Medieval Engineers

Medieval Engineers is a voxel-based sandbox video game set on an unnamed Earth-like planetoid without water that can be explored, mined, manipulated, and deformed. It is being developed and published by Czech developer Keen Software House. On February 19, 2015, Medieval Engineers was released as an early access game on the Steam platform. Full version was released on 17 March 2020.[1]

For engineering in the Middle Ages, see Medieval technology.
Medieval Engineers
Developer(s)Keen Software House
Publisher(s)Keen Software House
EngineVRAGE 2.0
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseMarch 17, 2020
Genre(s)Sandbox, simulation
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay

The player controls a single character, the engineer, and builds structures, from small shacks to entire castles and even towns, using pre-defined building blocks. Blocks may be structural, functional, interactive, or aesthetic, and are broken down into two basic types: large and small. Large blocks such as walls, roofing and palisades determine structural integrity and may collapse under their own weight if not built carefully or if damaged in an attack. Small blocks such as timber, wheels for carts and siege equipment, furniture and crafting workstations, serve aesthetic, interactive, and/or functional roles.

The small block items, and particularly the torsion bar, rope drum, turn cross, and rope ends, are a key feature of Medieval Engineers, as they enable siege warfare. The player may combine these along with other small-block items to create battering rams, catapults, trebuchets, and siege towers, which use realistic physics based on mass, density, tension, and inertia. In a multi-player world, individual players may each claim territory, build their own castles and defenses, then create siege engines to attack other players' castles.[2][3][4][5]

Players can also use tools to [de-]construct large blocks, fell and process trees, and reshape the landscape, leveling for building purposes or digging to mine resources and form defensive trenches and mounds.[6][7] Weapons such as a club, mace, and sword can defend from hostile NPCs (barbarians) as well as other human players, and attack structures directly. Crossbows may be used to assault enemies or hunt deer (for food and hides) from a distance.

Terrain and landscape

The Medieval Engineers landscape is a spheroid voxel-based planet, approximately 10 game-kilometers in radius, which is fully explorable by the player. It contains high mountain ranges with limited passable areas, deep rocky valleys, varied woodland, grassland and fields, and a network of dirt roads, which a player may use to navigate.[8][9] Resources that can be collected vary depending on the nature of the terrain. Wild wheat, cabbages, and flax may be found in fields, for example, whereas mushrooms and berries exist only in wooded areas.[10] Many aspects of the world are adjustable at the start of the game, including the day-night cycle, number of possible non-player characters (NPCs include deer and hostile barbarian attackers[4][11]) and the length of time that damaged or loose objects remain in the world.

Game modes

In survival mode, players are vulnerable and maintain three personal stats: Stamina, Health, and Food. Stamina determines a player's ability to sprint. It is expended through the use of some tools and weapons, and recovered by resting. Health drops when a player is attacked or injured, often by falling. At zero health they die and respawn, either randomly or at their bed if they have one, with no inventory. Their former inventory is left in a "loot bag" by their body and can be reclaimed within a limited time. Health restores slowly, which may be sped by applying a craftable bandage. At zero food, a player's health begins to drop. Food such as berries, roots and mushrooms may be collected in the wild and made more nourishing using a crafted campfire and various recipes.

A player begins knowing how to create only a very small variety of items. New items can be unlocked through the research of new skills, which generally involves collecting a certain amount of various items and using a purpose-built Research Table. Creating items in survival mode also requires various component resources, such as timbers for wooden walls, large stones for stone walls, or flax straws to create thread (which is then used to create bandages, rope, or decorative banners). The collection, transport, and maintenance of resources is a key aspect of survival mode.

In creative mode, players are invulnerable and are able to spawn unlimited resources, instantly build tools and blocks, and fly. Players can manipulate the planet surface in a nearly unlimited manner with a tool known as "Voxel Hands".[12]

Development

Medieval Engineers is being developed and published by the indie video game developer Keen Software House based in the Czech Republic.[2][13] It is a sandbox game[5] built on Keen's own voxel-based game engine, VRAGE 2.[14] The volumetric approach is what allows for realistic physical behavior.

The game is a follow-up to Keen's Software House's earlier Space Engineers, which is also a sandbox game based on the VRAGE 2 engine. The core difference in gameplay is that Space Engineers is set in a zero-gravity environment, whereas Medieval Engineers, taking place on an earth-like planet, uses gravity extensively.[13]

Medieval Engineers enjoyed active development under the guidance of Tim "Deepflame" Toxopeus, with weekly updates including an updated video posted to YouTube generally on Tuesdays.[15] This active effort continued until February 2019. After the official release of Space Engineers and the Medieval Engineers release of 0.7.1 both occurring in February 2019, the Medieval Engineers development team was folded into the Space Engineers team with no future planned updates.[16] However, the game received a small update bringing it to 0.7.2 upon its official release out of Early Access in March 2020.

Versions

Version 0.1, released on February 19, 2015, introduced the creative-only version of the game, which was limited to a surface landmass of, at most, 2 game-kilometers squared.

Version 0.2, released periodically throughout May and June, 2015, introduced survival construction mode, including the need to gather resources and to maintain the player's various stats.[17]

Version 0.3, released on October 18, 2016, introduced the full planet-sized version of the game (10 km radius), with a full multi-layer map and a fast-travel system.[4][5][8][18]

Version 0.4, released on December 13, 2016, introduced farming (using both a hand tool and mechanical blocks), with the ability to plant items such as wheat, herbs, flax, cabbage, and pumpkins, and later harvest the ripened products.[19]

Version 0.5, released on May 9, 2017, introduced the use of the shovel and thus the ability to deform and reform voxel terrain in survival mode.[6][7]

Version 0.6, released on November 21, 2017, introduced a new (replacement) Earth-like planet with new biomes, new resources, tools and mechanical blocks, and research quests.[20]

Version 0.7.1 released on February 14, 2019, delivered a major overhaul of Audio, Visual smoothing, and blocks. The world gained regional chunking to reduce active memory usage, new trees and existing trees updated, block visuals gained parallax shading, added blueprints akin to Space Engineers with a Medieval Engineers style, and many improvements to the UI and quality-of-life features.[21]

Reception

Medieval Engineers won the 2014 Czech Game of the Year Award in the technical contribution category.[22][23] As of June 2017 it has sold over 250,000 copies.[24]

Controversies

Medieval Engineers release from Early Access

On March 17, 2020, Keen announced that Medieval Engineers would leave the Early Access stage, even though the game had no major updates since February 2019, and with only an update to fix major bugs and stabilisation on release date.[25] This caused an uproar in the Medieval Engineers community, making players turn to review bombing the game on Steam.[26] The game has never seen a worse month than March, with 85 percent of the reviews being negative, only to see a slight improvement in April (76 percent negative reviews).[27] As of January 15, 43 percent of Steam reviews are negative.[28]

References
  1. "Po šesti letech vyšli čeští Medieval Engineers, fanoušci ale nejásají". Games.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. "Lay waste to medieval castles in the next game from the team behind Space Engineers". polygon.com.
  3. "Origins". medievalengineers.com.
  4. "Medieval Engineers Re-Launch". blog.marekrosa.org.
  5. "Medieval Engineers Gets Big 'Re-Launch' Update". rockpapershotgun.com.
  6. "MEDIEVAL ENGINEERS GETS MAJOR UPDATE". invisioncommunity.co.uk.
  7. "MEDIEVAL ENGINEERS – MAY 2ND 0.5 MAJOR UPDATE". gamingunion.net.
  8. "Medieval Engineers "relaunches" with a major gameplay update". pcgamer.com.
  9. "Medieval Engineers Releases Planets Update". techraptor.net.
  10. "Medieval Engineers Developer Diaries - Episode 6". youtube.com.
  11. "Medieval Engineers: the best videos for learning to build and destroy". pcgamer.com.
  12. "Marek Rosa - dev blog". blog.marekrosa.org.
  13. "Medieval Engineers is the sensibly-named follow-up to Space Engineers". pcgamesn.com.
  14. "ABOUT US". keenswh.com.
  15. "Medieval Engineers YouTube Channel". youtube.com.
  16. "So long and thanks for all the fish!". forums.keenswh.com.
  17. "Multiplayer mayhem comes to Medieval Engineers". pcgamer.com.
  18. "Update 0.3.1 Planets". forums.keenswh.com.
  19. "Update 0.4.0 – Farming, Crafting Progression and Iron Ore". medievalengineers.com.
  20. "Update 0.6 – Now With Mechanical Blocks!". Medieval Engineers. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  21. "Update 0.7.1 Major Overhaul of Audio, Visuals, & Blocks". forums.keenswh.com.
  22. "CZECH GAME OF THE YEAR 2014". keengamer.com.
  23. "Medieval Engineers Wins Czech Game of the Year 2014 Technical Contribution Award". gamasutra.com.
  24. "APP DATA Medieval Engineers". steamspy.com.
  25. https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/333950/view/1707364957698438598
  26. https://www.pcgamer.com/medieval-engineers-leaves-early-access-and-players-are-not-impressed/
  27. https://store.steampowered.com/app/333950/Medieval_Engineers/#app_reviews_hash
  28. https://store.steampowered.com/app/333950/Medieval_Engineers/#app_reviews_hash
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