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Hello, Merchants!
We come to you today with very exciting news! We have finally reached a point where we feel the UI Overhaul patch is ready to move out of beta, into Early Access!
Before we get into it, we recommend that even if you don’t read this whole post, you read the sections below for both new or returning players!
Now then! For those unaware, this is a massive patch nearly two years in the making. With that, the first thing we want to do is…well…say we are sorry!
This patch was always going to be a massive undertaking for us, as we were not just overhauling the visuals and gameplay of the entire game, but while we were under the hood, we were doing massive system changes to build a stronger foundation for the future of the game.
However, as we really got into the deep inner workings, the patch ended up taking much longer to get here than we thought. With five jobs between the three of us outside of developing this game, it was a tough balancing act for us, and we assure you we did the best we could. It is certainly not an excuse, but we are sincerely sorry for the long wait, and just wanted to assure you it wasn’t due to lack of effort!
With that said, the game is in the best state it has ever been in, and is a substantially better experience for both new players and veterans alike!
We’ve made a small launch trailer for the overhaul with just a few things you can expect, but if we went into the details of what has changed, it would be far too much to discuss here, so it’s something we recommend you just dive in and see how it feels!
Here is the short launch trailer:
With that all out of the way, we have a short message specifically for both new and returning players! For the returning players: Take your time and go through the new, fully narrated video logbook! There are a lot of things in different places, new ways to do things, some things are removed and some new things added, etc., So we recommend you go into a new playthrough with as fresh a set of eyes as you can to really take in all the changes gradually.
For the new players:
We wanted to get this patch out the moment it was ready, as we have kept our playerbase waiting long enough. We wanted to accompany this launch with a sale as well, but unfortunately the soonest we are able to get the sale going is on June 1st at 10:00am PST. So if you are wanting to purchase the game as a brand new player, wait for that sale! It will be a 50% discount and last for a week. We would have loved to have all of this coincide, but we didn’t want to make anyone wait even a day longer than we had to!
One final note. While this patch has made some massive progress toward our final vision for v1.0, we have a couple more major features planned for launch, as well as the intention to continually improve the overall balance and performance of the game. And keep in mind, this is still an early access phase of the game, and there will almost certainly still be bugs and issues that we can improve upon, but rest assured, we will!
Thank you all so much for your patience while we were working to get here, and we look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts on this new version of The Merchant’s Guide to the Kingdom.
-Devs
Hello, Merchants!
The time has come, and Open Beta is here! This is close to the final iteration of the major UI overhaul patch that will be going live, including the Logbook/Tutorial. For those who just want to jump in and give it a try, here is how:
Right Click The Merchant’s Guide to the Kingdom in your Steam Library.
Go to ‘Properties’.
On the left panel, select ‘Game Versions & Betas’.
Select ‘beta’.
Allow the beta version to install/update.
All set!
Please keep in mind, this is indeed a beta and we do have some known issues that we will actively patch, but you will likely encounter bugs or issues.
That said, most of the features and changes we wanted for the full UI update are implemented and ready to test! This changes the game so substantially, that we made a video to cover the major changes when we initially launched the Closed Beta, linked below. However, the Logbook is implemented in this version of the game and has simple video guides which show you exactly how to perform each major function in the game which you can watch by simply pressing the Play button for each individual step. If you want to learn more about any given step, simply press the ‘?’ button and it will bring up the guide entry for that step, which contains more details.
So, if you are new to Merchant’s Guide, or are returning after not seeing any of the changes to the UI, we strongly recommend that you closely follow the Logbook.
There are also a few new additions even for those who played the Closed Beta!
As mentioned above, the Logbook is here! This is meant to serve as a more visual guide to teach you the many mechanics of the game.
We have added a Global Chat feature so it’s easier to talk with other players in the game. You can opt in and out of the global chat under Options in the Escape Menu.
We have also added in the ‘Kingdom Herald’. This is the first iteration and it will continue to update what information it keeps, but it will serve as a daily recap of your progress such as gold earned, dungeons cleared, any suffered hero deaths, etc., Essentially, a report card for the day! This pops up automatically at the end of the day, but you can also review it at any time under Player Manager -> Kingdom Herald.
Along with those things, we have also changed the cursor for the game. As of now, it is a quill, but we plan to add more options before exiting Open Beta, including retaining the normal system mouse for those who prefer that.
There are many other fixes, changes, and improvements throughout the game, and we plan many more as time goes on.
We also urge you to join our Discord if you haven’t yet. We are always in there and will answer any questions, hear any feedback, and discuss all kinds of things. We do want to stress the feedback option! We love hearing your thoughts, positive, negative, or neutral, about anything in the game as player feedback shapes many aspects of our development decisions.
Join our Discord here:
Here is the instructional video we released at the start of Closed Beta if you want to get an idea before going in. However, ideally it is no longer necessary since the Logbook is now in the game. Note that some things in the video have been adjusted, but should still be mostly relevant and accurate.
We look forward to hearing any and all feedback, and thank you so much for coming along with us on this journey!
-Devs
Hello, Merchants!
We are very happy to finally be able to reveal when closed beta will be available, and the details behind it!
Straight to the point, closed beta will be made available to play on Friday, February 6th at 5:00pm PST!
With that out of the way, we want to give a very clear picture on what this is, and who it is for. We strongly recommend that if you are interested in the beta in any way, you read this full post. Details on how to participate in the beta will be at the bottom in the ‘How to Participate’ section.
The beta itself will have two phases. First, the closed beta, which we recommend that if you are not a veteran of Merchant’s Guide, you go into it cautiously because the first phase of the beta, the closed beta phase, will not include a tutorial of any kind in-game. We will be releasing an instructional video to go over the majority of the changes at the time of its release which will help guide you on how to navigate the game, but it may require referencing it several times to grasp many of the new systems and layouts. We will also be actively monitoring Discord for any questions that the video may not answer.
The reason for this is because we are reworking the entirety of the Logbook (tutorial) to have much less reading, potentially zero reading at all, but we cannot really start that process until the game itself is ready for it, so the closed beta will be in a strange “in-between” state where the game will be so new that it needs a new tutorial, but the game isn’t done/ready enough to actually make that tutorial.
That said, the closed beta is expected to last roughly 1-2 weeks, by which time the Logbook will be complete and implemented. At that point, we will move into the next beta phase, which will be an open beta. This will include the new Logbook, the new UI and systems, and should be a comprehensible and playable game for anyone from beginners to veterans alike.
One important thing to keep in mind is that we have done extensive under the hood work on Merchant’s Guide during this long development phase, and while we have extensively tested the game, our internal testing is very limited with just the three of us, and we are positive we will have missed things. There will absolutely be bugs in both phases of the beta. If that is something you are not okay with, please wait until we push the patch to live where we expect there to be little to no bugs remaining! However, if you are wanting to help this crucial part of development by giving us your valuable feedback and reporting any bugs you may find, we encourage you strongly to join in on whichever phase of the beta you are able!
We will be very active in Discord throughout this entire process, so we encourage you to join us there if you want to take part in the beta. Details on our Discord in this next section.
While we are calling the first phase a “closed” beta, it is actually open to everyone to join. We are calling it a closed beta because we want to reiterate that this version of the game will be under active development throughout the entire beta phase and that even for veteran players, there will be a lot of new stuff that won’t have a tutorial associated with it (yet) that may take extra time to explore and understand.
The beta will be a different version of the game which you will be able to access on Steam by simply using the password we will provide to everyone. We will leave it as a comment on this post when it becomes available, as well as post it in the Discord for anyone to use, so if you are interested, check the comments under this post at 5:00pm PST on February 6th or join the Discord for the password.
For the open beta phase, we will make a whole new community post addressing all the feedback we received, and that version will not require a password, it will just be accessible through Steam as well. We will provide those instructions on how to access it in more detail for both phases when the time comes.
The best way to communicate with us will definitely be through our Discord, so we encourage you to join us here for the most up-to-date information, and an easy place to ask questions for us and other members of the community:
Though, we will be monitoring this post here on Steam as well should you prefer not to join the Discord, so comments will be welcome and addressed as we are able to do so.
We cannot stress just how excited we are to be moving into this next phase, and we cannot wait to reveal the future of the game that we have in store for all of you. We are wrapping up the largest, most involved part of development, and this is a brand new beginning of our development cycle leading into v1.0 and far beyond. We cannot express how appreciative we are of your patience and help in this process.
See you all soon!
-Devs
Hello, Merchants!
We wanted to jump in and give another final update on the status of the Closed Beta. Our progress had slowed recently due to some issues not related to development, but we have made consistent progress nonetheless, and we are now almost back to our normal pacing!
With that said, the reason we are calling this our final update is because our next post will be the actual announcement of the release date for it! And we don’t expect it to be a long wait from announcement to release. Most likely when we make the announcement, it will be within days of the actual time we intend to release the Closed Beta.
So, we also wanted to remind everyone of what exactly the Closed Beta is, as it is going to be a very odd state of the game.
The live version of Merchant’s Guide has a few major issues that we are wanting to resolve before implementing the final features and leaving Early Access. These are the UI/UX and the Logbook/Tutorial. We have awesome plans and changes coming for these features, however, because the new Logbook will be entirely based on the new UI, and we want to test the UI before finalizing it, when Closed Beta initially launches, it will not have a Logbook included! This means that if you are not already an experienced player of Merchant’s Guide, the vast majority of what is happening in the first version of Closed Beta will make little to no sense, so we advise that you take part in the first phase of Closed Beta only if you have a decent understanding of the game mechanics, and even then you are in for a big learning curve to adapt to the new way the game plays. We will release a video along with Closed Beta that will help, but it will be tough if you are not familiar.
However, the second phase of Closed Beta, which should arrive only a couple of weeks after the first phase starts, will include the inevitable fixes/changes to the first phase of the UI, as well as the Logbook. So if you are eager to try the game with the new UI and the new Logbook, and you are wanting to help with the testing process, the second phase of Closed Beta is for you! We will make sure to release a community update once Phase 2 starts!
The new Logbook itself is going to be short video clips that you can watch to get the rundown on the various game mechanics as you see fit. There will be written instructions as well, but the idea is to make it so someone can get through the entirety of the game without having to read a single word of instructions. A very large change from the current live version of the game.
Keep an eye out for another Community Post like this coming soon, where we will announce the details of the Closed Beta and the launch date. If you want to participate in the Closed Beta, be it the first or second phase, you can do so by simply joining our Discord! We have a closed beta channel and the instructions will all be discussed there for anyone who wants to be a part of it! You can join our discord here:
Finally, we don’t want you to leave empty-handed! We have another new track coming your way which is the theme song for the Earthstone itself! The physical manifestation of raw power! Listen to the new track ahead of its in-game debut here:
Thanks for reading, and we will see you again very soon with our next post announcing the release date for the Closed Beta!
-Devs
About
This page aggregates Steam news feeds, patch notes, and developer announcements for The Merchant's Guide to the Kingdom, sourced from official Steam community posts.
Major updates, balance changes, and seasonal events often correlate with player-count spikes — cross-reference announcements here with the live charts on the main The Merchant's Guide to the Kingdom statistics page.
Articles link back to Steam for full changelogs. SteamScope refreshes news entries as new posts are published to the game's Steam hub.