We are still sorting out some screen resolution issues related to 2560x1080 and alike. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Thanks to everyone for reporting! In this little update we've tried to sort out most of the reports.

• Fixed wrongly set training time for Mauler in Wolf Quarry (reduced from 25 to 20 ticks).
  
• Demoness will regenerate HP up to 100%.
  
  
• Implemented a bunch of fixes for some of the Campaign levels.
  
  
• Made Gather Points from Peasant Huts apply to Wells.
  
  
• Fixed double- clicking on mini-map that previously didn't allow units to run when "units walk by default" setting was checked.
  
  
• Fixed double- clicking making units run when ALT was held while "units walk by default" setting was off (default behavior).
  
  
• Buildings that can't be built due to tech limitations (campaign) won't show up on peasant building menu.
  
  
• Reduced offset for building corners to avoid pathing issues when units avoid buildings.
  
  
• Made the game consider "attack ready" animations as "Idle" for some units so they can still recover hp/stamina when entering those animation states.
  
  
• Improved building placement and starting points in the Wolf Swamp mission (Campaign) to avoid excessive AI relocation.
  
  
• Added additional Raider as a starting unit for the "Shinja and Necromancer" mission (Campaign).
  
  
• Fixed a bug that caused horses to excessively loop rear up animations when on Stand Ground.
  
  
• Removed FPS related game warnings, and increased time threshold for the network ones.
  
  
• Made missile units engaging buildings on Stand Ground apply the same logic they use when engaging units, so they can reposition properly without stacking.
  
  
• Game will now reset AI profile properly when player changes difficulty in Settings and when reloading a save game. Previously this led to AI playing better than it should have on difficulty settings like Normal or Easy.

We have confirmed issues with some of the resolutions (for example 2560x1440) and are currently looking into it. Sorry for the trouble!

• Game speed and its slider have been set to maximum by default (instead of 50%).
  

  With the update 1.58, we've equalized maximum single player speed to maximum multiplayer speed. The slider itself wasn't touched so a number of players might've felt a slowdown of the single player game by default.
  
  In the legacy version, maximum multiplayer speed was about 60% of the single player speed slider. The single player speed itself could go up to 200% of the normal speed, resulting in something that was never really intended. Now both speed and its slider are the same across all game modes and will remain like that in Zen Edition.

• Added an option to disable team shared combat alerts to the in-game clan menu (called by pressing TAB).
  
  
• Fixed a bug that made Bandit's new tutorial loop in some cases (Serpent Kenji's Journey).
  
  
• Kenji will now become a Siege unit to combat the initial Journey's tediousness after 1.58 Siege System changes.
  
  
• Necromancer's Spirit Warriors now become Siege units to combat the initial Journey's tediousness and add more Siege capabilities to the Serpent Clan after 1.58 Siege System changes.
  - Added a flashy Sword Glow effect to Spirit Warriors.
  
  
• Fixed an oversight that resulted in Poison not preventing healing effects.
  
  
• Fixed an issue with updated abilities for Dragon Kabuki and Serpent Cannoneer (Star Dust and Smoke Bomb) resulting in VFX showing only for 1 magic object from 1 unit.
  
  
• Chemist's Innate Ability (Healing Herbs) will no longer reduced allies' damage (oversight).
  - Chemist's Mandrake Spore Rocket (Shrine Battle Gear) will do that instead.
  
  
• Demoness (Witch Transformation) will count towards Population Cap (oversight).
  
  
• Lotus Aviary will require Crypt to be built (oversight).
  
  
• Dragon Well will require Stables to be built (oversight).
  
  
• Updated a number of archives across the game that carried over some experimental game assets.

• Fixed a bug with resolutions that rendered the game "zoomed-in" in some cases. The game should display properly now.
  
  
• Fixed a bug that looped Otomo's tutorial in Kenji's Journey (Mission #1), preventing the mission from being complete.
  
  
• [Steam Multiplayer] Fixed a bug that allowed joining a game at the time of the host starting it partially breaking the lobby in the process.
  
  
• Removed the "(legacy controls)" comment from the attack-move/force-move switch in the game's options. Attack-move does not behave like the "legacy BR move", more information on it can be found in the original announcement for 1.58.

Welcome back, Warriors!

It sure has been a while., almost a full year since the latest update that was the Open Beta 1.57.9 launch in fact. It's been too long, and probably should have been better communicated with all of you, we apologize for that.

That being said, we're hoping to make up for what we lack in public relations with something absolutely amazing, which culminates with the release of the update 1.58, our Magnum Opus that is finally able to see the light of day.

This is where all the stars align, and a decisive turning point for the BR: ZE development is reached. With the update 1.58, the game receives a massive overhaul on every front.

This is going to be a big one, it's a year of almost non-stop work we are about to break down to you, so get comfortable, grab a drink, some snacks, and prepare for the good stuff.

• Codebase has been updated to modern standards. It has been cleaned, improved and overall provides better performance across the game.
  
  
• D3D7 has been upgraded to D3D9, which eliminates most of the graphical issues you might have experienced before, most notably the glitchy mini- map, shadow bugs and other visual artifacts.
  
  
• Proper support for AMD GPUs has been implemented. AMD videocard users will no longer experience any abnormal stutters or FPS issues simply caused by the game's dislike for AMD (most notably - extreme fps drops with buildings on fire).
  
  
• All textures across the game have been updated with the help of neural upscaling technology with some of the additional fixes from our artists.
  
  
• Support for a number of resolutions has been added, including 2K and 4K (alas, the UI remains stretched on any aspect ratio that isn't 4:3 or 5:4 as updating the game's UI in particular proves to be very difficult).
  
  Newly added resolutions: 1152x864, 1280x720, 1280x960, 1366x768, 1600x900, 1600x1200 , 2048x1080, 2560x1080, 2560x1440, 3840x2160

• You've read it right - input lag has been drastically reduced, that essentially solves the notorious "BR Delay" that has been the bane of many BR players for years. Enjoy better unit responsiveness!

1. Units will now force-move by default (won't be auto-aggressive during movement).
   
2. Units will now run by default instead of walking.
   
   
3. CTRL modifier key will make units attack-move (instead of force-move- its previous behavior.
   
4. ALT modifier key will make units walk (instead of making them run - its previous behavior).
   
5. CAPSLOCK key will display units' health bars.

To preface this - three of the most important control keys in the game can only be found within the original printed manuals of 2001/2002. Those keys are CTRL, ALT and SHIFT. Without them, unit control in BR will be quite a hassle for pretty much everyone. And if you ever found yourself bothered by unit disobedience and non-flexibility, that is one of the major reasons why.



In order to "force-move" units without them auto-attacking things in their way one had to hold the CTRL modifier key, and in order for units to run one had to hold the ALT modifier key (or double-right-click, which wasn't always reliable especially during lags in multiplayer).

As a QoL change, we've made those keys modify movement in the opposite way, closer to the traditional RTS games. That means by default all units will force-move and run instead of attack-moving and walking.

Now one will only need to press CTRL or ALT if they want their units to attack-move or walk respectively.

That will be the new control scheme by default. However, players who find that unnecessary will be able to go into Options and bring back the legacy control scheme for CTRL and ALT.



• BR attack-move becomes an actual attack- move. Previously, the default movement option in the game was... a hybrid of attack-move and force-move. It would preserve automatic unit aggression when moving but would become a force-move upon disengagement. Force-Move was initiated via CTRL.

It is now gone as we remade it into the attack-move that is in-line with the traditional RTS design. It will be 100% aggression on the move and will not break unit engagement like before.

Here's a description from the Starcraft Wiki:

Attack-Move causes the selected unit group to move to a location. If any enemies are encountered along the way, the group will attack that enemy until it is killed. They will repeat this until all encountered enemies are dead, then resume moving to their original destination.

However, there are incidents in which a player should use force move rather than attack move. Examples include rushing past base defenses to attack more important units and structures, retreating from a more powerful enemy army, and using units to serve as a distraction rather than a threat.

Previously, the Guard command was pretty much broken and was only useful to make units follow other units. Unit that was supposed to guard something or someone would still be auto-aggressive and attack anything losing the Guard order in the process.

• In 1.58 Guard command will no longer reset under any circumstances other than direct attack orders or behavior order switch.

• The order will not reset if the unit on Guard is attacked.

• Unit on Guard will guard a unit, building or terrain in a short radius. Whenever the unit is out of the radius, it will return back into the radius.

• Units on Guard will only scan for enemy units, they will not attack buildings.


Behavior Control Orders are Stand Ground and Passiveness, which essentially tell units how to behave. These keys will now become ON/OFF toggles, which will allow units to retain those settings when necessary.

Previously Stand Ground, Passiveness and Guard orders would reset on every occasion. That meant players would have to reissue them almost all the time if they wanted to keep their units in check. Most notable examples would be units being attacked or simply moving (even a meter away), that would disable the orders making units auto-aggressive again.

Now, that these keys become toggles, units will retain those orders as long as they are toggled ON. These orders will only reset if they are toggled OFF or units are instructed to attack.

• As is with any toggles, if any behavior order is active, and you press the same key again, it's going to deactivate (toggle off) unless you have units in your selection that have no behavior orders.

If there are units that have no behavior order in that selection, pressing the same key will toggle that order on for them first, and only then you will be able to disable the order (by pressing the same key, again).

• You can clear all behavior orders by pressing the Stop command (S by default) or by ordering units to attack (will not reset Stand Ground on ranged units).

• Unit portraits will now show what order unit has on.


• Pressing Stand Ground on Hybrid units (Kabuki Warrior, Dragon Warrior, Samurai and Bandit) will force them to use their ranged weapon, this is essentially a melee-to-ranged switch for this type of units.

Considering all the information stated above, we decided to add a hotkeys & control reference that will pop up whenever one presses the T hotkey (which is default for Tech Tree Tips). We are hoping this will help our players navigate around the game controls.




The importance of Multiplayer in any game, and especially a game like BR, can't be overstated. Almost every single day of the 1.58 development was dedicated to ironing out all the MP issues, and with great confidence we can say it has been stabilized. We don't want to get ahead of ourselves just yet, so we will let you see for yourself. :)

• Fixed numerous issues with hosting/joining lobbies.
  
• Fixed a number of crashes that would occur when starting games.
  
• Fixed all the possible desync triggers we could find. We are almost sure there are none left.
  
• Redesigned the main lobby screen a bit.
  
• Fixed an issue in the lobby listing that only displayed local lobbies. Now all lobbies from around the world will be displayed.
  
• Ping will now display properly. It will also get colored according to its value (white is good, yellow is bearable, orange is suspicious, and red is downright awful).

• Database integrity check has been implemented for online lobbies. A new column called MOD will now be among the lobby filters.

This column will let you see whether the host uses a modified database file. You won't be able to join those lobbies if you don't have the exact same mod as the host. A special pop-up will let you know that.

That will also display in-game on the UI panel. Because of this integrity check, we now have no issues with people trying to modify the database file, so feel free to share your mods in our Discord server!


LAN and Direct IP Multiplayer modes have been removed from the game. Now, by clicking 'Multiplayer', the player will be taken directly to the Steam Lobbies.

There are 3 reasons for this:

1. Piracy concerns.
   
2. Ed Del Castillo's goal of centralizing the community.
   
3. Security issues that currently can't be resolved due to the game's age and Steam network not really properly supporting LAN.

Steam Multiplayer should by now be an overall better way to play online, but yes, it requires internet connection.

Steam Multiplayer in Battle Realms: Zen Edition uses Peer- to- Peer networking. There are no servers, only p2p hosted games. This method was chosen for a number of reasons, but essentially it means players will be able to host Multiplayer games for as long as Steam exists as a service.


A lot of time and thought has been put into the initial balance overhaul. We will highlight only major changes, but the complete changelog can be found below, it is 45 pages long, but we strongly recommend getting acquainted with it.

A good bunch of community suggestions can be found there. We are hoping to keep this up and improve the game for the better together with the help of our amazing community. :)

If you are willing to participate in this, please leave your feedback either in the Steam Discussions or our Discord Server (preferred way).

1.58 Update - Balance Changelog

• Serpent Clan no longer has the 5 seconds advantage when it comes to training units

Previously, Serpent Clan trained units 5 seconds faster than the other 3 clans. Now all clans train units 5 seconds faster. Meaning that not only they are equal in training speed, but they also train troops faster than they do in the legacy game.


Unit damage to buildings has been completely rebalanced, as there are now Siege and Non-Siege units. To sum it up- if you don't train Siege units, you won't be able to effectively destroy buildings.

• Unit Class will show as Siege in “Smart Tooltips” when selecting units.



Here's a list of all Siege units and their BGs for each clan:

Dragon

Chemist (default attacks), Chemist (Starburst Rockets BG), Powder Keg Cannoneer (default + all BGs), Archer (Fire Arrow BG), Dragon Warrior (Flame Sword BG), Teppo, Kazan, Otomo

Serpent

Raider, Musketeer (Blast Shot BG), Cannoneer (only after technique)

Wolf

Mauler (only after technique), Hurler (Lava Rock BG), Sledger (default attacks), Pitch Slinger (default attacks), Shale Lord, Grayback, Longtooth

Lotus

Staff Adept (only after technique), Unclean One, Warlock (Lythis' Dark Arson BG), Master Warlock (default attacks), Shadow Steed (Flame Breath BG)

In the legacy game, Poison units would deal 50% of their initial base damage upfront and then 50% overtime. Base damage and poison were closely interconnected hence why Zen Masters like Shinja dealt very little damage.

• In 1.58, we untied Poison from base damage and made it a separate "true" damage value that applies overtime.

• In addition to that change, Poison will now slow affected units' movement speed down by 40% and Geisha won't be able to heal poisoned units.

• On top of that, there are units that are immune to Poison:

- Nightvol, Hordeling, Spirit Warrior, Spirit Wolf, Shale Spider, Zombie, Shambler
- Last Stand Guardian
- Unclean, Infested, Diseased
- Necromancer, Shale Lord, The Three Brothers

In 1.58, we introduced "Overtime Healing" in order to encourage unit preservation and making combat less forgiving for players with Geishas. Now there’s a good chance that focused attacks will overpower geishas’ overtime heal, so if units stay in combat while being healed, they will most likely die.

• Geishas will no longer instantly heal units to full health
• Geisha will instantly heal 25% of units’ base health and will add a 75% base health overtime effect (3% per 25 ticks).
• Geishas won’t be able to cast another heal until the first heal stops.
• Once units reach full health, the effect stops.
• Once Geisha dies, her healing effect stops.

In order to encourage "ground combat" and delay the "horse stage" we made a decision to lock Stables behind 3 combat buildings for each clan. It's not an ideal solution and we will come up with something better in the future.

• Explosive and Fire damage types become effective against horses (together with Piercing).

• In 1.58, horses no longer share a percentage of damage with riders. Melee units will always 100% damage horses, Missile units will always 100% damage riders. AoE damage will always damage both rider (100%) and horse (100%), 200% in total.

• Peasants with pack horses will have an icon over them so they can be found more easily. This is only visible to the players who own the peasants, not allies or enemies.

Many of our players have highlighted the increase in campaign/skirmish AI difficulty. That was only partially purposeful, there was a bunch of bugs that resurfaced with us restoring some of the AI features. This should be solved now.

• In 1.58, we taught AI how to actually play the game, more or less. It will micro units in combat, it will consider appropriate counter picks, it will retreat, it will cooperate with other AI, it will not be easily baited into an ambush, it will give you a hard time... if you are unfamiliar with the game.

We would like AI to be a sparring partner that will show you the core mechanics of the game rather than just a punching bag. Knowledge is power!

• Because of that, we removed all the cheats that AI had used since the legacy version (and there was a lot). When it comes to AI Skirmish battles, rest assured AI has no unfair advantage over you other than the basic AI things (reaction times mostly).

• Based on its profile parameters, you will see AI employ advanced tactics in various situations.


• All textures across the game have been upscaled/improved.

• Many visual effects have been fixed/remade/improved.

• Let us know how it looks!




There's a lot to digest here, so we had to pack it away in yet another google document. :)

1.58 Update - Technical & Gameplay Mechanics Changelog

Simply share the news with your friends or leave a review on the store page of the game, that already helps us a ton! If there are content makers reading this, you can reach us at support@battlerealms.com , we might have a bunch of keys we would like to share with the people who are willing to review the game on YouTube, any streaming platforms or perhaps even their personal sites.

Thank you everyone for your support and attention. We shall soon meet again!

  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• {LINK REMOVED}Help Fund Battle Realms! by Ed Del Castillo.

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.

Greetings, Warriors!

We are here, once again, to share the last pre-release note regarding the by now notorious update 1.58, our magnum opus in the making.

It's been 4 months since the last news, and almost a year since the open-beta release of the update 1.57.9. It's been a while indeed, but fret not, we are here to provide some insight into what's been happening with the development, and to reassure you that the work has indeed been going non-stop all this time, and it is soon to culminate.



Before we begin, we would like to share a reminder:

• This is the most important update for BR:ZE, and thus it is the most complex to develop. We're working in multiple directions, but the majority of the dev time has been dedicated to ensuring that the D3D (DirectX) update goes smoothly.
  
• For the longest time, we've been working with the outdated C++ '99 codebase of BR (which is indeed more or less updated to modern standards by now).
  
• We're still a team of only 4 people learning to navigate the inner workings of BR in an agile manner.

These are the 3 main reasons why things have been taking as long as they have been taking. Alas, the development time has exceeded all our estimates and beyond, time and time again. At this point, we're operating on "when it's done" basis, no ETAs can be further provided by us.

That being said, we're not completely underwater and have always been open to communication with our players via our Discord server. We have also assembled a full YouTube playlist with all 1.58 Sneak Peeks so far (10 in total at the time of writing this).



Beyond all that, let's talk about what's in store...


Right now, the update is complete enough for us to release it soon. We're emphasizing "enough" because it is not as complete as we would like it to be, but the game hasn't seen any updates in a while and we must release as soon as possible, especially considering how different 1.58 is from the main game by now (in all the good ways).



In the end, we're cutting corners, not only there won't be D3D12 rendering on release (no DirectX 12), but D3D9 will also not be fully complete. D3D9 is mostly complete, about 90%, the other 10% revolve around minor polishes and figuring out engine-specific issues. We will resume the work on those features shortly after the update releases.

We've run extensive tests to deem the update "release ready", right now we have to figure some things out within the team and prepare ourselves for the release.


About that... As 1.58 is our claim to fame, once it releases we will be running an extensive outreach campaign to garner as much attention as possible.

Would you like to lend us a hand? Simply share the news with your friends or leave a review on the store page of the game, that already helps us a ton! If there are content makers reading this, you can reach us at support@battlerealms.com , we might have a bunch of keys we would like to share with the people who are willing to review the game on YouTube, any streaming platforms or perhaps even their personal sites.

All and any help is appreciated! :)


Those who are hunting for the juicy update intel, do we have a treat for you! We can't show much, but hopefully what we can show will pleasantly surprise you.

As has already been mentioned, we've been working on multiple fronts, doing various kinds of things, here are some of them:

• Texture Improvements

As previously mentioned, all textures in the game have been improved to look less pixelated due to the introduction of newer widescreen and ultra-widescreen resolutions, and also because we actually can.

Here's a comparison between the legacy Lotus Clan UI and ZE UI

And here's the Dragon one

Forest Temple (Wolf) Techniques. A bunch of things like this had to be redrawn for the update.

• Visual Effects Improvements

For 1.58 we just restored and improved a handful of effects where it was required, but in the future we will improve all VFX across the game.

For example, previously, the Kabuki Warrior from the Dragon Clan was missing the animation for Star Dust, one of his Battle Gears. He just stood still while the ability magically activated in the targeted spot.

The truth is, Kabuki was supposed to use the same animation he uses when casting Flash Powder (his other BG), and Star Dust itself was supposed to be a projectile. We fixed that and remade the FX, here's the end result:



The VFX editor, albeit dated and outclassed by most editors of today, is still very powerful. Liquid certainly knew what they were creating. This basically means we can experiment and create VFX that are a bit more modern, without being held back by hardware limitations.

• Gameplay Improvements

There has been a lot of work done in this field. New Poison and Siege systems, AI tweaks, unit behavior improvements, various QoLs... you name it.

For example, missile units can finally use projectile-based targetable Battle Gears mid-combat without needing to stand passive beforehand. It is now fixed once and for all!



• Balance Improvements

1.58 (next update) is bringing a lot of balance changes to the table. We would like to believe we're on the right track regarding balancing the game.

For example, Spreading Goo BG of Unclean One or Haste BG of Issyl will no longer have any effect on any other animations, but the movement ones.

We will be eagerly awaiting the community's feedback on the upcoming changes, so we can shape the game for the better together. :)

• Future Integrations

We've also been working on the Rich Presence feature in both Steam and Discord. Style points go to Discord in this one.


• ...And More.

Much more, you may even see some lore-friendly content restored. :)



Even though we don't miss on a chance to remind that Open Beta 1.57.9 exists, our statistics shows only 3.79% of the whole player base play on it. :(



Please, remember that open beta is the future public release version, you can always take part in that future by sharing your feedback with us. :)



Trust us, it's coming. We want it released as much as all of you do. We have been working on the game this whole time, and this work will soon be released as the glorious Update 1.58. Until then... some final moments of patience. :)

Thank you everyone for your support and attention. We shall soon meet again!

  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• {LINK REMOVED}Help Fund Battle Realms! by Ed Del Castillo.

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.

Greetings, warriors!

As you might have already guessed, we are facing another delay, hopefully the very last one. We should have seen this one coming and, as unfortunate as it is, we have to break these news down to everybody who's keeping an eye out for the next update.


Where are we at right now? Currently, we're at the important stage of Quality Assurance. Lots of in-house testing going on to make sure our update releases and performs smoothly.

Let's talk about that in detail. As has already been stated, this is the most important update Battle Realms has seen in a while. Not only it is aimed at fixing all the glaring technical issues within the game, but also at adding all kinds of goodies for our players.

We are fixing the engine, but at the same time pushing its limits, which... results in all kinds of unexpected issues in the game, and that results in this kind of delays.



This update has been truly troublesome, but it's almost ready! We are now performing necessary procedures to make sure the game won't break itself.

We can no longer allow ourselves to give any ETAs regarding this, we've figured out that, most of the time, it's not possible to follow through with them and decided to abstain from that activity. We don't want to give any false promises or create early hype, and we would prefer our community to trust us with the development.


if you're not already in our Discord server, you should come around if you're curious about sneak peeks or some secret insight regarding the update that we only share with our community members in the server (as that's the place responsible for all our real-time operations).

If you are not interested in Discord, that's fine. There was a stream of a testing session a couple days ago. Here's a saved video of it if you'd like to check out how the update looks (apologies for the bitrate in advance).





We would like to apologize for throwing constant delays at you and not releasing anything for almost half a year now (since the last public release, open beta doesn't count). We've had a lot of work to sort out regarding this. We really hope you will enjoy the update once it's released, and all the time and effort spent on this will pay off in the end.

As of now, we strongly recommend you switch to Open Beta 1.57.9 as the current public release (1.57.8) is rather outdated in terms of balance and gameplay mechanics. It's worth checking out while we're finalizing our endlessly delayed next update. :)


  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• {LINK REMOVED}Help Fund Battle Realms! by Ed Del Castillo.

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.

Greetings, warriors!

It's Christmas time, and the New Year is fast approaching... Yet there haven't been any proper updates from the Battle Realms Team for quite a while, let's find out the reason why together!

It is no secret that we've been developing a new update for perhaps too long, many of you are understandably becoming more and more impatient. We've stayed more or less silent in regards to the development, and it's becoming gradually more difficult to keep the exciting news within ourselves...


We want to come forward and state that this is one of the most important updates for Battle Realms: Zen Edition and it needs more time to be fully ironed out. That being said, the release date for the update is set to be somewhere around mid-January, 2022.



We'd like to point out that you can already experience a fraction of the update by switching to 1.57.9 - Open Beta of Battle Realms within Steam. You could also help us improve certain aspects of the upcoming update by leaving feedback regarding the beta version, that would be greatly appreciated!


The majority of the development time has been dedicated to updating the codebase to modern standards as well as switching from the ancient DirectX7 to its modern iterations (DirectX 9 and 12). This is the most important step as it allows us to completely fix any graphical glitches and serious rendering bugs, the performance of the game is greatly improved as well and is now smoother than ever. This also simplifies the process of including new features and integrations in the game, which is quite helpful.



Moving on... Battle Realms was never intended to work with widescreen resolutions, but would you look at that! 2K, QHD, and 4K are incoming! Those with keen eyes have probably already noticed the minor interface and background edits.

Improved textures accompany the higher resolutions: It's nothing too fancy, we've improved all game textures across the board with the help of neural upscaling technology. That has been in the works for quite a while and we're finally ready to unleash it.

Having trained and used multiple upscaling models for BR textures, we're ready to say that it looks good. Some of the more problematic textures, particularly interface-related, have been hand-edited by our artists.



Finishing our feature spotlight with a sweet sneak-peek of one of the upcoming new team colors. There are a lot more exciting changes to cover of course, but we will leave that until the actual release.



There's also talk on the team about refreshing many visual effects for the game for the sake of consistency, visual appeal, and overall gameplay. Possibly coming in the future!




All in all, we've been very busy. There has also been a lot of work and effort put into miscellaneous things related to the development of the game. For example, as we're now seriously considering multiple balance changes across the game, we've collected a lot of in-game information in one document to make the development cycle easier for every team member involved. It will help us tremendously in achieving the more or less balanced gameplay combined with the feedback from our players.



We don't stop there however, there's a number of places we have to frequent and documents we have to dig up to ensure our development goes smoothly. There's also always user feedback that we carefully review at all times.

For example, German and French localizations! We hear you, and trust us, we're looking into it, we're still seeking the best way to make it happen within Steam. The localizations will be included in the game!



We're also working on our official site, which has been left largely unmaintained since release (it's difficult to maintain everything as a small team!), and the youtube channel - Battle Realms Network. If you haven't yet, please watch Ed's recent video for the community:



Besides Ed's appearances, there's a lot more planned for the channel, we're talking tutorials, gameplay details, and, of course, dev blogs.

Lastly, we would like to thank you, the community, for sticking with us since the very release of the game on Steam (Early Access). Your patience, belief in us, continuously provided feedback, and wonderful stories have all been a huge inspiration for our team.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• {LINK REMOVED}Help Fund Battle Realms! by Ed Del Castillo.

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.

Greetings, everybody!

Our grand update is releasing this December, before the New Year! Meanwhile, here's something to pass the time.

Ed makes his appearance yet once again, this time it's the continuation of his first interview with Bored With Nelly, exclusively focused on Battle Realms and its development!

Ed also mentions some secret stuff that's coming in the next update and the future plans of our team.

Miscellaneous info:

  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.

Today is the 7th of November, exactly 20 years ago the original version of Battle Realms saw the light of day for the first time.

On this special occasion, Ed Del Castillo, the creator of Battle Realms. prepared a video for all the BR fans around the world. :)

Greetings, everybody!

While the next groundbreaking update for Battle Realms: Zen Edition is being actively worked on and is to be seen this November, here's something to break the silence...

If you're an RTS fan that loves podcasts and is curious about the game industry of the past, present, and future, this very video should be right up your alley.

A youtube user named Bored With Nelly has recently talked to Ed Del Castillo, the creator of Battle Realms.

There's a ton of neat stuff being discussed: Battle Realms, Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, The Lord Of The Rings: War of the Ring, so without further ado, here's the video:


Speaking of videos, Ed is preparing a big one for our dear BR community where he's going to talk about the current state of affairs and future plans, stand by for more info! :)

Miscellaneous info:

  

Join the official server for the game, the universe, and the community if you haven't. Discord has proven to be a very helpful and fun program to use for us (as developers), so we're quite keen on maintaining our server.

Populated by more than 4000 warriors, it is a solid communication bridge between us and all of you.
If you're having issues, planning to report a bug, or just want to learn something new about the game and communicate with other fans or even developers -- we'd like to see you there, come around!

• On Youtube.
  
  
• On Facebook.
  
  
• On Reddit.
  
  
• On Twitter.
  
  
• On Twitch.