Update log
Full Chronicles: Medieval update
The complete published notes, normalized for clean reading and source attribution.
Repeated intro
Hello there! This is the first in what will be a regular series of developer diaries, where we want to give you a deeper look into what we are making, why we are making it the way we are, and what we are learning along the way. We will not always have everything figured out, and we want to be transparent about that, too.
Extracted changes
- Balance
- Security
- Server
In this first dev diary, our Lead Producer Sam will give you a clearer understanding of what Chronicles: Medieval is all about. From our grand vision to Early Access and beyond, we want to share the full picture of what this game will become.
_
Hello everyone! Sam Millen, Lead Producer here. I have the pleasure of being first up to share with you more about what we are building, and all the exciting things we have cooking. So, what is Chronicles Medieval? At its heart, Chronicles: Medieval is a sandbox RPG set in medieval Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. We are aiming to build a world of war, trade, diplomacy, politics, and ambition. A world that functions and breathes regardless of what you do, where kings fall and rise, where besiegement and caravan attacks can affect the price and availability of grain, where a reputation built over years can unravel in an afternoon. You are not the centre of that world. You are a part of it, and what you do within it is all up to you.
A WIP view into a small corner of our playable medieval Europe.
Our Four Pillars Roughly four years ago when our studio was founded, we aligned on the four game pillars that define what Chronicles: Medieval needs to be. These pillars have stayed mostly unchanged since this journey began.
The first pillar is the dynamic sandbox. We want a world built from interlocking systems that feel like they follow real logic. Not scripted sequences pretending to be emergent, but actual cause and effect running through everything. From the price of fish in a market town to the loyalty of a liege lord or vassal. When things happen in Chronicles: Medieval, there should be a reason, and you should be able to trace it. The concept of causality e.g. that A leads to B, is important for us. This means that if the player has the understanding of the game world and the knowledge that something has happened or could happen, then the player may manipulate or exploit these events to their own benefit.
A WIP view of caravan network setup
The second pillar is Tactical Battles. We want battles in Chronicles: Medieval to be large, brutal and spectacular. Both the battlefield itself, the composition of your army and how you deploy it will matter. We want battles where decisions outweigh sheer numbers, where a smaller force can win by correctly using what advantages they might have, and a larger one can fall due to poor judgment or impatience. The AI needs to be capable of fighting meaningful battles with or without the player's direct involvement. That is a high bar, and we are working hard to meet it.
At the same time, the player’s role is not only that of a tactician. The player takes part directly in combat, fighting in 3rd person alongside their units. Skillful 1v1 combat feeds into nearby unit morale, which propagates through nearby formations and may turn the tides of a battle. This way the local skillful actions of a player leading from the front has a ripple effect and
Source