Manor Lords dev responds to criticism of his city builder's updates, saying that while they're not always "impressive to show off," he wants to "focus on issues that people comment on"

Manor Lords screenshot showing medieval-style farm fields featuring autumn-esque colouring
(Image credit: Slavic Magic)

The mastermind "solo" developer behind Manor Lords says his updates are largely based on what players request of him, and while the patches may not always be "impressive to show off," they're still "honest work."

Speaking in a recent thread, the dev first addresses a Facebook post in which a fan questions why he's "challenged" every time he wins, under which one commenter states "It's a bug." Slavic Magic says that no, it's not a bug, but asks the community "If the player wins the game but wants to continue regardless, should AI, diplomacy, etc. become disabled?" The top response under the dev's query doesn't answer it but rather criticizes Manor Lords' past updates.

"Feels like that the main topics fall back," reads the fan's reply, "and you focus on too much content/issues which are not important or necessary." The dev has since also left a response himself,  addressing the topic of how he prioritizes the medieval city builder's updates and why patches contain what they do, whether it seems "important" enough or not. "I always focus on issues that people comment on/DM the most."

Slavic Magic continues: "'We want fishing' I add fishing, 'We want butchers' I add butchers. Pigs. Trade overview. Stuff like balance or systems refactoring usually it's not super cool to rework or impressive to show off… but it's honest work." He's got a point - he frequently releases patches addressing players' requests, with a recent one bringing changes to ale and water distribution following feedback from fans.

Manor Lords is getting new maps "soon," but the city builder's dev is clear that only "future expansions" could venture outside the base game's existing European theme

Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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