Dear Little Hats players! After about six months of full-time daily work, the Big Beta Update is finally ready to be played! Furthermore, after more than two years of Early Alpha, the game is now finally in Beta!
This means that now the hardest work has all been done, now it's on to improving upon what we currently have in the game, fixing any and all bugs that are discovered, and test-playing over and over again to balance the game out until ultimate fun is achieved. I can almost say with certainty that it should be no longer than a year before Little Hats will go into full release!
During the coming week I will be making a new trailer and the week after that I'll be making a new Devlog in which I'll showcase how I made the Lowlands part of the map. So stay tuned for that.
In any case, enjoy the new update! And please let me know if there are things you don't like about, or do like, about the Big Beta Update!
Cheers!
It is highly recommended to start the game over again to prevent any bugs from appearing because of an old save, but if you've played LH in recent months then you should be able to continue on your current save. The intro has also been made much more fun with more story and new quests, so again I recommend starting over to experience it all :D
If your main menu freezes please delete the save game or reinstall the game. If you've played LH more than a year ago and still have this save it will cause the freeze because the game save system has been changed. If there is any other trouble please contact me and I'll try to fix it ASAP or help find a solution.
A quick overview of fixed bugs, improvements, and new things added in this update.
New In Little Hats:
Three new gnome houses near the Jagerborg have been added to the map, the area around the new houses has also been made more pretty and is now called Little Falls Valley.
A new gnome road has been added going from Bolderberg all the way to the Middle Steyndike Maze, connecting 2 underground gnome houses to the main gnome road, and to the new Little Falls houses, as well as a fairy settlement.
A lot of the map has been made more beautiful around the new roads.
Some other gnome houses and settlements have also been connected by new roads
Some caves now also have small mud roads leading to them, making them easier to find, and in some cases connecting parts of the map, and making it easier to find pretty, otherwise hard-to-find areas.
There are now troll traps, which will randomly spawn in the forest, once trapped a troll will come to catch you.
The day troll will now also spawn away from its standard places, they will now like the owl, spider, and hunter come to you!
You can now tame foxes!
Bear traps will spawn in the forest with trapped animals in it. You can use a walking stick to break open the trap, then you can heal the animal, and once it's healed it's tamed.
You can now tame a wild hare! Once you free one from a trap, and feed it carrots, it will be tamed! After which you can name it, and let it follow you around or order it to stay in place.
You can now craft Hare Back Storage, which will allow you to store up to 4 items on the back of your hare, then simply ask the hare to follow you and you will be able to take more items on your adventure!
A troll can now also get stuck in the bear trap, and you can free it and be rewarded with spirit points for your kindness or leave it there out of revenge.
There are now walk, run, sprint, and idle camera shake effects, making moving around feel more realistic. You can disable the effects in graphics settings if you get motion-sick easily as it might not be pleasant for everyone.
The player character now faces the direction that the player is walking in, which means running around will look way more realistic and pretty, the character used to walk sideways, making it seem like he was some sort of crab, or slightly floating over the ground.
The player character now has dive animations for when jumping into the water.
The player character now also has steep hill animations, when going up or down a steep hill he now bends his back slightly making walking up/downhill seem more realistic.
After running during the stamina regeneration the player character now has a out of breath animation.
The camera now shakes and hungry/thirsty sounds play when the character is thirsty, making it harder to find food and simulating a disorientation effect when the character is starving or dehydrated.
Some gnome doors are now locked, you can open the doors and enter the gnome house when you find the required key, usually near the door.
Lockpicks have been added and can now be crafted to open gnome doors that have no key, or any locked gnome door for that matter.
You now have to hold the E key instead of pressing E once when opening some gnome closet, boxes, drawers, etc. Makes it feel more like you are actually opening something, and creates more focus and engagement on gameplay. Also some human objects.
Day trolls will now shake you when not near a caldren, which will cause damage, before they would just stand there doing nothing.
There are now better effects when dying or when in low health which will make it seem more dramatic.
The player character will now get dirty over time by mining, going into caves, swimming in dirty water, etc. The HUD will now also display a dirty effect when the player is really dirty.
NPCs will react to players when too dirty, they won't talk to you unless you clean...
You can now clean your character in bathtubs, which can be bought in the Ravenwoud furniture shop or found randomly placed throughout the gnome houses.
The day troll will sometimes sneak toward you now, using new animations and AI behavior, he might also stalk you for a little bit making things pretty intense!
The night troll might now also stalk you before attacking, it will slowly creep towards you while keeping a distance, it might run away again or it might go for the attack! New animations have been added, and new improved AI.
Animals, trolls, and humans can now be heard every now and again from a distance, you might also hear a branch break or a bush when they are near.
The player now has a magic ability, when holding the left mouse button down while not holding any other objects, the character will shine a bright light from out of its palm. Later on in the lowlands the player will learn how to use this magic ability, for now, it's a light in the dark, it can also unlock some special dialogue and impress the locals, while also scaring away trolls and attracting animals.
New music has been added to the record player, more in tune with the game and its nostalgic inspiration.
There are now some bricks on the sides of human houses that allow you to climb up to the roof.
There are now also gnome ladders, which you can climb on, only one is used in Ravenwoud for now, in the lowlands, and in future gnome towns there will be many more.
There are now crater gnomes in the craterlands, they will tell you more clearly what to do in the game's intro. And when you die they'll talk to you also, and they'll spawn in different places, and numbers, in the craterlands. They will tell you more about the story and lore and also give you free stuff, such as a free axe, or even a rare weapon, which can be used upon respawning.
Trolls will now be able to destroy a primitive gnome hut after a while of hitting it. Giving the player a good reason to make a house instead.
Humans and trolls will now look through the windows of player houses, to see if the player is home...
Trolls and humans will now try to grab the player in their houses, by opening the door and reaching in with their arms to grab the player! Be warned!
A magical golden frog has been added which can be found in 3 different new locations on the map, the frog will give the player free gold and spawns rarely.
Bottles, glasses, and plates, inside human houses, will now tumble and fall, then break. Bottles might drop coins but the sound of anything breaking will draw the attention of humans.
Interactive Snow has been added, with new walk sound effects, and particle effects!
5 new types of winter trees for in the lowlands have been added.
4 new autumn trees have been added to for the lowlands.
3 new autumn bush models and new ground leaves have also been added for the lowlands.
A new water material has been made for the lowlands.
3 new types of grass for in the lowlands have also been added.
3 different Ice sheet models have been added, you will also hear ice footstep sounds, and slide when walking on ice!
A new roof window has been added and is used in lots of new human houses, allowing you to enter or exit the house through the roof window! You can climb on top of the roof using the new climbing system.
you can now craft ice skates and use them on ice to travel really fast across the lowlands ice areas.
A new winter outfit has been added which can be found in gnome houses in the snow lowlands area.
A lot of new day and night music has been added for the new lowlands areas
It will now snow instead of rain in snow areas.
A goose has been added to the game, which you can find in the lowlands and fly on
A new giant human city has been added more than three times the size of Steynstad! In it many new amazing things, also a sewer system for gnomes to travel around.
A new city ambiance has been added to human cities.
The old HUD has been mostly replaced by a new HUD, but some things remain the same. The new HUD should feel much more in tune with the game/is much more responsive to the game, and has more interactivity.
All shops have new looks, completely reshaping the shop menu.
All Crafting menus have been changed and look way better now!
All in-game messages have been made to look better and are now also in the style of the game.
Dangerous rats have been added to the game and can be found sometimes hiding in human closets or in the great sewer system below Utrecht, they might appear near water and other rat-like places. Beware!
More sounds have been added for when you receive damage, and a sound has also been added for drowning.
Fixed Bugs and Improvements:
A message in the tutorial area has been added to let players know how to access the map, quests, and the crafting menu. Two coins have also been added to entice the player to jump down, instead of going back behind the huntsman's house.
More signs have been added along the new and existing roads.
Craterlands look has been improved.
The intro area has seen more changes, the wake-up sequence in the little gnome bed is faster now, and you will need to gather some resources and break a wooden barrier to enter into the old huntsman house. This teacher the player how to craft and find things.
Food now spawns less often making it harder to find food, which will require the player to go and find more food in houses, giving more motivation for exploration.
Selling logs and rocks can now only be done when selling 3 at a time, for one coin. Before it was one log or one rock for one coin which was too easy a way to collect a lot of coins.
The Berry hitbox has slightly been increased in size.
When you fall from really high the landing animation looks better now.
Food and water drain less quickly.
Some food is now cheaper to buy and some food makes the player's food bar fill up more than previously.
The character now looks into the camera when moving backward.
The Gnome doorway texture looks better now.
Gnome doors now open slower to increase the excitement of entering a house.
Some human closets open slower, and boxes also to increase tension.
Regular humans that pick you up might now also start hitting you like the guard or hunter, before bringing you to the gnome cage.
When held by humans and trolls it will now be harder to shake loose, and require more quick space taps!
The player has been weakened some, health generation takes a little while longer, fall damage has increased, and some enemies do more damage also, this further balances the game to a point of excitement and where it's not too easy.
Furniture shops have lower prices so it has become easier to make your gnome house look pretty with furniture.
Sleeping is now more rewarding as it restores 50 percent health, and instantly regenerates stamina!
Troll and human footsteps are louder and heard from further away.
Trolls and other creatures drop the player earlier when the player is below 20% health but hold the player longer when above 20% health.
Some dark window planes have been added to prevent looking inside when the inside hasn't loaded yet. Planes fade when close by and inside is loaded.
The workbench widget didn't work fully with a controller but now it does.
Music now fades when starving or thirsty, making it less joyful xD.
The P key no longer opens the menu (This was used for testing) Key can now be bound to other actions, making lefthanded play easier for some players.
You can now stand on top of big glowing waterlilies, and they are placed in new locations besides Ravenwood.
Player-built houses are now brighter on the inside. Before they were really dark.
Player-crafted and bought lights (To use in builds) are now brighter to light up houses better.
Brick craftable walls/foundations etc from player builds now have textures that align better.
Wood window frames no longer blend with the glass, wood looks better now, and glass too.
Brick walls built by the player should no longer have gaps between them and should align much better now.
Fog might become really dense during the night to scare players more, and hide approaching trolls.
Spiders can now enter gnome houses, also player-build-houses.
The grass has been improved.
All NPCs have been heavily optimized and should perform much better.
Humans will now hear when the player opens teapots, glass jars, and some other loud items inside human homes, and they will go to the locations where they heard a sound.
The main menu has had some major improvements.
The loading screen has also been improved.
By default, ambiance has been raised to immerse players better.
F1, f2, and f3 have all been cleared, you now open crafting with Tab and the map with M, and quests can now be found above the map.
Hitboxes on the lower part of the stone gnome bridge are fixed.
The owl is no longer able to take the player out of the hands of other enemies, this caused the player to be held by both NPCs.
All foods such as berries, mushrooms, and such have been made part of the instanced foliage system, which means they are no longer individual objects placed per level, which before caused performance to decrease.
Getting out of water is now easier.
Fog caused the water to glitch sometimes, this has been fixed.
Dark trolls should no longer get stuck all the time inside the deep caves.
Tools and other items now have an emissive pulse like dropped resources, this will make it easier to find items when dropped on the ground at night or in dense foliage.
Hunter now only spawns when leaving the first part of the forest, to ensure the hunter doesn't take the player and teleports to the other side of the map while the player still has to go to Ravewnoud to learn what to do. For the same purpose, teleport fairies can now only be accessed when at level 4 or above.
Mazes have been made easier.
Destroyed foliage such as chopped-down trees, or eaten berry bushes, will now be saved and stay destroyed upon replaying the game. Before each time a save was loaded all mined resources would re-appear.
You can now also knock on green and blue doors before only a message would appear saying you need the potion to open it. Now humans will be drawn to the knocking to prevent players from getting stuck behind these doors
Ground textures have been improved, are higher res now, and look overall way better.
Humans can now spawn when no humans are near the player when the player knocks on the door. The human will then walk to the door to answer the call.
Rain and wind ambiance would sometimes get stuck and not fade away, it would then keep playing in the background until the game was restarted, this should now be fixed, but will require some more testing to make sure it's 100% gone.
When going underwater, ambiance and weather sounds will now be lowered and barely noticeable. Before you would hear the birds underwater.
Owl is no longer able to spawn in no-fly zones, like near the mountains, before it would just stay stuck on the ground and not move or fly when spawned in such a zone.
When a player got stuck inside something or below the level and the game was saved, upon reloading the game everything would freeze. Now the player will just fall down allowing you to open ESC and press the stuck button. Will work on preventing getting stuck in the first place but at least there should be no more freezing and loss of all progress :D.
Switching to passive mode will no longer crash the game.
Spiders and owls are now disabled when switching to passive mode
arrow key bindings have been removed.
The E interact distance has slightly been increased to beyond the distance at which the "E to interact message" appears above the HUD pointer. Before the message would sometimes appear but the actual range at which interaction was possible would be slightly smaller, so it would give the interact message but there would be no interaction. Now every time you see the interact message you will be able to interact from that distance.