Manor Lords, published by Hooded Horse, is celebrating its first year of early access. While the full launch is still a ways off, the dev team has shared some of the ongoing work

by

Initially, Manor Lords was my own creative endeavor, ignited by my fascination with history and medieval lifestyle. What started as Slavic Magic, a solo project, has evolved into a dedicated team handling programming, art, design, AI, and more aspects of the game. A year after our early access debut, we’ve made significant strides. We’ve introduced numerous updates, including fishing, bridges, new maps, pigs, butchers, crossbows, and countless other features. As we celebrate our one-year anniversary, we’re offering a sneak peek into what the future holds for Manor Lords.

What’s new for your Lordship?

On April 26th, the developer expressed gratitude for the players’ support, feedback, and humorous content related to “Manor Lords” since its launch, and provided an update on the current state of the game’s development. Although it’s not a complete list, here’s a peek at what they are focusing on at the moment:

  1. AI Expansion – The AI can now build and manage its own small village. To make this happen, several new concepts were introduced, and they’re still fine-tuning them. Future updates will focus on developing its trading abilities and farming systems.
  2. Upkeep System – Buildings will now require regular upkeep (for example, a smithy will need a steady supply of tools). There are also plans to introduce a system that lets players boost upkeep and improve work efficiency.
  3. New Buildings – A Quarry for endless stone mining and a Lime Kiln for producing materials for advanced stone construction will be added.
  4. Castle Pathfinding – Castles made pathfinding and collision handling trickier. Since the game was initially built in 2D for optimization, multi-level gates weren’t possible. The developer tested multi-floor pathfinding, but it’s still uncertain whether the extra performance cost is worth it. After exploring alternatives, the current system is still the best fit for the game’s open, gridless world. Despite the challenges, the team is sticking to realistic medieval designs with narrow passages and small doors.
  5. Camera Rework – The camera system has been updated for smoother movement, especially around high peak cliffs.
  6. UI Updates – The UI is getting a refresh with new graphics inspired by traditional manuscript art.
  7. River Fishing – If a region has both a pond resource node and a river, the pond will be replaced with river fishing spots.

Additionally, there are revised designs for Level 1 castle components, updated views, and adjustments to the approval ratio. Although these changes may not appear significant, they require considerable effort from our team. The Version 1.0 update is still some time away, but if you’ve been away from the game for a while, it would be an excellent opportunity to re-engage now.

Read More

2025-04-28 20:32