Dear Hunters,
Apologies for not posting this along with the update itself. The developer responsible for the update (and for maintaining Akaneiro in general) has left Spicy Horse and forgot to pass this along when he departed. We finally tracked him down and tickled this list out of him...

Here are things that were fixed with the last update:

• Steam Account can now save progress and show the mission complete screen when the player returns to village (This was the most critical issue).
• The (small, medium and large) Red and Blue bottles drop item was showing only text and the mesh was hidden. Now it show the bottle mesh as well as the text.
• The drop Item text hold for a bit longer before disappearing.
• Some levels (in the last few areas) used to have a terrain Only (without any houses, meshes,...etc), now the bundles have been fixed and the player should see an entire level.
• Show the collected materials in the mission complete screen (was not showing on steam version).
• The MiniMap was strange (around area 4, 5 if I still remember well) and the player was walking on a black map, I rebuilt the bundles with the map enabled in those levels.
• Some of the armor/pants meshes show long spikes out the Character model (I'm not sure if this one have been released in the previous version or in this version)

Going forward, there is a HOLD on further development of the title. This will be the case until early 2015, when we will have developers coming free from another ongoing project in the studio. At that time we will assign them to work on Akaneiro and will continue efforts towards implementing multi-player, tablet support, and other improvements.

In the meantime, we have emailed Valve to ask for removal from the Early Access area of Steam, and placement within the normal Steam Store.

Please note that ours is a very small development studio with not many people to monitor discussions or reports of issues here on Steam. If you have an issue to report or feedback to provide, please do so via our official Customer Support channel here: http://support.spicyhorse.com


We appreciate your ongoing support and understanding.

Spicy Horse Games

Greetings Hunters!

Writing this update I'm reminded of the "Bring out your dead!" scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," wherein an old man, not wanting to go on the dead-cart, protests, "I'm not dead!" "I'm getting better!" "I feel happy!" Meanwhile, John Cleese insists, "You'll be stone dead in a moment."

Well, we're not dead.

Based on the silence around here since our last mega-news generating update, you might have got that impression. I wouldn't blame you. Truth is, when the BS gets that deep, it's best to ignore it and just plow forward. The "failed Kickstarter," "Spicy Horse in debt," "we can't report facts, so let's just make up shit," headlines now seem like a distant, laughable hallucination.

In the meantime our "little Akaneiro team," which mainly consists of one guy (thank you, Muhammad), has continued development on Akaneiro. Everyone else at Spicy Horse has been focused on "The Gate," our 3D Action-CCG game. Thankfully, for Akaneiro and our studio in general, that title's doing very, very well. Yay!

So, here we are today with proof of life: An updated version of Akaneiro and news on continued development. First, the patch notes for the version being posted to Steam, Kongregate, and SpicyWorld:

* Fixed the assignment of Skills at Level Up
* Fixed bug that allows bypassing of a fence in town.
* Fixed bug to prevent accidental purchasing of items.
* Invisible wall removed from Reap as you Sow mission as well as other major bugs that prevent level from being complete-able.
* Invisible enemies and stages with invisible items in should now be fixed. (Still appears on some items and certain video cards).
* Skill training exploit patched.
* Fixed 3D model to display worn armor correctly.
* Map hotkey 'M' should now be functional
* Fixed bug with mini-map opening settings
* Plum wine and Red tea items should now be usable.

Going forward, development on Akaneiro will continue. There's a long list of bugs that still need to be squashed and improvements to be made. If you have anything you'd like to report, please submit a ticket to us via our ZenDesk Support Channel. Beyond bug fixing, efforts are also being made to bring Akaneiro to tablets - that's the next big goal on our list. Longer term, we need to make significant adjustments to Akaneiro in recognition of its failure as a F2P game - either improving the F2P systems or removing them completely. Your thoughts on this topic are welcome and can be shared with us here in the Steam community.

With that out of the way...

I posted (a version of) this note regarding transparency in the games industry with a recent update to the Alice: Otherlands KS project. Copying it here because it touches on issues that were brought to light by my transparency with the Akaneiro campaign.

/vent on

After the most recent major announcement about our Akaneiro project - specifically the fact that we were "in the hole 1.7 million dollars" - a lot of people speculated on the stability of our finances and ability to deliver on campaign promises. So much of what was being reported was so outlandish that I felt it better to ignore the BS, move forward, and provide proof of our health with tangible results. I hope this update answers your concerns about this campaign.

To be clear, Spicy Horse was in a tight spot financially during January of this year. The studio was only weeks away from certain death. Not a fun spot, but also not an unusual spot for an indie developer. It's also not unusual for a developer to spend their own money towards making a game - and then be "out" that money - but the way it was reported... Perhaps the oddest part was that I was (and am still) willing to reveal these facts about our business to the public. Thankfully, our investors saved the day with another infusion of capital. Since then our latest game, The Gate[spicyworld.spicyhorse.com], has found significant success, and things are better than ever.

None of this was ever about our inability to manage our budgets or schedules. Yes, we spent 1.7 million USD on development of Akaneiro. At the peak of development we burned around 60kUSD per month on salaries for the development staff. Our spending and development pace followed preset budgets and schedules - and, for the most part, we kept spending and/or scheduling on track throughout development. Given the amount of content was that produced and the scope of the game upon launch, most industry insiders would label Akaneiro a success in terms of its efficiency in converting dollars into content and features. That it failed to generate income post-launch is another, oft repeated, story.

Lots* of games get made, then fail to turn of profit. (*I think "lots" could truthfully be replaced with "most"). A lot of development studios go under as a result of investment into games that ultimately fail to deliver expected financial results. It seems beyond odd to me that this concept would need to be explained to the press (and audience) who consume the industry's products. It's not a bizarre model unique to the game industry either...

To any person or "reporter" wanting to snipe at me from the anonymity and security of their Internet sofa: Please take a moment to ask yourself why companies don't normally reveal detailed information about their operations and struggles. Consider your reaction when privileged information is shared; and your power to shape the relationship that exists between gamers, press, and publisher/developers.

Do you like secretive publishing entities that operate like black boxes: taking your money, vanishing it into canceled projects nobody's ever heard of, and treating you like you can't handle the truth of how the industry functions? Based on my read of your internet chatter, you'd prefer a more transparent system in which your opinions mattered and development happened in collaboration with the audience. Then again, based on your reaction to the truth of my studio's struggles, honesty should be answered with pitchforks and torches.

You create your own monsters[en.wikipedia.org].

For the more rational and supportive of you, once again, many thanks for your continued kindness and support.

/vent off

I'll post more Akaneiro news as it happens. And I expect the next news will be regarding another patch - then, hopefully, a tablet version. Difficult to estimate when (if ever) we might get multi-player into the game, as that will require effort by our network team (who are currently 100% occupied with The Gate). As I said before, the success of The Gate will largely determine our ability to devote resources to Akaneiro. The good news today is that The Gate is doing really well, so the future is looking much brighter for Akaneiro and Spicy Horse.

From "The Hole" in Shanghai,

American

Greetings hunters.

There's a massive new update for Akaneiro

Highlights include:

• UI overhaul
  
• 6 ability slots
  
• 3 food/consumables slot
  
• Crafting v.2 - Upgrade the item LEVEL (more defense/damage)
  
• Linear World Map
  
• More Pets and Pets now level up
  
• New Mini Map with fog of war

For a full list see this thread:
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/app/230310/discussions/0/630802344649478006/

Cheers

-Spicy Horse

Greetings hunters.

Here we are with another little tweaking and improving patch.
Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about all the big stuff that's coming too, that's still being worked on :))

* New Objectives for easy missions

* Adjusted enemy spawns for early difficulties

* Adjust ability training requirements

* Reduce energy cost for abilities

* New world map for mission select

* Longer invincibility on revive

* Decreased loading times

* Boss leaderboards at www.angry-red.com

And also we have a Boss killing competition.... if you'd like to check out the thread here and take part, then please do so :)
http://spicyworld.spicyhorse.com/social/thread-2029-1-1.html

-spicyhorse

Greetings Hunters.

Well it's been a while since the last announcement, so we just wanted to swing by and let you know that we're still here and working hard on the next big Aka update.

There's a COMPLETE and total UI overhaul coming and we've also switched over to a new way of doing the UI which will give us more flexibility to do stuff in the future. That's what's taking so long.
But when it comes, I hope you'll all agree it looks (and acts) far better :)

In other news, we have submitted our latest game to Greenlight.

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=196832153

So go check it out, tell all your friends, vote it up, create a shrine and pray to the lord of Greenlighting. :)

- Spicyhorse

Spread the word, tell all your friends, Akaneiro is now half price until November 2nd

We've also updated the Early Access pack to include the terrifying skeleton armour and extra large health and energy potions.

There's also potions added to the in game packages too.

Cheers

- spicyhorsegames

Greetings hunters.

Another small patch today.
But with it comes the terrifying pumpkin/skeleton armour :oO
Check it out in the rare shop before it goes.

- Spicyhorse

Greetings hunters....

Here's the patch notes for today's little update.

• Increased quality of loot drops
• Updated Rare item Shop
• Potions rebalanced
• Crystal Items now in Item Shop
• Reduced Trap HP in “Stolen Remains”
• Fixed Camera bugs
• Fixed Ally freezing bug
• General Bug Fixing

You'll also be happy to know that here internally we're working on crafting part 2 (Item leveling) and multi-player. Yay !!

- Spicyhorse

29/09/13

4 New Missions
“Blind Rage” in Shinegami River
“Stolen Remains” in Jawbone Ravine
“Without a Head” in Bloodroot Cemetery
“Secret Entrance” in Bloodfang Fort

Crystal Revive costs reduced, Scrolls no longer purchasable

No Mission Cooldown event ongoing due to popular demand

Health and Energy potions now available in 3 sizes