The great news here is that starting from 1st february 2020 Hard Times is going to be released as a Free to Play game. Open and free for everyone to play.
I'm gonna close the Early Access phase, in which copies were sold and every single cent of any revenue coming from it have been donated to L'Alternativa Onlus to support their projects with homeless people in our town. We managed to raise quite a nice amount and supported this year's program distributing blankets and general assistance and legal support to homeless people with the help of you buying the game.
As i said many times before i chose not to get a single cent from the game revenues, and if you bought the game 100% of your money (except taxes and steam revenues) are going to charity.
So you still have time until the end of january to buy Hard Times and support homeless help programs with a little money. Otherwise you can wait for february and have the chance to play the game for free, as it will become free to play for everyone.
In this way I hope to be able to expand the community of players and, perhaps, find new stimuli to develop new tools for modding and new support and content for the game. In the meantime, there are also new projects in the pipeline and new adventures are at the start, so there is no shortage of things to do. Precise plans for the future, however, there are none, we navigate - as always - on sight, we go where the wind takes us and, tomorrow, blessed is he who still has an eye! Happy New Year to everyone! 🖤🤟🖖
Released scriptable quests patch!
Hi everyone! Ivan's here.
With this new patch I am introducing the scriptable quests, a new api which let's modders script their own custom quests type to be played in game, along with the base quest types already present in the game. So lets start with the awesome change list:
Scriptable quests Now you can extend the BaseQuest class with your own custom quest class scripts and use them in the game, by placing the c# class in the Scripts folder under a mod. I will, in the next few days, add a tutorial on the official wiki so things will hopefully get a little clearer on how to implement this. As always just get in touch with me if you want to know something more or discuss the topic! I am looking for brave modders to wreck the game!
Scriptable quests example mod I have released a new minimod on Hard Times official mods repository on https://hardtimes.mod.io/. The new mod adds a new custom quest class script which implements a new silly quest type to be used in game. The quest is then attached to a new Npc and used in game via the json descriptors as you would do with a legacy quest. The mod can be downloaded here: https://hardtimes.mod.io/scriptable-quests-example
Updated the credits Just a little update to the credits section.
That's all for now. If you are experimenting with the new scripts features let me know and I will do my best to help and explain all that is needed to create awesome mods in Hard Times. I will add new tutorials along the way, in the official Hard Times wiki, but i am doing it a bit slowly, so don't hesitate to ping me to get infos on things that may be unclear about the modding engine.
Thanks again to all of you this month I did the first donation to L'Alternativa Onlus. I am donating 100% of the revenues of the game, keeping nothing for me, until the new year. So every game purchase made until 31 dec 2019 will go 100% to charity, less steams revenues and bank transfers expenses. After that date we will see how to proceed further...
So Happy Hard Times to everybody and see you next patch! \m/ iv.
Released Scriptable Items patch!
Hi everyone! Ivan's here.
In this brand new update there are a number of juicy news regarding modding with the HTSA (Hard Times Scripting Api), particularly about creating new scriptable items in game which can add unforeseen radical changes to the game, further expanding modding support in game. Also I created a brand new mod on the Hard Times official mod repository on mod.io, to better explain how everything works. I will also add a new wiki article on the official wiki in the next days!
But let's go in order and lets start with the usual awsome change list:
Scriptable items After releasing the scriptable posters part the api in the last patch i am now releasing the scriptable items api. It's now possible for modders to write new classes, extending the BaseItem class to script new kind of behaviours for new items.
The Magical Restful Staff mod I have created a tiny new mod package to show how to implement a new kind of item in game: a magical staff which has 20 uses and will replenish your stamina bar. Just an example to help people get started with it. You can download it from mod.io: https://hardtimes.mod.io/magical-restful-staff Check it out and get in touch with me if you need help or need more infos. I will write a guide on the official wiki in the next days.
Fixed the language changing mechanism I took some time to fix up the language changing mechanism. So now switching language from the options panel of the main menu (you can't change language from the in game options, only from the main menu). So now switching language correctly updates all the labels in the scene, without the problems experienced before, when you had to change scene for all changes to be properly rendered.
Fixed a bug with proxy sprites There was a bug lurking in the game items loading code which prevented proxy sprites to be properly loaded when they had a different name from the main item sprite. This unbearable problem has been dealt with with decision and compassion. It should not bother anyone anymore.
The search for broken labels I managed to find and purge more broken language labels for the italian localization. The hunt is still going on tough.
Rebalanced taming values for all pets All pets in game now have a more properly balanced tame value (which is set in the Vanilla files). Now any kind of pet has a different value. You can still mod them as you see fit anyway.
Well, this is all for this last patch. I am happy with how the HTSA thing is coming out and would like to know if anyone of you is using it or is interested in knowing better how to use it. I think is going to be a very powerful tool for game customization and modding in general.
As always, thanks for your support, it means a lot to me! And Happy Hard Times Everybody!
PS: I know, i didn't do any Halloween thing, as everywhere is happening. I'm sorry, i was so into this modding thing that i didn't see it coming!! \\m/
iv.
Released Alpha #4312836
Hello all! Ivan's here.
In this lates patch i am finally introducing a couple of important new things which i was working on since quite a while. So let's start dancing and let's introduce Patch #4312836 new features:
LINUX SUPPORT: I've finally managed to release also the native Linux version of Hard Times, following the OSX and Windows version wihch were already released earlier. I am also not planning to port the game to any further platform. Finally i would like to thank Giuseppe Longo for helping me out in testing and preparing the OSX version of the game and Giangiacomo Pignacoretti for helping out and testing on Linux platforms! Thanks a lot!
Hard Times Scripting API (HTSA): Another great introduction pushed with this patch in the starting of the gradual implementation of the new Hard Times Scripting API which is a new addition to the modding engine, opening some new exciting possibilities in the front of game modding in Hard Times. Thanks to the adoption of the Trivial Interactive's awesome Dinamic C# library Hard Times is now capable of loading and compiling C# scripts at runtime, giving modders the possibility to script out new entities and behaviours in game. Obviously this is gonna be a long a gradual process of adoption and checking of this new technology and modding paradigm. So in this first patch i am pushing a first bunch of features involving the possibility to start scripting only Posters entities. This is a way to start experimenting with something easy and not central to the Hard Times engine. The idea is, of course, to expand with any new patch the game's support for this feature, and to try to do my best to - at same time - give a little documentation and examples for modders to start out. Check this first tutorial in the official Hard Times wiki for more informations: http://wiki.tempi-duri.net/doku.php?id=hard_times_scripting_api And, please, bear in mind that i'm doing this all alone and in my spare time after my daytime jobs. So please, if you find problems or errors in any part of all this, get in touch with me and i will do my best to solve any problem ASAP. Also you will find me on the game's Discord server if you want more infos, you want to discuss anything regarding HT or even if you want to play Rocket League with me (I've recently became Platinum!).
Announcement: 100% of al proceedings from the game, relative to the first two months from launch (namely: September and October sales) will be donated, entirely, to charity. Money will be donated to L'Alternativa Onlus, in Ostia Lido (Rome - Italy). So you are still in time to buy your copy of the game to get 100% of my share for the game to be donated to charity!
BugFix: Tutorial panel on smaller resolutions: What an infamous bug is the one who target lower resolutions players? Do you thing is funny? I've had to take a resolutive stance against this unacceptable behaviour and proceeded to fix this bug. Now the tutorial panel should look fine even if you play on a lower resolution screen.
BugFix: Mettere minigame ui bug: Mettere, la la la lala lala, mettere! There was an annoying bug that caused the minigame "mettere" to spawn on top of the info messages panel, preventing it from being correcly displayed. This was clearly wrong, so i said don't be a fool, you minigame panel, stay in your assigned place! Thanks to my greater wisdom i managed to fix this problem without any need to resort to violence against any silicon entity being hurt.
Fix: fixed trashcans positions in squat: I've repositioned in a better fashion trashcans in the squat scene.
Feature: Added support for toggling VSync from the game options: VSync is a nice feature which helps syncing your game framerate to your monitor refresh rate. In this way problems like tearing will be prevented avoiding at the same time extra unecessary work for your hardware. But toggling off VSync can also have a positive impact on game performances, so check this option if you experience problems with game performance overall.
Label: Added the Mettere minigame instructions text: So now you can understand what the heck was this minigame about.
This is all for this patch! I'm working hard to deliver fixes and new features on a timely fashion. And in all this what continues to drive me in this project is your support and the possibility to do, for once in my life, someting useful for someone, donating proceedings from my work to charity. So thanks a lot everyone for your support and thanks to the people from L'Alternativa Onlus for doing some great work to help people in need who suffer from living as homeless in the great metropolis of indifference.
iv.
Released Alpha 0.0.4 b.4282334
Hi everyone, Ivan's here.
In this latest patch i am addressing a number of important bugs. Other than that i am introducing a new poster entity. It is moddable via json, as everything else around here...
Lets start with the list of things addressed in this patch:
Furniture overwriting mechanism In Hard Times mods are loading in a additive manner. Also i am implementing a overwriting approach when handling duplicate entities (this is why mod loading order is so important). This way modders have the possibility to overwrite any vanilla defined entity. Furnitures were not following this approach as the modding engine skipped duplicate furnitures definitions when loading mods. This unintended behaviour should be now fixed.
Fixed the horripilant "mods unsupported lang bug" When loading new mods it happened that the loaded mod did not have support for the current active language. This occurence made the game crash to a hideous halt. Now in case the loaded mod is not supporting the current selected lang the mod engine will try to load the DEFAULT_LANGUAGE constant value which is now set to "English". If not even this language is supported (this would be BAD since any mod should support at least the english language) the engine will simply skip loading those files.
More lang labels fixed I discovered and fixed more lang labels which were not correct!
The new poster entity
I have added a new entity to the game, which can represent any kind of poster or sign. I will add more types of posters in the next patches. Now a simple poster will look like that(remember to go looking inside vanilla to get many examples of moddable entities): { "posterId": "basic_poster", "posterType": "BasePoster", "posterSpriteName": "basic_poster_graphics.png", "posterThumbSpritename" : "basic_poster_graphics_thumb.png" }
You can add posters to scenes as you do with other entities, like this: { "sceneId": "zero", [...] "posters": [ { "modPosterId": "concert_poster", "modPosterPositionX": 0, "modPosterPositionY": -22.8, "modPosterRotation": 0, "posterColliderWidth": 1, "posterColliderHeight": 1 } ] }
You can go to the Hard Times wiki for guides and tutorials about modding. Also you can check my Discord or drop me a mail if you need help with modding issues!
This is all for this patch! I'll be back with a new one in a week or so! As always thanks a lot for your support and Happy Hard Times!
iv.
Released Alpha 0.0.3 b.4253713
Hi everyone! Ivan's here.
In this small update i am fixing a number of pesky bugs which should be banned from the game. Or at least i hope so!
The infamous 'equipped item bug' Thanks to Mastadans for pointing it out! When you had equipped items and corrupt cops took your stuff some infamous bug appeared making you equip a non existent item. It should be corrected now and not happening anymore.
Pickpocket bug Thanks to Mastadans for pointing it out! When you were pickpocketing a npc and it happened to despawn a hideous bug appeared leaving you with scandal level red forever! (Saving and loading seemed to correct the issue). Anyway it should be banned forever! (I hope)
Achievements save bug A horrendous bug prevented achievements from saving properly with the savegame. Some users reported issues and i found the cause. It should be fixed now.
Don't despawn on camera, please! Npcs were occasionally despawning while in the players field of view. That was a very uneducated behaviour and i took steps to fix this thing. At the moment they should, and i stress on should, not despawn while on camera anymore. Let's be positive!
Object labels I fixed and added a number of localization labels for stuff which didn't have one still. I am working on it continuosly as i find them. Ping me if you happen to stumble upon one of them.
Thats's all for this patch folks. I am doing my best to answer anyone and be reachable on discord if someone needs to. I apologize if someone didn't get an answer quickly!
As always thanks everybody for your support and Happy Hard Times!!
iv.
Released Alpha 0.0.2 b.4243142
Hi everyone! Ivan's here.
So i'm pushing this small update with some new features and a small improvement.
In the church of Father Squid
Have you ever been in the church of father Squid?
In case you haven't yet you should go and check it out, cause you could find different ways of helping your street survival there.
Go and look for it in the big metropolis of indifference.
A new furniture type
This quite easy, to create some props in the church of father squid i implemented a new kind of furniture: "DescriptionFurniture". What it does is simply displaying it's own name and description in a UI window. It's now usable also in mods. For example: { "furnitureId": "church_candles", "furnitureType": "DescriptionFurniture", "boxedItemAncestorName": "base_container_boxed", "boxedItemAncestorType": "BoxedFurnituresItem", "furnitureArchetipusName": "FurnitureArchetipus", "furnitureSpriteName": "church_candles.png", "furnitureColliderRadius": 1, "isPackable": false, "freezePosition": true, "furnitureUiPanelName": "FurnitureDescriptionPanel", "achievementsOnUse": "", "mass": 20, "positionRestrictions": ["outdoor"], "extras": [] }
I just added a small red bullet style dot next to every entry of the effects log panel. It should improve the overall readability of the feature. Remember, anyway, that you can disable it from the options menu in the main menu and in the pause menu.
Thats all for this patch note! As always thanks a lot for your support and for enjoying the game!
Happy Hard Times everybody! iv.
Released Alpha 0.0.2 b.4215794
Hi everybody! Ivan's here.
This patch introduces the Player effects log panel. It sits on top of the healt panel and will display all effects activating or disactivating. Easy enough. It's meant to have a way to get an overall idea of whats going on. I am planning on expanding this feature in the future. Who knows? The logging can be turned off and on in the options panel.
I made some adjustments at some props overlapping buildings and similar issues. I fix them as I notice them. If you happen to stumble upon some please tell me, i will be grateful.
I created proper effects, and descriptions, for the washing and berry harvesting activities. Before they shared a generic effect. The descriptions went also in the hints, so you can read more about in fortune cookies found around.
"FountainFurniture" furnitures now have a new moddable extra property called: "timedActionEffect". It points to an effect to be applied to the player as he uses the secondary action (in this case to assign a new effect to the washing action).
This is all, for now! As always thanks for your support, and for playing the game and having fun! Happy Hard Times everybody!
Released Alpha 0.0.2 b.4204364
Hi everybody! Ivan's here.
I have just released Alpha 0.0.2 b.4204364, which fixes a number of small issues with scene components, adds the Credits section in the main menu and fixes the Discord button.
It's been three days since the Early Access release and I am quite happy about how the game is going. I see people is having fun with it and players are giving me some good feedbacks. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me, via mail, steam, discord or whatever mean to give me feedbacks, ideas and suggestions. I will be more than happy to hear from you.
I'm also planning about expanding the modding tutorials wiki and finalizing the integration with mods.io. As of today you have to manually download mods packages from the repository and then you have to unzip them in the proper mods folder (there is a handy "open mods folder" button in the mods panel of the main menu). I am pondering about fully integrating mods.io in the game, but I am still unsure and I will have to ponder about it a bit.
Lastly I've also been testing out the Linux build (with the patient help of a linux expert friend!) and i plan to release it shortly in the future. Let me know if there's some willing Linux tester out there who would like to help out!
Thanks, as usual, for your support and happy hard times everybody!
Steam Early Access Release!
I've finally made it! Hard Times is now available for everyone on Steam Early Access!! I will continue to do my best to keep up with the community, gathering feedbacks and suggestions as new players will try the game.
Please, feel free to get in touch with me, for any kind of tought, suggestion or bug you might happen to find while playing Hard Times.
You can use the Official Discord Server, open a thread on the Steam forum, use the game's socials or drop me a line at: info@tempi-duri.net
I will be more than glad to get in touch and discuss any idea or tip you might want to share.
