Hello everyone, and welcome to the fourth Producer’s Letter for Solace Crafting.

I’m Fab, and today we'll take a moment to reflect on the past few months, what was done and what remains to do as we approach the first live update for Solace Crafting!
First of all, we want to take a moment to thank the overwhelmingly positve reception of our efforts by you, the players. What we've been doing has been rather disruptive at times for the main game: months without updates, a lot of hush-hugh, more recently we even broke a few things etc. Yet, in every comments section available, the community has cheered us on or supported our efforts. Very validating, as it's not only a rather unique undertaking, completely transforming a live game, but also a very unique set of circumstances we're doing it in.

But we're so enthusiastic and hopeful in the first place that this reception pushes us to the next level. And so now, without further ado, let's talk about what we've been doing and what's coming.

A major update of this last segment has been the combat system. Despite its nature as an exploration/crafting game, Solace Crafting will still feature plenty of combat and that's a part of the game that has to be very satisfying on whatever axis it hinges on. Is it the controller? Is it the numbers? It is the enemy AI? For us, it's a little bit of all that. The goal is to keep the experience comfortable, dynamic and accessible without turning the game into a souls-like or a spreadsheet simulator.
This foundational updating process was big. As a matter of fact it took the full focus of a single developer over the past few months, still ongoing, but the results are very encouraging.

Right now we are wrapping up the updating of Bot Behaviors, making the encounters with them more interesting by giving them personalized ways to respond to combat encounters, where they can be aggressive, enraged, turtling, avoidant, etc and shift dynamically from one mindset to the other depending on the development of combat situations. This should conclude the first cycle of combat updates, transforming the experience completely

Points of Interest are another major feature, tied to every aspect of the game. They will stand out in the landscape, giving you more of a sense of exploration, adventure and discovery. We are concentrating the resources and valuables into them, whether loot or harvest, centering that part of the game upon a notion of expedition.

Think of a mix between what the current dungeons, monoliths and towers do, but in a lighter, more relaxed format: a bit of a surprise box of a gameplay experience. Bots may or may not patrol or lurk these spots, as they too would tend to flock around them. Following this update, the new open world experience would divide into relaxing, scenic strolls in the landscape to forage for resources, and PoI spotting and exploration to collect prized stuff in greater abundance.

Most of these items are intended to be present in the first major update of the live branch in January, where Solace Crafting will take its bold first step into its future. It will completely shed its old skin to acquire the whole new look you've seen in all these previews so far. 80% of the old game's systems and mechanics should remain there, supplemented by all the new stuff. And from there on out, the live transformation process will begin, updating and improving everything.

Our vision for what Solace Crafting should be is strong. Many of you have said for years that the foundation to make a great game was there. We also believe it is: both strong enough in its positives, and identified enough where it's lacking, to provide us a straight road to shoot for a place of honor in the public's heart.

- Fab

We’re thrilled to share the latest major update for Solace Crafting! While this update doesn’t include that many visible changes or gameplay enhancements just yet, it lays critical groundwork for integrating the progress we’ve been making on the beta branch. This milestone marks a pivotal step in preparing the game for the exciting features and improvements on the horizon.

Work on the beta branch is still in full swing, and while not all gameplay features are reintroduced or enhancements finalized, we’re eager for you to explore what’s already shaping up. If you're new here or returning from a long hiatus, we encourage you to dive into the beta branch and take a peek at the recent Producer’s Letters for an insider’s perspective on the future of Solace Crafting.

Thank you for your continued support as we build towards something truly special!

Beta changes:

v 1.1.1.4 2024.12.24
- Added more harvesting animations
- Reworked plains and desert biome math
- Fixed a bug causing FOV to zoom in and out repeatedly
- Improved and added further weapon animation support
- Improved shadow quality and reduced jittering

v 1.1.1.3 2024.12.20
- Stopped a slope sliding bug
- Added some new weapons
- Added a staff projectile
- Bow aiming, firing, and damage all working
- Improved biome spawn logic in several places
- Fixed several bugs related to combat causing monsters to float away, spin, or not respond
- Reintroduced basic harvesting
- Harvesting tool auto-swapping WIP, bare hand animation not implemente yet
- Fixed bandit block/dodge logic being way too frequent
- Improved swapping between different weapons
- Enemies will now auto-target on damage, even if out of their normal range
- Fixed being unable to catch your breath treading water
- Fixed highlands being too white
- Fixed a lot of flora improperly spawning under water

Live changes:

- Fixed a town build error that was spamming anonymous error reports

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin, or you can verify file integrity to trigger it.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

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