[p align="justify"]Greetings, medievalists![/p][p][/p][p align="justify"]We’ve teased drawbridges a couple of times. You can’t have castles without them (you totally can, but… you know…) and nothing screams ‘medieval’ like a nice drawbridge.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/34559289/19c7b7eb5a427ca86caeee90dbf48f71ff746158.png"][/img][/p][p]It took us a bit of time to figure out how to approach the design. Conceptually, it would function similar to gates with the option to keep them locked and unlocked, or in this case - raised or lowered. But how and where to place and trigger lowering mechanics? In most castles, bridges would be raised or lowered using ropes or chains attached to a windlass in a chamber in the gatehouse above the gate-passage. Such construction in our game, albeit realistic, would introduce unnecessary complexity and require a lot of space to be placed.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/34559289/b8e67d2d4623a20274eef7527e3e7d161da72a88.png"][/img][/p][p]So we chose the simplest approach - the mechanism will be close to the bridge and settlers would activate it by approaching it. But the other part of the issue was enemy AI. The old AI logic wouldn’t work with this mechanic where you would simply turn off/on the pathway as you see fit. So we had to improve that first before we made drawbridges functional. Now we are good to go!
[/p][p align="justify"]As used in castles or defensive structures, drawbridges provide access across defensive structures when lowered, but can quickly be raised from within to deny entry to an enemy force. Items will not spawn on lowered drawbridges, but if something is beneath the bridge during the lowering process, those things will take damage. Behold:[/p][previewyoutube="WS8V_lv0JK0;full"][/previewyoutube][p]We’re still playtesting it and trying out various scenarios but the system is almost functional. Should be on the experimental branch in the upcoming weeks (we'll let you know). How do you like it? Let us know in the comments. Until next time…[/p][p][/p][p]Stay medieval![/p][p][/p][p]Foxy Voxel [/p][p][/p][p]Discord Reddit X/Twitter Bluesky TikTok Facebook[/p]