Mar 30, 2023

Creature Lab - marek.grzywacz

Everything changes. Change is a scientific principle and should be studied with the same scrutiny as any other subject. My lab has also changed a lot in more than a year since I've shown you its dark corners. So maybe it's time, to sum up, all those different changes.

Today, we wanted to make our devlog less "narrative". The reason is that we saw a lot of new players trying out the Creature Lab demo for the first time. Since we hadn't done a public build since then, we wanted to sum up all the major changes in the game since the demo, to give you a better picture of the evolution the game has gone through.

How has Creature Lab changed since the demo

So let's go - in digestible bullet points, so everything is nice and clear! Of course, by default, the game has more substances, more mutants, more limbs, more missions, etc. - the full content package. But much has changed in other areas than just a scale different from the demo.

We have added the Dark Web system, which allows you to take up various time-sensitive contracts for additional benefits;
We have implemented special tokens, which give you a one-time boost or benefit upon redeeming (and you can get those by competing Dark Web contracts!);
Included an illustrated FAQ encyclopedia covering all of the core aspects of the game;
There are more individual models for human bodies and mutants in-game;
We have added extra animations, for example, an animation of the feeding process for the monstrous worm that "recycles" the body parts;
You can see more details around the lab, with some parts of the equipment having expanded visuals (for example, the operating area);
You have some new, useful equipment in the lab - including a mixer for combing up to 6 substances and making up to three elixirs at once when fully upgraded;
The UI was tweaked to be clearer, easier to use, and updated with 2D artwork for better visual effects;
You can enhance monsters using mutagens; as well as give them special limb abilities based on using sets of the same limbs;
You can now find new collectibles in your lab as you progress through the campaign;
The city districts have received individual features; like hospitals, which give you more bodies after a mission;
Military forces are now scaled based on the player’s progress;
Your mutants can be affected with global buffs and debuffs depending on the campaign progress;
There is a whole new combat visualization, allowing you to follow the combat flow in real-time and see indicators of what's happening at the moment;
Most of the game features received new tweaks that made the flow of the game better and more interesting;
Now you can select from three difficulty options with different rules for substance mixing;
Added a revised, easier-to-follow tutorial with a skip option;
The game received additional minor polish, such as a new movement option that simulates limping, light-up buttons in the menus, an expanded soundtrack, etc. ;
Other quality-of-life changes, some directly based on the player feedback - such as a basket for carrying up to 6 different substances around;
Added more languages, as well as cloud saving and Steam Achievements to unlock.

This is the end of our lucky 13th devlog for Creature Lab. We hope that now you have a greater sense of how much the game has evolved in the time between the demo, and the candidate for the vanilla build, which is currently tested - and we'd like to deliver it to your hands soon!

Remember that you can ask us directly about any of these features via Discord:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1309990/Creature_Lab/

Mar 30, 2023

Dev Diary #11: The Art of Age of Wonders 4

Age of Wonders 4 - fangirlcrazily

Greetings travellers, Art Director Rich here, join me by the campfire as I share a brief glimpse into what the artisans of Triumph have been crafting as I touch upon 3 main topics;

Your Creations (Creativity & Evolution)
Your Realms (The setting, World & Combat Maps)
Your Inhabitants (Wildlife)

Everything you see in this Dev Diary has been created by a small core group of around 9 artists; 1 animator, 2 environment artists, 2 character artists, 3 2D artists, 1 tech artist, and 1 PFX Artist with over 3.5 years of development. We hope you enjoy the toolbox we have made for you, and as a treat we’ve attached some downloadable Wallpapers at the end!

Your Creations

Let your creativity loose

You are the core of Age of Wonders 4 as we give you the tools to create your own original fantasy races. This is key, and a truly unique feature; Stellaris does it to an extent with their 2D portraits, however we challenged ourselves to have a fully 3D customizable unit lineup, not just your leader but your race, and on top of that to enhance and transform them through the game. When this was first pitched it was considered high risk and a bit crazy, we weren't even sure it was possible! With lots of prototyping and tech I’m happy to say we are proud of what we achieved, and we can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! You are handed different visual ingredients to mix and match to arrive at something fresh, or recreate your favourite characters from popular media with friends by making your own multiplayer fellowship.

We spent a lot of time on making interesting character components; pieces that would fit together well to tell a story, as well as pushing the visual distinction and fidelity - we didn’t want Dwarves to be just scaled down humans, but really push their proportions with bigger noses and exaggerated features and slight expressions.The texturing is painterly, colourful and gritty without being too cartoony. This stylized realism creates an almost caricature-like effect that helps them come to life. You can play as a standard fantasy race like High Elves with golden armour and unicorns, or try your hand at some really fun combinations, and more importantly, evolutions! Your starting race can be very different from your ending race as you unlock Enchantments, Transformations and gain access to new racial and monstrous units…

With 10 starting Forms, 6 Cultures and Wizard Kings, there are an incredible number of customization options; hair and beard styles, helmets, tattoos, scars, mount types and colours to pick from. These are a few screenshots from in-game showing off the huge variety of leaders you can create.. We can’t wait for you to unleash your creativity and see what you make!

Leader helmet customization concept art -

Form is the first ingredient that can combine with Culture to create something visually new. Here we can see how the Culture outfit proportions change to match your Form, we utilise bone and rig scaling tech to achieve this along with giving customization options to adjust their sizes like leg and arm length or physique.

Mixing up cultures can create some really fun combinations, below we have a typical Industrious Dwarf, but why not mix it up with a Mystic Dwarf, or perhaps something completely different? Create Industrious Rats or High Orcs, Culture is the ingredient that when combined with form can bring fresh originality to old tropes. Let your imagination run wild, what’s the fantasy you want to create?

Barbarian Unit Concept Art -

Evolution

But Form and Culture are just the beginning of your journey, things really start to become interesting when we evolve our factions using magical Tomes. Throughout the game applying enchantments and transformations can change how our units and leaders look and play. You can twist and morph them into something… more. Enchantments and Evolutions stack and combine visually with PFX, skin decorations, colours, and additional meshes like ice shards.

Each Tome is fully illustrated to communicate the associate Affinity and contents -

Below we can see if we follow the Tome path of Chaos we gain access to magics that give us fire weapons, and demonic visuals. Granting our units black armour, goat legs and demonic horns with glowing eyes and wings -

Or here we can take 2 affinity paths mixing visuals from both to get frost weapons, steel skin and golden armour, and ultimately create a goldtouched undead wightborn race. These enchantments and Transformations apply to all Forms and all Cultures as well as leaders. You can apply different transformations to the different races you have conquered. You can also come into contact with thematic Free Cities that have these visuals already applied allowing for rich and interesting stories to emerge. What stories do you want to tell, how will you evolve your race?

Further customization continues in-game by looting mythical weapons and equipment like magical rings, armours and mounts. Below we see a level 15 leader leaning into the undead Shadow Affinity direction, not only through Transformations but also through Hero Skills unlocking powerful combat abilities. We also added an Adjust Appearance button to the Panels so you can always change your looks to fit the thematics of your loot, or adjust a Heroes appearance to suit a particular story you want to live.

Weapon Concept Art -

Your Realms

The Setting

Following the cataclysm of AoW3, Age of Wonders 4 gave us the opportunity for a fresh start, we wanted to present a vibrant welcoming fantasy world that you want to spend time in. A new age of realms and characters of your own design. Because of this we shifted the main colour palettes to spring hues, playing up the greens and blue mists as we leaned into the magic and creation aspect of the game.

The World

The Romanticism paintings of the 1800’s inspired the world map look, a gritty but vibrant surface littered with Ancient Wonders, the scale of mountains enhanced by moving pools of light. We pushed greater heights with rolling hills, a new cliff system and epic mountain peaks peeking through distant mists. Motion would come to play a big part of making it all come to life, whether it be leaves falling from trees, or bats flying above an Underground entrance, those small details make the world feel alive creating an inviting and intimate atmosphere, drawing you in for a closer look. Our in-house Creator Engine got some new tech upgrades, this meant we could explore the Fog of War look with volumetric lighting, creating a beautiful mist that invites you to explore.

A living world -

Expand and grow your cities, build Wizard Towers and choose your cities path via Special Province Improvements, each Province Improvement has bespoke 3D Art like the Research Post and Resonance Field. Below is an example of an early game Tier I vs. late game Tier IV Feudal city, growing in scale and power -

Create your own realms with Realm Traits, pick a world visual or mod-in your own, or enter your customised ruler into the Story Realms as you become part of the world's unfolding legend. Below we peer through the realm void as the artworks complement the voiced story intro and outros -

Readability

Gameplay is king, so gameart must enhance gameplay. We learned a lot from Planetfall and took those learning into Age of Wonders 4, not just the world map, but across the board with units and user interface. We want the game to be easy to read, have units stand out, have clear iconography and user interface, all whilst delivering visuals that immerse and keep you engaged. Readability is paramount, so we addressed that at its foundation. Here we can see the differences between Planetfall, which has washed out muddy visuals, even the interface falls away, it’s hard to see the differences between forests and roads. Compare that to Age of Wonders 4 where each element has a clear black and white grouping, it’s calmer on the eye and the interface really pops -

Combat Maps

Every hex tile and location on the World Map has its own Tactical Map. Some like the Ancient Wonders are more dungeon-like with bespoke lighting, others such as forests and gold nodes take on the mood of that biome, whether it be in the Arctic or Tropics.

Below are screenshots of the same Gold Node Tactical Map but as they appear within the different biomes. The system adds thematic pfx to each biome, snow in the arctic, butterflies in the mediterranean and sands blowing in the wind in deserts. The tactical maps also swaps out vegetation, what might be a dead tree in the desolate biome, is a giant mushroom in the underground. Additionally map hazards also change, a Clover hex giving a boon of luck in the Temperate biome, might be a patch of poisonous plants in the Tropics. This ensures that each time you play, even if it’s the same location that we can have very different moods and experiences -

A closer look at map dressing and moods -

Here is some environment Concept Art, each culture has its own building set style, in certain biomes the houses will even show signs of that biome, such as snow on the roof -

Your Inhabitants

Wildlife

The realms are populated by all sorts of creatures, from the smallest Fairy and Worm to the largest Giant and Dragon. Using Realm traits you can set the type of wildlife you will encounter, whether it be a realm of Rampant Undeath inhabited with Bone Golems and Skeletons, or with Astral Invaders, magical creatures from the Astral Sea. You can come across heroes with special traits that allow you to recruit monsters like the Ogres. Alternatively complete an Ancient Wonder map location to gain the ability to recruit special monsters from that site via the Rally of the Lieges mechanic.

Here’s some concept art of beautiful monsters. Internally we called these Ogres ‘Gordon and Ramsey’ -

Concept art of some friendly Trolls -

Here’s a sneak peek at some unit .gifs showing the animations and posing from out in-game Encyclopaedia, here you can view all units in the game and even apply Enchantments and Transformations to any Culture and Form combination to see their effects, as well as read up on lore and gameplay concepts -

I’ve put together this fantastic overview showing off a few community creations that we’ve seen come by. Beautiful and clever Tome books and Illustrations of the Dev Stream stories that unfolded like the Drowned Toads. As well as ideas for Units and DLC cultures! Really cool stuff guys, we can’t wait to see what the Modding community will add as well! :)

Thank you for your time, we really hope you enjoy the fantasy toolbox we’ve made for you and can’t wait to see your creations! This is just the beginning of the Journey…to make a time go a little bit faster here’s some Wallpaper - https://paradoxinteractive.files.com/f/55041ae37bd422e2

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Mar 30, 2023

Devlog: Settlement Outskirts & New Bags

Stoneshard - Wayfinder

Hello everyone!

The last couple of months our team has been working on lots of new content: the long-awaited Caravan, the previously highlighted rework of the Dungeon Generator, and dungeon and settlement modifiers that will be a part of the upcoming Contract System rework - speaking of which, today we’d like to elaborate on some of its elements, namely Outskirts locations.

Outskirts are a new type of Points of Interest that will be introduced to the game with the next major update, “Rags to Riches”. Located a few tiles away from settlements, they still act as their continuation of sorts

Their main purpose is to add more variety to the basic contract loop and facilitate early game exploration. Most Outskirts will usually offer you the following things:

A spot to save your progress.
Access to one or more traders and craftsmen who will sell vital consumables, fix your gear, etc.
A chance to interact with new NPCs who can offer you contracts or give rewards for their completion.

It’s fair to say that granting alternative access to contracts and rewards is perhaps the Outskirts’ most important function. After “Rags to Riches”, village Elders won’t be the only ones in the contract business, the following three new NPC types - Officials, Captains, and Couriers - will be able to participate as well.

Their main difference from Elders lies in the rewards they will offer:

- Captains won’t pay as much, instead providing extra Reputation with settlements you complete contracts for.
- Officials will split the Reputation boost between all settlements of their faction (for instance, completing Osbrook contracts will slightly improve your standing with both Brynn and Mannshire).
- Couriers won’t actually hand out quests, instead giving rewards for completing contracts that require you retrieving certain items. Bringing those directly to a Courier will earn you extra gold.

Additionally, contract rewards can be received from any of these NPCs regardless of your initial quest giver, thus breaking the routine of walking the same roads over and over again. So instead of having to stick to the “settlement-dungeon-settlement” route, you’ll be able to receive a contract in a village, clear out its dungeon, get your reward in a nearby Outskirt, grab a new contract there, sell your loot and replenish supplies (optionally), then head straight to the next dungeon.

All Outskirts can be roughly split between these three categories:

- Military Camps and Outposts. This is where you’ll find Captains and, most likely, someone to fix your gear and sell you medicine and ammunition.
- Trade Posts and Production Sites. Their main role is selling special goods that can be transported to other settlements via the Caravan and sold at a profit. An example of such a site would be the Osbrook Mill or the Mannshire Winery, which many of you are already familiar with. This is where you may also encounter Officials, who are tasked with overseeing the production.
- Homesteads and Roadside Inns. These locations will offer a hearty meal, a place to catch some shut-eye, and a chance to meet a Courier, should the need arise.

To better illustrate the system, here are some of the new Outskirts:

Osbrook - Roadside Tower

Not wanting to be caught off guard if the Council suddenly breaches the truce, the Magistrate took it upon themselves to restore the web of outposts and signal towers that now covers the entirety of the Brynn March.

Osbrook - Drunken Woodsman Inn

The Drunken Woodsman is a safe haven for any hunter whose trade brings them close to Osbrook.

Mannshire - New Orchard

The war gave the best cidery in Aldor little time to react: its previous owners couldn’t save neither themselves nor the flourishing gardens, taking the ancient recipe of their specialty beverage to the grave. But not all hope is lost: the new proprietors of the New Orchard are determined to do everything in their power to restore this place to its former glory.

Mannshire - Southern Outpost

This encampment was originally established by Duke di Berro during his brazen counterattack against the Council army. It’s not nearly as large as it used to be, but it still plays an important role in bringing order to the Magistrate-controlled lands.

It’s worth mentioning that the existence of Brynn contracts and dungeons is only temporary (in the future there’ll be an entirely new way of gaining city Reputation), so it won’t have Outskirts in the gameplay sense of the word. At the same time, you can expect a certain other location to receive its share of Outskirts POIs…

New Backpacks

Let’s move onto the next addition planned for “Rags to Riches” - a wide selection of new bags and their overall rework.

Right now the game features just one backpack type that offers as many slots as it occupies in the inventory - this was done to prevent exploits associated with carrying multiple backpacks.

In “Rags to Riches”, all bags and backpacks will become much more capacious. As a tradeoff, you’ll have to equip them first before storing any items, and they’ll have to be emptied before you can place them in the inventory. These combined tweaks allowed us to create a bunch of new backpack configurations:

Medium Backpack grew in capacity and received sizable side pouches.

Small Backpack isn’t particularly roomy, but it’ll be much easier to obtain than other bag types.

Field Surgeon Bandolier - a solid choice for anyone who wants to carry lots of meds and other consumables.

Herbalist Satchel allows you to not really worry about precious inventory space while transporting large amounts of potion flasks and other vessels or gathering important herbs.

Hunting Backpack is meant to easily fit a few pelts and can be used to comfortably carry a bedroll.

Treasure Seeker Backpack will greatly improve your carrying capacity, although its bulky frame will do no favors to your agility and finesse.

On top of all that, it will also be possible to store single cell treasure items in common Purses.

And finally, here’s a teaser for the much-anticipated Armor ability tree that we’re currently working on as well:

===========================================================

That’s all for now. Until next time!

Mar 30, 2023

Shadow Empire: Oceania out now

Shadow Empire - FremboT3

Hi everyone,

We are excited to announce the release of Oceania, the new DLC for the award-winning 4X wargame Shadow Empire. Along with this new expansion, players will also receive a massive free Core 1.2 update that brings hundreds of fixes and improvements to the game.

To celebrate the release of the new DLC and the Core 1.2 update, Shadow Empire will be part of a special sale.

DLC Description:

For a long time the Planet Generation of Shadow Empire was limited to dry Planets and Planets with relatively small bodies of water. Now all is possible. You can create second Earths and even Waterworlds. Planets with many islands, or just a few continents. The new maps being generated with Oceania DLC change the feel and ambiance of the game completely. But it also changes the gameplay a lot and will make you experience a different style of game.

On top of this: the existing land-based Traders have gotten a more organised cousin with the sea-based Traders, who are known as Maritime Trade Houses (MTHs). The MTHs will allow you to explore the Oceans and secure Transport Contracts to invade and/or keep logistics flowing between different continents or islands. The MTH are of a very mercantile nature and it is also possible to acquire their stock. Once a shareholder you can use Policy Meetings with the MTH to influence their attitudes and Dividend payments.

DLC Features:

With Oceania the Procedural Planet Generation can now generate much more diverse Planets
Gaia Planet Class now available
Thalassa Planet Class now available
Proteus Planet Class now available
Fontus Planet Class now available
Maritime Trade House (MTH) mechanics
MTH Stock-trading, Policy Meetings, Dividends & Auctions
MTH Transport, Explore and Makeshift Port Contracts
MTH Naval warfare for sea supremacy
Naval logistical points allow amphibious invasions and transfers
Note that the player does not control any naval units and all maritime action is simulated through the MTHs

Core 1.2 update:
Shadow Empire 1.2 brings many balancing improvements, bug fixes and rules improvements and finetunings:

AI quality has improved as well as the AI speed
The manual has been updated
Planet generation has been improved
Trader algorithms have been revised and the new simulation is much more solid and realistic
Micromanagement of Zone Inventories is now possible
Autocracy has been strengthened
The UI has been updated:
Faster Strategic Map & Stratagem Map on big Planets
Re-roll button for the Apocalypse Phase has been added
Skill roll preview mouse overs have been added

For those of you who want to know every detail of the Core 1.2 update, a detailed changelog is available here.

Shadow Empire's manual has been updated, you can find the revised version here.

In case you have missed Vic’s stream on Oceania, the new DLC for Shadow Empire, don’t worry. You can rewatch the stream here: