- November update - 7 November 2023
Hey Autumnsfolk! It's been a couple of weeks now since leaving early access, and it's been great. Lots of new players providing feedback and ideas, and a lot of interest in expanding to consoles and new languages. I remain focussed on quality and more content for now, but it's nice validation! That said, I thought I'd check in with a summary of some new content that's just gone live this week, as well as provide a summary of the issues resolved in the last couple of weeks. New animal: Raptor Stalking the swamps you can now find the Swamp Raptor, or head to the dunes for it's more brightly coloured Dunes Raptor! These are uncommon spawns, but can turn up any season but winter. Their stay requirements are terrain based, and there's a new sequence with Kaci on unlocking their Produce requirements (enter her house with at least the second affection level to kick off the quest). Once you've…
- Tales of Autumn Full Release - 12 October 2023
The time has come! Whilst I've still got plenty more in the tank, the time feels right to leave early access. The recent feedback has been really encouraging, and I'm extremely grateful for everyone who has played a helping hand on the journey. I'll save the long thank you for the end of this post, but first here's the release content! Achievements I've been asked for them a lot, and as an ex-achievement hunter myself I've been keen to add these since day one! The only reason I haven't added them before is because then I wouldn't be able to take them away. So, with the release I've added over 40 achievements. They range from obtaining specific species, through to completing various collections, and a handful of secret ones for some special interactions. For those of you who have already sunk a fair bit of time into your save, don't worry - I've added a 'Check my achievements' option to…
- Seasonal music update - 6 August 2023
Hey Autumnsfolk! Checking in with an update of what's gone live over the most recent releases! Seasonal music I was planning on holding this back until the full release, but I'm excited to say that there's now 12 new tracks for the regular day themes. Each season now has it's own set, including a rainy day theme. Configurable gameplay speed Tales of Autumn's game days are about 10 minutes long, which was completely intentional. When I'm playing games of this genre, I like to know how long a day will be, plus with ToA I wanted to have a game where you couldn't just do everything in a single day. However, enough of you asked for the option to prolong the day, so now within the menu you can change the default 10 minutes to either 20 or 30 minutes. If changing to one of these times, I completely expect you to see some odd glitches with the NPCs. Nothing harmful, but you might see them repea…
- Controls update - 18 June 2023
Hey Autumnsfolk! Hope everyone’s well, I’m checking in with a summary of the release that went live this weekend. Control mappings The main event of this release, you now have the ability to reconfigure the mouse, keyboard and gamepad controls. You can access this from the main menu's Settings button, or within the System tab of your journal menu. Selecting to do so will open up a page of all configurable inputs, and then you can go ahead and change each by selecting the edit icon, then entering the new key/button. For the mouse, there's a section on the right where you can define the action for the left and right clicks. I've added all the choices that I got from a few players, but if there's additional requests then please get in touch. I very rarely use this feature myself in games, so I looked around at how other similar games do this, but I'm sure there's something I missed! I've b…
- Photography update - 7 April 2023
Hey Autumnsfolk! Hope everyone’s well, I’m checking in with a new content release ahead of the long weekend. Hopefully the weather is great and everyone gets some time outside, but in case it’s raining here’s what’s been added to the update! New character Meet Wendy! Players that have progressed to unlock the nature reserve may well have met her already, but Wendy is a tourist who starts to visit Autumn every Saturday to pursue her photography career. With this update, when you next meet Wendy on the reserve walkway (not for the first time), she’ll kickoff a quest sequence that eventually results in her moving in! Photography The quest mentioned above is to capture five photos of animals for Wendy on her spare polaroid camera The Polaroid camera is then unlocked as a tool, meaning you can store it in your tool crate, or the tools section of your backpack When you equip and use it, you’l…
- Development update: New buildings! - 16 March 2023
Autumn buildings' new look has arrived! This face-lift has been a slow burner for quite some time, as I wanted all buildings to be ready before release. Each building now has a distinct look, primarily to give them some character, but also to help you learn the map (for anyone who hasn’t played yet, prior to this all buildings looked pretty similar). Some of the new looks: Ranch buildings Hal’s house and Autumn’s Library Ruth’s Ranch animal store You may have also noticed a few small updates over the last week or three. Over the course of these, the below list have all been added or fixed. New special interactions ahead of secret achievements The Pumpkin contest introduction cutscene was starting with the pumpkins half-grown! Closed a few exploits where you could earn a crazy amount of affection points with Claudia, Ruth or any biome-barn resident that enjoys water! Closed a softlock op…
- Nature Reserve - 4 February 2023
At long last, I’ve uploaded the Nature Reserve update, and it’s about five times bigger than I originally planned! Before I dive into the detail, I just want to say thanks for your patience everybody. Life got crazy for a bit, and I certainly haven’t been disciplined with regards to not adding extra stuff! So, the here’s the first round of Nature Reserve details, then some extra changes that have happened too! Nature Reserve What is it? Ever wondered whats behind the fences to the north of the town? Well, it’s a huge open space. Once your friendship level grows with Hal, he’ll take you there and pitch you his dream of creating a reserve for animal research. A few scenes and a completed workshop upgrade later, you’ll find a new museum looking building, complete with a basement for managing it, and a walkway going over the terrain-editable field. With this in place, you and Hal have a joi…
- Nature reserve: Progress update - 25 November 2022
Hey Autumnsfolk! It’s been a while since the last Steam update - hope everyone is doing well! Like most people, I had a busy summer and the day-job has been pretty demanding too. However, I’ve kept up with Tales of Autumn daily progress, so even though I’m not pushing a release tonight I thought I’d drop an update anyway! Nature reserve summary I’ve spent nearly all my available time on the next major content update, which is the Nature reserve. You can expect a full writeup when release day arrives, but in summary: - A new upgradeable area in the town where you can create Hal’s research dream of an open space for wildlife - You’ll be able to donate creatures, or have them arrive naturally based on terrain - Small animal displays as a new creature type to collect (and a cage & baiting system to do so!) - Animal produce displays, museum-style - A tourism score that can help with costs, a…
- Ranch Field update - 18 August 2022
Hey all! I’ve just uploaded the next main feature update, so here's a summary and a quick rundown of other changes made along the way. Ranch field Once unlocked, this upgrade adds a new area to your ranch for your creatures to roam. A lot of you have mentioned that your ranch was getting too crowded as soon as you owned some of the larger creatures. The field more than doubles the currently available space, so I’m hoping this alleviates that! The field has a terrain manager, so you can customise it as you wish, and grow crops there too. Once you’ve unlocked the field, the building control buttons will change to now give you the choice of having those animals indoors, roaming the ranch, or roaming the field. To unlock the upgrade, you have to have at least five animals, and then you should get a visit from Hal and Adam. Finally, there’s a new species included in this update too: Capybara…
- Early access: 12 weeks roundup! - 28 July 2022
Hey Autumnsfolk! 12 weeks feels like an appropriate time for another update roundup! Since I posted the roadmap update, I’ve been lucky enough to meet a whole bunch of new players. Everybody has been really great to talk with, and I’m extremely grateful for all the feedback, and that I can openly discuss ideas with you all :) Anyway, what’s been added since the last Steam announcement? New content New festival: Glowfly watching On the 28th Spring you’ll now get a visit from Danica inviting you to an evening festival at the forest. The festival brings new music, insects and a mini-game challenge too! Essence grinding There’s a new upgrade available for the apothecary: Mortar & Pestle. You can use this to break down any organic item into an essence, which should make your gathering tasks much easier! New town content: Rose I won’t spoil who Rose is, but everyone has liked her so far! This…
- Early access roadmap update - 17 June 2022
With fishing added, I’ve been taking the last week to respond to player feedback, do some decorating ahead of future updates, and add a few pieces of content. As I’m about to dive into planning the next major update, I thought it’d be good to post a roadmap update. So here’s the headlines, with some more detail further below… What’s next? - Hal’s reserve What's after that? - Mining - New (secret!) location! - Animal Fashion and decorations What might then come, depending on feedback? - Romance update - Cooking - Expanded ranch …and all along the way, there’s more animals, festivals, characters, cutscenes, dialogue, quests and music being added! The next level of detail behind some of the items above… Hal’s reserve adds an area to Autumn that was abandoned when the wildlife left. With the player arriving and wildlife returning, Hal will enlist the player as a partner to create a nature r…
- Tales of Autumn: Fishing update! - 11 June 2022
Tales of Autumn has now been in early access for just over a month! It’s flown past, and been a very positive experience for me so far! Thank you to everyone who’s played, and keep the feedback coming! This weekend I’ve released the first major feature update, fishing! The TLDR of what this update includes: - Fishing! - Automatic barn feeders - New town upgrades available from Matty - A new animal - Lots of new dialogue - A bunch of bug fixes Visit Thimba at the fishing store (at the docks) to kick things off. For new players, this is available as soon as Thimba arrives at town, which is the 8th of Spring. Once you’ve gotten the fishing rod, all you need to do is cast it into any fishing shadows you see! There are a couple of permanent fishing spots, but mostly they appear and disappear throughout the day in any of the main bodies of water. As long as your float is cast into the shadow…
- Week 2.5 of Early Access update! - 18 May 2022
Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing well, I just wanted to post a progress update for anyone not on Discord! Here’s a summary of everything that’s been added since I last posted on the 8th! A new festival! This ones a hidden festival, which happens at the end of Fall. IF you don’t want to miss it, make sure you get your friendship up with Akra! A new ranch upgrade, available at Matty’s workshop A nice upgrade to save you precious time with your animal dailies! A couple of cutscenes for when you unlock the Bison at Ruth’s farm store You now get notifications when festivals are about to start Various changes to animal spawning, so the animals that don’t like it will now avoid the rain (stopping them from getting grumpy at you!) And of course I’m continuing to prioritise bug fixing over everything else! Quite a few have been found and fixed, here’s a quick rundown of the most noticeable on…
- One week down! - 9 May 2022
Hey all, Just a quick note, as it’s somehow been a full week since I quietly put Tale of Autumn in early access! I’m pleased to say that it’s gone much smoother than anticipated! Plenty of issues as expected, but definitely fewer than I anticipated! I want to take the opportunity to give a heartfelt thanks to every player so far, especially those joining Discord to share your feedback and ideas for the future! The feedback has been really positive, and I can’t wait to involve you in the upcoming content updates! Below is a summary of the patches delivered throughout the week. This week I’ll be continuing to prioritise any issues you come across, whilst getting on with some new content! - Added some more mouse and keyboard controls - Added help banners to shipping crate and player chests that show the controls - Added a new cutscene when you first arrive at the ruins - A few UX tweaks to…
- Early access release! - 30 April 2022
Friends, I’m both excited and terrified to announce that Tales of Autumn is now officially in early access! It’s been a stressful week of trying to get things ready, but everyone has been very helpful with testing, and the feedback has been positive so far, so let’s just go for it! Tales of Autumn is very much in early access. I hope there aren’t many, but there are bound to be issues hidden around. Please let me know directly if you encounter anything, and I’ll do my best to fix it straightaway. The same goes for any other feedback, good or bad! You’re welcome to catch me on email, or join Discord to talk with me directly, and see what other players are up to! Progress so far is that the core gameplay loops are done, there are over 70 animal species and variants, 17 NPCs, and four festivals. There’s loads more I’ll be adding as we go, and I’ll be prioritising fixing any issues that pla…
