Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles News

Hi all,

I did hear the calling for a way to skip the new more rigid tutorial. there is a new campaign screen that allows you to disable it., that should save some annoyance for those putting in hours in the demo (I can see you!!)

Also a bunch of other changes , here's the list:

• added a scenario settings menu
  
• scenario's spawn faction specific outposts
  
• fixed some weird cursor resets on controller
  
• faded blocked cursor when ground building on the buildline
  
• removed timeout for fresh extractors to respond quicker to them receiving their first connection and start producing
  
• increased distance that walls can be snapped and build
  
• removed cursor blinking to illegal harbor at illogical distances to any shore tower
  
• advisor dresses in the fashion of the dominant faction, (slippery bastard)
  
• fixed the maw/mawspring shader (some buidlings were missing the depth shadows)
  
• fixed resource reports not being prompted
  
• fixed harbors from another savegame scenario attracting ships for hire
  
• fixed a bug where long walkways wouldn't reach and be auto destroyed
  
• fixed a bug where political influence from commanders was rampant and would take over the entire settlement.
  
• added an event for the pirate skullship commande
  

As always please report any broken stuff.!

The following update is for new features and content for the "evolving demo" now live of the game. Evolving means I develop the game while use the free demo to showcase and test out new features. Development will be ongoing for the next 6 months, so the game and demo are 'evolving' as things get developed.



This update focuses on the leaders. leaders are special NPCs that will sail up and request to join you, but only if their faction has dominance in your settlement. In other words if you hired more pirates they will start to take over and you can go all the way by installing their leader.

If you install a leader in a command tower, you are instantly at war with a specific faction.

1. Imperial Fallen Empress, she seeks to end the Mancer Order
   
2. Mancer Lord Illuminator, he seeks to end the Imperial Remnant as punishments for their crimes.
   
3. Pirate Lost King, the Lost King seeks to plunder and Raid the Imperial Remnant.
   

I may in the future add a freehouse pirate hunter, to wage war against pirates, but they aren't included yet.

This update also adds a 2warships each to the imperial and Mancer faction. (with one more in the works for pirates, who already had 2 warships)

Once you assign a leader the following will happen

• A certain faction will go hostile
  
• Hostile faction will send surface ship raids
  
• Certain random encounters will be hostile
  
• Friendly warships and commanders can be found and hired. Each faction already has a few locked commanders and captains that can only be gained with a leader.
  

There is one more faction missing in all this the Freebooter, the organic cavedwellers from the Falconeer. Likely they will make an appearance post launch, as their visual style will be radically different and I'd like a small break after release to dive into it ;)

With regards to schedule, the last update was 8 days ago, this was mostly because I was at the Nordic Games conference in Sweden for a few days , had the opportunity to open the conference with a talk on my work. With non-E3 coming up, what used to be E3 but is now a patchwork of smaller events/shows I will be in LA for a week around the ninth of june. I'll be hard at work pumping out a few updates before then and when I get back.


Other changes

1. changes to tutorial
   
2. removed drag on photomode camera with mouse
   
3. sharks now spawn where they should
   
4. more fishes
   
5. finally removed that bug where a commander tower hq got removed while building balconies
   
6. made ships / random encounters easier to select
   
7. hostility icon now points to more logical locations
   
8. hostile factions are now shown with flames in the politics overview on map and flow
   
9. fixed back the extra woodmill walkway requirement in the tutorial
   
10. prevented a black screen block when going to the main menu while a random event was activ
    

this one is quite invasive as far as updates go,, it's prepping a lot of systems for more content, so don't be suprised if the amount of combat is modest, more to come. risk of bugs is present, please report any weird behavior

Cheerio
Tomas

Time for a new update.

This update brings in the advisor voice recordings done by eminent actor Chris Lines, who brings a theatrical background and that deep raw voice to the game. Should make the tutorial a joy to listen to.

There are also two new 'commanders' in the freebuild mode. These are "faction leaders", a pirate king and mancer Lord Illuminator. These do not unlock units but rather them being installed in a command tower unlocks the following
-a palace
-top tier captains and commanders can now be found and hired
-conflict with a certain faction is immediately triggered.



So when the work on leaders/politics (they aren't in the campaign mode yet, work continues) is done , assigning a leader will put the world into conflict mode, you will be raided and you'll get a hostile reception when you meet some faction settlements. And the leaders are the key.
Two more leaders will join the roster in the near future
-Freehouse Pirate hunter (conflict with pirates)
-Imperial Inquisitor (conflict with mancer)


Additionally more fish were added to the ocean (yey)

Here's the full list:

• fixed showing harbor icon at distances to great to build
  
• added voice over recordings for advisor
  
• added leaders that can trigger conflict. (work ongoing)
  
• added mancer lord illuminator
  
• added pirate lost king
  
• changes to tutorial
  
  
• removed drag on photomode camera with mouse (work Ongoing)
  
• sharks now spawn where they should
  
• more fishes
  

As always things may break, let me know how you get on, and if you like the idea of assigning leaders to kickstart conflict!

Cheers
Tomas Sala

Time for another update.

the new update brings quite a lot of new things and prepares the way for even more. Most of it to do with enabling raids and regular combat situations .

You might have noticed that faction influence tab in the upper right of the resource flow (when an outpost , command tower or harbor is selected) or in the corner of the map.

This basically shows who is inhabiting your settlement and what faction the represent. hire pirate commanders, captains and place pirate outposts and your settlement turns pirate. Now the idea is that once a single faction reaches dominance (by virtue of their majority) you unlock a new section of the game, where you gain more beefy captains and commanders but also get into fights with all those that vehemently dislike pirates.

The first bits of this are now working, if you gain a dominant faction

• you may encounter/gain some of the better captains and commanders
  
• some captains might refuse to work
  
• hostile ships will sail up and try to raid your settlement occasionally.
  
• some random events instantly turn hostile if from a hostile faction.
  
• 
  

To make this work there are new additions.

• advisor mentions if a faction is rising and gains dominance
  
• compass shows incoming ship raids
  
• compass shows nearest combat
  
• compass shows nearest random encounter or ship for hire
  
• you can right click on the map to set a custom waypoint for your surveyor
  
• two new imperial combat captains
  
• captains won't offer their services if they aren't happy with your dominant faction
  
• notification on surface threat appearance and destruction
  
• re balanced faction dominance and influence of various elements
  

this all very early work and will be the focus of development going forward.

Other stuff in this update includes a change in how the cursor works while flying.
If you give a move command and then not move your stick or mouse the cursor will stay on the ground location you marked as the destination, sort off anchoring the cursor there. This reads weird but makes total sense when flying and helps you keep reference on where you are going and where to build. A small change with potentially a big impact, let me know how it goes down;)

there is also a bunch of other stuff , here's the change-list for this update, I am still waiting on delivery of the new voice acting lines, but expect that more towards the end of the week or after the weekend.

Fixes:

• removed controller inputs when mouse+keyboard is set as control scheme.
  
• turned on version number in the fps counter
  
• fixed the mouse cursor resetting to the edge of your screen sometimes with multi monitor setup
  
• turned of damage affecting vehicle speed
  
• surveyor cannot be given a command when hovering over a question mark
  
• resource flow does not disappear when orbiting the camera.
  
• scaled up the flying compass
  
• combat is indicated on the map and compass
  
• pirate outposts remove themselves properly after being idle or destroyed
  
• fixed broken settings screen (not visible but was bugging out)
  
• fixed clicking left on a settings wouldn't decrease the setting
  
• for controllers the cursor now stays/sticks on the last targeted destination for the surveyor
  
• for mouse the cursor now stays/sticks to on the last targeted destination if you don't move the mouse.
  

Our friends at Rogue Sun have today launched Tin Hearts on Steam.

Step by step,
Heart to heart,
Left, right, left,
We all fall down.
Like toy soldiers.

To celebrate the launch of Tin Hearts, which last week saw an animated prequel story narrated by legend Stephen Fry, Artists Aisha Vaughan and Kieron Pepper collaborated with Black Razor Records, the indie music label founded by Wired Productions, to create a cover of iconic and classic Toy Soldiers by Martika. The devastating beautiful track perfectly encapsulates the emotion of Tin Hearts, winner of the ‘Most Anticipated Nintendo Switch Game’ accolade during Gamescom 2022.

Watch below:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Behind every brilliant invention, hides a magical story. Guide a troop of tin soldiers through a magical toy-filled world, in this immersive narrative puzzle adventure game from members of the team that brought you Fable.

March through 40+ levels of time-bending, soldier-routing riddles, using a variety of whimsical and inventive contraptions to bounce, shoot and glide them to their goal. Forge new paths for your toys to follow, and solve increasingly elaborate puzzles to unravel the emotional, thought-provoking story of love, loss and compromise centred around the family of Albert J. Butterworth, a genius inventor of Victorian times.

Tin Hearts is out now on PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, and the Xbox family of consoles.

PCVR, Meta Quest 2 and PSVR2 are set to be released later this year.

Wishlist below:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1831700/Tin_Hearts/