Fata Deum News

Since November, we’ve been working hard and are proud to present our progress. Here is a quick summary:

• Tutorial & Skill Tree
  
• Narrative Design & Mythical Locations
  
• AI Improvements
  
• Improved Fire Effect
  
• Enhanced Sound
  

[h2]Tutorial & Skill Tree[/h2]

Our main focus in the last months has been implementing your tutorial feedback.

We slimmed down the dialogues and adjusted the pacing. Relevant things will only be explained when they matter. At the same time, the tutorial has new content and is more polished than ever. All this could be accomplished with the help of our new skill system.

A new skill system? Yes, you heard right. As a part of the tutorial improvement, we implemented a skill tree as a new gameplay feature. You will have much more freedom of what you want to skill/learn and how you would like to develop yourself as a god.

A new level-up allows you to upgrade a Wonder or Manipulation. The Imp will then shortly introduce you to your newly chosen ability.


The more you level up, the more skills you can learn. All skills have multiple levels, which can make them even more powerful.

We also reworked the player skill UI to be more clearly arranged and readable. Here, you can see all of your already unlocked skills and their effects.


[h2]Narrative Design & Mythical Locations[/h2]

Our narrative team started working on story-driven quests to provide even more things to explore and experience on each island.

Since then, some strange things appeared. What mysteries could they hold?

[h2]AI Improvements
[/h2]
We kept working on our AI system. It can now manage cities, including resource chains, building monuments, and upgrading equipment in neighboring villages. Furthermore, it has learned new actions like building outposts and summoning fireworks.


A new type of prayer that appears less frequently gives more Prayer Points but is also more difficult to fulfill. Above all, it leaves more choices about how it is fulfilled, as it simply requires that certain properties fulfill a certain value.


[h2]Improved Fire Effect[/h2]

We improved the fire effect to be even more satisfying. Take a look!


[h2]Enhanced Sound[/h2]

Prick up your ears. We reworked the sounds to bring you a more immersive experience. We added sound to the UI elements and switched sounds on Demons, Farming, Villages, and Cities to better suit the game. In addition, volume levels have been adjusted, and slight effects such as reverberation have been added for a more harmonious image.

[h2]Next Steps[/h2]

• New Wonders will find their way to Fata Deum.
  
• We are currently working to get physics running.
  
• We will expand the main story of Fata Deum and implement side quests.
  
• We will further polish and balance the game for the best experience.
  

We’ll let you know when the new demo is ready, and we thank you for your patience so far

Since July, we’ve been working hard and are proud to present our progress as we head towards the end of the year. Here is a quick summary:

• Two new gameplay features
  
• A choosable AI difficulty and further AI improvements
  
• More UI improvements
  
• A first look at our newest and biggest level created, with up to five gods
  
• Improved performance
  
• And much more…
  

[h2]Gameplay Features[/h2]
Based on your feedback we implemented a highly requested feature – a mortal collecting system. You can now grab any mortal you want, drag them around, and assign him to a new task just by dropping them in place!


Show off your godly strength by using the new ring selection. It gives you the ability to use wonders in a wide circular range. Everything within the circle – whether mortal or building – will be influenced by your wonder.


[h2]UI Changes[/h2]
We have reworked the overview maps of the islands. Wonder how they look now? Take a look!

At day:


At night:


Up until now, collecting resources has been confusing for many of you. We fixed that by adding new UI icons so you always know how many resources you have collected and where you can drop them.



[h2]AI Improvements[/h2]
We kept on working on our AI system. First, we implemented difficulty levels so you can now choose between three options: Easy, Medium, and Hard.

Furthermore, the AI is now smarter than ever. Every god acts with foresight, builds up their conquered villages, connects trading routes, and follows their own strategies. If you do not watch your villages and villagers, your godly status will be in great danger!

[h2]New Map[/h2]
Take a look at our largest Island yet that can handle six gods at once – Will you be able to compete here against five other opponents?







You know, this might be a nice place for a holiday too!




[h2]Performance[/h2]
We’ve continued to work on the performance of the game. Below, you can see our result: 900 big city buildings together with 10,000 small city buildings rendered above 100 FPS in the Unity editor. Not so long ago, this was impossible!



At the same time, we reduced the loading time significantly so you can jump quickly into the game. Memory usage has been reduced significantly, too. This is very important for all gamers without high-end hardware and will be noticeable right away, especially in end-game situations.

[h2]Improved Vegetation[/h2]
We polished the Vegetation of the Gods and implemented new assets to make everything look cool.

Violence now looks more dangerous than ever.



Deceit`s lands at night. It may look cool, but where these mushrooms are, zombies aren't far away.



What beautiful flora! This must be Fertility’s domain.



Looking for a nice holiday? In the land of Pleasure you will surely find what you seek…



[h2]New Demon Animation[/h2]
Look at these new Demon fighting animations. Will they be enough to crush your enemies?



[h2]Next Steps[/h2]
We’re on track for our new target of releasing next year, and one of our first priorities will be on a new demo to showcase all the improvements we’ve made this year. Specifically:

• The already teased map from our last development update will await you! On this map, you can play against two other gods and conquer up to 18 villages and cities.
  
• Longer playtime per session.
  
• An improved tutorial to give players a better introduction to the game.
  
• Better controls – from the camera, to collecting resources, keybindings, and more!
  
• Improved AI opponents.
  
• Enhanced performance all round.
  

We’ll let you know when the new demo is ready, and we thank you for your patience so far. See you next year!

Hi everyone! Fata Deum and other games published by Hooded Horse are all featured at the Hooded Horse Publisher Sale. Come check it out!

Hooded Horse Strategy Publisher Sale

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Fata Deum has evolved a lot during the last months in several areas:

• Several new UI features have been introduced and the overall UX has been adapted based on the community feedback.
  
• After a long period the new god AI is finally ready and four different AI characters are eagerly waiting to challenge the player.
  
• Another level for three gods has been created with the godly powers of our level designer
  
• Campaign cutscenes have been designed.
  
• 25 achievements can now be achieved.
  
• and much more…
  

[h3]Improved UI[/h3]

We have added three new UI elements, which have been requested by our community. Thanks for the feedback!

Settlement Overview: this provides all important details of the current settlement at the top of the screen. Furthermore, it is possible to navigate to the next or previous settlement with one click.



The View Menu: this menu allows you to search for specific attributes in your current surroundings. Looking for mortals with low health to help them to recover (or bring it to an end..)? Looking for those who follow another god? Need to know who is most productive?The strongest warriors? This is the way to go: just select the corresponding attribute and all important details are directly rendered on top of the surrounding mortals. You can either lock your setup for further investigations or shortly hover over an icon to get a first impression.



The Shortcut Menu: the shortcut menu provides you direct access to all wonders and available settlements. Thereby, you can easily move from one important part of the current match to another with the click of one button. You can now be everywhere at once, just like a real god!



The settlement shortcuts also provide a good overview of the current belief distribution in each settlement.

Furthermore, you can directly execute each wonder by selecting it and pointing at a target.



It is possible to configure the shortcut menu as you like and also mix settlement and wonder shortcuts in one row.

You can add as many configurations as you want and switch between them easily.

You can also create shortcuts for specific positions on the map, not just for settlements.

Being a god has never been so easy!


The New AI

Our new AI system, which has been in development for a very long time, is now active and ready for a challenge! Four different AI characters (Fertility, Pleasure, Deceit, Violence) act very differently while still being able to react to the player’s behavior.

Do you want to see how your followers are hit by thunder strikes day by day, while a mass of soldiers are trained to conquer your lands? Violence is your choice!



Prefer to see how your followers get cursed and start to attack each other for no reason until a massive horde of zombies takes over your village? Deceit will be your match!



Do you want to keep up against inhuman growth and beauty? Seeing villages and cities evolving in no time? Meet up with Fertility!



Or do you just wanna have fun? Pleasure is your opponent!



While the described characteristics of each character are already there, they still need further work to be improved and match our vision.

Furthermore, each AI character is not only acting individually but will also comment on the player’s action in its own style.









So be ready for some rude suggestions, too ;)

We will further improve the AI, especially when it comes to long-term planning and we will also add several difficulty options. And bug fixing, of course!

Another Beautiful Island

Another map is ready to be conquered, and it is the most beautiful one 🙂

Take a look:









We now have a two gods, a three gods and a four gods map available to play.


The Campaign

Fata Deum lets the player experience the story of a young god who learns to lead its human followers and to assert itself through them against divine rivals. In a process of increasing challenges, it not only finds out more and more about its opponents, but also about itself.



The three goddesses of fate speak to the player in the cutscenes and guide them on their way to becoming a god. They stand for past, present, and future, i.e. for time itself, which encompasses everything and thus they are outside the power structure of the other gods, perhaps even above them. They are the mentors of the player.



Furthermore, the AI characters Violence, Deceit, Fertility and Pleasure have a major role in the cutscenes, too.



We have put a lot of time into the story and the shown cutscenes are a first impression of what is to follow 🙂

Achievements

A first set of 25 achievements are now implemented!

We can already show you the most important one:



Next Steps

We will now take a break and enjoy the (already very hot) summer!
Afterwards we will further focus on UI/UX, AI, performance, and level design.

Stay tuned!

Hi Everyone! In celebration of Games Germany, we'll be streaming footage of the demo during the event on the store page.

If you'd like to discuss Fata Deum, please consider joining us on Discord: https://discord.gg/2u2b2MD

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1330360/Fata_Deum/