Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles News

Another QoL update /control polish

Opening menus such as
-captain menu
-commander menu
-world encounter dialogue

are now opened with a hold LMB or hold X (controller) mechanic rather than the messy patchwork of RMB/LMB/hold LMB it was before..

This prevents accidental menu openings and overall feels a bit more elegant.
Also fixed some bugs with the harbors (help messages about not having any commander or captains never triggered)

And added a brand new musical track by Benedict Nichols to enjoy while playing.

as always let me know if this is an improvement or it broke something.
Cheerio
Tomas

Hi everyone.

[h2]Today's update features the following changes
[/h2]

[h3]cursor jank[/h3]
The cursor now hold for a count while hopping between towers or floors on the ground, this makes the entire feel less 'janky'. sacrifising a bit of speed for a moment where the cursor is forced to be centered.

[h3]hold mouse to open event[/h3]
Opening a commander/captain menu or a random encounter is now done thru holding the left mouse button (or instantly thru the RMB) this prevents accidental openings and is smoohter than doubleclick (bad idea that)

[h3]Map command panel (just features fast travel for now)[/h3]
the map now has a dedicated "travel here"button instead of the instant fast travel on LMB. So basically you can select something on the map to inspect it, without traveling there. This also allows future features like selecting a hostile settlement run by an AI faction and for instance sending all your warships there. (not confirmed but I now have room for buttons to do cool stuff like that in the future)

So these might feel like incremental changes or small QoL changes, but that's the theme for the Evolving demo until my holiday. Get as much 'feel'things fixed rather than focusing on the big strategy mechanics.

I know you all would love more content, AI settlements and grand strategy, but I feel grinding at the accesibility and mkb feel to reduce as much jank as possible is most valuable while the evolving demo is up.

as always shit may break, let me know when it does ;)

An update on the map.

I've given the map a bit of love as part of the ongoing QoL improvements these weeks , (while I chill out a bit after next-fest).

Now if you click a location on that map that is yours you get a little view of the captains or commanders assigned there. Roll over the captain portrait to get a bit more information.

It's a small addition but one i think a lot of people who make big settlements with lots of traderoutes will appreciate. More is planned for the map and other screens in the future.

I've also fixed a bug where teleporting would allow your surveyor to spawn inside the mountain. Very messy.

Coming up sometime this week hopefully:
-adding a teleport/fast travel button the worldmap instead lf LMB , that's a bit yuk
- adding a hold LMB to activate a commander menu or random encounter instead of double click. Think a bit tidier solution to prevent accidental openings of that menu when all you want is to fly around. Hold might be clearer thatn double click, and will need a little hold progress bar.


as always things can break, let me know if they do
Cheerio
Tomas

Hi everyone,

As the continuing process of improving the controls I've uploaded a fairly experimental update.

Basically when building on the ground there has mostly been a cursor (faintly)visible. I added this cursor when people were reporting troubles with the controls. But with the addition of the wasd camera panning and other changes I wonder if this is still the right choice. As a user who enjoyed the old system reported it muddies the water a bit. Neither becoming a proper cursor based interface nor the streamlined system it was.

So as an experiment I've hidden the cursor again (only when in the 'buildline' on the ground). I think it is a good option cuz the buildline interface becomes less cluttered and more precises as your eyes aren't focusing on the cursor itself.

That said offcourse you can turn it back on, there is a new setting in the settings menu "hide cursor on ground" just disable that and it should be as it was before today.


Some other changes also.

1. Opening a captain/commander menu or activating an encounter now requires either right click or doubleclick (to prevent accidental openings)
   
2. The surveyor deadzone has been reduced a bit,, so it's a bit more responsive when clicking nearby
   

I'm turning the hiding on by default , just to see what the response is.,. so please let me know what you think.

Cheerio
TOmas

I've put in a new setting that allows the cursor behavior to revert to how it was some time ago.

If you now

-set orbit to wasd in the controller menu
-set surveyor camera tracking to disabled in settings
-set cursor follows ground to disabled in settings

then you should be reasonably close with how the game controlled a few months ago.
Seems there are fans of the original controls and am happy to provide for them too.

I will in the future make some sort of choice menu so people can select between some presets old and new, something along those lines, for now its throwing some switchtes in various places.. Will consolidate that also at some point