Going Medieval News

Experimental Branch Patch (0.18.7)

Greetings players! The newest patch (0.18.7) is now live on all platforms on the experimental branch. Please save your progress and restart your game client to update. You should be able to load normally and continue playing. If you have any problems, please let us know.

[h3]Bugs and Fixes[/h3]

Fixed several crash occurrences.

[h2]New camera navigation system[/h2]
Some players found old camera movement jarring as the camera was tied to the ground level and once you reach different ground levels, the camera would jump accordingly and adjust. You can learn why this happened and how we tried to approach the solution in our last Medieval Monday Talk. It will give you insight into our development process, but also show how some problems might appear as easily solvable, when they are anything but. Anyways…

To “Unlock” this new camera system, go to the Options and select “Camera settings”. This will open another window that looks like this:

Camera sensitivity and Screen-edge mouse scroll are options from before and pretty self explanatory.

Legacy Mode represents the current (old) camera navigation mode. Turning that off will enable the rest of the options.

Camera target visuals toggles visuals that represent the camera’s target, the screen’s centre. These visuals will appear only while the camera is moving/zooming/orbiting.

Camera target visual duration represents the time that camera target visuals will linger on screen after the camera stops moving. The maximum length is 2 seconds combined with coyote time.

Coyote time represents the amount of time that the camera will remain in place before readjusting itself according to the terrain layout. If camera target visuals are enabled this is represented by a white line from the target visuals to the next layer the camera target will move to. The maximum length can be 3 seconds when the camera is not moving.

Camera offset by buildings represents the camera’s ability to take walls and floors into camera adjustment. Up until now the game’s camera was offset only by ground and water.

Let us know in the comment how the new camera feels. Hope you like it!

DISCLAIMERS:
⚠️ We decided to keep Dev version of the game on the experimental branch, and that means that a Dev log with red text will appear from time to time. This will help us get more info from your side when crashes and bug reports occur.
⚠️ Also, at the moment, the experimental and the main branch are very different. You will not be able to play saves from the experimental branch on the main one as the experimental has the new save system - please avoid doing this.

As always, use F10 and/or the experimental bug subforum for reporting experimental issues. Thank you!

Foxy Voxel

Experimental Branch Patch (0.18.6)

Greetings players! The newest patch (0.18.6) is now live on all platforms on the experimental branch. Please save your progress and restart your game client to update. You should be able to load normally and continue playing. If you have any problems, please let us know.

[h3]Bugs and Fixes[/h3]

Fixed several crash occurrences.
Fixed the issue where there was no animal present upon starting the new game. If you are playing these saves, new animals should appear over time.

[h3]Known issues:[/h3]

We are aware of many crashes players are experiencing due to the memory optimization fix and will continue looking into them first thing on Monday.
If settlers end up stuck, ignoring jobs (that are properly set and scheduled), and not behaving as intended, consider saving & reloading the game as there is a big chance that it may fix the issue.
Settlers will not choose the closest production building (if there are more of the same type), but the one that has a production set first in the global list of productions.
Settlers will not refuel torches if there is no floor/ground beneath them.
If your settlers are experiencing weird animations with some actions, be sure to turn off V-sync and cap the game's FPS in the game's options. Cap it to 60fps. If the issue persists, cap it at 30.

DISCLAIMERS:
⚠️ We decided to keep Dev version of the game on the experimental branch, and that means that a Dev log with red text will appear from time to time. This will help us get more info from your side when crashes and bug reports occur.
⚠️ Also, at the moment, the experimental and the main branch are very different. You will not be able to play saves from the experimental branch on the main one as the experimental has the new save system - please avoid doing this.

As always, use F10 and/or the experimental bug subforum for reporting experimental issues. Thank you!

Foxy Voxel

Experimental Branch Patch (0.18.4)

Greetings players! The newest patch (0.18.4) is now live on all platforms on the experimental branch. Please save your progress and restart your game client to update. You should be able to load normally and continue playing. If you have any problems, please let us know.

[h3]Bugs and Fixes[/h3]

Fixed several crash occurrences.
Memory optimization performed - the game should take less memory while being active and fixed the issue where each load of the save increased memory in the backend.
Fixed the issue where settlers would end up stuck in water in certain spots despite having a clear way out.
Fixed the issue where a campfire outside of the great hall was detected as a part of that room, thus preventing a proper “Great Hall” room detection.
Fixed the issue where the snow constantly remained on the slopes, despite the season changes. This also caused the temperature of that slope to be 0 degrees.
Fixed the issue where a settler would not refuel torches that are located above the merlons.
Fixed the issue where a settler with disabled Haul job would continue to haul the corpse after the hunt.
Fixed the issue where settlers with “Cannibal” and “Callous” perks would get bad modifiers related to human skin interaction. Finally, cannibals can feel comfortable in other people's skins.
Fixed the issue where the brazier On/Off selection didn’t align with its appearance in some saves.
Fixed the issue where some map seeds had a bad layout, causing water flooding the area upon the start.
Fixed the issue where settlers' current job didn’t align with the description on the left, next to their icon.
Fixed the issue where a settler would do research even when they didn’t have “Research” under their priorities.
Fixed the issue where resource piles were not properly counted in the top right corner.
Fixed the issue where a pile that was clearly reachable would turn auto forbidden in some of the scenarios.
Fixed the issue where a settler would try to rope an animal every time and fail in the process since that animal was reachable only by ladders located in the shallow water.
Fixed the issue where a message “Do you want to keep this setting?” would appear within every pop up window in the game.
Possible fix for the audio stuttering that some players have been experiencing. Let us know if it still happens.
Potential fix for the issue where some voxels would auto-destruct upon the load.

[h3]Quality of life improvements[/h3]

Message has been added if you try to force construction via right click, but the settler is unable to reach the destination / find a proper path to it.
Putting items in chests will hide the beauty of those items.
Some resource piles will leave wetness behind them when they are disposed of.
Room overlay will hide with the layers. Multi storey rooms overlay will also be hidden layer by layer.
Honey production time is 15% slower now. Honey production is no longer tied to the Animal Handling skill, meaning that the amount you get with the completed production is fixed (35 honey, 25 wax).
Honey will produce slower in Autumn on lower temperatures.

[h3]Known issues:[/h3]

If settlers end up stuck, ignoring jobs (that are properly set and scheduled), and not behaving as intended, consider saving & reloading the game as there is a big chance that it may fix the issue.
Settlers will not choose the closest production building (if there are more of the same type), but the one that has a production set first in the global list of productions.
Settlers will not refuel torches if there is no floor/ground beneath them.
If your settlers are experiencing weird animations with some actions, be sure to turn off V-sync and cap the game's FPS in the game's options. Cap it to 60fps. If the issue persists, cap it at 30.

Medieval Monday Talk #43

Greetings medievalists!

Camera is one of the things that some players find jarring. The way it “drops” during the movement is catching some players by surprise and interrupting a slow play that they’ve been enjoying.

This happens because at the moment the camera target (what the camera is looking at) and the camera itself do not go through a certain Unity layer type. At the moment this is only applicable to ground voxels and water. Because of that, the camera drops when hovering over a basement or a hole in the ground and creates irritating jitters in the camera movement.

So how to solve this problem? We checked all of the available options and listed all of the pros and cons for each. Before we tell you what we chose, we want to discuss all the other options as it may give you better insight into game development and challenges that come with choosing a solution for, what may appear as a simple problem.

[h2]Solution #1[/h2]
One solution that sounds the best is to simply add (with some variations) the BuildableSurface layer to the list of layers that the camera can’t go through.

This would solve the basement jumping because BuildableSurface would be used on walls and floors.

But the problem becomes evident when you move the camera through the terrain with a bunch of walls. Notice the constant jumping when encountering walls:

This may not look like a big deal, but keep in mind that one of the first things a player does is set up walls. Having the camera jump around during this process might make the game look broken in the first couple of minutes of gameplay, especially for the players new to the game.

Why not remove walls from the list and keep just the floors in that camera’s list of layers? Well, you would be surprised, but a bunch of players are using walls as floors and even filling holes up with walls (trust us, we check your reports). So if we remove walls from the list, the camera would continue jumping in these areas.

The second problem is tall structures:

This is not as big of a problem, but it could occur from time to time. You may find it irritating when panning around just to jump way up high. But what about holes?

Even with this system implemented, the camera would continue to jump if there is a visible hole.

[h2]Solution #2[/h2]
What if we lock the camera to the layer that is currently visible?

That would mean that the player knows exactly what layer they are working on and the camera does not jump down nor does it jump up (because everything over that layer is hidden).

But the game starts on level 16.0 because the player needs to see the whole map. This means that player’s first encounter with the game would look like this:

The camera is sluggish and zooming in slows it even more. Having the player manually set it to this is ok, but making the camera by default act like this is not user-friendly, especially for the first time players.

Even if the player understands the camera and how it's moving it's still a bit strange zooming into the air and having the camera slow down when zoomed in.

We could add a compass-like visual 3d object that appears on the invisible camera target while the camera is being moved. This way the player would understand what the camera is zooming toward and what it's orbiting around. But then again, it just doesn’t feel nice.

[h2]Solution #3[/h2]
What if we allow for switching between the default (current) camera and the solution #2 with a simple press/click of a button?

That could work. You would start with the default camera and have a nice first time user experience and, when in need, switch to the layered system. Buuuuuut, implementing such a system takes time (hence the lack of gifs) and could be perceived as janky.

We understand that the game’s complexity can be overwhelming as is, since we get a lot of reports of players activating heatmap by accident and writing that something broke, or reports that there are black holes in the ground when they scroll through layers. Part of the problem is definitely tutorial clarity, but part of it is concise user experience and that’s why we don’t think this solution is the right one.

[h2]Solution #4[/h2]
How about the introduction of a button that will introduce offset to the camera target (camera’s center)?

Camera would work as it currently does, but by holding a button (let’s say Shift) and scrolling the mouse, it would offset the camera via Z-axis to the point you like.

Before shift and scrolling

After shift and scrolling

When offsetting, the new offset height would become the base height of the camera during the current movement (the camera would not jump vertically at all, regardless of the obstructions). Once you stop moving the camera, it would snap back to the ground level beneath it.

This, too, adds an unnecessary layer of complexity to the navigation system, especially for more casual players. And holding one button (especially with your pinky finger) can get tiresome.

[h2]Solution #5 - our pick[/h2]
Are you familiar with the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner cartoon? In it, Wile E. Coyote chases Road Runner but fails to catch him. Like, all the time. Usually it would end with Wile E. Coyote frequently floating in air for a few seconds after running off of a cliff. This type of reaction is known as coyote time. What if we add coyote time to our camera? Here us out.

Meaning, once the camera reaches the edge of the current level, it will not drop down instantly but will remain in the air a bit. It will stay 1 second in the air and then it will drop down. During the camera pivot, a few UI visuals will appear that will help you get a better sense of the camera positioning in these cases. These visuals were inspired by the game Castle Story and we really liked their UI solutions when it comes to navigation.

Our apologies to the Castle Story team regarding the quality of these gifs (done due to Steam upload limitations)

The coyote time duration, along with other camera options, can be changed in-game, at any point, in game’s options.

Honestly, we experimented with this a bit and the team agreed that this might be the best solution. But we need your opinion, too. We want to test this camera and see your reception and if it feels good to you as it does to us. Once we push the update live, we’ll write instructions on how to activate this camera type. Yes, this camera movement will be a feature that you can turn off/on whenever you want. We still think that the present camera system is best suited for beginners, hence why we’d like to keep it. But we do understand that it shows cracks when it comes to more advanced settlements. Hopefully the coyote camera will fix that. You can expect for it to be live sometimes next week.

What says you about all this camera science? Are you satisfied with the current camera system? Does the final solution sound good to you? Let us know in the comments and wait for it to go live.

Foxy Voxel

Patch Notes (0.16.26)

Greetings, medievalists! The newest patch (0.16.26) is now live on all platforms on the main branch. Please save your progress and restart your game client to update. You should be able to load normally and continue playing. If you have any problems, please let us know.

[h3]Bugs and Fixes[/h3]

Fixed several crash occurrences.
Fixed the issue where settlers would end up stuck in water in certain spots despite having a clear way out.
Fixed the issue where a campfire outside of the great hall was detected as a part of that room, thus preventing a proper “Great Hall” room detection.
Fixed the issue where the snow constantly remained on the slopes, despite the season changes. This also caused the temperature of that slope to be 0 degrees.
Fixed the issue where a settler would not refuel torches that are located above the merlons.
Fixed the issue where a settler with disabled Haul job would continue to haul the corpse after the hunt.
Fixed the issue where settlers with “Cannibal” and “Callous” perks would get bad modifiers related to human skin interaction. Finally, cannibals can feel comfortable in other people's skins.
Fixed the issue where the brazier On/Off selection didn’t align with its appearance in some saves.

[h3]Quality of life improvements[/h3]

Message has been added if you try to force construction via right click, but the settler is unable to reach the destination / find a proper path to it.

[h3]Present frustrating issues:[/h3]

If settlers end up stuck, ignoring jobs (that are properly set and scheduled), and not behaving as intended, consider saving & reloading the game as there is a big chance that it may fix the issue.
It seems that the situation where you try to build a soil voxel and it crumbles upon completed construction still happens. As with the issue above, it’s close to impossible to reproduce this issue on our side. We’re working on a potential memory fix that may, in turn, solve this issue and some other stuff. In the meantime, if you encounter this bug, please provide as much info/context as possible. Quitting the game and starting the save will solve the issue.

[h3]Known issues:[/h3]

Settlers will not refuel torches if there is no floor/ground beneath them.
Settlers will not choose the closest production building (if there are more of the same type), but the one that has a production set first in the global list of productions.

NOTE: Also, be sure to check this log for more potential misconceptions and common bug reports.

DISCLAIMER:
⚠️At the moment, the experimental and the main branch have very different save systems. You will not be able to play saves from the experimental branch on the main one (and vice-versa). Experimental will also get this update soon and we'll edit this post to reflect that.

Foxy Voxel