DevDiary #21 “The patch is close to being shipped!” – August 2021

Hello everybody,

In this DevDiary we want to tell you how things are going with the upcoming patch EA 0.9.15 and when you can expect it to be released. We also want to give you a little insight into the development processes – we have already talked about this in detail before, but for a better understanding we want to give a brief introduction to the topic again:

In the development of The Guild 3 we use a so-called version management system, which you can imagine as a kind of database: every single file – every image, every script, every text file, every sound file and every single file with source code – is sorted there. If someone from the team wants to edit a file, then they have to check it out of (“remove it from”) the version management system in order to prevent others from editing it at the same time and thus prevent simultaneous, possibly conflicting changes.
When they have finished editing the file, a short function test is carried out. Then the file is checked in again and stored in place of the old version. However, the system saves the older version of the file as a revision so that it can always be reverted to earlier versions if something went wrong. You can think of it as a pile of files.

The top level of our version management system consists of the so-called streams. We currently only use two streams: Mainline and Stabilizing. All new developments are made in Mainline. As soon as a version is fully developed, it is moved from Mainline to Stabilizing, where it is “stabilized”, in other words: intensive testing, bug fixes and balancing. Development of the next version will then begin in Mainline.

Patch EA 0.9.15 is now in the Stabilizing stream, where we are fixing bugs with the new features and continue to balance the game. We assume that the patch will have to stay in Stabilizing until at least the end of August before we can put the package together and give it to the final test. If we get the green light from there, it can go live in early September.

The patch will not only include bug fixes and balancing, it also contains the player party of three characters, the new rogue profession ‘Smuggler’ and a rostrum from which you can speak to the citizens. Also included is that customers of businesses providing services have the opportunity to consume items out of the storage of the business. The patch will include some more interesting things, of course 🙂

And now to some of your questions from Discord, the forums and those that we received via PM or email:

Q: When will I finally be able to play the game entirely in my native language?
A: The upcoming patch EA 0.9.15 will have all current texts in the game fully translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. We will likely add more text in the coming patches that will not immediately be localized into all named languages.

Q: Are you going to add the option to play on dedicated servers?
A: To explain: A dedicated server is a computer that hosts the game world but does not participate in the game itself. So it continues even after all participating players have left the game – unless you stop it. Our multiplayer system always requires a host who takes part in the game as a player. When the host leaves the game, the role of the host is transferred to one of the clients. So the answer is no.

Q: What does a higher or lower level of difficulty actually do in the game?
A: The level of difficulty in The Guild 3 affects several elements of the game. If you play on “easy”, then your costs for some actions will be lower, the chances of success for some actions will be higher, the wage costs of your employees will be lower and you will start with more coins. The AI, on the other hand, has higher costs for the same actions, the chances of success for the same actions are lower, the wage costs for employees are higher and it has less start-up capital. And on top of that, the AI will have slower thinking processes and assign tasks to its characters slower as well. So while you get a lot of advantages, AI has disadvantages and the AI dynasties will develop more slowly. If, on the other hand, you play on “hard” or even on “impossible”, then you have the disadvantages and the AI gets advantages. We are not completely satisfied with the levels of difficulty yet and will continue to work on them.

Q: The in-game performance suddenly drops and I have only a few FPS left. What can I do?
A: Of course, several problems can trigger this behavior. But it definitely makes sense to check your settings in the game’s options. The “ultra” shadow quality is currently only recommended for graphics cards with at least 8GB RAM. If you have less memory, you should definitely switch to “high” or lower. You can raise the performance further by deactivating the “water reflections” or reducing the “resolution” in the game by making the window for the game smaller or by setting a lower resolution in “full screen mode” or “full screen window mode”.

Q: A while ago it was possible to send you my name so that it would be used for a character in the game, but unfortunately I can’t find my name anywhere…
A: Since the game randomly assigns the names to characters, it can sometimes take a while before you can find your names above one of the characters. In any case, please make sure that “Add EA Names” is enabled in the options under “Game”.

Q: Will the campaign ‘Your name in game’ happen again during the EA? I would love to find my name in the game.
A: We are considering starting the campaign again in a few weeks.