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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.