Manor Lords, published by Hooded Horse, is celebrating its first year of early access. While the full launch is still a ways off, the dev team has shared some of the ongoing work

Manor Lords started out as a passion project, fueled by developer Grzegorz Styczen’s love for history and medieval life. What began as a one-man effort under the name Slavic Magic has since grown into a small team covering programming, art, design, AI, and more. Now, a year after the early access launch, the game's come a long way. We've already seen some major updates, adding fishing, bridges, new maps, pigs, butchers, crossbows, and a bunch of other features. And with the one-year anniversary, we’re getting a glimpse of what’s still to come.

What’s new for your Lordship?

On April 26, the developer thanked players for all the support, feedback, and memes Manor Lords has gotten since its release, and shared an update on the game's ongoing development. While it’s not a final list, here’s a look at what they’re working on right now:

1. AI Expansion – The AI can now build and manage its own small village. To make this happen, several new concepts were introduced, and they’re still fine-tuning them. Future updates will focus on developing its trading abilities and farming systems.
2. Upkeep System – Buildings will now require regular upkeep (for example, a smithy will need a steady supply of tools). There are also plans to introduce a system that lets players boost upkeep and improve work efficiency.
3. New Buildings – A Quarry for endless stone mining and a Lime Kiln for producing materials for advanced stone construction will be added.
4. Castle Pathfinding – Castles made pathfinding and collision handling trickier. Since the game was initially built in 2D for optimization, multi-level gates weren’t possible. The developer tested multi-floor pathfinding, but it’s still uncertain whether the extra performance cost is worth it. After exploring alternatives, the current system is still the best fit for the game’s open, gridless world. Despite the challenges, the team is sticking to realistic medieval designs with narrow passages and small doors.
5. Camera Rework – The camera system has been updated for smoother movement, especially around high peak cliffs.
6. UI Updates – The UI is getting a refresh with new graphics inspired by traditional manuscript art.
7. River Fishing – If a region has both a pond resource node and a river, the pond will be replaced with river fishing spots.

There are also reworks of Level 1 castle pieces, record views, and approval balance. While these updates aren’t massive, they’re still a lot of work for the team. 1.0 update is still a long way off, but if you haven’t played in a while, it’s definitely worth jumping back in now.

Manor Lords

April 26, 2024

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