I've Never Played a Post Apocalyptic Fortress Building Game Quite Like BULWARK
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- BULWARK The Falconeer Chronicles with Splattercat! Let's Play BULWARK and check out a game where you'll erect massive castles on the edges of an endless planet of water while defending yourself from pirates and rogues.
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Download BULWARK : store.steampow...
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Developer here:
I see some confusion about the controls, there are fully functional mouse and keyboard controls, but as Splattercat says, it takes getting used to but it's amazing of how much functionality I squeezed out of 3 buttons.
the goal for this wasn't to make a controller or mouse focused system. These are the goals for the controls:
1: a system that's "in-world" so no rows of buttons on top, but all the controls on the ground in 3D,.
2: a system that's capable of building vertical (not really shown in the video , but you can go crazy vertical) in 3D , inspired by 3D asset software like Blender or Maya.. (if you can do Bulwark, modelling in blender, max or maya will be easier, it's a skill)
3.A minimal system with the most streamlined interfaces possible. So less is more.
Those three goals are easier achieved for controller, cuz controller games usually don't have a 2D interface the same way as PC city builders have. So people confuse that with that it's not made for Keyboard and Mouse,, this is untrue, one of the goals of having a evolving steam demo was to get as much PC player feedback as possible. And man did I get a lot of flak ;)
But simply said the goals for this game are different than a regular builder, it's about being creative in the way a 3D artist is.. and the controls reflect that.. But there are so many fans already who don't struggle at all with the controls., it's just radically different and that can be shocking;)
So I made a video that shows me talking about this and doing some more vertical building just to show how it works in detail, all recorded with mouse and keyboard..
Check it out here:
ruclips.net/video/Pnz5yOvLo9E/видео.html
hope nobody minds me jumping on here, Splattercat is perhaps one of the most independent creators out here and I respect his views, analysis and this audience. Thanks for trying it out and I hope anyone on the fence just downloads the demo on steam and forms their own opinion ;)
Game looks (aestetic+controls+theme) great, and don't worry - we know that splat has ADHD and is very 'intependent' when it comes to understanding games he play.
@@uyaratful I didn't know that , I've got ADHD as well, so perhaps that's why I am so impressed with his analysis.
he really gets into the details of the systems, most folks only partially grasp what's going on. So love it.
your procedural modeling setup was always something to celebrate, acknoledge and fully revel in ! Insta buy for sure, you are a master at your craft :) Such a rare sight to bring this level of "feel good" toward building and colony sims in a small and accessible way.
The gameplay and UI are great. You only need pay a little attention to learn it and that's it.
Love the demo, can't wait for the full release. Game is amazing, keep up the good work!
Really cool game, well done!
When splatt tries to end the video three times, but gets so distracted by the game he forgets what he's doing and just keeps playing. You know it's worth a buy.
Geez the amount of times I have done that.
"Crap it is 5 am and I work in 2 hours!"
"Hrrrrrm I could go pass out for an hour and half and then get up and go to work"
ooooooooooooooooor
"I could keep playing stay up for 2 more hours and just go on to work. I have adderal so I'll be fine"
@@DustinBarlow8PMost famous Last words.
@@DustinBarlow8Pthis is evidence enough for a reevaluation
@@vladislavivanov2334 "i have adderall and ill be fine" truly last words
Nah
This is why I like games from small studios, from time to time you get new gaming ideas instead of recycled ideas.
Thanks so much,, I catch a lot of flak for not making this a 'comfort game' you can just slip into.. So thanks for being supportive, it really helps.
@falconeerdev he the dev 😂😂
Man im so sick of every single new city builder just being Banished
@@falconeerdev don't people play roguelites for comfort? Comfort isn't always easy!
Like the 90s and early 2000
Forty minutes ago I didn’t know this game existed, and now it’s gonna be a day one purchase for me. I love the whole premise of this, island steampunk fantasy houses built upon cliffs and crags fighting over control of the sea with ironclads and dragons is sick as hell
Feel exactly the same. Thanks splat n devs!
Thanks so much for trying it again, super satisfying to see you use the WASD camera panning (I think) you pointed that out as a flawed omission last time , so you deserve credit there.
Again you approach these games with intelligence and integrity and just thanks for giving this a spin again. ;)
Any plans on a multi-player mode at all ever in the far off distant future? :)
@@Draelyn multiplayer is a big topic, I am not super experienced in that to be honest. The costs to run something like this for multiplayer are also to much for me to afford at the moment.
Perhaps if the game is a success, that creates breathing room for experiments, but at the moment that remains to be seen.
@@falconeerdev Well I wish your game the greatest of successes!
Sorry just asking here too, will it be on GOG?@@falconeerdev
@@falconeerdev AFAIK, you don't need to host servers, you could have a local hosting type thing going on!
All of these line connecting and all of these management and numbers going up.
I'm sold.
hey splatter!
just wanted to say that I'm very thankful that you've been reviewing more non-early access games, you've got great taste but being able to play a fully fleshed out game right after I find out about it in one of your videos is peak!
9:50 "Troom Shree" shall be forever what I call these things
Exactly what I was thinking lol
I'm not into city builders at all, but this, this is different! So organic, so intricate, so intuitive, so intriguing.. .and it looks wondrous! Simple, clean, and the system chains look beautiful in contrast to the environment.. if one day i can aquire a pc, years from now..id definitely hope to remember this..
I've been waiting for this game to release ever since the first time I saw the demo release.
Looks fantastic and it's a real breath of fresh air for sure.
I enjoyed their first game quite a lot - just flying around, seeing all the island tower based architecture and the world around it was fascinating. I think I will enjoy this one too - seeing the cities was fun, building one the way I want it should be glorious.
Been a while since a game that made me think "wow, this is innovative!". Kudos to the devs.
Sorry, only made it 10min into the video until I had to wishlist and install the demo and then somehow over an hour vanished. Such a beautiful game.
I remember when you covered this before it looked janky and incomplete. Looking a lot cooler now. Glad they've kept making progress on it!
I’m glad to see this again. I remember an old video with this same game. I’m psyched for it and I’m not psyched for much nowadays.
Would be awesome to see little people workers going back and fort along those colored lines as well.
I still want a ttRPG for this setting. Tales of the Valiant, Daggerfall, or even games further afield like Powered by the Apocalypse, Savage Worlds, or something totally new. "Procedurally generated world" could even work with a ttrpg, using cards, RNG tables, and other things.
If you like the procedural/emergent element to your tabletop worldbuilding, I highly highly recommend Worlds/Cities/Stars Without Number (fantasy/cyberpunk/scifi settings). Kevin Crawford makes all three systems as basically interchangeable d20 based systems, but the big draw for me is that you can generate factions which have their own turns with needs and desires satisfied by automated actions. Essentially the GM has access to their own little game to play with downtime for a more organic and unexpected development of the setting. Sectorswithoutnumber is a website that can automate some of this for you for the sci-fi setting. I don't know if the other settings have had similar tools made yet.
Organic looking base building is what I liked about Frostpunk. After playing Frostpunk other RTSs started looking abnormal. I loved the idea of townscaper but wanted a real game that evolved buildings like that. Foundations addressed that but you had to design everything yourself I wanted everything automated. This looks promising.
I played the demo when you published a video about this game. I like it a lot ! Nice to see, the dev team kept working on it.
I’ve bought about a dozen of the games this guy had made me aware of… He is to indie devs what Lets Game It Out is to AA play-testing
I played Falconeer and loved it. Its nice to see another game set in that world, but plays totally different
Holy S**t!! buying this game for sure 😮😮 tku Splattercat for yr exposure of these gems!! well done also to the development team.. what an innovative and inspiring way to approach an RTS!! subbed and liked for sure.
Had my eye on this one for a bit. But after watching this im looking forward even more to it.
7 minutes in amd the unique city building aspect looks awesome💪🏼🤙🏼
These are the kinds of games I have in mind when defending "computer games" against the neverending storm of strawman arguments and negative criticism from people who only know Call of Duty and Roblox.
I don't play, let alone buy many games, but I always enjoy stumbling across these little indie gems here. They are never without flaw, but full of creativity and neat little ideas, which I heavily miss in pretty much all new "mainstream" titles.
Sooo... thanks a lot to both the devs and also Mr. Cat to cover this.
Since there is a demo, I guess I'll postpone my garden work to Sunday and fire up my computer now.
when indie games that are just few gigs in size have more and better mechanics than 3A games that cant fit on SSD's. Support immediately.
Right!? Makes me very suspicious about what ive REALLY downloaded here..wouldnt surprise if there was a huge courtcase about forced installation of highly invasive spy tools or even some kind of bitcoin miner.. idk, it REALLY doesnt make sense sometimes..especially when its just a rerelease..
The VA in the intro is Gold, takes the writing and runs with it.
In seconds he gives you the feeling "Boy... this dude has seen S!"
Well executed and feels believable.
👍
Oh yeah! I played the early access on this one - pretty fun, but simple back then, but looks like it's been fleshed out a lot
I remember the last video about this game. It has changed a bit for the better definitely!
very pretty game. Love how the cities build themselves
I hope the game does well, love to see developers trying to create something different. Wishlisted!
I watched your last play of Bulwark and liked what I saw -its now on my wishlist 👍
10 min in and I don't really understand wth is happening but I want in!! This looks cool AF and so unique!!!
This looks really cool… Adding to wishlist now. Ooooo, and it looks like there’s a demo. I’ll have to check that out when I get home.
This reminds me of Zorg from Fifth Element when he talks about his bringing chaos and destruction to give purpose to the sustaining life. How it gives people purpose to destroy all of civilization so, people with renewed purpose, may band back together to build it up agian.
This seems very creative and oozes that "passion project" vibe. Games like these are the reason AAA studios and "live service" games can't really ever take over fully.
On the left side of your island cluster, on the map, it says, The "Smelly Logfloater" I wonder what smelly log is floating around there...
Holy shit, this looks fantastic. Innovative and refreshing, looking forward to this.
I really cannot wait til this comes out.
Picked this up due to your videos. Good stuff Thank you!
"We built this city....bern bern..bern...we built this city onnn Roockkk and Rollll" I hope this game wins awards
Fantastic Development
The building connection system which then enhances the production of those buildings reminds me somewhat of the game Slipways.
Haha you said Troom Shree instead of Shroom Tree. I like it
To whoever reads this
I just want you to know, whoever you are, where ever you are, and whatever you are doing.
Splattercat is probably playing an Indie game right now.
Yes,I enjoyed, would like to see again
Such a cool game. I battled with the camera control an the demo... screen would spin while building making me dizzy, but still enjoyed the game.
Funny how I contacted the creator of this game about mouse & keyboard support on console & was told it's designed for controllers even on pc. So I gave it another try & it's pretty good on controller.
Bad news for us PC gamers who don't do controllers.
@@msolomonii9825 I generally perfer mouse and keyboard myself even though I have three controllers for when friends come by
I don't know why they would design a game for a controller that doesn't seem to require the kind of input a controller provides over a keyboard.
@@msolomonii9825 There are two different Mouse Keyboard Schemes for PC players, so that's not entirely true.. I even updated the MKB cursor behavior last week, and there's a settings "hidden build cursor" that you can toggle to undo some of the more unorthodox mouse behaviors.
The game has been online as a demo for a year and evolving to improve the Mouse +Keyboard controls. So to say I didn't design it for MKB is wrong, but I didn't start with conventional controls either. I wanted to make a game without buttons and a UI on top of the game world. but UI inside the game world.
this like Splattercat says, can take some getting used to. I don't think it takes hours, for the largest amount of people it takes 15 minutes,. To learn the intricacies of the building and what means what, and how you coax the building to get certain results, hours certainly.. But that is part of the game.
This is a game about vertical unconstrained building, and to go fully vertical I also needed a new control system.
I usually tell folks , I could not make a game where you can build like this with "conventional controls" and nobody else can,, otherwise that game would already exist.
I think the closest you get is stuff like minecraft, that is also fully 3D building and it did it with fps controls. Which wasn't super applicable for the scale I wanted. But again. not default top down controls.
So to clarify, there is MKB support, there is a bunch of settings and bindings to try out., It doesn't take hours to get too building, but it does click at some point.
And no I could not have made a game where you can do what you can do in this game , with conventional controls. Perhaps someone else, better than me,, but me .. nope.
Their last game was also controller centric... some games play better with it, like flying or driving games, which there last was the former.
Ever play Greed Corp from like 2008? Turned based strategy game with freemen, pirate, cartel, and empire. Seems like it could actually be the same universe. Definitely had a steam punk, air ship sort of vibe to it.
Thanks Splatter, this seems fun to try :)
Great initial walkthrough of this game. Purchased, looks hard af. I miss games like battle for middle earth 2. Thinking this will satisfy the itch with a new take
Apocalypse builder when you are dutch survivors
i am mesmerized
would love to do a classic tabletop rpg with steve and the gang
Historic moment in gaming.
Great vid, gonna try this out!
I’d watch you do a series on this - but full world conquest
awesome game, thx for the video!
I've never seen him go so long over the 30 minute mark. Game must be good.
I'll admit this game looks super cool.
more games need these art projects that happen while playing. since whenever i touch a game it does not look good lmao
You kinda have to build outward from the resource buildings. Try building a few towers around them without connecting the towers themselves with battlements or sky bridges. And don’t build up the towers too much either ast they seem to use workers. This should increase your resource flow
game looks great so far in beta and this video i wanna see how good that game is on release
Hey! I have Falconeer! I knew I recognized that art style haha!
Well, guess I'm playing this this weekend!
This looks really fun.
The setting reminds me a bit of a steampunk book series Cinder Spires by Jim Butcher.
i love this insanity
I'm not really into gestion/ city building games but this one look really cool maybe I will try it
that looks amazing
Love beautiful games like this ❤
this would have been perfect to use in conjunction with something like Sunless Seas/Sunless Skies.
this game is smoooooth!!
Good Lord. I have to wonder what he thinks, "Let's dive right in," is supposed to mean.
Its a interesting game, but many people who tried it felt abit awkward with the controls, yet the dev did not take heed to this. It is his choice of course, i just dont understand why not add controls one is used to, but thats his choice and perhaps a reason for it.
this game looks great i will def buy it
Ce personnage a débuté sa "carrière" en défendant la médecine libérale de façon honnête et motivée... puis il est devenu syndicaliste... et médecin de plateau télé... et a chopé le melon.
I find it amusing that you are most taken back by games where the developer focuses on the game engine
I have been waiting for this one
Been seeing this out there. It's impressive to look at, something different, isn't that a treat for a change!
I would like to see more of the conflict and combat system. This looked like a map without aggressive antagonists.
Was the mages new as well? I can't remember them from earlier iterations.
this game look real interesting .
Incredible game! 🎉❤❤
@splattercatgaming On the subject of post-apocalypse games, I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for ones that are primarily city/colony management/builder types, but with an emphasis on restoring the destroyed world. Preferably with a scale larger than just a single map. Something like Surviving the Aftermath, or Surviving Mars, but where they actually consider the more global scale of the effort? I've come to realize that a particular niche favorite of mine, isn't just managing a community, and not just helping a survivor group survive/thrive, but where you eventually try and restore the equilibrium of the world you are surviving in. But I find, while ones like Surviving the Aftermath have DLC that include actively cleaning up the toxins, it's still just that one map. Like there is no component to the game where you can then expand to say, a different map tile set (like you can do in Surviving Mars), and have your previous effects still persist you know? Like I'd love to be able to completely terraform Mars in Surviving Mars, but each session is simply an isolated map tile, independent of the more global ecosystem
But you play a TON of these games. Do you have any recommendations for ones that at least try to tackle the larger scale problem? Or at least have a larger emphasis on trying to find a homeostasis solution, with a more eco-friendly system. Surviving the Aftermath is fun, but by the end I'm doing deep bore drilling with giant mechanical rigs that give off waste, and it just feels like we're repeating all the old problems again in the game. Not trying to find some new path forward, despite the game specifically saying the struggle is to find a new path forward.
That might be the longest question I have ever read
@@Leaf__22 ok
I love Surviving the Aftermath. As far as your question, I don't know. Lot's of games out there I haven't played or heard of so there must be something. Are you at all worried you might lose something going from micro (one map) to macro (an entire planet)? Have you looked into New Cycle? New Cycle might also be just one map but I haven't seen any late game footage or know if there is a campaign that spans the whole world.
@@tjk3430 Not so much losing resources, but just acknowledging the terraforming work done. Like if you pan back from your first tile that is chugging along with it's terraforming project, and has greenified that local geography, you can still see the effects of it on the planetary map.
I'm fine with them being so far apart (the various tiles that you work on) that they are effectively isolated, but when I spend hours making this one area a lush, green, oxygen rich paradise, and then start a new game and see the slate wiped clean, it just kind of kills my sense of accomplishment you know? I remember noticing this primarily with Surviving Mars. I do all this stuff, build this amazing society, with all this greenery and stuff, but then when you go to the global shot of mars....it's all still showing as red and desolate. Because each session is an isolated event basically.
I'd just like to see one of these colony management games, actually have a macro level to the overall goal. Make it be only minor things that reflect the larger change. Like maybe the starting humidity of a nearby map tile is slightly higher, for being near a terraformed region. Or maybe have any storm effects be stronger when coming from that region, since they've got a denser atmosphere nearby.
I'm not looking for like, direct connections of power plants and farms (though some level of commerce would be neat between regions), but just....SOMETHING to reflect the project's results, as I try out different difficulty regions you know?
I dunno, it's hard to articulate it beyond that. I love games where I'm restoring balance to a chaotic, hostile/barren location. Encouraging growth and biodiversity, etc. They scratch a particular gamer itch for me that is very satisfying. But it's always like....one town right? Like with Surviving the Aftermath. Your community is only what, a few hundred people at most by the time most people stop playing a session? That's not a very large scale project before you've basically completed the various DLC objectives.
I'd just like a game that lets you micro manage smaller regions, but also expand out for a larger scale thing.
A game I found recently that kind of does this, but it's still mostly small scale, is Wildmender. As you make your tiny oases of life, it starts to impact the environment around you. Raising the overall humidity, lessening the harsh weather, etc.
But it's still a fairly small region. 4 biomes that don't really cross pollinate at all.
@@happyninja42 I too like the type of games you described restoring balance to a hostile world. I love a detailed tech tree.
19:30 why not use the existing dock? Edit: Never mind, I guess End and Origin harbors are separate?
Interesting concepts but needs much more expansion of them.
Its KINDA like anno 1800 , but with nice twist . I might trust it
The narrator sounds like the guy who did the voice for Father Petris from Greedfall
you had me at smelly logfloater
this looks addictive. :)
So awesome 😊
How did you learn this. The demo left me frustrated, but I want to know more. Fiddle with it is tough, but maybe that's your answer.
I thought this seemed like a decent game last time. I think I'm interested in what the fights and interactions with other cities looks like. Do you roll out the cannons on your airship? 😅
more or less that surveyor can be upgraded to a more combat oriented model later (4 in total) and then all the commanders you get add their fighters and capital ship to your battlefleet that follows you around. I think the cap is 30 units to follow you.. and then you go to war ;)
but you also go and build an offensive fortress and many other creative solutions.
Reminds me of Cossack the Art of war for some reasons...aww
Very cool!
I wish we got to see some fighting.
I wonder about how long a game would last??
Rock! n Stone!
i need this game BAD
Now this is how you use AI/procedural generation in a game. Looking sweet.
This is the same universe as the Falconeer
Interesting design.
There's a touch of Anno in dealing with differently-undersupplied islands; but damn does it do everything else way, way, more stylishly than ye olde grid citybuilder where you use the road tool to connect houses you build from the housing submenu.