Not everyone is happy about Solace Crafting coming out of early access in a less than could be state. In this video I talk a bit about how the other options open to me were much more dangerous for the game, how sales have been doing well these first 3 days of launch, and what I hope to do be able to do with those sales in the coming months.
To recap a bit using text, I had completely run out of money, and the slow draining of my bank account down to literally zero was a psychologically and emotionally demoralizing experience. The options before me were either to get a full-time job and likely end up abandoning Solace Crafting some years down the road due to a of lack of time to develop it and through that an inability to keep people interested in it, or try to make the best of what I have. It was a bit of a gamble, and some people are upset with me, but the majority is enjoying what I've accomplished thus far, and looking forward to improvements.
As sales are doing quite decent, I have completely regained my morale, and more importantly once the sales actually make it to my business account, I should have enough to hire on freelancers to help improve the game where it needs it most, and in ways that I would never have been able to do properly on my own.
To me it feels like the first big step on the larger journey towards what Solace Crafting can really become. There is so much that I've had to put down and cross off my lists, simply because there's only so much one person without any funding can do. With this initial burst of funds I hope to take Solace Crafting to the next stage to attract even more players with an ever better product, and then to the next stage, and so on, just as so many of my favorite games have done over the years.
From what it seems like to me, most of the negative reviews I'm receiving come from 1 of 3 things: 1. The graphics aren't good enough. To me, graphics are, and always will be, less important than gameplay and content. That doesn't mean that, of course, Solace Crafting has a lot of room for improvement in the graphics department, but I don't think this is the proper stage to be worrying too much about improving the graphics. It's certainly not something I could do on my own, with any sort of efficiency at least. I do certainly understand that at some point along the way, the graphics will need to be improved, but I don't think that is top priority.
2. The controls are too clunky. This I very much understand. The controls honestly bother me very little, it's just not the way my brain works, but I do very much understand what people are talking about when they bring this up. Animation blending, combat distancing and movement, jumping and swimming transitions, etc. This is one of the first things I hope to put funding towards as soon as I am able to. Again, it's not something that I can bring to a high quality level by myself, and would be better left to someone that has a lot of experience working specifically on this subject.
3. The user interface is bad. This, I also very much understand. The current UI is largely grey and sometimes you need to click 4-5 buttons to get to a specific window. There is a lot of room for improvement here, and like with the controls, if sales keep up at all in the volume that they are currently going I will be very interested in hiring on someone specifically to redesign the in-game UI completely. I will make a list of all the needs and end-goals of the UI for now and the near future, and work with a specialist to improve it.
The plain truth is though that I never would have been able to address these problems properly on my own. I know some people are worried that I've made a bad move, but I think this is just the beginning, and I am ready to get the ball rolling faster and faster as we improve, expand, and realize Solace Crafting to its full potential.
So thank you to everyone that has stuck with me through Early Access, to everyone that has joined us these past few days, and especially to all the positive reviewers that recognize that this is not the end of the road!
Best wishes and happy gaming!
Kyle Postlewait Big Kitty Games
Hotfix v1.0.0.2
Another small patch that fixes what for some has been a couple of big problems.
One is the frost nova spell. Part of it seems to be crashing certain graphics devices. This patch should stop that.
Another is resource desyncing between server and clients. This has been an elusive problem only affecting some people for several weeks. I was able to track it down together with some friendly new players that ran in to it today and fix it.
Bug fixing will always take priority, so I've got a number of new reports and things that I'm looking into. Again though, please do let me know, preferably in Discord if you run into anything specific.
Happy Gaming!
v 1.0.0.2 2022.08.04 - Fixed some spots that still said "early access" - Fixed the Frost Nova spell causing crashes on certain video cards - Fixed encounter resource clearing throwing errors for clients not in the encounter - Fixed the multiplayer server list not masking and scrolling properly - Fixed multiplayer server versions not printing properly - Fixed instances of multiplayer resources falling out of sync between server and client
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
Thank you to everyone that has joined us over the past 24 hours!
I'm a little swamped with e-mails, some obvious scams, friend requests, etc. I'm hoping to focus on improving multi-lingual support to open up access to the non-English world, as well as get a threaded save test up to beta later today.
This small patch is actually what I did with some free time yesterday. Up until now I've often patched in a days work and then gone to bed, but once in a while I'll mess something up and then be asleep for 8 hours and not notice people telling me I messed up! So I'm going to start patching in the morning instead. I also usually will post the majority of changes to the beta branch first to be safe, but these are small enough changes that they shouldn't affect anything serious.
Almost all changes/fixes are brought on by player feedback. If something is not working as intended please let me know and I will fix it!
v 1.0.0.1 2022.08.02 - Added keybinding settings for the WIP item creation UI in creative mode - Tweaked cloud coloring/coverage - Fixed an incorrect instance of the I key being bound to open inventory - Fixed the "loading" screen not being open in the first frame, showing a white/empty world - Fixed clouds often rendering a charcoal sketch effect over white parts - Fixed the quest helper starting up every session even if you turned it off last session - Fixed the default crating materials to level saying 50 instead of 25 in the world settings UI
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
After some bumps in the system, Solace Crafting version 1.0 is now Live!
Come and see the many experiences within an infinite procedural fantasy world!
It's been six years since I first started programming the core of Solace Crafting, yet here we are! There's always more to add, but full of things to do as we are, I can safely say that Solace Crafting is now well worth the $15 price tag and I am happy to take it out of Early Access.
I have to make most clear of all, version 1.0 is not the end of development. I'm not quitting my full-time job as a developer and moving to the Bahamas. This is my full-time job, and development of Solace Crafting continues today and tomorrow and beyond. I've updated the roadmap, the bug tracker is live, and thanks to players in Discord and here on Steam I've already got a list of new things to look into.
Lots of stuff to do
Solace Crafting doesn't often hold your hand and tell you what you should be doing. For some that's awesome, but for some players it leaves them feeling like there's nothing to do. Well, here are some in-game stats to alleviate those with such concerns:
I'm a huge fan of procedural content, big mountains, islands, lakes, crafting, and the freedom to go and do what you want to do, and I've tried very purposefully to get all of those things in Solace Crafting. No artificial barriers, no artificial sky box mountains, no off-limits. If you can see it, it might be really really far away, but you can 100% get there.
Looking forward
Creating, managing, and prioritizing the items of a development roadmap is one of many skills that an indie developer has to spend time and effort to improve. There is always more that can be added to a game, but more is not always better. Fun has always been the main goal for features added into Solace Crafting, and I've tried to keep the community well informed and make sure that everyone has a chance to have their voice heard. Following that tradition I've setup a new survey specifically for the release of version 1.0 and how players would like to see the game improve from here on:
This survey will remain accessible for 30 days, so if you are new here please feel free to explore the game and respond to the survey once you've been able to experience it first hand. I will post an announcement several days before I close the survey in case anyone has forgotten that they were putting it off for later.
Of course I'm always in Discord and less so here on the Steam discussion boards as well, so if anyone needs anything please don't be afraid to get in touch with me, but do please understand that this is a solo operation and things can take time.
The following items are a broad overview of the features and improvements I plan to implement from here on. Smaller things like new recipes, bug fixes, and general performance improvements are not listed.
Quality of life - Improved multi-lingual support - Full controller support - Map & compass way-point system
New features - Fishing - Improved cooking & nutrition system
Combat & enemies - Monster attributes - More monster abilities & effects - More combat animations & effects
Players - Sub-attributes - Class skill trees (currently we have Archetype and Job skill trees) - Special infinite skills (for players pushing beyond level 100)
Towns - Revamped money & trading systems - More town features - Villager equipment - Villager AI - Procedural Villages (WIP)
Multiplayer - Shared XP - Healing & buffing others
Audio - Monster & world sound effects in general
Other - Modding support
A bit of retrospect
In 2012 two different people that I graduated from high school with did two different things that I was very impressed by. One of them became a successful stand-up comedian and went on to play roles in movies and TV. The other released a small indie game on Steam. That was the first time I realized I wasn't doing what I wanted to do, and all that was missing was motivation and effort.
I spent almost every night after my day job over the next 5 years playing with Unity. I was totally hooked, but boy there is a lot to learn. I made a lot of Minecraft clones for practice, and enjoyed most of all creating procedural dungeons. In early 2016 I finally started piecing together the different systems that I wanted to all come together into my grand vision of Solace Crafting.
(Terrain generation back in 2016)
Once I had a vertical slice to show off some basic gameplay, I ran a Kickstarter campaign with the hopes of securing some savings to help feed myself during development, but it fell short of its goal. I put a few more months work in and decided it was time, and on January 16, 2018 I released into Early Access. At the time I didn't understand just how poor quality of a prototype I had presented to the public. Still, the generosity and support of those early players earned me what I thought was more than enough to quit my day job so that I could focus on developing Solace Crafting full-time, and on the very next day I handed in my request for resignation.
(Farming, first implemented in 2018)
Little did I know, the amount of money you might make in month one does not at all relate to how much money you might make in month two, and the next 4 and half years ended up being a constant financial struggle. Working at home certainly has it's benefits, and I live in a relatively inexpensive part of the world, the Japanese countryside, but my annual income throughout this journey has been the lowest it's ever been in my life, though the experience has certainly been invaluable.
(The first procedural towers in 2019)
As we all do, I wish I could go back to 2016, hand myself a proper game design document, and say "stick to the plan kid, you'll do fine," but back then I still had so much to learn about programming and Unity, that proper scheduling and project scope were just not yet on my plate. Some things we never needed we added in, some things that were never possible I said I'd think about. But you have to grow somehow, and throwing myself into the fire certainly proved one way to go about it.
Looking forward
There's work to be done, and preferably some of it would be done by contractors, so it's hard to tell how much can get done in what kind of a time frame after release as I honestly have now idea how this is going to go. Best case scenario, we get noticed by a large content creator and the exposure brings in a hoard of new players, awarding me the finances to do just that, hire on some freelancers to improve the parts of the game that need it most. Worst case, things continue on slow and steady as they have in the past, as we work towards and richer and smoother experience with modding capabilities and improved server management tools.
In any scenario the journey has certainly been a huge reward in and of itself. Our community has been beyond supportive and I could not have done half as much as I've been able to without the ongoing support of our player base. I can't say thank you enough to everyone that helped me make it through Early Access, but thank you thank you thank you. I am many steps closer to my dream of running a financially secure, modern and moral game studio, and I wouldn't be here without all of you.
I hope you and many more may find joy and excitement through my efforts!
Well... I spent weeks (and six years) preparing to release. I have a long post full of graphics all ready to go. There's a big green "release" button for developers on the app dashboard. I clicked it, and it error'd, and it reverted the game back to pre-early access status, so now it's currently not available for purchase until a two-week grace period required of all new games passes, even though it's not a new game...
Unfortunately there are no more buttons for me to push. I worked all day to get ready for this and 11 hours in this is what it's amounted to, me waiting for a Steam representative to fix it. I will post an update when I know what's going on.
Now live v 0.8.1.16
Two-handed weapons are now live!
Along with that the achievements list has grown and a lot of the not yet "plugged in" achievements have been finished and should be working as intended.
I've also added 15 new weapons (such as the katana above) and 2 new shields, most of which are purchasable from town crafters. Some of the may still need a little tweaking as to how they're held, and I will continue looking into things like that, and appreciate all feedback reports, not matter how small they may seem.
Condensed live patch notes: v 0.8.1.16 2022.07.26 - Plugged in most of the remaining achievements - Added a customizable key binding for opening the player list - Revamped potion calculations to work better with new stats systems - Increased most potion durations from 5min to 10min - Reduced level difference penalties for potions and enchants - Reduced maximum level difference penalty for potions and enchants from 0% to 20% - Added 15 weapons and 2 shields - Added two-handed melee weapons and animations - Added dual wielding - Changed starting professions to award you 2 free points rather than pre-spending them
Full beta patch notes: v 0.8.1.13 2022.07.22 - Added 15 weapons and 2 shields - Added two-handed melee weapons and animations v 0.8.1.14 2022.07.25 - Fixed a bug during loading preventing beta gameplay for some players v 0.8.1.15 2022.07.25 - Added a customizable key binding for opening the player list - Revamped potion calculations to work better with new stats systems - Increased most potion durations from 5min to 10min - Reduced level difference penalties for potions and enchants - Reduced maximum level difference penalty for potions and enchants from 0% to 20% v 0.8.1.16 2022.07.26 - Plugged in most of the remaining achievements - Finished some unfinished functionality of the achievement interface - Fixed some achievement interface bugs
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
Most one-handed weapons are now equipable in the off-hand as well. I'm hoping to patch in two-handed weapons tomorrow, but that will involve adding not only a whole new set of animations, but also new weapons as well, so no guarantee it'll be tomorrow.
I've posted about it on Patreon, YouTube, and Discord, so I'll sneak it in here as well, but I have officially run out money. A few months ago actually =D which has made it more and more difficult to continue working on Solace Crafting. As is, I'm looking to release the game out of early access at the end of the month, and am working hard to get a last few things in.
Depending on how the release goes I may have to look for a side job to keep things going. Unless the release does quite well, it's also likely that I will be redirecting the majority of my weekly work hours towards a new project as 4.5 years into Solace Crafting there is still quite a lot of early sown bad decisions and old code that will still take a long time and a lot of work just to correct let alone improve upon. It's likely that moving onto the next stage is more intelligent for the longevity of my career, as I do hope to be doing this for the rest of my life and not just sacrificing everything on my first ever product.
Having gotten that out in the open here on Steam, I will continue to maintain and develop Solace Crafting to at least some extent for likely a very long time, meaning that releasing out of early access in no way means that I'm leaving the game as is, but the sad reality is simply that it's not making me enough money to survive and I can't just keep trying to make it better until I've nothing left. It wasn't an easy decision to make, and it continues to eat at me, but I'm still in my 30s (barely =) and have learned a LOT over these ~5 years of development and am looking forward to making other great games with everything that I have learned.
v 0.8.1.11 2022.07.20 - Added dual wielding - Changed starting professions to award you 2 free points rather than pre-spending them - Stats interface now properly adjusts armor penalties based on armored magic and armored healing skills - Added a tooltip to the light requirement for summoning NPCs via a summoning circle - Fixed spell block working even without a shield - Fixed a number of spelling errors - Fixed a couple of stamina skills using the wrong icon color - Fixed resist stat not updating properly in the stats interface - Fixed farming plots no longer taking on water from rain - Fixed wilted plants reviving after reloading - Fixed removing planted trees not always removing them - Fixed planters not snapping properly - Fixed arctic wolves always dropping T0 reagents
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.
Small caveat, not 100% of the achievements are capable of triggering just yet. 443 new achievements has generated somewhere around 4500 new lines of code. The automatic management, display, saving, etc of all of these achievements are in and working, but there are several "hooks" still missing, such as for the building achievements. There is now a set of achievement for building a structure that contains at least 20 building pieces, however it still needs a hook for when you actually place a new building piece to check the structure size against your current unlocks. Not difficult stuff, but I've been basically typing non-stop for two days and it's my bed time on a Friday night, so I'm going to go ahead and get this stuff up first. The rest of the hooks should be in soon no problem.
There's also a variety of combat achievements and some other things I still want to plug-in as well. I'm always open to suggestions as well.
I've also fixed a couple of annoying things that cropped up recently with flat angles of the terrain, from the perspective of the player camera, erring switching to a flat white color, as well as player resource pools, health, energy, and mana, reloading too quick causing them to drop to 10 at the start of every session.
More to come! It's been over 38c (100f) here every day of the week so far. Hopefully tomorrows much needed yard-work (real life terraforming + harvesting) goes kind on me.
v 0.8.1.8 2022.07.01 - Added 443 new achievements! - Fixed a terrain shader error causing near flat normals to draw as white - Fixed stats recalculating too fast on load causing resource pools to reset to minimum
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
I've built and coded an interface for the new achievements systems.
This will let me add a bunch more achievements for building, combat, crafting, towns, etc.. I'm hoping this gives players some more ideas of the things they can do and conquer in-game that they may not even be aware of!
For safety I will push this to beta first, though expect to be able to push it to live tomorrow without difficulty and am looking into a few other small problems with the recent changes.
v 0.8.1.7 2022.06.27 - Added an achievements interface - Changed combat math scaling for monster above your damage level from scaling to 0 at +50 to scaling infinitely towards 0 - Fixed some spelling errors - Fixed an animation error with ranged weapon run left
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.
This patch brings the new character models and character creator to the default live branch along with a variety of bug fixes, some performance enhancements, as well as video quality presets in the in-game settings to help players easily adjust performance on their system.
This patch also brings in 82 new in-game achievements. These are an entirely separate system from the Steam Achievements and are intended to help guide new players down the different directions open to players. This is just the first wave of a small variety of things. For example, two of the new achievements are simply "Travel 250 meters" and "Harvest 10 ore". Each of these new achievements awards the player with a small but permanent stat boost. Once there are more achievements in I would like to add an achievements tab to the main interface to let players see what they've unlocked, and other areas of the game the have maybe not yet progressed down.
Up until now Solace Crafting has included very little "hand holding," or player guidance, other than the starting tutorials and the help menu, both of which I do intend to improve, but more than relying on dry tutorial text dumps I would like to shift content towards more organic methods of progression and story.
As always I'm open to ideas and suggestions, so please join us in Discord and get yourself heard!
Happy Steam Summer Sale!
Condensed patch notes v 0.8.0.33 -> 0.8.1.4: - Added 82 new in-game achievements with small permanent stat rewards - Added the option to choose a starting archetype, pre-spending your initial skill points and attribute points - Added starting harvesting and crafting profession choices awarding 2 free starting levels in a players choice - Changed start screen - Character names can now include numbers and multiple capital letters - Started adding some initial story/introduction to the game world - Reduced the minimum camera height from 180cm to 120cm - Increased health cap from 5000 to 9990 - Added beard options and beard coloring to male characters - Character appearances can now be edited post-creation - Added new models for both male and female characters - Added face options to the character creator - Added Low, Medium, and High video quality presets to the in-game video settings
Latest beta patch notes: v 0.8.1.4 2022.06.25 - Added 82 new in-game achievements with small permanent stat rewards - Further restricted the "randomize" buttons for more "normal" characters - Added the option to choose a starting archetype, pre-spending your initial skill points and attribute points - Added starting harvesting and crafting profession choices awarding 2 free starting levels in a players choice - Removed "scenes" from character creation - Changed start screen - Character names can now include numbers and multiple capital letters - Started adding some initial story/introduction to the game world - Reduced the minimum camera height from 180cm to 120cm - Disabled outdated in-game automatic player mandible morph adjusting - Increased health cap from 5000 to 9990 - Fixed the stats window still showing HP capped at 2500 - Fixed the health bar growing too big in some cases - Fixed characters being able to get stuck in the swimming ascend/descend animations after exiting water - Fixed misspelling of "Missile"
You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.
