Drake Hollow news & patch notes

Ah, Autumn… Not too warm nor too cold, with its charming colours, relaxing sights, and nature-defying coffee flavours. Picture this: you are at your PC, enjoying a nice cup of tea and looking through the window. Suddenly, you see a red leaf fall from a nearby tree: reminded about the fleeting nature of life, you decide to have some fun and play a new video game. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/33019968/979620b7202d037e939b9c98872ad7549ad6e2aa.png A bit of a stretch? Maybe, but, to celebrate the season, Curve Games is now offering discounts on ALMOST (looking at you, Ancient Britain DLC) its entire catalog. What are you waiting for? Check them out on our Autumn Sale page, and rake in a bunch of games at unbeleafable prices! No, I’m not sorry about these puns.

Steam Awards

The Steam Awards are back, and throughout the Autumn Sale you'll be able to vote for your favourite games in the 10 categories selected by Valve. We know it's going to be a hard decision to make, but we would like to humbly suggest some of our games for a few of the available categories.

• The Ascent – "Outstanding Visual Style" Award
• Lawn Mowing Simulator – "Sit back and Relax" Award
• I Am Fish – "Best Game You Suck At" Award
• For The King –"Labor of Love" Award
• Human: Fall Flat – "Labor of Love" Award
• Autonauts – "Labor of Love" Award
• Embr – "Better With Friends" Award
• Just Die Already – "Better With Friends" Award

Please consider voting for us if you believe that our games embrace the essence of those categories!

Lawn Mowing Simulator: New DLC and major update

Lawn Mowing Simulator just received its biggest update yet with the addition of string trimmers, giving mowing aficionados everywhere an entirely new way to approach the ever growing menace of tall grass in their lawns. At the same time, the first paid DLC for the game, Ancient Britain, has been released, containing 4 brand-new challenging locations set in iconic British sites.

Human: Fall Flat - Lumber

Talking about "Labors of Love", earlier this month we released a 19th level for our Human: Fall Flat community. Born from the ingenious mind of David Nielsen, one of our community creators, Lumber will challenge you with a mix of old and new elements. So limber up, gather some friends, grab an axe and start exploring this amazing new level!

Space Crew: Thanksgiving Edition

Did someone say Thanksgiving? Enjoy a delectable festive banquet on the Athena station, courtesy of Wing Commander Lyra...just make sure to keep it away from the turkey that will be roaming the deck! And remember: in space no-one can hear you cluck...

Small UI fixes:

• Fixed off center icons in the skill UI
• Fixed an issue where skills wouldn't update immediately when using a controller

Howdy all! Today we’re proud to launch our latest update, which adds two new features: an experience and skills system, and a new enemy! The experience and skills system is a new feature that allows you to improve various skills as you level up your character. It’s pretty familiar stuff, of course, but we intended it to address a common piece of feedback we’ve received. Folks have been pretty clear that they don’t like how there’s little in the way of progress while playing in someone else’s game, so we set out to address that. Experience is tied to your global save game, rather than any specific instance you’re currently playing, so anything you do whether it’s in campaign, sandbox, solo, or while visiting a friend, will contribute to your overall level and the total number of skill points you can assign. We’ve also added a new enemy… Dire Eekins! Some of you may have met a docile relative of the Dire Eekins, but this one isn’t so friendly. Armed with a powerful laser and always on the move, you’ll need to be nimble while battling this new foe. We’ve also added a couple other fixes and changes based on bugs and feedback from the community: • Added the ability to repair all damaged improvements with one command • Fixed an issue with the Rebound achievement not being awarded • Fixed an issue where player blocking capacity was greatly decreased upon reloading a game • Fixed several issues with bed assignments that prevented Drakes from sleeping in available beds • Nerfed the Hasten buff (since it’s also a skill and could break at high levels)

Howdy folks, Today we’re releasing a testing preview for our next content update, which introduces an experience and leveling system and skills that you can upgrade. Experience is earned from all sorts of activities, and carries across worlds, so you can level up whether you’re playing by yourself or in your friend’s world. We’ve also added a new enemy type, the Dire Eekins, a fearsome laser shooting apparition who’s out to ruin your day. If you want to check it out, you can simply right click on the game, get properties, and select the tmf_release_test from the Betas section: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/fe21711c8498b886ec0abb1b052d47e14e51dc14.png We’ve also added the often asked for “repair all” function when you’re interacting with improvements, which will queue up as many repairs as you have the resources for. No more running to every wall after a raid and manually calling for each repair. If you hit any snags or bugs, please reply to this post, email [email protected], or hop on our Discord and let us know about it.

This update enables gameplay analytics. They can be disabled in Gameplay -> Options if you wish to opt out.

Howdy folks! We’re launching an update today, with a few tuning changes, and a new enemy type! Gnats are airborne pests, unconstrained by the limits of walls, and in possession of a ranged attack. Keep an eye out for them during raids, as they can overcome your carefully crafted feral kill boxes! Here’s the full changelist: • Changed invite friends functionality on Steam so that it opens up "invite" overlay and not the "friends" overlay. • Reduced circuitry costs for some high level improvements • Added black powder to the Magpie shop • Raised lock on camera z height to reduce ground collisions and obstructions • Added flying grunt enemy (The Gnat!) • Turned off player pawn collision on the Angry Vine to prevent it from physics launching the player • Added visibility to Windows error codes for failed Profile and Device saves on Steam • Added an option to disable analytics* *Currently this does nothing, because while the tuning changes and Gnats were ready to go, analytics was not.

Howdy Folks! Today we’re proud to announce the release of Drake Hollow version 1.2, an update we’re calling Bramble Beatdown! This represents part 2 of our roadmap: Combat improvements. We’ve been listening to your feedback, and one thing we heard loud and clear is that combat wasn’t interesting enough. The bulk of what we’ve done has been to address that, and build the combat system into a more robust experience. We hope you like it! Take a look at many of the new features here: New Combat Features Parry: A well-timed block will now parry an incoming attack, and stagger the attacker or reflect back projectiles. Charged Attack: Holding attack will now charge up a powerful area of effect attack that does heavy damage and knocks back opponents. Lock-On: By popular demand, you can now lock on to an opponent so you don’t need to steer while fighting. Unblockable Attacks: Specific attacks are now unblockable, so be careful! Raid Targeting: Enemies in raids used to use a very simple targeting strategy: attack the nearest improvement. We’ve changed that system so they now target improvements based on a mix of pathability and priority. What that means: you can be much more tactical about how you build your defenses. Create kill boxes, or force enemies through mazes where you can easily take them down. Exploding Grunts: A new breed of Grunt has emerged, and they’re volatile! Look out during raids as these menaces will explode when damaged. New Vines: Exploding Vines: Like the volatile Grunts, these vines explode when damaged. Angry Vines: These vines fight back, clubbing anything that gets too close, friend or foe. Soothing Vines: When these appear on an island, any enemy that spawns will regenerate, and will repopulate when killed until the Soothing Vine is found and eliminated. Aether Vines: Similar to Soothing Vines, they buff enemies, but with an aether shield that will slow you down if they get too close. Here’s the complete list of of changes:

• Pulled the camera out further from character and set to default
• Added charge up melee attacks
• Updated GDK save system and platform feature changes
• Wolf tuning - removed wolf dodge Added parrying
• Added enemy unblockable hits Added exploding grunts
• Added taunts for wolves, grunts, and stalkers
• Fixed lore socket issue in winter biome
• Fixed issue with feral nest closing up too soon in specific circumstances
• Added 4 vine types: the whomping vine, the soothing vine, the cursed vine, and the exploding vine
• Fixed a Loc issue in the journal in Russian
• Updated the priority for attack magnetism
• Fixed convert to multiplayer check failure
• Updated the shield block UI (animation touch-up, and added a broken icon)
• Slowed down player 2-handed combo speed, but increased the base damage by 2
• iFrames added
• Nerfed the vampiric buff at higher levels
• Terminer spawn projectile can now spawn exploding vines
• Reduced frequency of terminer default projectile spawning
• Added a UI alert when an improvement is damaged outside of a raid with no player in camp
• Fixed issue where Terminer could appear shielded when not summoning
• Candy canes no longer drop from chests
• Added lock-on capability
• Added tutorial for new combat mechanics
• Returned hot torches to the magpie shop in winter
• Turned off default santa hat as unlocked initially
• Updated enemy raid target prioritization
• Changed Terminer behavior around targeting and moving to improvements
• Fixed issue with Xbox players' talking gems not showing up when utilizing crossplay
• Added garage drippings for Magpie Shop
• Profile saves can now be marked for later processing so that multiple save attempts aren't made within the same 1 second window (led to achievement sync issues)
• Added and surfaced error code to modal dialog
• Disabled cold open
• Switched campaign and sandbox order in the main menu and added descriptive text for both
• Added logic to add all tutorials to inbox on sandbox start
• Removed warning for entering sandbox without save data
• Added a block timer to prevent impulse spamming of block/attack
• Fixed issue with processing invites on Windows 10
• Fixed issue where player was sent back to loader instead of main menu upon multiplayer lobby exit
• Added Curve Digital logo to splash screen on game start
• Fixed issues with "Campfire" and "Titan of Industry" achievements that caused delays in awarding achievements
• Fixed issue with Untouchable achievement being given in error

As always, we hope you enjoy, and please let us know if you have any issues or feedback! You can reach us via twitter, our discord, or comment below.

Bug fixes and balance tuning to combat update.

Hello everyone! We’ve been working on a lot of updates for Drake Hollow, and today we’ve just released a preview of the work we’ve been doing. This update is focused entirely on the combat experience. We’ve heard your feedback, read user reviews, and hope this helps address one of the main areas that people have felt wasn’t delivering. If you want to check it out, you can simply right click on the game, get properties, and select the tmf_release_test from the Betas section: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/fe21711c8498b886ec0abb1b052d47e14e51dc14.png So… that’s how you get it, but the more important question is… what’s in the update?! Glad you asked! Here’s a list of the highlights:

• Added camera lock on
• Added the ability to parry attacks
• Added a new attack type: charge up attacks. Hold attack to charge, release to fire a large AOE attack
• Added ability for specific attacks to break blocks
• Added a new enemy type: Exploding Grunt
• Added Soothing Vines: they heal near by enemies until destroyed
• Added Aether Vines: they buff near by enemies with Aether Shields until destroyed
• Added Volatile Vines: they explode when damaged
• Added Angry Vines: they fight back!
• Updated raid targeting prioritization. Now instead of targeting the nearest improvement, enemies will target the highest value improvements that they can path to.
• Added I-Frames to dodges and jumps
• Added a blocking attribute to weapons, that scales block power with weapon strength

This is a preview, and we know there are some issues. We also know there are likely issues we don’t even know about… so if you encounter a bug, have some feedback, or want to leave a suggestion, either swing by our discord, or fill out a report via this survey. Thanks for playing, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Today's update simply removes the holiday items from the drop lists. They will remain usable and in your inventories if you collected them over this holiday season.

We just released a hotfix addressing 2 issues:

• Modifier UI allowed the selection of unavailable modifiers while starting a new campaign
• Fixed an issue where the Capitalist achievement could not be unlocked

Let us know if you see any issues.

Hot fix: The performance hitch experienced by clients in multiplayer sessions when collecting a single shot weapon that could lead to disconnects has been fixed.

Howdy folks! We’ve been working hard, and are proud to release our Play Your Way update! As we mentioned previously in our road map, this update is focused on game play modifiers, allowing you to play Drake Hollow the way you want. Are you looking for a challenging and unforgiving experience? Choose the Iron Man preset and good luck. Just want to build with minimal pressure? The Creative preset is what you’re looking for. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/44a99c23ae328f2b69bb8df6c25c9f849c81515e.png Every preset contains a bunch of modifiers that effect gameplay: respawning, resource needs, item drop frequency, and more. You can choose a preset to quickly set everything to an experience that you want, and you can also edit each setting to your preference. Want all the challenge of the hardest settings, but no raids? No problem! Tweak settings as much as you want, either before you start or on the fly. We do want feedback based on your experiences. Swing by our Discord, message us on Twitter, email us at [email protected], or post in discussions. The modifiers can be combined in a lot of ways - 186,624 to be exact! - and as surprising as it may sound, we’ve not been able to test every combination. So if things feel busted, let us know. In addition to the modifiers, we’ve added a bunch of new holiday themed cosmetics that you can find as you explore. They’re part of the same random drops as everything else, but we’re also getting everyone started with a new hat. Enjoy your fancy holiday looks! We’ve also made a bunch of updates to Magpie’s Shop based on player requests and feedback. You can now sell stacks of items, we increased some resources there (more seeds, most notably), added additional ammo types, and now show player weapons unstacked, with tier and condition, so you’ll never sell your best item accidentally again. In addition to all that, here are a number of other fixes included:

• Supply trucks no longer show negative counts of supplies
• "Camp XP" and "Player health increased" notifications no longer appear after reaching max camp level
• Made improvements to address a variety of reports of achievements not being received
• Fixed issue where ranged weapons could be found with zero ammo
• Fixed issue where icons would incorrectly appear or disappear from compass
• Fixed issue where camp XP bar wasn't updating correctly in Tech Tree screen
• Fixed issue where weapons on ground would become "crud" quality on reload of game
• Fixed issue where multiples of quests could be given if more than one player interacts with a quest giver simultaneously
• Fixed issue where improvement info could get stuck on screen if host and client inspected the improvement simultaneously
• Fixed crash that could occur if player quit game before "convert to multiplayer" had completed
• Decreased Fang mine damage
• Added total power and utility water input and output to camp status screen
• Added Info tab to journal where players can see current stats and active modifiers

We hope you enjoy this update! As for what’s next, we’re continuing along the road map. We’ve been working on all sorts of combat improvements along side this update, but they’re not ready to share yet. It’s a big job with lots of moving parts, and still has a long to do list. We do plan on testing combat improvements in our experimental branches before launching, so stay tuned with more info on that. We’re also getting started on the meta progression, and hope to have a variety of combat and progression updates in the new year. In the mean time, have fun, and of course let us know if you hit any issues.

Hi folks, we just set a new patch live with a number of fixes. The biggest and most requested is support for Key Remapping! Lefties and folks using other-than-QWERTY keyboards rejoice! Additionally, the following fixes have been added:

• Updates to Magpie shop: all ammo now available to purchase and increased amounts, all seeds can now be sold to Magpie
• Added ability to view the map while rail grinding
• Added better messaging and error handling
• Fixed an issue with clients losing their retired Drake buffs
• Fixed an issue in Sandbox mode where supply trucks could spawn on top of one another
• Fixed an issue with hibernating Drakes not showing particle fx and having incorrect collision

Hi Folks, We’ve been blown away by the reception Drake Hollow has received, but also recognize that there are a lot of things we can improve. I wanted to share with you all the roadmap of changes we’ve got in the pipeline for the coming months. First of all, I’d like to take a moment to look at what we’ve already accomplished in the weeks since launch. We’ve added the Sandbox mode, made user experience improvements to the depot, fixed a bunch of behavior issues with the Drakes, added widescreen support and an FOV slider, and fixed a number of bugs that people brought to our attention. We’re happy to have gotten all this in, and are excited to keep adding more. For our next patch, we’re focused largely on a couple main areas: adding key rebinding, and fixing a number of bugs that lead to save loss, the inability to join or host multiplayer sessions, and a number of tuning and balance changes both for campaign and sandbox. After that patch is when things get more exciting!

Gameplay Modifiers

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/d2d7bb5f510701ed9f658253e3f03988cc4b4598.png First up is gameplay modifiers. They’re a collection of toggles that will allow you to customize the game to fit your style of play. Here’s a look at the tentative list of modifiers:

• Enemy Difficulty: Easy/Normal/Hard: adjusts the health and damage of enemies
• Improvement Build Cost: off/on: allows free building
• Improvements Unlocked: off/on: allows all improvements to be build regardless of camp level and removes the need for schematics
• Raid Frequency: never/rare/normal/frequent: allows you to adjust how often raids occur, or turn them off entirely
• Permadeath: on/off: there’s no self revival, players must return to a prior save on death or be revived by a friend.
• And more!

Additionally we’re adding a number of named presets designed to set things for specific styles:

• Creative
• Competitive
• Iron Man
• Classic
• Brawler
• Strategist.

Combat Improvements

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/f610bfdb2750789f267fbd9a5506199d2f848dd6.jpg After gameplay modifiers, we’re working on Combat Improvements! Improving the combat experience is a wide-ranging effort that will be ongoing, and involves a lot of factors. Initially we’re looking at the player themselves, and will be working on improvements to how it feels to engage in combat. I’m not going to go into specifics here, as the process will involve a lot of testing and discovery. Making combat feel better takes a mix of work in animation, game logic, enemy behavior, tuning values, and a variety of other areas. Our main goal initially is to make the character feel more reactive to the player’s intent, and then to start layering in a greater ability for the player to demonstrate skill in combat. Right now, it’s pretty button mashy, and we’re aiming to add more nuance. This effort is starting now, and will be incremental and ongoing.

Meta growth

The next big system addition will be adding meta growth: experience that accumulates across sessions and games, so that when you’re playing in a friend’s game, you are still earning rewards beyond the cosmetics you find. Initially, this will take the form of a global XP system, in which players will earn XP for their character that can be used to improve their effectiveness in combat. We’d like to tie in even more rewards in the future, but for the 1st pass we’re making a simple skill tree that players can unlock through XP earned while playing.

In Summary

In addition to all this, we’ve got a bunch of improvements happening behind the scenes on tech, and of course ongoing bug fixes. If you’re interested in checking out any of these systems as they’re being implemented and tested, keep an eye out for upcoming announcements. We have a test realm version of the game and will be making it public in the future so people can jump in, check out the latest improvements, and provide feedback as we implement. Swing by our Discord! That’s where we manage the test realm and invite folks to take part. Whew! That ended up being a pretty long update! We love how much people are enjoying the game, and how active everyone is with providing feedback on the experience, either directly or via reviews. We’re looking forward to continuing to improve and update Drake Hollow, and can’t wait to keep sharing more as these systems are completed. Thank you! Forrest Dowling President & Creative Director The Molasses Flood

Hi all! We just launched a new patch on Steam. We’ve been working on a ton of fixes as well as some new content, and we’re excited for you to check it out. First off, this update marks the first iteration of the Sandbox mode. We’re labeling it Experimental for the time being, because honestly we just haven’t had a huge amount of time to spend with it, and need your feedback to help tune it, balance it, and update it. Let us know what you think! The main features of sandbox are:

• Endless seasons! Take your camp through never ending seasons
• A new currency: Sigils! These are what power your travels. Collect them from the chests you earn from defeating raids, clearing islands, exploring, and defeating ambushes.
• New max camp level: your camp can now go to level 25
• New cosmetics: every level you achieve beyond 12 gives you a new outfit.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/37837234/990d69a6b5d3bb200b86e296f0dc6a8477810067.png So hop in, and tell us what you think! We also have a bunch of new fixes in:

• Improvements to the Depot including filters, repeating scroll, and increase of total capacity
• Added visual element to help identify enemy locations in raid combat
• Added option to disable screen shake
• Fixed issues with corruption brambles spawning beneath islands, causing "missing" brambles that can't be found
• Fixed issues with Drakes not properly manning defensive improvements
• Improved FOV visuals for players on widescreens, added an FOV slider
• Added better explanations for consumable improvements, and how to connect power/water improvements
• Fixed an issue where retired Drake statues would stack on one another
• Fixed an issue where raid music can continue despite raid completion
• Fixed issues where clients would lose buffs when reloading a save
• Fixed an issue where the red, double down Drake needs arrows would load as green dots on reload of a save

We’ve got a lot more on the way as well. Most notably in our next update, we’re adding key remapping support and will be adding game play modifiers that will allow you to tune the difficulty to your liking. We’ll be sharing more on that soon.

Drake Hollow is launching October 1st at 10am PDT! We're launching with a 10% launch discount, and a special additional 15% off for loyal customers who own The Flame in the Flood on Steam. Drake Hollow is a cooperative action village-building game set in The Hollow - a blighted mirror of our world - in which players protect villages of Drakes; the lovable, local vegetable folk. Either solo or with friends, players explore a dynamically generated and aether-swept world of islands to defend the Drakes from a menagerie of feral beasts, all while helping them to maintain their camps. Mysteries and rewards, as well as danger, await those curious enough to search every nook and cranny of The Hollow. Drakes are hungry, thirsty, and need a place to sleep. They can also - quite literally - die of boredom. Players will explore the wilderness and set up valuable supply routes to bring essentials back to camp, while keeping the Drakes entertained and happy (think yoga and puppet shows). Defending the Drakes from enemies with weapons ranging from tennis rackets to nail guns, players will eventually unravel the peculiar and ancient connection between The Hollow and our own world.