Hey Farmers, It has been a busy few weeks. Snow has started melting around here with spring around the corner. I heard that you may have had to set your clocks forward on Sunday for Daylight Savings. That seems like a strange thing to have, weve never had to set our clocks forwards in Everafter Falls. Once the clock is set we just leave it. I had so much fun talking with Ou, the developer of Everafter Falls at SquareHusky about what he has been working on in the new year.

Latest News Announcements

Physical editions

Some exciting news - Akupara Games have secured plans for the release of physical copies in Asian markets, and I believe there are also plans for a limited run for physical release for western markets too.

Xbox and Playstation

In addition to the Switch and PC releases, Akupara Games and I have decided to move forward with releasing the game for both Playstation and Xbox. Akuparas team have been working hard on the Switch port and have also started work on these additional consoles in order to ensure it is completed in a timely manner.

Release Date

We have finally settled on the release date which will be later this year. The additional console versions have pushed back the release date another couple of months. We are planning a simultaneous launch across all platforms. I do apologize for yet again, to any backers disappointed by this further delay. The additional time does allow me the time I need to work on some additional content for the game, namely, the Cooking System and Hershas Bakery. As mentioned previously, this was intended as a post patch update, but it will make it into release. Everafter Falls will be launching this summer on all Steam platforms, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Xbox and Playstation 4 and 5!

Whats new

Alternative NPC schedules

All NPCs now have alternative schedules every 5th day, which can be considered a weekend. No shops are closed though as they are all self-checkout anyhow, and I know nobody likes having to wait a whole day to access their favorite store. The alternative schedules also give a bit more insight into who the townsfolk like to hang out with and makes them a little more life-like.

Localization

The localization team at AllCorrect have done an amazing job with translations so far and while were still working on ironing out all the bugs, it is really cool to see the game actually working in another language! Localization was rather challenging for me, and much more difficult and time consuming than I imagined before this stage. Some advice I would give to those planning to localize their game, is to make sure to have a system in place that can pull in all the strings you need from a separate CSV (or similar format that can be edited in a spreadsheet). This needs to be done from the get-go, the earlier you can address this, the less work and issues you will encounter later on. It took a fair amount of time for me to sift through all the code and find out where Ive lazily hard-coded in strings, so doing it right from the start is highly recommended. Its also a really good learning experience for those new to game development because it is a fairly self-contained system with a straightforward goal of intermediate difficulty. If you can tackle this, youll feel like you can tackle anything!

Restocking Prize Cabinets

The Prize Cabinet system where you can exchange Keys earned from spending gold now restock at the start of each year. They do so only if they are empty, and for each time they get restocked, the number of Keys required to unlock them increases by one. There are a couple of new items created just for these cabinets which you cannot craft or find elsewhere in game, so keep a lookout for those!

Your Pigeon Friend and the Replica Treehouse

At some point in the game, youll be able to recruit a pigeon friend who will follow you around and occasionally dig up worms (and caterpillars). For those who want a break from the myriad of creatures following you, you can complete a Replica Treehouse project. Using this item, you can leave your Pixie and Pigeon friends here to hang about while you do more important things like going fishing.

Some cool things achieved in game by beta testers

RecitedPlays first giant lotus!
EpicSilence has found the impossible-to-find Red Fishing Mod!

Modding Support

In the latest versions, files that control values and content for various aspects of the game, which include things like item costs, crafting recipes, crop details, monster stats, equipment, quests and more - have been made easily editable in the games install directory. I hope to make the game easily accessible for modders, and plan on exposing even more values when I get some time. This has also allowed me to more easily fine tune numbers to balance the game, a lot of progress has been made here with help and feedback from testers so another shoutout to them :)

Looking ahead

A work-in-progress preview of the interior of Hershas bakery, which is being worked on and will be making it into release at launch. Her shop will also sell various appliances and recipe books you will need to stock your kitchen with in order to cook. The additional content will also include a couple of new quests, and a cutscene. These will be keeping me very busy while Akpupara work on the ports for all the consoles.

Some funny bugs that have cropped up during testing.

Frog stretching its limbs
Chairs are for standing on too
Naked fruiting mulberry trees