Manor Lords

[Unagi]

I was surprised to find that we didn't have a thread on this game.
(early release is on Friday, April 26th)

The developer has made a few posts, managing expectations, before the release...

He wants to be sure people understand what the game is not.

Here is a good video discussing it:


I'm even more encouraged and looking forward to this game than ever.

[hepcat]

I’m definitely interested in this one. I’m curious to read what you think of it after it releases.

[Carpet_pissr]

The dev’s disclaimers also make me more interested knowing it’s not trying to be a Total War game.

Hoping for a Gamepass release as mentioned.

Edit: scratch that above:

Manor Lords launches on the Microsoft Store and PC Game Pass on April 26th. It will later be available on consoles and Xbox Game Pass.

[Unagi]

I’m definitely interested in this one. I’m curious to read what you think of it after it releases.

I will hope to take a look ASAP - but I may not give it as much attention as it should get. I'm not sure how deep I will want to get in the EA aspect of it, but I'm sure I still will. Mostly, it's new Rimworld stuff that will keep me from pouncing.

But if it's "what the dev aims for" - it will be very much to my liking. I don't want too much "total war" from this, maybe even Very Little... I like my city-builder simulators to be mostly free from total warfare, but I think I will also enjoy the distraction if it's done well.

[Daehawk]

This makes me imagine a game of my own. Id call it Sherwood Forest and you'd be like Robin Hood and start out with your own merry band in the woods . You'd first start and build your base. You'd enlist new members and run missions out in the land to steal from the evil rich rulers and help out the poor while building and expanding your base. Setting traps through the woods to ala Dungeon Keeper to keep the baddies out.

[Victoria Raverna]

Who pushed this game? I'm confused that a lot of articles about this game that claimed it is to be chart topping or super popular when it is not even coming out yet.

Why this game blow up before release?

[Unagi]

This makes me imagine a game of my own. Id call it Sherwood Forest and you'd be like Robin Hood and start out with your own merry band in the woods . You'd first start and build your base. You'd enlist new members and run missions out in the land to steal from the evil rich rulers and help out the poor while building and expanding your base. Setting traps through the woods to ala Dungeon Keeper to keep the baddies out.

Done right, that would be a cool game.

[Unagi]

Who pushed this game? I'm confused that a lot of articles about this game that claimed it is to be chart topping or super popular when it is not even coming out yet.

Why this game blow up before release?

"Wishlist" is how they are weighing it's popularity, if that is what you are asking.
It's the most Wishlisted item in Steam history.

Why? How? Exposure by way of influencers, basically.

And the Dev is a little worried that level of popularity may reflect some people expecting another type of game.

[jztemple2]

Manor Lords dev asks press and YouTubers to stop breaking the game: 'please restrain yourself'

Manor Lords' sole developer, Greg "Slavic Magic" Styczeń, has made a plea to everyone with a review copy of the soon-to-be-released city builder: please stop messing around with the castle planner and breaking the game.

In response to the recent issue, he tweeted, "I just saw one press review try to cheese their way and build town walls with the castle planner tool, please restrain yourself from doing so. I'll add a *proper* town wall tool in one of the updates and the castle planner is meant for manors/castles. Should've locked it for now."

The game is going into Early Access and so I'll be avoiding it for now, but the above is another good reason.

[Zarathud]

LOL the ingenuity of the public to break a game is amazing. It’s like how people have all these ways to cheese Baldur’s Gate 3, such as jumping past encounters or pushing a big bad guy off the castle walls.

[Unagi]

Why is this wall thing 'another good reason" to avoid it?

[jztemple2]

Why is this wall thing 'another good reason" to avoid it?

Because the dev is going to change things within the game on how stuff works, which is pretty normal for any early access title. Some folks like that but I prefer to not have to "unlearn" parts of a game. Also, as the dev says, "I'll add a *proper* town wall tool in one of the updates" which means that the tool won't be in tomorrow's release. Again, I prefer to wait.

[Unagi]

Why is this wall thing 'another good reason" to avoid it?

Because the dev is going to change things within the game on how stuff works, which is pretty normal for any early access title. Some folks like that but I prefer to not have to "unlearn" parts of a game. Also, as the dev says, "I'll add a *proper* town wall tool in one of the updates" which means that the tool won't be in tomorrow's release. Again, I prefer to wait.

But you covered that pretty clearly when you said, "The game is going into Early Access and so I'll be avoiding it for now"

So, yeah - it sounded weird (IMO) when you then basically pointed out how the game isn't done being developed, and how that's another reason.

Sounds like some people are knowingly exploiting a feature, and the dev has plans (and wishes he had implemented them before giving out early copies) to curtail that exploitive behavior but also has plans to give people another feature in the game that will actually support the missing feature people were forcing into their games via the exploit.

It sounds like exactly the kind of 'Early Access' thing that anyone can expect.

I'm, by no means, critiquing your choice to avoid the game - but the highlight of this exploit and how the developer comments on it, being presented as yet another reason - that seemed a little tiny bit like undeserved criticism of the state of this Early Access game, even as that status implies.


just sayin

[Blackhawk]

People doing unexpected things with your game on the internet is part and parcel of developing a game. Most see it as publicity - channels like Let's Game it Out and Spiffing Brit have resulted in a few sales to yours truly. Trying to call them out for playing it wrong is... odd.

And it's early access. Features are added and removed all the time. It's an incomplete game that you're paying to play early while they're still in the process of designing it. If they add something and it doesn't work out, they'll fix it, replace it, or remove it. Early access is all about letting impatient people test your game and give you feedback (and money) as you go specifically so that you can change it for the better.

[Unagi]

People doing unexpected things with your game on the internet is part and parcel of developing a game. Most see it as publicity - channels like Let's Game it Out and Spiffing Brit have resulted in a few sales to yours truly. Trying to call them out for playing it wrong is... odd.

I can see how the amount of eyes on this has made this one single developer a little jittery. Do you think that's really all that... odd?

[Holman]

Thread:

https://twitter.com/fakehistoryhunt/sta ... 3321384346

Fake History Hunter is a good Twitter follow: they're dedicated to debunking false online claims about history and also analyzing the depiction of the past in movies and TV shows (for example, pointing out where a medieval-set movie gets it wrong about clothing or hair or the use of torches).

Apparently they and some other historians were brought in during development to vet Manor Lords for historical inaccuracies in its presentation of the medieval period. FHH has nothing but good things to say about the game.

[jztemple2]

Good gosh, you folks must have a lot of time on your hands to take my rather offhand sentence and turn it into a cause célèbre

[Unagi]

I was trying to imply more of a casus belli

[Unagi]

Apparently they and some other historians were brought in during development to vet Manor Lords for historical inaccuracies in its presentation of the medieval period.

Literally, the story of my love life.

[jztemple2]

I was trying to imply more of a casus belli

Touché!

[hepcat]

Any word on whether or not the game has a genital size slider?

[Holman]

Apparently they and some other historians were brought in during development to vet Manor Lords for historical inaccuracies in its presentation of the medieval period.

Literally, the story of my love life.

[hepcat]

I couldn't hold out. I figured if nothing else, I was getting 25 percent off the release price.

I started a game and I can see where the developer is going to improve things, but it's still a pretty fun game. I love city builders like this, so it's in my wheelhouse though.

One thing I really like (which is still in early development) is the ability to have my character (who I didn't use the name Cuntz for when it was suggested by the game as one of the random choices) actually visit the settlement I'm building. It didn't crash on me, or show any obvious bugs, but I'm still early in the settlement's build phase. But I did enjoy walking around and listening to the random banter of my people. One of whom seemed oddly fascinated by what someone had done to his nipples (I really hope I misunderstood that conversation).

[jztemple2]

[hepcat]

My first settlement looks nothing like those in the video above. Rather, picture a town designed entirely by a drunk toddler who's pissed because they can't get enough juice boxes and have decided to take it out on humanity.

[Isgrimnur]

My first settlement looks nothing like those in the video above. Rather, picture a town designed entirely by a drunk toddler who's pissed because they can't get enough juice boxes and have decided to take it out on humanity.

So, Boston?

[TheMix]

My first settlement looks nothing like those in the video above. Rather, picture a town designed entirely by a drunk toddler who's pissed because they can't get enough juice boxes and have decided to take it out on humanity.

So, Boston?

[hepcat]

[jztemple2]

Manor Lords early access review – a beautiful, ambitious city builder

Manor Lords is a city-building game packed full of promise, but as it starts out in early access, much of that seems quite a long way off. Systems for trade, town development, negotiation and diplomacy, and real-time combat are all indicated in the early access build, but we’ll have to wait and see how those function when they arrive down the line.

For the time being, however, we’re left with one of the most charming city-building games I’ve ever played. Manor Lords is a delight to behold: the visuals are realistic and organic, and they allow me to zoom in to street level where I can watch my villagers go about their daily lives. The food vendor at the market is selling game caught in the nearby forest, while another family carries baskets of stone to the trading post. Our long-suffering ox, Edres, can always be found lugging timber to a construction site somewhere in town, where a family might be putting up a new home or workshop.

It’s hard to overstate just how good Manor Lords is at evoking a very convincing sense of place, not only in the town that demands most of my attention but in the wider countryside as well. Angling the camera up a bit so that it’s parallel with the ground, I can look out across rolling hills covered in trees, grassy fields and valleys, and along winding dirt roads that disappear into the next dale.

[hepcat]

It's definitely got me hooked...and only on the city builder part of it. I find it hard to believe that there are multiple other layers there or coming that I haven't yet experienced. It's the same feeling I had with Rise of Nations when I first started playing it. The grand strategy map showing me that there was even more gameplay to find as I played. Definitely giving it two thumbs up so far!

[jztemple2]

Manor Lords surpassed 100,000 concurrent players within hours of release, and now it's the global top seller on Steam

People have been clamouring about Manor Lords, a new medieval city builder and management sim, for quite some time now. Only three days ago, it hit 3 million wishlists on Steam, and it seems as if that number wasn't an empty promise, as the game has seen some incredibly impressive numbers within hours of its release.

Only an hour after Manor Lords opened its Early Access doors, it reached 100,000 concurrent users on Steam. Now, a couple of hours later, it's sitting pretty at just under 130,000—and it keeps on rising. It's also managed to beat Stardew Valley, Helldivers 2, and Fallout 4, as it sits as the eighth most-played game and the global top seller on Steam right now.

[hepcat]

That surprises me as I still kind of see this as a niche game.

[Punisher]

I couldn't hold out. I figured if nothing else, I was getting 25 percent off the release price.

I thought you had gamepass?
It's on there.

[hepcat]

Oh shit, I should have checked before plopping down 30 bucks this morning.

[infinitelurker]

I've put in about 10 hours with this, but in a good way it didn't feel like it was that long. It definitely has the one-more-turn drive with, 'just a few more game months and I'll be able to upgrade this building", or "oh no, I might not have enough food to get the town through winter, better scramble to import some food!", etc.

I came to this game totally blind, so my first game was to figure out game mechanics, etc. For my second game, I did the scenario that excludes combat, and I succeeded in growing my village into a large town without too much difficulty. However, I had no fertile land to grow barley, so I had to import ale at first for the tavern, and boy could these townsfolk drink! Once I had some backyard brewery operations up and running, I was able to import malt at half the price of ale for some savings. I don't think I have a full grasp yet of how to get the logistics of ox/horses working smoothly though... I'll have to read up a bit on that.

I'm looking forward to seeing what some additional development time brings to the game.

[hepcat]

I couldn’t get my settlement upgraded because I didn’t realize the requirements for burgage plots level 2 was listed in the burgage plots game card.

I also ran into a problem getting sheep for my settlement as that apparently isn’t in the game yet.

[infinitelurker]

I also ran into a problem getting sheep for my settlement as that apparently isn’t in the game yet.

You can get sheep! You need to build (and staff with a family) the Livestock Trading Post, then you can import sheep. After that, you can build (and again, add a family) a Sheep Farm to gather wool.

[hepcat]

Hmmmm….i could have sworn there was a note on the livestock trading post that said sheep livestock weren’t available yet. I just took that to mean it wasn’t added to the game yet. But it sounds like I just didn’t have the right combo of things, from what you’re saying.

[Blackhawk]

Offer them wood.

[Pyperkub]

Offer them wood.

For sheep?