Welcome to the latest update notes for Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition!

In this round of update notes, we delve into new enhancements to multiplayer features, introduce fresh daily objectives, and offer a sneak peek into the future of the game.


Multiplayer enthusiasts will be delighted with the latest improvements. Joining a multiplayer session with a friend is now a seamless experience. Gone are the frustrations of the past when the "Join" button didn't quite behave as expected. Now, connecting to your friend's lobby is a breeze, ensuring an exciting gaming experience together.

In update 1.20, we've enhanced the Multiplayer game mode, allowing you to harness the full potential of your stable. Take your grade 10 horses to the tracks and flaunt their unique style by customizing them with any available sets. Your stable of elite horses has never been more formidable. And fear not; if you haven't yet reached the pinnacle with a grade 10 horse, the default options are still at your disposal.



We are dedicated to ensuring that multiplayer becomes a space where every player can race with their best horse. Nevertheless, we are also eager to hear from our community regarding any interest in expanding the grade options for competition. Your feedback matters!


Alongside the new multiplayer enhancements, we have added a 4th daily goal centred around completing multiplayer challenges. Rest assured, this addition doesn't replace your standard daily goals. So, if multiplayer gaming isn't your cup of tea, there's no need to fret—your daily routine remains unchanged.


New horse patterns have made their way to the desktop version! Keep an eye out for the following Patterns the next time you're in the Horse Creator Mode

• Cartographer's Pinto
  
• Heart Pinto
  
• Waist Splotch
  
• Continental Pinto
  
• Snowstorm Pinto
  
• Etched Pinto
  
• Pinto Leggings
  
• Stocking Pinto
  
• Inkblot Pinto
  
• Belted Pinto

We've been listening closely, and we understand your eagerness to see more features from the mobile version make their way to PC. Well, we've got some exciting news for you – we're actively working on this as we speak, and we want to give you a sneak peek at what the remainder of 2023 and the start of 2024 has in store for you.




We have two updates headed your way this quarter.

The next update is just around the corner. In this update, you can look forward to the brand-new graded stats and inheritance system making its way to the Desktop Edition. For those aiming to breed top-tier horses, this update is a game-changer, offering a more player-friendly and enjoyable experience in attaining those desired stats.

But that's not all—brace yourselves for an exhilarating conclusion to Quarter 4. We're combining your expertise in flat racing and cross-country in a thrilling update. We're absolutely ecstatic to announce that Steeplechase will be making its way to Rival Stars Horse Racing: Desktop Edition before the year comes to a close!


We are kicking off 2024 with a bang, as the first quarter promises an exciting addition to our equine family with the release of the Selle Français horse breed, while we can’t give away much more about this update make sure you keep an eye out as we announce more surprises in the year ahead.


That's all for this update folks, Don’t forget to check out the community to keep up to date with the recent news, and competitions. Until next time, happy Racing/Riding everyone.



- Enhancements for multiplayer

• Race with grade 10 horses and their customizations
  
• Default horse options available for non-grade 10 horses
  
• Improved multiplayer experience when playing with friends

- New Multiplayer daily goal added

- New Patterns added

Minor UI fixes

The end of the Trial of the Ancestors Hideout Competition draws near, and there are so many incredible submissions that even Navali couldn't foresee who the winners might be! Check out some of the highlights in the video below.



The entries included in this video are:

• Alyanne19 - The Gift
  
• TallBird - Rivers of Blood
  
• Spudgin - Memories of Tawhoa
  
• MikoMiranda - Midnight Repose
  
• fordyslawz - Ngamahu's Heated Home

There's only a couple of days left to make submissions for this competition, so if you've been inspired by these hideouts themed around the Karui gods, check out the original thread here for more information on how to submit your own! Entries close Thursday the 5th of October at 9pm PDT.

Solace State is part of the Gayming LIVE Indie Showcase from NOW until Oct 14th!

Director Tanya Kan will be running her own livestream about the dev process

Join the Vivid Foundry livestream on https://www.twitch.tv/vividfoundry!



We just enjoyed an amazing Game Devs of Color Expo the past week! Seamus Ly (Generalist Developer of Solace State) and I (Tanya Kan, Director and Executive Producer) did a talk entitled "Queer Advocacy in Indie Game Design: A Solace State Retrospective" where we talked about how our narrative design around choice building social trust is structured, and what political science research inspired the game.

I also organized another Game Devs of Color talk with Nana Moon (Keylocker, Virgo Versus The Zodiac) and Sherveen Uduwana (Midautumn) called “Transformative Roles and Culture in Queer Fantasy and Sci-Fi Games”. We talked about authenticity as well as change, for both our game characters and for ourselves as devs!

Because these are ticketed events, we'll let you know when the recordings become available - likely sometime next year!



Solace State's team has had lots of livestreams and recordings over the years. Tanya will be gradually uploading both new and old content over the next months.
Click here to follow our Youtube channel!

After a full playthrough of Solace State, Frank Sanchez called the game "a can't-miss topical thought exercise and more, given current news and events in 2023".
Read his full game review here!

We’re delighted by how stable the game is on launch! The biggest bug to fix is sound-related but do not impact the game's stability.​

As the temperatures drop, we will be looking at bringing the game to itch.io and improving Steam Deck performance!

If you like our game, please consider leaving us a review! Your support keeps our independent, experimental, provocatively diverse studio alive. Thank you!

Small patch addressing a bug for one of the Shadow Monk's talent + a couple other things:

- BUG FIX: Dark Lotus skill points now properly synced in talents menu. They were accidentally synced to the Vortex talent.

- Added banners to the level select to signify where the Hallow's Eve event takes place

- Guided projectiles will now stop movement when exploding on impact (Avarice Arrows and Dead Reckoning)

• Fixed fade in vibration function and added individual motor control
  
• Added vibration checkbox to config tab in game settings

- You can't now walk on shopkeepers
- Fixed a bug where if you walk on sawblade from it's right while you're shooting, it would teleport you 20 feet in the air (I don't know why either)

New - added sound effects for the escape menu.
New – escape menu now highlights.
New – added sound effects for the settings menu.
Update - Rabbit snare now show calculations with the work phase – and so will additional relics that do this type of thing.
Update – adjusted some tooltip logic
Fixed - Stopped the workers from vibrating upwards in the work phase
Fixed – Bug in the battle phase that could soft lock the game.

Hello everyone
After 8 months of development we are very close to the release day. Today the game reached version 1.0 which was huge for us. We decide to offer some keys of the game earlier so that you to test it and most important give us feedback . If you want to test our game leave a comment in the comment section of this post. Keys are not guaranteed.

Thanks for testing

- Added leaderboards. For now, weekly and all time leaderboards are based on multiplayer kills. More to be Added soon (Most XP, Most round wins, etc)
- The weekly leaderboards will reset each week and The top players will be announced on twitter and discord.
- Minor fixes to The desert map.