Project update

Hi folks! Gosh, it's been quite a while: time flies when you're locked down, as they say. I could say that we've had bigger fish to fry than Soul Harvest during Covid, and indeed we have, but the truth is we've been losing momentum for some years now. It is brought home to me that all projects have an invisible deadline, even pet projects, because one's motivation is not a limitless resource: even if a project is your "baby", your interest in it will gradually fade and new babies will be born, sometimes literal ones. After a few years people will want to work on something new and will have more and more trouble staying motivated, especially when they aren't being paid for their work. We're extremely grateful to those who supported the game during development, but the sad fact is that we only ever sold a few hundred copies in total. We've never made enough money from Soul Harvest for any of us to even consider quitting our day jobs, and these day jobs (and our lives) have gotten in the way of the project at various times since 2014. It has been a stupidly long development cycle, and I think we all badly need some closure. As such, after much deliberation, we have decided to put the project out as-is for free on Itch and Steam (if Valve will allow it), as a sort of Halloween present to the world. It's pretty clear we're never going to break even, so we might focus on just getting the game played by as many people as possible! For this final build then we've done a last few tweaks, fixes and optimisations, and have gotten the Bitterness campaign missions up and running, bringing us to a total of 12 solo missions. However the other two campaigns aren't finished yet, nor are the faction editor, the additional game modes or the Celestial faction. We might do the odd update post-release, but I don't want to commit to finishing any of these features: we really do need to move on. I hope those of you who bought into the EA understand where we're coming from, and don't feel too betrayed. I would mention that the game is playable online these days using Parsec and similar tools, so maybe we can have a match some time, wherever you are. Till then, remember- Who overcomes by force, hath overcome but half his foe!

Changes

1.0.1 - 31/10/2022

• bugs
  • fixed bug in Cruelty mission 3 where player victory was sometimes not detected
  • you can no longer change team colour while in the story mode hub
  • it is no possible to navigate to the Bitterness missions from the main hub via portals
  • added missing localisation data

1.0.0 - 29/10/2022

• gameplay
  • burrowed units can no longer be hit by towers and ranged minions
  • units hiding in smoke can no longer be hit by towers and ranged minions
• bugs
  • move preview is now properly displayed for units spawned in the editor

0.9.7 - 28/10/2022

• campaign
  • implemented Bitterness faction campaign
  • implemented "Faceland" terrain tileset
  • rehauled 5th Cruelty mission so that it teaches you about fireballs
• gameplay
  • Banes are now stronger against buildings
• editor
  • It is now possible to spawn minions already burrowed in story missions.
  • It is possible to specify player team-colour in the editor.
• bugs
  • corpses no longer decay in the level editor
  • Log file is now only opened once on launch to further improve performance and decrease load times
  • Ashworms' eating minion spawned when mission starts no longer causes crash

0.9.6 - 29/03/2020

• bugs
  • fixed a bug where losing a campaign level would prevent subsequent victories and defeats from triggering
  • fixed a crash that occured when losing a citadel in story mode
  • the advisor 'hobo' demon can now be moved in the editor
  • fixed a crash that occured when delete plants in the editor
  • fixed a bug where defeat was triggered if testing a story map while controlling the nemesis (purple) avatar

0.9.5 - 26/03/2020

• gameplay
  • significant performance improvements, notably for AI
  • the body collider of avatars now deal damage when attacking
  • to prevent players from accidentally skipping the end game recap, input is ignored for the first 0.75 seconds following game over
  • reduced damage of lurks and lechers
  • numerous tweaks to the story missions
  • reduced the hitpoints value of Gateways
• bugs
  • fixed crash caused when ejecting avatars from the game while in the menu
  • fixed bug where the title of levels would no appear correctly
  • fixed flickering of ashland lava
  • fixed crash when returning to the level select before avatar spawn in story mode
  • lava no longer animates while the game is paused
  • technology icons now appear correctly in story mode for the bad guys
• other
  • ported to love 11
  • added localisation for fleshland levels
  • tweak the volume of certain sound effects
  • reduced the speed of the level select treadmill
  • bots can be added in the main hub
  • defensive code to help catch issues with intro video streaming

[ 2022-10-31 08:39:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been a very long time since Soul Harvest got an update but here it is ! Our demonic masters have kept us in a cage for ages but we finally broke free ! The main changes are : - Much more polished Cruelty campaign - The way units', buildings' and archdemons' health is managed has changed and we have rebalanced the whole thing - Projectiles now have a limited range and are thrown in a curve motion - Bots' AI is now faction based, so they should use all spells and units belonging to their specific faction We're now moving on to the other archdemons' campaign levels and to Transgression's map setting, which is the last tileset. Let's hope that our demonic masters don't trap us in a cage again, our current hidden lair might enable us to push updates more often ! ### 0.9.4 * gameplay * change the way health points are managed * change the way avatar attack to make it easier to target plants * avatars can no longer be stunned while attacking * almost entirely replaced the story missions with a new set of 6 * story mode now supports enemy avatars * story mode has different balancing based on player count * faction is now forced in story mode * advisor now appears in all story missions * added advisor sounds effects * gas now blinds ranged units but doesn't damage buildings * projectiles are now thrown like grenades, so are less affected by terrain * paralysis now effects buildings and avatars * transgression's warpball now teleports the avatar to the impact location * fleshland difficult terrain now prevents units from being summoned * ai * computer controlled avatar can now longer cheat to send units further than they should be able to * computer opponents now build technology buildings * computer opponents are now able to cast most spells * computer opponents are now able to use projectiles * computer opponents now use advanced units * different factions are payed slightly differently by the computer * computer opponents are, overall, a lot smarter * map editor * the previous object can now be placed using the attack key (A) * objects can be moved using the command key (Y) * objects can be erased using the throw key (B) * objects can be placed, moved and erased using the mouse * terrain can be painted using the mouse * BACKSPACE can be used to revert changes * balancing * rebalanced all units and buildings stats * higher-tier units are now much stronger and better at crowd-control * unit attack area of effects (like the lurk ambush) are now a lot more powerful * buildings regenerate more slowly, especially citadels * bug fixes * units no longer acquire targets across thin stretches of lava * fixed brief visual tearing during screen-shake * correct map selection when returning from editor to level selection screen * fixed unit selection outline colour: it now depends on the selector, not the selectee * fixed visual jump of options when going back in the title screen * other * added variety tiles to all tilesets * player controls are now show in the pause menu * players can now drop out by pressing the throw key while in the pause menu * objective text now appears in the story mode * tutorial messages take gamepad and keyboard configuration into account * inactive avatars can be removed from the lobby by attacking them * the build menu is entirely unavailable if you are on unbuildable terrain ### 0.9.3 * bug fixes * fixes several crashes in the story mode that prevented progression

[ 2019-11-26 14:53:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

[ 2018-04-22 16:33:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, It's been a very long time since we've updated Soul Harvest. We're very sorry about that and we plan to make more steady updates until the game development is over. The fact that we're working on the game on our free time while having dayjobs have had a harmful effect on the development cycles, especially since one of us got a job in a game company (remember, we're only 2 developers and 2 musicians !). We were never planning on leaving Soul Harvest unfinished, it was just a matter of time before we got back to work. Now we're back on track ! We're planning on making an update every month, with much content added at each step. This update adds 24 new versus maps set in the Excess tileset, a hobo demon giving tips in the game hub and many tweaks and bug fixes. Next steps are to make a lot more campaign levels with our new tweaked map editor, to make our bots have more faction based behaviour and to add the Faction Editor so you can make your own custom factions ! Here's the change list : 0.9.2 - 08/04/2018 BUG FIXES - advisor now speaks immediately when players enter the hub - fixed terrain being painted when return from editor pause menu with gamepad GAMEPLAY - tweaks to fleshland difficult terrain: vaccum is now stronger if you are standing on flesh 0.9.1 - 02/04/2018 BUG FIXES - fixed crash when playing in Polish due to missing localisation key 0.9.0 - 28/03/2018 BUG FIXES - fixed export of story maps - fixed citadel mode victory not triggering GAMEPLAY - new tileset and set of maps: Fleshland! - double-tapping Y can be used to select all nearby units - localisation support: initial French localisation and placeholder Polish - initial "hobo demon" advisor in the hub - changing faction in hub is now instantaneous and doesn't change your position - gamepad and keyboard controls are shown in the pause menu - moved Cruelty's 'berserk' to tier 2: berserk now also works on the avatar AI - no more cheating to send minions further than should be possible - ai will fight back if attacked by an avatar - ai will attack nearby avatars that it perceives as weaker - ai will attack with its minions EDITOR - possible to add buildings and units in editor - possible to change team in editor, to place units for this team - possible to select a 5th NPC team to place mobs - spawn location are now colour-coded - added 'attack_avatar' and 'attack_building' behaviours for units spawned in story mode maps - added 'min_players' and 'max_players' on waves for dynamic difficulty adjustment of maps - added 'Gateway' object able to spawn unit at intervals - placing objects now forces valid terrain to be created beneath them - deleting the terrain beneath objects also deletes the objects - possible to return to the editor mode when testing a map from the editor - mostly recently edited map is selected when returning from the editor - objects are now filtered my tileset type - object deletion (Y button) is now much less 'trigger happy' - objects can now be placed with the B button AUDIO - new UI sound effects - consistency pass on all effects OTHER - additional credits

[ 2018-04-22 16:22:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

A portal has opened in the underworld...
You can now build your own levels! It's the same tools we'll be using to make the versus and campaign maps from now on, with some extra scripts of course. Here are the Xbox gamepad controls (we'll be displaying them in the pause menu soon) : - A to paint under your demon - X to pen the "brush" menu - Y to delete an object You can use a "bucket fill" function by holding down the A button and standing still for a few instants. Workshop integration is not done yet but we'll definetly be working on that soon. The maps are stored in Documents**UserName**AppDataRoamingLOVEsoul-harvestmaps and will appear in the level selection menu. Have fun ! Here are some that we've made for Cruelty's upcoming campaign :

[ 2017-06-16 15:59:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

A portal has opened in the underworld...
You can now build your own levels! It's the same tools we'll be using to make the versus and campaign maps from now on, with some extra scripts of course. Here are the Xbox gamepad controls (we'll be displaying them in the pause menu soon) : - A to paint under your demon - X to pen the "brush" menu - Y to delete an object You can use a "bucket fill" function by holding down the A button and standing still for a few instants. Workshop integration is not done yet but we'll definetly be working on that soon. The maps are stored in Documents\**UserName**\AppData\Roaming\LOVE\soul-harvest\maps and will appear in the level selection menu. Have fun ! Here are some that we've made for Cruelty's upcoming campaign :

[ 2017-06-16 15:59:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Soul harvest is now realeased!!! Steamworks review team has tested the builds very quickly and you can now give it a try!
(reference to this picture)

[ 2017-05-26 14:27:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Soul harvest is now realeased!!! Steamworks review team has tested the builds very quickly and you can now give it a try!
(reference to this picture)

[ 2017-05-26 14:25:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

[ 2017-05-25 22:17:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! We've had a missfortune with the review process on Steamworks and we're sorry to announce that Soul Harvest's launch must be delayed by a few days. We hope that we can make it for the 26th (PDT time) but we can't be sure, it may only be on monday or tuesday. We're very sorry! Curses have cast their shadows upon this endeavour but we shall prevail! More on this tomorrow.

[ 2017-05-25 22:11:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! We've had a missfortune with the review process on Steamworks and we're sorry to announce that Soul Harvest's launch must be delayed by a few days. We hope that we can make it for the 26th (PDT time) but we can't be sure, it may only be on monday or tuesday. We're very sorry! Curses have cast their shadows upon this endeavour but we shall prevail! More on this tomorrow.

[ 2017-05-25 22:09:42 CET ] [ Original post ]