We've got one last surprise for you all before the Holiday break: We're launching a preorder campaign to make a 5" vinyl statuette of Velvet, and it starts right now!



Here's a digital render approximating the look. The actual product may vary slightly due to materials and inks. More viewing angles are available on the store page.

The model was created by the amazingly-talented 3D artist Andrew Hickinbottom. You can peruse his work on Artstation: https://artstation.com/andrewhickinbottom

So here's how this is going to work. Doing a run of statuettes is a pretty significant investment for us, so we need your help to make it to our funding goal.

The preorder period will last from now until January 31st, 2021. In that time, we need at least 250 sales to fund our initial production run. If we don't make it to our goal in time, the statuettes will not be produced and all orders will be refunded!

The regular price for this statuette will be $60 USD, but for the first 250 orders (i.e. until the funding goal is met), we're offering a 25% discount. That means early birds can get the statuette for $45 USD.

Head on over to our official merch store to place your order: https://tfh.gaminggenerations.com. Be careful: if you include any other items with a statuette order, they will be held until the statuette ships!

If these do well, we could be looking at additional production runs of Velvet or even other characters! Let's get the word out and see how far we can take this!

If you have questions about this product or campaign, you can ask Mane6 in the official Discord server (https://discord.gg/tfh) or email us at contact@mane6.com. For technical questions related to orders and shipping, please email support@gaminggenerations.com.


~EDIT~

We reached our production goal practically overnight! Amazing! Preorders are still open by the way!

After the Holiday break we'll start the next phase! You guys are seriously amazing.

We're breaking out the Holiday decorations again to celebrate the wintry season! There's a new round of hats to collect, along with some changes to overworld salt chest rewards and a small collection of bugfixes.

Cap'n'Cash will exclusively stock the new December 2020 accessory lineup until the event ends on Tuesday Jan 5th, after which the items will be added to the regular rotation.

For those new to TFH, here's how to claim items from the new catalogue:

1. Join a Pixel Lobby server. Accessible from the main menu under "Online".
   
2. Get salty. Earn salt by exploring the hidden Salt Mines or by fighting other players over salt chests that spawn in the overworld.
   
3. Visit Cap'n'Cash's Caps for Cash. Look for the flashing lights! Cap the Winter Sprite and his lovely reindeer assistant Cashmere have a shop set up in the overworld ready to sell you holiday cheer (in exchange for a modest fee of salt).

Now's your chance to nab those new items before they become a part of the regular stock!

This will be our last update in 2020. After this, the development team is taking a rest. Thanks so much to all our players for making 2020 the best year for TFH yet (even with "all that's going on").

At the top of next year we'll be back to work on Shanty and the 2.0 update. So far the changelog is 7 "Google doc" pages long... and growing by the day.

Patch notes for version 1.4.3 are below:

• Special Note: There is a new font for Pixel Lobby menus. This is a piece of a 2.0 change that will eventually make it out to the rest of the game.
  
• The payout formula for salt chests has been reworked. They now award salt based on the amount of damage you caused your opponent, not strictly winning and losing.
  
  • 900 base (for engaging with a chest at all).
    
  • +100 for causing any amount of damage during the match.
    
  • +[0-500] (on a linear scale) based on percentage damage caused, averaged across all rounds played.
• The spawn interval of salt chests is now less frequent and has a greater variable range.
  
  • The new interval is every 240s (-/+ 60s), from 120s (-/+ 2s).
• Salt chests now "rain" into the map when a spawn interval is reached (instead of appearing all at once).
  
• Fixed overworld interiors being darkened during the Salt Mines Final Showdown phase.
  
• Fixed a typo in the flavor text for the Creepy Rider accessory.
  
• Fixed some out-of-bounds exploits on overworld maps.

• Fixed Arizona's overworld facing getting locked if the Paprika pre-fight cutscene was skipped sometime between when Paprika appears and the Zippy Teleport gag.
  
• Fixed a possibility to break the bridge puzzle room in the Temple if only the right pillar is pushed before exiting the room. The puzzle now requires both pillars to be pushed before opening the way forward.

• Potentially fixed a match desync issue with online matches involving Pom.

In this Development Update #3 we're summarizing the news conveyed at the end of our most recent stream ManeCast #7, which broadcasted today. You'll see repeats of older info so we can bring the items from our previous post forward, but of course there's some cool new stuff to talk about!

Now that the Training Mode Update has been released, we're turning all of our focus towards 2.0. The biggest piece of new info is that we are currently working on our match replay system for release in 2.0. We're putting in many of the things that have been on our own wishlists for fighting game replay systems for awhile, like rewinds, timecode bookmarking, and almost all of the advanced info displays from Training Mode, like hitboxes and center line guides.

More info below! Let's begin.


Here's another reminder that physical rewards are currently in production. That's the movelist postcards, physical game copy, and physical soundtrack. If you're a backer and you're getting one of these, please ensure your shipping address is up to date by logging into Backerkit:
https://them-s-fightin-herds.backerkit.com/

We posted a digital mockup of the physical game copy and soundtrack on Twitter to give you an idea of what to expect:
https://twitter.com/mane6dev/status/1324076477621669895

Learn how to redeem digital rewards and view our current status of all reward fulfilment here:
https://forums.themsfightinherds.com/index.php?threads/backer-rewards-production-roadmap.2266/

If you get stuck or have a question, email us at contact@mane6.com.

Our Linux port is "done"... and what we mean by that is it's functionally working (as far as we're aware), but has yet to complete its "in the wild" testing. So far so good. It's only a matter of time.

We'll start working on the Mac port once Linux is released and we're confident it's stable. Not a whole lot is different about a Mac port from a Linux port other than some Apple particulars, so while we don't anticipate the Mac port will be too far behind, this is a bit of unknown territory for us. We'll keep you posted.

Technically, players have already been able to play on Linux and Mac thanks to third-party emulators like Proton and Wine, but true native ports will offer far better performance and stability. It will be worth it.

The Linux, Mac, and Windows versions on Steam will all be part of the same application. No additional purchase is needed, every OS will be capable of crossplay with each other.

Native Linux and Mac ports were promised during our crowdfund campaign and are also a vital first step on the much longer road to console ports. We're future-proofing now, but it's going to be a while before we can actually look at it.


Development on Shanty is still going. There's animations to complete, moves to test, and theme music to dynam-ify. We have no release date to speak of yet.

However we are happy to announce that a voice actress has been selected! In fact, we've already completed the recording session. A future announcement will be posted when we're ready to introduce her.

When Shanty is released, players will be able to unlock her by purchasing a DLC package that also includes her stage and Pixel Lobby avatar. All of our crowdfund backers will receive the Shanty DLC for free as a reward for helping us attain the stretch goal that made her development possible.

Regardless if you own Shanty or not, you'll still be able to play against her online if your opponent has her, and she'll also show up in arcade mode.

And, if you haven't already seen our initial Shanty gameplay reveal stream, check it out here: https://youtu.be/gYaGEUEwZac
TFH will be receiving a balance update to coincide with the release of Shanty. In 2.0, all characters and even a few universal systems will be adjusted.

Oleander's home turf (in Pixel Lobby form) will be included with the 2.0 update. Along with a new map, there will also be new hats!

AT LAST... match replays are coming to TFH in 2.0! You're in for a real treat, because our playback system is gonna be packed with cool features like rewinding, skipping, bookmarking, and training mode displays. Super awesome.

No doubt you have questions, but the feature as a whole is still in development and we want to wait for something more final before showing it off. We plan on doing a full breakdown of our replay system and what it offers in the 2.0 post-patch stream.

Although, there might be some things we can talk about now if you hop in our Discord server and ask: discord.gg/tfh


Development on level 3s is on hold until after 2.0 ships. We're already a decent way along with them visually (check the preview stream here), but we'll need our combat director's total focus to make sure the numerous interactions and edge-cases are ironed out.

Preproduction on Velvet's chapter is currently underway. When our combat team is finished working on level 3s, they'll join the rest of the Story Mode squad to script out the boss fights and close things out.

Ranked systems are very hard to get right, so we are taking our time on this one. We're still in the research phase.

Though we're still far away from this, we did want to mention that work on Linux/Mac ports (cleaning up code and such) will help console port development later on.


This is all the big stuff we wanted to mention, but it's not an exhaustive list! There are plenty of little things that will go out alongside each of these updates.

As Shanty and other immediate features move along we'll be sharing more about them. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

In celebration of the Steam Fighting Game Sale, episode #7 of our casual ManeCast stream will be broadcasted live on both Steam and Youtube this Friday the 13th beginning at 3PM PST.

Come chat with the devs as we talk about the game and watch some matches! We'll have community guests as well, but we're still working out exactly who they will be.

You might be wondering, why not broadcast on Twitch like we usually do? Well unfortunately, Twitch's exclusivity clause in their affiliate streamer agreement prohibits us from doing a simultaneous multiplatform broadcast and our primary target for this show is Steam.

We've been excited to try out the Steam broadcast feature for quite awhile now, and we figured a good time to do it would be when a lot of people will be checking out the game on the store page for the first time. We threw YouTube in there for a little extra visibility.

So... same show, just different platforms this time. As always, everything will be archived to our YouTube channel the day after.

Hope to see you there!

Links to the show
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/574980/Thems_Fightin_Herds/
YouTube: https://youtu.be/ZDwcEeeVEGg

Alas, once again the time has come to stow our scary decorations and hunker in for the winter. Thanks to everyone who played during our Halloween event these last two weeks. Hope you like the new hats!

The increased salt gain from overworld chests was met with very positive reception, so we've decided to make those numbers the new standard. Enjoy triple salt yields and a bigger cut for losers from now until whenever!

Spooky season festivities have begun! All Pixel Lobbies have been spookified and we've got new hats to collect, so don your costume and join the celebration!

Cap'n'Cash will exclusively stock the new October 2020 accessory lineup until the event ends on Wednesday November 4th, after which the items will be added to the regular rotation.

In addition, from now until the event ends, overworld chests now yield TRIPLE the salt (900 up from 300) and the consolation amount for losers is increased to 66.6% (from 50%). We may consider making those numbers permanent if they're successful!

For those new to TFH, here's how to get your grabbers on these beautiful new bonnets:

1. Join a Pixel Lobby server. Accessible from the main menu under "Online".
   
2. Get salty. Earn salt by exploring the hidden Salt Mines or by fighting other players over salt chests that spawn in the overworld.
   
3. Visit Cap'n'Cash's Caps for Cash. Cashmere and her lovely assistant Cap (or is it the other way around)? have a shop set up in the overworld and are ready to take your hard-earned salt in exchange for fabulous fashion!

Now get going while those new hats are front and center!

Finally, here are the rest of the changes/fixes going out alongside this update:

• The "Input Arrow Direction" option in Training Mode (which allows players to set whether the display of directional arrows in combo trials account for character facing) has been reinstated in response to player feedback. The option has a new name: "Direction Arrow Facing".
  
  • This option was removed in 1.4.0 in an attempt to standardize player experience, but compelling arguments were made in favor of bringing it back. Our b.
    
  • The "Adaptive" setting is now the default.
    
  • This option does not affect areas outside of Training Mode. Tutorials, etc are still locked to "Adaptive".
• Fixed input leniency not applying to supers and reversal recordings in combo training.
  
• Fixed "Force Counterhit" showing Counter! accolade on block.

• Fred now has a taunt!

Hotpatch going out to clean up some remaining training mode stuff, and other small fixes.

• The Training Utility button can now be used to retry a combo recording without going into the pause menu.
  
• Fixed a number of blank spots for move listings in combo trials.
  
• Tian's Fly cancels (level 2) now show up as a step in combo trials.
  
• Velvet's Shatter A (whiff) and Shatter C (whiff) now show up as a step in combo trials.
  
• Fixed a bug causing hitstun recordings to play after a knockdown/blockstun.
  
• Fixed an issue with the buffer window of Hitstun, Blockstun, and Wakeup recording options. (Ask Cam for more details if you're interested).

• The Minizona and Mini Velvet hats no longer hide horns (apparently people don't like bald Velvet).
  
• Fixed an issue where black dots would appear at the top of the screen on the overworld.
  
• Fixed an issue where the game would appear stretched on ultrawide displays in the Pixel Lobby and Story Mode.

• Fixed a bug where the pre-match loading screen would not show up for spectators in the Classic Lobby (causing a black screen for several seconds while players loaded in).
  
• Tutorial
  
• Fixed a bug in the tutorial where the pause menu would show different options before the intro animation completed.

• Fixed a bug on Velvet's stage (morning variant) where the god rays would layer over the KO graphic.
  
• Fixed a bug where the advanced attack data display (from Training Mode) would sometimes flash onscreen during predator fights.
  
• Fixed some instances of the reversal indicator not showing up when it should.

• Fixed Arizona's nose having red spots on the Effervescent Kicks palette during Magic Dash.

• Fixed a bug where Ice Cyclone would cause very strange momentum issues.
  
• Fixed Velvet missing a patch of floof on the recovery of j.B.

• Fixed Oleander's eyeliner disappearing when she squints during her idle flourish.

• Fixed some animation color glitches on Paprika's idle flourishes and her "on back, no-tech" wakeup.

• Fixed a bug where Stampede! would cause very strange momentum issues.
  
• Fixed an issue where Pom's far legs would show different colors during her air pushblock animation.

• Tianhuo's command list now properly says that Volcanic Bash is projectile invulnerable (both air and ground), per the 1.4.0 update.
  
• Fixed a graphical error with Tianhuo's combat portrait (there was a little line underneath)

Howdy all! Update 1.4.0 is live with a gigantic amount of quality of life updates for Training Mode... stuff we've wanted to do for quite a while!

There's a lot to digest here, so we're doing a post-patch stream tomorrow, Friday the 2nd) at our usual time (3pm PDT) at the usual place (https://www.twitch.tv/manesix).

Now, onto the notes...

ATTENTION: Everyone's "Screen Mode" display setting has been reset to default (Windowed mode) for this update.

We've been receiving reports that switching to fullscreen hard locks the game for some players, forcing a system reboot. This update includes a potential fix for that bug, hence the option reset.

Prior to this, we've been instructing players to enable "exclusive" fullscreen via a launch option as a workaround. If you were one of these players, we ask you to please try the "regular" fullscreen option again and tell us if it's working or not. It's hard for us to 100% confirm the fix without help from more players and a wide variety of hardware.

• The Training Mode options menu has been rebuilt from the ground up. Instead of one giant list, it now categorizes Training Options into four pages: General Options, Display Options, Dummy Options, and Savestate Options.
  
• Combo Training now has its own section straight from the pause menu (it's no longer inside Training Options). There are three pages: Combo Trials, Combo Options, and Combo Recording.

• Horizontal Combo Display. This type of display allows most (if not all) the steps of a combo to show onscreen at once.
  
  • The horizontal list does not show move names or success counts. Players have the option to switch back to the vertical list to see this info.
• Combo Trial Infight Hotkeys. Players can now watch combo demos and advance to the next combo without having to go into the pause menu.
  
  • The "Next Combo" function only works in character trials, not custom combos.
• Quick Reposition. The Utility 1 button is now called "Training Utility". Use it to instantly snap characters to different parts of the stage. No more pushing and shoving!
  
  • A reference sheet for these new commands has been added to the Training Mode pause menu (displays when a combo file isn't loaded).
• Center Line Guide. This new display overlay helps players distinguish crossups.
  
• Infinite Frostbite (Velvet Lvl 2). Lab those slo mo combos. Because magnificence is eternal.

• There is now a "Restore All Defaults" command for Training Mode options.
  
• Many Training Mode options have been renamed for better clarity.
  
• All relevant Training Mode options now have hintstripe descriptions.
  
• Players can now set AI intensity presets from the "AI Options" submenu.
  
• Direction arrows in Training Mode now always adapt to facing. The "Input Arrow Direction" option has been removed. (EDIT: Restored this option as of 1.4.2)
  
• Air/Ground tech options now include "Never" in their RNG when the toggle is set to "Random".
  
• "Auto-Restart on Failure" now offers toggles for success. To reflect this, it has been renamed to "Auto-Restart Type".
  
• All "Infinite Lvl 2" options can be set to affect P1, P2, or both. Previously they would only affect P1.
  
• The "Starting Combo Step" feature has been merged with "View Combo Steps" to form a new submenu simply titled "Combo Steps".
  
• The "Combo Steps" menu now shows both move names and inputs.
  
• The maximum setting for "Simulate Input Delay" is now 8 frames (instead of 60), as that is the maximum allowed in actual play.
  
• The "Auto-Restart Delay" option is now measured in seconds instead of frames.
  
• The Combo Recording menu hintstripe now shows where combo files are saved. We also now automatically create a combo folder on game install containing a readme with instructions on how to use the custom combo system.

• Reduced the intensity of the savestate flash.
  
• Fixed a bug where Hitstun recordings were being played instead of Wakeup recordings when the training dummy was waking up from a soft knockdown.
  
• Fixed a bug where any blockstun/wakeup/etc recordings done as Pom would be delayed.
  
• Fixed Training Mode options not saving unless the player returned to the game. They now save immediately when toggled.
  
• Fixed dummies not blocking meaties after teching a soft knockdown despite dummy blocking being enabled.
  
• Fixed "Block Recovery" playback skipping over options when set to "Sequential".
  
• Fixed an issue where recording a wakeup option and holding back immediately as it recorded caused the dummy to play it as a backdash.
  
• Fixed an issue where recording wakeup or hitstun allowed movement at the start instead of counting down.
  
• Players can no longer pause the game during wakeup recovery recordings. They must wait for the (short) recording period to finish. This is to prevent an issue where the game would "reject" re-records if attempted while a recording was already in progress.
  
• Repaired the "Oleander Master 03" combo trial.
  
• Combo file names now hide the .tfhc file extension when viewing them ingame.

• Rebuilt the ping measurement system to ensure greater accuracy.
  
• Fixed a bug with matchmaking that would cause the Ping Tolerance option to not work correctly.
  
• We've temporarily removed the Ping Tolerance option from matchmaking options on the Training Mode pause menu. That option is now just a toggle to enable the queue, like how it works in the Pixel Lobby. (You can still access Ping Tolerance from Gameplay options on the main menu).
  
• Fixed a bug that prevented the character select timer from timing out in online play (an issue introduced with the addition of the confirm prompt in a previous patch).
  
• Fixed a rare issue where the character select timer would get stuck on 1 and softlock the game during online play.
  
• Fixed some occurrences where players would see their Steam portrait on both player's spots in the online match loading screen.

• The chatbox has a new font for better legibility.
  
• Glyph support (Kanji and Cyrillic) has been expanded.
  
• The Wardrobe menu now has a page "scrollbar" element (both in Pixel Lobby and Story).
  
• More detailed messages now show up when a player is dropped out of spectating unexpectedly.
  
• Fixed various minor layering and collision issues across Pixel Lobby maps.
  
• Salt Mines: Fixed various doors that had transition triggers too far inside the wall.
  
• Salt Mines: Fixed more occurrences of Predators spawning inside walls.
  
• Fixed another bug that caused the Wardrobe mirror to linger onscreen after the Wardrobe was closed.
  
• Fixed some cosmetics not layering properly on Tianhuo.
  
• Fixed an issue where Minizona did not remove Velvet's antlers (like Mini Velvet) as it should.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused chatbox typing to appear backwards. (Your guess is as good as ours).
  
• Server Browser Menu: Removed the "Stop Refresh" command. It never worked in the first place.

• Fixed a bug where the newsfeed widget would dim if manually scrolled during the middle of an automatic scroll.
  
• Fixed a bug that caused some AI names to appear as <error>.

• Directional inputs on the command display now adapt to facing. The explanation of input notation at the start of the tutorial has been updated to reflect this.

• The following cutscenes in Chapter 1 are now skippable:
  
  • Canyon: First map opening.
    
  • Canyon: Madison sleepover.
    
  • Caves: Orb introduction.
    
  • Highlands: Exhaustion collapse, BEFORE waking up at the Alpaca camp.
    
  • Highlands: AFTER waking up at the Alpaca camp.
    
  • Temple: Entrance.
    
  • Temple: Rocks falling. (Everybody dies).

• All characters now have idle flourish animations (an idle flourish is a secondary animation that plays during idle stance).
  
• All characters have new pushblock animations.
  
• Fixed a bug that made it possible to cause more than one tumble state in a single combo off an OTG if that the opponent HAD NOT teched or woken up after a soft knockdown that round.
  
• Fixed a bug where super cancelling a second groundbounce caused a "fake" groundbounce to occur.
  
• Fixed a bug on Button Config that prevented Player 2 from changing macro button binds.
  
• The "Background Characters" option now has an “only non-backer characters” toggle.
  
• Dynamic Music System: Made it so if a character's domination theme is playing and they lose, the music resets to neutral.

• Arizona has a new palette: "Effervescent Kicks" by Bubbleboots, Champion of Grand Stampede 2020!
  
• Counter now has that cool green magic afterimage effect. Yeah.

• Fixed a bug where Velvet's Wind would force a hard knockdown if the opponent's JD was full.
  
• Velvet has new lighting effects for her attack animations.
  
• Velvet has a new effect for her Snowball attacks (on hit and block).
  
• Magic Ice Eruption has a new effect animation and character animation.
  
• Velvet's eat animation now has a poof effect when the ice sprite appears/disappears.
  
• Velvet's command list now correctly says Magic Ice Eruption hits low.
  
• Fixed a color zone error on Velvet's eye during her roped animation.

• Adjusted a misaligned hurtbox during Paprika's 5B.
  
• Fixed a bug that made it possible for Paprika to tech throws during the startup of Smother.
  
• Fixed a bug where various slowdown effects (such as Arizona's Magic Dash) would cause Paprika to miss her boops on gifts.

• Oleander has new lighting effects for her attack animations and projectiles.
  
• Fixed several bugs where various levels of Shadow Spark and Magic Spark had incorrect attackboxes and armor damage, leading to weird interactions with opposing projectiles.

• Fixed a bug that made it possible to summon multiple Big Papas at the same time (in normal play).
  
• Fixed an issue where Pom did not trigger the onscreen reversal indicator (in general).

• Volcanic Bash (ground and air) have new effect animations.
  
• Volcanic Bash (air) is now projectile invulnerable (like the ground version).

Since the launch of version 1.0 in late April, we've been focusing on improvements to the online experience in TFH to prepare for Evo Online and later Grand Stampede, including netcode enhancements, a reworked Classic Lobby, Battle Shrines, and more visibility on casual ranking.

Game balance has not changed much since the Early Access days, and it was important for us to keep it that way as we entered into the biggest tournament season TFH has ever seen, so players were fighting on familiar ground. Now that we're on version 1.3 and have eased back into a "normal" development cycle, we're planning some exciting new stuff to freshen things up a bit.


Before I get into game stuff, we wanted to touch on the fact that physical rewards are moving to production soon. That's the movelist postcards, physical game copy, and physical soundtrack. If you're getting one or all of these and your shipping address has changed since the crowdfund, please update it here: Them's Fightin' Herds on BackerKit

For instructions on how to redeem digital rewards, or to view a realtime roadmap of fulfilment progress on, check this post: Backer Rewards Production Roadmap

For all other inquiries related to crowdfund stuff, please email contact@mane6.com.

Later in September, training mode will receive a dedicated update that fixes bugs and introduces new features, including but not limited to:

• Menu options organized into pages instead of one giant list (finally)!
  
• Ability to toggle infinite Velvet level 2 (so you can slo mo to your heart's desire).
  
• Quick change character positions (this works with a button+direction input to get you to center stage, either corner, etc, without having to push the dummy manually).
  
• A new input display for combo trials/recordings (it shows the entire combo at once instead of a scrolling list).

Native Linux and Mac ports were promised during our crowdfund and are also a vital first step on the longer road to console ports. The Linux, Mac and Windows versions will all run on Steam together (no additional purchase needed) and will be crossplay-compatible with each other.

A 7th character is coming to TFH: Shanty the Goat! If you haven't already seen our Shanty gameplay reveal stream, check it out here:


​
Development on Shanty is progressing well but she still needs a lot of testing, so as of now it's still too early to tell when she'll be ready for release.

When she's released, players will be able to unlock Shanty by purchasing a DLC package that also includes her stage and Pixel Lobby avatar. All of our crowdfund backers will receive the Shanty DLC for free as a reward for helping us attain the stretch goal that made her development possible.

Regardless if you own Shanty or not, you'll still be able to play against her online if your opponent has her, and she'll also show up in arcade mode.

Here's her completed Pixel Lobby avatar!

​The introduction of a new character offers us an opportunity to shake things with a longer list of balance changes for all characters and (for the first time in awhile) a few universal systems. Whenever we make adjustments at this scale we'll be moving up a major version number (hence going straight to 2.0).

A new Pixel Lobby map will be introduced in version 2.0: the Woodlands, Oleander's home turf. Along with a new map, there will be a surge of glorious new hats to unlock. You can't stop the hats.

Here is one of our tileset tests. Disclaimer: this is NOT the final layout of the lobby itself, and further refinements to the art will be made in the weeks prior to release.




Exactly one person on our team does the combat stuff right now: Nappy. We've decided to continue holding on level 3 development until after 2.0 ships. You may recall that we're already a decent way done with them (stream link here), but there is still a lot of testing and edge-casing to iron out, and we don't want to rush it.

Preproduction on Velvet's chapter is currently underway. When Nappy finishes his work on level 3s, he'll join the rest of the Story Mode squad to script out the boss fights and close things out.

We have the backend tech to capture replays, but we are still in the process of designing the actual playback feature. When our engineers are free of training mode and porting tasks, we'll be taking a look at this.

Ranked systems are very hard to get right, so we are taking our time on this one. We're still in the research phase.

Though we're still far away from it, we did want to mention that the work on Linux/Mac ports (cleaning up code and such) will help with console port development later on.


This is all the big stuff we wanted to mention, but it's not an exhaustive list! There are plenty of little things that will go out alongside each of these updates.

As Shanty and other immediate features move along we'll be sharing more about them. Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!


Aaron Stavely
President, Mane6

Last Sunday we capped off our Grand Stampede broadcast with a teaser reveal of our 7th character, Shanty the goat! Take a look:

The character is still a work-in-progress, and we're doing a gameplay preview stream TODAY (Friday, Aug 14th) at 3PM PDT on https://www.twitch.tv/manesix. If you can't make it to the stream, don't worry, we'll be putting the video up on YouTube the day after.

When Shanty is finished and released to the world, players will be able to unlock her by purchasing a DLC package (price TBD) that will also include her stage and Pixel Lobby avatar. Backers of our crowdfund (all tiers) will receive this DLC for free.

We plan to produce a bonus Story Mode chapter for Shanty after the main plotline is complete. Owning the Shanty DLC package will be required to play this bonus chapter.