Welcome adventurers!

We have a pre Christmas treat for you all in the form of a Dev Blog Special! We are going to take a look back at the early days of The Black Death, through updates, milestones and moments! Join us in this special edition Dev Blog as we go back in time through the ages of Mercia and thank our amazing community for being with us on this epic journey. So grab a nice hot mug of your favourite brew and join us as we take a look back on 2016…

The Small Impact Games Dev Blog Special: The Journey So Far...



A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us all at Small Impact Games!

- The SIG Team!

Welcome adventurers!

We have a pre Christmas treat for you all in the form of a Dev Blog Special! We are going to take a look back at the early days of The Black Death, through updates, milestones and moments! Join us in this special edition Dev Blog as we go back in time through the ages of Mercia and thank our amazing community for being with us on this epic journey. So grab a nice hot mug of your favourite brew and join us as we take a look back on 2016…

The Small Impact Games Dev Blog Special: The Journey So Far...



A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from us all at Small Impact Games!

- The SIG Team!

Welcome one and all to the latest Dev Blog! We’ve got the weekly Q&A back, information on our upgrade to the Unreal Engine 4.14, details of our upcoming update with some exciting screenshots, The Black Death in the Top 100 IndieDB Indie Games Of The Year and our Dev Talk at Brewdog Leicester!




Will the Combat System be improved upon in its current state and how?

Making changes to the combat in game is a big task. It involves changes to animations, programming, movement/controls and hit detection/collision. There are many elements that are involved in how the combat system is created for example adding different moves or weapon types requires a lot of work. We used to have a stance system built into our combat but this was removed based on player feedback. Combat is something that we would like to revisit sometime before we go into a full launch stage. If and when we do upgrade our combat system, due to the large workload it would more than likely be featured in its own update.

Why can’t a Smith produce his own tools? He doesn’t know how to make wood/stone tools which are required to mine metal and wood for the iron tools that he can make.

That is an interesting question!

The way our Professions work is to encourage group play, as an example you would have various players playing as different Professions within a town. One may be playing a peasant who is primarily a resource gathering profession and has the ability to craft tools that enable him to do this. Another may be playing as a Merchant who crafts the townsfolk’s housing items and makes a profit from goods sold and uses this gold to buy better quality materials and thus craft better quality items to sell. The Smith is primarily a crafting Profession and provides the Militia and Knight class with top tier weapons and armour.

Each profession has it’s dedicated role that has been created to work alongside other professions. Blacksmiths rely on peasants for gathering resources, peasants rely on militia for protection and militia rely on blacksmiths for weapons crafting and repairs.

To aid players who may be playing on less populated servers, in the new V0.11 Providence update we added various different vendors and merchants into Mercia including a tools vendor, he should have everything you need!




Over these last few weeks we having been upgrading to Unreal engine 4.14. This has been a big task for the team and has taken a bit longer than we thought!

Implementing this has had an impact on what we intended to work on for the new update. We are now fixing issues that the upgrade has caused. In the long run it has been worth upgrading, it will now give us access to new features. This includes faster network replication which should mean better network optimisation for everyone!

You can read the Unreal 4.14 patch notes below.

Unreal Engine 4.14 Patch Notes


We have been working behind the scenes on dedicated servers for The Black Death which we know has been a highly requested feature from our Community! When this system has been implemented we will need your help testing them out. Your feedback will be essential as this is quite a big technical change for us!

We have some big news about our servers! With much consideration and thought we have decided to close down London_05 and Frankfurt_03 and in it’s place open an Australian server! Players who have characters on both of these servers will be able to use the “Switch Server” tool on the character screen and move to another server. You character and Inventory will be saved but unfortunately any houses you own and storage chests and items held in those will be wiped.


We are hoping to have a new update on our Beta server soon!

We’ve got battlefields, new forest areas, Logger’s Respite and WetRock revamp and some grand housing complete with a full plot of land for the aspiring Peasant! We even have a Christmas vendor who sells seasonal items!





SIG_JC has been busy polishing and crafting more areas into the land of Mercia. Think you’ve explored everywhere in Mercia? Think again! There’s lots more to explore with new areas and reworks to older zones and forests to get lost in. Got some spare gold lying around? You will be able to purchase an Estate in our upcoming content patch. We even have a Battlefield with an NPC camp and forest perfect for those tactical battles where you can use the environment to your advantage. WetRock and Logger’s Respite have had a redesign to better fit the rest of Mercia.

– Crutchley Hill Forest
– Crutchley Hill Estate
– Capital City Path Polish
– Capital City Left Forest
– Path to Wet Rock polish and forest
– WetRock village redone
– WetRock village pine forest
– Estates Added
– Capital bridge forest redone
– Battlefield
– Battlefield NPC Camp
– Battlefield Forest
– Logger’s Respite redone
– Logger’s Respite forest

Our new battlefield areas are a great place for RolePlaying events and re-enactments, send us your best battle screenshots and get featured in our Community Corner on our Blog. We think this would be a great spot for some amazing battle scenes for big server events in game! We would love to see The Templars battle it out against The Watch.





The cosy village just down the path from Ironhold known as Logger’s Respite has had a rework! It now features more up to date housing too.





Got some spare Gold lying around? This stately Estate could be yours for only 12,000 Gold! Features a large plot of land perfect for all your crops with a tidy fence. Stunning glass windows and a fortress style roof for that Medieval touch. Included in this is a tower overlooking the manor complete with a bowman guard to protect the home.






SIG_Cam has been busy painting and re working the stone/brick textures. The new brick paint brings out the Medieval style of the old days, using height maps in the Unreal Engine to create depth and more definition. The new texture painting we feel is a huge improvement over the old one and adds more character to the design and style of The Black Death.



Check out this cool GIF that SIG_Cam made showing a preview of how he paints the new textures and blends them together seamlessly in the Unreal Engine. Working with such a powerful engine allows us to utilise the tools and systems to our advantage and with the new 4.14 upgrade underway this will add new elements and features we can work with.

Stone Paint GIF

Here at SIG we often take inspiration from famous landmarks and scenery across parts of Europe. For example did you know that the design and layout of Raven’s Reach is inspired by the Cite Dé Carcassonne in France? Closer to home, we will be having a look at Old John Tower, Leicestershire’s most famous landmark!





Bradgate Park in Leicestershire is a huge 850 acres of land as has a lot of history behind it’s owners, ruins, monuments and the Grey family who once lived in the manor. You can find out more about the park over on their website. One such monument is Old John Tower which used to house a Windmill many years ago. It features an arched medieval door, old wooden windows with a decorative glass top, an archway on its left side, Medieval brickwork and a Turret style top. It has been known that it looks like an upside down tankard of ale with the archway being the handle! Check out the gallery below to see SIG_Emily’s photos of Old John Tower!








We would like to give a MASSIVE thank you to everyone in our Community! The Black Death made it into the Top 100 Indie Games Of The Year 2016! We couldn’t have done it without your support, we are speechless!

Head on over to the Indie DB website, under the Adventure category and cast your vote for The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016! Every vote counts, don’t forget to share with your Friends and Family too!

Vote For The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016




A massive thank you to the team at SideFest the Leicester Games Network and Brewdog Leicester for allowing us to present our Developer talk and of course to everyone who attended; we hope you all enjoyed it!





“Steam Early Access is overstocked with survival games, but Small Impact Studios launched into it anyway – and The Black Death has built a player base as it approaches release. We discuss the double edged sword of early access, speaking to a community formed around an unfinished game, world building versus procedural generation, environmental storytelling in a multiplayer setting and planning towards shipping a finished game.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be_sa1umZ78
—————————-
Monday 12th December 2016 19:00 – 22:00

Brewdog Leicester
8 Friar Lane, Leicester, LE1 5RA
—————————-
SideFest On Twitter

SideFest On Facebook

Leicester Games Network Events On Facebook

Brewdog Leicester On Twitter

Brewdog Leicester On Facebook

Brewdog Leicester Homepage

…See you next time!

//The SIG Team

Welcome one and all to the latest Dev Blog! We’ve got the weekly Q&A back, information on our upgrade to the Unreal Engine 4.14, details of our upcoming update with some exciting screenshots, The Black Death in the Top 100 IndieDB Indie Games Of The Year and our Dev Talk at Brewdog Leicester!




Will the Combat System be improved upon in its current state and how?

Making changes to the combat in game is a big task. It involves changes to animations, programming, movement/controls and hit detection/collision. There are many elements that are involved in how the combat system is created for example adding different moves or weapon types requires a lot of work. We used to have a stance system built into our combat but this was removed based on player feedback. Combat is something that we would like to revisit sometime before we go into a full launch stage. If and when we do upgrade our combat system, due to the large workload it would more than likely be featured in its own update.

Why can’t a Smith produce his own tools? He doesn’t know how to make wood/stone tools which are required to mine metal and wood for the iron tools that he can make.

That is an interesting question!

The way our Professions work is to encourage group play, as an example you would have various players playing as different Professions within a town. One may be playing a peasant who is primarily a resource gathering profession and has the ability to craft tools that enable him to do this. Another may be playing as a Merchant who crafts the townsfolk’s housing items and makes a profit from goods sold and uses this gold to buy better quality materials and thus craft better quality items to sell. The Smith is primarily a crafting Profession and provides the Militia and Knight class with top tier weapons and armour.

Each profession has it’s dedicated role that has been created to work alongside other professions. Blacksmiths rely on peasants for gathering resources, peasants rely on militia for protection and militia rely on blacksmiths for weapons crafting and repairs.

To aid players who may be playing on less populated servers, in the new V0.11 Providence update we added various different vendors and merchants into Mercia including a tools vendor, he should have everything you need!




Over these last few weeks we having been upgrading to Unreal engine 4.14. This has been a big task for the team and has taken a bit longer than we thought!

Implementing this has had an impact on what we intended to work on for the new update. We are now fixing issues that the upgrade has caused. In the long run it has been worth upgrading, it will now give us access to new features. This includes faster network replication which should mean better network optimisation for everyone!

You can read the Unreal 4.14 patch notes below.

Unreal Engine 4.14 Patch Notes


We have been working behind the scenes on dedicated servers for The Black Death which we know has been a highly requested feature from our Community! When this system has been implemented we will need your help testing them out. Your feedback will be essential as this is quite a big technical change for us!

We have some big news about our servers! With much consideration and thought we have decided to close down London_05 and Frankfurt_03 and in it’s place open an Australian server! Players who have characters on both of these servers will be able to use the “Switch Server” tool on the character screen and move to another server. You character and Inventory will be saved but unfortunately any houses you own and storage chests and items held in those will be wiped.


We are hoping to have a new update on our Beta server soon!

We’ve got battlefields, new forest areas, Logger’s Respite and WetRock revamp and some grand housing complete with a full plot of land for the aspiring Peasant! We even have a Christmas vendor who sells seasonal items!





SIG_JC has been busy polishing and crafting more areas into the land of Mercia. Think you’ve explored everywhere in Mercia? Think again! There’s lots more to explore with new areas and reworks to older zones and forests to get lost in. Got some spare gold lying around? You will be able to purchase an Estate in our upcoming content patch. We even have a Battlefield with an NPC camp and forest perfect for those tactical battles where you can use the environment to your advantage. WetRock and Logger’s Respite have had a redesign to better fit the rest of Mercia.

– Crutchley Hill Forest
– Crutchley Hill Estate
– Capital City Path Polish
– Capital City Left Forest
– Path to Wet Rock polish and forest
– WetRock village redone
– WetRock village pine forest
– Estates Added
– Capital bridge forest redone
– Battlefield
– Battlefield NPC Camp
– Battlefield Forest
– Logger’s Respite redone
– Logger’s Respite forest

Our new battlefield areas are a great place for RolePlaying events and re-enactments, send us your best battle screenshots and get featured in our Community Corner on our Blog. We think this would be a great spot for some amazing battle scenes for big server events in game! We would love to see The Templars battle it out against The Watch.





The cosy village just down the path from Ironhold known as Logger’s Respite has had a rework! It now features more up to date housing too.





Got some spare Gold lying around? This stately Estate could be yours for only 12,000 Gold! Features a large plot of land perfect for all your crops with a tidy fence. Stunning glass windows and a fortress style roof for that Medieval touch. Included in this is a tower overlooking the manor complete with a bowman guard to protect the home.






SIG_Cam has been busy painting and re working the stone/brick textures. The new brick paint brings out the Medieval style of the old days, using height maps in the Unreal Engine to create depth and more definition. The new texture painting we feel is a huge improvement over the old one and adds more character to the design and style of The Black Death.



Check out this cool GIF that SIG_Cam made showing a preview of how he paints the new textures and blends them together seamlessly in the Unreal Engine. Working with such a powerful engine allows us to utilise the tools and systems to our advantage and with the new 4.14 upgrade underway this will add new elements and features we can work with.

Stone Paint GIF

Here at SIG we often take inspiration from famous landmarks and scenery across parts of Europe. For example did you know that the design and layout of Raven’s Reach is inspired by the Cite Dé Carcassonne in France? Closer to home, we will be having a look at Old John Tower, Leicestershire’s most famous landmark!





Bradgate Park in Leicestershire is a huge 850 acres of land as has a lot of history behind it’s owners, ruins, monuments and the Grey family who once lived in the manor. You can find out more about the park over on their website. One such monument is Old John Tower which used to house a Windmill many years ago. It features an arched medieval door, old wooden windows with a decorative glass top, an archway on its left side, Medieval brickwork and a Turret style top. It has been known that it looks like an upside down tankard of ale with the archway being the handle! Check out the gallery below to see SIG_Emily’s photos of Old John Tower!








We would like to give a MASSIVE thank you to everyone in our Community! The Black Death made it into the Top 100 Indie Games Of The Year 2016! We couldn’t have done it without your support, we are speechless!

Head on over to the Indie DB website, under the Adventure category and cast your vote for The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016! Every vote counts, don’t forget to share with your Friends and Family too!

Vote For The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016




A massive thank you to the team at SideFest the Leicester Games Network and Brewdog Leicester for allowing us to present our Developer talk and of course to everyone who attended; we hope you all enjoyed it!





“Steam Early Access is overstocked with survival games, but Small Impact Studios launched into it anyway – and The Black Death has built a player base as it approaches release. We discuss the double edged sword of early access, speaking to a community formed around an unfinished game, world building versus procedural generation, environmental storytelling in a multiplayer setting and planning towards shipping a finished game.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Be_sa1umZ78
—————————-
Monday 12th December 2016 19:00 – 22:00

Brewdog Leicester
8 Friar Lane, Leicester, LE1 5RA
—————————-
SideFest On Twitter

SideFest On Facebook

Leicester Games Network Events On Facebook

Brewdog Leicester On Twitter

Brewdog Leicester On Facebook

Brewdog Leicester Homepage

…See you next time!

//The SIG Team

Hello plagued adventurers!

We would like to give a MASSIVE thank you to everyone in our Community! The Black Death made it into the Top 100 Indie Games Of The Year 2016! We couldn't have done it without your support, we are speechless!

Head on over to the Indie DB website, under the Adventure category and cast your vote for The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016! Every vote counts, don't forget to share with your Friends and Family too!



Vote For The Black Death As Indie Game Of The Year 2016!



...See you in Mercia!

// The SIG Team

——————————————————-
The Black Death Social

The Black Death Twitter

The Black Death Facebook
The Black Death Instagram
The Black Death YouTube
The Black Death Discord
Small Impact Games Homepage
The Black Death Blog
The Black Death Steam Community Hub

Hello plagued adventurers!

We would like to give a MASSIVE thank you to everyone in our Community! The Black Death made it into the Top 100 Indie Games Of The Year 2016! We couldn't have done it without your support, we are speechless!

Head on over to the Indie DB website, under the Adventure category and cast your vote for The Black Death as the Indie Game Of The Year 2016! Every vote counts, don't forget to share with your Friends and Family too!



Vote For The Black Death As Indie Game Of The Year 2016!



...See you in Mercia!

// The SIG Team

——————————————————-
The Black Death Social

The Black Death Twitter

The Black Death Facebook
The Black Death Instagram
The Black Death YouTube
The Black Death Discord
Small Impact Games Homepage
The Black Death Blog
The Black Death Steam Community Hub

Hello plagued ones and welcome to our latest Dev Blog! With the release of our new update V0.11 Providence we have had a lot going on these past few weeks!


A big thank you to all the gaming news websites that have covered our latest update V0.11 Providence. Thank you for taking the time to play, review and write about our latest addition to the land of Mercia, we hope you enjoy playing! Thank you to One Angry Gamer, Massively OP, MMORPG.com, The Gaming Gospel and Survivethis!

One Angry Gamer: The Black Death Releases Massive V0.11 Providence Update

Massively Overpowered: Black Death's Providence Update Adds Animal Husbandry, Treasure Hunts, And Better NPC AI

Providence Update Allows Animal Husbandry & Grave Looting

The Gaming Gospel Blog: Survive The Plague... [Part 6]

Survivethis: The Black Death Patch Notes V0.11





Cameron and James from Small Impact Games and David from Green Man Gaming Publishing go through the Steam Community Forums and answer your questions about The Black Death!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSdlYIOb9bI

From the Small Impact Games HQ, James and Cameron take David from Green Man Gaming through our latest update, Providence!

With more resources, utilities, expanded conversations trees and a whole bunch of animals to tame, this update makes the world of Mercia a richer, denser place to explore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdcs5XKgZQ

The great team at Green Man Gaming featured our patch notes on their Blog too! This week saw the release of The Providence update for The Black Death. This update brings a massive amount of improvements and new features. You can check out what The Providence update brings below.

The Black Death: The Providence Update


To celebrate the release of our new update V0.11 Providence, Green Man Gaming have teamed up with PC retailer CyberPowerPC to give you a great offer!

Buy an eligible Intel-based PC and get a free code for The Black Death & the CyberPowerPC Mystery 4-Game Bundle at no additional charge. This deal ends December 27th 2016.

Intel Green Man Gaming Bundle 2016

You can also buy the CyberPowerPC Holiday Bundle which features The Black Death and a Mystery 4-Game Bundle pack separately over on the Green Man Gaming store.

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/cyberpowerpc-holiday-bundle/#game-description-section

CyberPowerPC Holiday Bundle

Enjoy our Dev Blog’s, Community Spotlights and event coverage but don’t own The Black Death? We are currently in the Steam Autumn Sale at 25% off!

The Black Death On Steam – 25% Off Autumn Sale!

The Steam Awards

A new addition this year is the Steam Awards! The Steam Community can nominate games to be put forward for a Steam Award in the category of their choosing. Pink Guy on Steam has kindly nominated The Black Death for the category of “Just 5 More Minutes” as he said that he found himself playing longer than he anticipated. A big thank you from the SIG team to Pink Guy and mystryon for nominating The Black Death! Your support means a lot to the team!



We would be honoured at the thought of our community choosing The Black Death for a Steam Award, we were thinking of the “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” as our new update V0.11 Providence brings Animal Husbandry to the land of Mercia. We would like to thank our community for your continued support and strength it really does mean a lot to us all.



Apologies for the lack of Weekly Q&A from the team, we have been very busy with our new update! Weekly Q&A is back, here are your questions for this week’s Q&A.

Will there be fall damage eventually?

Fall damage was recently added in game with our V0.10 update, you can find it under the “Misc.” category in our patch notes! The Black Death V0.10 Patch Notes

Why is it so hard to find good sticks when there are so many trees around?

That is a good question! We recently added a “Foraging” system that was introduced in our update V0.09 – Knights And Outlaws. This allows you to interact with your environment and forage your surroundings for crafting materials. There should be an icon that appears at the bottom of your screen in the middle that says “Forage For Items”, this can be done by pressing E. Depending on what you are interacting with will depend on what you receive. If you interact with the puddles in Raven’s Reach by the campfire near the Front Gate you will receive Dirty Water. This can be boiled at a Campfire to create Basic Water. If you interact with most trees in the game they will give you Basic Sticks. Also in areas such as Raven’s Reach and Farleigh you may find that the stick bushes have been looted as these are popular areas in game so resources will seem scarce. If you are looking for rare or better quality resources you will need to explore further across Mercia!

Are there plans for dedicated Roleplaying Servers?

We have been asked this one a lot by our community! We do have plans for dedicated servers and this is something that we are working on at the moment. When we have more information we will be sure to let you all know.

Will it be possible in the future to claim buildings like castle gates and (wooden) keep towers? It would be nice to have a safe place for a small Community.

Without giving away too many details about upcoming planned content for The Black Death, all we will say is watch this space! We have some amazing plans for future content in Mercia and we wouldn’t want to spoil the details for you all.

I would like to know if the combat mechanics will be changed in anyway from the simple quick horizontal swing and the slow overhead to something different/more interesting such as Chivalry or Mount & Blade’s mechanics?

We are always looking at our community’s feedback and suggestions when it comes to systems and mechanics in The Black Death. We did change the way combat worked in the past. We used to have a stance system in game which was removed based on the feedback we received as was turned into what we currently have in game. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is one of the games that has inspired the team both in its combat systems, setting and theme.

Making changes to the combat system is a big task as there are animations, code, assets/meshes, audio and other parts that work together in the Engine. Changing one element of the combat would mean re working a lot of what is already there for example the Animations would need re doing and this is a huge task. If we received enough feedback from our community we would consider re working elements of the combat system. It is definitely something that we are going to look at again as we would like to refine the combat at some point in the future.



We’ve never done anything like this before so it’s an experiment for all of us, but we’re hoping it will be a lot of fun!

Without further ado, I introduce to you “The Champions Council” a way to celebrate the most dedicated community members!

The Champions council was created as a way for the Dev team to say thank you to the most dedicated members of the community and to bring together a core of group of players whom we can equip to help us build The Black Death.

We want this journey to involve our community as much as possible. Giving insight to our community on our direction and goals in the development of The Black Death is very important to us. We want to show our community that we are listening to their feedback and suggestions.

Please follow the link below to our Steam forums and read the full Q&A!

The Champions Council - The Black Death Steam Forums

…See you in Mercia!

// Pete

// Emily

Hello plagued ones and welcome to our latest Dev Blog! With the release of our new update V0.11 Providence we have had a lot going on these past few weeks!


A big thank you to all the gaming news websites that have covered our latest update V0.11 Providence. Thank you for taking the time to play, review and write about our latest addition to the land of Mercia, we hope you enjoy playing! Thank you to One Angry Gamer, Massively OP, MMORPG.com, The Gaming Gospel and Survivethis!

One Angry Gamer: The Black Death Releases Massive V0.11 Providence Update

Massively Overpowered: Black Death's Providence Update Adds Animal Husbandry, Treasure Hunts, And Better NPC AI

Providence Update Allows Animal Husbandry & Grave Looting

The Gaming Gospel Blog: Survive The Plague... [Part 6]

Survivethis: The Black Death Patch Notes V0.11





Cameron and James from Small Impact Games and David from Green Man Gaming Publishing go through the Steam Community Forums and answer your questions about The Black Death!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSdlYIOb9bI

From the Small Impact Games HQ, James and Cameron take David from Green Man Gaming through our latest update, Providence!

With more resources, utilities, expanded conversations trees and a whole bunch of animals to tame, this update makes the world of Mercia a richer, denser place to explore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSdcs5XKgZQ

The great team at Green Man Gaming featured our patch notes on their Blog too! This week saw the release of The Providence update for The Black Death. This update brings a massive amount of improvements and new features. You can check out what The Providence update brings below.

The Black Death: The Providence Update


To celebrate the release of our new update V0.11 Providence, Green Man Gaming have teamed up with PC retailer CyberPowerPC to give you a great offer!

Buy an eligible Intel-based PC and get a free code for The Black Death & the CyberPowerPC Mystery 4-Game Bundle at no additional charge. This deal ends December 27th 2016.

Intel Green Man Gaming Bundle 2016

You can also buy the CyberPowerPC Holiday Bundle which features The Black Death and a Mystery 4-Game Bundle pack separately over on the Green Man Gaming store.

https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/cyberpowerpc-holiday-bundle/#game-description-section

CyberPowerPC Holiday Bundle

Enjoy our Dev Blog’s, Community Spotlights and event coverage but don’t own The Black Death? We are currently in the Steam Autumn Sale at 25% off!

The Black Death On Steam – 25% Off Autumn Sale!

The Steam Awards

A new addition this year is the Steam Awards! The Steam Community can nominate games to be put forward for a Steam Award in the category of their choosing. Pink Guy on Steam has kindly nominated The Black Death for the category of “Just 5 More Minutes” as he said that he found himself playing longer than he anticipated. A big thank you from the SIG team to Pink Guy and mystryon for nominating The Black Death! Your support means a lot to the team!



We would be honoured at the thought of our community choosing The Black Death for a Steam Award, we were thinking of the “Best Use Of A Farm Animal” as our new update V0.11 Providence brings Animal Husbandry to the land of Mercia. We would like to thank our community for your continued support and strength it really does mean a lot to us all.



Apologies for the lack of Weekly Q&A from the team, we have been very busy with our new update! Weekly Q&A is back, here are your questions for this week’s Q&A.

Will there be fall damage eventually?

Fall damage was recently added in game with our V0.10 update, you can find it under the “Misc.” category in our patch notes! The Black Death V0.10 Patch Notes

Why is it so hard to find good sticks when there are so many trees around?

That is a good question! We recently added a “Foraging” system that was introduced in our update V0.09 – Knights And Outlaws. This allows you to interact with your environment and forage your surroundings for crafting materials. There should be an icon that appears at the bottom of your screen in the middle that says “Forage For Items”, this can be done by pressing E. Depending on what you are interacting with will depend on what you receive. If you interact with the puddles in Raven’s Reach by the campfire near the Front Gate you will receive Dirty Water. This can be boiled at a Campfire to create Basic Water. If you interact with most trees in the game they will give you Basic Sticks. Also in areas such as Raven’s Reach and Farleigh you may find that the stick bushes have been looted as these are popular areas in game so resources will seem scarce. If you are looking for rare or better quality resources you will need to explore further across Mercia!

Are there plans for dedicated Roleplaying Servers?

We have been asked this one a lot by our community! We do have plans for dedicated servers and this is something that we are working on at the moment. When we have more information we will be sure to let you all know.

Will it be possible in the future to claim buildings like castle gates and (wooden) keep towers? It would be nice to have a safe place for a small Community.

Without giving away too many details about upcoming planned content for The Black Death, all we will say is watch this space! We have some amazing plans for future content in Mercia and we wouldn’t want to spoil the details for you all.

I would like to know if the combat mechanics will be changed in anyway from the simple quick horizontal swing and the slow overhead to something different/more interesting such as Chivalry or Mount & Blade’s mechanics?

We are always looking at our community’s feedback and suggestions when it comes to systems and mechanics in The Black Death. We did change the way combat worked in the past. We used to have a stance system in game which was removed based on the feedback we received as was turned into what we currently have in game. Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is one of the games that has inspired the team both in its combat systems, setting and theme.

Making changes to the combat system is a big task as there are animations, code, assets/meshes, audio and other parts that work together in the Engine. Changing one element of the combat would mean re working a lot of what is already there for example the Animations would need re doing and this is a huge task. If we received enough feedback from our community we would consider re working elements of the combat system. It is definitely something that we are going to look at again as we would like to refine the combat at some point in the future.



We’ve never done anything like this before so it’s an experiment for all of us, but we’re hoping it will be a lot of fun!

Without further ado, I introduce to you “The Champions Council” a way to celebrate the most dedicated community members!

The Champions council was created as a way for the Dev team to say thank you to the most dedicated members of the community and to bring together a core of group of players whom we can equip to help us build The Black Death.

We want this journey to involve our community as much as possible. Giving insight to our community on our direction and goals in the development of The Black Death is very important to us. We want to show our community that we are listening to their feedback and suggestions.

Please follow the link below to our Steam forums and read the full Q&A!

The Champions Council - The Black Death Steam Forums

…See you in Mercia!

// Pete

// Emily

Domestic animals can now be tamed!

The Peasant’s skill tree has a skill called 'Novice Farmer' which allows Peasants to create 'Animal Feed'. 'Animal Feed' works much like a tool, allowing you to tame animals (Chickens, Sheep and Cows). The animal will follow you around and you can and access them for items (Cows give milk, Chickens give feathers and eggs, sheep give milk and wool and pigs give milk.)

Remember, animals are fickle and when they become hungry again, they will get bored of you and will wonder off! So make sure you have enough feed when leading them back to your farm.












Dig sites are randomly spawned grave sites that will give random loot. Digging requires a 'Shovel' which can be crafted by Merchants and Blacksmiths or can be purchased from a Tools Trader NPC.

Word amongst the peasants is that shifty people have been seen where the dead are laid to rest near Govan’s Head.






The world of Mercia comes alive with our new and enhanced NPC interactions!

NPCs now have audio dialogue and will be sure to tell you that they have goods for sale or if you could spare a coin. NPCs now tell you where certain things are within the world with different chat text options. We felt for old and new players this would also serve as an in-game guide and build on the Lore of The Black Death.

NPCs will now turn to face you when you walk past, this counts for guards too so watch your step! NPCs now have small random animations such as rubbing their noses and wiping their heads to add more life and variety.

Check out the full Patch Notes over on our Blog for a short video featuring our new NPC voice lines and animations!

The Black Death Patch Notes - V0.11 Providence


We have added a variety of Merchants and Traders to Mercia! Seeds Merchant, Baker, Farmer, Military Merchant, Templar Import Merchant, Food Merchant and Tools Trader.

The Farmer Merchant sells a massive variety of seeds so you can have a diverse farm! The Baker sells a great range of food items including some new ones. The Military Merchants and Templar Import Merchants sell a wide range of weapons and armour. Tools Traders sell a great range of tools from wood axes, pickaxes, fishing rods and even shovels.





















We have added a ton of new items in game, both craftable and purchasable from various vendors. A few items are Raspberry Pie, Quiche, Porridge, Gingerbread, Pumpkin Potage, Iron Spade, Ginger, Beehive, Mixed Herbs, Plague Mask, Mortar and Pestle, Wicker, Kopesh Sword, Scimitar Sword, Kite Shield, Claymore Sword and much more!



Higher tier foods will be easier to craft from the world as a ton of new resources have been added across Mercia, including some new ones such as Ginger, Coriander, Chamomile, Raspberries, Celandine and more!


Peasants can now craft Beehives, Butter Churners and Stools! Beehives can be used to harvest honey and Butter Churners can turn milk from cows into butter!

Militia now have a new skill tree called Army Culinary which features 2 skills, one called Ration Cook and one called Expert Ration Cook. These unlock 2 new recipes Mushroom Soup and Pumpkin Potage. Great for those long journeys, a hearty meal for sure!













Monks can craft a Mortar and Pestle for some herbalist action and a Plague Mask. The Pestle and Mortar is used with herbs to craft Mixed Herbs; these are then used as part of the recipe for the Plague Mask which when worn helps to prevent the plague.



The Plague Mask can be found in the Monks Survival tree under the Toxicologist skill line. The Monk has also received an update to the Herbalist skill line which includes new recipes for various drinks and salves.


Eagle eyed adventurers may have noticed that Dunstead has been under construction recently and has had its gates closed to the folk of Mercia!

We are proud to announce the grand re opening of Dunstead! [SIG] JC has hand crafted and brought life back into this settlement. Featuring a marketplace, new homes and roaming animals. Some houses even have farm land for crops, perfect for Peasants! Dunstead is a great settlement with picturesque views and cosy houses. We invite you to visit Dunstead in your travels across Mercia!












Home to bandits, foxes and wolves, another addition to the landscapes of Mercia is a large forest in Queen’s Province. Amongst the bandit camps wild animals can be found roaming these woods, perfect for taming and bringing home to a barn, if you can avoid the bandits that lurk in the shadows. Take a wander in the woods next to Queen’s Crossing but don’t get too lost!










A huge congratulations to Zsolt Fekete! Your entry was picked for this update! Be sure to look out for this great read in game!

The player written book for this update comes in the form of "The Heretic Part I" written from the pen of Syrnevar Blackheart, Lord of the Blackmist Marsh.

“The head of his guard was Sir Manquen Highlander of Frostfall, a battle-hardened knight of the king’s army, greedy enough to offer his services to Sven, instead of protecting the king. Now familiar with the backstory of our characters I can unfold the birth of a legend.” - An excerpt from The Heretic Vol I

• Crafting quality differences now tell you what level of rarity you are looking at in the text, so it’s easier to understand
  
  
• Skill tree recipe unlocks now show the Icon of the item/material/resource as well as the name
  
  
• Fixed an issue that stopped the Inventory UI refreshing when you cured an illness
  
  
• Camera system has been adjusted, now smoother
  
  
• You can now look around when picking up/gathering resources (Before the camera was frozen)
  
  
• Pick ups now have Audio
  
  
• Picking up items now plays different animations depending on the height of the object
  
  
• Monks using items on other players is now fixed (Monks special F Skill)
  
  
• Monks now receive a UI prompt when an item has been used on another player
  
  
• The Player now has an animation when in their crafting Menu
  
  AI
  
  
• AI now get covered in blood when they are near death
  
  
• AI will speak general things when you are near them
  
  
• AI will do small random animations, like rubbing their nose, wiping their head, to add more life and variety
  
  
• AI will play animations directed towards you when you are close. E.g. Beggars will beg
  
  
• AI will say hello when you talk to them in the NPC chat menu
  
  
• AI base animations mirror those of the players, e.g. Monks hands in front, Merchants hands behind

To see the full list of Bug Fixes head on over to the full offical Patch Notes for V0.11 - Providence over on our Blog!

The Black Death Patch Notes V0.11 - Providence


- Occasionally “enter world” button does not work on character

In the continue character screen "enter world" button (which should continue your character) sometimes does not let you enter the server that you were previously playing in. Workarounds for this are clicking the "switch server" button. You can then pick your server again. If your server is not shown in the list then the server is likely to be down.

- Housing ownership is sometimes reset on a server wipe

Recently we have been having issues with our servers causing them to crash unexpectedly. From what we can see it sometimes causes a roll back on the server side saves, this means that the server will reset to a previous state before it crashed. The world data is reset but not character data. In doing so some houses are lost as they were purchased before the crash. We are sorry for any progress that has been lost due to this, we are keeping a close watch on this issue.

- Various crafted and/or looted items vanish from Inventory upon relog

We are aware of this issue and it is a top priority for us to fix and we are currently working to fix this. We apologise for any progress that has been lost, we understand how frustrating it is to lose items especially crafted items.

Small Impact Games JIRA Bug Database


A huge thank you to everyone who has been supporting us on this amazing journey as we build and develop the land of Mercia and the world of The Black Death. Thank you for all the Steam posts, bug reports, emails, Tweets, Follows, Blog comments, Facebook likes and comments, Reddit discussions and for being with us every step of the way. We also reached 80%+ Very Positive rating on our Steam Store page so a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us! We read every review even the negative ones as it helps us to gauge what in particular we need to improve on. We take our feedback and suggestions seriously and are always looking at areas we can change.

[61e] Lecourbe™

Kampfkommandant

Sertanejo

andywayss

umigirl

Katheva

super_boer

Ares_Shadow88

Arkanos

darkmaydravil ( [VK] [Team Goat] Darkmaydravil )

BabyLegOfDeath

Mammouth

xnatsu91

gigou

alfa_kil

GhoulMX

Sargay

☠Покайся Тварь!☠

Schneekugel2

alfa_kil

Klezzon

Andywayss

Schneekugel2

armsmclegs

FLIPmky

SENPAI

kargusderfuchs

Dwaygon

TheFishGuy31

alfa_kil

Opavaman

armsmclegs

Much Meme

maverikstation

ktiger83

PaigeeCakes

King

7suy

kargusderfuchs

Ed

Sidanator

H.

PaigeeCakes

Radyeti

WarTIME871

Rageace Aka WolfsBane

Patron Munchies

zepergaming

THEDODO(isofache1)

Gargarello

echuta51

beyonder2k9

Planeedid

rdparis --- corwin

Shadonight

fortner5355

mr.henderikus

severingp1e

quadgamer

[B2K] Bosveld

Bingowings422

davion223

kargusderfuchs

Dezhar (ID: nazarim6059)

Johncrasy1899

Joger1337

thevidalito62

Дебил НЕОН!

mara.nigg

mr.henderikus

sir-peter

Zombie Teddy Bear

Forceholder

Драконмастер

gigou

Kxndrxck

Malek2k4

nc_vampiro

PersianCat

Rage Rooster

Dr.Killjoy

xLCBx

[SIG] HolyAvengerOne

[SIG] Kap

[SIG] Miniishadow

KLA Gaming

Brandon

Chaosfrog

Spoderman

VJ (Sam Ari Tan)

Glompa541

VereWolf

Mr.Frog

BierBaron

Dezzi

Killhappyfool

Docrobin

Crimrose (Luigi)

Runkkuritari

Grodbert


Check out the full Patch Notes for V0.11 - Providence over on our Blog!

The Black Death V0.11 - Providence Patch Notes

…See you in Mercia!

// The SIG Team

Domestic animals can now be tamed!

The Peasant’s skill tree has a skill called 'Novice Farmer' which allows Peasants to create 'Animal Feed'. 'Animal Feed' works much like a tool, allowing you to tame animals (Chickens, Sheep and Cows). The animal will follow you around and you can and access them for items (Cows give milk, Chickens give feathers and eggs, sheep give milk and wool and pigs give milk.)

Remember, animals are fickle and when they become hungry again, they will get bored of you and will wonder off! So make sure you have enough feed when leading them back to your farm.












Dig sites are randomly spawned grave sites that will give random loot. Digging requires a 'Shovel' which can be crafted by Merchants and Blacksmiths or can be purchased from a Tools Trader NPC.

Word amongst the peasants is that shifty people have been seen where the dead are laid to rest near Govan’s Head.






The world of Mercia comes alive with our new and enhanced NPC interactions!

NPCs now have audio dialogue and will be sure to tell you that they have goods for sale or if you could spare a coin. NPCs now tell you where certain things are within the world with different chat text options. We felt for old and new players this would also serve as an in-game guide and build on the Lore of The Black Death.

NPCs will now turn to face you when you walk past, this counts for guards too so watch your step! NPCs now have small random animations such as rubbing their noses and wiping their heads to add more life and variety.

Check out the full Patch Notes over on our Blog for a short video featuring our new NPC voice lines and animations!

The Black Death Patch Notes - V0.11 Providence


We have added a variety of Merchants and Traders to Mercia! Seeds Merchant, Baker, Farmer, Military Merchant, Templar Import Merchant, Food Merchant and Tools Trader.

The Farmer Merchant sells a massive variety of seeds so you can have a diverse farm! The Baker sells a great range of food items including some new ones. The Military Merchants and Templar Import Merchants sell a wide range of weapons and armour. Tools Traders sell a great range of tools from wood axes, pickaxes, fishing rods and even shovels.





















We have added a ton of new items in game, both craftable and purchasable from various vendors. A few items are Raspberry Pie, Quiche, Porridge, Gingerbread, Pumpkin Potage, Iron Spade, Ginger, Beehive, Mixed Herbs, Plague Mask, Mortar and Pestle, Wicker, Kopesh Sword, Scimitar Sword, Kite Shield, Claymore Sword and much more!



Higher tier foods will be easier to craft from the world as a ton of new resources have been added across Mercia, including some new ones such as Ginger, Coriander, Chamomile, Raspberries, Celandine and more!


Peasants can now craft Beehives, Butter Churners and Stools! Beehives can be used to harvest honey and Butter Churners can turn milk from cows into butter!

Militia now have a new skill tree called Army Culinary which features 2 skills, one called Ration Cook and one called Expert Ration Cook. These unlock 2 new recipes Mushroom Soup and Pumpkin Potage. Great for those long journeys, a hearty meal for sure!













Monks can craft a Mortar and Pestle for some herbalist action and a Plague Mask. The Pestle and Mortar is used with herbs to craft Mixed Herbs; these are then used as part of the recipe for the Plague Mask which when worn helps to prevent the plague.



The Plague Mask can be found in the Monks Survival tree under the Toxicologist skill line. The Monk has also received an update to the Herbalist skill line which includes new recipes for various drinks and salves.


Eagle eyed adventurers may have noticed that Dunstead has been under construction recently and has had its gates closed to the folk of Mercia!

We are proud to announce the grand re opening of Dunstead! [SIG] JC has hand crafted and brought life back into this settlement. Featuring a marketplace, new homes and roaming animals. Some houses even have farm land for crops, perfect for Peasants! Dunstead is a great settlement with picturesque views and cosy houses. We invite you to visit Dunstead in your travels across Mercia!












Home to bandits, foxes and wolves, another addition to the landscapes of Mercia is a large forest in Queen’s Province. Amongst the bandit camps wild animals can be found roaming these woods, perfect for taming and bringing home to a barn, if you can avoid the bandits that lurk in the shadows. Take a wander in the woods next to Queen’s Crossing but don’t get too lost!










A huge congratulations to Zsolt Fekete! Your entry was picked for this update! Be sure to look out for this great read in game!

The player written book for this update comes in the form of "The Heretic Part I" written from the pen of Syrnevar Blackheart, Lord of the Blackmist Marsh.

“The head of his guard was Sir Manquen Highlander of Frostfall, a battle-hardened knight of the king’s army, greedy enough to offer his services to Sven, instead of protecting the king. Now familiar with the backstory of our characters I can unfold the birth of a legend.” - An excerpt from The Heretic Vol I

• Crafting quality differences now tell you what level of rarity you are looking at in the text, so it’s easier to understand
  
  
• Skill tree recipe unlocks now show the Icon of the item/material/resource as well as the name
  
  
• Fixed an issue that stopped the Inventory UI refreshing when you cured an illness
  
  
• Camera system has been adjusted, now smoother
  
  
• You can now look around when picking up/gathering resources (Before the camera was frozen)
  
  
• Pick ups now have Audio
  
  
• Picking up items now plays different animations depending on the height of the object
  
  
• Monks using items on other players is now fixed (Monks special F Skill)
  
  
• Monks now receive a UI prompt when an item has been used on another player
  
  
• The Player now has an animation when in their crafting Menu
  
  AI
  
  
• AI now get covered in blood when they are near death
  
  
• AI will speak general things when you are near them
  
  
• AI will do small random animations, like rubbing their nose, wiping their head, to add more life and variety
  
  
• AI will play animations directed towards you when you are close. E.g. Beggars will beg
  
  
• AI will say hello when you talk to them in the NPC chat menu
  
  
• AI base animations mirror those of the players, e.g. Monks hands in front, Merchants hands behind

To see the full list of Bug Fixes head on over to the full offical Patch Notes for V0.11 - Providence over on our Blog!

The Black Death Patch Notes V0.11 - Providence


- Occasionally “enter world” button does not work on character

In the continue character screen "enter world" button (which should continue your character) sometimes does not let you enter the server that you were previously playing in. Workarounds for this are clicking the "switch server" button. You can then pick your server again. If your server is not shown in the list then the server is likely to be down.

- Housing ownership is sometimes reset on a server wipe

Recently we have been having issues with our servers causing them to crash unexpectedly. From what we can see it sometimes causes a roll back on the server side saves, this means that the server will reset to a previous state before it crashed. The world data is reset but not character data. In doing so some houses are lost as they were purchased before the crash. We are sorry for any progress that has been lost due to this, we are keeping a close watch on this issue.

- Various crafted and/or looted items vanish from Inventory upon relog

We are aware of this issue and it is a top priority for us to fix and we are currently working to fix this. We apologise for any progress that has been lost, we understand how frustrating it is to lose items especially crafted items.

Small Impact Games JIRA Bug Database


A huge thank you to everyone who has been supporting us on this amazing journey as we build and develop the land of Mercia and the world of The Black Death. Thank you for all the Steam posts, bug reports, emails, Tweets, Follows, Blog comments, Facebook likes and comments, Reddit discussions and for being with us every step of the way. We also reached 80%+ Very Positive rating on our Steam Store page so a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us! We read every review even the negative ones as it helps us to gauge what in particular we need to improve on. We take our feedback and suggestions seriously and are always looking at areas we can change.

[61e] Lecourbe™

Kampfkommandant

Sertanejo

andywayss

umigirl

Katheva

super_boer

Ares_Shadow88

Arkanos

darkmaydravil ( [VK] [Team Goat] Darkmaydravil )

BabyLegOfDeath

Mammouth

xnatsu91

gigou

alfa_kil

GhoulMX

Sargay

☠Покайся Тварь!☠

Schneekugel2

alfa_kil

Klezzon

Andywayss

Schneekugel2

armsmclegs

FLIPmky

SENPAI

kargusderfuchs

Dwaygon

TheFishGuy31

alfa_kil

Opavaman

armsmclegs

Much Meme

maverikstation

ktiger83

PaigeeCakes

King

7suy

kargusderfuchs

Ed

Sidanator

H.

PaigeeCakes

Radyeti

WarTIME871

Rageace Aka WolfsBane

Patron Munchies

zepergaming

THEDODO(isofache1)

Gargarello

echuta51

beyonder2k9

Planeedid

rdparis --- corwin

Shadonight

fortner5355

mr.henderikus

severingp1e

quadgamer

[B2K] Bosveld

Bingowings422

davion223

kargusderfuchs

Dezhar (ID: nazarim6059)

Johncrasy1899

Joger1337

thevidalito62

Дебил НЕОН!

mara.nigg

mr.henderikus

sir-peter

Zombie Teddy Bear

Forceholder

Драконмастер

gigou

Kxndrxck

Malek2k4

nc_vampiro

PersianCat

Rage Rooster

Dr.Killjoy

xLCBx

[SIG] HolyAvengerOne

[SIG] Kap

[SIG] Miniishadow

KLA Gaming

Brandon

Chaosfrog

Spoderman

VJ (Sam Ari Tan)

Glompa541

VereWolf

Mr.Frog

BierBaron

Dezzi

Killhappyfool

Docrobin

Crimrose (Luigi)

Runkkuritari

Grodbert


Check out the full Patch Notes for V0.11 - Providence over on our Blog!

The Black Death V0.11 - Providence Patch Notes

…See you in Mercia!

// The SIG Team