UPDATE May 2, 2012: We’re still testing and trying to fix a few unconfirmed bugs. Unfortunately this process is taking long than expected, but we really want this update to be stable so we won’t release it until we’re satisfied with it. It will probably be delayed until at least this weekend.
Since the last demo in December 2011 a lot has happened! 4 months have past, our code has had over 500 updates (currently at r3255, last demo was r2736), fan have sent us 29 new multiplayer maps, players have reached nearly 10 years of online game time, and the last demo has been downloaded over 10,000 times!
We’ve been working on a lot of new features, some of which you might have seen on our Facebook page, Twitter feed or Youtube channel. Here are some of the most significant ones:
- Faster loading (should mean less players are dropped due to loading taking too long)
- Support for smaller resolutions (1024×576, 1024×600, 1280×720, etc.)
- AI can build a small village to make food (we haven’t done the military side yet)
- Minimap preview in the lobby showing which player has selected each location
- Smarter deliveries and build queues, now the closest labourer/serf will always take the job
- High quality shadows for units and trees (houses not working yet)
- Smoother speed up
- Archers are a bit less powerful
- 4 new translations: Estonian, Bulgarian, Romanian and Lithuanian
- 29 new multiplayer maps
Today I compiled a release candidate and sent it off to our translators and beta testers. Over the next week they’ll report issues and we’ll fix them. If there are no major issues we will hopefully release the update publicly next weekend! (28th-29th) If you want to help beta test the release candidate, please email us.
Remember to check here next weekend to see if the new demo is out 😉
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