Them's Fightin' Herds news & patch notes

Hello everyone, Today, in this special Development Update, we have some important announcements to cover. First, we've just released a game update! Version 5.1.0 is now live on all platforms and contains balance adjustments, bug fixes, and a new gameplay mechanic called "Armor Break" which gives players additional tools to deal with characters that make heavy use of armor mechanics... like Texas! Details are in the patch notes. Second, we have an update on Nidra, the 3rd character in our Season 1 Pass, as well as a reveal of character #4 which we’ll be sharing for the first time today. And finally, we have an update on where TFH goes from here. Without further ado let's dive in, starting with new characters.

DLC Character 3 - Nidra

As we mentioned a few weeks ago, Nidra's release has been delayed to allow us more time to get her ready. Here are some updates on her progress: Nidra is, first and foremost, a Stance character. Sporting a total of 3 different stances, she moves through them fluidly during normal combat. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/2cd4cd2331a9f6ad4d1dbe12db8e65e0922fcbcd.gif These stances may not usually have a large range, but have quite a bit of forward momentum on them. This allows Nidra to reposition herself mid-string and swap stances as she sees fit for the given situation. Do be on your guard, because her stance moves will require you to switch blocks accordingly. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/84de18c925fcffb043ad4f0aad1d948cddb44bc0.gif Nidra has a maximum of 4 magic stocks, and her usage of them comes in the form of bouncy, slow-moving projectiles. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef5b9d63b57054bfddc9c564e125d299afd0d965.gif These allow Nidra to both take control of areas of the screen, as well as potentially lock down an opponent for mixup opportunities. Each button strength of projectile has a different trajectory. When at full magic, Nidra can enter her Awakened State. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/beb55e92b30e9b4e803287837113e3ae9d064dc9.gif Awakened State is an install that has a screen freeze on activation, allowing the player a bit of extra time to see what is happening on screen, or to use as a way to completely take their turn back during a series of blockstrings. She may look and act sleepy at almost all times, but Nidra is far from a pushover. Be on your guard, or you will be overwhelmed by her large moveset and various stances! Nidra’s Stage - “Slumber Sanctuary”: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/89cc076c9b3cbf5a6c67a0a55bb2426d6a3f4d0d.png

DLC Character 4 - Introducing “Baihe”

For the first time, we are revealing the final character in the Season 1 Pass: Baihe! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/cf454f02910727d59b0395245c8795b1a9925bec.png Baihe and Tianhuo have known each other since childhood, where fierce rivalry eventually transformed into a strong friendship. They both joined the Longma Special Forces to protect the Huoshan Empire, but a mission gone awry led to Baihe's injury and disgrace. She sought a transfer to the Empress's Royal Guard and became Tianhuo's second-in-command. Now, they work together to safeguard all of Foenum from Predator threats and demonstrate the might of the Huoshan Empire. Baihe is a zoner style character that specializes in long-ranged combat. Though she shares some movement options with Tianhuo, she is far less agile, preferring to plant herself in a fortified location and armor through incoming attacks. Baihe’s Stage - “Smoldering Heaven’s Nest”: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ba57d1807ce9447cba5de5908b4d23f363e18041.png We will unveil more info on Baihe as we head into 2024. She and Nidra will release together in early next year's update, version 6.0.

The Future of TFH

As we look forward to the release of Nidra and Baihe, let's talk about what comes next. After the Season 1 Pass is complete, we will be ceasing active development on TFH. We will still be able to release small patches to address game-breaking bugs, but no new content will be produced. Unfortunately, that includes Story Mode. Story Mode has always been an ambitious feature and one we truly desired to implement. We know how much our fans have been looking forward to Story Mode chapters, and we hope you understand how much we looked forward to working on and releasing them. We are looking for opportunities to release content that has already been produced for Chapter 2, starting with a new stage, "Restricted Section". This stage will be a part of the version 6.0 update alongside Nidra and Baihe. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/feefc046b5c678aa3114a1efe0269ee142ff2335.png

Crowdfund Rewards

For any outstanding items related to our original Indiegogo crowdfund, this shift in development does mean we will need to adjust some of our originally planned perks. More information on this will be shared in the coming weeks via email and on our Indiegogo channel.

Conclusion

Thank you all for taking the time to read this announcement and for sticking with us all these years. We will continue updating our players on our social channels and look forward to our new characters releasing soon. Mane6 and Modus

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/19e6813adf29d37fc1f25ff7e4309ea76f777af8.jpg Missed our livestream on Twitch? Don't worry - catch the vod here on Steam! The Mane6 dev team breaks down the patch notes, Stronghoof's design, and showcases some high-level matches featuring the newest mid-range master!

Today is the day that Stronghoof releases onto the field of battle! We'll be doing a developer stream later today at our usual time (3pm PT / 6pm ET / 11pm UK) on our Twitch channel to celebrate, hang out, answer questions, and play some launch day matches. Come join us! In this update we're shipping a number of bugfixes, including fixes for critical issues with Paprika's gift eating and Pom's dog attack canceling, both of which originated in 4.0.1. These particular two problems presented significant, unnecessary disadvantages to those characters, and we would have preferred to address them immediately, but we were unable to release an update any earlier due to the long lead times on console patches and the close proximity of the 4.0.1 release to our initial submission of the Stronghoof release. It was not an ideal situation to say the least, and we will be taking extra precautions to reduce the chances of bugs like this making it out to live releases. We apologize for our mistake and for how long it took to fix. There is one more piece of news we want to relay before getting into the patch notes. Stuart Ferguson, one of our two musicians, has left Mane6 to pursue other projects. We are on good terms, he is still around making music, and there may be a chance for us to work together again in the future. Whitetail will be the sole producer of music for TFH hereafter. Without Stu, we are not able to produce music at the same capacity as before, so we have made the difficult decision to limit the scope of the Dynamic Music System for new stages going forward, starting with Stronghoof's. From now on, the DMS on new stages will model that of the Hidden Waterfall stage, featuring stage-specific intros, outros, round transitions, and idle/final round versions, but no character-specific themes. Stages that already feature "full" DMS (like Texas' stage) will still get character themes for new roster members. The DMS is an iconic part of TFH, but it presents a unique production issue as the game grows. With "full" DMS, we have to create themes for all existing characters on new characters' stages, and a new character's theme has to be written into all existing stages. That means for each new character, the total amount of work required for a "full" DMS increases exponentially, and with the (relatively) rapid pace at which we're producing new characters these days, it has become unsustainable for our (now singular) musician to maintain for the foreseeable future. If you have any questions about this, we'd be happy to discuss things further in our Discord server or during the stream today. That's all the news we have for now, so let's talk about what's in store for 5.0!

New Character: Stronghoof

Stronghoof the Reindeer joins the roster as the second character in the Season 1 Pass! Unlocking Stronghoof requires the purchase of the Season 1 Pass or his individual Character Pack. Owners of the Deluxe Edition are automatically graced with his presence without any extra steps! Regardless of whether or not you own the DLC, you may still fight against him in online play. He also sometimes shows up as a CPU-controlled opponent in Arcade Mode! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/19e6813adf29d37fc1f25ff7e4309ea76f777af8.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/905db21daad7efb5bb197350aeccd5d1f77b99d1.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/37f5f81adb0527f4b4a043fe152572cf83a81902.jpg KNOWN ISSUES:

• The DMS on all stages contains Stronghoof-specific intros, outros, and transitions, but not his domination character theme. We ran into some last-minute bugs and had to disable it for safety. They will be patched in the next update.
• If you have the Pixel Lobby avatar for Stronghoof (or Texas) equipped and you leave/rejoin a lobby, you'll be reset to Shanty. We will fix this!

Tutorials

• Revised the position of the hazards in Velvet's (and now Stronghoof's) Slide tutorial, to make it easier to complete (and possible at all for Stronghoof).

Command Lists

• Texas' command list now properly says "bullseye" instead of "tipper" (English only; it's correct in all other languages).
• Fixed missing move property icons (Low, Overhead, Grab, etc) for level 3 supers on non-English command lists for Tianhuo and Shanty.
• Fixed the word "Magic" not being highlighted blue for "Ran Shao Feng" in Tianhuo's Russian command list.
• Fixed the word "Super Attacks" being misaligned in Arizona’s Russian command list.
• Fixed Texas' 6A description "blockable while the opponent is descending" being in Spanish instead of Brazilian Portuguese on that command list.
• For Russian command lists, retranslated "Projectile Invulnerable" (where it appears), "Retreat Flip" (Tianhuo), and "Launcher Attack" (All Characters).
• For Brazilian Portuguese command lists, retranslated "Parley" (Shanty), "Dark Cataclysm" (Oleander), "Digging Pup" (Pom), and "Volcanic Bash" (Tianhuo).

Gameplay

General

Cosmetic

• Added one new palette for each character:
  • Arizona - "Marching Fishes"
  • Velvet - "Koyousetsu"
  • Oleander - "Hell's Grenade"
  • Paprika -" Fifth Slash"
  • Pom - "Double Typhoon"
  • Tianhuo - "Mega Flame"
  • Shanty - "Night of Fire"
  • Texas - "Hammer Spark"

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue present in the last patch that was causing Max-JD hitspark sound effects to play louder than they used to.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png Bugfixes

• Fixed certain chain attacks not coming out consistently. Players would get forward attacks instead of low attacks. (6A > 3B or 6A > 3C).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png Bugfixes

• Fixed Velvet not being able to super cancel during the first few frames of 3C.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue where 5B could be canceled into 3C on whiff.
• Fixed grounded Magic Spark (level 3) appearing as the size of a normal Spark, instead of being enlarged (this seemed to have broken at some point in the past).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue present in the previous patch that caused normals performed as a reversal to no longer trigger gift eats (only specials should bypass gift eating).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue present in the previous patch that caused dog attacks to stop attacking when Pom was put into preblock (dog attacks should only stop attacking during actual blockstun).
• Fixed an issue where if Momma dog was hit by Texas' 2D during Rally, she would instantly activate her counter the next time she used it.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ae1b201a18e477bf0d6e2851f3c7df9dafa0ccca.png Features

• Texas now has an onscreen timer for his level 2 super (Pummel Pillar).

Bugfixes

• Fixed trades of Prairie Pummel with Paprika's cinnamon roll causing Paprika to fall out of the super prematurely.
• Fixed an issue causing Texas to fall backwards instead of straight down when being thrown by Shanty's air grab.
• Fixed an issue causing the camera to not follow Texas properly if launched offscreen by certain moves while his Prairie Pillar was active.
• Fixed Texas sometimes being invisible during the cutscene of Oleander's level 3 super.
• Fixed Texas being vulnerable to projectile hits during the grab of his 6A. He is now invulnerable immediately after a successful grab.
• Fixed Texas being able to activate Cowbell followups after triggering the counter from Pom's level 3 super.
• Fixed opponents gaining extra height after being hit with Prairie Pummel during the middle of being ground bounced.
• Fixed an issue where j.C could be canceled into an air throw at a very specific time, even on whiff.
• Fixed an issue that allowed a trade with Cowbell against a KO'd Texas to do followups.
  • KNOWN ISSUE: This fix has created another issue where same-frame trades with another Texas Cowbell cause mismatched frame advantage, favoring Player 2. We are looking into a fix.

Greetings! Patch 4.0.1 is our first update to the game in 2023 and is primarily aimed at cleaning up loose ends from the Texas release. We've got a number of bugfixes that should smooth out inconsistencies and provide stability, as well as a few targeted balance changes. We're still hard at work developing the latest character to be announced for our Season 1 Pass, Stronghoof. In the meantime, please enjoy this small but important update!

Gameplay

General

Bugfixes

• Backwards-jump-canceling Velvet's and Tianhuo's 6A attacks will now cause them to leave the ground instead of going into preblock. This fixes an inconsistency with every other jump-cancelable move in the game.
• Fixed an oversight where Velvet, Oleander, Tianhuo, and Shanty were not in counterhit state after a whiffed level 3 super.
• Fixed an oversight that allowed armored attacks to affect level 3 supers from Arizona, Velvet, Oleander, and Pom. These attacks should now successfully break armor.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png Bugfixes

• The invulnerability for Sculpted Perfection will now occur on frame 7, fixing inconsistencies.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Bugfixes

• Fixed certain chain attacks not coming out consistently. Players would get forward attacks instead of low attacks. (6A > 3B or 6A > 3C)
• Fixed an oversight where Fred 6D had too much blockstop, which caused pushblock or Cross Canter inputs from the opponent to be ignored.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue during Deadly Affection where Paprika would sometimes not go into hitstun after being hit by a super attack.
• Fixed an issue causing A specials to trigger a gift eat if not negative-edged. As a rule, all A specials should bypass gift eating.
  • KNOWN ISSUE: An unintended change made as part of this bugfix causes normals performed as a reversal to no longer trigger eats. This will be corrected in the next patch.
• Fixed an issue causing the first hit of Smother to fail playing its sound effect.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue where Pom's dogs would sometimes not have their attacks canceled immediately when Pom is put into blockstun, as they should.
• (Probably) fixed an issue causing Bark to not go through the full length of active hitboxes when deleting a projectile.
• Fixed some specific interactions with Texas that would cause Pom's dogs to not leave as soon as their health is depleted.
• Fixed some dog layering issues that would cause Momma and Papa to appear in front of Texas during certain animations. Now they should layer behind Texas at all times as intended.
• Fixed a cosmetic bug where players could see Momma "pop" out of existence when leaving the stage if she had to travel far enough. Momma will now fully leave the screen before despawning.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png Balance

• The invulnerability period for 7D has been shortened significantly.
  • This reversal is one of the most controversial abilities in the entire game. We’re finally addressing it after over a year of it slipping through many previous patches.
• Tianhuo's metergain has been adjusted across the board.
  • This finally lines Tianhuo up with the rest of the cast's metergain adjustments in patch 3.0 for level 3 supers balancing. Until now, Tianhuo was operating on old metergain rules which don't translate to 3.0+, as it makes her level 3 far too accessible. We want level 3 supers to remain special occurrences and not a regular part of every single game.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue causing a reversal level 1 super to instead come out as a normal after Shanty was buried by Texas Smash.
• Fixed an issue where wallbounce stun would cause camera problems during Wall Cling attacks.
• Fixed afterimages from installs (Shanty and Tianhuo in their level 2s), if active, being superimposed over the ship segment of Shanty's level 3 super.

Texas

Cosmetic

• Texas now has a crouch idle animation.

Balance

• The damage bonus from landing a Bullseye is no longer true damage. The attack now respects scaling rules.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an oversight that allowed Texas to gain more meter than other characters when being hit.
• Fixed an issue where Bullseye benefits were not occurring during certain combos.
• Fixed an issue where Air Cowbell would sometimes cause a wallstick instead of a wallbounce.
• Fixed an issue where characters had varying recovery distances from Texas after being grabbed by Texas Smash. All characters should now have the same recovery distance.
• Fixed an issue causing Stomp to have an inconsistent amount of armor.
• Fixed an issue where Earth Pull would sometimes be jump cancelable.
• Fixed an issue where Prairie Pummel would sometimes have inconsistent advantage frames, and sometimes fail to cause a hard knockdown.
• Fixed a rare instance of Pummel Pillar having inconsistent periods of hitpause after activation.
• Fixed an issue where the camera would not follow Texas properly during and after Pummel Pillar.
• Fixed an issue in the Texas mirror match where if Pummel Pillar was used while the other player's Pummel Pillar was still active, both the camera and the spawned rock objects would get displaced.
• Fixed an issue where if Tianhuo hit Texas with her level 3 super while Pummel Pillar was active, the cutscene would play out with improper pacing.
• Fixed an animation glitch where Texas would snap backwards suddenly after a successful back throw.
• Texas is now properly able to be counterhit during Rodeo Run.

Stronghoof, the second character in our Season 1 Pass is revealed in this trailer, which premiered at Frosty Faustings XV: With a second dad added to the mix, Texas is now rivaled against another seasoned warrior. We've taken one of more popular background characters and elevated him to full character status, complete with a much-needed glow-up! This character is due to release in Spring of this year, just a few months away! We'll have more details to share as he advances in development. Thank you all for your support of our project. Two more characters remain yet to be revealed to complete the Season Pass!

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/02e41f2043f81a10be45d47760871af909133320.jpg Steer clear, Texas is here! The Mane6 dev team breaks down the patch notes, Texas's design, and some high-level matches featuring our new big-body grappler.

New Character: Texas

Texas the Bull joins the roster as our newest DLC character! Playing him requires the purchase of the Season 1 Pass or his separate Character Pack. Owners of the Deluxe Edition automatically unlock Texas without any extra steps! Even if you don't own the DLC, you can still fight against him in online play or in Arcade Mode (but he doesn't always show up). {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/02e41f2043f81a10be45d47760871af909133320.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/79f4bb475395e2f92684ebe7e3d96d7da366b6d9.jpg {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/37f5f81adb0527f4b4a043fe152572cf83a81902.jpg

macOS Version

• The macOS version is now fully updated and working. It had been non-playable since the console release (we are deeply sorry about that).
• However, due to upgrades we had to make to our build process for consoles, the minimum required version of macOS is now Monterey. Earlier versions will no longer be able to run the game.

UI

• Character Select has a new look!
• Fixed the credits hintstripe using the Forward glyph instead of the Page Left glyph.

Tutorial

• Fixed Pom's magic section header not being localized in Brazilian Portuguese.
• Fixed Pom's magic section saying Puppies (A) for all three sections.
• Fixed the demo in Arizona's Magic Dash tutorial being broken (it was never updated after the removal of the slowdown).
• Removed the line about using Arizona's level 1 super to punish (since it references it being 3 frames and it is no longer 3 frames.)
• Fixed a number of areas where placeholder text was being shown instead of number values.
• Fixed missing down arrow glyph in the dialogue for Velvet's Instant Snowball tutorial.
• Fixed the missing B in Bulkhead during the freeplay segment of Shanty's command normals tutorial.

Combo Trials

• Level 3 supers now show up properly during combo trials.

Pixel Lobby

• "White 'Stache" is now a face item (but it still makes Velvet bald).
• Fixed some broken character glyphs in player usernames.
• Fixed the controls hint on the main HUD showing the Select button instead of the Player List button.

Classic Lobby

• Fixed Classic Lobbies set to Invite Only not actually being Invite Only. They are now private again.
• Fixed being unable to resolve matches if 4+ players were readied up.
• Fixed the Classic Lobby browser showing the Menu 2 button prompt for Create Lobby, but taking the Medium attack button instead.

Story Mode

• Fixed some item "equips" for NPCs not showing up properly.
• Fixed a few minor tileset errors in The Highlands and Reine City.

Gameplay

General

Balance

• Armored attacks now cause slightly less additional hitstop across the board.

Bugfixes

• Fixed the minimal HUD not showing the meter lockout from Cross Canter.
• It is now no longer possible to hold Start on the Rematch screen during online play.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png Bugfixes

• Arizona will now consistently face her opponent on the first frame of her level 1 super when canceling out of a special.
• Fixed an instance where Arizona would deal 0 damage with her level 1 super when striking Shanty during Wallcling.
• Fixed 5A > 3 > 3B giving you 6B instead of a 2B.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an instance where Velvet would deal 0 damage with her level 1 super when striking Shanty during Wallcling.
• Changed Velvet’s crouching hitstun to be consistent with the rest of the cast.
• Added a preemptive fix to Velvet's j.C that resets her opponent's wallbounce slot before hitting in the air, to prevent velocity-related bugs from occurring.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Adjustment

• Fred 2D now only hits airborne opponents, instead of just having a high hitbox. (This was done to ensure that Texas did not get hit by Fred 2D while standing. The actual hitbox has not changed.)

Bugfixes

• Fixed 5B > 3 > 3C giving you a 6C instead of a 3C, and 5A > 3 > 3B giving you as 6B instead of a 2B, for some reason.
• Fixed an issue where using Oleander's level 3 super could cause subsequent wallbounces she gets put into to send her bouncing back way farther than she should.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Cosmetic

• Fixed improper color of gifts while using the "MofuMofu" palette.

Bugfixes

• Fixed the HUD disappearing during the install phase of Paprika's level 3 super, on Switch specifically.
• Fixed instances where gifts would disappear during level 3 super grab attempts.
• Fixed being able to make level 3 super grab attempts while Paprika’s own health bar was empty!!
• Fixed instances where Paprika was able to gain meter post-KO.
• Paprika's level 1 super now connects properly with characters who are performing moves that destroy projectiles. Examples: Shanty during Parley, Oleander during her level 1 super, Pom during Bark!
• Fixed Paprika being locked out of activating her level 1 super during Pom’s level 3 super counter phase.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png Bugfixes

• Tianhuo will now consistently face her opponent on the first frame of her level 1 super when canceling out of a special.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png Bugfixes

• Fixed an instance of Wallcling breakage if used on the same frame Shanty's opponent detaches from a wallsplat/wallbounce.
• Fixed an instance of Shanty's Wallcling creating a wall for far longer than her time on said wall.

Texas the Bull, the first character in the Season 1 Pass, releases on all platforms Dec 19 at 8am PT! Watch the trailer to see him in action. Texas can be yours with the purchase of a Season 1 Pass ($19.99 USD). He can also be unlocked separately in his own DLC pack ($4.99 USD). Owners of the Deluxe Edition of TFH automatically unlock all Season 1 Pass content without having to do anything extra! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/02e41f2043f81a10be45d47760871af909133320.jpg Now that the release of Texas is imminent, we have a revised roadmap image for Season 1 Pass production: {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/79f4bb475395e2f92684ebe7e3d96d7da366b6d9.jpg Originally, we had intended to complete both Texas and "Character #9" in 2022, but due to the unique challenges of Texas' development, all the other characters in the Season 1 Pass will now be coming out in 2023. Thankfully, production on "Character #9" is going much, MUCH faster so far. We hope to update you on our progress soon! On Texas release day, we will be doing a post-patch stream to provide a breakdown of Texas as a character and talk about our process of development. The stream will be on Dec 19 at our usual time of 3pm PT on twitch.tv/mane6dev. Thanks again for supporting the development of Them's Fightin' Herds. We hope you enjoy Texas when he releases. More announcements to come!

In preparation for the release of our console ports tonight at midnight (your local time, which means that some time zones already have it), we have just sent out an update to the Steam version to add crossplay functionality, localization in 10 additional languages, and achievements! We will also be opening official Pixel Lobbies in Japan, so players in Asia will have a more local hub to find worthy opponents.

NOTE: At the time of this writing, the Mac version has not been updated yet and is unplayable. We will work to get it updated before the weekend, if not tomorrow. EDIT (10/20): The Mac version is now playable, but we can't update it to the latest patch before this weekend. However, there is now a beta branch on Steam called macos_public that will allow Mac users to play the game on version 3.1.0. This build is not compatible with the current version of the game so it can't be played online with any non-mac user. To switch Steam branches, right-click on the game in your library, choose Properties > Betas > and select macos_public from the dropdown list. We apologize for this. We're experiencing an issue with our Apple developer account and it's the best we could do in the situation. We will provide another update when we're able to restore the Mac version to full functionality.

Both digital and physical editions of the console ports can be purchased from platform storefronts, your favorite retailer, or on the Maximum Games Store. Supported platforms include Switch, Playstation 4/5, and Xbox One/Series X|S. This project has come a long way and we are about to cross another massive milestone. We'd like to take the time to thank a few folks before we get into the patch notes… First, our publisher Modus Games. A global multi-platform console launch would not have been possible without their help, so to everyone there who's worked with us on this project, Mane6 thanks you from the bottom of our hearts. Next: to friends, family, industry allies, our community, the greater FGC, and of course, our crowdfund backers. Thank you for supporting our project, whether you've been there since the beginning or you've recently joined us. Our dream to make the world's greatest ungulate-based fighting game is now a reality, and there's much more to come! Now, onto the patch notes:

Crossplay

TFH now features full crossplay! All players regardless if they're playing on Steam or consoles can find and match each other through the matchmaking queue, classic lobbies, and Pixel Lobbies. Additional HUD elements have been added to help players identify those on a different platform. Important: Account progress is tracked separately on each platform! Story mode data, lobby accessories, casual XP, friends lists, DLC, etc, do not sync across additional copies you own! Technical Notes

• The console netcode is based on EOS (Epic Online Services) to allow for crossplay. But, due to a bug with EOS P2P packet sending, players may experience more connection quality issues than the PC version when playing on or with consoles. The issue lies on the Epic side of the equation, but we'll continue to monitor feedback and work with them to get it sorted.
• However, Steam users playing with other Steam users will automatically use the original Steam netcode, which offers the same connection quality players were used to prior to this update.
• Note: All platforms continue to use the TFH implementation of GGPO for rollback netcode, so online fights should still feel as responsive as they did before.

Localization

• TFH now features translations for 10 additional languages! Added in this update:
• French
• Italian
• German
• Spanish (European)
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
• Russian
• Japanese
• Korean
• Chinese (Simplified)
• Chinese (Traditional)

If you would like to provide us with feebdack about the translations, email us at [email protected], or post in the #loc-feebdack channel in our Discord server.

Achievements

Achievements are now officially a part of the Steam release, as well as on Playstation and Xbox (Switch does not support achievements). Note: Prior to this update, players may have noticed that a set of hidden achievements were registered on Steam but could not be unlocked. This was because we were testing them and we could not hide them from player view completely. Sorry for the confusion! Those achievements are now active, but any progress made on them before this update doesn't count!

Season 1 Pass

The Season 1 Pass will become available for purchase on Steam at 9PM PT. Players who purchase it will get instant access to the exclusive palette pack and Pixel Lobby accessory pack, as well as access to all four future Season 1 Pass characters when they release. Earlier this year, we teased the first playable character, Texas, who will be available next month.

Pixel Lobby

• Hosting a custom Pixel Lobby server on Linux is supported once again (previously, Linux servers were not working since 3.0).
• Official Pixel Lobby servers are now available in Japan!
  • Remember, your connection to your opponent is peer-to-peer, so it doesn't really matter which lobby you join. Sticking to the region closest to you just increases the chances you'll meet players with lower ping.
• A new type of Pixel Lobby equippable is now available: followers!
  • The miniwolf follower is instantly unlocked with the purchase of the Season 1 Pass. Others are unlocked like regular accessories: by opening chests in the Salt Mines, and by purchasing from Cap ‘n Cash’s. Careful though, Cashmere’s charging a premium for followers!
• Note: A few small, but vital HUD features were removed from the Pixel Lobby due to incompatibilities with our new netcode. We will do our best to restore these features in a future update.

Differences Between PC and Console Versions

TFH was built primarily for PC. Not all of the features we've developed for the game work consoles, so a few things have been modified or disabled. Here are the main differences for console platforms over Steam:

• Pixel Lobby text chat and voice chat is disabled. Players on consoles will not receive messages from either of those systems, but precanned messages still work!
• The main menu newsfeed is temporarily disabled. We will be restoring this feature in a future update.
• Sharing combo and replay files with players on consoles is currently not supported, and we don't have plans to develop this feature further. You can still save your own combos and replays locally, though.
• Hosting a Pixel Lobby server from a console is not possible, but there are no platform-specific lobbies. Lobbies hosted from PCs work on all platforms.

Known Issues

• On all platforms, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese are swapped (if you launch the game in Traditional Chinese you'll see Simplified Chinese and vice versa). Both translations are there and available, but to receive the language of your choice (until we fix this), you can set the Language option in the Gameplay menu.

Conclusion

Exciting times lie ahead for TFH. Now that our console release is complete, we will be doubling our efforts on the creation of new characters and additional Story Mode chapters. Stay tuned for news on that, and enjoy the release!

Character #8, the first character in the Season 1 Pass, was revealed at Summer Jam 2022 in this trailer: Seasoned fighting game voice actor Patrick Seitz brings new life to a familiar face. Character #8 pivots on several established standards, the most obvious being... size! We're excited to share more about how he fits into TFH when he's further along in development. No release date has been confirmed yet, but so far we believe he will be ready for launch not long after the release of console ports. It's amazing to finally see our (mostly Nappy's) dream of bringing a true grappler to TFH come to life, and we hope you'll be just as hyped to play him when he releases this Fall. More soon.

On October 18, Them's Fightin' Herds will launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch! We'll have full crossplay and rollback netcode! We've got a new trailer showcasing each of the seven characters available in the base game: Wallpapers of the character cards in this trailer are available in our public art kit. Preorders are open on the Maximum Games Store, but you can also buy from major retailers. Both physical and digital purchase options will be available for all platforms. Also check out the Deluxe Edition, which includes the Season 1 Pass. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/d4b69b00b151409cbebb2683069258f7c16defa6.jpg The Season 1 Pass is not out yet and will launch closer to the release of consoles. It will contain the following items:

• 4 additional playable characters (with Pixel Lobby avatars), released over time.
• 4 new stages unique to each character, as they release.
• 4 exclusive Pixel Lobby accessories.
• 1 exclusive palette for every character, including the ones in the season pass!

The exclusive accessories and palette pack will be unlocked immediately after purchasing the Season 1 Pass. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/37f5f81adb0527f4b4a043fe152572cf83a81902.jpg This is only the first bit of news to come this week. This weekend we'll be at Summer Jam to visit with players and drop an exciting announcement after grand finals! You won't want to miss it. Catch the stream at 7:30 PM ET on Saturday, August 20th on http://twitch.tv/nycfurby. TFH releasing on consoles is not something we ever imagined would happen in the life of this project and was only possible with the assistance of our publisher Modus Games. They work on a lot of other great games too, so be sure to check out their full catalog! Notice to crowdfund backers: We still owe some of you a physical release of the game. We're currently in the process of figuring out the best way to handle things given that our physical console versions are about to eclipse production of the exclusive PC backers edition, which we posted mockups for 2 years ago and is still moving slow as molasses for various dumb reasons that are entirely our fault. We will figure this out before long and make a dedicated post marking the way forward. We haven't forgotten about you. Thank you to all our players past, present, and future for supporting our project, giving us meaning as creators, and being a part of this amazing thing. The stampede continues.

Patch 3.1.1 contains two new Shanty palettes and a number of character bugfixes in an effort to clean up more loose ends from the 3.0 release before Summer Jam this weekend. FYI: Mane6 will have a booth at Summer Jam. Even if you aren't attending you'll want to keep eyes on the event stream (we'll drop the link on Twitter later on). We've got something big planned.

Gameplay

Level 3 Supers

• Added a potential fix for level 3 supers sometimes leaving opponents at 1 HP when they should KO. Please let us know if you see a level 3 super fail to KO when it should (though keep in mind there will be some situations that look very close but are fully legit!)
• Fixed a few cosmetic issues with the backgrounds in various level 3 supers.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png

• Fixed a minor cosmetic glitch with the background effect during the end of Arizona's level 3 super.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png

• Fixed a few more remaining instances of Velvet being able to airthrow opponents in blockstun from Icicle Missiles.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png

• Fixed a rare situation that could cause Magic Chapter Trap to steal absurd amounts of meter when hitting a Paprika during her gift toss.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png

• Fixed an issue causing opponents to stutter for a few seconds when activating their level 3 super during the "Counter Success" animation of Pom's level 3 super.
• Fixed Paprika being able to activate Smother during the "Counter Success" animation of Pom's level 3 super.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png

• Fixed more instances of Volcanic Dash altering the inputs for canceling into Men Shao Ti.
• Fixed Tianhuo being able to gain meter post-KO with Volcanic Crash.
• Fixed Tianhuo becoming a cow briefly while entering a crouch-turn state between post-KO and victory pose.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png

• Shanty has two new palettes: "Captain" and "Graffiti Gyal".
• Shanty's level 3 super now has a unique KO ending.

Hey everyone! Patch 3.1 brings some increased stability and additional balance changes in a first wave of multiple updates we're planning as a followup to the 3.0 release. Version 3.0 came out underdone. Not all of the balance adjustments we had originally intended for that release made it in time, a few features that worked in 2.0 were temporarily disabled, and there are a number of known issues that aren't fixed yet. While 3.1 doesn't fix all the issues we need to address, it should at least be an improvement, and it's closer to the original vision we had for the 3.0 update as a whole. Why did version 3.0 come out underdone, what are we doing about it, and what's coming next? We're hosting a post-patch developer stream next week to answer these questions and discuss the changes we've made to the game in both 3.0 and 3.1. The 3.0 post-patch stream will be Wednesday the 20th at 3PM PT, on our Twitch channel. As a final note, in a previous Development Update we said that version 3.1 would mark the release of Chapter 2 of Story Mode. Timelines have been reconfigured since our acquisition by Modus Studios, so that is no longer the case. Chapter 2 is still in development. We will explain more during our upcoming stream. Now, onto the patch notes:

Player Usernames

• In preparation for consoles, we have changed the set of characters supported in player usernames and pixel lobby names to match those available in console platforms. To maintain parity between platforms, this set will remain universal between PC and consoles. You can consult the list of allowed glyphs here. Any glyph not in this table is unsupported, and will display as an interrogation mark (?).

Pixel Lobby

• Fixed a number of item rarity and cost errors from the Lunar New Year batch.
• Server notifications have been reworked so they are more generic and do not use player usernames (many of which were broken anyway since the 3.0 update).

Mac

• Fixed an issue causing single-player combat scenarios (Story Mode, Tutorials, Arcade Mode boss) to flat-out not work for players on Mac.

Gameplay

General

Cosmetic

• Fixed a few visual issues with backgrounds during various level 3 super cinematics.

Balance

• Changes have been made to recovery rolls to make them feel "less sticky", by giving characters movement across all frames.
  • To expand: the vulnerability window has been reduced, rolls no longer stop and wait, and forward rolls have increased distance.
• Cross Canter now causes a hard knockdown, and both players recover at the same time.
• Reduced the base value of the Cross Canter metergain lockout to 5 seconds. Furthermore, we set an upper-limit of 10 seconds (the old base value) so that the timer can't stack too high if the player continues to do CCs.
• Metergain from multihits (on all characters) has been reduced a bit for the attacker.
• Reversal backdashes out of recovery rolls, knockdowns, and buried states no longer allow cancels into attacks. All other backdashes continue to function normally.

Bugfixes

• Fixed recovery roll hitboxes not matching the animation (on all characters).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png Balance

• Trample's startup has been increased by 2 frames so that it now matches a basic standing jab, and is no longer the singularly fastest move in the game.
• Rebound now launches the opponent slightly higher, allowing a bit more time to follow up after a Magic Dash.
• Magic Headbuck's startup and recovery have both been increased by 3 frames each to make the move a tiny bit less safe overall.
• Added a slight vacuuming effect and widened the hitbox on Arizona's level 3 super to make it easier to hit with.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Arizona's Anti-Air Lasso being able to grab grounded opponents immediately after completing her level 3 super.
• Fixed an instance where opponents would get launched the wrong way after being hit by Rebound.
• Fixed Arizona's level 3 not connecting properly when hitting someone behind her.
• Fixed an issue with Arizona's level 3 where specific spacing could cause it to whiff, or the rope to be misaligned during the animation.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png Cosmetic

• Smoothed out the transition back from Velvet's level 3 super.
• Fixed Velvet's level 3 super background color not disappearing if Velvet is hit out of the move during startup.

Balance

• During Magic Ice Eruption, Velvet's invulnerability now ends as the first hitbox materializes, which allows trades. (Previously it lasted around when the second hitbox materialized.)
• Magic Ice Eruption is now -6 on block (increased from -2).
• Chain rules have been changed. Velvet can now chain in either direction between 2B and 5B.

Bugfixes

• Velvet's Snowballs and Icicles now disappear when she executes a Throw Tech, to make it more consistent with how projectiles work on other characters.
• Velvet's Wind should now more consistently push in the direction she is intending to, regardless of the opponent's facing direction. (This fix is not intended to affect existing combos, so please keep an eye out if something seems off.)
• Fixed flickering vulnerability during the startup of Velvet's level 3. She should now be invulnerable until after the first active frame, then vulnerable the rest of the time afterward.
• Fixed an instance where Velvet could airgrab opponents that were in blockstun caused by an Air Icicle Missile.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Level 3 Super

• The input has been changed to 63214XX (half-circle-back + atk atk) to match the rest of the cast.
• The sneeze now pushes Paprika away slightly and recovery has been slightly reduced, to make it more difficult to exploit.

Balance

• Edible gifts now expire after 13 seconds (down from 27 seconds, which was a silly number that was way too long).
• Metergain from Kiss! Has been reduced by half.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Paprika's Kiss! giving her meter during the metergain lockout from Cross Canter.
• Fixed instances of Paprika not being vulnerable to other characters' supers during her level 3 install state. (Paprika is supposed to be vulnerable to other supers so that there is counterplay.)
• Fixed Paprika's level 3 grab being techable under certain circumstances.
• Fixed some instances where Paprika could leave her level 3 install state early.
• Fixed Pom's dogs turning invisible when Paprika hit with her level 3 sneeze attack.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Cosmetic

• Fixed Oleander's book not following her if she turned around while reading on the ground.
• The book now properly changes its animation from air-read to ground-read without interrupting the process of the move.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Fred being able to attack past his timer from inputs made within the buffer window. He can no longer initiate attacks at all if his timer is 0.
• Fixed the projectile of level 1 Magic Shadow Spark turning invisible (but retaining hitboxes) if Oleander was struck during her recovery.
• Fixed Oleander being vulnerable even after connecting her level 3 super.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png Cosmetic

• Fixed Pom's level 3 super animation instantly snapping her facing direction when transitioning to the KO version.

Level 3 Super

• Pom's level 3 is now inescapable at melee range or if it's triggered by a normal. (Triggering the counter with an air attack or from far away still allows a chance to evade.)
• Pom's level 3 can now hit airborne opponents, but in this case it can be blocked. (Ground is still unblockable.)

Dogs

• Dog attacks are now positive edge (instead of negative edge).
• Move Dog (5) no longer has any startup.
• Dogs now stop attacking when Pom enters blockstun (except for Momma's counter).
• Dog summon startup times have been slightly reduced across the board.

Balance

• Pom's backdash now travels farther.
• Most of Pom's normals now move her forward slightly, then back (after the hit frame) to give her some breathing room to summon dogs.
• 2B now slides back a bit.
• 5C and Bark! now cause increased pushback on block.
• Pom's launcher now has very slightly reduced recovery and causes slightly increased blockstun.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Bitey dog (236B) having a collision box active at all times.
• Fixed Fred being visible and controllable during the cinematic of Pom's level 3 super.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png Bugfixes

• Fixed Tianhuo being vulnerable even after connecting her level 3 super.
• Fixed not being able to Fly cancel out of Volcanic Dash after jumping over your opponent and using Volcanic Dash backwards before landing.
• Fixed an issue where super canceling from Volcanic Dash reversed the directional inputs for supers, even when not crossing up.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png Balance

• Keelhaul and Gangway! (A and C out of Run Stance) are now safer on block.

Bugfixes

• Fixed more issues causing camera breaks during Wallcling (this has been a particularly pervasive problem).

Known Issues

• Many tutorial segments need to be revised to account for balance changes, and there are missing moves still.
• The background shadow on Lobby Messages in the upper third of the screen may occasionally persist after the message itself goes away. An easy way to prevent this from occurring while a fix is added to the game is to not mash through the prompts when opening salt mines for the first time.

In this update, we've reverted a portion of the new netcode introduced in 3.0 (which prepares for console crossplay). This should fix many of the disconnects and stability issues players have been experiencing online. We'll continue to develop the new netcode and rerelease the console crossplay version after we're sure it's ready to replace our previous netcode. In addition, we've fixed an issue that was causing laggy match quality between Linux/Mac and Windows players.

We are aware of the online connection quality issues players have been experiencing since the 3.0 update. This is due to the major backend overhaul performed in preparation for console crossplay and it seems there are still kinks to work out! Several micro-updates have been pushed between now and version 3.0.2 to mitigate some of these issues, but there are other issues we are trying to understand and find the source of. The update pushed just now with these notes adds further mitigations and additional logging for Windows clients that allow us to better diagnose the netcode. These logs are stored locally; they are not uploaded anywhere. Players may volunteer to give us their logs in our Discord server (discord.gg/tfh) (instructions in #announcements), where we are gathering information about the ongoing situation. The logging does add a little bit of load on the CPU, so for players on lower-powered machines who notice a drop in play quality beyond what is acceptable, you can try disabling the new logging by entering -nomemlog into the game's launch options from your Steam library (Right-click TFH > Properties > General). We will be disabling the logging after we are confident we have found the source of the issues. Thank you all for pardoning our dust during construction. Fixing the newly-introduced stability issues has been our #1 priority since the launch of the update.

This patch contain a number of bugfixes that smooth out some of the rough edges introduced in the 3.0.0 update.

Story Mode

• Fixed boss Oleander's scrambled palette.
• Fixed boss Fred turning invisible during certain attacks during phase 3 of the Oleander boss fight.

Training Mode

• Fixed the "Death Allowed" option's "No" setting not preventing KO for Velvet's level 3.
• Fixed Oleander's level 3 causing a palette glitch on her opponent if the super KO'd while the "Death Allowed" option was set to "No".

Gameplay

General

• Fixed an issue causing characters to be vulnerable during ground techs.

Arizona

• Fixed an issue with Arizona's level 3 where the cinematic would not engage off the second hit, and/or during certain OTG situations.

Paprika

• Fixed Paprika sometimes losing her level 3 install at the start of a super jump.

Oleander

• Re-fixed Fred burying with his 2. We hoped we could have it bury on KO only but it has been happening during a match, so it's been disabled again.
• Fixed Fred's palette showing up as the default colors on the Lunamancy and Zombie palettes.
• Fixed a graphical glitch where Oleander's book would not come with her when turning around in the air during Study.

Pom

• Fixed Big Poppa turning invisible (but still being able to attack) if Pom was hit by another character's level 3.
• Fixed an issue causing the screen to turn black for the rest of the match if Pom's level 3 counter was triggered by a projectile towards the end of the counter window.

Shanty

• Fixed an issue causing Shanty to get launched in the wrong direction and "fall out" of Arizona's level 1->2 if she was hit by it just after whiffing her level 3.

The 3.0.1 hotpatch contains only one fix:

Pixel Lobby

• Salt earned prior to the 3.0 update has been readded to players' accounts.

That is all for today.

Version 3.0 Is Here!

At long last, cinematic level 3 supers, a new universal mechanic and flagship feature of 3.0, has been released to the wild, completing the moveset for each character. They have admittedly taken a long time and great effort to produce, but they are finally here and we're excited to see how players will bring them to bear in battle. A few points before we get started. Many important balance changes that clean things up from 2.0 and ease level 3s into the game have been introduced, but there aren't any ground-shattering character reimaginations like the move from 1.0 to 2.0. The goal here is to fine-tune upon what we feel is a mostly successful foundation, at least for now. We're interested to hear your thoughts. Players are advised that this update is coming in *hot*. Much of the game’s backend has changed in the process of preparing for consoles and localization, so there will be some rough edges. We have a list of known issues at the end of the patch notes, and we aim to address them and provide further polish to the patch in the coming weeks. Behold, the trailer:

Shanty Joins the Base Roster

In version 3.0, Shanty and all of her DLC content is now a part of the base game! We now feel that it is time to retire the DLC requirement and make her available to all owners of the base game. The Shanty DLC listing on Steam will still be around but it no longer has a price. You don't need to have the DLC in your library to access Shanty content. To those who purchased the Shanty DLC before this update, we thank you very much for your support of the project. Without your help, we could not have made it this far.

New SKUing for TFH

Some changes are coming to the way TFH is presented and priced on storefronts. After the Steam Summer Sale (ending July 7th), the price of the base game will increase from $14.99 USD to $19.99 USD. That means you have 1 month to grab the base game before the new price goes into effect, and we're even at a discount thanks to upcoming Steam sales! When the price change goes live, we will be removing the Shadow and Zombie palette "shortcut" DLCs for sale. The palettes will remain unlockable via their in-game condition. Further, backer-specific content like the Flair Kit and the "Tennis Shoes" palette set will not be unlockable on consoles. Steam players who already own them will still be able to show them off to console players via crossplay. Our goal with these changes is to create one singular online space that brings the entire community together regardless of platform. By bundling existing DLC into the base game at this new price, we're presenting consistent, easy-to-navigate packages that help new players get up to speed. When the digital version of the game becomes available for purchase on consoles, it will be at the new price. The deluxe retail edition includes both the base game and the upcoming Season 1 Pass. So concludes the news. Without further ado, here are the patch notes for version 3.0.0!

Gameplay

General

• As this is a new major version, all casual ranks have been reset.
• The look of the title screen and main menu has been updated, featuring the 3.0 key art!
• Character command lists now have additional details on certain moves, and the All Characters command list has been expanded to provide a more complete picture of the universal mechanics.
• There is now a "Low Detail Effects" option under Video Options that should further help players on lower-powered hardware.
• In stage select, the Random (Day Only) choice is now a variant of Random (not an entirely separate "stage"), and is now the default option in that list.
• The credits have been updated to reflect all the new people who have contributed to the project since the last update!
• The placeholder entry for "Ranked Match" has been removed from the main menu, as we no longer have plans to develop ranked play for TFH.

Universal Systems

Level 3 Supers

• Level 3 supers are now available for all characters!

General

• Throws are now active for 3 frames (up from 1).
• Hard knockdown animations for all characters now animate more smoothly.
• Removed an inconsistency that allowed some characters to cancel prejump into a grounded throw.

Metergain

• All characters now gain less meter overall from being hit. The amount varies per character due to different meter sizes and gameplan.
• It is no longer possible to gain meter post-KO using dead body combos or certain character abilities. For now this includes all basic attacks, Oleander metersteal abilities, and Oleander reading.

Cross Canter

• Cross Canter no longer causes a slowdown effect.
• Metergain now temporarily locks after using Cross Canter (you can still use meter though).

Pushblock

• Pushblock now carries diminishing returns the more times it is used in succession.

Rolling

• Rolls now stop movement at the end.
• Forward rolls travel (very) slightly less distance and take longer to reach their destination.
• Rolls now become vulnerable to strikes near the end. During this vulnerable period, the opponent can also defend themselves from attacks and throws, but cannot do any attacks themselves.

Bugfixes

• Finally fixed an ancient bug that caused multiple hits occurring on the same frame to all apply counterhit and first-hit damage bonuses, resulting in massive damage spikes. This most commonly occurred on Paprika's Picnic Surprise! combos.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png Cosmetic

• Arizona's launcher now has a swipe effect.

Balance

• Magic Dash no longer causes a slowdown effect, and its ending position has been slightly adjusted to ensure it'll finish behind the opponent after a successful Rebound.

Bugfixes

• Fixed various issues causing Trample to heal the opponent instead of applying chip damage.
• Fixed an issue causing Trample to not do damage on hit.
• Fixed a rare issue causing Arizona's opponent to change position slightly while getting hit by Rebound.
• Fixed an issue where armoring through Arizona's Magic Counter attack with Magic Headbuck would cause the player using Counter to slide backwards at an alarming rate.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png Cosmetic

• Fixed a small graphical glitch in Ice Cyclone's special FX.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an input leniency issue on Velvet's Magic specials.
• Fixed jC not adding any JD on hits past the first.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Bugfixes

• Fixed super trades with another Paprika giving advantage to the P2 slot.
• Fixed some instances of Picnic Surprise! not spawning gifts.
• Fixed Paprika's "emerging" from the basket in the wrong place while doing Picnic Surprise! during another Paprika's Smother.
• Fixed various issues with gifts being improperly layered under characters, making them impossible to see.
• Kiss! now gains the amount of meter she was previously gaining from regular grab.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Cosmetic

• Oleander has a new palette: "Lunamancy", Amaron's prize palette for winning Grand Stampede 2021.

Balance

• Fred's timer has been reduced by 5 seconds.
• All of Oleander's meter stealing abilities (except for normal Chapter Trap and Magic Teleport) now grant and steal less meter earlier on, but get closer to (or potentially exceed) previous values as the opponent approaches 3 stocks of meter.
  • The amount the opponent loses and the amount Oleander gains is now much more strictly based on percentages rather than any raw values, so characters with different underlying bar sizes no longer affect the equation.
• Magic Teleport now gains Oleander less meter.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png Balance

• Bitey's active frames have been reduced by half.

Bugfixes

• Fixed Big Papa not spawning in properly if summoned out of a second Stampede! while he's already attacking from the first.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png Cosmetic

• Tianhuo has a new palette: "River Dancer".

Bugfixes

• Fixed an input leniency issue on Tianhuo's Magic specials.
• Fixed Volcanic Bash's first-hit scaling not extending to the second hit during Ran Shao Feng.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png Cosmetic

• Shanty has 2 new palettes: "Shakalaka Bam" and "Dark Prince".

Balance

• Magic no longer drains while Shanty is moving to or between walls during Wallcling, giving players more Magic to use when Shanty is actually controllable.
• Reduced knockback height on Broadside (Run B). This should reduce the amount of times it can combo into itself in the corner.
• Jump C now causes less blockstun and takes 1 frame longer to hit.
• Shanty can now block while landing from Helm.
• Breaker has been sped up, is safer on block, and has a better hurtbox on the first active frame.

Bugfixes

• Fixed various issues that caused camera breaks during Wallcling combos, or when two Shantys changed walls at the same time.
• Fixed Shanty not being in the right position if hit by Arizona's Rebound on the same frame that she slid to the ground from a Wallcling.
• Fixed an inconsistency in facing while wall sliding onto a waking up opponent depending on whether Shanty is P1 or P2.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/40784a75b4d2b613cb6037bfd5db60aca415fd8c.png Bugfixes

• Fixed the bear turning into a cow due to a nonexistent air throw state being called.
• Fixed the hawk turning into a wolf during Quick Recovery (ground teching).

Known Issues

Gameplay

• Some of Tianhuo's SKD combos have better frame advantage than intended.
• Shanty’s level 3 may give some inconsistent damage values.
• Level 3 background gradients may fluctuate at inappropriate times (especially on Paprika).
• Arizona's level 3 cinematic will not trigger off an OTG.
• Some objects remain onscreen during level 3 cinematics.
• Some Oleander palettes have scrambled/incorrect colors during certain animations.
• Some of Fred is invisible during phase 3 of the Oleander boss fight in Story Mode (challenge mode activated).
• Fred’s 2D grab may cause bury at low health rather than KO, this is unintentional.
• Level 3 supers are not available in Story Mode yet.

Technical

• Pixel Lobby server hosting on Linux for 3.0 is not yet available.
• Pixel Lobby salt will appear to be set as 0 when players first log in on this update. It's not gone, just in a different place. We'll restore it in a future hotpatch.
• Shadow Palette unlocks in the Salt Mines are temporarily disabled due to a permissions issue with Steam.
• Lobby colors may not function properly on the Pixel Lobby server browser.
• “Winner Stays” mode is not functioning properly for Classic Lobbies and has been temporarily disabled.
• Attempting to use some online features when Steam is unavailable may softlock the game (high priority bug we're looking into).
• The Backer Flair Kit banner displays are functioning inconsistently. Players (and/or opponents) may not appear as a backer on some screens.
• Discord Rich Presence invites are currently (and temporarily) inoperational due to incompatibilities with cross-platform console code.
• On Mac (and sometimes Linux), the OS will notify you that the game quit unexpectedly even though you quit normally. For those interested in the technical reason, it's a leftover database that isn't properly clearing itself before it loses resources and dies. The bug does not cause any real issues outside of being annoying.
• Due to localization prep, some text formerly presented in ALLCAPS is temporarily not so.
• The new "Low Detail Effects" option is not yet part of the graphical presets and will have to be set independently for now.

Welcome to Development Update #7, where we provide the latest news on TFH directly from the developers! We're debuting our *new* key art and 7-star logo (we think Shanty has earned it by now), and there is a positively huge series of things to announce. Strap in, and let's kick this off.

What's Coming

Console Ports

Yes. Them's Fightin' Herds is coming to consoles this Fall on five platforms: Switch, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One. There will be crossplay between each of them (and also Steam), all with rollback netcode (still GGPO). In addition to the digital version, there will be a physical version on each platform! Details on availability to come. You'll be able to preorder the console releases from our website as retail listings go up. We'll make announcements as options become available. Check out the new trailer below! https://youtu.be/6t-RKnPsZq8

Localization

While not exactly new news, we wanted to confirm that TFH will be localized for additional languages for the console release. We will announce the supported languages in a future post. As stated in our last Development Update, subtitles will be added to versus mode intros and outros so more players can understand and enjoy the smack-talking.

Version 3.0

Version 3.0, the next major update for TFH, introduces a new gameplay mechanic: level 3 supers. Level 3s are cinematic supers that burn a max-charged meter to unleash your fighter's true potential. Alongside the update comes fresh balance changes addressing several universal mechanics including (but not limited to) the metergain system, Cross Canter, and tech rolling. We will have more news to share about version 3.0 during our featurette at the PC Gaming Show on June 12th. Check their site for details on how to watch. You won't want to miss it.

Combo Breaker

Most of the development team will be attending Combo Breaker this weekend from May 27-29 in Chicago, IL. Our Top 12 will be streamed Sunday starting at 10:30am CT on the lowkick esports Twitch channel. We are honored to be included as a main game! There will be a prize pool bonus of $2,000, placing the stakes at record highs for competitive TFH, and this is only the beginning! It's going to be an incredible weekend of fighting game awesomeness. Be sure to check out the CB program guide to find other fantastic sets to watch. For those attending, we'll see you there soon! Safe travels.

What's Next

Physical Crowdfund Rewards

Production on the physical game copy, soundtrack, and movelist postcards had been stalled since initially revealing the mockups, but now that we’re a part of Modus we've gained the logistical power to resume manufacturing. Physical rewards are coming. Physical reward earners: please make sure your shipping address is up to date by checking BackerKit. You've got some time still, but things could accelerate soon! We'll provide time estimates when we're further along in the process.

Story Mode

In our last Development Update we stated that "barring any unfortunate circumstances" we'd be able to finish all main Story Mode chapters before the end of 2022. Story Mode production is continuing along, but there have been circumstances. We no longer think it's possible to make the goal of finishing the entire thing before the year is over while maintaining the bar of quality. Working on console ports and new localization systems demanded more time from our engineers and writers than we thought. Once they're complete, we can make story mode our priority again. Chapter 2, starring Velvet, is still in ze works. When we have more to share, you'll be the first to know.

Conclusion

We are excited for the future of TFH and can't wait to celebrate with you this weekend at Combo Breaker. This is only part 1 of our news series! There will be more things to share in the coming weeks. See you then, and have a great weekend. Aaron Stavely Development Director, Mane6 Dev Team

Our first Lunar New Year event has come to a close. All Pixel Lobby maps have been reverted to their normal appearance, and the new seasonal items catalog has gone in with the regular shop rotation. Thanks to everyone who played during the event! We've got some additional fixes shipping with this patch. Here goes:

Patch Notes

Tian's New Stage (Spring Festival)

• Added some cosmetic improvements.
• Added additional background characters!
• Is now no longer Tian's default stage.
• Now has a proper 2D version.

Stage Select

• Fixed "Random (Day Only)" giving night stages (broke in version 2.3.0).

Lunar New Year Event

Introducing our first Lunar New Year celebration update! In this patch we're releasing a variant of Tianhuo's stage called Spring Festival. For the Pixel Lobby, new seasonal accessories are available and each map has been decorated. Because we focused most of our efforts on the stage, there's a lighter set of accessories and decorations compared to previous events. The new accessory set will be available at Cap 'n Cash's until the event ends on Feb 3rd. Aftwards, the items go in with the regular rotation. The stage variant is unlocked for everyone forever!

Patch Notes

In our recent new publisher announcement we said we'd be introducing new character palettes (including Amaron's custom palette earned from Grand Stampede) along with some codefixes, but we decided it would be safer to postpone their release until after we're back from Frosty Faustings this weekend. Here's what is included in this release:

Opening Credits

• The Modus logo has been added to the opening credits. Say hello to our new publisher! Check out their website here.

Pixel Lobby

• Lunar New Year 2022 accessory set is now available.
• Fixed getting the Shanty image when unlocking a shadow palette for Paprika.
• Refixed a previously fixed but then broken secret room in Velvet's lobby.

Gameplay

• New Tianhuo Stage Variant: Spring Festival. This stage variant is added as a free update and is instantly unlocked for all. For the duration of the event it will be the default Tianhuo stage, afterwards it can be found by scrolling down from Huoshan Capital on stage select.
  • Known Issue: The Spring Festival variant for Tianhuo's stage currently doesn't work with the 2D stages option enabled. This will be rectified in a future patch.

Developer Notes For the longest time, Tianhuo was the only member of the original roster that did not have a stage variant (example: night or raining) so we've wanted to do something special for her for a while. Originally it was just going to be a lighting adjustment and decorating spree on Huoshan, but we decided to take advantage of our new production capacity right away and build an entirely new stage from scratch! Though Spring Festival has a new appearance, it uses the same Dynamic Music System collection as Tianhuo's regular stage. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/18e350c187013893a68b94dd97e56e980f97fb84.jpg

Exciting Announcement!

Mane6 (that's us), the development team behind Them's Fightin' Herds, has been acquired by publisher Modus Games!

What Does This Mean For Us? (Mane6)

It means that our team is growing. We're still us, but now we have "real jobs". Being a part of Modus makes it possible for us to fulfill our complete uncompromised vision for TFH and continue to projects beyond. Practically speaking, it takes a lot of resources to make a successful video game. With all the additional help we're getting, we'll be filling out the roster, releasing Story Mode chapters faster, at looking at ways to expand to more platforms. TFH is about to reach new heights.

What Does This Mean For The Players? (You Guys)

New Characters

We're expanding the roster, and now that we have more than one combat dev we can develop new characters and Story Mode chapters simultaneously. Who are the new characters? What species? When are they releasing? How to get them? We'll be sharing more information about specifics in the coming months.

Story Mode

Barring any unfortunate circumstances we are confident that we can finish all main chapters (starring each member of the base roster plus a “final” chapter) before the end of 2022, still released as free updates.

Console Ports

Console ports are something we're still very interested in doing, and with the help of our new partners at Modus it's more likely to happen than ever. We'll be evaluating the possibility of extending to other platforms and will announce any developments.

Localization

We are making arrangements to localize TFH so we can expand to a truly international playerbase. The translations will be text only (we currently do not have plans to localize the voice acting). Subtitles will eventually be added to infight dialogue so the English voice acting can be understood by a global audience.

What Are We Working On Now?

Crowdfund Rewards

We’ve kept certain reward tiers (like physical rewards) in limbo for a long time. Now that we’re a part of Modus, we finally have the logistical power to get the rest of the crowdfund rewards fulfilled. The wait is coming to an end. Physical reward earners, if you need to change your mailing address, head over to our BackerKit ASAP! It'll still be a few weeks at least before anything ships, but the wheels are turning!

Lunar New Year Update

To celebrate the new year, we’ll be releasing an alternate version of Tianhuo’s stage (called Spring Festival) at the start of Steam's Lunar New Year event, from Jan 27 to Feb 3. The alternate stage will be instantly unlocked as a free update. As for the Pixel Lobby, Cap 'n Cash have cooked up a mini set of seasonal accessories which will be stocked in the shop until the Lunar New Year event ends. Afterwards, they'll go in with the regular rotation. The Lunar New Year update will also contain a few new character palettes and some small codefixes. Please enjoy!

Level 3 Supers

Level 3's have been a long-awaited feature and our new talent will be helping us across the finish line. We've shown off (much) earlier versions of them before and they've come a long way since. The wait will be worth it. Then, we start working on new characters. Level 3's and a new set of balance adjustments will arrive in game version 3.0, release date to be announced.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 (starring Velvet) is in production and the extra Modus resources will help us accelerate development. We’re also working on improvements to Story Mode in general such as smoother difficulty curves, a HUD update, more enemy variation, and reworked health mechanics. Chapter 2 will be released in the next major update after version 3.0.

Offline Events

Pandemic notwithstanding, Mane6 wants to attend more offline events in 2022. The circumstances are always changing and we're playing it by ear right now, but however things shake out we want to make the competitive scene bigger this year. Reminder that Mane6 will be attending Frosty Faustings from Jan 28-29. Top 8 will be streamed on Saturday at 11am CST on Twitch (we'll provide the link when we're closer to the date).

Conclusion

It’s been a wild ride, and we're looking forward to great things in 2022. Thank you all for believing in us! The stampede cometh! Aaron Stavely, Mane6 Dev Team

'Tis the season! From now until Jan 5th, we're running our annual Winter Holiday Event in the Pixel Lobby. There are new seasonal-themed accessories available, and during the event they'll be the focus of Cap 'n Cash's shop rotation. Afterwards they'll go in with the regular bunch, so get 'em while they're fresh! In addition, all Pixel Lobbies have been decorated with seasonal flair, a first for Hallowed Grove (Oleander's lobby). It sure is snowy in there; better bundle up. And of course, we're in Steam's Winter Sale. Them's Fightin' Herds will be 40% off on Steam during the length of the event!

It's Been a Year

Throughout 2021 we've achieved a number of important milestones in the project. We saw the release of our 2.0 update and Shanty, the HD update, many quality of life changes, our actual first run as an official game in EVO, our first official online tournament circuit (STC/Grand Stampede), the completion of our Velvet statuette, and more. Though we've been a bit quiet the last few months we've been working on something big, and we can't wait to share the news with you next year. The development team is going on a much-deserved break until we kick things off in 2022 with an appearance at MAGFest, then later in January at Frosty Faustings. If you're attending, we'll see you there. We at Mane6 would like to thank each and every one of our players for being a part of our slice of the world for however long. Thanks for helping us make 2021 that much brighter, and we'll see you in 2022! Much Love, - Mane6 Dev Team

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/f291dfaf344e6d06e54dab1ac2e6d439db280c41.jpg

Zombie Palette Pack

The Zombie Palette Pack DLC is now available for purchase! This pack instantly unlocks Zombie palettes for each character, current and future. Purchase link: This palette set was originally introduced as an unlockable for playing overworld chest matches in the Pixel Lobby during the 2021 Halloween event. The ingame unlock condition is no longer available, but may return in future seasons.

Pixel Lobby Shop Fix

Also in this patch: since rolling back from the Halloween event, there was a bug in the shop where the three eyeball variants stuck around for each rotation, eating all the rare items before anyone could buy them. Cashmere has banished the pests to the shadow realm, restoring the shop to normal behavior. Sorry about that! Meanwhile, the holiday event is right around the corner... see you again then!

After nearly four years, our publishing partnership with Humble Games has come to an end. Since late 2017, Mane6 and Humble have worked together to support the development of Them’s Fightin’ Herds through Early Access into our 1.0 and 2.0 releases. We are grateful to the team at Humble for all their efforts in helping us reach this point, and we wish them all the best going forward. We at Mane6 retain the rights to the game and we are very excited about the future of Them’s Fightin’ Herds. We’ll have more to share on our upcoming plans soon. Stay tuned. Aaron Stavely President, Mane6

Exciting news! The Mac port beta is now available! In addition, we've got some small Pixel Lobby fixes, hawk adjustments, and proper notes for an intended but undocumented Velvet change that accidently slipped out under the radar in the last update. Reminder that this year's Halloween event is currently on until Tues Nov 2nd. Be sure to grab the new accessories and zombie palettes while they're hot! This patch requires Pixel Lobby hosts to update their servers!

Mac Beta Now Available!

The wait is over! Them's Fightin' Herds now runs natively on macOS!

• How Do I Get It? Easy! If you own TFH, just install it like normal. No additional purchase or special download is necessary.
• Is Anything Different? Not really! The Mac version is effectively the same as the other PC versions (minus a few very small platform-specific differences, like how and where files are saved).
• Crossplay? Yes! All players regardless if they're on Mac, Linux, or Windows can play with each other. Your Pixel Lobby and Story Mode progress is saved to your Steam account.
• Can I Host A Pixel Lobby Server? Not at this time. Servers can only be hosted on Windows and Linux.
• Does It Work On Apple Silicon? Though Rosetta, yes! We do not have immediate plans to build native for Apple Silicon, since we don't think it will matter for performance and we have concerns about how it would affect the game's determinism (which is very important for online play).
• Why Native Ports? Linux and Mac ports were promised as a stretch goal during our crowdfund campaign. Native runs significantly better since there's no need for a compatibility layer (like Wine or Proton) which eats up resources. In addition, the work that went into these ports will make consoles easier to do, should we ever get the opportunity.

NOTE: This initial release is a beta build. It's fully playable and functionally complete, but players may still encounter platform-specific bugs. You can report bugs by emailing [email protected] or by posting in our Discord. It's the best way to help us discover and fix these unique issues, as there are many different hardware configurations and operating system versions out there that we simply don't have access to. Thanks in advance for your understanding and help!

Pixel Lobby

• Fixed the unnecessary force field in front of the central tree in Oleander's lobby.
• Changed both wolf hood accessories (from the new Halloween batch) from face slot items to hat slot items.

Gameplay

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png NOTE: The following change was present in version 2.1.6 but was undocumented (we apologize, it was an honest mistake). We've also gone back to those patch notes and edited it in. Balance

• Metergain from Magic Eruption has been reduced to standard multihit rates. (Previously it was being treated as several individual attacks, giving significant amounts of meter on each use).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/40784a75b4d2b613cb6037bfd5db60aca415fd8c.png

Hawk

NOTE: Undocumented work-in-progress changes to the hawk's attack properties were present in version 2.1.6. The following changes supersede them. Developer's Notes Previously hawks had access to many methods of disabling the player (through knockdowns and staggers) no matter which attack it landed. This quickly became a source of frustration at all levels, which was not the intention, especially for such a common enemy. We've adjusted the hawk's attack properties more towards a focus on counterhits. Now, all attacks done to the player will be counted as regular forms of hitstun, without the ability to combo (and rack up damage) unless the player is counterhit. This way, players still have to play carefully with their anti-air tools, but will spend less time tumbling around the screen from stray hits while doing so. Cosmetic

• Added swipes, dust clouds, and other visual effects to various moves to improve polish.

General

• Fixed broken/missing counterhit windows on several attacks.
• Hurtboxes adjusted to allow more meaningful anti-air vulnerability for all attacks.
• Various animation/movement/timing adjustments to bring this predator more in line with the others.

Horizontal Attack

• No longer causes tumble.
• No longer (effectively) travels fullscreen.
• Damage increased.
• Hitboxes adjusted to be slightly easier to crouch underneath.
• Now has a proper recovery period on whiff.

Diving Attack

• Damage increased.
• Now only causes groundbounce on counterhit.
• Now lands on the ground, granting vulnerability window if the attack misses.

Triple Peck Attack

• Damage increased.
• No longer causes stagger on normal hit.
• Now causes stagger only on counterattack.

Claw Grab Attack

• Now lands on the ground, granting vulnerability window if the attack misses.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/832c9d63c97ffa7a0ed6a64926cf48048b1162f0.png

Halloween Event 2021

Thur Oct 21st - Tues Nov 2nd

• All Pixel Lobby maps have updated appearances and ambience for spooky season!
• New Halloween-themed accessories are available at Cap'n'Cash's on rotation during the event, including zombie masks for all characters!
  • The new items can also be awarded from chests in the Salt Mines (along with all other accessories), and will go in with the general catalog when the event is over.
• Special infight zombie palettes are available for unlock on all characters!
  • Unlock condition: play an overworld chest match (win or lose) during the Halloween event to unlock the zombie palette for the character you played.
  • After the event is over, the ingame unlock condition will no longer be available; but the zombie set can still be acquired by purchasing a DLC package on Steam, similar to the shadow palette DLC (though it won't be available during the event!)

Pixel Lobby

• There is now an AFK timer for the "fight slots" on Battle Shrines (spectators are not affected). Players inactive for 2 minutes will be automatically kicked off a shrine. (As always, you can clear your AFK flag with any input).
• Salt Mines stage: updated the appearance of Oreo's backer character.
• Revised text of the Salt Mines entrance portal (for first activation).
• The flavor text for the "Fancy Monocle" accessory has been updated.

Training Mode

• Added a setting under Save State Options to change the Training Utility function from "Reset Position" to "Round Restart", which allows players to practice roundstart situations.

Character Select

• Fixed character portraits layering on top of each other when moving the cursor quickly.
• Added a "Day Only" option for random stage select.
• Note: This feature is functional, but will receive UX revisions in a future update.
• How it works in this patch: "Random (Day Only)" is its own separate entry in stage select.
• How it's going to work: "Day Only" and "All Stages" will be variations of a single "Random" entry (with "Day Only" being the default).

Story Mode

• Revised dialogue in the Prologue.

Gameplay

General

Bugfixes

• Wallsticks no longer run out of hitstun during the impact and fall portions, allowing all types of attacks to connect properly, particularly grabs that can be used during combos.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/bb1b7dbde94d62f6fee32c2ed65c41c5cd2a25d3.png Balance

• All non-magic stomps now deal true damage (damage that is never scaled) on the first hit. Previously, this only applied to Stomp A. Due to this change, Stomps B and C do a slight bit more damage overall.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/a8d6afa55d6194371427b94a4e7c68c5bed97c64.png EDIT (10/27/21): The following change was always present in this version but was previously undocumented (our mistake). Balance

• Metergain from Magic Eruption has been reduced to standard multihit rates. (Previously it was being treated as several individual attacks, giving significant amounts of meter on each use).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/011f2c11cedd0be7f97ee909af49bb1d263172cd.png Cosmetic

• Paprika's edible gifts now have different shades based on her chosen palette. (Apples will always be a shade of red, Broccoli will always be a shade of green).
• All other gifts have also received unique coloring based on palette, with larger variance.
• Colors and lines for the bouquet in 6B have also been updated.

Bugfixes

• Teleports can no longer be affected by attacks/actions that lift her off the ground. (This was causing strange placements and dangerous floating alpacas).

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/612a32e122b53e4bed23899cc1ee90d11c5039da.png Cosmetic

• Smoothed out a variety of animation bugs.

Bugfixes

• Fixed an issue causing certain combos involving j22D to not work for player 2.
• Fred's inputs now have a buffer window.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/ef3de6a47f9d03c558314ca6398725686eecfcaa.png Bugfixes

• Fixed Momma dog not being able to counter Arizona's Magic Stomp (and other unblockable attacks).
• Throwing a CC'ing opponent no longer causes Pom's dogs to slow-mo forever.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/e6deb4fbf83611fd8d3ff93f68d89cee61c6d195.png Cosmetic

• Tianhuo has a new victory animation. (Known: her fire still freezes when she speaks. That's a more in-depth fix.)
• Tianhuo's neck scales have been filled in (as originally intended, though they are still not perfect in every animation).
• Improved the appearance of Tianhuo's mouth symbols (in the 3/4ths view).
• Smoothed out a variety of animation bugs.

{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31993562/442b15234086f39861715ff4c12f3bd737893210.png Cosmetic

• Shanty no longer becomes a cow during certain animations performed as a round ends.

This small update adds Steam Cloud support and fixes a few minor issues. NOTICE: Private server hosts should update their servers!

Steam Cloud Support

• TFH now supports Steam Cloud! If enabled, it will save your Gameplay options, Training Mode options, and Story Mode checkpoint. It will not save Sound options, Video options, or button configuration.

Pixel Lobby

• Took down the redundant lamp post in Arizona's lobby.

Classic Lobby

• Fixed an issue where joining and playing in a Classic Lobby with more than 2 people, then leaving and creating a lobby, would populate the lobby slots with fake users without usernames.

Training Mode

• Fixed an issue that caused the Dummy action to reset to "manual" after setting a recovery recording.

Grand Stampede, the summit international online tournament event for Them's Fightin' Herds, will take place on Aug 28, starting at 11am PDT. Registration is free and open until Wednesdat, Aug 25. Add your name to the bracket on smash.gg here. Everyone within an eligible region (see smash.gg for details) may register. There is no entry fee and no participant cap. Grand Stampede is NOT an invitational! Circuit Points are being used to determine seeding, by total number, in ranking order, according to the number of points each player has. We'll be streaming the whole thing on Twitch. Hope to see you there! We'll have raffles! Get ready to see some of the best TFH this year!

Tournament Prizes

Cash

Earnings from the Matcherino prize pool will be distributed to top 8 at this ratio:

• 50% for 1st
• 20% for 2nd
• 10% for 3rd
• 8% for 4th
• 4% for 5th (x2)
• 2% for 7th (x2)

Physical Medals

Top 8 will each receive a physical Stampede Tournament Circuit medal denoting the player's place in Grand Stampede.

Digital Trophies

Top 3 will each receive a unique in-game trophy to wear in the Pixel Lobby according to their place: bronze for 3rd, silver for 2nd, and gold for 1st. They will be distributed in an award ceremony after the grand final.

Custom Palette

The grand champion will work with Mane6 to develop a custom palette (for the character of their choice) to be added to the game, credited to them.

Themed Hit Box

The grand champion will receive a custom art Hit Box from one of the following options. Contribute $5 or more to the Matcherino for a chance to win one! No region restrictions. The winner will be selected Monday after the tournament.