Manor Lords Preview: Stone Castles, Devil’s Hill, and Progression Overhaul
We have an update preview with what's been in the works for Manor Lords. Stone castles, a new map, and a complete overhaul of progression. From fortified strongholds with modular upgrades to the introduction of Devil’s Hill — a prime battleground and castle site. Meanwhile, the rework of the development tree is progressing, with ongoing efforts to balance historicity and gameplay.
Let’s get into it.
A New Playable Map - Devil's Hill[hr][/hr]This new playable map has a large hill in the middle, dominating the landscape. Regions are circled around it - I'm considering a game mode that places very valuable resources on that hill to have the Lords fight over it.
It's a great castle spot, too, which leads me to...
The Castle Planner[hr][/hr]The castle planner had a ton of work done to it. You can now individually upgrade each module and wall piece. You can also selectively add platforms with battlements to the walls.
The Stone Castles[hr][/hr]The distance to the nearest existing module no longer constrains the placement of new modules. Instead, the bailey area gets calculated, and the size of the castle plan will be limited by the lord's rank.
Progression System Reworks[hr][/hr]A lot of people have said they find the current Development Tree not immersive. Since it wasn't finished anyway, we decided to take that opportunity to rework this part of the game.
We made several designs and prototyped a few alternatives, but we are still exploring the subject. It's especially difficult because we're trying to better marry realism, history, immersion but still keep it fun, so creative ideas often get a push back from historians for being too fantasy, or from folks focused on immersion on being too gamey, at the same time ideas which are just realistic or historical often do not benefit gameplay or storytelling or just aren't as exciting of a concept (at least from my perspective as a game director, I love historical inspiration but I'm not a historian and for me gameplay is most important). I'm losing count but I think we're on our 4th design document... But things are slowly moving forward.
I hope to share more on that in the next update, together with exciting news on the AI controlled towns.
That wraps up this preview of what’s in the works.
[h3]Manor Lords x Youtooz – Monitor Buddiez Arrive![/h3][hr][/hr]Every lord needs a trusted companion—even if they happen to be a Basket Case. Manor Lords' first collectible figures are here, featuring the red-caped Manor Lord himself and the ever-mysterious Basket Man. Designed in collaboration with Youtooz, these Monitor Buddiez are crafted to sit proudly atop your screen, overseeing your realm (or at least your open tabs).
They're available to pre-order for the next four weeks and you can find the link to them here!
And yes — these little rulers will stay put. Every Monitor Buddy includes a free adhesive pad to ensure they sit securely on different screen edges.
Let’s get into it.
While I’ve been focused on development, the team at Hooded Horse has been working behind the scenes to bring something extra — Manor Lords’ first collectible figures. You can find out about them at the bottom of this post.
A New Playable Map - Devil's Hill[hr][/hr]This new playable map has a large hill in the middle, dominating the landscape. Regions are circled around it - I'm considering a game mode that places very valuable resources on that hill to have the Lords fight over it.
It's a great castle spot, too, which leads me to...
The Castle Planner[hr][/hr]The castle planner had a ton of work done to it. You can now individually upgrade each module and wall piece. You can also selectively add platforms with battlements to the walls.
The Stone Castles[hr][/hr]The distance to the nearest existing module no longer constrains the placement of new modules. Instead, the bailey area gets calculated, and the size of the castle plan will be limited by the lord's rank.
Progression System Reworks[hr][/hr]A lot of people have said they find the current Development Tree not immersive. Since it wasn't finished anyway, we decided to take that opportunity to rework this part of the game. We made several designs and prototyped a few alternatives, but we are still exploring the subject. It's especially difficult because we're trying to better marry realism, history, immersion but still keep it fun, so creative ideas often get a push back from historians for being too fantasy, or from folks focused on immersion on being too gamey, at the same time ideas which are just realistic or historical often do not benefit gameplay or storytelling or just aren't as exciting of a concept (at least from my perspective as a game director, I love historical inspiration but I'm not a historian and for me gameplay is most important). I'm losing count but I think we're on our 4th design document... But things are slowly moving forward.
I hope to share more on that in the next update, together with exciting news on the AI controlled towns.
That wraps up this preview of what’s in the works.
[h3]Manor Lords x Youtooz – Monitor Buddiez Arrive![/h3][hr][/hr]Every lord needs a trusted companion—even if they happen to be a Basket Case. Manor Lords' first collectible figures are here, featuring the red-caped Manor Lord himself and the ever-mysterious Basket Man. Designed in collaboration with Youtooz, these Monitor Buddiez are crafted to sit proudly atop your screen, overseeing your realm (or at least your open tabs).
They're available to pre-order for the next four weeks and you can find the link to them here!
And yes — these little rulers will stay put. Every Monitor Buddy includes a free adhesive pad to ensure they sit securely on different screen edges.
