Medieval city-building sim Manor Lords has a solution for better communication, and its next update is "very close"

When the last big Manor Lords update launched in October, nearly nine months after its previous overhaul, lead developer Greg Styczeń said he was "rethinking what went wrong to ensure it won't happen again." The medieval city builder, which has largely been very well received by players, saw its Steam ratings dip as frustrations grew around the lack of communication. In an attempt to course correct, publisher Hooded Horse has stepped in to help, and it's now got a rundown of what's on the table for the next patch, which it says is "getting very close."

Styczeń blamed a focus on expanding Slavic Magic's development team and tackling "way too many issues at once" for the nine-month wait between updates. While the final thing delivered pretty well on its promises, with overall Steam reviews for Manor Lords back up to a robust 87% positive, Hooded Horse CEO Tim Bender says he's been discussing ideas with the team "on how to keep you all informed of what's going on," and decided that the best course of action was to take charge of the process directly.

"The approach we're going to try is this," Bender explains, "Greg has let us into his internal development team server and planning board, so we can directly see him and his growing team working on everything, see what they are doing and saying about this and that bug or new feature and balance tweak, the current task lists, basically everything as it happens." He says this allows the developer to keep its full attention on "getting the updates ready as fast as possible, while we focus on giving you regular reports on what is coming."

With that established, it's time for a first pass of the new system in action. Bender handles today's update himself, though says future installments will come from the Hooded Horse community team, who "are much better than me." The next patch is less about big new features, concentrating more on balance, quality-of-life, and the behavior of the rival AI settlements.

Computer-controlled players will now construct buildings much more efficiently and manage their economies better. The AI won't invest in resource-producing options such as animal pens and orchards unless it can afford to use them, and won't sell tools because it misjudged future requirements. It'll more readily handle the likes of seasonal harvests, worker redistribution to compensate for illness, and preparing housing in anticipation of incoming population growth.

One big response to feedback is a focus on smarter assignment of workers and animals. They should now be sent to the closest possible option, unless other mitigating circumstances exist. For example, a lumberjack will aim to debranch or cut down the nearest tree first, providing it's within a certain range of a logging camp. Additionally, families with capable workers will participate in the construction of their own buildings once matched to a plot.

Expect "dozens upon dozens of balance changes" that Bender says are "informed by the feedback players have been giving, touching so many aspects of the game." These include tweaks to the yields of goats and orchards, building costs, and consumption of garments and footwear over time. On the UI side, he notes "tons of little things all over the place," ranging from a more accurate economy section in the wiki to displays for rye bread reserves and production limits.

Last but not least is bug fixes, crash fixes, and optimization. "This is probably the biggest category," Bender remarks. "Squashing bugs has been the team's priority. I'm counting 130 bug fixes so far since the beta release." He does, however, have one complaint: "I did notice one bug fix, 'Fixed hounds following people around when they shouldn't,' and as the owner of a beagle, I can't help but feel something has been lost."

This blog is just the first of many to come, and should hopefully mean we're all kept more in the loop about what's next on the table for the medieval sim. "Please do let us know what you think, and whether you enjoy these updates," Bender concludes, "if everyone feels this is interesting, we'll be doing these regularly going forward."