Greetings Medieval City Planners,

Today is the day we know many of you, including ourselves, have been looking forward to: the release of the 1.7 New User Interface (UI) update!

As you will see, everything has changed. In the actions bar, you will find all the tools you need to build, zone and delve further into your village details (with the multi-pages Book feature!). You'll also enjoy a much more detailed informative module at the top, revamped building and villager panels, a new quest module and more streamlined notifications.





You will find a new Quest panel where you can pin quests and keep a track of available missions and an overhauled help menu that will give you some further pointers and information on the games' systems.





Saves now have a screenshot to help you identify your save at-a-glance, and the settings menu (and game) in general, is much more easy to use and navigate.



That’s not all of course! We have made further improvements to the engine during this time, that should see your fps improve as well as further bug fixes.

In summary, anything and everything is new and we hope you enjoy the new experience the UI will bring to the game!


This last year has been very busy for our small but passionate team. As many of you know, Foundation is made with its own game engine. This gives us the liberty we need to create the game as we envision it, but it also requires more time to develop some features as we also have to develop the tools we require beforehand.

Much of the team have been focused on the programming that was required to implement a whole new UI:

• Creating a complete GUI Editor from scratch
  
• Improve massively on our GUI engine
  
• Improve our 2D rendering pipeline
  
• Develop a completely new font rendering system to support font variety and scaling
  
• Refactor the whole UI code base around the new UX
  
• Implement all the new QoL that the new UX required

An overview of our engine custom GUI editor:


Other members of the team also worked with Dan, our UI/UX developer to create the multitude of custom art that can be seen throughout the new interface.

With the UI/UX phase one complete and the major groundwork set for later phases, we can now switch our main focus and push on with more gameplay and content additions still to come, in the upcoming Core updates!

• add: new HUD
  
• add: new help menu
  
• add: new actions bar
  
• add: new Book feature
  
• add: new sortable villager panel to Book
  
• add: new sortable workplace panel to Book
  
• add: new trade and resources panel to Book
  
• add: new budget overview panel to Book
  
• add: new estates panel to Book
  
• add: new army manager panel to Book
  
• add: new log panel to Book
  
• add: new buildings panels
  
• add: new building status indicators
  
• add: new construction menu
  
• add: search function to construction menu
  
• add: category filters to construction menu
  
• add: new Information panels
  
• add: new issues counters
  
• add: new monthly budget reports
  
• add: new quest Module
  
• add: new pinnable quests
  
• add: new notifications system
  
• add: new tooltips
  
• add: new event pop-ups
  
• add: new custom art - events
  
• add: new custom art - information panels
  
• add: new resource icons
  
• add: new main menu
  
• add: new load/save windows
  
• add: new mods window
  
• add: loading screen
  
• add: new settings window
  
• add: new achievements window
  
• add: savegame - automated thumbnails + save meta info (villager count, playtime, etc)
  
• add: new audio
  
• add: more control remapping options

• improve: building overview tab with worker assignation shortcut
  
• improve: UI Scaling, including clean font scaling
  
• improve: language switching

• fix: tavern bridge placement
  
• update: community localizations

• add: static sized arrays support
  
• add: support for atlas cell image assets
  
• expose: additional animations
  
• fix: mod unload order
  
• fix: custom type list property always using default value instead of assigned value

Hey everyone

We have pushed a new hotfix onto the preview branch. Just in time for the weekend!

Note: There is a known issue with promotions that we do not have a quick fix for but is avoidable.

Please do not save whilst the promotion opportunity is available. If you save while the promotion opportunity is on screen, promotions will not work or appear upon reload. If this happens you can go to a previous autosave or alternatively wait for it to reappear. This will take at least two full cycles (months) to clear.

The above issue should now be fixed in alpha 1.7.5.0618. The promotions bug may still show if you already had the issue but will clear after a couple of cycles and there should be no further problem after this.

Note: You may need to restart Steam to see the update


1.7.4.0618

add: double click on a textfield selects all text
add: allow text selection even on fully-draggable window
add: support to assign workers on the general tab
add: options menu sliders drag
add: villager stuck notifications
add: stockpile descriptions notifications
add: display stockpile status on resource tooltip
add: quest pin tooltip
add: mouse instructions on quest module content
add: display stockpile status on resource tooltip

update: event illustrations
update: text colors desirability, fertility, church attendance, weapon picker and multiple paragraph styles
update: villager description in villager panel
update: achievements window
update: localization
update: various menu sizes adjustments

fix: crash when deleting a statue
fix: crash with lacking need notifications
fix: crash on some notifications
fix: crash when fetching dependencies of non-supported mods

fix: achievements progress
fix: conflict popup - only appears on first load after new controls are added
fix: influence cost image size
fix: savegames display when file name contains a dot
fix: quest tooltip used context for "opportunity" title
fix: melody composer window
fix: melody composer size
fix: help window flickering
fix: visual glitches on Illustrations
fix: help and territory overlap when a new town is started.
fix: quest tooltip pin behavior
fix: display part size on part view
fix: workplace full is taking into account the market
fix: various military mission bugs
fix: military soldiers stuck on village center
fix: soldiers won't go to dorm if building is not built
fix: soldier level
fix: achievements locked/unlocked icons
fix: workplace status when inventory changes
fix: warehouse slot information
fix: mandate mission always clickable
fix: missing description on visibility layer action button
fix: missing resource for construction notification
fix: visitor notification
fix: old notifications won't appear
fix: building capacity messaging
fix: military mission display on right mission panel
fix: villager Issue in Book missing high severity warning icon
fix: upkeep cost when building is paused
fix: multiple issues: bailiff’s detail window part list
fix: forester building: tree selector value on load
fix: trade bonus does not revert to purchasable state
fix: red color that wasn't readable in the logs
fix: effect module, opportunities and quests sorting
fix: loophole during onboarding playthrough

alpha 1.7.5.0618

fix: promotion opportunity notification

Hey everyone!

As you may have seen we have pushed a couple of hotfixes to the preview build since it became available, including a small hotfix today. If you haven't already looked at the preview build of the 1.7 new UI then you can find more information and access instructions in the recent announcement here.

Changelogs of both hotfixes can be found below with the most recent being 1.7.3.0614 earlier today.

1.7.2.0611

• fix: access to deleted construction site component
  
• fix: crash on load when mod version is different
  
• fix: crash with notifications when exiting the game
  
• fix: performance issue with construction site lacking resources
  
• update community localizations

1.7.3.0614

• fix: a frequent random crash due to input management
  
• update community localizations

We are continuing to investigate any issues you may be finding with crashes being a priority.

Thanks for all the feedback and bug reports coming in, they are all extremely helpful!

Hey everyone, today we have exciting news!

A preview build of the upcoming 1.7 UI update is now available via the Steam betas option tab (access instructions below).

For the past months, we have been working hard on a complete rehaul of the UI. Phase I is almost complete and we are excited to bring you a preview build so that you can all take a first hands-on look at the new revamped Foundation interface.











We still have some outstanding improvements to make in Phase I, but now is the perfect time for us to gather your feedback. We would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the pinned preview feedback thread here, or alternatively join us on Discord where we have a dedicated channel for the 1.7 UI preview.

Vanilla (non-modded) save games from the current live build should, in most cases, be compatible with the preview build. However, as always with a preview build, we thoroughly recommend trying a fresh game to get the full benefit and experience from this update.

Many mods will require migrating to the new build and will not initially work, as such, modded saves will likely need to wait for mod updates and the full 1.7 UI release. We will be working closely with the modding community to help them get updated as quickly as possible during the preview stage.

Preview build saves will be compatible with the full release of the 1.7 UI update

Phase I is a huge foundation [Warning: pun overuse] for more improvements to come with subsequent phases looking to fine tune the art style, improving usability and UX as well as looking deeper into accessibility features and then final UI polish.

We hope you enjoy the new look UI and we look forward to hearing your feedback.


If you would like to take a look or help test out the preview build you can gain access via the Steam betas tab in Foundation properties.

• Right-click Foundation in your Steam library
  
• Click on properties
  
• Navigate to BETAS
  
• Choose the preview - Next Build Preview option

The game will automatically update but if it does not you may need to restart your Steam client.



Please note: The preview build is work in progress and is likely to contain some bugs. Any Bugs you might find can be reported here on the Steam forums or you can join us on Discord where we have both feedback and bug reporting channels.

Hey everyone!

It’s been a little time since our last communication but this does not mean we have been resting on our laurels. We know you are all eagerly anticipating the new UI and the improvements that will come with it.


The very first phase of the new UI implementation is nearing completion. With that said, we would like to share with you some of the work that has been involved with creating the new UI, and to let you know what has been going on in the background for the past few months.

Late last year, we teased you all with some sample images of our UI rehaul. These initial images were conceptual and only a taste of what to expect. Since that time, our UI/UX designer and a good chunk of the team have been busy implementing the full redesign in-engine.

If you have played the game and seen the old UI you will be well aware that although it was functional, it was lacking in many places, not particularly intuitive and also not very aesthetically pleasing. As such, the redesign has required major work. Every menu, icon, HUD element, feedback module… it’s a long list… needed to be updated, redesigned and in some instances built from scratch. Such is the cost of progress.

Once the new design foundation (pun intended) was laid out and agreed upon, work could begin on asset creation, whilst in the background, we ramped up work on the engine. What came out of this was a brand new Interface tool (imaginatively called the GUI editor). This tool effectively allows us to build, visualize and tweak the interface without programming (because yes, the old interface used to be generated purely by code). As we progress, we're constantly making the editor even more powerful, to allow for new features in the game for you, the players.

On top of this we have been making further updates to the engine to allow for enhanced UI visuals including better font rendering, to improve scaling, for the large differences in resolutions throughout the player base.

Much of the new interface is now in place and we are on the final run toward testing, feedback, tweaking and subsequent release. There are still a few elements that need to be worked on, some remnants from the old UI that need to be replaced and we will need to further tweak and improve on the work so far before release.

We know you are eager to see more teasers of what’s to come and of course we wish to oblige...












The UI has not been the only focus of recent development work. Some of the team have also been working in the background on more long-term goals such as overall art direction and preparation for future content updates.

Some of you may have noticed the changes to the market tents in a social media post some time ago, this was only the start of a broader improvement in the overall art direction. Further work has since been carried out on buildings such as the bakery and in time we will revamp and enhance the majority of the art and assets within the game.

The art team has also been working to design and create tools that will allow for a better way to render environmental aspects and transitions within the game, such as those between grass, sand and rocks. Similarly, they have been looking at ways in which to improve the look and variation of environmental factors such as vegetation, lighting and overall ambience.

These changes and improvements to the art style will not be part of the upcoming UI but you will be seeing more of them in the future.

We will update you all with an ETA for the release of the UI update in the coming weeks.

Hey everyone!

Small patch, Alpha 1.6.28.0216 is now live. This patch is in part a requirement in response to a new privacy policy on mod.io.

• add: mod "report content" link
  
• request user consent before logging to mod.io when rating a mod for the first time
  
• fix: mod loading fail on reload when adding new attach node types
  
• fix: avoid stuck tax collector or bailiff in a specific part of the lord manor

Happy New Year everyone! We hope you all had a wonderfully festive holiday!

We are thrilled to present to you today, an updated roadmap that contains information on many of the new features and content coming to Foundation this year.

Updated Roadmap & Release Schedule

Our objective is to release 3 major updates over the course of 2021. The first of which will be the much anticipated new UI.

This will be followed by 2 Core Updates that will bring an array of new features and additionally continue to improve on the UI and UX.

We have set out below further information on what you can expect to see in these updates.



Update 1 will bring a major improvement to the game in the form of the UI rehaul. You can expect to see a new HUD, building menus, villager menu, information panels and of course much, much more.

The main HUD will see a plethora of improvements that will contain easily identifiable information on resources, events & quests as well as more information panels for quick overviews of your current village.

Many of the information and management panels will all be tied together in an easily navigable and streamlined “Book” (name subject to change). The Book will include tabs and shortcuts that will link directly to facets including: Villager information, Workplaces, Estates, Budget, Resources and your Army. Each tab will include improved ways to sort and search for information that you need, all at your fingertips.

A new main menu will include more detail when looking through saves, a new options menu, help menu, mod menu,... in fact every aspect of the UI will be new and improved and as such will also bring a host of UX improvements.

We will continue to build upon the UI/UX Update with further updates and improvements after its initial release.



Core Update II will focus on improving the Estate mechanic. Your influence with an estate will vary over time, creating a choice of which estate(s) to invest in. Increasing your influence with one estate will have an effect on other estates and as such will affect the path you choose when building your village.


A new feature will be introduced with Core Update II in the form of Building Decay. Every placeable building will require maintenance and if not maintained the building will decay over time.

In order to maintain buildings within your village, you will need to place and staff a maintenance workshop. Each workshop will prioritize and maintain buildings that require repairs and pull resources that are needed to repair those buildings.

As buildings decay, productivity and desirability will be affected and if allowed to decay too far, buildings will become unusable and will need to be dismantled.

Houses occupied by villagers of lower status than the house, or left uninhabited for too long will begin to decay and may require repair.


Core Update II will also continue to improve upon the UI and UX with more accessibility options and menu improvements, taking into account player feedback as we further build on the previous UI/UX update.



Core Update III will add a number of new features that will change the way in which your village population can vary as well as bring new and improved detail to maps.

• A family mechanic will allow for the birth of children who will age, work, create their own families and eventually pass away, bringing a full cycle to village life.

• Varying factors will increase the chance of villager disease that will come with consequences to your workforce if left unchecked.

• As your villagers now walk through the valley of death they will need a place to be laid to rest.

• Map edges will be visually improved.

• Varying biomes will add to the variety of map environments.

• Land fertility will differ, depending on environmental factors allowing for crop-specific fertility.

• A much-requested feature will see the introduction of cobblestone roads that will increase efficiency in your villages.

The updated roadmap can be found over on Trello where you can keep up-to-date with all the progress.

Up to Full Release

More features will be implemented up to the full release, including:

• A major expansion and overhaul of the narrative elements & events
  
• Vehicles - where appropriate, villagers will be able to own and use horses
  
• A third level of housing status and density
  
• A safety need will see more use for soldiers and defense structures
  
• New monuments
  
• Information map - a zoomed out map showing an overview of available resource nodes and layers
  
• Map generator
  
• Pastures - allowing for zoning of livestock areas
  
• ...and more!

Post Release

The full release will not be the end of development and we will continue to work on features not yet implemented such as a map editor, creative mode and a photo tool as well as work on further DLCs that were planned as part of our original Kickstarter campaign.

Hello everyone, Alpha 1.6.27.1223 Hotfix is now live!

• F1 to actually open help menu (...because we forgot it)
  
• Expose new particle system to mods: PARTICLE_SYSTEM_BLACKSMITH_FIRE & PARTICLE_SYSTEM_BLACKSMITH_FIRE_SMOKE
  
• Allow mods to override core textures

Good news, Lords and Ladies! The 1.6.26 Update has arrived!

This small update brings a much-requested feature from the community, Key Mapping! You can now set up the game controls to suit your own playstyle and requirements. Find it in the Settings panel!

To complement the new Key mapping feature you will also find the following extra functions plus an additional fix:

• New keyboard shortcuts:
  • F1 = Help
    
  • Home = move to Village Center
    
  • Page Up/down = Zoom
    
  • 1-2-3 = game speeds
• camera axis inversion
  
• mouse camera sensitivity
  
• keyboard camera sensitivity
  
  
• fix: navmesh was not generated in some rare regions

Hello everyone!

Today we bring you news on upcoming updates to Foundation as well as some further information on what we have been up to over the last few weeks.


Firstly let’s talk about the next major update which is one we know you are all waiting for. As you have likely seen and read we are currently working on a complete UI rehaul. This has not been a small undertaking, requiring major work on the game engine as well as a complete rehaul and full design of the UI, including a new HUD as well as new panels and windows for quests, events, building panel, main menu, splash screen, icons and much, much more. You name it, it has needed designing.

Furthermore, the UI update will include improvements to the user experience (UX) in the form of greater player feedback, better tooltips and improved accessibility in the second phase of design and implementation. We will then go on to a further phase which will include a more detailed and improved help menu, better tutorialization, further refinement and improvements and much more. We have listened to feedback from the community which has also helped to guide some of the improvements you will get to see when the update drops.

Needless to say, this major update is taking some time to design and program and there is still a lot more work needed to program and implement all the changes of the initial phase. We will bring you more news on the progress early next year.


Whilst some of the team have been working on the new UI we have also been working on a small update that we plan to release in time for Christmas. This update will bring a much-requested feature from the community, namely... key mapping!

That’s right folks, soon you will be able to set up the game controls to suit your own playstyle and requirements. You will find a new tab in the settings panel that will allow you to remap the most common controls within the game.

This is the first step in a complete accessibility plan and design that we will implement in full before the final release of the game.



The key mapping update will also come with new functions such as zooming via keyboard commands, using Page_Up and Page_Down. These new functions will, of course, be included in the key mapping options to allow for your own personal preferences.


As well as the above update plans we have been working full time on completing the final game design. Although there has been a vision set out from the start, a large reason for releasing into Early Access was to allow the game to evolve and improve with feedback from the community.

As such, we are planning to release an updated roadmap early next year detailing the remaining updates and features to the final release.


2020 has been an unusual year for us all and due to the global pandemic, our production velocity has been hampered to some extent. Rest assured though, we are working full time, with all our hearts, to launch the fulfilment of our vision for Foundation.

We would like to say a big thank you to every single one of you for all your feedback, bug reports and support throughout the year.

We are looking forward to a new year, a new UI and a lot of new features for the game in 2021. We hope you all have a fantastic winter break!

- The whole Polymorph Games team