Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown News

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown - Steam Next Fest Demo Now Live!

People of Nysamor,

We’re super excited to share that - ahead of our participation in Steam Next Fest next week - our first public demo for Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is now available!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

There is a whole new world of content to explore in Nysamor, including Multiplayer, Waelgrim Surges, our first Waelbeast encounter, the AI controlled Wyrmaxa Kingdom, and a ton of updated and improved gameplay systems.

The Next Fest Demo includes over ten hours of gameplay, alongside countless fixes and enhanced AI encounters for those that experienced our Closed Beta in December. Importantly, this is your final chance to experience Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown prior to our Early Access launch later this year!

Download the demo NOW via Steam and join in the conversation on Discord!

Be quick! The demo will conclude on February 12. We will have more exciting details to share on Early Access in the coming months, but we hope you enjoy this slice until then.

Will you be a kind or cruel ruler? It’s time to find out!

[h2]DEMO FAQ[/h2]

What is Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown?

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is a medieval fantasy city builder where the decisions you make weigh heavily on the fate of your kingdom. In Nysamor, you and your citizens will transform a settlement into a kingdom, staking your claim on its provinces while meeting the essential needs and demands of your people. A mysterious, devastating force known as the Waelgrim also lurks in these lands, but the Nysians do not fear it. The roaming Grimrot and ruling Wyrmaxans embrace its power, and see it as a gift. As your reign shifts toward a path of Benevolence or Tyranny, you too must decide if the Waelgrim becomes something to be honored…or subdued.

Grow a formidable kingdom, with more than thirty unique buildings and dozens of resources.
Address the needs of your people and kingdom through events and specializations to reflect your style of rule.
Amass a grand army and challenge the Grimrot, Wyrmaxans, or other players in RTS combat.
Compete with friends and foes in multiplayer with up to four players.

What will the demo include?

The demo features:

Updated gameplay:
City Building
- Resource Collection
- Population Growth
- Trade Routes
- Combat including NPC combat with Grimrot and Waelbeast
- Multiplayer
- Waelgrim surges and first Waelbeast encounter
- Wyrmaxan AI faction
Narrative complete up to Act 1 (same as Closed Beta)
Estimated 10 hours of play time
Supported languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Simplified Chinese
Changes based on beta feedback:
- Fixes to the tutorial flow
- Multiplayer improvements
- Performance optimisation
- UI improvements

What feedback did you take on board from the Closed Beta build?

Our Closed Beta late last year was a tremendous success, so we thank you all for taking part. Players should now expect considerable upgrades across performance, graphic textures, lighting, various UI elements, onboarding, combat, fires, disease, attacks, trade, the strategic map, and, of course, multiplayer. Some of the changes we have made are below:

Separate builder class: Builders now deliver all resources to construct the build, taking the load off the Stockpile workers. This also allows buildings to be constructed anywhere in a province.
- Builders can have townspeople added to the job and removed but it is not part of the priority list on the job menu anymore.
- The job menu is now drag and drop using the left mouse click and hold and drag into priority.
Wyrmaxa Kingdom is now a major threat to the player. Patrols the map, attacks the player, and does not like players building relationships with AI towns. Players can defeat the Wyrmaxa Kingdom, but you best be prepared…
Adderbeasts will attack your kindgom with Waelgrim surges.
UI improvements:
- Most icons have been adjusted or colorized in some way to be more visible.
- Camp worldspace icons are more visible.
- The War and Demolish buttons have been separated from the placeables buttons in the Build Bar to more clearly separate their functions.
- Updated Event UI for further clarity based on Beta feedback.

What can I expect in the Demo versus the Early Access launch?

While many of the Early Access anticipated features are present in the Demo, there are some items that are either still being tweaked and polished, or being withheld to build up anticipation for Early Access and Full Release.

In Early Access, you can expect:

Forty (40) additional buildings
Twenty (20) more craftable items
Discovering your path: Benevolence or Tyranny
Four (4) new classes of citizens once the Benevolent/Tyrannical paths are unlocked (two for each)
Acts II and III of the main narrative arc, along with Random and Building Specialization events
Increased military units and options
And more…

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Until we next meet…

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is available to Wishlist on Steam now!

Social Links:
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Website - Official Website Discord - Join our Discord community
X/Twitter - Follow us @thrivehltc Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Find out more about PlaySide Publishing on its official website

To learn more about Zugalu Entertainment, please visit its official website

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown | End-of-Year Recap

Greetings fellow Nysians,

We would like to thank all of you who participated in Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown’s Closed Beta these past few weeks. Together, you form a grand Curia, advisors who help us to ensure that we can deliver the best experience to all of our players as we approach Early Access in 2024.

Your feedback through the Closed Beta period has helped us to identify where we excel, where we can improve, and well…that perhaps there are a few too many fires (ah, medieval construction). This feedback will shape the future of Thrive’s development over the coming weeks and months.

In 2024, your knowledge of Nysamor will greatly increase. We will be releasing a playable demo in February as part of Steam’s Next Fest, which will introduce players to more details and gameplay elements related to the Waelgrim and the Wyrmaxa. There are also rumors that an Early Access release announcement may be on the horizon, so remain ever vigilant and keep watch over Discord and Steam for updates.

Wherever you are and wherever you may roam, we hope this year’s end finds you in a land filled with merry company and good cheer. Have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. Long may you reign, and long may you Thrive!

Branden, CEO/Creative Director

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

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Until we next meet…

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is available to Wishlist on Steam now!

Social Links:
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Website - Official Website Discord - Join our Discord community
TikTok - Follow us @thrivehltc
X/Twitter - Follow us @thrivehltc Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Find out more about PlaySide Publishing on its official website

To learn more about Zugalu Entertainment, please visit its official website

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Dev Blog: Closed Beta Extension

People of Nysamor,

We’re happy to announce that the Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown’s Closed Beta has been extended to the 18th of December, 4PM MST.

The response from our community has been incredible across the Closed Beta period to date. Our goal for the Closed Beta has always been to use this period to get you, our players, hands on with the game, and to collate invaluable player feedback. Your time playing Thrive: Heavy Lies The Crown has allowed us to identify several areas of development focus, and highlighted some of the things you’ve really loved about that game.

From the bottom of our hearts, we’d like to thank each and every player who’s stepped into the world of Nyasmor over the Closed Beta, and we’d love to invite all of you to continue your adventures for a little while longer. Extending the Closed Beta allows players more time with the game, and gives us better insight into how we can improve the gameplay experience for all players as we approach Early Access next year.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can request Playtest access via Steam now and our team will work to grant you access immediately!

Please be sure to join our community on Discord to chat to the dev team and other players, and please feel free to leave the development team feedback via the Closed Beta Survey.

[h3]CLOSED BETA PATCH UPDATE[/h3]

Thank you all for reporting bugs and issues, this is very helpful to our team! We are looking to
release a patch over the next few days to fix issues raised by the community, including:

Multiplayer loading issues
Pathfinding fixes
Single-player save/load issues
Text edits and minor bug fixes
Increase stockpile worker limit 3-5
Decreased food market worker limit 5-3
Increased road movement speed by 10%
Reduced fire chance, and added delay between fast fire can spread

—————

Until we next meet…

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown is available to Wishlist on Steam now!

Social Links:
Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Website - Official Website Discord - Join our Discord community
TikTok - Follow us @thrivehltc
X/Twitter - Follow us @thrivehltc Facebook - Like Our Facebook Page YouTube - Subscribe To Our YouTube Channel

Find out more about PlaySide Publishing on its official website

To learn more about Zugalu Entertainment, please visit its official website

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown | Closed Beta | Dev Stream

Kat and Greg are back with another developer update to celebrate the rollout of the Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Closed Beta. Watch now for a summary of our latest updates:

New Buildings including the Fire House and military buildings
Insight into Trading and the Tome of Knowledge (tech tree)
Differences between classes of people
...and some helpful tips on how to get started!

The Closed Beta concludes shortly, so make sure you request access NOW on Steam to take part. Join the Discord to stay in touch with devs and have your say.

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Until we next meet…

Join our Discord community

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown Dev Blog: Closed Beta Update (Patch 0.0.0.134)

People of Nysamor,

Thrive: Heavy Lies the Crown’s Closed Beta is live, and we’re happy to confirm that all ThriVIP members and applicants have been granted access. We’ve been humbled by the response so far and are excited for more of you to venture into the world of Nysamor.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can request Playtest access via Steam now and our team will work to grant you access immediately! As a reminder, the Beta ends 11th December, 4PM MST, so get in quick.

[h2]CLOSED BETA UPDATE[/h2]

Thank you all for reporting bugs and issues, this is very helpful to our team! Our intention with the Closed Beta was always to closely monitor game performance and actively seek feedback from our players. From your feedback, we've been able to identify several issues affecting some of our player base, including performance, AI and pathfinding issues impacting caravan mechanics, multiplayer desyncs and UI improvements. To that end, we have just released the first patch, V0.0.0.134 which should include fixes across all of the above. Full patch notes, along with notes and known issues can be found below.

Please note that this update will sadly cause a loss of save files and game progress for our early Closed Beta players. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately were unable to find a solution to maintain save progress with updated builds through the Closed Beta period.

As mentioned, we'll continue to monitor game performance, and your feedback throughout the Closed Beta, so please continue to share any issues you may run into in Discord.

Don’t forget to check out our Helpful Hints below to learn more about your first journey in Nysamor.

[h2]PATCH NOTES[/h2]

Fixed issues with Events starting but quickly disappearing, causing progress to halt.
Fixed issue with players getting stuck during an Event conversation.
Fixed issues with units getting stuck while pathfinding.
Fixed issues with desync during multiplayer matches.
Fixed bugs loading into the multiplayer menu both client and host side.
Added multithreading to unit move calculations.
Fixed issue where the Farmers assigned to a Resource Flag would continue to work on their assigned resource node when the AOI (Area of Influence) was no longer contained in that node.
Fixed issue where the same resource can be added multiple times in the top resource bar from the dropdown menu.
Fixed issue where removing and then adding a worker to a building with another worker already assigned no longer results in their animations overlapping.
Fixed an issue with loading where units may not responding to users.
Add space-to-pause.
Esc menu no longer blocked by Event UI.
Added Event UI minimizing.
Fixed locked upgrades not locking correctly

[h2]NOTES & KNOWN ISSUES[/h2]

We are aware of an issue affecting frame rates and memory usage. Please make sure to enable V-SYNC and restart your computer.
Some labels on buttons may be displayed as ‘Default’
Multiplayer load times are longer than expected.
Localization is still in progress; certain text prompts may display incorrect information.
Some animations may not seem 100% correct with villagers appearing to walk in place outside buildings where they are assigned to work, or performing incorrect actions.
Fires in the early game may feel overwhelming. Ensure that you have placed Wells within the Area of Influence, and have villagers working at Wells. This should enable you to extinguish them.
Some buildings may not seem to generate their resources. Ensure that the structure has access to a Primitive Stockpile/Stockpile in range (or more than one!) and is not overworked. If this does not solve the problem, demolish and rebuild the structure to solve the issue.
Apple production may feel slow. Ensure plenty of apple orchards are planted to support the village.
Edict menu may behave unusually during onboarding. This will cease once it is complete.
UI popups may appear on top of each other - and you can continue to play the game while they are open. This applies to Tutorial steps, Menus and Narrative Events.
Events currently do not pause gameplay, as the intent is to be able to minimize them and revisit as-needed. This feature is coming soon.
Within the Jobs menu, the Tavern icon may incorrectly display the Farmer icon.
The count of resources may spill over the allotted space within the top bar HUD
You can only prioritize one building at a time. This is an intended limitation.
You are unable to delete a trade route once it has been created. You can, however, change the resource slots as desired.
Waelgrim Surges are present but will be expanded in Early Access.
The game may take a long time to exit to the main menu (after building a large village)
Loading and Saving the game can take some time to complete.
After the ‘Preparing for Expansion’ tutorial step, you will need to establish a proper settlement and not just a wheat farm, for the settlement to properly function.
You will need a Grim Stores to properly deal with Waelgrim Crystal. It can be unlocked through Events.
The Tome of Knowledge (research tree) can be accessed through your Keeps UI, or via the top-left menu. The second button from the left (Sword and Book icon) represents this tree, and will allow you to unlock various new elements of gameplay.

[h2]HELPFUL HINTS[/h2]
We’ve includes some helpful tips and tricks to getting started in Thrive

Preparing for expansion[/h3]

When deploying a caravan, the placement has to be within range of a stockpile – but not too close
- An alert (red triangle) may show on the menu pop-out that there is no storage within range
This is a minor bug – and the caravan can be filled with resources
- Press the purple button to automatically load the caravan; it may take some time to load, but the caravan will be loaded with stones, rocks and farmers for settling in a new province
- Players need to press the green deploy button to continue through the tutorial

[h3]Cultivating Wheat [/h3]
Once they have traveled to a new province, players need to deploy the caravan using the button on the caravan popup HUD
- Select the Traders Hut after pressing deploy (this is not highlighted)
- Begin building in a new province

[h3]Creating Trade Routes[/h3]
Ensure the caravan is packed before starting this step to enable the creation of trade routes
Within trade routes, tooltips will display ‘default’
- The food category is represented by the fish icon
- Wheat is the yellow icon (next to the water drop
To assign a caravan, press the ‘Add Caravan’ button near the top of the trade menu
Introduction of edicts step 1/3 may appear before pressing the Accept button at the bottom of the Trade menu
- It currently activates with the trade menu open (before the accept button is pressed to begin a trade route)
You are unable to send villagers between villages through the trade route menu

[h3]Understanding Edicts[/h3]
The Edict button is not highlighted when this tutorial is activated
- It is the red button between Jobs and Trade
- To view the Edict associated with Taxed Food Delivery, you need to scroll down in this menu
To construct a Smelter, the 20 laborers required is the count among all villages
- The Smelter is found within the Laborers menu
- The smelter can be constructed in either the starting or second village established

[h3]Military Preparations[/h3]
Ensure the smelter is functioning to generate Iron Ingots to construct the Armory
- When activating a smelter, ensure that you are generating enough Firewood
- In order to produce military rations, ensure a Pork Ranch is constructed (found within the farmers menu)
Currently in the Beta build Hunting Lodge can be built anywhere including the starting province and it will produce the hide you need regardless of what animals