Message from Mathieu, CEO at Amplitude Studios:

"Hi all,

This is it, the day of release has finally come for Endless Legend.

What started as "Hey, let’s make Endless Space in a fantasy setting" bloomed into a gargantuan (for Amplitude’s size at least) fantasy 4X. We are very tired, it has been long and stressful, but we are very proud of what we have achieved. We are also very proud of having matured this game with you during Early Access, so thanks again for your trust, support and spot-on feedback.

As we stated in the past, release is just a step in the life cycle of Endless Legend -- a step which is necessary to receive press reviews and ship the game to retail stores. It is a foundation on which we will build together in the coming months. You have plenty of ideas and we do too (having some booze tonight will likely improve that), and I am confident the game will grow in all aspects for the best.

We had a pizza night yesterday at Amplitude, polishing and fixing the last nagging issues, and we were very happy with what we had in our hands. The game is arriving on Windows 32 and 64 bit versions, as well as on Mac 32 bits. We have some issues with external middleware that is preventing us from releasing a 64 bits Mac version right now, but it is at least breathing so it should not take too long. The 32 bit version of the game runs fine on Mac 64 bit systems, however. The Linux version is breathing as well, also with a few middleware issues, but we should be able to release it shortly.

The game releases in English, French, German, Polish and Russian. Other languages will follow soon (think of two languages close to French)"

Tonight's release

Compared to the last public version you received, you will discover:

• The Cultists faction (more details below!): very exotic, very fun, very dangerous. If an AI plays it next to you, make sure you kill them before they overwhelm you. I was defeated yesterday evening by those bastards, thanks Nosferatiel :)
  
• Custom factions: our Technical Director has already found the one killer custom faction he is inordinately proud of.
  
• Final animated ambassadors for all factions, including the large ones (negotiation screen) and smaller ones (diplomatic status)
  
• The Mezari faction (for Endless Legend [classic or founder] Dungeon of the Endless founder pack owners)
  
• The Icewarg minor faction (for Endless Legend founder pack owners)
  
• The Drakken special hero (for Endless Legend founder pack owners)
  
• The Nydia minor faction, for all. It may feel reminiscent of another faction from another Amplitude game. #tease
  
• Lots of AI tuning and improvements, faction behaviour has been improved (if you play next to a Roving Clans empire get ready to see mercenaries coming your way, even though he claims you are his best friend).
  
• All battle data has been re-tweaked. I loved the way the battle played yesterday, yet we still cannot wait to get your opinion on which unit or faction is overpowered or underpowered. Try to keep in mind the global balancing though; for example, the Broken Lords hero is very strong, but expanding BL cities is expensive, so this makes them a conquering faction, rather than an expanding one.
  
• We have also rebalanced some buildings’ costs, minor faction difficulty, region sizes, etc. to make the game experience fluid and interesting at all stages
  
• We have of course fixed tons of bugs, especially some nightmarish random crashes and freezes which were very hard to nail down.

Known issues

• In some rare situations (which we cannot reproduce here or at QA), generating the game fails. Make sure you have administrative rights when you launch the game, and also using the Win 7 compatibility trick might help. We have upgraded the Steamworks middleware to a more recent version to make sure we kill all Steam related issues.
  
• In some specific cases in multiplayer, performing multiple join/leaves can result in desyncs. Re-hosting the game fixes the desync. Our QA has reported complete MP sessions with no desync at all, so the MP experience should be very smooth
  
• There may be some German/Russian texts not perfectly fitting in boxes, but nothing game breaking there.

The Cultists of the Eternal End

Because you guys made this happen: here's a preview of the Cultists of the Eternal End, Endless Legend's faction entirely designed by the community with Nosferatiel, Telum and Adazu in particular. So enjoy!









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_pD4pJOGg



We'll share more info on the actual release later today so stay tuned!


~Amplitude Studios

Message from Mathieu, CEO at Amplitude Studios:

"Hi all,

This is it, the day of release has finally come for Endless Legend.

What started as "Hey, let’s make Endless Space in a fantasy setting" bloomed into a gargantuan (for Amplitude’s size at least) fantasy 4X. We are very tired, it has been long and stressful, but we are very proud of what we have achieved. We are also very proud of having matured this game with you during Early Access, so thanks again for your trust, support and spot-on feedback.

As we stated in the past, release is just a step in the life cycle of Endless Legend -- a step which is necessary to receive press reviews and ship the game to retail stores. It is a foundation on which we will build together in the coming months. You have plenty of ideas and we do too (having some booze tonight will likely improve that), and I am confident the game will grow in all aspects for the best.

We had a pizza night yesterday at Amplitude, polishing and fixing the last nagging issues, and we were very happy with what we had in our hands. The game is arriving on Windows 32 and 64 bit versions, as well as on Mac 32 bits. We have some issues with external middleware that is preventing us from releasing a 64 bits Mac version right now, but it is at least breathing so it should not take too long. The 32 bit version of the game runs fine on Mac 64 bit systems, however. The Linux version is breathing as well, also with a few middleware issues, but we should be able to release it shortly.

The game releases in English, French, German, Polish and Russian. Other languages will follow soon (think of two languages close to French)"

Tonight's release

Compared to the last public version you received, you will discover:

• The Cultists faction (more details below!): very exotic, very fun, very dangerous. If an AI plays it next to you, make sure you kill them before they overwhelm you. I was defeated yesterday evening by those bastards, thanks Nosferatiel :)
  
• Custom factions: our Technical Director has already found the one killer custom faction he is inordinately proud of.
  
• Final animated ambassadors for all factions, including the large ones (negotiation screen) and smaller ones (diplomatic status)
  
• The Mezari faction (for Endless Legend [classic or founder] Dungeon of the Endless founder pack owners)
  
• The Icewarg minor faction (for Endless Legend founder pack owners)
  
• The Drakken special hero (for Endless Legend founder pack owners)
  
• The Nydia minor faction, for all. It may feel reminiscent of another faction from another Amplitude game. #tease
  
• Lots of AI tuning and improvements, faction behaviour has been improved (if you play next to a Roving Clans empire get ready to see mercenaries coming your way, even though he claims you are his best friend).
  
• All battle data has been re-tweaked. I loved the way the battle played yesterday, yet we still cannot wait to get your opinion on which unit or faction is overpowered or underpowered. Try to keep in mind the global balancing though; for example, the Broken Lords hero is very strong, but expanding BL cities is expensive, so this makes them a conquering faction, rather than an expanding one.
  
• We have also rebalanced some buildings’ costs, minor faction difficulty, region sizes, etc. to make the game experience fluid and interesting at all stages
  
• We have of course fixed tons of bugs, especially some nightmarish random crashes and freezes which were very hard to nail down.

Known issues

• In some rare situations (which we cannot reproduce here or at QA), generating the game fails. Make sure you have administrative rights when you launch the game, and also using the Win 7 compatibility trick might help. We have upgraded the Steamworks middleware to a more recent version to make sure we kill all Steam related issues.
  
• In some specific cases in multiplayer, performing multiple join/leaves can result in desyncs. Re-hosting the game fixes the desync. Our QA has reported complete MP sessions with no desync at all, so the MP experience should be very smooth
  
• There may be some German/Russian texts not perfectly fitting in boxes, but nothing game breaking there.

The Cultists of the Eternal End

Because you guys made this happen: here's a preview of the Cultists of the Eternal End, Endless Legend's faction entirely designed by the community with Nosferatiel, Telum and Adazu in particular. So enjoy!









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1_pD4pJOGg



We'll share more info on the actual release later today so stay tuned!


~Amplitude Studios

Hey guys,

Your game should be updating soon. :)

By the way, the Endless difficulty should be quite hard now, so tell us what you think about it!

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Implementation of the new battle rules.
  
• Updated the units.
  
• Updated the unit capacities
  
• Updated the items effects
  
• Refactoring of the technology tree
  
• Added Eras 5 and 6 of the technology tree
  
• Added new Winter Effects
  
• Global balancing of the game
  
• Added animated diplomats
  
• Added French and German localisations for testing purposes
  
• Added OSX version for testing purposes
  
• Added the tutorial
  
• Added the game credits list
  
• Implemented the Audio mix

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed 250+ issues. Too many fixes to be listed here... :)

KNOWN ISSUES

• Players cannot join a MP session set with a different language

Related to our game engine:

• Primary monitors not used by the game: we are working with Unity to fix this issue
  
• Game in front of other programs when Alt-Tabbed: we are working with Unity to fix this issue

THE MAC VERSION

The Mac version is now available: it is a 32-bit version for now, for testing purposes (we are working on a 64-bit version too). If you have purchased Endless Legend, it should now appear in your Steam library: download it as any other games on Steam and report your issues in the Technical Support section of our forum.

We're hoping to release the 64-bit version tomorrow. Stay tuned for more info! :)


~Amplitude Studios.

Hey guys,

Your game should be updating soon. :)

By the way, the Endless difficulty should be quite hard now, so tell us what you think about it!

CHANGES AND ADDITIONS

• Implementation of the new battle rules.
  
• Updated the units.
  
• Updated the unit capacities
  
• Updated the items effects
  
• Refactoring of the technology tree
  
• Added Eras 5 and 6 of the technology tree
  
• Added new Winter Effects
  
• Global balancing of the game
  
• Added animated diplomats
  
• Added French and German localisations for testing purposes
  
• Added OSX version for testing purposes
  
• Added the tutorial
  
• Added the game credits list
  
• Implemented the Audio mix

OTHER FIXES

• Fixed 250+ issues. Too many fixes to be listed here... :)

KNOWN ISSUES

• Players cannot join a MP session set with a different language

Related to our game engine:

• Primary monitors not used by the game: we are working with Unity to fix this issue
  
• Game in front of other programs when Alt-Tabbed: we are working with Unity to fix this issue

THE MAC VERSION

The Mac version is now available: it is a 32-bit version for now, for testing purposes (we are working on a 64-bit version too). If you have purchased Endless Legend, it should now appear in your Steam library: download it as any other games on Steam and report your issues in the Technical Support section of our forum.

We're hoping to release the 64-bit version tomorrow. Stay tuned for more info! :)


~Amplitude Studios.

Hey guys,


We are officially releasing Endless Legend next week, on September 18th (probably around 7pm CEST).

But that's not it. To celebrate the release, we have prepared another surprise for you!





The Endless Legend soundtrack is available on FlyByNo's Bandcamp page for free: FlyByNo. You simply need to click on "Buy Now" and enter the amount that you have chosen: 0, because it's available for free, but we encourage you to support the artist!

For your information, we have worked with the composer for quite some time already: on Endless Space (link to soundtrack) but also Dungeon of the Endless!




Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg2mnRs9tDY


Enjoy!


~Amplitude Studios

Hey guys,


We are officially releasing Endless Legend next week, on September 18th (probably around 7pm CEST).

But that's not it. To celebrate the release, we have prepared another surprise for you!





The Endless Legend soundtrack is available on FlyByNo's Bandcamp page for free: FlyByNo. You simply need to click on "Buy Now" and enter the amount that you have chosen: 0, because it's available for free, but we encourage you to support the artist!

For your information, we have worked with the composer for quite some time already: on Endless Space (link to soundtrack) but also Dungeon of the Endless!




Link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg2mnRs9tDY


Enjoy!


~Amplitude Studios

From the Dev Blog: link.


"Dear all,

A bit of news from the dev team of Endless Legend. We are working hard on finalising the game, and it feels more and more to be close to the release goal.

We are steadily fixing bugs, having already gotten rid of the most serious ones.

We are also improving the AI constantly: the development of the AI took a long time, because the game is super rich in terms of game features, and we have to teach the AI how to do all this. Now that all of this implemented, the work consists in making the system work together adequately, and add a few “human” behaviours to make the AI act like a real player. We also took a lot of time developing AI monitoring tools (sadly you will not see them in the build) to understand what is going in (decisions, priorities, army missions, etc.). The AI is now able to wage efficient wars, and we are in the process of improving its self-defence.

We have performed yet another overhaul of the tech tree, essentially to answer to the worries of mid-late game lack of interest. This is still under test.

We have also changed the method of resolving attacks during the battle, to answer the concerns of combat between higher tiered units. VieuxChat helped us design a new combat resolution system, which is finalized right now along with the revamp of all units and item stats.

We have worked a lot on the lack of immersion during diplomatic interactions (which was already improved in the last build) and added animated ambassadors. It’s pretty cool and are looking forward to release that!

We have also enriched the traits list of custom factions to give more meat to the faction customization potential. We still need to balance it before we deliver it and power gamers can exploit the system.

The Mac version has been running for some time now, but we started QA for real this week. There are very few bugs, but the few ones are a bit blocking and need to be fixed (pause menu not appearing, diplomatic background missing). As nothing is ever simple, these bugs only appear in some older versions of MacOS which we do not possess at the office… The Linux version has also been started and is looking good, but I am not sure we can make it for release, especially because it would jeopardize the QA efforts to the detriment of the Windows/Mac game stability.

So I guess the big question is: when do you get a new build? Well we want something convincing with the latest AI, tech tree, and battle system, and we will need some QA and VIP feedback first. Yes, the spoiled VIPs will get a build this week end, and if all goes well, you should have one next week. Some elements will be kept for release though, either because we are still tuning it (custom factions for instance), or because we need an exclusivity to maximize press coverage (I think we all want the game to succeed!). We will try to deliver a Mac build as well, even though it has some issues on older systems.


But anyway, we will keep you updated on the progress of this new build. All in all, the game feels like it is almost complete, and we feel confident for a release at the end of the summer."


Cheers,


~Amplitude Studios

From the Dev Blog: link.


"Dear all,

A bit of news from the dev team of Endless Legend. We are working hard on finalising the game, and it feels more and more to be close to the release goal.

We are steadily fixing bugs, having already gotten rid of the most serious ones.

We are also improving the AI constantly: the development of the AI took a long time, because the game is super rich in terms of game features, and we have to teach the AI how to do all this. Now that all of this implemented, the work consists in making the system work together adequately, and add a few “human” behaviours to make the AI act like a real player. We also took a lot of time developing AI monitoring tools (sadly you will not see them in the build) to understand what is going in (decisions, priorities, army missions, etc.). The AI is now able to wage efficient wars, and we are in the process of improving its self-defence.

We have performed yet another overhaul of the tech tree, essentially to answer to the worries of mid-late game lack of interest. This is still under test.

We have also changed the method of resolving attacks during the battle, to answer the concerns of combat between higher tiered units. VieuxChat helped us design a new combat resolution system, which is finalized right now along with the revamp of all units and item stats.

We have worked a lot on the lack of immersion during diplomatic interactions (which was already improved in the last build) and added animated ambassadors. It’s pretty cool and are looking forward to release that!

We have also enriched the traits list of custom factions to give more meat to the faction customization potential. We still need to balance it before we deliver it and power gamers can exploit the system.

The Mac version has been running for some time now, but we started QA for real this week. There are very few bugs, but the few ones are a bit blocking and need to be fixed (pause menu not appearing, diplomatic background missing). As nothing is ever simple, these bugs only appear in some older versions of MacOS which we do not possess at the office… The Linux version has also been started and is looking good, but I am not sure we can make it for release, especially because it would jeopardize the QA efforts to the detriment of the Windows/Mac game stability.

So I guess the big question is: when do you get a new build? Well we want something convincing with the latest AI, tech tree, and battle system, and we will need some QA and VIP feedback first. Yes, the spoiled VIPs will get a build this week end, and if all goes well, you should have one next week. Some elements will be kept for release though, either because we are still tuning it (custom factions for instance), or because we need an exclusivity to maximize press coverage (I think we all want the game to succeed!). We will try to deliver a Mac build as well, even though it has some issues on older systems.


But anyway, we will keep you updated on the progress of this new build. All in all, the game feels like it is almost complete, and we feel confident for a release at the end of the summer."


Cheers,


~Amplitude Studios

An ancient and venerable race, the drakes and dragons of the Drakken prize lore, history, and wisdom above all things.

Few in number but exceedingly powerful, they do not seek war but rather relationships, information, and knowledge. Faction histories, artifacts, and ruins are highly prized by the Drakken while wealth, military power, and advanced technology are viewed as insignificant.

Military they have limited numbers, and bring to battle very few but very powerful units.

The gradual onset of longer winters has not escaped the notice of this race who are attuned to Auriga's rhythms than all the rest.

Already they have struck out across the vast planet, forging ties with all who share Auriga's lands. They understand well that even if the cataclysm comes again, their first duty is to preserve what the Endless left behind, so that one day, maybe in a hundred years, maybe in a hundred thousand, their great teacher's creations will still endure.






https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j__D_3CqRCw




The release notes are too long so I cannot unfortunately post them in this announcement. However, they're available here!


Check out the official dev blog post for more information.


~Amplitude Studios