1. Folklands
  2. News

Folklands News

Devlog #5

A new month means a new devlog! This last month we have been compiling the results from a play test involving over 500 players, gathering feedback on which systems work, and which areas to focus on. All of this - in addition to the to the great feedback you're giving us - will go into the updated demo, laying the foundation for the early access release later.

[h2]Building progress renders[/h2]
You've told us that you didn't like the build animations as much as we thought. This month we've worked hard on improving this. All buildings now have progress renders when being built, making the building process a more visual enjoyable experience.



[h2]New biomes and graphical improvement[/h2]
A functionality that's not part of the demo, but will be important in the full game, is being able to survey the map for resources and precious minerals - but they will not all be found in the same location. This month we improved the rock biomes, and added snowy landscape as part of the preparation for this later functionality. The main terrain has also gotten a big facelift with plants, grass and more adding to the variety of the world.



[h2]New map generator [/h2]
Building on the new biomes and improved terrain, the new start menu now lets you tweak and generate the random map each time you start a new game.



[h2]New settlement overview[/h2]
A recurring theme in the feedback we've gotten is the lack of information being delivered to the player about what happens around the settlement, and how it impacts the way the settlement functions. This month we added a brand new settlement overview window, which is exactly what you need to manage your town.



[h2]Notifications when things need your attention[/h2]
A flashy overview window won't help you much if your mind is focused on building new buildings while half of your settlement is on fire. Our new notifications system will alert you when things go bad or if anything needs your attention.

[h2]New quests & Event system[/h2]
The game now has a new quests and event system which does a better job at giving you more information on how to improve and grow your settlement. Visual cues have also been added to the interface to guide you to where you need to click. This new quest system is the starting point for the random event and quest functionality that will be added later.



[h2]Huffs and puffs[/h2]
The settlement is starting to come alive with more animations being added as your folks carry out their activities.

All this and a ton more has been added to the new demo, which you can try out already now!

Until next time!

Devlog #4

Hey there, everyone! A long devlog this month, since so many things have been happening. Let's get rolling!

First of all: This last month, we landed a deal with a fantastic publisher, Tribal-Storm, who also publishes two other upcoming indie titles! Check them out here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1717090/Into_the_Necrovale/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2261350/Cozy_Keep/

Ok, moving on to what else we did since the previous update! This last month, we had several round of playtesting done for the current demo build. Lots of players played the game, gave feedback - told us what they liked and didn't like, and what they want more of. We always listen to all player feedback, so this was super exciting!


A brand new look

We always wanted to have the look and feel of the older games of which we draw our inspiration from. One of the decisions we made early on was to adapt a UI that reminded us of these old games (think Settlers 2/3/4, Caesar, etc.). Listening to player feedback, however, we realize that this kind of interface hasn't aged well, and doesn't scale with the features we wanted to build. Taking on board player feedback, we have completely redone the entire UI: menus, buttons, windows, popups and much more.
At the same time, we added many requested features and improvements requested by players, trying to make it a much more pleasant experience. It still needs some more finishing touches, but here is a sneak preview of the UI for the Steam next fest demo update:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Graphical updates:
Having a publisher, means we can focus more on some much needed graphical updates. New in-game graphics for animations have already been added, and next on the list is a brand new tile set (landscape). Although we can’t show it yet, we're confident that it will be ready in time for the upcoming Steam Next Fest. This lets us add new biomes, new trees, new game mechanics and a lot more!

Other things we're looking forward to showing you are updated roads, bridges, gardens and many many other adjustments based on much feedback from the players.

Quality of life improvements

We've made major improvements to the roads and pathfinding to make it a smoother gameplay experience. Several buildings now have animations to show you that they're doing stuff, and we added animations for more character actions.

There is much yet to be done before the game is ready for Early Access, but this is all shaping up to be an awesome demo update for the upcoming Next Fest!

What features would you like to see added to the game? Tell us about it in the comments!

Patch notes demo 0.2.8

Hey! Today we're back with another update teaching our folks new ways to fight fire! This version is live now for Windows and Linux, with a Mac build on its way.

Changelog
  • Fixed an issue that caused fire fighters drained for energy to never return home and refill, so they never kept working because they had no energy

Patch notes Demo 0.2.7

Thank you so much for playing Folklands!

Another update has been released for the demo. Hopefully, all issues with fires spreading and resources not being properly transported have been eliminated!

Changelog
  • Fixed an issue that caused water present at fire stations to not be registered correctly
  • Fixed an issue that prevented fire guards and tax collectors from properly servicing buildings in their coverage area
  • Fixed several resource transportation issues
  • Updated the tutorial with the Storage instead of the Warehouse
  • Adjusted fires so it's easier to see which building is burning

Patch notes demo 0.2.6

Hey!

Just a small update to the demo today, with a few building entrance tweaks.

Changelog
  • Added an extra entrance tile to the fire station
  • Improved the way the entrance is highlighted when placing buildings