Bulwark Evolution: Falconeer Chronicles News

A small group of users have been testing a very pre-alpha version to provide some early feedback, I thought it would be cool to share some of their early creations so far.

There is no consistent beta or testing going on, but if you want to be first in line to join any ad-hoc testing, consider joining the discord:
https://discord.com/invite/falconeer

Here's a smattering of cool creations.


As you may notice there are quite a few locations from The Falconeer in there. I've left the open world fully traversal for the testers, even though there is no game specific content there. There are some left over defenses tho and a fun activity seems to be to fly over to an old settlement take out its guns and smack down an outpost on top and start building.

This is a fun avenue for me to explore with some content that rewards that kind of behavior. Before testing I had intended to confine the player to specially prepared areas with resources and challenges, but having the old open world to explore seems to allow for entirely novel 'building' adventures, so why not.

One of the fun outcomes of early testing.

At the moment the testing group is single digits, but they are all discord members that were interacting before and part of the conversation and that's the group I will be 'farming' for future testers

So if you want to get some early sneak peaks and possibly even join in , join the discord!
https://discord.com/invite/falconeer

[h2]Development Update[/h2]
This months development update is a little late with coming, lots of work got done with random and combat encounters being added, Free-house and imperial outposts now a thing in the world and quite a bit more. But I'm taking a small break after Christmas and hope to get as much dev-work in as possible before year's end.

I do regularly twitter updates and new art on https://twitter.com/falconeerdev if you really need your short term fix.

Will try to do a big update , but no guarantees.

[h2]Falconeer VR[/h2]
In related news I made a VR update for the Falconeer which is now available for free and the game itself is super cheap (like 8 bucks!) on steam right now. It's an old fashioned air combat "stick flyer"and if that appeals to you it provides a great intro into the universe of the Ursee and Bulwark .
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135260/The_Falconeer/

Have a safe december, Cheers!
Tomas

Experience The Falconeer through a whole new perspective with VR available now in a free Steam Update!

Soar through the skies aboard a majestic warbird, engage in epic aerial dogfights, and take on the role of ‘Falconeer’, a powerful airborne warrior traversing a vast world torn apart by generations of poisonous decisions and dissent.

We are proud to announce the surprise release of a free VR update, on Steam, for the award-winning, The Falconeer, alongside a brand-new trailer. For new players, The Falconeer is also currently available for a staggering 60% discount on Steam.  

Unveiled in a captivating surprise trailer, The Falconeer in VR expands the boundaries of the Great Ursee offering fully immersive views of the oceanic world in 3D VR. Soar through the skies aboard a majestic warbird, engage in epic aerial dogfights, and take on the role of ‘Falconeer’, a powerful airborne warrior traversing a vast world torn apart by generations of poisonous decisions and dissent, through a new and unique perspective.

Watch The Falconeer VR Reveal Trailer:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

The Falconeer VR is available for PC VR today via Steam with a 60% discount! 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1135260/The_Falconeer/

For more information, visit TheFalconeer.com, chat on Twitter or join the Official Discord. 

Also from Tomas Sala & Wired Productions, Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is a stand-alone city builder set in the same expansive universe as The Falconeer. Featuring limitless building, freedom and creativity, Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles encourages players to become the creator of their very own Bulwark, a fortress against the endless Ursee and its fierce inhabitants.

Wishlist here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/290100/Bulwark_Falconeer_Chronicles/

So I've been hard at work on wrapping up captains and moving into commanders, so let's dive into the progress on both of these.


Captains move your resources about or perform combat patrols and are basically boat captains you can assign to any route between two harbours.
Above is a preview of the interface for assigning captains to a route/harbor, in this case the captain can only transport steel and people, each captain is unique and will have a unique ship as well.

So many moody shots of ships coming into anchor, I adore all this nautical stuff and it will play a large part in the game and making the world come alive.. Ahoy!



Commanders are specialists you can assign to any major tower you build, who proceed to transform that tower into their HQ visually and practically.,. you'll have quite a variation of commanders, some will spawn dockyards for capital airships, some will spawn roosts for warbirds or dragons and others will turn the tower into a gun battery .
I took the Mancer (the 'tech-priest' style faction)as the starting faction for this stretch of development, but the universe has at least 2 other factions whose commanders you can hire. More on those in the future,

Here's a little video of that in action (sorry for it being so short/nervous)
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



I'll leave this update with a tiny teaser of the Mancer guntower in action
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



You can also follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/FalconeerDev and I do a lot more development sharing there.

[h2]Question for my Followers[/h2]
Which leads me to the following question: Are you enjoying these development updates? How many of you actually dig into them? Basically , give me a shoutout if you are reading this and let me know whatever you feel about these updates, want more , want less, want more video or more screens, let me know!!

Cheerio
Tomas

Did you watch the PC Gamer show and see our latest trailer in all of its glory? If not catch it below.

This new Bulwark trailer serves as an introductory showcase of the core mechanics of building your own Bulwark from scraps on the ocean floor - to a living breathing environment that comes alive before your eyes, and a glimpse at how the resources generated can be used to fortify and defend the inhabitants that occupy it.

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles. The Elements trailer.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We are also inviting gamers to participate in a future beta by signing up HERE.

Prospective beta testers can also sign up to our Oficial Discord for 'the Falconeer Chronicles' today. Home to dedicated and exclusive content, the Official Discord offers full access to speak directly with the solo developer, Tomas Sala, while members can experience the unique development journey first-hand and be the first to know about the limited closed BETA!

Wishlist now!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/290100/Bulwark_Falconeer_Chronicles/

Hi everyone,
Last month has been quite busy with all kinds of early promotional. Some of you even go to play an early version of the game at Polaris in Hamburg (Germany), and just last thursday the game picked up the Grand Award at Game Connection '23 in Paris. All very cool, but what about development?

wellll....

[h2]Mancer Command Tower[/h2]
Well last time I posted I was wrapping up Captains and assigning them to trade routes between two harbors to move resources to and fro your settlements. That system also has an extension to towers and especially those big ass towers you see in some of the screens, command towers to be precise.

These multistory towers can when 'capped' be assigned a commander. This NPC will transform the tower to their tastes (based on their faction , more on those in a later post) and can for instance start producing units and even capital ships.

I've been working on the Mancer variants of these as seen in this screenshot


how the towers get "adapted" is procedural and based on the tower you created and the resources available and off-course the abilities of the commander.

In this mockup the tower is capped by an airship dockyard , with a Mancer questor airship in the shot.


It is important for me to have a full faction command tower done so I can start coding the mechanics for this and your settlement can start producing units to defend itself and follow your surveyor around.

[h2]Curved walls and giant gates[/h2]

Another new feature are curved walls and giant gates, these are sort unique bits that appear under certain conditions, the precise way to 'summon' these parts is something to explore and find out, figuring out how to build things is part of the exploratory and creative gameloop in the game.

Gates as some other buildings for instance only appear if you draw out a wall over an existing intersecting wall, this will lead to the procedural system spawning a gater rather than two walls intersecting.


In closing here are a few small videos of recent work

Added an improved metal/gloss shader to metal surfaces

[previewyoutube][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

A captain setting sail for a patrol

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

That's all for now, keep following development.
Thanks,
Tomas