The time has come to announce the release of this long anticipated update. For some while now we have been hard at work rejuvenating both Holdfast’s frontend and backend in order to lay the foundations for the updates to follow.
Our goal is to make Holdfast more accessible to a wider audience while staying true to its core. This will prolong Holdfast’s shelf life so that you can continue enjoying Holdfast for many more years to come! This update will be the first big step in that direction.
Introducing The Howitzer
This long requested artillery piece now makes its way to the battles of Holdfast. With its skilled based air burst and flying shrapnel this new disrupter of organisation will change the way engagements play out across the game.
Load a shot and set the fuse timer on the fuse interface then fire away and watch as chaos ensues from afar. Those wanting a more precise fuse timer can hold down 'Shift' by default and make smaller timing changes.
The Howitzer’s primary attack is the air burst, timing the fuse and judging the distance correctly will allow skilled artillerymen to burst the shell above the enemy causing the most damage and killing those closest.
Shells that land near or at the floor of the enemy will cause damage but will not kill unless they are directly on top of the shell.
Holdfast’s New Look
One of the biggest changes to come to the game with this update is a complete redesign of the games user interface.
From the moment you launch the game and all the way until you finish a match you’ll see a whole new UI that has been designed and created to further improve the user experience and provide much needed modularity for future updates that the old UI simply didn’t allow for.
This is indeed a big change but comes with a whole new slew of features such as the new playercards, regiment leaderboards, barracks and customisation, in-game regiment registry and much more. There’s plenty to explore so hop on Holdfast and check out everything this new interface has to offer.
This initial introduction of playercards should be considered as a beta version of the full implementation as in updates to follow once we have tested and confirmed the robustness of the new systems, more portraits, banners, medals and unlocks will be available for players to complete specific challenges for.
All of the games DLC has been updated with this update to include unlocks for these and as the systems in place for this have long been in the game.
We’ve also taken appropriate measures to ensure that you can customise the in-game UI exactly to your liking by visiting the games settings menu. Want your minimap smaller or the chat in the bottom left? Simply set it in the settings as shown.
A new option has also been included for the end of round map voting screen. The selection has now been reduced to 3 maps with the 3rd of the options being a random map. This will load a random map from the servers rotation that is viable for the gamemode available in the vote.
Leaderboards have been completely redesigned and now regiments can compete for the top spot in their very own regimental leaderboards. These are seasonal leaderboards that will determine your regiment's position in the game's regiment registry during that season based on XP earned from public servers and official public events.
Another feature of the new user interface is the games in-game cosmetics only store. This new storepage will make purchasing and rewarding DLC's far simpler and enables us to introduce additional cosmetics such as portraits and banners alongside the other content found within the DLCs.
Each of the game's DLC's has been upgraded to include a unique portrait that can be applied in the barracks, some DLC's also include additional banners. You can preview everything you get by heading over the store and selecting a DLC.
Battlefield Forger Winners
Holdfast’s modding competition came to a close a few months back and we’re now ready to announce our winners. The art team took a look at each and every entry into the contest considering not only design but also execution. The level of quality compared to the previous forger contest truly showed how far the modding community has come and made the contest all that more difficult to judge.
Starting with the mapping contest in 1st place we have Spammy McJunkmail with their map Martense Point. This well crafted train yard village features plenty of height variation, close quarter fighting opportunities and flanking routes that all come together to produce a very splendid Frontlines battlefield.
A big congratulations to Spammy, we look forward to implementing this map into the game in the future.
(Martense Point by Spammy McJunkmail)
In 2nd place follows Kill’em with the map Port LeMerc. Set within sporadic islands this naval coastal siege map stood out as a very well designed battlefield for both ocean and siege engagements with its rocky cliff faces offering up a natural defence against the incoming invaders.
(Port LeMerc by Kill'em)
Finally, in 3rd place is Mattrobes and their map Little Map. A quaint little village sits within grassland and trees, segregated by broken fencerows this small map offered up a unique blend of urban and plains combat with plenty of cover within its overgrown outer fields for ambushing the enemy.
(Little Map by Mattrobes)
Now to announce our uniform contest winners, although there were less entries for this side of the contest, those we did receive were of some excellent quality. The attention to details and general execution of work was very impressive.
Kicking things off in 1st place with their entry to be added into the game is Binghampton and their Frontlines WW1 Winter Uniforms. In their dashing winter coats and fingerless gloves these uniforms will offer up some warmth and comfort for those engaging in combat in snow and rain.
(Frontlines Winter Uniforms by Binghampton)
Coming in 2nd place is ApexPhantom with his Napoleonic Winter Uniforms. Once more these fellows look incredible in their long-coats and shako coverings with plenty of variations to pick from. A truly splendid job well done.
(Napoleonic Winter Uniforms by ApexPhantom)
A big thanks to everyone who submitted entries into the contest; Father Merrin, Toonu, Kill’em, Binghampton, CevCon, El Presidente, NPC Charles, Ragnar, thiccpoot, MiSFiT77, Mattrobes, Meal, Maggot, jklirr, Spammy McJunkmail, Banana, Masdock, ApexPhantom, Arsen and AMBLCO
While the road has been long we're committed to bringing Holdfast into the new era and ensuring the game continues to thrive for many more years to come.
Work on the games next update already began some months ago and we're making good progress towards a BETA release in the not too distant future. There’s a whole lot more in store for Holdfast and beyond.
There are many more changes, features, bug fixes and quality of life additions being introduced in this update so be sure to check out the change log! Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:
Greetings good fellows of the community! After many months of hard work we are now reaching ever closer to the release of the next major update. Internal quality assurance testing have been ongoing these past weeks and we have already undertaken early feedback sessions as we prepare to move into a larger scale closed BETA.
This update has taken some time, however, testing and polishing has been integral for bringing in a fresh lick of paint to the game and laying the foundations for the updates that will follow.
This update will bring with it an entirely redesigned user interface which will introduce some much needed modularity and scalability to the UI while also making Holdfast more accessible for all players.
One feature of this is the new ability to customise your soldier and playercard within the main menu. Before heading into battle, visit the barracks tab and customise your soldier for each and every nation. Any changes here will also be reflected within the in-game spawn menu.
*The above footage is a work in progress and may not be representative of the content upon release.
This introduction of the barracks will be the first phase of a new slew of cosmetic unlocks that will be obtainable through challenges coming with an update later this year. Playercard customisation for this update will be limited to begin with but we look forward to bringing in new medals, banners, weapon designs and much more into the barracks with the coming updates.
Rest assured that our commitment to Holdfast and its community remains as strong as ever! Revealing more of our plans for the year, sappers will be equipped with an improved arsenal of buildables.
The sapper was always intended to have a far great presence on the battlefield and the introduction of these new constructible objects will bolster their impact throughout matches and provide some far greater and robust defences to dynamically change up the battlefield with towers, palisades and much more.
Holdfast Game Sale
Enlist and fight the foe today, over the hills and far away! Holdfast: Nations At War is now on sale at a grand 60% off! Complimenting this sale all of the games DLC is available at a discounted price for the duration of the Steam Summer Sale.
On behalf of all the great folks at Anvil Game Studios.
4th Series. Introducing The Howitzer!
Greetings good fellows of the community! We now step ever closer to the next update for Holdfast. The team are working endlessly to polish off this first of larger updates coming in 2023 all of which will aid in expanding and maintaining this great community we all love so dearly.
Soon we will be undertaking closed BETA sessions to test and gather feedback prior to the update's full release. While there is indeed a lot of change coming with this update it is a very important stage of our plans to ensure that players new and old can continue enjoying Holdfast for the years to come.
The newest members Gest, Matt and Grandayy slotted into the team effortlessly and have all already begun directly working on multiple sections of this next update coming to the game. They are all very excited for you to see what they have been working on.
Speaking of which, we’re pleased to announce that the long-awaited Howitzer artillery piece will be added to the game with this update. This new foe on the battlefield makes up what it lacks in range with devastating shrapnel explosions and blasts that will knock back those who are near.
Here’s a sneak peek of this beast of the battlefield.
*The above footage is a work in progress and may not be representative of the content upon release.
One of the changes coming to Holdfast with this update is an entire redesign of the game's user interface. Holdfast is a game that has been in development since 2013 and over the years, it has come to be rather dated in a lot of ways, often limiting the development of many features due to its lack of modularity.
Part and parcel of the above-mentioned redesign are customisable player cards. You will be able to brilliantly showcase your hard-earned achievements through a selection of customisable medals, portraits, titles and banners in your own style and liking. It will show to players you kill and also within the game’s leaderboards. These will be visible across all fronts of the game including Naval, Nations At War and Frontlines.
The initial introduction of these cards will have a limited pool of portraits, banners, titles and medals to pick from. Other updates will see the inclusion of a wide selection of customisable elements that can be unlocked by completing service challenges and feats of strength.
We’re doing this to limit the scope of the upcoming release ensuring that we’re able to deliver it to you as soon as humanly possible.
Our systems backend which cares for stats and experience collection as well as the regiment registry was similarly rudimentary in its construct. This severely limited our designers from enlisting features aiding with both community building and player retention. Needless to say, this was quite the involving task to see come to fruition but was a necessary step forward.
Thanks to these changes, the team has brought to life a more robust and responsive regiment registry along with various tools to bolster and assist with community building. The registry has also been made accessible whilst playing a match enabling new players to join a clan with ease.
Here’s a hint at some of the features that will be complimenting the new regiment registry in this coming update. Anvil Game Studios is determined to bring Holdfast into the new age all the while staying true to its core design values and pillars.
*The above image is a work in progress and may not be representative of the content upon release
Holdfast Game Sale
Should you have yet to enlist and fight for Emperor or King, now’s the ripe moment to do so as Holdfast and all of its cosmetic DLCs will be on sale up to 55% off for a limited time! We hope to see you with us soon on the battlefield.
We’ll have plenty more to show soon enough. On behalf of everyone at Anvil Game Studios, I wish you all, our dear community the best of health. :oheart:
On behalf of all the great folks at Anvil Game Studios.
Holdfast + DLC Sale! 1.5x Increased XP
Welcoming in the joys of spring Holdfast: Nations At War is now on sale at 60% off! Alongside this all of Holdfast’s dashing uniform, loyalist and collectors edition DLCs can now also be picked up at 35% off their original price.
Since the release of the major update that introduced Austria, the DLCs for the games Napoleonic front have been expanded upon to include additional free uniforms for both the Austrians and the Italians. Check out the Napoleonic Pack and other DLCs below to get yourself suited and booted for the wars to come over the hills and far away.
Complimenting this game sale players new and old to the community can gather an additional haul of 1.5x experience points on official servers starting today and lasting for the remainder of the Steam Spring Sale ending on the 23rd of March 2023.
Speaking about community, feel free to join us on Discord for a chat. It's a great pleasure of ours to chat with fellows having a go at our game! As always and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:
Greetings good fellows of the community! Continuing with our commitment to bringing Holdfast: Nations At War into the new age the team has been hard at work laying the foundations for our 2023 plans which are just as much exciting as they are ambitious.
Holdfast has always strived to break through boundaries and revolutionise this genre of roleplay shooters and our year ahead will remain focused on this target. Bringing forth the next chapter of Holdfast will ensure its continued growth and expansion of a community that we have all come to love so dearly.
Once more, we want to ensure that you can continue enjoying Holdfast for the years to come.
With this goal in mind, the Anvil Game Studios team has welcomed 3 additional talented individuals who will be joining us on this journey to uplift Holdfast, and community-focused games from the team beyond to newer and greater heights.
Those eagled-eyed fellows in the official Holdfast Discord server would have already noticed these new faces but as an official introduction, we now have the pleasure of introducing to you the latest members of the team.
Gest - DevOps
Joining us as part of our development operations he's the one that makes systems happen for developers to work efficiently. It is an instrumental role that will enable the team to produce larger, more inspiring releases.
Matt - Game Developer Int.
As an intermediate Game Developer, Matt will be heading the charge forward in our primary efforts to polish up the game ready for the current and next generation of Holdfast enjoyers to get their fix of musket and trench warfare for many more years to come.
Grandayy - Game Developer Jnr.
Covering all things Holdfast, Grandayy will be getting his hands dirty in bringing additional gameplay mechanics and content into the game to enhance the overall experience on the battlefield and at sea.
While the onboarding process of these new fellows does of course take time, especially with Holdfast’s impressive 1 million+ lines of codebase, through the mentoring of our seniors all these chaps have made excellent progress.
You can expect to see content in the game from them very soon.
Increased XP Event Announcement
Serving as a small show of thanks from us for enabling our creative visions to come to life and making a dream come true, starting on the 15th of March 2023 until the 24th of March 2023 players can hop on Holdfast and get an increase of 1.5x for all score earned on all official servers.
Join us on the above mentioned dates and feel free to say hello if you spot these new chaps in the game to bid them welcome!
What We've Been Up To
Even with the team being busy to the brim onboarding these new individuals in the increasingly complex but awe-inspiring and rewarding field of game development, we're still set on bringing you more Holdfast content.
Be on the lookout for our next community-focused update targeting a late April release making accessible the regiment registry (clan system) while playing a match, bringing additional features to the said registry, a game-wide regiment chat, new leaderboards and much more.
This will all be coupled with a complete backend redesign of all the above-mentioned systems enabling us to continue expanding on similar features in the future. Holdfast is built on community and we want to continue showing our support as you have done so generously throughout these brilliant years.
On behalf of everyone at Anvil Game Studios, I wish you all, our dear community the best of health. :oheart:
On behalf of all the great folks at Anvil Game Studios.
Extension! Battlefield Forger 2.0
We’re looking for the next Holdfast: Battlefield & Uniform to be added officially into the game!
It’s been almost a month since the 2nd Battlefield Forger contest kicked off and the time has come for a small update on the contest. The dedication of the artisans participating in the contest this year has encouraged us to further extend the contest by an additional 2 months making the new end date March 18th 2023.
This is to allow those partaking the time to truly explore and create their entry as they wish without the worry of a tight time constraint. Coinciding with this extension is the release of the new Holdfast: SDK Tutorial Series. These short but informative tutorials will provide an easy route for those interested in creating battlefields for Holdfast.
The submissions so far have been rather outstanding and we look forward to seeing what can be created within this new additional timeframe for the contest. Check out the Battlefield Forger 2.0 blog for more details on the contest and how to enter.
Feeling inspired to get creative? Head over to the official Holdfast Discord server and obtain the Artisan role by visiting the #getting-started channel. There’s plenty of good fellows in there who can lend a helping hand should you need it too. :rheartr:
As always and until next time, may good health be yours.
Greetings good fellows of the community. As another delightful year for Holdfast comes to an end, everyone at Anvil Game Studios has their sights set on yet another exciting and ambitious chapter.
It's been a whole 5 years since Holdfast saw a release on Steam Early Access back in 2017. Wondering about whats next for the team? Our commitment to Holdfast and its most-beloved community hasn’t changed.
Staying true to our vision that will bring Holdfast into the new age, in 2023 the team will continue focusing their efforts on a series of planned updates targeted at improving existing content to deliver a smoother experience. You will also not be left wanting new gameplay additions while all of this is ongoing. We have updates in store on that front as well within the same year.
Our strategy is fine-tuned with something big in mind for 2023. We want to ensure players of generations both old and new can continue enjoying Holdfast and all it has to offer for the years to come. To fully enjoy the beauty of multiplayer titles, it is instrumental that at any point during the day one can find like-minded individuals to play with.
You’ll soon have the pleasure of meeting talented new developers joining the team. Those in our Discord have seen some of these new faces cropping up already. We’ll be leaving official introductions for the coming year offering them some peace and quiet as they get accustomed to the codebase and everything else required to make games happen.
Stay tuned for more Holdfast. On behalf of everyone here at Anvil Game Studios, I wish you all, our dear community the best of health. May your 2023 be filled with great joy and happiness! :oheart:
On behalf of all the great folks at Anvil Game Studios.
Big Holdfast DLC Sale! 1.5x Increased XP
Jump into the festivities of Holdfast currently on sale at a whopping 65% off. Celebrating 5 delightful years of Holdfast we are now also discounting for the first time ever all of the game’s DLCs up to 60% off!
Now you’ll be getting more than ever! Coinciding with the release of Austria, DLCs for the game’s Napoleonic front have been expanded upon to include additional free uniforms for both the Austrians and the Italians.
In addition to the sale, there will be a limited time 1.5x XP event running to celebrate the release of the powerful Austrian Empire. Starting from December 22nd 2022 until January 5th 2023 you’ll be able to earn experience points at a faster rate, allowing you to unlock new heads, weapons and other cosmetics just in time for Christmas!
Speaking about community, feel free to join us on Discord for a chat. It's a great pleasure of ours to chat with fellows having a go at our game! As always and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:
The long awaited Austrians finally arrive! Ram your shot and prepare for battle, the Austrian nation marches into Holdfast with this major update release. These dashing fellows in white are the latest addition to the Napoleonic front of the game and feature unique uniforms, voice lines and music to accompany them.
Before grabbing your musket and heading to the front, take a moment to watch the release trailer below and take a dive into the rest of this blog post to find out what else is coming and meet the latest fellow joining us on the battlefield… Nick ‘Wobblebang’ Claus.
Austria When? Austria Now
The Österreicher marches onto the field of battle in this major update. Featuring unique uniforms, voice lines, music and of course very splendid headwear, the Austrians will certainly make an impression on the battlefield and leave their mark.
These fine chaps in their glorious white are now available to play across all Holdfast Nations At War servers. So hop on Holdfast to enlist and fight for the Kaiser. :CrossSwords:
Nick 'Wobblebang' Claus!
After the antics of Fred during the dark Halloween nights we have been sent the ‘gift’ of none other than Nick ‘Wobblebang’ Claus who has come to cleanse the land of Fred's minion’s evil doing during this most festive season. Good ol’ Nick has brought with him not only his unwavering festive spirit but he has even kindly placed some presents for us all under the Christmas trees.
Unfortunately for us however, someones been letting him at the whisky again… so don’t expect much from him as he can be a little explosive at times.
Players are able to select the Nick ‘Wobblebang’ Claus head for a limited time throughout this festive update, allowing them to spread Christmas joy the only way Mr Wobblebang knows how. Our good fellow is doing his best! :retro_beer:
Hills of Tyrol
Accompanying Nick and the Austrians will be a new battlefield for the games Napoleonic front. Inspired by the western Austrian state of Tyrol this small country town sits quietly beside a still lake making it the perfect place for a spot of fishing or in the case of Holdfast, some good old fashioned volleys of powder and shot.
The Hills of Tyrol is now playable across all Nations At War servers.
A Christmas Gift
All of the available Nations At War DLCs have been updated! Following this release, owners of the game's Napoleonic uniform DLCs will be treated with a free upgrade to the DLC that will introduce additional uniforms from both Italy and Austria to the various packs.
This upgrade to the game's DLCs will also apply automatically to players who newly purchase them. All of Holdfast’s DLC will be on sale for the duration of the Steam Winter sale. Feel free to pick up some additional uniforms for your classes during this holiday season!
Don't forget to join Discord for everything Holdfast! Partake in community-hosted events, enlist in a clan more widely known as regiments amongst the community, discuss the game and beyond or even chat with us, the game's developers. We'd love to hear about your recent escapades and your thoughts about the game.
Count ● 9 new features and improvements. ● 8 DLC additions. ● 50 additions and fixes to the Holdfast SDK. ● 1 quality of life addition. ● 2 graphical upgrades. ● 7 bug fixes. ● 1 optimisation.
We look forward to another groundbreaking year for Holdfast in 2023! There’s a whole lot more in store for Holdfast and beyond.
A special thanks to the following community members for their assistance in making this happen - CharlesEJesus, Cheekyfox, Denizen, Charles, ApexPhantom, NitroPunch, Delta, Binghampton, Davide, Mr Dario, Ed, Mattr and all those that joined us in our testing.
Thank you for your support and until next time, may good health be yours. :oheart:
Austria is almost here! In just 3 days time the long awaited Austrian faction will become the latest faction to be added into the game. Mark your calendars for December 20th 2022, Austria arrives complete with stunning uniforms, unique voice lines and iconic marching tunes alongside one or two surprises for this festive time of year. :Santa:
Not long left! Don’t miss out on any Austrian action by turning on notifications for the official Holdfast: Nations At War Austria release trailer.
