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.

We're getting one more patch out before Grand Stampede to fix some general issues and add an important new feature that will make it easier to run an online tournament: open invite URLs for Classic Lobbies.

Players may now create open invite URLs to a Classic Lobby. This allows direct joining without having to search the lobby browser or exchange friend requests. Instructions:

1. Enter a Classic Lobby.
   
2. Press the button bound to "Menu 1" on your controller or keyboard. This copies the lobby's URL to your PC's clipboard. (If you did it correctly, you will hear a sound effect and a notification will appear onscreen).
   
3. Paste the link in the chat of your choice (with CTRL+V, etc.)

• Improved pixel art rendering system at higher screen resolutions. Everything should now look clearer than before.
  
• Fixed an issue where chests purchased from Cap 'n Cash's shop could sometimes not be opened.
  
• Fixed an issue where "ghost Paprikas" would manifest in the overworld when a player failed to connect to the server.
  
• Battle Shrines: Fixed a bug where spectators could move around freely until the next match started.
  
• Salt Mines: Fixed an instance of predators spawning inside a particular wall.

• Improved UI rendering system at higher screen resolutions. Everything should now look clearer than before.
  
• Combat portraits now render correctly. Edges no longer look jagged.

• Groundbounce is now properly considered airborne until after the initial bounce has completed. Previously, Groundbounce counted as OTG during the initial impact, causing highly inconsistent results during combos.
  
• There is now a simple confirm prompt after selecting a character during online play, to help prevent accidentally picking the wrong character.
  
• Fixed broken Velvet combo trials: Master 1 and 2.

In the wake of our new tournament announcement we've decided to do another ManeCast stream... this Friday! For those of you new the community, ManeCast is a podcast-like discussion show hosted by the dev team about the current state of the TFH and what to expect from the future. While we talk, we'll be running around the Pixel Lobby spectating some sets.

We're gonna start with a recap on how development has been since the crunch period leading up to 1.0, then EVO Online, and until now. Next, we'd like to offer our thoughts on the current state of combat balance and bugfixing, since we haven't talked about it in a while. Grand Stampede is right around the corner, so there's plenty to cover there before ending on some dedicated time for questions from the chat.

In attendance will be Mane6 devs Nappy (Design), Aaron (Production), Cam (Community/QA), and Oreo (QA).

Come see ManeCast #6 live on Friday the 24th at 3pm PT on https://www.twitch.tv/manesix. The recording of the stream will be uploaded to our YouTube channel the day after.

We do apologize for the short notice, but we've got some important stuff to talk about so we hope you can make it. See you on stream!

Following up from our previous news post, at last here is the announcement for our brand new tournament:



Grand Stampede is an international online tournament for Them's Fightin' Herds, hosted by Mane6. This event is a celebration of TFH, how far it's come, and all that we've built together with our players, both in the game itself and the surrounding community space.

Grand Stampede will take place across two days from August 8 - 9. There will be mo entry fee and no participant cap. The event will be streamed on Mane6's Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/manesix.

To be eligible for registration, you must be located in one of the following regions: North America, Central America, South America, or Europe (including Russia). There will be one bracket for the entire event across all eligible regions. There will be one Grand Champion.

While the event is international, we unfortunately do not have the resources to make the event global while still maintaining a quality experience for viewers and participants. We selected eligible regions based on a number of factors: where our players are concentrated, the distance between them, the time zones they're in, and the logistical bandwidth of our crew. To our players located in Asia, we recommend you check out the quality regional tournaments organized by BananaSoup.

For prizes, everyone in top 8 will receive a physical medal engraved with their handle and place in the tournament (that means we'll need shipping info if you get that far). The top 3 will each receive an exclusive ingame trophy hat to wear in the Pixel Lobby, reflecting their place (bronze, silver, or gold). Our Grand Champion will receive a special prize: we'll add a custom palette to the game for one character credited to and designed by you (subject to technical and legal constraints, of course).

Signups are open now. Head over to https://smash.gg/grandstampede to register. Please read ALL of the rules! You must join the tournament Discord server in order to participate! And… good luck! We'll see you in a few weeks.