PC, Mac (OPT-IN)

Please note this is initially an opt-in build, and will be published as a public update after a period of community testing. Dev Blog 22 covers the contents of the patch in some depth:

http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/04/folk-tale-dev-blog-22.html?showComment=1398695872953#c2602719221424538798

N/A

Sandbox Player Added ( 'Preview' on Start Screen )
Sandbox Player: Building: Cottage Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Windmill Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Farmers Field Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Woodcutter's Hut Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Smelt Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Stonecutter's Lodge Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Monastery Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Bee Yard Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Barracks Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Workshop Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Gatehouse: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Stairs: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Siege Defenses: Trebuchet: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Siege Defenses: Repeating Crossbow: Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Peasant Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Farmer Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Woodcutter Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Miner Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Stonecutter Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Monk Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: City Watch Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Engineer Activated
Sandbox Player: Resources: Iron Mine Activated
Sandbox Player: Resources: Quarry Activated
Character Studio: Engineer Added
Character Studio: LOD Test Mode Added ( Dev Tool )
Sandbox: Buildings: Tiers merged, Only Tier 1 Available
Sandbox: Characters: Professions Removed, Peasant Spawn Points Added

For a comprehensive overview of changes, please watch Dev Blog 22.

Lots of known issues, no need to report bugs at this stage
High End GPUs in Sandbox Editor: Press 'V' to toggle on vertical sync
High End GPUs in Sandbox Player: Access settings dialog from topbar and turn vertical sync on
Tutorial: Advisor's speech is a little broken

Patch 0.2.4 introduces Sandbox Player. You can now open maps created in the Editor in the Sandbox Player. Sorry, but maps created in earlier versions are unlikely to work.
This is an opt-in build for now to provide the Sandbox Player with the opportunity for some time out in the community.
If you are on a low end machine, swapping to Low Performance settings ( first icon on topbar ) in Sandbox Player should give you a good experience

Currently there's no menu in the Sandbox Player, so quitting is ALT+F4 on Windows, Cmd+Q on Mac, or ALT+TAB and close the app from the task bar.

We strongly recommend reading the Sandbox Player Guide first to familiarize yourself with the controls. They are very different to the Tutorial, and have be adapted to be more inline with RTS convention.

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Betas, enter vQZ7Rj6E into the password field and click Check Code.
3. You should receive confirmation that the debugging64bit build is now unlocked. *
4. Select debugging64bit - Public pre-release support builds for Windows 64-bit from the drop down list and click Close.
5. Wait a few minutes for Steam to automatically patch your game. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
6. Confirm the build version is 0.2.4.0 ( bottom left of the main menu, or right topbar in the Location Editor )

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Betas, enter veW6kJBz into the password field and click Check Code.
3. You should receive confirmation that the debugging build is now unlocked. *
4. Select debugging - Public pre-release support builds from the drop down list and click Close.
5. Wait a few minutes for Steam to automatically patch your game. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
6. Confirm the build version is 0.2.4.0 ( bottom left of the main menu, or right topbar in the Location Editor )

* Please note that on rare occasions, opting in to beta builds will give an invalid code error. Please try the code again. If it repeatedly fails, we're sorry but you are not going to be able to test this build. You might consider contacting Steam Support. We have used this password to support players in the past so it is known to work.

Gorax ( independent YouTuber ) has recorded the steps to opt-in to the build, as well as a preview of some of the features. We've noted the bugs he's spotted and will work on those as part of the next patch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klRwSfnqyE&feature=youtu.be

After you have finished testing, you can opt out of beta builds and resume receiving the main patches as you have done before.

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Beta, choose NONE - opt out of all beta programs from the drop down list and click Close.
3. Wait for a few minutes for Steam to automatically resync/patch your game back to the main public releases. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
4. Confirm the build version in the bottom left of the main menu has reverted to 0.2.3.0.

PC, Mac (OPT-IN)

Please note this is initially an opt-in build, and will be published as a public update after a period of community testing. Dev Blog 22 covers the contents of the patch in some depth:

http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/04/folk-tale-dev-blog-22.html?showComment=1398695872953#c2602719221424538798

N/A

Sandbox Player Added ( 'Preview' on Start Screen )
Sandbox Player: Building: Cottage Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Windmill Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Farmers Field Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Woodcutter's Hut Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Smelt Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Stonecutter's Lodge Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Monastery Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Bee Yard Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Barracks Activated
Sandbox Player: Building: Workshop Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Gatehouse: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Stairs: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Siege Defenses: Trebuchet: Activated
Sandbox Player: City Walls Siege Defenses: Repeating Crossbow: Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Peasant Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Farmer Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Woodcutter Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Miner Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Stonecutter Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Monk Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: City Watch Activated
Sandbox Player: Character: Engineer Activated
Sandbox Player: Resources: Iron Mine Activated
Sandbox Player: Resources: Quarry Activated
Character Studio: Engineer Added
Character Studio: LOD Test Mode Added ( Dev Tool )
Sandbox: Buildings: Tiers merged, Only Tier 1 Available
Sandbox: Characters: Professions Removed, Peasant Spawn Points Added

For a comprehensive overview of changes, please watch Dev Blog 22.

Lots of known issues, no need to report bugs at this stage
High End GPUs in Sandbox Editor: Press 'V' to toggle on vertical sync
High End GPUs in Sandbox Player: Access settings dialog from topbar and turn vertical sync on
Tutorial: Advisor's speech is a little broken

Patch 0.2.4 introduces Sandbox Player. You can now open maps created in the Editor in the Sandbox Player. Sorry, but maps created in earlier versions are unlikely to work.
This is an opt-in build for now to provide the Sandbox Player with the opportunity for some time out in the community.
If you are on a low end machine, swapping to Low Performance settings ( first icon on topbar ) in Sandbox Player should give you a good experience

Currently there's no menu in the Sandbox Player, so quitting is ALT+F4 on Windows, Cmd+Q on Mac, or ALT+TAB and close the app from the task bar.

We strongly recommend reading the Sandbox Player Guide first to familiarize yourself with the controls. They are very different to the Tutorial, and have be adapted to be more inline with RTS convention.

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Betas, enter vQZ7Rj6E into the password field and click Check Code.
3. You should receive confirmation that the debugging64bit build is now unlocked. *
4. Select debugging64bit - Public pre-release support builds for Windows 64-bit from the drop down list and click Close.
5. Wait a few minutes for Steam to automatically patch your game. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
6. Confirm the build version is 0.2.4.0 ( bottom left of the main menu, or right topbar in the Location Editor )

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Betas, enter veW6kJBz into the password field and click Check Code.
3. You should receive confirmation that the debugging build is now unlocked. *
4. Select debugging - Public pre-release support builds from the drop down list and click Close.
5. Wait a few minutes for Steam to automatically patch your game. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
6. Confirm the build version is 0.2.4.0 ( bottom left of the main menu, or right topbar in the Location Editor )

* Please note that on rare occasions, opting in to beta builds will give an invalid code error. Please try the code again. If it repeatedly fails, we're sorry but you are not going to be able to test this build. You might consider contacting Steam Support. We have used this password to support players in the past so it is known to work.

Gorax ( independent YouTuber ) has recorded the steps to opt-in to the build, as well as a preview of some of the features. We've noted the bugs he's spotted and will work on those as part of the next patch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2klRwSfnqyE&feature=youtu.be

After you have finished testing, you can opt out of beta builds and resume receiving the main patches as you have done before.

1. In your Steam Library, right click on Folk Tale and select Properties.
2. Under the fourth tab, Beta, choose NONE - opt out of all beta programs from the drop down list and click Close.
3. Wait for a few minutes for Steam to automatically resync/patch your game back to the main public releases. If it doesn't, try running the game. This should trigger the automatic patching.
4. Confirm the build version in the bottom left of the main menu has reverted to 0.2.3.0.

Today we're going to be taking a look at the Sandbox Player, accompanied by some of the composition work for the soundtrack. Not all the tracks used will make the OST, but are nice to listen to during longer videos.

We hoped to have the Patch 0.2.4 live by now, but at the eleventh hour as we were packaging and testing the patch to upload to Steam, we discovered a bug in the engine build we've been using. That bug was very quickly fixed by the engine developer. Unfortunately we now have to wait around 9-14 days for the next build to become available. You can track the latest status over on the Steam Forum.

For larger screenshots and more info, please visit http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/04/folk-tale-dev-blog-22.html.


In the month since the last blog a lot has been added, and Sandbox is really starting to come together. For the first time we're able to "play" maps designed in the Sandbox Editor. I say "play" loosely at this stage, "mess around with systems" might be a more accurate description.



Construction is up and running, with several level one buildings and their associated professions available for Peasant training. Character's have unique faces, varying skin tones, and a few dodgy haircuts. Females are now fully trainable in all available professions. Lobbyists for the Campaign to Stop Female Peasants Being Used As Cannon-Fodder can lay down their protest billboards, as equal opportunities are finally with us.



To help get everyone started when Patch 0.2.4 arrives, we've published the Sandbox Player Guide on Steam, which we'll continue to update as development progresses.


One of the most significant additions is the revised City Walls system, which can now traverse steep cliffs and rivers. Gatehouses, stairs, and tower siege defences are all in, but we'll leave those for you to uncover once the patch is published.



Hovering the mouse cursor over sections of wall and repeatedly hitting U on the keyboard simulates the impact of boulders from Goblin Trebuchet. Any idle Peasants will run to the wall and do their best to repair it before any larger enemies breach the walls.


The final profession for inclusion in Patch 0.3 ( we'll be adding more thereafter ) is the Engineer, capable of constructing ingenious traps and turrets in the fields around your village to help fend off any raiding parties. Engineers can be trained by building a Workshop.






Level of Detail models are a trick developers use to boost frame rate performance by reducing the complexity of 3D models as they move further away from the camera. We've now added in LOD models for all three tiers of building upgrades, and incorporated LOD into the character customization system. There's more work to do, for example on the terrain, but it's already starting to have an impact.

Today we're going to be taking a look at the Sandbox Player, accompanied by some of the composition work for the soundtrack. Not all the tracks used will make the OST, but are nice to listen to during longer videos.

We hoped to have the Patch 0.2.4 live by now, but at the eleventh hour as we were packaging and testing the patch to upload to Steam, we discovered a bug in the engine build we've been using. That bug was very quickly fixed by the engine developer. Unfortunately we now have to wait around 9-14 days for the next build to become available. You can track the latest status over on the Steam Forum.

For larger screenshots and more info, please visit http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/04/folk-tale-dev-blog-22.html.


In the month since the last blog a lot has been added, and Sandbox is really starting to come together. For the first time we're able to "play" maps designed in the Sandbox Editor. I say "play" loosely at this stage, "mess around with systems" might be a more accurate description.



Construction is up and running, with several level one buildings and their associated professions available for Peasant training. Character's have unique faces, varying skin tones, and a few dodgy haircuts. Females are now fully trainable in all available professions. Lobbyists for the Campaign to Stop Female Peasants Being Used As Cannon-Fodder can lay down their protest billboards, as equal opportunities are finally with us.



To help get everyone started when Patch 0.2.4 arrives, we've published the Sandbox Player Guide on Steam, which we'll continue to update as development progresses.


One of the most significant additions is the revised City Walls system, which can now traverse steep cliffs and rivers. Gatehouses, stairs, and tower siege defences are all in, but we'll leave those for you to uncover once the patch is published.



Hovering the mouse cursor over sections of wall and repeatedly hitting U on the keyboard simulates the impact of boulders from Goblin Trebuchet. Any idle Peasants will run to the wall and do their best to repair it before any larger enemies breach the walls.


The final profession for inclusion in Patch 0.3 ( we'll be adding more thereafter ) is the Engineer, capable of constructing ingenious traps and turrets in the fields around your village to help fend off any raiding parties. Engineers can be trained by building a Workshop.






Level of Detail models are a trick developers use to boost frame rate performance by reducing the complexity of 3D models as they move further away from the camera. We've now added in LOD models for all three tiers of building upgrades, and incorporated LOD into the character customization system. There's more work to do, for example on the terrain, but it's already starting to have an impact.

Hey everyone. In this episode we take a look at how the Sandbox Player is shaping up, run through the Sandbox UI overhaul filling in some of the details of gameplay mechanics, before wrapping up with a review of new assets.

For larger screenshots and more info, please visit http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/03/folk-tale-dev-blog-21.html.


The fixed build plots of the Tutorial are gone as promised, and free placement is in, providing precise control over the design of our village. We can freely move the building around; a green transparent cube means we're over a valid place for construction, while a red cube means we're too close to an obstruction. As you might expect we can also rotate buildings. We've also added a radius of influence, shown by the dotted circle surrounding the building ( see video ). Resources need to be located within this radius to be accessible by the building. Capturing multiple mines can result in a greater maximum output for the building.




For Sandbox, we're overhauling the UI and adding new elements. As a multi-genre village builder RPG RTS, there's a lot of information to condense and optimize to reduce screen clutter, especially at lower screen resolutions. In fantasy 4X games you might be used to seeing resources on the top bar, for example wood, stone, and iron. We forecast how much time players would be spending in each genre, and the information they'd need immediately to hand. In village building for example, resource stock levels are important, but when you are out in the wilds with your Hero Party, they aren't. Taking into account the complex nature of the economy and number of resources, it wasn't feasible to pack them all into a static top bar ( we tried! ). So we're adding an expand/contract toggle to show a separate resources dialogue that if you choose you can leave open permanently should you wish.



We've taken the Special Abilities / Portrait UI from the bottom left of the Tutorial and condensed it further, adding in new features at the same time. Under Misc Controls & Info we've added an Aggressive/Defensive Toggle to exert greater control over your villagers, preventing them from charging into combat, and the Auto-AI Toggle to place special abilities under AI control. Hardcore players will want to turn this off and have full control of heroes, but for your first few sessions it's a helpful feature to reduce micro-management during battle.

We're also adding short cuts for Health and Power Potions providing direct access to your global inventory stocks during combat, making it faster to save your villagers from death.



The Character Sheet has been condensed by removing personal storage ( not required when you have global inventory ) and adding Resistances. There are also tabs for professions ( workers ) and special abilities ( heroes ).



As your Heroes level up, you can spend Ability Points on powering up their abilities in the order that you prefer. By level 20 you will have a fully powered hero.



With more economy buildings and resources added each month, the new Building Dialog provides control over each building and it's role in the economy. We're adding a second way of training Peasants in professions through the Worker Tab. You can now review a list of candidates and hire them into available vacancies. For players not wanting to micro-manage, Auto-Recruit can be set and will automatically hire from the pool of Peasants as they become available. Character Traits make Peasants more or less suitable for each profession.



The Production Tab crunches a number of stats and presents them in an easy to understand format. Worker Productivity is the average of how effective all the workers are, taking into account Profession Experience, Tool Bonuses ( Loot and Crafted Gear ), Traits, and overall Happiness.

Maximum Output is determined by how many sources of resource exist in the building's Influence Radius, and the current tier of the building.

Workbench Bonuses act as a multiplier to the Maximum Output, and can be obtained by installing Workbenches to the inside of each production building.

Actual Output is calculated by combining the three previous stats, and can be split between production ( producing more finished goods ) and research ( adds points to the research pool to be later spent on new technology ).



One of the recurring pieces of feedback we've received from the Tutorial is that finding your villagers can sometimes be tricky. To improve discoverability, we're implementing the Civics Dialog, a central view of all the activity going on in your village. From here you can view everything that's going on with your villagers, buildings and resources, allowing you to quickly identify any problem areas.




The Art Team have entered a period of polishing up leading up to Patch 0.3 ( a few more 0.2.x releases to come yet ), so a lot of production work is the boring stuff like adding physics colliders, navmeshes, and level of detail ( LOD ) models. That's not at all interesting for a blog, so instead we have the male and female Sandbox versions of the City Watch ( formerly Militia ), Monks and Stonecutters.

Hey everyone. In this episode we take a look at how the Sandbox Player is shaping up, run through the Sandbox UI overhaul filling in some of the details of gameplay mechanics, before wrapping up with a review of new assets.

For larger screenshots and more info, please visit http://blog.gamesfoundry.com/2014/03/folk-tale-dev-blog-21.html.


The fixed build plots of the Tutorial are gone as promised, and free placement is in, providing precise control over the design of our village. We can freely move the building around; a green transparent cube means we're over a valid place for construction, while a red cube means we're too close to an obstruction. As you might expect we can also rotate buildings. We've also added a radius of influence, shown by the dotted circle surrounding the building ( see video ). Resources need to be located within this radius to be accessible by the building. Capturing multiple mines can result in a greater maximum output for the building.




For Sandbox, we're overhauling the UI and adding new elements. As a multi-genre village builder RPG RTS, there's a lot of information to condense and optimize to reduce screen clutter, especially at lower screen resolutions. In fantasy 4X games you might be used to seeing resources on the top bar, for example wood, stone, and iron. We forecast how much time players would be spending in each genre, and the information they'd need immediately to hand. In village building for example, resource stock levels are important, but when you are out in the wilds with your Hero Party, they aren't. Taking into account the complex nature of the economy and number of resources, it wasn't feasible to pack them all into a static top bar ( we tried! ). So we're adding an expand/contract toggle to show a separate resources dialogue that if you choose you can leave open permanently should you wish.



We've taken the Special Abilities / Portrait UI from the bottom left of the Tutorial and condensed it further, adding in new features at the same time. Under Misc Controls & Info we've added an Aggressive/Defensive Toggle to exert greater control over your villagers, preventing them from charging into combat, and the Auto-AI Toggle to place special abilities under AI control. Hardcore players will want to turn this off and have full control of heroes, but for your first few sessions it's a helpful feature to reduce micro-management during battle.

We're also adding short cuts for Health and Power Potions providing direct access to your global inventory stocks during combat, making it faster to save your villagers from death.



The Character Sheet has been condensed by removing personal storage ( not required when you have global inventory ) and adding Resistances. There are also tabs for professions ( workers ) and special abilities ( heroes ).



As your Heroes level up, you can spend Ability Points on powering up their abilities in the order that you prefer. By level 20 you will have a fully powered hero.



With more economy buildings and resources added each month, the new Building Dialog provides control over each building and it's role in the economy. We're adding a second way of training Peasants in professions through the Worker Tab. You can now review a list of candidates and hire them into available vacancies. For players not wanting to micro-manage, Auto-Recruit can be set and will automatically hire from the pool of Peasants as they become available. Character Traits make Peasants more or less suitable for each profession.



The Production Tab crunches a number of stats and presents them in an easy to understand format. Worker Productivity is the average of how effective all the workers are, taking into account Profession Experience, Tool Bonuses ( Loot and Crafted Gear ), Traits, and overall Happiness.

Maximum Output is determined by how many sources of resource exist in the building's Influence Radius, and the current tier of the building.

Workbench Bonuses act as a multiplier to the Maximum Output, and can be obtained by installing Workbenches to the inside of each production building.

Actual Output is calculated by combining the three previous stats, and can be split between production ( producing more finished goods ) and research ( adds points to the research pool to be later spent on new technology ).



One of the recurring pieces of feedback we've received from the Tutorial is that finding your villagers can sometimes be tricky. To improve discoverability, we're implementing the Civics Dialog, a central view of all the activity going on in your village. From here you can view everything that's going on with your villagers, buildings and resources, allowing you to quickly identify any problem areas.




The Art Team have entered a period of polishing up leading up to Patch 0.3 ( a few more 0.2.x releases to come yet ), so a lot of production work is the boring stuff like adding physics colliders, navmeshes, and level of detail ( LOD ) models. That's not at all interesting for a blog, so instead we have the male and female Sandbox versions of the City Watch ( formerly Militia ), Monks and Stonecutters.

PC, Mac

#0067 Ambient Sound Effects No Longer Play

Character Studio (Access From Launch Screen)
Sandbox: Buildings: Barracks Updated (Work-In-Progress)
Sandbox: Buildings: Tavern Building Added
Sandbox: Buildings: Smelt Updated
Sandbox: Buildings: Stonecutter's Lodge Added (3 Tech Tiers)
Sandbox: Buildings: Storehouse Added
Sandbox: Buildings: Woodcutter Hut Added (3 Tech Tiers)
Sandbox: Buildings: Walls Removed From Farmers Field
Sandbox: Characters: Baker Added
Sandbox: Characters: Peasants Added
Sandbox: Characters: Woodcutter Added


Known issue with vsync in the Editor where it is capped at 30fps. This can be reset to 60fps by pressing 'V' twice.
Known issue on sandbox characters with gaps between skin and uniform
Known issue with ear rotation in Character Studio
Cows and horses temporarily removed from sandbox buildings
Where buildings have been added, it includes all 3 tech tiers

PC, Mac

#0067 Ambient Sound Effects No Longer Play

Character Studio (Access From Launch Screen)
Sandbox: Buildings: Barracks Updated (Work-In-Progress)
Sandbox: Buildings: Tavern Building Added
Sandbox: Buildings: Smelt Updated
Sandbox: Buildings: Stonecutter's Lodge Added (3 Tech Tiers)
Sandbox: Buildings: Storehouse Added
Sandbox: Buildings: Woodcutter Hut Added (3 Tech Tiers)
Sandbox: Buildings: Walls Removed From Farmers Field
Sandbox: Characters: Baker Added
Sandbox: Characters: Peasants Added
Sandbox: Characters: Woodcutter Added


Known issue with vsync in the Editor where it is capped at 30fps. This can be reset to 60fps by pressing 'V' twice.
Known issue on sandbox characters with gaps between skin and uniform
Known issue with ear rotation in Character Studio
Cows and horses temporarily removed from sandbox buildings
Where buildings have been added, it includes all 3 tech tiers

We're making solid progress in the 0.2.x release cycle, and today we're able to take an early look at two major improvements in the pipeline. We have a working Player breathing life into custom maps designed in the Editor, and Character Studio where we can experiment with character randomization.


One of the key requirements for Patch 0.3 is the ability to play a custom map designed by us in the Editor. Internally we're now able to run Sandbox maps and test dynamics including character movement and construction. Testing pathfinding is particularly important as we've deprecated the memory inefficient grid based graph system in the Tutorial and developed a faster Tile-Based Navmesh system that supports updating during gameplay.



Developing a new pathfinding solution helps reduce the overall game footprint in addressable system memory ( reduced probability of a memory related crashes on marginal systems ), while making path calculations faster ( better frame rate ).

The blog video demonstrates a test case of running one group of villagers over a bridge while the other group run under it. This wasn't possible in the Tutorial ( anyone notice the rubble blocks in the Old Forge blocking access to the ramparts above the portcullis entrance? ), but for Sandbox it opens up lots of design options.


One of the frequent pieces of feedback we received following launch ( particularly in Let's Play videos ) concerned all the villagers looking like drones. Given that a major feature of Folk Tale is the detail of the lives of your Villagers and the adventures they become involved with, it's important that we give them an identity.

In the Sandbox Vision Presentation I explained why it wasn't possible to achieve full RPG level of visual customization due to memory constraints ( GPU texture memory and overall system memory ). Instead, we set out to give each villager a unique face, and show their currently equipped hand items ( tools and weapons ). In Dev Blog 10 I highlighted early development on facial customization, and since then we've expanded the customization system into something that is usable and will be included in Patch 0.3.



There's a lot more going on under the hood of Character Studio than first meets the eye, specifically to address technical objectives:

Minimal Memory Footprint

We've designed the character system using minimal base geometry and a single hair/skin texture to keep memory requirements down. We have one universal skeleton for all humans, two master head models - male and female - and a number of uniforms. We have a range of hair styles, eye brows, and facial hair, that we'll continue to add to throughout development to add more variety. All the geometry is combined at runtime into a single skinned mesh with just two materials: one for the uniform and one for the skin and hair, both of which are color tinted separately in the shader.

Performance

The more bones included in the skeleton the longer it takes the CPU to calculate the position of each vertex in each frame of animation before sending to the GPU, and that means lower frame rates. To achieve both a unique appearance AND good performance, we're baking appearances and then removing the influence of certain bones ( e.g. facial bones, 2nd-4th fingers ), reducing the bone count down from 140+ to around 60. This wasn't something we did in the Tutorial, and should achieve a performance boost.

Baking appearances does mean character faces won't be animated during normal gameplay, but will be during cinematics where facial animation can add a lot of emotion. We have implemented bake quality, so it might be possible on higher specification systems to enable facial animations during gameplay. It's something we'll be exploring after Patch 0.3 but is not something we're committing to at this stage.

Combining multiple meshes ( head, hair, facial hair, eye brows, uniform, exposed skin ), optimizing out bones and baking into one skinned mesh at runtime needs to be extremely fast considering how many characters we have and the possibility for changing weapons and tools, so we've invested time up front in optimizing the process. From very early proof of concept code taking 500ms per bake, within a matter of hours it was reduced to under 2ms. That means we can bake several characters at once ( for example when new villagers are created ) without significant impact on frame rate. In reality this only happens a few times every minute, or when hand-held gear is swapped out, so we are well within acceptable performance targets.

Universal Skeleton

Having a universal skeleton for all human characters means we can play any human animation on any human character. For example we can have men walking like women, but that's not the real use. The main strength lies in how we implement weapons. We're creating combat animations around weapon types: one-handed, two-handed, and dual wield. A pitch fork and halberd are somewhat similar in that they are held with two hands and look perfectly acceptable using the same combat animations. A sword and mace are also similar and can use the same one-handed combat animations.

In a game with lots of buildings, lots of characters, and lots of weapons, there's lots of creativity and trickery required in striking a balance between the quantity of assets and achieving an acceptable quality and accuracy of animations. The hard constraint of memory means eventually you hit limits, and you can't increase one without reducing the other.



While we only need randomization, baking and bone optimizations working for Patch 0.3, beyond that there's lots of potential for Character Studio. Here are just a few low-priority ideas we'll be considering at a later date:

• sharing configuration text strings with others in the community forum to recreate characters;
  
• naming and adding personality traits for inclusion in your games ( e.g. if you always want Henry The Coward to be one of your villagers );
  
• uploading NPCs to Steam Workshop.

We're keeping up character production momentum with the addition of the male and female Peasant, Woodcutter and Baker. They Peasant and Woodcutter follow the visual style established in the Tutorial, but remade to fit the new customization system while standardizing the look of the villagers.








Three more sandbox-spec buildings are finished ready for inclusion in the next patch: Stonecutter Lodge, Storehouse and Tavern. With the Player advancing at pace, the next step is to enable Resources ( Logging Camp, Iron Mine, Stone Quarry ) and early stage Sandbox gameplay ( resource collection and processing ).

We're making solid progress in the 0.2.x release cycle, and today we're able to take an early look at two major improvements in the pipeline. We have a working Player breathing life into custom maps designed in the Editor, and Character Studio where we can experiment with character randomization.


One of the key requirements for Patch 0.3 is the ability to play a custom map designed by us in the Editor. Internally we're now able to run Sandbox maps and test dynamics including character movement and construction. Testing pathfinding is particularly important as we've deprecated the memory inefficient grid based graph system in the Tutorial and developed a faster Tile-Based Navmesh system that supports updating during gameplay.



Developing a new pathfinding solution helps reduce the overall game footprint in addressable system memory ( reduced probability of a memory related crashes on marginal systems ), while making path calculations faster ( better frame rate ).

The blog video demonstrates a test case of running one group of villagers over a bridge while the other group run under it. This wasn't possible in the Tutorial ( anyone notice the rubble blocks in the Old Forge blocking access to the ramparts above the portcullis entrance? ), but for Sandbox it opens up lots of design options.


One of the frequent pieces of feedback we received following launch ( particularly in Let's Play videos ) concerned all the villagers looking like drones. Given that a major feature of Folk Tale is the detail of the lives of your Villagers and the adventures they become involved with, it's important that we give them an identity.

In the Sandbox Vision Presentation I explained why it wasn't possible to achieve full RPG level of visual customization due to memory constraints ( GPU texture memory and overall system memory ). Instead, we set out to give each villager a unique face, and show their currently equipped hand items ( tools and weapons ). In Dev Blog 10 I highlighted early development on facial customization, and since then we've expanded the customization system into something that is usable and will be included in Patch 0.3.



There's a lot more going on under the hood of Character Studio than first meets the eye, specifically to address technical objectives:

Minimal Memory Footprint

We've designed the character system using minimal base geometry and a single hair/skin texture to keep memory requirements down. We have one universal skeleton for all humans, two master head models - male and female - and a number of uniforms. We have a range of hair styles, eye brows, and facial hair, that we'll continue to add to throughout development to add more variety. All the geometry is combined at runtime into a single skinned mesh with just two materials: one for the uniform and one for the skin and hair, both of which are color tinted separately in the shader.

Performance

The more bones included in the skeleton the longer it takes the CPU to calculate the position of each vertex in each frame of animation before sending to the GPU, and that means lower frame rates. To achieve both a unique appearance AND good performance, we're baking appearances and then removing the influence of certain bones ( e.g. facial bones, 2nd-4th fingers ), reducing the bone count down from 140+ to around 60. This wasn't something we did in the Tutorial, and should achieve a performance boost.

Baking appearances does mean character faces won't be animated during normal gameplay, but will be during cinematics where facial animation can add a lot of emotion. We have implemented bake quality, so it might be possible on higher specification systems to enable facial animations during gameplay. It's something we'll be exploring after Patch 0.3 but is not something we're committing to at this stage.

Combining multiple meshes ( head, hair, facial hair, eye brows, uniform, exposed skin ), optimizing out bones and baking into one skinned mesh at runtime needs to be extremely fast considering how many characters we have and the possibility for changing weapons and tools, so we've invested time up front in optimizing the process. From very early proof of concept code taking 500ms per bake, within a matter of hours it was reduced to under 2ms. That means we can bake several characters at once ( for example when new villagers are created ) without significant impact on frame rate. In reality this only happens a few times every minute, or when hand-held gear is swapped out, so we are well within acceptable performance targets.

Universal Skeleton

Having a universal skeleton for all human characters means we can play any human animation on any human character. For example we can have men walking like women, but that's not the real use. The main strength lies in how we implement weapons. We're creating combat animations around weapon types: one-handed, two-handed, and dual wield. A pitch fork and halberd are somewhat similar in that they are held with two hands and look perfectly acceptable using the same combat animations. A sword and mace are also similar and can use the same one-handed combat animations.

In a game with lots of buildings, lots of characters, and lots of weapons, there's lots of creativity and trickery required in striking a balance between the quantity of assets and achieving an acceptable quality and accuracy of animations. The hard constraint of memory means eventually you hit limits, and you can't increase one without reducing the other.



While we only need randomization, baking and bone optimizations working for Patch 0.3, beyond that there's lots of potential for Character Studio. Here are just a few low-priority ideas we'll be considering at a later date:

• sharing configuration text strings with others in the community forum to recreate characters;
  
• naming and adding personality traits for inclusion in your games ( e.g. if you always want Henry The Coward to be one of your villagers );
  
• uploading NPCs to Steam Workshop.

We're keeping up character production momentum with the addition of the male and female Peasant, Woodcutter and Baker. They Peasant and Woodcutter follow the visual style established in the Tutorial, but remade to fit the new customization system while standardizing the look of the villagers.








Three more sandbox-spec buildings are finished ready for inclusion in the next patch: Stonecutter Lodge, Storehouse and Tavern. With the Player advancing at pace, the next step is to enable Resources ( Logging Camp, Iron Mine, Stone Quarry ) and early stage Sandbox gameplay ( resource collection and processing ).