Renown News

Mr. Z here, today we’ll be going over some quick updates on where we’ve been lately.

As stated before we’re all coming back from the new year's vacations so work has been slow as of late.
Now we’re mostly back in gear and the updates have begun again with Patch 1.4.8 having been released a few days ago.



During the break I opted to get some work done on Raid mode and get it up to par, I’ve always enjoyed playing it and wanted to make some much needed improvements to it. Now we have a map that has 4 teams. Progression is substantially faster with good loot scattered around the center of the map.

You can leave gold coins in your team’s banner and buy loadouts from the banner directly. There's a few other new features, but all in all, Raid mode has never been more fast paced to play so we’re restarting our weekly Raid mode playtests in each region. Raid mode is a really fun way to experience the gameplay loop quickly so I encourage people to join our playtests on the weekend.



Another thing we’ve been up to lately is replacing all the animations in the game with new motion captured animations. It's been a slow process but the difference in quality speaks for itself. Lots of locomotion animations have been implemented already.

Soon, the swing animations for the combat will be getting revamped. Anyone who thought of holding off on practicing the combat system should get ready to get practice soon as the final animations get implemented over the coming months.



Ultimately, our goal with Renown is to reach a stable EA release in June this year. One of the best ways we’ve been able to improve the game’s stability is by holding large public demos of the game and getting as many people playing as possible.

To that end our highest priority goal currently is preparing the game for an open beta. The main things holding us back are some server performance issues that make playing the game with a very high player count extremely unstable.
Specifically, we have some issues with the building system that require a rewrite, also we need to upgrade the engine to UE5.5 for some needed optimizations.

We’ll be keeping people posted on when the open beta is coming, so make sure to subscribe to our announcements channel in our official discord and our steam page. It's likely we’ll do stress tests as well to see how the new optimizations hold up, so if you’re a backer stay tuned for those as well.



On behalf of RDBK I wish everyone a happy new year and hope to see you all playing the game later this year on launch day.

This is a fairly short update to let you know we’re still working hard, and a little of what we’ve been up to.

We’ll also go over our current plans for re-opening for a public demo in the near future.

What has the team been up to?
Currently we’re taking the time to address core issues which we’d have been unable to tend to, without the support from the crowdfund.

One major area is the Animation Overhaul.

KZ and Delta have been working hard on the locomotion sets which is what you physically see as characters walk, run and turn.

For the last couple of months this has effectively been going full time. The attached Gifs directly show this work.

Mr.Z needed to travel for a few weeks but used personal funds to purchase a laptop so he could keep support going for the project while away.

Given he’s back, the team is currently starting on Combat Animations.

Mr. Z has also been hard at work doing fixes and various other optimisations, leading us back to another Open Demo.

A lot of other work going on, has been distinctly less “sexy” but is none the less very important.
Without getting into too much boring detail;

· Anti-cheat Systems will greatly help with cheaters and toxic players.
· All players will have access to VOIP due to the removal of the Xsolla Launcher.
· Bugs with Epic Online Services and servers disappearing are under investigation.
· Improvements to the Tech Tree and other key UI work.
· Required work for eventual backer skins distribution and implementation.

We’ve been able to bring Moxie back on the team for Programming support thanks to the Crowdfund.

He’s been working on the Steam Skin Integration, and currently is fixing up the new player tutorial.

What’s going on regarding another open demo?
We’re just getting back to a place, that another Open Demo is about due to really stress test out the recent changes.

Firstly, we would like to apologize for any testers put off by the lower population on servers and lack of organized events.

As mentioned, the crowdfund has allowed us to address some really important areas.

However, it’s hard to drive a car, when the engine is in pieces on the shop floor.

If we’re able to stress test a lot of the changes and fixes, it provides the exact data we need to keep improving the base experience in the game.

It should be noted we’re not expecting all these new changes to work perfectly.
Veteran players will know to expect issues, but for our newer backers, please don’t be worried if the demo is a bit wild.

If things go badly, it provides us invaluable information.

If things go well, then we’re another step closer to Early Access.

Either way, it should hopefully be a fun time and expect to see a boom in populated servers while the events ongoing.

There's still a couple more things we want to change and optimize, but we’ll be putting out news regarding said Open Demo over the coming weeks.

On behalf of the entire Renown team, I’d like to say another huge thank you for another year of amazing support and encouragement for this project.
We truly couldn’t do it without you, and we’re really excited about what Renown could become this year.

As always, till next time.

Alpha 1.3.3

Server Optimizations
Fixed an issue with servers window not refreshing properly
Toggling autoclose off clears the auto behavior now
Added Terracing map features to Algara Isle
Added new Rivers to Algara Isle
Improved the Chat bubble
Fixed some issues with animations
Raid mode gatherphase 15 mins -> 20 and is server configureable
Added more Iron to raid map
Added breakable Pots and Baskets
Fixed some AI pathing issues
Fixed Chatbox turning on when the message isn't supposed to be seen
Added Signages on the roads pointing to Settlements
Added New Research Window
Added New Item description window
Added New Recipe window
Added new NPCs
New Reclaimer Forge Model
New MOTD menu
Fixed Building menu not showing construction resources
Fixed Archer loadouts not spawning with arrows
Fixed peaceful mode canceling out when using attacks that aren't bound to LMB
Fixed Siege Timer indicator

Alpha 1.3.2

Reworked Tech Tree
Fixed an issue with resource nodes not spawning
Added the building optimizer
Fixed audio occlusion issues
Algara Isle updates
Fixed inventory showing in research menu
Fixed reclaimer forge not being placeable
You can split stacks by holding shift and left clicking now
Fixed an issue where team selection wasn't loading properly in team modes
Fixed some building placement issues
Raid mode improvements
Added more starting resources
Added gold ingots in banners to move them once easily
Added starting components
Players in raid mode can now spawn on unclaimed team owned beds that aren't on spawn cooldown
Added tier indicator to workbench indicators
Chat requires a player to validate first
Fixed campfires being required for some recipes
Added additional logging for admins
Technical debt clean up
You can assign marker colors for players/friends in the settings menu now
Added last used code button to code locks
Added a chat bubble to players who are typing, and a talking animation
Added a heart beat sound effect when low on hp
Fixed server travel breaking servers
Fixed melee attacks not cancelling peaceful mode

Alpha 1.3.1

Fixed AI melee attack hit detection
Fixed last bandage not being applied
Fixed fire arrows being pickup able
Fixed issues with arrows bouncing off surfaces
Unowned buildings show their hp bar now
Reduced Zweihander size slightly
Fixed issue with vanity mode allowing players to switch to melee mode
Fixed stamina costing twice for ground hits
Tweaked resource rates from nodes
Reduced champion loot
Fixed npcs switching weapons when staggered
Players can no longer repair items while in combat
Lots of landscape fixes
Fixed new river areas not slowing down players
New POIs have been polished up
Added a Reverb effect for being indoors
New sound effects
Fixed an issue with sound looping when moving vehicles
Spear was buffed
New Tech Tree
New Ocean mesh
Fixed issues with the chat box not going away
Admin fixes
Added r.HZBOcclusion toggle to video menu
Triangle Half wall meshes added
Fixed a duping bug
Fixed building destruction not being synced sometimes
Improved player reporting functionality

Mr. Z here!

Last Dev blog I said I was going to discuss some of Renown’s game design and that's what we’ll be doing today.

During the demo we had our largest number of players yet, over 1000 at one point even. This meant we got to stress out the game servers extra hard and we got a lot of performance data out of it. It also meant we got to see what high pop gameplay looks like.

One of the things I noticed during the demo is a lot of players were not crafting their own gear, but finding it from looting. Going forwards we’ll be adding more ways to acquire tier 2 gear from looting to support this more active playstyle. We’ve added many new POIs to the map so there will be way more ways to acquire better gear without having to craft it. Of course tier 3 gear will always need to be crafted, and looted gear won’t be a replacement for crafting.



Another thing that happened is groups were rushing through the tech tree way too quickly. We are in the process of finishing up a new tech tree that allows players greater choice as to which weapons to unlock while also making it more difficult to rush the research. Also to note, all our servers were running at x2 resource gold coin gain which made it super easy to tech up. We will also be adjusting costs accordingly so that rushing plate armor and t3 weapons isn’t super trivial and also be running our playtests at x1 gold rates going forwards.

There was definitely an overabundance of resources during the demo, this was by design to onboard new players more easily. For the next demos we’ll be running the game the way it was meant to be played with x1 rates. There are also now less resources in general spawning in the map to encourage players to roam around more instead of staying near their homes. Gold and Silver were especially too common and have been made rarer. Animal Hunting grounds should also become more contested now.



Raiding bases was a little too easy in the demo, due to the abundance of resources. We’ve made the Sapper’s axe a little harder to unlock and silver much rarer so people don’t get raided so easily so early. That being said, I’ve added an even earlier raiding tool, fire arrows .They can be used on plaster and wood doors. Fire arrows do not cost silver, so they can be used to cheaply raid any really underdeveloped bases quickly. Petards will be getting many changes so players aren’t able to use them so quickly to explode their way through a base. Another issue with petards is the placement range, it’s way too far so the attackers do not place themselves in nearly enough danger when blowing through a base, this will be addressed soon with a big rework.



As far as Gear disparity goes, having better weapons is much more beneficial than good armor, so costs will have to be adjusted to account for this. Plate armor is also not quite good enough I feel and would benefit from being stronger but also more expensive so it really fits into the elite armor role. Additionally, the damage resistance calculation isn’t quite giving the results I want and will be tweaked to make higher tiers more useful, especially against lower tier weapons. We don’t want to see sticks being used to beat plate armored players to death so easily.

We’re now in full production towards preparing Renown for Early Access release, some things that will be coming is an animation rework of many of the attack animations, shield gameplay rework, UI polishing, server + client optimization, and additional map improvements.

In the next Dev blog I’ll be discussing some of the UI improvements that have been in the works lately.

Hello everyone!

As always I need to say a massive thank you to our amazing backers. The recent Kickstarter campaign is just the thing we needed to keep us in the game.

This dev blog is more of a general update to let you know our broad plans for Renown in the next few months. We’ll also be going over wrapping up the Kickstarter campaign.

What’s the plan for Renown going forward?

With a combination of the Kickstarter funding, the ongoing feedback from our backers and the recent demos, we feel we’re in a very good place to move forward.

The next steps for Renown are not very sexy, but they’re super important.

We’ve identified these as the primary areas that need improvement:

· Improvements to server infrastructure to reduce crashing. - Server browser needs to be more consistent and streamlined

· Anti Cheat Implementation and improvements to Admin Tools

· Building optimization and Fixes – Allow for more player buildings and fix building exploits (Floating bases, double walling etc)

· Key UI changes primarily focused on the Tech Tree

· Ongoing Bug Fixing

· Combat Animation Overhaul

Effectively, if we can help alleviate the exploits and cheating, improve the overall server stability and building optimisation, the game will be in a very playable state.

Alongside this we’re working on some key UI changes. The major example being an overhaul of the Tech Tree to make it much more usable.

Another major area we want to address is Combat Animation. Almost all the animations specifically relating to combat are still place-holders from our earliest version of Renown.

The issue we ran into with the Mocap animation, is that Mr. Z is still needed for the extremely high level implementation of the attacks.

Due to the high precision nature of melee games, a key amount of “design programming” is required. Mr. Z will no doubt have a more high level explanation of this process in the future for you.
We’ve also begun work on the stretch goal inclusions from the Kickstarter.
The first area we’ve started on is the Sound Overhaul given how important hearing is in a survival setting. We’ll have more from our expert MattGibsonMusic in the next update.
Thank you to everyone who’s taken the time to report bugs. We’ve got a very detailed log to work through. This will be an ongoing process as more pop up, and other ones get squashed.

The End of our Kickstarter Campaign – Thank you so much to all Backers!

Another bit of news to announce is that we’ll be ending our Fundraising efforts for the time being.

Steam has a limit of 5,000 “Default Release Steam Keys”.

These are the full game steam keys we’ll be sending out as part of the crowdfunding perks when we hit Early Access.

Currently we’re standing at just under 4,500 backers so we’re effectively forced to end the campaign.

For this reason, (and because it just seems unethical) we didn’t want to announce early and create a sense of FOMO or some other bad sales tactic.

Steam is very strict with Key rules. We’ve been trying for a month to get more “Testing Keys” but they won't budge, so we don’t want to risk going over the Release Key limit.
This means if you’ve already backed, you’re right as rain for continued testing all the way till we get the game onto steam Early Access.

If you’ve missed out, don’t fear, we’ll still be doing “Steam Demos” in the future to help stress test the game. We can’t make any promises right now when the next one of these will be that said.

Again, a massive thank you from our entire team for anyone who’s helped support our work, either in the past or the recent Kickstarter.

We are super excited for the future of Renown, and it thanks to you folks we can keep working at it.

Stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for another update from our team relating to our progress and future plans.

Till next time.