Folklands News

The summer is over by a long shot, the months are flying by and autumn is over us like that musky blanket in the back of your closet that you didn't know you had, never wanted, but can't seem to get rid of. It's time for another devlog - this time showcasing some of the new buildings we've cooked up vs the old ones, and a major reveal if you manage to get all the way to the end. No peeking!

[h2]Visuals[/h2]
The game visuals so far have served us well. They've managed to convey our idea of a retro-inspired settlement builder, but they haven't really *nailed it down*. Throughout the summer, we've been working closely with a graphics designer to really put our own lick of paint on the way our world looks and feels. We previously talked about some of the buildings getting a fresh coat of paint, but paint can only do so much - this needed a full redesign.

Our dedicated concept artist has really gone to town, and recreated most of the buildings in the first three tiers. Focusing on that same "timeless but at the same time firmly set in the past" feeling that you got when seeing some of the old settlement builder games for the first time, the results speak for themselves. Here are a few of the concept drawings, before they have been turned into in-game buildings:



Transforming these buildings into rendered buildings in our own style is no easy feat, but luckily Simen (yes, all the brothers have names) is a skilled modeller, so have a look at how some of the new buildings turned out in-game:





The keen observer may have noticed how the colors "pop" differently in this picture vs how they looked before. That's because while we were updating the buildings, we also took some time to rework the biomes of the world a little bit, giving the flora some love and attention as well. This is ongoing work that we will continue to tweak and keep working on to make the game look even better - and we haven't really started with the visual effects yet.

This new art style coupled with the updated color palette really brings the whole game a lot closer to what we imagined starting out. Trying to really bring back that feeling of the old settlement builders - with a unified art style - while we still stay true to what the world and vibe of Folklands can bring to the table.

Having proper concept art for the buildings makes them more unified, but also allows us to add subtle hints of the game's lore. Later on, when we do the same work and refinements in the wildlife area, our vision of Folklands and its amazingly rich world will be even closer.

[h2]Not just paint[/h2]
Those who follow us on social media, might have picked up on something even more remarkable than a lick of paint or some new buildings, namely our new mascot



While our artist and designer brother (yes, Simen) has been busy updating the artwork, and our play testing brother (Sebastian) has focussed hard on how to implement what we learned from the demo and the feedback you keep giving us, we have also been "secretly" porting the entire game to Godot throughout the summer.

The challenges of developing games are not new to us, but sometimes you need to revisit your previous technical decisions and challenge them. Once we got past the content of the demo - which is basically a tech demo / vertical slice of what we want the game to be - it became obvious that we needed to find a better solution for several of the technical limitations imposed by our choice of engine.

Porting to Godot was a big task, but with a great community and support, the game is now running in Godot with almost all of the functionality ported over. The choice of switching to Godot has given us a significant performance boost already without even starting to optimize anything. It has fixed some really hard to overcome limitations in our previous engine and will give players on lower end machines better performance and graphical options. In addition to this, it also lets us experiment with more animations, multiple monitor support, edge scrolling, UI scaling, directional sound - to mention a few of the initial benefits.

Our next devlog will have lots more details on the the porting and what developing in Godot brings to Folklands, but in the meantime have another look at the cutest mascot ever.

Summer is over, and it's time for another devlog update! It's been a bit quiet on our front for a while now - our last devlog described the diplomacy feature and how this introduces you to the world around Folklands. In our previous devlog, we also talked a little bit about Raiders, AI and different interaction and conflict modes, spurring some of questions about how invasive these features would be. To put your mind at ease: the Raider, AI, and any other features that moves the game experience away from peaceful settlement building will always be optional settings. We're really looking forward to seeing your relaxing settlements, and at the same time we want the game to provide a challenge for those who want it.

So, what is new with Folklands, what has changed over the summer, and what else is planned?

As we touched on shortly in the last devlog, we wanted to share some exiting news of Folklands and also tell you why we have been quiet. While we can't reveal everything quite yet, we can show you something that will be very visible!


Feedback from players and our own playtesting is unanimous in that many of the buildings have problems with visibility - it can be hard to tell buildings apart, what tier they are, and some of the buildings are - if not boring, then definitely a bit bland. So - over the summer, we have been working closely with a concept artist to help us better make sure our game vision is reflected in the way to world looks.

And the results? Buildings that visualize the tiers, a more stylized look and a more coherent feel! We think they speak for themselves:

[h2]The original sawmill:[/h2]


[h2]The current sawmill:[/h2]


[h2]Concept art and new, updated sawmill:[/h2]


As you can see from these new designs and images, the visual style is more stylistic and detailed. Inspired by some of the older games you've played before, we've experimented with a visual style that combines fantasy and realism, while keeping to our original vision of the game. This new style also fits the world art and design of the folks - Sigrid and Olof - much better than before!

In our next devlog we'll have an opportunity to show how all these new buildings look in-game, as well as talk in more detail about something very exciting!

Until next time!

One thing we haven't talked much about is the world and setting in which the Folks reside in. We've heard people ask if they are vikings - or what specific time period Folklands is trying to represent, so it's high time we talked about it.

Folklands is set in our own fantasy world - a world we have been building and working on for the past
10 years: The land of Erendor, where creatures like dragons once lived, but are now a thing of legend.

Keen observers may have noticed something unusual about the berry bushes already, or heard about Erendor from our previous game, Dragon Evo. As the development of the game progresses you will start to see more and more creatures from this world roaming the lands - such as the mysterious Drak Eagle.

Although the game is set in this fantasy world, the lore will not directly affect gameplay as much, at least not yet. However, this is a good opportunity to introduce you to the three major kingdoms - or factions - battling it out for control over the world in which your folks live. It is the time after a great war, where a frail peace exists between these three kingdoms.

This brings us to ...

[h2]Diplomacy, story and missions[/h2]
As mentioned, there are 3 major factions in Folklands, which you'll encounter throughout the game. In the full game (after Early Access), we plan on having specific story-based campaign missions, but the progression, prosperity and happiness of the folks in your settlement will be driven by the interaction with the surrounding factions.

The factions are: The Rutai Empire, The Highwind Nation and the Hologev Resistance.


The three factions have their very own personality, desires and goals, and how you interact with them will heavily influence how your game plays out.

Fulfilling quests and missions from The Rutai Empire will reward you with plenty of gold - in return the missions become increasingly more difficult - and the Empire increasingly more demanding as you become increasingly involved as their trusted ally.

The Highwind Nation will task you with complex quests that unlocks new buildings, resources and improvements. Their mission is making you succeed, as a happy ally will be more than willing to lend a helping hand when special situations occur.

The Hologev Resistance will ask for help to rebuild their own faction and in turn give you temporary or permanent bonuses to production. While appearing united, you will soon realize their many shortcomings and you might even start to feel empathic towards them and their mission.

Obviously - interacting with one or more of these factions will influence how the other factions sees you - as well as impacting the happiness, production and progression of your own settlement!

[h2]Raiders and AI[/h2]
The peaceful mode of the current Folklands demo may feel closer to a sandbox mode where your choices don't matter much, than a story rich game where your choices influence the progression and world around you. In addition to the mentioned factions, the Early Access release will also see Raiders becoming a part of your day to day life as your settlement grows. Fend them off by building walls and sending out patrolling guards, or - if you dare - ask for help from the Rutai Empire.

In addition to Raiders, you will also encounter one or more optional minor settlements on the map - either competing for valuable resources and land, or roaming around asking to trade.

We'll expand more on these features in a later devlog, but if you have questions or feedback, feel free to join our Discord or leave a comment in the Steam forums. We will also make sure that these settings can be tuned to maintain the peaceful experience we want the game to be - while we still offer a challenging and fun game that feels fresh every time you play it.

Stay tuned for our June update where we'll show you more screenshots and the current state of the game!

The days are quickly going by, and it's already time for devlog #10! Time is money, so we won't waste any more of your precious time on this introduction part.

Speaking of money...

[h2]Taxation[/h2]
One of our main goals when making Folklands is to create a game that is enjoyable both for ourselves as well as other players. Different services has always been part of that, but the taxation service never sat quite right, and didn't really fit with the theme and the way the rest of the game worked.

Player feedback has consistently pointed out how taxation feels "off", and including it breaks the immersion for some players. This meant we had to go back to the drawing board and make some changes.

The result is a total revamp of how money works in the game, and that the taxation service will no longer be a game feature. In the early tiers, money and gold coins will now be related to trade - either with the AI or other players - to help you kickstart your settlement or get access to resources that you can't produce yourself.

As you level up your settlement you will get the ability to prospect for minerals, gold being one of the minerals that you can mine. This gold ore can then be used to mint your own coins, which in turn will let you pay for more advanced goods and services that your now much higher tier folks will most certainly demand.

All construction costs are now simply the materials required to build the structure. This makes it easier to plan out your settlement and your progression no longer feels artificially limited by tax income. We're really eager to see how this change affects gameplay, so let us know your thoughts as you get your hands on the updated release later this year.

[h2]Services[/h2]
With taxation no longer being in service (ha), the next service we took a look at was fire safety. The way services work in our game has always been inspired by the "walker system" in games like Pharaoh/Caesar/Cleopatra e.t.c., but internal play testing and overwhelming player feedback revealed several issues with fire - mainly the stopping of it.

We have made several changes to how the fire service behaves, but the biggest and most noticeable change is how all your fire guards will now co-operate to put out fires throughout the settlement. Water distribution has also been improved, to make sure that your fire stations don't run out.

The fire station distribution through your village will still play an important role in how effective fire safety will be, and the time it will take them to reach the burning building will still be heavily influence by where you put your fire stations, but this change will make it less confusing and annoying when Günther sets the market on fire for the fourth time.

Not a lot of screenshots this time, but we hope you enjoyed this little update!

Until next time!

It has been a whole month since the nextfest happened in the beginning of February, and boy did we get a lot of feedback! We have been going through all the streams, system reports and messages you've sent and it has honestly been quite overwhelming! Good, but still a lot!

First of all we want to thank everyone who tried the demo, reported issues, joined our discord, or gave us feedback on the game, pros and cons. We really appreciate the messages we got both on how much you loved the game, art style and nostalgia, as well as the feedback on how the game performed, issues you experienced and suggestions for improvements.

A tip: if you've played the game and want to have a chat, remember that our Discord is quite active, so do join if you haven't already!



[h2]Folks coming to life[/h2]
A key feature we haven't talked that much about is how we want you to feel the folks being alive, living their lives separate from - but dependent on - your decisions. To give them more personality, we have worked on giving the folks more animations, more traits that will present themselves during the game, and other details that we think you will enjoy. In the future, you will see folks giving you a quest or two, like going on a strike if they don't have food or work is too far away, or even start fighting in the street because they don't have anything better to do!



[h2]Money money money[/h2]
Something that caught us a bit by surprise, but we've seen mentioned repeatedly during next fest and from people trying out the demo is how the money, taxation and income system really doesn't make sense in the world and settlement as it is now. Taxation and money will be a big focus in the upcoming builds to see how we can better incorporate this game mechanic in a way that works better with the games features.

Some of the ideas we will be exploring is changing (or removing) the gold cost for buildings, focusing the money around trading and services instead, and a few other ideas. If you have suggestions, we're definitely interested in hearing from you!

[h2]QoL[/h2]
As always, we are implementing a load of quality-of-life updates for the game based on all the amazing feedback you've given us. This includes new options in the build menu, day/night lighting, better performance on low and high-end systems, hotkeys overview, updates to the tips and quests system, and better insight into what is happening in your village. We're excited to share more about this in the coming months.

On a related note, we've seen increasing feedback regarding performance and optimization issues on various hardware and configurations, causing the game to feel sluggish or unresponsive at certain times. We are working hard on identifying the causes of the issues and finding ways to improve this.

[h2]Options and Accessibility[/h2]
The early access version will feature more options, both in terms of map generation (rivers, snow, map types), difficulty settings, disasters and more. We are also adding some accessibility features, such as mouse rotation / navigation options, UI scaling and several other options for people who need this.


As always, we're super happy to hear from all of you, and we look forward to letting you know what the next months bring!