FreeHolder
FreeHolder Steam Alpha 3 Hotfix 10
6.1.2017
Announcements
Resident Skills
I've implemented the majority of resident higher tier skills, including some highly useful ones like the Priestess' healing ability and the Maior's Buy Wheat. The ones that are left were originally intended to have effects that would take place in the late game, and include very advanced equipment, resources like Wine, potions, and special crops, none of which exist yet. I need to get the new arrow/ammo/quiver system working to have any use for the Hunter's specialty shop. I have to decide whether I will implement some of these things now, or alter the skills, even temporarily, so as to make them useful in the mid-game. I'll probably do a bit of both. I should also mention that I have another three or four residents on the back burner that all have skills related to things that don't exist yet, and I might be able to add a few of them in the next hotfix.
Next Hotfix
I didn't get any bugfixes in on this patch, and it took longer than I would have liked, so I want to release another hotfix soon, over the weekend, which includes the rest of the resident skills and some bugfixes. I'm also working steadily on faction town capturing and HQ attacks, which will need to be implemented fairly soon, maybe two hotfixes from now. We want to get to Alpha 4 in time for the summer sale on the 22nd, which will also include the Mac release, so a hard deadline will be speeding my work over the next several weeks. Thanks for your patience.
New Features
-Added Bard resident skill Story Weaving
-Added Bard resident skill Heroic Saga
-Added Wise Naturalist resident skill Crop Techniques
-Added Quartermaster resident skill Warehousing
-Added Sage resident skill Advanced Course
-Added Sage resident skill Grace of Wisdom
-Added Maior resident skill Sell Wheat
-Added Guildsman resident skill Spare Materials
-Added Priestess resident skill Lay On Hands
Balancing
-Rebalanced Sage skill Speed Seminar, now costs 1d and gives 3xp
FreeHolder Steam Alpha 3 Hotfix 9
5.24.2017
Announcements
Unity 5!
We didn't have the money for this in the past, but my work situation has impelled me to subscribe to the latest version of Unity, which is good news for all of us, not least because now that I have it I'm looking into a method of saving which will remove all of the problematic save bugs that accompany saving and loading the massive amount of objects and variables in this game. I'm not going to transition the project to 5 until I have some time to work through whatever kinks might accompany such a transition, though once this is done I will make investigating the save situation my top priority. This will definitely come before Alpha 4, possibly this weekend.
Next Hotfix
The next hotfix will include some bug fixes, but I intend to implement some more systems to flesh out the mid-game, including getting all of the town resident abilities functional. Right now only the first level of resident abilities actually do anything. Getting faction armies to move about and attack each other and towns is a huge undertaking, but is also something that I will at least make a start on for this next hotfix, which I want to have for you early next week, maybe the weekend.
Bugfixes
-*Gaulish slingers no longer crash game when loading combat*
-Mule selection at market now functional. Split mules for 1 market/black market run or two shipping runs.
-Deep Mining skill now continues to show marble on tile info
-Careful Planner and Architecture now properly discount Fabrica upgrade
-When crafting items, correct amount of available equipment is now displayed
-Poppy xp bonus now functioning correctly, including 33% battle XP bonus
-Market events now occur after seasonal shipments, eliminating spikes that still include goods
-Herbology no longer misreporting gained herbs
Miscellaneous
-Fixed typo on heavy wool coat announcement
FreeHolder Steam Alpha 3 Hotfix 8
5.19.2017
Announcements
Small Fix
This is a tiny hotfix mostly adding a couple of requested features. It was hard to get right back into bug-crushing after being away from the build, and I wanted to get something concrete to you rather than flailing about for hours and not necessarily having anything to show for it. With FreeHolder containing 72,000 lines of code at this point, crushing bugs is a time-consuming affair. Nevertheless, we will get them all. Eventually.
Next Hotfix
This very weekend I am going to attempt to crush some of the long-problematic bugs that are occassionally causing the game to break. I just didn't want everyone to be waiting around all week and not seeing any updates. Expect something a little more substantial in terms of bug removal, also based on your recent input, early next week.
Alpha 4 Focus
I want to get the mid-game section more fully implemented, explained, and functional. Once this is the case, and we squish some relevant bugs, we will mark off the build as Alpha 4 and then I'll be moving onto advanced classes and other neat things I have in mind for 5. Based on player input, 5 (or possibly 4 depending on speed) will also begin incorporating more and better information readouts in the game so it is less confusing for all concerned. We'll create an in-game encyclopedia eventually.
Mac Release
Alpha 4 will also finally include a Mac version of FreeHolder, released concurrently or shortly after. Tell your Mac-using friends, who you've been heckling mercilessly about the fact that FreeHolder is PC only. :D I only have a Mac mini myself, so I'll need some players who own both PC and Mac to do a bit of testing in the near future. However, I don't anticipate any real difficulties. Unity is l33t like that.
Bugfixes
-Cities no longer switch map locations upon loading the game
Requested Features
-Passive skill now included on character sheet
-Weather changes generate an event icon that details the effects of the weather
Balancing
-You can now hunt in marshes, in addition to fishing