Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles News

[p]A small hotfix patch is running on the BETA PATCH branch, as soon as it seems stable I'll push it live.[/p][p][/p]

• [p]fixed demolish animations not going nicely[/p]
• [p]fixed atun dive animation[/p]
• [p]made escort forces have a bit more range around you to obey orders  (go forward more)[/p]
• [p]made sure turrets and other items are reset when spawning[/p]
• [p]made the new outline effect only respond to command towers and harbors in surveyor mode[/p]
• [p]fixed the edge flourish graphic overlapping leviathan's tootache[/p]
• [p]fixed some visual artefacts in default housing models[/p]
• [p]reduced amount of "special" houses such as the tavern and biochemist[/p]
• [p]increased the relative amount of crafsman style heated homes "(tho overall slightly less)[/p]
• [p]made "special" houses only spawn on stone or better  walkways/foundations[/p]
• [p]reduces the chance a top tier house will spawn on wooden walkways/foundations[/p]
• [p]fixed floating turrets on thunderstrike[/p]

[p]So the features I developed based on some fresh user feedback have been on beta for a small while, but I noticed a player mentioning getting lost and sailing into nowhere. This made me realise the fog of war needed a bit more hints an a defined map-border. So that was purely cosmetic and the other features have been tested, so here we are.
[/p][h2]#1 A new selection display effect.[/h2][p]
Basically folks have been having a hard time forever what they had selected "under" the cursor, seeing as the cursor in Bulwark is a multi layered 3D ground contour following thing. So now the exact tower and all its balconies and foundations are outlined and shown. So you never have to "guess" again. I think this feature will help out a tremendous amount of folks who were trying to fiddle with getting the perfect selection. Now this screenshot also clearly shows why selection has always been such a troublesome design issue,, That's a pretty chaotic selection silhouette.
[/p][h2]#2 Unlock Preview[/h2][p]
Whenever you select a outpost or faction building a new gui element will popup in flow mode and show you what the population limit is exactly before the next soultree unlock for that specific faction. And it will show you what type the captain or commander is. This should give some folks more practical short term goals to work towards, and help them in getting a good sense of progression forward.
[/p][h2]#3 Map border
[/h2][p]So this isn't a major change but I added a nice border to the map and made some of the zone titles visible so players have a much better understanding where they are, and where they should be exploring and no attempts to fly into the limitless float precision distance.
[/p][h2]#4 improved lighting [/h2][p]
yeh I dot producted something and now it's even nicer. Basically the sides of objects facing away from the sun have a bit more color definition and range. I basically fuck around with the colors and lighting on a daily basis, cannot help myself.. This one is more for me than for you ;) Tho it always has nice results.


Alright, I really gotta lay of these QoL features,, focus on behemoth,, behemoth when? ,.. focus on Behemoth..

ooh also trees?
Soultrees?


[/p]

[p]Hi Everyone,

Someone posted a question on the forum explaining how they were struggling with a number of things in Bulwark, and I once more realized you cannot 'handwave' all of that away by saying it's an experimental game.

So I've been working the last few days on a number of QoL improvements. Small ones like making the tutorial task breakdown dissapear the moment you finish a task, but also bigger ones.

here's my favorite. An entirely new selection effect to highlight what tower is "selected" under the mouse..

This is on the beta patch now and for those that are interested, due to the material instancing that makes the game still run anything decent on normal hardware, I was very hesitant to attempt this. And I've been postponing this for I guess literal years. And then someone comes in, explains correctly what they're struggling with and then you have to get off your lazy ass and do it.

And sometimes it comes out really good. like really good. It's now also clear why you cannot have exact accuracy even with a 2D overlay mouse cursor. But this will help a lot of you. Let me know if I did good.

also I did this :

A little UI element that pops up when you have an outpost or faction building selected and shows you what type of unlock is upcoming and at what population. So it changes based on what building you got selected. That way you get these quick reminders of what you are building for and what's next.

Think that's a good addition. And with the Fog of War on the map and the legenda/key on the map it should foreshadow so much more of the content , instead of relying folks to unlock it eventually.

Allround I think I am really grateful for some of the critical notes, I might sometimes nod off and not work on QoL for a bit, but all the comments do hit home and eventually return good results.

So thank you all![/p]

[p]Hi everyone,

Some small improvements on beta,,
1. the little to do tutorial task, closes when you achieve the task. (making things a bit clearer hopefully), working on making it show earlier as well
2. the photomode mouse rotation is smoother and much more responsive
3. the cameramode wasd motion is now framerate independent so should be less jittery.

Working on some other small QoL things, cuz there's lots of new folks coming in with feedback

You can access the beta build via game properties /betas and then select the "beta patch". And wait for steam to update. I always keep that branch live with the latest changes, tho unexpected issues might occur, but generally its very stable and you get some advance peeks on new features.

oooh and I also had to put a small soultree hotfix live for everyone, but that build contains a "legend" or "key" on the map that shows the icons and what they mean. I felt folks needed a bit more information there and it also foreshadows what events may occur on the map.

Lemme know if that was helpful.;)[/p]

[p]Hi Everyone, it's time to release the latest Beta Patch into the wild.
[/p][p]This is the last mixed/QoL patch until the Behemoth free content expansion coming hopefully later this summer ;) Hope this one is good and let me know if it feels good or if you spot new issues. the Fog of War is a community request that I think is a really nice overall addition, nothing to drastic but should give players a bit better sense of progression thru exploration. [/p][p]New Features:[/p]

• [p]Added fog of war on the map[/p]
• [p]fog of war is removed by discovering settlements[/p]
• [p]fog of war is removed by building in an area [/p]
• [p]fog of war is removed by visiting fixed purchasable locations.[/p]
• [p]Added the resources a settlement will trade underneath its highlighted world icon (ingame)[/p]
• [p]Added the resources a settlement will trade underneath its name on the map[/p]
• [p]Resource locations near other faction settlements are now owned[/p]
• [p]Highlighting a resource location will show if they are owned in red, [/p]
• [p]Highlighting a resource location will show the owning faction
  [/p][p]Not much to see here, move along.[/p]

[p]QoL and Balancing improvements:[/p]

• [p]Increased the zoom out/height of the camera to go from a max of 120 to 160[/p]
• [p]Added pyro rockets to the Verne , both in practice and inventory[/p]
• [p]Improved the formation flying of capital airships so they are behind and above the plane of the surveyor , and in tighter formation (less bumping)[/p]
• [p]Resource locations near tradable settlements have the largest capacities of 250 units on the map.[/p]
• [p]Resource locations range indication is capped at about a 100 units, so the amount will show but the rings won't grow larger , for practical reasons
  
  [/p][p]So highSo gold [/p]

[p]Visual Overhaul:[/p]

• [p]tweaked the lighting and atmospherics to make the sunrises cleaner[/p]
• [p]Golden hour isn't as golden in every direction (the horizon opposite the sun is still blue-ish, the ocean too so it looks less exaggerated. [/p]
• [p]improved the quality and lights on various props[/p]
• [p]Added some small details like, anchors, rivets and railings to various ships[/p]
• [p]Improved the Imperial tradesman ship, cuz it was ugly (edited)[/p]
• [p]Improved model and shader for Crabton Boss[/p]
• [p]Improved shader for murenal[/p]
• [p]Improved model and shader for the Mosaurs, making them look a lot better.
  
  Look at the anchors on that one.. [/p]

[p]Bugs and fixes:[/p]

• [p]trade resources hidden in freebuild mode[/p]
• [p]Free roaming warships hidden in freebuild[/p]
• [p]Dialogue text popup in captain selector improved.[/p]
• [p]Fixed broken airship previews in inventory screen
  
  
  
  [/p]

[p]Thanks for the support and notify me of any issues ;) On with the Behemoth! [/p]