Post-Release Updates: Soundtrack Available, New Equipment, Improved Stability
Himeko Sutori has been in full release for about two months now and we are still improving and updating the game. Thanks to your input, the game is now better than ever and we decided it's time to post an update to summarize all of the many changes we made right at release time and all the changes since.
To start off, we would like to announce that today we are releasing the official Himeko Sutori Soundtrack, fully remastered.
The soundtrack includes 30 tracks from the game, in both mp3 and lossless wav format. It also features "Journey's Awakening ~ Prelude" performed by a live orchestra at Lyndhurst Hall, AIR Studios, with Kevin Won conducting.
In addition to the soundtrack, we have a lot of improvements to the game itself we'd like to tell you about. Over the last two months we've added
We told you about most of those items in the text-only minor updates we've been posting a few times per week. But for those who missed the patch notes, let's take a closer look.
We have been continuing to add more weapons to the game. In addition to the Caladbolg and Shoulder Cannon (top row) that made it into the game before release, we recently added the Warblade and Stormhandle (second row) in addition to enchanted versions of the Olivewood Branch and Lamplighter (third row) and the enchanted version of the Gnarled Staff (bottom). And we still have more equipment that we'd like to add to the game in the near future.
We also added lots of other new crafting recipes and fixed a few bugged recipes that were impossible to make and we made some improvements to the crafting menu, such as being able to preview the item you're going to craft.
At your request, we also added some bulk recipes so you can create items faster. And with your feedback, we also adjusted the drop rates on various crafting materials, including them in after-combat loot drops as well as chests on the battlefield.
Those of you who have been following the game for a while know that we had a stability problem when illusionists attack because of all of the popups that suddenly appear: a number to indicate damage, a bar to show hit points remaining, and messages to indicate the stats that were debuffed. And all of those were repeated for every enemy in the area of effect. We finally fixed that issue for 99% of players (and we have a console command to limit popups for the rest).
Shown above is a goblin lance that has been dazed by one of our illusionists. The hit-point bars are drawn entirely in code, which takes pressure off the touchy Flash player that draws some of the other UI elements. The new HP bars are also blue/red to improve readability for red/green colorblind players.
And with all of your help reporting bugs, we were able to fix a lot of other issues and improve stability for everyone. One of the bugs that we hadn't foreseen was players typing quotation marks into character notes and lance names, which broke their saved game files. With a little digging we were able to repair the files and scrub strings to prevent other save files from being corrupted.
With your feedback, we were also able to add a large variety of options and improvements. To name just a few, we added the long-awaited right-click button for in-town movement, an option to end turn automatically when all of your lances have moved, an option to turn off the beeps when someone is talking, lance names and attack power visible during pre-combat deployment, dressing rooms that allow you to equip from your own inventory before buying new equipment, and an option for faster in-town movement.
Your feedback also helped us to rebalance some character classes, especially dragons that just didn't feel powerful enough. We also fixed the boars that had far too much movement, and we added new equipment especially for your wolves, dragons, pumpkinheads, and other crafted units.
We recently added more new content and locations, such as Cactus Ranch, a new druidry vendor outside Halgdalir, and a tavern in Grenafylki. And we have more locations planned as we continue adding to the game.
As we look ahead into Himeko Sutori's future, we plan on continuing to fix and improve the game. And we would like to bring the game to new audiences. We have started localizations in Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese. And we are working on ports for macOS and Linux. We also hope to add more features such as Workshop integration, achievements, and trading cards.
We know that Himeko Sutori isn't perfect, and eventually life's demands will force us to start focusing on other projects. But for now we are still working hard to make Himeko Sutori the best game it can be. We thank you sincerely for helping us to get this far. With your help, we'll go even further.
To start off, we would like to announce that today we are releasing the official Himeko Sutori Soundtrack, fully remastered.
The soundtrack includes 30 tracks from the game, in both mp3 and lossless wav format. It also features "Journey's Awakening ~ Prelude" performed by a live orchestra at Lyndhurst Hall, AIR Studios, with Kevin Won conducting.
In addition to the soundtrack, we have a lot of improvements to the game itself we'd like to tell you about. Over the last two months we've added
- New equipment
- New and rebalanced crafting recipes
- Increased drop rate of crafting materials
- Improved stability
- Lots of quality-of-life improvements
- Rebalanced classes of crafted characters
- Start of Chinese and Portuguese localizations
- Lots and lots of bug fixes
We told you about most of those items in the text-only minor updates we've been posting a few times per week. But for those who missed the patch notes, let's take a closer look.
We have been continuing to add more weapons to the game. In addition to the Caladbolg and Shoulder Cannon (top row) that made it into the game before release, we recently added the Warblade and Stormhandle (second row) in addition to enchanted versions of the Olivewood Branch and Lamplighter (third row) and the enchanted version of the Gnarled Staff (bottom). And we still have more equipment that we'd like to add to the game in the near future.
We also added lots of other new crafting recipes and fixed a few bugged recipes that were impossible to make and we made some improvements to the crafting menu, such as being able to preview the item you're going to craft.
At your request, we also added some bulk recipes so you can create items faster. And with your feedback, we also adjusted the drop rates on various crafting materials, including them in after-combat loot drops as well as chests on the battlefield.
Those of you who have been following the game for a while know that we had a stability problem when illusionists attack because of all of the popups that suddenly appear: a number to indicate damage, a bar to show hit points remaining, and messages to indicate the stats that were debuffed. And all of those were repeated for every enemy in the area of effect. We finally fixed that issue for 99% of players (and we have a console command to limit popups for the rest).
Shown above is a goblin lance that has been dazed by one of our illusionists. The hit-point bars are drawn entirely in code, which takes pressure off the touchy Flash player that draws some of the other UI elements. The new HP bars are also blue/red to improve readability for red/green colorblind players.
And with all of your help reporting bugs, we were able to fix a lot of other issues and improve stability for everyone. One of the bugs that we hadn't foreseen was players typing quotation marks into character notes and lance names, which broke their saved game files. With a little digging we were able to repair the files and scrub strings to prevent other save files from being corrupted.
With your feedback, we were also able to add a large variety of options and improvements. To name just a few, we added the long-awaited right-click button for in-town movement, an option to end turn automatically when all of your lances have moved, an option to turn off the beeps when someone is talking, lance names and attack power visible during pre-combat deployment, dressing rooms that allow you to equip from your own inventory before buying new equipment, and an option for faster in-town movement.
Your feedback also helped us to rebalance some character classes, especially dragons that just didn't feel powerful enough. We also fixed the boars that had far too much movement, and we added new equipment especially for your wolves, dragons, pumpkinheads, and other crafted units.
We recently added more new content and locations, such as Cactus Ranch, a new druidry vendor outside Halgdalir, and a tavern in Grenafylki. And we have more locations planned as we continue adding to the game.
As we look ahead into Himeko Sutori's future, we plan on continuing to fix and improve the game. And we would like to bring the game to new audiences. We have started localizations in Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese. And we are working on ports for macOS and Linux. We also hope to add more features such as Workshop integration, achievements, and trading cards.
We know that Himeko Sutori isn't perfect, and eventually life's demands will force us to start focusing on other projects. But for now we are still working hard to make Himeko Sutori the best game it can be. We thank you sincerely for helping us to get this far. With your help, we'll go even further.