iron)
Bow Upgrade
Cost to 150 iron (down from 250 iron)
Balance changes - GAME MODES:
Adjusted difficulty curve and enemy spawn locations on all difficulty levels.
Adjusted difficulty on Endless mode.
Shortened duration of Tutorial and Easy mode.
Easy mode is now unlocked from the start.
Balance Changes - ECONOMY:
All mastery upgrades now cost iron.
All Elite Unit upgrades now cost iron.
Garrison of archers on walls now cost iron instead of food.
Rebalanced the number of upgrades unlockable behind each Keep level.
Increased the cost of tiles starting from the 5th ring.
All “increase capacity” upgrades now cost stone, except for stone capacity.
Decreased farm loss of efficiency from resources and buildings.
Increased cost of Keep level 2 cost.
Increased farm loss of efficiency from other farms.
Audio:
Added sound cues when selecting a unit.
Added sound cues when giving orders to a unit.
Added march sounds.
Added Unit death sounds.
Added horse sounds to Mongolian cavalry.
Added Win theme when victory is achieved.
Added Lose theme when defeated.
MISC:
Moved spawn points away to be more difficult to reach.
Endless now uses the same map as Skirmish.
Changed Keep starting field of view.
Adjusted field of views for all the other buildings.
FIXES:
Sawmills’ smoke now blows always in the same direction.
Health bar of buildings and units will now stay on if not at 100%.
Fixed a game-breaking crash happening after a certain amount of time.
Fixed a pathfinding crash.
Fixed crash happening in alignment system.
Fixed a game-breaking bug where enemy units would get stuck on the map preventing the game to be finished.
Fixed bug where icons on production queue would not scale correctly.
Fixed some instances were an hovering over UI would trigger two audio cues at once.
Fixed a bug where ranged units would get stuck in attack animation while not shooting any arrows.
Fixed a bug where it was possible to research multiple elite upgrades from multiple military buildings.
Fixed bug where trees on starting tile wouldn’t deplete.
Fixed a bug where music would stop when going back to main menu from a confirmation screen.
Fixed an issue where in-game theme would play for a second when starting up the game.
Fixed a bug where In-game theme would keep playing after finishing a game and going back to the level select.
Fixed a bug where pressing “back” on skirmish selection would not bring you back to game mode menu.
Fixed a bug where tiles would spawn when they should not due to blocking volumes.
Fixed a bug where buildings would block unit’s pathfinding.
Fixed a visual issue where the wheat field would disappear when the camera is zoomed out
Fixed a bug where you could replay the game after winning or losing by pressing pause button and then resume.
Fixed a bug where stats on the context window are the same for all the units.
Fixed old tooltips giving wrong information on research requirements.
Fixed a bug that triggered win screen upon keep deletion.
Fixed a bug where resources cost on tiles would be rendered underneath the terrain.
Fixed a bug where the grid would generate underneath the terrain.
Fixed a bug where Military & Economic Tab results are not correctly calculated and reflected in the final score.
Fixed a bug where formations would get stuck on the river pass.
Fixed a bug preventing to close the credits menu by pressing escape.
Fixed a bug where melee formations would start attacking through walls.
Fixed a bug that made impossible to access pause menu and Védelemopedia by pressing their corresponding icons.
Fixed options menu not closing when pressing escape.
Fixed an issue with health bars of buildings not rotating to the camera while the building is being constructed.
Fixed invisible walls.
Fixed size of the sawmill.
Fixed an issue where destroying a house would remove population capacity.
Fixed an issue where starting units were not counted towards population capacity.
Fixed an issue with Military building not having repair and destroy building icons.
Fixed an issue where cancelling a wall upgrade, would stop any future upgrades from being researched.
Fixed a bug where friendly units could attack other friendly units.
KNOWN ISSUES:
Cancelling units from the Military Building production queue does not always work.
In-game UI is still interactable when Védelemopedia or Pause Menu are open.
VFXs stockpile gunpowder charges while game is paused.
Combat Audio doesn't play at the start when a formation performs an action.
Not all units in an enemy ranged formation attack.
Buildings start harvesting resources while they are under construction.
The Combat Audio of the formations is still playing when you are on the Score Screen.
We are planning to further improve the game, here is a preview of what to expect with the next update:
A sneak peak of patch 1.1:
New game Mode: Crazy Maps (now called Extra).
Even more achievements!
Destruction animations for Keep level 1 and 2.
Bug fixes and performance improvements.
New layout for Options Menu.
Several small tweaks.
Thanks again everyone, we wouldn't be able to do this without you. Feel free to join our Discord server if you want to reach out to the developers, give us any feedback or just share your best score on any Skirmish difficulty or the new Endless mode.
Major Update - Patch 0.6.13
Greetings Knights, this time around we have prepared a big update for you. We have heard your feedback and smoothened the learning curve along all the difficulties. These changes include more balanced wave systems, the addition of unit counters for a more strategic combat, an improved map that grants you more space to expand, additional unit upgrades and many other quality of life features. We also made several improvements to a lot of UI elements - from specific descriptions to a plethora of icons. On top of that, many rounds of balance have been applied to all the units.
For the bravest ones, here is the full patch notes, including all the major changes:
PATCH NOTES:
Skirmish mode:
Adjusted the difficulty in all of the Skirmish levels;
Reworked Skirmish map from the ground up;
Assigned different starting positions to the Keep based on the difficulty level selected.
Combat System:
Combat multipliers implemented for all the units;
Improved pathfinding & combat AI.
User Interface & User Experience:
Added Scoreboard at the end of each Skirmish game;
Reworked Level Selection screen visuals;
Locked all the difficulties behind Tutorial's completion;
Reworked Level Selection window layout;
Reworked Level Selection window descriptions to match the actual gameplay;
Reworked Tutorial screens into a Védelemopedia;
Added backgrounds on sub-menus for Military, Economic and Keep buttons;
Reworked layout for the Keep sub-menu;
Added context window for units;
Added multiselection window to the unit context window;
Reworked Buildings' context window;
Added mini production queue inside the Military Camp context window;
Tutorial now starts with a Védelemopedia open;
Added context to the timer;
Added "Extra" window to the Game Selection Screen (disabled).
Buildings:
Replaced Military Building model with a new one;
Added animations on all the economic buildings;
Added wheatfield to the Farm upon completion.
Balance changes - Upgrades:
Elite Archers Upgrade now available to unlock from Keep Level 2 instead of Keep Level 3;
Adjusted and rebalanced cost of the Elite upgrade for all the units;
Increased cost of Spear mastery upgrade;
Added Sword Mastery Upgrade to the Keep;
Added Arrow Mastery Upgrade to the Keep;
Added Spear Mastery Upgrade to the Keep;
Added Shield Upgrade to the Keep;
Added Bow Upgrade to the Keep;
Added Spear Upgrade to the Keep;
Rebalanced and reduced costs required to unlock Keep Level 2 and Keep Level 3;
Moved all Elite Units upgrades from the Keep to the Military Camp.
Balance Changes - Combat:
Archer - decreased attack damage & attack speed;
Elite archer - decreased attack damage;
Men at arms - decreased health;
Spearmen - increased health & decreased cost;
Garrison of archers on the walls: decreased health & attack damage;
Mongolian Melee Cavalry - increased health & attack damage;
Mongolian Infantry Unity - increased health & attack damage.
Balance Changes - Economy:
Increased cost of tiles - ring 5 to 12;
Added tile ring 13 to 20.
Audio:
Added Main Menu theme.
Fixes:
FIXED a bug where players were able to reach enemies' spawning points;
FIXED an error when selecting the wall & house at the same time by using a separate context window instance for both;
FIXED an issue when with selection & dragging while placing buildings;
FIXED an issue with alert messages being displayed too much in a short amount of time;
FIXED multiple crash instances;
FIXED enemy spawning locations.
We were able to implement so many changes only thanks to all the feedback that we received from all of you. Thanks a lot for playing the game and being such an active part of its development. We wouldn't be able to do this without you.
Feel free to join our community on Discord to reach the developers, engage with our passionate community and have even a major influence over the game.
We are working hard to prepare the next update and we can't wait to show you what's next for Védelem: the Golden Horde. In the meanwhile, we'll see you all on the battlefield, defending against the vicious Golden Horde!
