Howdy Ranchers! 🐴✨ The final content update is now available! This update includes the
town festivals,
villager friendships,
farm animals,
pets, a
ranch expansion,
achievements,
new quests,
new tack, and a whole lot of
new horse coats!
This last roadmap update contains a ton of new content, so get ready for our
longest devlog yet!
Keep in mind that this devlog contains a lot of spoilers! If you'd prefer to experience it yourself, feel free to skip this and dive right into the game to discover what's new![h2]Town Festivals[/h2]
[h3]Gymkhana Courses[/h3]
Twice per season, Rivershine Town will
host an equestrian festival! During these, you’ll be able to participate in multiple activities… Including
new gymkhana competitions!
The gymkhana competitions are held in the town’s arena, and offer a generous first place prize, but you can only
try it once per festival! Luckily, you’ll be able to do
practice rounds before starting the competition. Either way, be sure to bring
your fastest and most flexible horse!
[h3]Mealy Horses[/h3]
Following the gymkhana, it's time to head over to the auction house!
Faraway vendors have brought in
unique mealy horses that can’t be found anywhere else in Rivershine. You’ll be able to check their skills and coats, and
bring your favorite horses home!
The mealy pattern is available in
five different strengths, from minimum to maximum. It can also be
overlaid with other patterns, such as tobiano and dapples, to create unique horses!
[h3]Festive Tack[/h3]
Finally,
head over to the townsquare to check out the
new pop up shop the saddler has set up!
Festival exclusive tack will be available to purchase, including a
new baroque set. More seasonal accessories are also available, such as
antlers in the winter and
flower crowns in the spring!
The baroque set includes multiple pieces and color variations, which can be collected over various festivals![h2]Villager Stories[/h2]
[h3]Friendship Progression[/h3]
Learn more about the villagers living in Rivershine as you
develop your friendship with them! Each of them now has a
unique story they’ll share with you over time about their past, their dreams and their worries.
They now also have more
dynamic dialogues based on the weather, the season and the festivals!
[h3]Gift Tack[/h3]
As your friendship progresses, you will be
rewarded with unique gifts from each of them. The
handwoven tack set seen here can be completed by
befriending everyone in town!
Additionally, once you’ve
completed your friendship progress with a villager, they will sometimes come by your ranch to
lend you a hand. Each of them will complete different tasks on your ranch. For example, the
farmer will feed your horses, while the
carpenter will help clean their stalls!
[h2]Ranch Expansion[/h2]
[h3]Map Rework[/h3]
A new ranch?! Don’t worry,
it hasn’t changed too much! Since I’ve added a lot of new buildings and areas to the ranch during the Early Access, I wanted to revisit the layout to make sure
everything was in the best place… So a few things got moved around!
You’ll find it
now takes less time to walk between your house, the stable, the retirement pasture and the farm fields. There’s also a
few more buildings behind your house…
[h3]Farm Animals[/h3]
A
new barn and coop are now available on your ranch! You’ll be able to house
a dozen chickens in the coop, along with
eight sheep and goats in the barn. Be sure to
feed your animals daily, which will allow you to
collect eggs, fur and wool to sell for a profit!
The farm animals are available to
purchase from Aisha once you reach
your second festival.
During the festivals, she’ll set up a small enclosure in the marketplace, where you can see
which animals she has available that day!
[h3]Retirement Pasture[/h3]
The retirement paddock has moved to greener pastures! Your retired horses will now have more space to wander about on your ranch, and you’ll be able to see them more easily when riding around.
You’ll be able to
purchase a new upgrade for the retirement pasture, allowing you to keep
up to 36 horses. The price of all the retirement pasture upgrades have been reduced in the carpenter’s store.
Additionally, the retirement pasture gates can now be opened, allowing you to
walk up to your horses and check on them. That’s still the only interaction you’ll have with them though… They’ve earned their right to be pasture ornaments!
[h3]House Upgrades[/h3]
House expansions are now available to purchase from the
carpenter's shop! Expanding your house will add new rooms, including a bedroom and a kitchen, to your house. But most importantly, it will allow you
more space to keep some
new companions...
[h2]Pets[/h2]
A dog, a bunny and a cat are ready to join you on your adventures! You'll be able to adopt these three furry friends as you
expand your house. Choose to leave them to rest at home or bring them along on the trails, where
they'll help you by gathering forage!
[h2]Saddlery Restock[/h2]
In addition to the new tack you’ll be able to purchase during festivals and receive from the villagers,
the saddlery has been restocked! Visit it to shop for
two new thematic sets.
Almost
200 new tack pieces have been added in total,
doubling the customization options for your horses in this update! The price for tack has also been reduced to build your collection more easily.
This new race themed set includes saddle pads, bridles and leg wraps. Match it with your favorite race saddle!
This cute bow set includes new blankets, leg wraps and halters! 
These new nature themed accessories will be available to purchase either in the saddlery, or during the festivals![h2]New Pattern Variations[/h2]
Discover a ton of
new pattern variations for your horses! New variations are available for tobiano, overo, appaloosa, splash, tovero and pintaloosa horses.
[h2]New Face Markings[/h2]
In addition to coat patterns,
new face markings have also been added to the game! These include a lot of
new badger and bald face markings to allow you to find more unique horses each time you play!
[h2]Calendar[/h2]
Hard to keep track of
all of these morning notifications?
The calendar is here to help you!
Consult it any time during the day as a reminder of
where wild horses are, which villager is visiting the town or what's happening with your horses. You'll also be able to
view when the festivals are in town and
when your new foals are due!
[h2]Full Storyline[/h2]
[h3]New Introduction[/h3]
If you've been waiting to start a new save file, now is the
perfect time to do so! The tutorial now includes a
short cinematic to introduce the story of Rivershine and
your role as you arrive in town...
[h3]Final Statue[/h3]
After winning your
last competition, you'll unlock a new quest to complete the
full storyline of Rivershine. This quest includes a
new statue being built on your ranch, and bringing forward the mystery horse the villagers have been seeing around town...
[h3]Mystery Horse[/h3]
This legendary horse will reveal himself to you once you are ready... He has a
unique brindle coat color and
manchado coat pattern, and will surely bring forward a new generation of champions to Rivershine!
All of you will see a
different variation of the mystical horse, with a random brindle color and manchado pattern for each player!
Try to pair your new brindle horse with a cream horse to discover more breeding exclusive coat color variations![h2]Achievements[/h2]
Steam achievements have made their way to Rivershine! You'll now be able to unlock over
20 achievements as you progress on your ranch.
While some achievement will unlock on older saves, you'll need to play on a new save file to unlock 100% of the achievements.
[h2]General Changes[/h2]
- Added new save slots for a total of 6 saves available.
- Added new gates to directly ride into the second and third pastures.
- Added new sheep colors.
- Changed how certain interfaces open and close to be quicker.
- Fixed the dialogue interface being cut off in certain screen resolutions.
- Fixed various issues with the crop farming.
- Increased the chance to find horses with brown or black eyes in the auction house.
- Updated the horse eye colors.
- …And a ton of smaller fixes!
[h2]What's Next?[/h2]
As we've now reached the
end of the roadmap for Rivershine, I'll only be updating the game to
fix bugs and add small quality of life improvements. I've loved the years I've spent working on this game, and I know a lot of players would enjoy more content, but it's become increasingly challenging to add more to the game with each update. I think the full release is the perfect time to wrap up my work on Rivershine!
But, it's not the end for Cozy Bee Games! I've collected a ton of new game ideas while working on Rivershine that I'm really excited about. I can't wait to announce my next project to you all, and while I can't say much about it for now, it will most likely be a new cozy animal life sim!
Who knows, there might even be
another horse game coming in the future!Thank you all so much for following me on this journey and bringing Rivershine to life together! Éloïse
