Swords 'n Magic and Stuff News

Hello! I and the rest of the Kindred Games team hope you enjoyed the holidays!

Frostfall is over, but we're already onto new things with Swords 'n Magic. In this update we've fixed a bunch of bugs and added a few notable features.

Just a heads up that the next major update is probably going to be a few months out because it's a BIG ONE. We're working on weapon abilities, a total hotbar and damage refactor and we're planning on launching it all with a whole new zone. So get ready! And in the meantime, enjoy the new features. : )

Thanks for all your continued support!

New:

• Goodbye Frostfall
  
• Inventory sorting and filtering
  
• Barber Shops - can now change your hair, hair color, facial hair, facial hair color, and make-up (facial expressions)
  
• Hairstyles
  
• Reduced how many clothing and hair options there are when starting a new character
  

Improved:

• Updated outfits files to hopefully prevent the weird outline around your feet
  
• House on a Hill plot is no longer discounted
  
• Level 0 staves are now level 1 as things at level 0 break the universe
  
• Erma’s shop doesn’t sell clothing you auto learn now
  
• Alchemy and tailoring icons in the skills menu have been updated from the default carpentry icon
  
• Special loot chests now have custom loot lifetimes - the loot will stay longer than the default two minutes to ensure you don’t miss out on your loot if you die
  

Fixed:

• Rock Paths now have collisions so you can pick them up
  
• Spelling issues
  
• Large rugs from being seen through the second story of houses (you’ll need to pick them up and replace them if you want to fix it)
  
• Changed collisions on Full Scroll Bookcase so you can use the shelf for items
  
• Changed crystal ball materials so it stops flickering
  
• Mr.Sym’s falling sign
  
• Marketplace Plot in Sleepy Haven is now buildable
  
• Nedd has returned to his post in Azura
  
• A one off issue with Rayna where you couldn’t get the recipe
  
• Masked Menace’s door is now interactable
  
• Crabs now appear in Tiny Tavern’s cellar
  
• Sen’s quest is fixed again - please tell Sen to stop breaking his stuff
  
• Quest log to update correctly if items are removed from your inventory
  
• Tools sign in Hope Harbor no longer hangs off the sign
  
• Wolf Cress item description typo
  
• Ella’s Bakery no longer has part of her roof inside her house
  
• Typo in Kelch’s dialog
  
• Hoping to have fixed all of the invisible NPC issues
  
• Jed’s doll and the glasses on the beach are available for characters that have never picked them up
  
• Duplicate toadstools at a wolf den
  
• Blitz in Frostfall no longer has two right hands
  
• Captain Jensen learned the proper way to hold a shield
  
• Captain Jensen taught Randall the proper way to hold a shield
  
• Pickup preview icon for coins now matches other icons for coins
  
• 
  

Hey guys. Just a very minor fix for a few bugs.

Fixed:

• Fixed a very specific issue with the Gravekeeper quest
  
• Hot Cocoa can now be learned (may show up if you've already learned it)
  
• Scarecrow space program was defunded
  
• Possible invisible NPC fix
  
• Updated loot from Golem chest
  

New:

• Super Secret item for the Golem chest
  

Hey there!

Like always, the update had a few bugs we wanted to knock out real quick.

One note is that we had a bit of an issue where one of the housing plots (The house on the hill plot in Sleepy Haven) had it's save ID reset at one point. This meant that the plot forgot who owned it, if anyone in your worlds, leading to you having to repurchase the plot to access your chests or interact with your furniture.

This bug was an easy fix, but if you already re-purchased the plot, it could mean you having to re-purchase it AGAIN!. Because of this we decided to just get ahead of the issue and reduce the cost of the plot for the holiday event. It went from 5000 gold down to 100 gold until January 5th when the Frostfall teardown update goes live.

We apologize for missing this and we can assure you that we'll be much more careful with the save ID's going forward so this doesn't happen again. Luckily no one's furniture or chests on the property were affected.

Fixed:

• Ginger no longer takes additional resources from you
  
• House on the Hill in Sleepy Haven is now fixed for previous players
  
• House on the Hill is discounted for the event duration due to potential issues with needing to buy it again.
  
• Added a handful of new items to the collection
  
• Skeletons now give XP for companions
  
• Shop paintings now show accurate model and textures
  

Happy Holidays and Merry Frostfall from the Kindred Games team!

We're excited to announce the return of our annual winter event we call Frostfall. You can travel to the Northest North and participate in new quests, activities, fight new monsters and defeat a dangerous boss with your friends!

And if that wasn't enough, we've also released an overhaul to our animal companion system which allows you to level up your companions and manage them from the stable!

We've also added somewhere around 100 new items to the game and we can't wait for you to find them all!

Update v1.4.8

New:

• 22 Food and drink recipes
  
• 1 new crop
  
• 8 new outfits
  
• 2 new Frostfall quests
  
• 45+ furniture items (both holiday and non-holiday)
  
• 4 new building structures
  
• Furniture items to display items on
  
• 11 new Frostfall weapons
  
• 2 new non-holiday magic weapons
  
• A new tinkerer contraption
  
• Festive masks and hat
  
• Festive glider
  
• 2 new Frostfall backpacks
  
• Merchants in Frostfall
  
• Frostfall exclusive mount
  
• Frostfall exclusive companion
  
• Analytic being tracked: any file errors, even if players don’t know they had an error
  
• Seed makers and cauldrons now have radial progress bars
  
• Animal companion overhaul - now able to level up and rename companions
  
• Master whistle item to use all of your companions with - assign at the stable
  
• Biscuits used to heal your companions are sold at stable master NPCs
  
• Frostfall decor in Sleepy Haven
  
• 3 new titles
  
• Frost Golem health bar
  
• First equipable trinket
  
• Water bucket resource at wells to collect free water daily
  

Improved:

• Ella’s Bakery has more for sale
  
• 14 furniture items now have storage (things like armoires and dressers)
  
• Display improvements and network optimizations to damage numbers
  
• AI perception responsiveness and performance improvements
  
• Fixed up paintings throughout the world to not take up so much memory
  
• Changed Red and Pastel backpacks to unlock at level 20 instead of 18 to match the ingredients that unlock at level 20
  
• Changed the ingredients needed to craft the Maple Bow to reflect the correct level items for the bow
  
• Increased Cotton yield from 1-2 to 2-3
  
• Increased the chance to get cotton seeds from farming cotton
  
• Milk now has a unique icon and model (was previously using the Eggnog icon and model)
  
• Optimization pass in Sleepy Haven - saw increased performance on most machines in testing; more optimization passes to come
  
• Cleaned up lighting around the world to help with performance
  
• Snowman have a chance to drop the hat they are wearing
  
• Better showing/hiding of AI healthbars and nameplates
  
• Marshmallow stick now applies burning effect
  
• Damage over time effects now display damage numbers on enemies
  

Fixed:

• Locked doors - all doors that should have been locked in the world were unlocked; this cause some quests to become broken
  
• Typo in Erma’s dialog
  
• Added a fix for players locked out of the Gravekeeper quest (hopefully)
  
• Typos in Frostfall dialog
  
• Rug patterns to be centered
  
• Rugs so they weren’t floating off the floor
  
• Typo in mailbox description
  
• Forge widget now updates if people remove from output
  
• Picking up a bed that someone else is sleeping in no longer gets them stuck
  

Happy Friday!

The update is on Wednesday - so close! While you'll see few items on the lists below, it's because the team is focused on bug fixing. Since none of these bugs have been seen by the public, it seems silly to add them to the list. Fear not, they do exist and are being squashed. That's the teams main focus until update day. You'll notice a few new and improved things have been adjusted specifically from player feedback (cotton and water). We appreciate it!

This will be the last development digest until the 14th of January! You'll have full patch notes next week. The following week is Kindred Games vacation week. A nice time to relax and getaway for a bit before coming back and attacking weapon abilities, weapon stats, and the magic system. We'll have a removal of Frostfall update the following week with patch notes and then back to business.

Happy holidays and happy new year to you all!

Working on:

• West Windless Woods
  
• Bug fixing for the update
  

New:

• Display plaques to show off your weapons in your home
  
• Frost Golem health bar
  
• Furniture paintings in different sizes (all sold in Sleepy Haven)
  
• First equipable trinket
  
• Water bucket resource at wells to collect free water daily
  
• NPC in Ramshackle
  

Improved:

• Snowman have a chance to drop the hat they are wearing
  
• Better showing/hiding of AI health bars and nameplates
  
• Marshmallow stick now applies burning effect
  
• Increased the chance to get cotton seeds from farming cotton
  
• Cleaned up lighting around the world to help with performance
  
• Optimization pass in Sleepy Haven
  

Fixed:

• Permission issues with new storage type placeables
  

A few pictures to hold you over until Wednesday: