Greetings medievalists! It’s that time of the year - time to summarize this year and talk about what awaits us in the next one. Sooo this is not your regular Medieval Monday Talk, but rather a sequel to the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1029780/view/6331529188451593653]same post from last year[/url]. But before we go into the tease mode, we’d like to announce that Going Medieval is bundled with another medieval title from [u]Render Cube[/u] folks - [b]Medieval Dynasty[/b]! For a sweet Medieval combo experience, be sure to check the [u][b]“Going Medieval Dynasty”[/b][/u] bundle here on Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/37525/Going_Medieval_Dynasty/ Now back to the topic. [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029780/allnews/]This year[/url] consisted of 14 Medieval Monday Talks, 5 big updates and a bunch of patches and hotfixes. As expected, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1029780/view/6161548922960304564]Water[/url] was the most daunting update we’ve tackled (and still do). The original plan was to work on water once the game exits Early Access, but over the course of development it became evident that working on water will lay groundwork for future systems (like fire), how much you really want it, and allow you to take much prettier screenshots. But where to next? Well, there are still some annoyances we want to solve: like settlers being stuck in water (usually occurs when swimming under constructed wharf), caravan appearing stuck upon return, going up the waterfall (plain silly) and inability to die from drowning (right now they actually die from exhaustion/starvation when stuck in water), and a couple of other issues. The majority of these things are solved with a simple save & load procedure, but still, it's unfortunate that it happens. After that, we’d like to improve the game's loading time. Some of your settlements (submitted via F10) are huuuuuuuuuugeee and can take more than 5 minutes to load. We commend your patience, but you deserve a smoother experience. We also [url=https://steamcommunity.com/games/1029780/announcements/detail/7184986051952653996?snr=2___]promised drawbridges[/url] not that long ago, so we gotta honor that. We’ll throw in a couple of variants for gates, because what is a castle without gates (a pretty good castle, but still… you know)? Last year we [url=https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1029780/view/6331529188451593653]mentioned[/url] that fire and training will be a thing. As you know, water took their place (and time), but we are constantly experimenting with features. In fact, here is an example of one of our fire tests. [i]Keep in mind that this GIF is very early progress and may not reflect the final result.[/i] We also want to lean a bit more to the role-playing aspects of the game, which will tie nicely to the prisoner system. Imagine this, after a hard battle with an enemy, you stand victorious and see some of them surrendering. You put them in prisons, but what now? Will you treat them badly and take them as a warning sign for your attackers? Or maybe you’ll be kind and try to convert them to your side? What happens if attackers come to take them back? Why not try [url=https://media.tenor.com/oJ2F4Nroi7YAAAAC/ah-yes-the-negotiator-the-negotiator.gif]negotiating[/url]? Maybe you can do something more beyond simply refusing or surrendering? Our additional dialogue options will allow that. This, naturally, opens the door to the quests system which will allow for various minor and major goals you strive to achieve and hopefully makes every playthrough even more unique. All of this should eventually culminate in a proper endgame where you’ll be able to attack other settlements, have siege weaponry and grand objectives. And this is just broadly speaking. We haven’t even mentioned improving AI and upgrading existing features, modding options (still looking into it), improved tutorial, potential camera changes and various smaller QoL improvements. Keep in mind that all of the stuff mentioned above shouldn’t be an indicator of the chronology of the development, but we like to read players’ sentiments (in topics like [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029780/discussions/0/4034725235925825156/]these[/url]) and on our [url=https://discord.gg/goingmedieval]Discord server[/url], to get a better understanding of our priorities and capabilities (depending on the availability of time). But check the roadmap - we’re almost there! [i]Special shout out to "+ Plus Much More"[/i] Finally, we want to thank you. Without trying to sound like a broken record, we really mean it. Your support [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029780/discussions/]here[/url], on [url=https://discord.gg/goingmedieval]Discord[/url], [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/goingmedieval/]Reddit[/url] and [url=https://twitter.com/going_medieval]various other[/url] [url=https://www.tiktok.com/@going.medieval]social media[/url] [url=https://www.facebook.com/FoxyVoxel]channels[/url] is seen and appreciated. Also, special salutations to our [i]Discord Mods[/i] and [i]Community Helpers[/i], as well as the super helpful folks [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029780/discussions/]here[/url] (you know who you are). We sincerely believe that you can get the most out of our game by sharing helpful tips and tricks with others (which you do) and be an inspiration to fellow players (which you are), as is evident by all of the settlements in [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/1029780/screenshots/]screenshots[/url]. From the 29th of December until the 8th of January, [b]Foxy Voxel is on holiday[/b] (half of the team is away even starting next week and the majority of the team is celebrating Orthodox Christmas which falls on January 7th) when we’ll resume with our Medieval Talks, bug fixing, and all that jazz. If you want a hobby/goal in the meantime, we suggest that you join our [url=https://discord.gg/goingmedieval]Discord server[/url] and participate in the [b]#photo-challenge[/b] there. TLDR would be that we want to see utilization of water with your settlement in a creative way. Will you make your new kingdom in marshes? Are you creating complex aqueduct systems? Something unique? Up to you. The winner will get a special deep dive spotlight video on [url=https://www.youtube.com/@FoxyVoxel]our Youtube channel[/url], similar to the one [url=https://youtu.be/LMrXn1HqrLw?si=xy3W4nYVgZ18nBhW]here[/url]. So, head over to our Discord and show what you got there! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Holidays! See you next year, with more exciting Going Medieval news. Stay safe people! [url=https://store.steampowered.com/developer/foxyvoxel]Foxy Voxel[/url]