There have been a number of updates posted to the Crowfall website over the last few days. The two least-recent introduce concept art for the Fortification and Fort structures that Kickstarter backers (above certain pledge levels, at any rate) will receive as in-game rewards. An example of the Fort structure can be seen above. In these two updates, they also discuss how backers will soon be able to unbunble their pledge rewards:

Here’s some information about how it will work:

– “Unbundling” a pledge package into an account is permanent!  Once a pledge package has been unbundled, it can’t be re-bundled again.

– Strongholds (like FORTS and CASTLES) will be transferrable to other accounts. (This functionality will be added at a later date.)

– Some of the items (like strongholds) and a few of the services will be upgradeable. That means they can be returned to the Crowfall Store for full trade-in value (in store credit) to purchase other strongholds.

– The strongholds (from smallest to largest) are: ESTATE, FORT, KEEP and CASTLES. Each of these has a Small, Medium and Large version. For a given type, all three sizes will include the same amount of overall land, larger versions allow more buildings.

– The largest strongholds—the CITADEL and PALACE—do not come in multiple sizes. (At least, not yet.)

– Any Kickstarter backer who *prefers* the 2015 version of their stronghold can trade in their Kickstarter stronghold for store credit, and then use that credit to buy a 2015 version. If you trade for the same size (i.e. trade in a KS SMALL for a 2015 SMALL), there is no additional cost. If you want to trade-in your SMALL for a MEDIUM or your FORT for a KEEP, you will get full retail Crowfall Store credit for that trade-in, and then only have to pay the difference for the desired upgrade. If you have a Kickstarter pledge package, you’ll always have the option to pick the Kickstarter-exclusive versions of strongholds if they are available at the stronghold level you want to buy.
…and remember, strongholds are portable! You can drop multiple strongholds in your Eternal Kingdom or join forces with other players to combine your strongholds into a single larger EK (and seamlessly run from your CASTLE to your friend’s FORT!)

ArtCraft Entertainment also discussed, in the article concerning Forts, the inevitability that development plans will change as work on Crowfall progresses:

Here is how we have decided to handle these changes:

1. We’re going to embrace the fact that, sometimes, we’re going to have to change things.

2. When we need to make a change that affects asset(s) we’ve already sold, we will be 100% transparent in communicating to you that we’ve done so.

3. In all cases, when we need to make a change, we will TRY to make that change to YOUR BENEFIT —meaning that we’ll try and make the change in such a way that the people who have already pledged are happy with the change(s)!  If we can solve the problem by making the asset HARDER-FASTER-STRONGER-BETTER, we will do so — every time. That means we won’t hesitate (or apologize!) for growing a parcel in size, making a stronghold look cooler, revising an archetype to look cosmetically better, etc.   

4. If we CAN’T make it better we will make up the difference to you, in the way that makes the most sense. For example, if we figured out that we needed to reduce the size of the land around a castle, and by doing so it means the description we previously gave would now be incorrect (i.e. the castle description said 600,000 square meters, but it needs to be 500,000 square meters), this might mean granting you additional land parcels, or other assets, or maybe VIP tickets…  Whatever the compensation may be, we’ll do our very best to come up with something that, in our estimation, is a clear win for you. Our goal is to keep you happy with your decision to pledge. 

5. IF ALL OF THAT FAILS and you aren’t happy—if we change an asset in a way you don’t like and our offering to “make you whole” fails to satisfy you—then you can return the item for in-store credit. No questions asked.

 
We think this is the best approach. It allows us to stay nimble and react to design changes and feedback while at the same time, and just as importantly, it keeps our backers happy.  

Now, these player-owned structures will, as is mentioned above, be placed in the Eternal Kingdoms, the home realms to which players will retreat between campaigns in Crowfall’s decaying worlds. So it’s fitting that ArtCraft have published a new FAQ section concerning those Kingdoms.

Additionally, some changes have been made to the Crowfall forums; posting rights there have been restricted (for the most part) to backers of the game:

We’ve decided to limit the majority of our forums to the backers of Crowfall.

Newly registered people, who are not backers, will have a forum to post their questions for 30 days after registering. This forum will be for these potential backers and those who want to help them get their questions about Crowfall answered.

While we’ve enjoyed having anyone who registered for our future beta tests interacting on our forums, there have also been issues with some non-backers being less than constructive. We’re choosing to keep the posting community limited to those who have pledged to Crowfall until we get to the non-backer beta tests sometime next year. Everyone will still be able to read the public forums whether they are registered or not.

Since we allow backers with pledges as low as $5 (which can be applied to a future purchase of the game) to be part of the posting community, we don’t believe this requirement to be prohibitive to anyone’s ongoing, constructive participation.

As a crowdfunded game, Crowfall backers are who we serve first and foremost here at ArtCraft, and that’s where we intend to put our efforts while building our game.

The second most recent article focuses on development of the Centaur race and player archetypes:

Centaurs are kind of a hallmark for me, actually. I’ve included Centaurs somewhere in every game that I’ve ever done. Generally, I have a fascination with “half-breeds”, man/animal hybrids, like Centaurs, Minotaurs, Birdmen, Deermen… Of them, Centaurs are probably my favorite.

In terms of fantasy literature, my first love was Narnia — my mother introduced me to Narnia in grade school, and I was hooked. (FWIW, Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Magician’s Nephew are still in my Top 10 list of fantasy books). There are a few elements of Narnia that tend to creep into every world I create: talking animals, half-breeds, fruit from the Tree of Life.

My next big Centaur-related influence came during college when I was playing a turn-based tactical RPG called Shining Force. The SF take on Centaurs was really cool, because instead of the traditional “archer-ranger-druid” thing, they made their Centaurs knights and paladins and had them (generally) fight with massive lances. What a cool idea! I love the contrast of this creature with an animal body or head, which by definition implies a more bestial or savage character, instead being more “high fantasy” — that Arthurian “soaring towers, epic ballads, high chivalry” feeling where the characters are more noble and civilized — romantic, even — than their human counterparts.

The Shadowbane Centaur culture was a blend of Arthurian and Roman. For Crowfall, I thought it would be cooler to go full-on Imperial: civilized, highly advanced and enlightened, incredibly well-organized, and brutally expansionistic.

You should click on through if you want to see a couple photographs of the development team working on the Centaurs.

Finally, the most recent article is a real grab-bag of information: development milestones, pledge packages, and more are discussed therein.