It is with great pleasure that I present to you an update to the Builders of Egypt game, bringing with it a number of expected changes, as well as some that no one expected, but were worth adding to the game.

• this Saturday [16.12.2023] at 6:00 CET when the patch will be rolled out
  
• this Saturday [16.12.2023] at 3:00 CET on Steam and Twitch, where you'll be able to watch Emi once again as she takes on the new challenges!

Twitch -> official Twitch channel[www.twitch.tv]

If you want to know more about the full version and the expected release date of the game, scroll down. Without further ado, here is the presentation of the changes!

Note that I'm mainly comparing the changes to this year's [Playtest], which I'll refer to as such, but I'll also mention [Prologue], which I'll refer to as such, and for which the list of changes is particularly relevant.
There is a new third map where you will face more challenges. There are new buildings and the ability to use them to satisfy parameters that did not affect the game in previous missions. You may also find that the police station finally has a sense of existence in this game.

Scripted main events have appeared in which there are various tasks to complete. Usually these will involve delivering or collecting products, but in later missions where more mechanics are revealed, things get a lot more interesting.

What do scripted events mean? Firstly, they will not always appear during the game. Sometimes the player has to "overdo it" [annoy Pharaoh and you'll quickly see what I'm writing about here] to trigger an event or reach the appropriate level of city development.

When such an event is triggered, it must be completed to complete the mission. Completed does not mean successful, an event can just as easily fail and then it is also completed. And what effect this has on the rest of the game you will find out in the full version!

An all-new feature that makes waiting for various events or mission completion more polite. From time to time, a person in town will ask the player for the location of a person or item. As you progress through each mission, the variety of tasks increases significantly. In other words, almost every building has a quest associated with it, which can be triggered at different times. These tasks are not mandatory, but they can provide tangible benefits, sometimes disproportionate to the task at hand 😊

A big problem was understanding what was actually happening to the city and what was affecting the changing parameters. From now on, all parameters of the city will be additionally described, but most importantly they will have their own graph. On the basis of such a graph, it is possible to estimate the trend of changes in a particular parameter. Each resource also has a graph showing how much of the resource has been stored, bought and sold, so you can see what has happened to a particular resource over time.

The second major change to the interface is the ability to change important mission parameters. It is now possible to turn off fires completely, or to turn off Desirability - the rating of neighbouring buildings by houses. The latter feature has been a major point of contention in discussions about its legitimacy or how it works. It has been corrected and better presented in the House tab.

The same goes for the Sentiment parameter - it was previously presented in a very obvious way, which has now changed. Of course, in addition to the hints that appear, the house itself will tell you why it doesn't want to raise its level or why people are fleeing. The inhabitants themselves will also have more to say.

Most of you will already be familiar with this, but for Prologue players it will be something of a novelty - in Missions 2 and 3 you will be able to complete an additional tutorial that explains how to complete the mission and solve the problems that await the player in general. This tutorial, unlike what you saw in Mission 01, allows some freedom in planning the construction of individual buildings, while also explaining the super-important relationship between buildings, especially between Production Buildings and Stockpiles.

Seemingly nothing, and somehow it made loading missions more enjoyable. Still no matter that the huge text is assimilated faster, but reading the text is not mandatory and out of respect for the history of Ancient Egypt we could not write less there than you see yourself 😉
Some of you accidentally discovered that the blocked language versions can be bypassed using Prologue. Unfortunately, the effect of this was that the game then was partly in English and partly in the language of your choice. We are now restoring all languages. The quality of the translations has been improved but it is still not perfect, and sometimes probably far from the ideal we would like to achieve. Quite a few errors have been corrected, especially inconsistencies between building names and, for example, commands in the tutorial. No less professional translations and additional proofreading at a level we can find in AAA games is costing 1/3 of the total BoE budget, which, to say the least, we can't afford.

In view of this, if you see a glaring translation error - let us know! I now have a total content lock and a dedicated person to implement all corrections, so any corrections will go much faster than it was before.

A few words about the current state of Builders of Egypt and its expected release. After longer than planned testing of the Prologue update that this post is about, I'm left with a few tweaks to the code, and the whole game will be handed over to PlayWay QA for testing and tweaking. This means that realistically we are about 3 months away from release. This is subject to change as testing all 39 missions is difficult to estimate.

Take care!
Jacek

https://discord.gg/mhT7sqHKk3

Today we come to you with an important post. This is because we want to summarize the most important changes you will see in the upcoming Playtests! We know you can't wait, so be sure to read on and sign up for the playtests. Be sure to share your thoughts!
We also invite you to follow us on our other social media: {LINK REMOVED}https://bit.ly/m/buildersofegypt

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You pointed out the marginal chances of coming out ahead financially, even realizing the minimum requirements of the mission. There were several reasons why this was happening. First of all, proper rebalancing is a long process that requires a fair amount of effort. And such a process is best done if one has already changed nothing or almost nothing in the game in a fundamental way.
In the case of Builders of Egypt, the balancing was done at the early Prologue build stage, and then as a result of dynamic changes in the behavior of the Trader and even minor adjustments in the behavior of buildings and Stockpile workers, the balance was upset to such an extent that completing the mission was very difficult. In addition, launching and fixing the tax system, under which payments to employees enter, did not improve this situation either.
As you can easily guess this has all been fixed in the new version and in the upcoming playtests you will have the opportunity to test this. The number of goods that a neighboring city can buy has been significantly increased. The Trader himself moves much faster to compensate for the distance he has to cover on the map and exchanges his goods more efficiently. Stockpile workers also move much faster, by almost 80% (while still maintaining a realistic appearance) which dramatically improves overall production efficiency. In Stockpile itself, the order queuing system for goods has been improved, and as a result, everything runs more smoothly.


The construction of the Monument, while impressive, may have bored you with its slowness of progress. Here, two major changes have been made - the Stockpile has priority for supplying the Monument with the goods it requires. That is, if you build a Stockpile that handles only the goods required to build the Monument then the shipping and transport of these goods is lightning fast.
The second change relates to pyramids, as they are mainly where the second problem occurs. You know those ramps that wind around the pyramid to the top? Unfortunately, while this is somehow realistic and looks cool, measuring the time with a stopwatch, it turns out that it takes an eternity to deliver one piece of goods from the Stockpile to the very top of the monument under construction. And, after all, such a worker still has to return before taking another order. In view of this, we proposed a compromise - an additional feature was introduced in the options to be able to choose the behavior of Stockpile workers: a realistic mode, i.e. the same as before, and a simplified mode, i.e. workers leave goods at the base of the Monument in the same way as they leave them at all other production buildings. The difference in the time it takes for the pyramid to be built is downright incomparable, but it was hard to come up with any other solution here besides taking shortcuts which would be to reduce the number of construction stages or the number of goods the player has to deliver. After all, it's a pyramid! It's the result of years of hard work by tens of thousands of skilled workers!

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As you already know, there will be 5 missions available to you during playtesting. There is no need to dwell on them again, but the most significant change concerns the objectives to be fulfilled, the resources on the map, the introduction of animals (which were also there before but were decorative at the time), a change in the list of buildings, a change in the number of neighboring cities, etc. That is, a lot of small qualitative changes that will strongly diversify the gameplay and make the world more lively. All this makes the game experience even better!

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We are committed to making Builders of Egypt a game where there is something for everyone - both veterans of the genre and novice players who are just taking their first steps in city-builders.

Example of the first step of Mission 02

So another big change is the way the player is introduced to the game. While the tutorial in mission 01 is fine and has been slightly corrected with the addition of two buildings, without which the player will not meet the objectives of the mission, the tutorial also appears in later missions but in a different form. We call it such a semi-tutorial because, although strict restrictions are imposed, but the player can build freely in the designated area, which is heavily scripted and checks the correctness of the construction of the resulting city. In this way we want to let the player decide for himself what and where he wants to build, but at the same time provide him with all the necessary information for this. It is important to realize that our game is not simple in general and there are quite specific rules that the player has not encountered anywhere before, such as the need to build a road to the "gate" on the board for the Trader to want to come (the lack of this road is additionally informed to the player in a scripted hint), the need to build the Stockpile as a hub for reloading all goods, what function the bazaar has, and so on. For experienced players with such games, all these rules are obvious, while for anyone less experienced quite a lot of information they need to possess before they start playing seriously. That's why these changes are so important - so that everyone can get the best out of the game!

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Of course, in addition to the aforementioned changes, there have also been plenty of fixes for smaller and larger bugs that you may have encountered during gameplay. We try to eliminate as many of them as possible, but the process of creating the game is so complicated that it is impossible to remove ALL bugs at this stage. We believe that during the playtests you will help us catch new bugs that we can remove and provide you with a stress-free gameplay :)


As always, we thank you for being with us and supporting us. We are constantly working on the development of the game, so you will not be disappointed!

We hope you are doing well! We greatly appreciate all the feedback you've shared with us. Your input has been invaluable in shaping the future of the game. We have some exciting updates and news to share with you today!

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Based on your valuable feedback, we have received a recommendation to add more scripted hints to the game. These hints can be toggled on or off, allowing players to customize their experience. For example, if there is a fire in your city, the game will guide you to the affected location, explaining what is happening and providing suggestions on how to handle the situation effectively. These scripted hints aim to improve the overall player experience and assist those who are new to this genre of games.

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We are in the process of putting the final touches before the playtest launch. We're not only focusing on fixing bugs but also on providing a smooth and engaging introduction for new players who may be unfamiliar with this type of game. The playtest build will be carefully crafted to captivate and immerse new players, ensuring a memorable experience from the very beginning. Please note that the playtest will not include the full campaign.

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Following the implementation of various changes and improvements, we have sent the build for retesting to our trusted partners at QA PlayWay. The feedback we receive from this process will help us assess our progress and identify any areas that require further refinement. We greatly appreciate your patience and support as we work diligently to make Builders of Egypt the best it can be.

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In preparation for the playtest, we have partially revamped the mission structure. Previously, the difficulty level of the sample missions was intended to provide a glimpse of what the full version of Builders of Egypt would eventually offer. However, we realized that the initial mission was overly challenging, making it nearly impossible for new players to complete. In the playtest build, you will witness significant changes. Mission 01 will now serve as an introductory mission where players can learn the basics of city building at their own pace. Each subsequent mission will introduce new mechanics, expanding the possibilities of building and managing a city. Mission 02 will present the challenge of food shortages while maintaining adequately developed houses. Mission 03 will introduce animal interactions and complex production, and in Mission 04, you will encounter their first monument. We believe these changes will provide a more accessible and enjoyable experience for players of all levels.

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The campaign, consisting of 39 missions, will be reserved for the full version of the game. Each mission in the campaign will be experienced sequentially, and the decisions made during each mission will affect the course of subsequent ones. Your reactions to requests from Pharaoh, neighboring cities, and major events (not available in the playtest) will have consequences, ranging from altered starting parameters to varying levels of banditry, trade interest from neighboring cities, and the intensity of possible troop attacks. We're excited to provide you with a rich and immersive campaign experience upon the game's full release.

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We are aware of the prolonged development process, so we encourage you to join our other social media, where you can have a nice time, connect with super people and also learn additional things about the game! You can join here:

Discord[discord.com]
Facebook[www.facebook.com]
Twitter
YouTube

1. Trader is stuck at the city gate and he doesn't go to the city stockpiles with goods for sale (occurring on saved games when player saved the game before building a stockpile and after setting trade route and choosing goods for export).
2. Granaries not working properly after loading saved game (for example workers not getting goods).
3. Building on ruins is not blocked (you can build houses on ruins and ruins should be removed first before you can place anything else there).
4. Some elements disappearing in Well's window (as well as with any other production building).
5. Pottery shows no road sign for one of the three building's access points.

*** While playing on 0.3573 branch please remember to start with a fresh game. Earlier saves won't work properly due to changes we made in the saving process. Thank you for your understanding and enjoy your game. :)

Second Mission
1. Plazas are unremovable (occurring on saved games).
2. Seth's faith and the number of present shrines are not loaded properly when launching saved game. Number of shrines is displayed properly after a while. Seith's faith is reset to 0.
3. No success popup after completing all of the goals in 2nd mission (occurring on saved games).
4. Goods after demolishing stockpile are not counted properly, game doesn't show less (occurring on saved games).
5. Impossible to reach all goals when game's difficulty is set to hard (in campaign mode after achieving success in 1st mission and in sandbox mode).
6. Randomly appearing white and blue map's screen after going to World Map and returning to the city.
7. Exported goods - trader takes for example 100 turquoise and pays like for 10.
8. Goods stored at demolished stockpile are disappearing but not stockpile itself (occurring on saved games).

Hello everyone!

This is an important update that fixes most of the reported, known issues such as uncontrolled crashes and other serious bugs related to game stability. After this update all of your previous game saves will not work properly, so please do not try to use them.

Fixed in First Mission

1. Trader stuck at the city gate.
   
2. Bricks production stops after a while (couriers not transporting goods from stockpiles to Brickmakers).
   
3. Pottery production stops after a while (couriers not transporting goods from stockpiles to Potteries).
   
4. Pottery production doesn't start at all due to export button being checked as active in stockpiles storing needed clay and straw.
   
5. The landscape near the second fishing harbor spot at the other end of the map (lack of water on the map).

Fixed in Second Mission

1. Trader stops trading.
   
2. Available at stockpiles turquoise is not counted properly by Goals Summary TAB and in some cases, it gets a negative value.
   
3. Very low bread income vs. wages for working villagers - we added two solutions: trader buys copper and other cities are requesting goods such as copper and turquoise for which they thank you by giving your city more bread.
   
4. Requests from Memphis for goods that can't be produced by our city in Second Mission.
   
5. Loading saved files - broken intro popup is not showing the right content.
   
6. Fires stop occurring after a while / fires occurring too fast even when people didn't settle up in your city (at the very beginning).
   
7. Broken buttons for "stop working" and "shut down" at copper and turquoise mines.
   
8. Randomly occurring problems with seeing successful mission popup after meeting all of the goals in single scenarios.
   
9. Workers can go "through" palms models.
   
10. Some workers get stuck at model mine and they can't return to their home.
    
11. Fatal errors while playing, caused by bugs in Unreal Engine 4.26.0. Downgraded engine to 4.25.4

General bugs

1. Wrong arrows direction when houses are evolving, caused by bugs in Unreal Engine 4.26.0 (arrows pointed down when evolving and devolving).
   
2. Demolish tool doesn't work - caused by a large number of houses and or when the higher speed is set.
   
3. Game changes speed from 6x to 1x after autosaving is finished and the game notifies about it.
   
4. Bazaar showing 4800 units of alcohol after placing the building on the map.

Other known issues which will be fixed in the next update

1. Economy TAB not counting properly exported goods.

IMPORTANT
Due to reversing to the previous engine, we needed to temporarily turn off in-game bugs reporting feature. We'll let you know once it will be available again. For the time being please use our official e-mail address, Steam Technical/Bugs Section or Discord server.

Temporary crash solution:
- Restored the default DirectX11, which causes the least amount of problems, but causes a problem with farms, which uses HierarchicalInstancedMesh and which is broken in Unreal Engine 4.26.0, so vegetation on farms has been disabled until the Unreal Engine update is released

I apologize to everyone for these issues.

0.3511A:

- trader has been fixed
- temporarily fixed the farm build issue and crash to desktop with code 1431 error by forcing it to run on DirectX12.
BoE has been updated to Unreal Engine 4.26.0 which had a bug causing CTD on instances when playing on dx11. Instances are the basis for many things in this game, including pyramids, so temporarily the game will only run on dx12 until Epic fixes this bug.
- the ability to save the game during the tutorial has been disabled.
- fire risk in several buildings has been changed

The update concludes all changes that were made in the Prologue test versions. We are very close to the beta version, which will be announced in the devblog, so there will be a lot of updates coming soon.

Compared to the previous version on the main branch, these are:
- addition of a second mission
- new ui
- many bugs fixed
- addition of a bugtracker, accessible from the game level. Remember, all bugs reported by bugtracker get the highest execution priority.

- the demo version from Builders of Egypt is removed, there is no need to duplicate the content of the Prologue