Playtest Update

Good evening, Blacksmiths!

A brand-new Playtest update is fresh out of the forge.

We’ve thrown a little more fuel into the furnace, brought a few new faces—and their stories—to town, and spent the past few weeks hammering away at the anvil. At long last, it’s starting to look like something more than just a table you put swords on.

Instead of burying you under dozens of pages of balance tweaks and numbers, let’s talk about a few things you can actually see, hear, and get your hands on in the game.

Some New Faces Around Town

A few new special NPCs have arrived in town, each with their own side stories to discover.

• A young woman determined to make a name for herself through sword dancingShe might just need a blacksmith who knows a thing or two about weapons—and how to draw a crowd.
• A down-on-his-luck adventurer sitting outside the tavernRight now, all he may need is an unassuming sword—and perhaps a little courage to set out once again.

They won’t just stand around forever with exclamation marks floating over their heads.

As their stories unfold, they’ll take action, leave town, and may even return to your life in a very different role.

Some of these stories are a little harder to uncover, so it might be worth stopping for a chat when you pass by.

And don’t worry. So far, none of them will try to sell you an extended warranty for your anvil.

Anvil Forging, Reforged

The manual forging process has received a major presentation overhaul, from hammer to blade tip.

From heating and shaping the billet to hammering, repeated strikes, and finally quenching, the entire process now flows together more naturally.

We’ve also reworked the feedback throughout the forging process:

• New forging camera work and camera shake
• Clearer feedback when your hammer strikes land
• New magical visual effects
• Reworked sparks, embers, and sound effects
• The sword billet now changes shape more visibly as you forge it
• Reworked water and particle effects during quenching

Instead of simply “hitting the thing with a hammer,” each strike should now feel more like you’re gradually turning a glowing piece of metal into an actual weapon.

Unfortunately, no matter how pretty the splash looks, we still don’t recommend putting a red-hot sword into the water with your bare hands.

The Shop Feels More Like a Proper Shop Now

The anvil isn’t the only thing we’ve been working on. We’ve also made another round of improvements to shop management.

• Reworked Employee Management & Recruitment UIProfessions, talents, and work assignments should now be much easier to understand at a glance.
• Employee Work PreferencesYou can now set preferred jobs for your employees, allowing them to focus more on the work they’re best suited for.
• Managers Got a Little SmarterManagers are now better at helping you handle the process of putting weapons up for sale.
• Better Visual Feedback for Shop Star UpgradesUpgrading your shop now results in more noticeable visual changes. All that hard work should finally be a little easier for the neighbors to notice.
• Map Performance ImprovementsWe’ve optimized the hex map and exploration-area interface for better performance.A little less stuttering while exploring, and a little more:“Just one more tile, then I’ll go to bed.”

And a Whole Basket of Fixes

Alongside the bigger changes above, we’ve also taken care of plenty of smaller issues hiding around the game.

These include:

• Tutorial flow
• Saving, loading, and switching between save files
• Customer and weapon rack issues
• Forging cameras
• Temperature calculations
• Quest interactions
• Localization
• And several issues best described as, “Wait... why does it even do that?”

The Playtest Continues

The Playtest is still actively in development.

If you run into a bug, get stuck somewhere, notice something wrong with the numbers, or encounter an NPC whose behavior is somehow more mysterious than their actual storyline, please let us know through the in-game feedback system.

Every piece of feedback helps us make sure the next hammer strike lands a little closer to the mark.

Thank you for continuing to forge swords, run your shops, and occasionally forgive the development team for somehow forging ourselves into the game as well.

Keep the forge burning. See you in the game!

— The Development Team