Well, I know I promised 3 more days of Frostfall and you got practically a whole new week. That's because I went a bit crazy with some long standing bug fixes this week and did some tweaking to weapon swing timing, which took some extra testing.
Melee combat was feeling a bit sluggish with arbitrary delays between swings, so we wanted to fix that up and make it feel more fluid. Because I wanted to get the build out, this means that melee weapons are going to be a biiiiit overpowered right now being able to attack much faster without changing damage output to make up for it. But that'll come soon.
Lastly I took some time to make our Steam achievements retroactive for some events you may have completed prior to the update. But I want to point out that doing this eats up a lot of development time. Not so much for the achievements, but other updates to quests and such. Adding in bandaids for existing characters like this can also open us up to a lot of bugs because of all of the exceptions we have to add to the code. As a rule, we strive to always be building the game with a new player experience in mind, but we do our very best to ensure we're never breaking existing characters or losing any of your progress. Please be patient with us when some content needs to be redone on a fresh character, as the game is still in Early Access and as such, a beta state.
Finally, let's talk about what's coming next this year!
With Frostfall out of the way and the new year upon us, we're so excited to dive back into work on Delver's Pass, Treasure Hunting and the Azura storyline. Lots of awesome updates coming this year and we can't wait to share our progress via Discord, Twitch and here on Steam in the form of the Dev Digests.
At last, here are your patch notes:
1.7.9 Patch Notes
New:
Full controller support for augment stone menu
Fixed:
Frostfall and Grimwick achievements can now be obtained by existing characters who have completed these quests prior to the achievements update
Conjure Feast now spawns reliably in any location
Fixed an issue with weapon augmentation
Painter’s Panic quest now correctly checks for the amount of wolves defeated
Can no longer upgrade the whistle item
Vervain’s camera position is now fixed
Getting locked out of your jump in multiplayer servers is fixed (to the best of my testing ability)
Jed’s doll and other quest items fixed up and can no longer be dropped from inventory
Food with health recovery now recovers every 5 seconds instead of 1 second
Goblin chest lid taped back in place
Fixed a typo. Just one.
Jed now gives you a quest when you ask him about his fear of crabs
Boss related achievements are now retroactive for old characters (One achievement is not retroactive yet, but will be fixed in a future update, so hang tight!)
Logs and other resources shouldn’t drop their loot through the ground anymore
Improved:
Melee weapons swing speed reduced to prevent awkward pauses between swings
Spiderfang Dagger poison affect buffed from 20% to 40% chance to trigger
Spider cave crate loot improved
Loading splash screen updated
Wolves and boars drop more meat
Weapons (other than bows) have had their attack speed simplified to fast, average and slow due to varying combo attack speeds making the number inaccurate
Damage numbers now pop up in randomized locations so you can read them easier when attacking quickly
Frostfall Patch v1.7.8
Hey everyone!
I know the Steam Winter Sale is over, but thanks to a few bugs with our last patch, we decided to push another update for you and extend Frostfall by a few more days so you can get your hands on some of that more rare loot that wasn't available until now.
Enjoy the last few days of the holiday before we move to spring!
Here are the patch notes:
1.7.8 Frostfall Patch Notes
New:
Added a new secret weapon to the Farmlands - Good luck finding it!
Fixed:
Frostfall Chest Loot Table updated
Aldor’s run animation fixed
Azurian Quiver now shows and grants appropriate stat buffs
Nature Altar interaction issues resolved
Jed’s Doll is back and can no longer be interacted with unless on Jed’s quest
Other quest items also locked out until on the quests to prevent losing the items
Vanishing and regular Item Displays now cull properly based on distance
Server connection timeout issues should be resolved for most people
Valeria’s alchemy tools should now be interactable again while on her quest
Defeat 50 X achievements should now work correctly (defeating an additional one will trigger missing achievements)
Meri and other NPC’s should no longer be T-posing when loading into a zone quickly
Clients can now gain health from sleeping in beds
Chest interaction issues after respawn seem to have been resolved
Bee Hugger quest trigger now works appropriately
Patch v1.7.7 - Steam Achievement Fix
Hello there!
I hope you guys have been enjoying Frostfall again!
Somehow I missed a very important step in setting up the Steam Achievements and I thank you guys for being my guinea pigs for them! This patch fixes them and should allow you to start working toward getting all of the current achievements.
This patch also fixes a couple other minor issues that I got around to, but nothing major.
I hope you have a great Christmas if you celebrate and a Happy New Year!
Patch Notes:
1.7.7 Frostfall Patch Fixed:
Lightning Strike spell fixed
Sleeping in beds now regains health for clients
Steam Achievements are now officially working
Frostfall Chest properly closes after you initiate a second fight with the golem
Frostfall Festival | Winter Event Update v1.7.6
Happy holidays, adventurers!
Welcome to the 4th annual Frostfall Festival!
This event will last 2 weeks (ending on January 4th) so jump in now and visit Hope Harbor or Sleepy Haven and speak with the snowmen there to to get access to the exclusive event zone, Snowpeak.
Frostfall isn't the only big news for this update though! I've also done a bunch of work on performance this update and I'm hoping you'll notice a big jump in frames per second. With this update, we've also hopefully fixed the bottleneck we had on the CPU, which means that the graphics settings in-game should now have a much more pronounced effect on your framerate. So if you're looking to grab a few more frames, try dropping your graphics settings down a bit.
Lastly we've also introduced..... STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS! This is a pretty big milestone for us because it's been in the works for a while. We're starting small with only 13 achievements, but with each update you'll likely see a few more being added.
Oh, and did I mention the game is currently on sale for Steam's winter sale? Well it is. Now is the best time to jump into Tirawyn, or grab a copy for your friends so you can explore together!
If you weren't aware, I also livestream the development of Swords 'n Magic and other game development related content over on Twitch. If you haven't caught a stream lately, you're missing out! Check out streams here.
And finally here are the patch notes: New:
Miner’s Cap now has a real light
Bendy Stick is no longer flame resistant
13 Steam Achievements
Frostfall Festival!
PvP is back! (In an experimental form, so expect bugs, especially with spells)
Use the /pvp command to flag for PvP. You can only attack other flagged players. Toggling PvP mode off triggers a 5 second delay to prevent cheesing.
Improved:
Full gamepad support now available on character selection and creation screens
Increased character slots from 5 to 10
/Emotelist command changed to /Emote
Can now change your difficulty from the pause menu (not for Forgotten characters!)
Studded Glove recipe changed from bow string to coarse thread
Tiny Crabs are now also weak to blunt weapons (poor guys)
Nails can now be crafted at level 0 blacksmithing
Fixed:
Puck was found guilty for lying about giving you her dagger AND some coin
Jenk’s bugswatter has been confiscated
Fixed some quest-related typos
Lore books and other small objects no longer unhighlight when obscured by your giant head
Using the /Emote command no longer shows the /Who list as well
Lightning Strike spell has been recharged at a local Tirawyn charging station
Forged in Honey quest has been patched so you can’t lose the quest items by leaving dialog early
The stump puzzle in Windless Woods no longer locks you out of the veiled chest
Hide Tooltips option in your journal now works as expected
Fixed architecture snapping so building walls and pillars snap rotate correctly finally
Removed random orange leaves in the goblin camp due to season changes
A certain secret recipe can no longer be picked up through a solid object
Glowstalk and Tanglewort now filter as crafting items in your inventory
The Gatekeeper’s eye can no longer escape the clutches of the audio menu
Development Digest November 3rd - 24th
Happy Friday Friends!
First off, we hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving or if you aren't in the states, a fabulous Thursday.
We've been crazy busy over here! Michael (Kindred) has been streaming on both YouTube and Twitch at least twice a week for a while now. He's been working on Delver's Pass, Steam Achievements, and various performance updates. I've got a lot to cover for the last three weeks!
First some fine tuning was done on the last update. We've added an in-game option to change your difficulty. However, you cannot change to or from the hardcore permadeath mode. That can only be selected from a brand new character. This gives you more options while playing! We also added a text popup to show that a player in game has died.
While away from your friends, you can still call them out for falling to their death. Where was your glider, friend?
Next we added some functionality to the minor's cap. Which means we can add some more options for caves and dungeons that need light. We did add another light option, but you'll need to stay tuned to the patch notes for that one!
Then came Steam Achievements! I believe 7 achievements were made on stream. Then a few more were added after. All achievements have been tested by testers with only 1 reported as not working. Now to set them up on Steam and get them to you all! We'll add more after the first batch goes out!
Then there is performance.... The one thing that isn't cut and dry. For a while we've known that performance was becoming a problem with each new update, slowly tanking your FPS over time. We're getting some help from a fellow unreal dev who really knows his stuff to get things under control. Of course much of the problem stems from old code that happens to be connected to practically EVERYTHING in the game, which means a lot of other things broke in the process. We're almost finished fixing these things up, but here is some of the fun we went through:
And then came that sweet, sweet fps check:
I know these numbers are probably looking insane right now, and compared to what they were two weeks ago, they kind of are. But results may vary depending on your hardware. Just know that our target hardware is now, finally, hovering right around 60 frames per second, which has been our goal since the beginning. And more importantly, our graphics settings can finally be adjusted to improve your framerate even further.
In the past the game has been bottlenecked by the cpu thanks to all the complicated calculations we were doing with some old, rusty code. Now that that stuff has been cleaned up, now our bottleneck is, finally, coming from the game's graphics. Luckily we have sliders that can be adjusted to tune some of these to get your optimal experience. We couldn't be more excited!
That's not to say there isn't more to do, but we're taking steps in the right direction for sure.
But wait! There's more!
We've partnered with CreatorPlush to create a one of a kind chicken plush! This is a limited one time run of these guys! They're super soft and cuddly! This partnership comes in the form of a timed funding campaign though, which means these guys will only be made if we reach 200 sales before the timer runs out. Go check it out here before it's too late:
Lastly, the game's on sale right now! Be sure to pick it up during the Autumn sale and grab a copy for a friend!
See you all next Friday OR with the next update! (whichever comes first)
Janna & Michael/Kindred Games
P.S. Check out this AMAZING build from some of our community members, Cass & Meat:
Regular Fall Update - 1.7.5
Happy Fall!
Witch's Eve is finally over. We hope you got plenty of treats and a few tricks in while you had the chance. Frostfall is coming soon, so I hope you've all been extra good this year!
Kindred Games has been hard at work on the next zone, Delver's Pass and it's coming along great. We're really excited to show it off. You can join a Twitch stream to see live development of the area and get sneak peeks at all the new content coming to Swords 'n Magic and Stuff!
In the meantime, this update fixes a handful of bugs and makes a bunch of nice improvements to the game. Primarily, we've added a difficulty setting.
Currently you'll need to make a new character to switch to a new difficulty, but we have plans to add an option to the pause menu, so you can change on the fly if a quest is too difficult, or if the game just isn't offering enough of a challenge.
Here are the difficulty modes added:
Traveler - This mode is for the story focuses players who want easier combat and enjoy the casual aspect Swords 'n Magic has to offer.
Adventurer - This is the standard difficulty mode you've all grown used to.
Hero - This mode offers more challenging combat by increasing enemy health and decreasing how much damage enemies take.
The Forgotten - This is our hardcore, permadeath mode. This mode is exceptionally challenging. You better learn to cook, brew, dodge and block if you want to survive this mode. And if you don't, your character is automatically deleted! But you do get a shiny title to show off if you're brave enough to try your hand at this mode.
We knew people weren't directly asking for this, but it didn't take too much time away from dev time and we thought it would help make the game just a bit more accessible to some players who are struggling with the combat or are finding the game far too easy.
Thanks for your continued support throughout Early Access. We can't wait to show you the next zone we're working on!
Patch Notes:
New:
Traveler, Adventurer, Hero and Forgotten difficulty settings
Hardcore mode with permadeath!
Witch’s Eve is over
Improved:
Command for the emote list is now /emote from /emotelist
Small performance fixes
Drop rates adjusted for a few items here and there
Display case/items now show the name of the displayed item in the focus interface
Maps now have major landmark/location labels to make navigating easier
Ore nodes now show the name of the ore in the focus interface for accessibility reasons
Monsters no longer show long-winded, distracting descriptions in the focus interface while targeting them
Nerfed elite boars to do less damage and have less health
Elite boars all drop thick hide now
Nerfed boars to have less health and do less damage
Fixed an issue with some class titles missing its prefix
Drune melee enemies nerfed
Fixed:
Broken drop rates for several rare items have been fixed
Fixed an issue where exact bait tiers were required for some fishing spots. Now any higher tiers will catch the highest tiers available in each spot
Can now hear other player’s fishing lines hit the water in multiplayer
Witch's Eve Developer Play Broadcast
In celebration of the Witch's Eve event I'll be livestreaming some gameplay today on the Steam page!
Tune in to hang out, ask questions about the development process and the game, or just to cheer me on as I collect tickets and explore the Witch's Eve event!
Don't forget to pick up the game while it's 40% off! The sale ends soon!
Witch's Eve Patch 1.7.4
Happy Witch's Eve!
This is just a small update that fixes a few bugs that didn't get out in the previous build.
Patch notes: Improved:
Player housing structures are now properly culled and unload as you leave the area, helping with performance.
Fixed:
Fish in fishing spots no longer spawn more than they're allowed
Fixed some issues with video settings not being properly updated when changed
Set proper cull distances on all interactable actors in the world so they should be affected by view distance now
Picking up a container with fish in it no longer reset their smidgen size
Witch's Eve 1.7.3
Welcome to this year's Witch's Eve event!
This event will last for two weeks. Make sure to visit Azura Island, Sleepy Haven, and Moonberry Farms for all of your spooky items!
We will be updating Witch's Eve with a few more optimization items. Be on the lookout for that update! Can't wait to play with you all on Friday the 20th at 2pm PST.
The game is also on sale! Now's the time to jump in and play!
If you haven't caught a stream lately, you are missing out on seeing a new zone being built! Check out streams here.
Here's the patch notes:
New:
Witch’s Eve
Improved:
Major fishing optimization
The hidy cave’s level can no longer be accessed from the outside
Fixed:
Typo in Pesky Ghost quest
Development Digest October 6th - 13th
Happy Friday the 13th, friends!
Our annual Witch's Eve event will be available to the public on Wednesday, October 18th! If you are a Patreon supporter, you already have access to this event as of Wednesday, October 11th. Patreon supports have an early week to get in the spirit.
With this Witch's Eve update, we've been doing a bit of optimization and general bug fixes for Witch's Eve. Outside of the update, Michael has been tackling the skill tree passives. We're looking at releasing the skill trees in pieces to get feedback and grow them slowly. So far every tree has it's first two passive options for each class other than the rogue. The rogue skills were based on backstab and flanking damage, which we'd still like to incorporate, but it needs just a bit more work before it's ready for release. We're debating if the first two passives for each tree are enough to release or to wait until there is more in each tree. What are your thoughts?
This week on the Twitch stream we started going all in on the new zone, Delver's Pass. Bone Reach was supposed to be the next zone, but it's massive and needs a lot more love, so we're tackling some smaller zones first.
Delver's Pass is a transition zone that will eventually lead to Iris Lake and the Mistaken Isles. This zone is a mountainous region filled with beautiful pine trees, waterfalls, and bears. Oh my! You'll be able to visit the hot springs and meet a new tinkerer there, meet the peaceful townsfolk of a new small town in the valley of the zone and visit Ebbon's tower. Ebbon is a main character in the overarching storyline for the game, and will play a pivotal role in your journey when the full storyline is finished. We decided it was time to introduce him and start opening up that story to players.
I know we didn't mention this zone in the roadmap, but we wanted to play it safe. We have a tendency to overpromise with the roadmap, so this time we decided we'd rather overdeliver. We don't have an ETA yet on the new zone, but we're considering releasing it in waves to get it out sooner then add more to it over the next few patches before we move on to the next zone.
Thanks for your support and happy Spooktober!
Our October Community Event is scheduled for Friday, October 20th at 2pm PST. Come celebrate the holiday with us!
