Hello all! The beta for the next Fall of an Empire update will be going live on July 2, with the full update planned for July 14.
This is a very large update - by my reckoning about 1/3 to 1/2 of the entire work up to release. The biggest changes are probably the ability to play as a province, the new modding features and the new interface. Almost every major screen has been rebuilt or heavily changed: the main menu, the HUD, sidebars, diplomacy, peace talks, the economy screen, court management, religion, military command, battle reports, events, notifications, tooltips and world glances. It also now runs through the custom UI runtime built for the game, which unfortunately has added quite some time on to the development process.
There is also a lot more happening in the campaign itself. Governments have been expanded, governors matter more, provinces now show more useful information, peace deals are easier to handle, and battles have more structure around command, formations and reports. The tutorial has had a lot of work too, especially around making events and guidance appear properly in the new UI.
The update also includes the first content pack, Lords of Sicily. That campaign has its own map data, factions, unit rosters, portraits, artwork, encyclopedia content and scenario systems. Alongside that I have been working on the mod/content-pack side of the game, so mods can add scripts, data, assets, scenarios and even their own UI pieces.
The map has changed a lot under the surface as well. Terrain, rivers, transport routes, campaign previews, settlement data and map-mode visuals have all been rebuilt or replaced in places. A lot of this is the sort of thing that is not obvious in one screenshot, but it affects how the game loads, how the campaign map looks, and how future scenarios can be modded.
The July 2 beta is mainly there so people can try all of this before the full release and help catch the awkward stuff that only shows up once more people are playing normally. The full update is planned for July 14. I will post more about the beta when it goes live!
Cheers,
Joe