Steer clear, Texas is here! The Mane6 dev team breaks down the patch notes, Texas's design, and some high-level matches featuring our new big-body grappler.

Texas the Bull joins the roster as our newest DLC character!

Playing him requires the purchase of the Season 1 Pass or his separate Character Pack. Owners of the Deluxe Edition automatically unlock Texas without any extra steps!

Even if you don't own the DLC, you can still fight against him in online play or in Arcade Mode (but he doesn't always show up).

• The macOS version is now fully updated and working. It had been non-playable since the console release (we are deeply sorry about that).
  
• However, due to upgrades we had to make to our build process for consoles, the minimum required version of macOS is now Monterey. Earlier versions will no longer be able to run the game.

• Character Select has a new look!
  
• Fixed the credits hintstripe using the Forward glyph instead of the Page Left glyph.

• Fixed Pom's magic section header not being localized in Brazilian Portuguese.
  
• Fixed Pom's magic section saying Puppies (A) for all three sections.
  
• Fixed the demo in Arizona's Magic Dash tutorial being broken (it was never updated after the removal of the slowdown).
  
• Removed the line about using Arizona's level 1 super to punish (since it references it being 3 frames and it is no longer 3 frames.)
  
• Fixed a number of areas where placeholder text was being shown instead of number values.
  
• Fixed missing down arrow glyph in the dialogue for Velvet's Instant Snowball tutorial.
  
• Fixed the missing B in Bulkhead during the freeplay segment of Shanty's command normals tutorial.

• Level 3 supers now show up properly during combo trials.

• "White 'Stache" is now a face item (but it still makes Velvet bald).
  
• Fixed some broken character glyphs in player usernames.
  
• Fixed the controls hint on the main HUD showing the Select button instead of the Player List button.

• Fixed Classic Lobbies set to Invite Only not actually being Invite Only. They are now private again.
  
• Fixed being unable to resolve matches if 4+ players were readied up.
  
• Fixed the Classic Lobby browser showing the Menu 2 button prompt for Create Lobby, but taking the Medium attack button instead.

• Fixed some item "equips" for NPCs not showing up properly.
  
• Fixed a few minor tileset errors in The Highlands and Reine City.

Balance

• Armored attacks now cause slightly less additional hitstop across the board.

Bugfixes

• Fixed the minimal HUD not showing the meter lockout from Cross Canter.
  
• It is now no longer possible to hold Start on the Rematch screen during online play.

Bugfixes

• Arizona will now consistently face her opponent on the first frame of her level 1 super when canceling out of a special.
  
• Fixed an instance where Arizona would deal 0 damage with her level 1 super when striking Shanty during Wallcling.
  
• Fixed 5A > 3 > 3B giving you 6B instead of a 2B.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an instance where Velvet would deal 0 damage with her level 1 super when striking Shanty during Wallcling.
  
• Changed Velvet’s crouching hitstun to be consistent with the rest of the cast.
  
• Added a preemptive fix to Velvet's j.C that resets her opponent's wallbounce slot before hitting in the air, to prevent velocity-related bugs from occurring.

Adjustment

• Fred 2D now only hits airborne opponents, instead of just having a high hitbox. (This was done to ensure that Texas did not get hit by Fred 2D while standing. The actual hitbox has not changed.)

Bugfixes

• Fixed 5B > 3 > 3C giving you a 6C instead of a 3C, and 5A > 3 > 3B giving you as 6B instead of a 2B, for some reason.
  
• Fixed an issue where using Oleander's level 3 super could cause subsequent wallbounces she gets put into to send her bouncing back way farther than she should.

Cosmetic

• Fixed improper color of gifts while using the "MofuMofu" palette.

Bugfixes

• Fixed the HUD disappearing during the install phase of Paprika's level 3 super, on Switch specifically.
  
• Fixed instances where gifts would disappear during level 3 super grab attempts.
  
• Fixed being able to make level 3 super grab attempts while Paprika’s own health bar was empty!!
  
• Fixed instances where Paprika was able to gain meter post-KO.
  
• Paprika's level 1 super now connects properly with characters who are performing moves that destroy projectiles. Examples: Shanty during Parley, Oleander during her level 1 super, Pom during Bark!
  
• Fixed Paprika being locked out of activating her level 1 super during Pom’s level 3 super counter phase.

Bugfixes

• Tianhuo will now consistently face her opponent on the first frame of her level 1 super when canceling out of a special.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an instance of Wallcling breakage if used on the same frame Shanty's opponent detaches from a wallsplat/wallbounce.
  
• Fixed an instance of Shanty's Wallcling creating a wall for far longer than her time on said wall.

Texas the Bull, the first character in the Season 1 Pass, releases on all platforms Dec 19 at 8am PT! Watch the trailer to see him in action.


Texas can be yours with the purchase of a Season 1 Pass ($19.99 USD). He can also be unlocked separately in his own DLC pack ($4.99 USD). Owners of the Deluxe Edition of TFH automatically unlock all Season 1 Pass content without having to do anything extra!



Now that the release of Texas is imminent, we have a revised roadmap image for Season 1 Pass production:



Originally, we had intended to complete both Texas and "Character #9" in 2022, but due to the unique challenges of Texas' development, all the other characters in the Season 1 Pass will now be coming out in 2023. Thankfully, production on "Character #9" is going much, MUCH faster so far. We hope to update you on our progress soon!

On Texas release day, we will be doing a post-patch stream to provide a breakdown of Texas as a character and talk about our process of development. The stream will be on Dec 19 at our usual time of 3pm PT on https://twitch.tv/mane6dev.

Thanks again for supporting the development of Them's Fightin' Herds. We hope you enjoy Texas when he releases. More announcements to come!

In preparation for the release of our console ports tonight at midnight (your local time, which means that some time zones already have it), we have just sent out an update to the Steam version to add crossplay functionality, localization in 10 additional languages, and achievements! We will also be opening official Pixel Lobbies in Japan, so players in Asia will have a more local hub to find worthy opponents.

NOTE: At the time of this writing, the Mac version has not been updated yet and is unplayable. We will work to get it updated before the weekend, if not tomorrow.EDIT (10/20): The Mac version is now playable, but we can't update it to the latest patch before this weekend. However, there is now a beta branch on Steam called macos_public that will allow Mac users to play the game on version 3.1.0.This build is not compatible with the current version of the game so it can't be played online with any non-mac user.To switch Steam branches, right-click on the game in your library, choose Properties > Betas > and select macos_public from the dropdown list.We apologize for this. We're experiencing an issue with our Apple developer account and it's the best we could do in the situation. We will provide another update when we're able to restore the Mac version to full functionality.

Both digital and physical editions of the console ports can be purchased from platform storefronts, your favorite retailer, or on the Maximum Games Store. Supported platforms include Switch, Playstation 4/5, and Xbox One/Series X|S.

This project has come a long way and we are about to cross another massive milestone. We'd like to take the time to thank a few folks before we get into the patch notes…

First, our publisher Modus Games. A global multi-platform console launch would not have been possible without their help, so to everyone there who's worked with us on this project, Mane6 thanks you from the bottom of our hearts.

Next: to friends, family, industry allies, our community, the greater FGC, and of course, our crowdfund backers. Thank you for supporting our project, whether you've been there since the beginning or you've recently joined us. Our dream to make the world's greatest ungulate-based fighting game is now a reality, and there's much more to come!

Now, onto the patch notes:

TFH now features full crossplay! All players regardless if they're playing on Steam or consoles can find and match each other through the matchmaking queue, classic lobbies, and Pixel Lobbies. Additional HUD elements have been added to help players identify those on a different platform.

Important: Account progress is tracked separately on each platform! Story mode data, lobby accessories, casual XP, friends lists, DLC, etc, do not sync across additional copies you own!

Technical Notes

• The console netcode is based on EOS (Epic Online Services) to allow for crossplay. But, due to a bug with EOS P2P packet sending, players may experience more connection quality issues than the PC version when playing on or with consoles. The issue lies on the Epic side of the equation, but we'll continue to monitor feedback and work with them to get it sorted.
  
• However, Steam users playing with other Steam users will automatically use the original Steam netcode, which offers the same connection quality players were used to prior to this update.
  
• Note: All platforms continue to use the TFH implementation of GGPO for rollback netcode, so online fights should still feel as responsive as they did before.

• TFH now features translations for 10 additional languages! Added in this update:
  
• French
  
• Italian
  
• German
  
• Spanish (European)
  
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
  
• Russian
  
• Japanese
  
• Korean
  
• Chinese (Simplified)
  
• Chinese (Traditional)

If you would like to provide us with feebdack about the translations, email us at contact@mane6.com, or post in the #loc-feebdack channel in our Discord server.

Achievements are now officially a part of the Steam release, as well as on Playstation and Xbox (Switch does not support achievements).

Note: Prior to this update, players may have noticed that a set of hidden achievements were registered on Steam but could not be unlocked. This was because we were testing them and we could not hide them from player view completely. Sorry for the confusion! Those achievements are now active, but any progress made on them before this update doesn't count!

The Season 1 Pass will become available for purchase on Steam at 9PM PT. Players who purchase it will get instant access to the exclusive palette pack and Pixel Lobby accessory pack, as well as access to all four future Season 1 Pass characters when they release.

Earlier this year, we teased the first playable character, Texas, who will be available next month.

• Hosting a custom Pixel Lobby server on Linux is supported once again (previously, Linux servers were not working since 3.0).
  
• Official Pixel Lobby servers are now available in Japan!
  
  • Remember, your connection to your opponent is peer-to-peer, so it doesn't really matter which lobby you join. Sticking to the region closest to you just increases the chances you'll meet players with lower ping.
• A new type of Pixel Lobby equippable is now available: followers!
  
  • The miniwolf follower is instantly unlocked with the purchase of the Season 1 Pass. Others are unlocked like regular accessories: by opening chests in the Salt Mines, and by purchasing from Cap ‘n Cash’s. Careful though, Cashmere’s charging a premium for followers!
• Note: A few small, but vital HUD features were removed from the Pixel Lobby due to incompatibilities with our new netcode. We will do our best to restore these features in a future update.

TFH was built primarily for PC. Not all of the features we've developed for the game work consoles, so a few things have been modified or disabled.

Here are the main differences for console platforms over Steam:

• Pixel Lobby text chat and voice chat is disabled. Players on consoles will not receive messages from either of those systems, but precanned messages still work!
  
• The main menu newsfeed is temporarily disabled. We will be restoring this feature in a future update.
  
• Sharing combo and replay files with players on consoles is currently not supported, and we don't have plans to develop this feature further. You can still save your own combos and replays locally, though.
  
• Hosting a Pixel Lobby server from a console is not possible, but there are no platform-specific lobbies. Lobbies hosted from PCs work on all platforms.

• On all platforms, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are swapped (if you launch the game in Traditional Chinese you'll see Simplified Chinese and vice versa). Both translations are there and available, but to receive the language of your choice (until we fix this), you can set the Language option in the Gameplay menu.

Exciting times lie ahead for TFH. Now that our console release is complete, we will be doubling our efforts on the creation of new characters and additional Story Mode chapters. Stay tuned for news on that, and enjoy the release!

Character #8, the first character in the Season 1 Pass, was revealed at Summer Jam 2022 in this trailer:



Seasoned fighting game voice actor Patrick Seitz brings new life to a familiar face.

Character #8 pivots on several established standards, the most obvious being... size! We're excited to share more about how he fits into TFH when he's further along in development.

No release date has been confirmed yet, but so far we believe he will be ready for launch not long after the release of console ports.

It's amazing to finally see our (mostly Nappy's) dream of bringing a true grappler to TFH come to life, and we hope you'll be just as hyped to play him when he releases this Fall. More soon.

On October 18, Them's Fightin' Herds will launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch! We'll have full crossplay and rollback netcode!

We've got a new trailer showcasing each of the seven characters available in the base game:

Wallpapers of the character cards in this trailer are available in our public art kit.

Preorders are open on the Maximum Games Store, but you can also buy from major retailers. Both physical and digital purchase options will be available for all platforms. Also check out the Deluxe Edition, which includes the Season 1 Pass.



The Season 1 Pass is not out yet and will launch closer to the release of consoles. It will contain the following items:

• 4 additional playable characters (with Pixel Lobby avatars), released over time.
  
• 4 new stages unique to each character, as they release.
  
• 4 exclusive Pixel Lobby accessories.
  
• 1 exclusive palette for every character, including the ones in the season pass!

The exclusive accessories and palette pack will be unlocked immediately after purchasing the Season 1 Pass.



This is only the first bit of news to come this week. This weekend we'll be at Summer Jam to visit with players and drop an exciting announcement after grand finals! You won't want to miss it.

Catch the stream at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, August 20th on http://twitch.tv/nycfurby.

TFH releasing on consoles is not something we ever imagined would happen in the life of this project and was only possible with the assistance of our publisher Modus Games. They work on a lot of other great games too, so be sure to check out their full catalog!

Notice to crowdfund backers: We still owe some of you a physical release of the game. We're currently in the process of figuring out the best way to handle things given that our physical console versions are about to eclipse production of the exclusive PC backers edition, which we posted mockups for 2 years ago and is still moving slow as molasses for various dumb reasons that are entirely our fault. We will figure this out before long and make a dedicated post marking the way forward. We haven't forgotten about you.

Thank you to all our players past, present, and future for supporting our project, giving us meaning as creators, and being a part of this amazing thing. The stampede continues.

Patch 3.1.1 contains two new Shanty palettes and a number of character bugfixes in an effort to clean up more loose ends from the 3.0 release before Summer Jam this weekend.

FYI: Mane6 will have a booth at Summer Jam. Even if you aren't attending you'll want to keep eyes on the event stream (we'll drop the link on Twitter later on). We've got something big planned.

• Added a potential fix for level 3 supers sometimes leaving opponents at 1 HP when they should KO. Please let us know if you see a level 3 super fail to KO when it should (though keep in mind there will be some situations that look very close but are fully legit!)
  
• Fixed a few cosmetic issues with the backgrounds in various level 3 supers.

• Fixed a minor cosmetic glitch with the background effect during the end of Arizona's level 3 super.

• Fixed a few more remaining instances of Velvet being able to airthrow opponents in blockstun from Icicle Missiles.

• Fixed a rare situation that could cause Magic Chapter Trap to steal absurd amounts of meter when hitting a Paprika during her gift toss.

• Fixed an issue causing opponents to stutter for a few seconds when activating their level 3 super during the "Counter Success" animation of Pom's level 3 super.
  
• Fixed Paprika being able to activate Smother during the "Counter Success" animation of Pom's level 3 super.

• Fixed more instances of Volcanic Dash altering the inputs for canceling into Men Shao Ti.
  
• Fixed Tianhuo being able to gain meter post-KO with Volcanic Crash.
  
• Fixed Tianhuo becoming a cow briefly while entering a crouch-turn state between post-KO and victory pose.

• Shanty has two new palettes: "Captain" and "Graffiti Gyal".
  
• Shanty's level 3 super now has a unique KO ending.

Hey everyone! Patch 3.1 brings some increased stability and additional balance changes in a first wave of multiple updates we're planning as a followup to the 3.0 release.

Version 3.0 came out underdone. Not all of the balance adjustments we had originally intended for that release made it in time, a few features that worked in 2.0 were temporarily disabled, and there are a number of known issues that aren't fixed yet.

While 3.1 doesn't fix all the issues we need to address, it should at least be an improvement, and it's closer to the original vision we had for the 3.0 update as a whole.

Why did version 3.0 come out underdone, what are we doing about it, and what's coming next? We're hosting a post-patch developer stream next week to answer these questions and discuss the changes we've made to the game in both 3.0 and 3.1.

The 3.0 post-patch stream will be Wednesday the 20th at 3PM PT, on our Twitch channel.

As a final note, in a previous Development Update we said that version 3.1 would mark the release of Chapter 2 of Story Mode. Timelines have been reconfigured since our acquisition by Modus Studios, so that is no longer the case. Chapter 2 is still in development. We will explain more during our upcoming stream.

Now, onto the patch notes:

• In preparation for consoles, we have changed the set of characters supported in player usernames and pixel lobby names to match those available in console platforms. To maintain parity between platforms, this set will remain universal between PC and consoles. You can consult the list of allowed glyphs here. Any glyph not in this table is unsupported, and will display as an interrogation mark (?).

• Fixed a number of item rarity and cost errors from the Lunar New Year batch.
  
• Server notifications have been reworked so they are more generic and do not use player usernames (many of which were broken anyway since the 3.0 update).

• Fixed an issue causing single-player combat scenarios (Story Mode, Tutorials, Arcade Mode boss) to flat-out not work for players on Mac.

Cosmetic

• Fixed a few visual issues with backgrounds during various level 3 super cinematics.

Balance

• Changes have been made to recovery rolls to make them feel "less sticky", by giving characters movement across all frames.
  • To expand: the vulnerability window has been reduced, rolls no longer stop and wait, and forward rolls have increased distance.
• Cross Canter now causes a hard knockdown, and both players recover at the same time.
  
• Reduced the base value of the Cross Canter metergain lockout to 5 seconds. Furthermore, we set an upper-limit of 10 seconds (the old base value) so that the timer can't stack too high if the player continues to do CCs.
  
• Metergain from multihits (on all characters) has been reduced a bit for the attacker.
  
• Reversal backdashes out of recovery rolls, knockdowns, and buried states no longer allow cancels into attacks. All other backdashes continue to function normally.

Bugfixes

• Fixed recovery roll hitboxes not matching the animation (on all characters).

Balance

• Trample's startup has been increased by 2 frames so that it now matches a basic standing jab, and is no longer the singularly fastest move in the game.
  
• Rebound now launches the opponent slightly higher, allowing a bit more time to follow up after a Magic Dash.
  
• Magic Headbuck's startup and recovery have both been increased by 3 frames each to make the move a tiny bit less safe overall.
  
• Added a slight vacuuming effect and widened the hitbox on Arizona's level 3 super to make it easier to hit with.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Arizona's Anti-Air Lasso being able to grab grounded opponents immediately after completing her level 3 super.
  
• Fixed an instance where opponents would get launched the wrong way after being hit by Rebound.
  
• Fixed Arizona's level 3 not connecting properly when hitting someone behind her.
  
• Fixed an issue with Arizona's level 3 where specific spacing could cause it to whiff, or the rope to be misaligned during the animation.

Cosmetic

• Smoothed out the transition back from Velvet's level 3 super.
  
• Fixed Velvet's level 3 super background color not disappearing if Velvet is hit out of the move during startup.

Balance

• During Magic Ice Eruption, Velvet's invulnerability now ends as the first hitbox materializes, which allows trades. (Previously it lasted around when the second hitbox materialized.)
  
• Magic Ice Eruption is now -6 on block (increased from -2).
  
• Chain rules have been changed. Velvet can now chain in either direction between 2B and 5B.

Bugfixes

• Velvet's Snowballs and Icicles now disappear when she executes a Throw Tech, to make it more consistent with how projectiles work on other characters.
  
• Velvet's Wind should now more consistently push in the direction she is intending to, regardless of the opponent's facing direction. (This fix is not intended to affect existing combos, so please keep an eye out if something seems off.)
  
• Fixed flickering vulnerability during the startup of Velvet's level 3. She should now be invulnerable until after the first active frame, then vulnerable the rest of the time afterward.
  
• Fixed an instance where Velvet could airgrab opponents that were in blockstun caused by an Air Icicle Missile.

Level 3 Super

• The input has been changed to 63214XX (half-circle-back + atk atk) to match the rest of the cast.
  
• The sneeze now pushes Paprika away slightly and recovery has been slightly reduced, to make it more difficult to exploit.

Balance

• Edible gifts now expire after 13 seconds (down from 27 seconds, which was a silly number that was way too long).
  
• Metergain from Kiss! Has been reduced by half.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Paprika's Kiss! giving her meter during the metergain lockout from Cross Canter.
  
• Fixed instances of Paprika not being vulnerable to other characters' supers during her level 3 install state. (Paprika is supposed to be vulnerable to other supers so that there is counterplay.)
  
• Fixed Paprika's level 3 grab being techable under certain circumstances.
  
• Fixed some instances where Paprika could leave her level 3 install state early.
  
• Fixed Pom's dogs turning invisible when Paprika hit with her level 3 sneeze attack.

Cosmetic

• Fixed Oleander's book not following her if she turned around while reading on the ground.
  
• The book now properly changes its animation from air-read to ground-read without interrupting the process of the move.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Fred being able to attack past his timer from inputs made within the buffer window. He can no longer initiate attacks at all if his timer is 0.
  
• Fixed the projectile of level 1 Magic Shadow Spark turning invisible (but retaining hitboxes) if Oleander was struck during her recovery.
  
• Fixed Oleander being vulnerable even after connecting her level 3 super.

Cosmetic

• Fixed Pom's level 3 super animation instantly snapping her facing direction when transitioning to the KO version.

Level 3 Super

• Pom's level 3 is now inescapable at melee range or if it's triggered by a normal. (Triggering the counter with an air attack or from far away still allows a chance to evade.)
  
• Pom's level 3 can now hit airborne opponents, but in this case it can be blocked. (Ground is still unblockable.)

Dogs

• Dog attacks are now positive edge (instead of negative edge).
  
• Move Dog (5[D]) no longer has any startup.
  
• Dogs now stop attacking when Pom enters blockstun (except for Momma's counter).
  
• Dog summon startup times have been slightly reduced across the board.

Balance

• Pom's backdash now travels farther.
  
• Most of Pom's normals now move her forward slightly, then back (after the hit frame) to give her some breathing room to summon dogs.
  
• 2B now slides back a bit.
  
• 5C and Bark! now cause increased pushback on block.
  
• Pom's launcher now has very slightly reduced recovery and causes slightly increased blockstun.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Bitey dog (236B) having a collision box active at all times.
  
• Fixed Fred being visible and controllable during the cinematic of Pom's level 3 super.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Tianhuo being vulnerable even after connecting her level 3 super.
  
• Fixed not being able to Fly cancel out of Volcanic Dash after jumping over your opponent and using Volcanic Dash backwards before landing.
  
• Fixed an issue where super canceling from Volcanic Dash reversed the directional inputs for supers, even when not crossing up.

Balance

• Keelhaul and Gangway! (A and C out of Run Stance) are now safer on block.

Bugfixes

• Fixed more issues causing camera breaks during Wallcling (this has been a particularly pervasive problem).

• Many tutorial segments need to be revised to account for balance changes, and there are missing moves still.
  
• The background shadow on Lobby Messages in the upper third of the screen may occasionally persist after the message itself goes away. An easy way to prevent this from occurring while a fix is added to the game is to not mash through the prompts when opening salt mines for the first time.

In this update, we've reverted a portion of the new netcode introduced in 3.0 (which prepares for console crossplay). This should fix many of the disconnects and stability issues players have been experiencing online. We'll continue to develop the new netcode and rerelease the console crossplay version after we're sure it's ready to replace our previous netcode.

In addition, we've fixed an issue that was causing laggy match quality between Linux/Mac and Windows players.

We are aware of the online connection quality issues players have been experiencing since the 3.0 update. This is due to the major backend overhaul performed in preparation for console crossplay and it seems there are still kinks to work out!

Several micro-updates have been pushed between now and version 3.0.2 to mitigate some of these issues, but there are other issues we are trying to understand and find the source of.

The update pushed just now with these notes adds further mitigations and additional logging for Windows clients that allow us to better diagnose the netcode. These logs are stored locally; they are not uploaded anywhere. Players may volunteer to give us their logs in our Discord server (http://discord.gg/tfh) (instructions in #announcements), where we are gathering information about the ongoing situation.

The logging does add a little bit of load on the CPU, so for players on lower-powered machines who notice a drop in play quality beyond what is acceptable, you can try disabling the new logging by entering -nomemlog into the game's launch options from your Steam library (Right-click TFH > Properties > General). We will be disabling the logging after we are confident we have found the source of the issues.

Thank you all for pardoning our dust during construction. Fixing the newly-introduced stability issues has been our #1 priority since the launch of the update.