Hey All,

Thanks for your patience in waiting on this update. I know ya'll are curious about what happened, and I will share some reflections below.

But first, what is this update about?

Update 0.1.5 introduces a new seasonal experience, fixes quality-of-life issues and enhances the previous climbing release!

Important

• A bug in 0.1.4 means that even if you completed the climbing tower, you probably don't have full stamina unlocked. You will need to re-complete the tower in 0.1.5.
• We disabled drop your gear and bag when you die on all servers today; see the last blog for details on how to re-enable it.

Additions

• Christmas festive zone with a seasonal quest where you can get a free cosmetic item
• Four new climbing areas
• A floating orb that will help players on new servers identify the most important resource boxes
• A new loading screen
• Death ferns in the Quest version of the game
• Visual indicators for grab assist
• Labels for the quick-access menu items
• The camera now works on Quest
• Repair boxes and actions that require resources are easier to use
• Server search
• Redwood Cores added to Quest (in the chests in the new climbing areas)
• New Hebios towers and climbing ropes

Changes

• Shaking your hands to regain stamina is now based on a % of max stamina per second, rather than a flat rate.
• Handhover interactions should have more obvious visual feedback
• Stamina, health, and hunger UI is cleaner
• Accessibility settings are on by default

Fixes

• Steam input should work correctly for index controllers (full finger control)
• The camera no longer has black shadowing on PC
• You no longer regain stamina while climbing at speed (it starts refilling after 0.3 seconds of staying still)
• Player bags have friction now
• The "you got kicked" message is displayed correctly on the client
• Various small issues

Known issues

• HTC Vive controller hand positions are wrong when set to "steam" in the launcher.

We're super happy to have this update out, and we hope everyone gets a kick out of it!

So, why was this release late?

That's on me, sorry!

As you may have seen in discord, I became the project lead on A Township Tale about eight weeks ago. The game is rad, so I got too excited. I wanted to show the community that we were going to be a new communicative, rapidly moving team, aaaaaaand I bit off more than we could chew.

I'm sad that we missed the date, and I have learned that we need to go a little slower, but there was one really big upside to the experience; it was a bit like a smoke test. We dialled the system to full pressure, and next we will review the points of friction or failure that will show us where we need to improve. A short release also allowed me to see our pipeline, end to end, across the whole team.

My specialty is helping software teams deliver projects efficiently and effectively, so now that I have seen the process, I can see myriad ways for us to step up our game in 2023.

And this blog is already too long, but I want to leave you hyped for 2023 because I know I am.

We are ready to start work on big ideas, and we are going to need your help to do that.

Expect to hear more from me on this soon, and if you have an amazing idea for the game, make sure you submit it to the FEEDBACK FORUM

See you in town gamers!