Them's Fightin' Herds to end "active development" after Season 1 DLC, Story Mode canceled (UP: Many Mane6 Employees fired)

[SparksterMeta0]

Full details here

A patch update [5.1.0] is out, and there is talk about Season 1's final characters, but the big news is what comes after.

And it's not good, especially for those who have crowdfunded the game, including myself.

As we look forward to the release of Nidra and Baihe, let's talk about what comes next. After the Season 1 Pass is complete, we will be ceasing active development on TFH. We will still be able to release small patches to address game-breaking bugs, but no new content will be produced. Unfortunately, that includes Story Mode.

Story Mode has always been an ambitious feature and one we truly desired to implement. We know how much our fans have been looking forward to Story Mode chapters, and we hope you understand how much we looked forward to working on and releasing them.

We are looking for opportunities to release content that has already been produced for Chapter 2, starting with a new stage, "Restricted Section". This stage will be a part of the version 6.0 update alongside Nidra and Baihe.

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[Patitoloco]

I have never heard about this game.

Bodes well for a game with seasons.

 

[L Thammy]

I have never heard about this game.

Bodes well for a game with seasons.

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I suspect that's more because it's so old. It started like ten years ago.

 

[Anustart]

Got the game free on epic I think. Perhaps I'll boot it up someday, but I doubt it.

 

[Soap]

This seemed like one of those games the developer hoped would be meme'd into popularity or something and it hasn't seemed to happen.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

This seemed like one of those games the developer hoped would be meme'd into popularity or something and it hasn't seemed to happen.

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I think it came out past the point where MLP's fandom had started to decay and there was just no route forward for a game that basically grew out of that fandom.

 

[Bossking]

Wow, that is extremely light on details for such an announcement. It really feels like "shit's cancelled, oh well BYE"

 

[Giga Man]

Did they say why? I don't see any explanation in the Steam post.

I played this at a friend's place, and the game is legit. Gutting it out of nowhere like this is tragic, and even worse for the people who crowdfunded it.

 

[Fright Zone]

And it's not good, especially for those who have crowdfunded the game, including myself.

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That sucks, what was promised to crowdfunders?

I've had this game on my PSN wishlist for a long time but it's never hit spontaneous purchase levels of cheap.

 

[CloseTalker]

Did they say why?

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Not specifically, but I assume it's just because the game isn't popular enough. It's tough to justify the costs of continuing to pump content into a game not many people are playing. Especially a story mode into a fighting game, that's not going to be what triggers a huge flash of popularity into a game like this.

 

[Joe2187]

on one hand it's six solo indie devs working on one super niche fighting game for the past 10 years, there's bound to have been immense fatigue.

The other is, they were very dedicated and nothing about this was forcasted in the updates and the videos they've published since season 1 was announced. so it feels like something must have happened to one or a couple of the devs which would be sad and unfortunate.

It's a super good game, yall should play it.

 

[PaulloDEC]

Wow, that is extremely light on details for such an announcement. It really feels like "shit's cancelled, oh well BYE"

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Yeah, I clicked through for the "full details", but there was barely anything more than what the op posted.

 

[SteveWinwood]

on one hand it's six solo indie devs working on one super niche fighting game for the past 10 years, there's bound to have been immense fatigue.

The other is, they were very dedicated and nothing about this was forcasted in the updates and the videos they've published since season 1 was announced. so it feels like something must have happened to one or a couple of the devs which would be sad and unfortunate.

It's a super good game, yall should play it.

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They switched publisher somewhat recently right?

It had its niche and it was fairly popular at points, I am surprised by this.

 

[Watchtower]

I think it came out past the point where MLP's fandom had started to decay and there was just no route forward for a game that basically grew out of that fandom.

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When it came out I remember the buzz it had as the MLP fan game that "went legit". I think the unfortunate reality is it really didn't have that much life as its own IP and was largely coasting off said fandom. And now that MLP is effectively ancient internet lore (😭) it only has so much else going for it.

I'm reminded of Terrordrome (the fighting game with horror slasher villains) which was already very niche but then it shifted to original characters so that it could actually make money and has languished in Early Access obscurity hell ever since. At the end of the day original IP had so many hurdles to climb, especially when they're piggybacking off another so blatantly.

 

[Seafoam Gaming]

apparently i have this in my steam library which means I must have gotten it in a bundle: checking the publisher it was a modus game so I'm gonna assume they're the reason why it's being axed (that + low sales probably).

I only vaguely remembered the game due to being at EVO Online before that show got canceled (and being immensely confused why it was selected), but I do remember moreso the pre-TFH rebrand days when it blew up in popularity and had to be reworked due to Hasbro sending a C&D.

My gut feeling is since it was part of game bundles rather quickly, it probably didn't sell that well in the end, but reading the DLC descriptions and seeing it outright say that the characters would also give you their story mode when that becomes available, killing off the story mode without any real warning like this comes off as very shitty. Especially if people backed the game and that was one of the major points.

 

[Platy]

Damn I was really expecting more chapters for the story mode =(

Loved the mix of RPG and Fighting that they made in the base game

 

[MinionZero]

It is sad to see a game try to build itself up with ambitions to get more content as a live game. The creation of a Season Pass situation did seem to follow that desire, maybe following in other fighters' footsteps. I know when it comes to fighters, I am concerned that Story Modes are not in the game to start. That usually means the game can feel pretty light on content for non competitive types.

Unfortunately, if the playerbase stagnates even after releasing on consoles, you can only do so much short of a full reboot/release of the game (which is something only some teams have the finances to do).

It has been a long road, so hopefully the team members can create something cool after this.

 

[yap]

IIRC, this game was gonna have a huge presence at EVO Online 2020, until that whole debacle with then-Evo organizer Jory Cueller came to light and the devs rightfully pulled out.

Really sucks they never got another chance.

 

[MikeProtagonist]

This game is legit, if you're a fighting game fan. It's similar to Skullgirls but doesn't come with as much baggage. Of course, the market for such a hardcore fighting game is very small and there's a lot of people who won't even look past the MLP style.

 

[Tommy Showbiz]

This game feels like it's been out for years. It's just getting out of Season 1?

 

[criteriondog]

This game feels like it's been out for years. It's just getting out of Season 1?

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was wondering the same thing, did it have some resurgence and they decided to make dlc?

 

[.exe]

What a coincidence. I was looking into this game yesterday because apparently it's quite good at tutorializing fighting game mechanics. Too bad about development ending, but I'd still like to give it a try.

 

[Hannibal Barbera]

That sucks. This was the first traditional Fighting Game that really managed to make it all click for me.

 

[lori]

i'm guessing it just comes down to timing tbh

if this came out when MLP was still a hit i'm sure it could've done better

kinda wild that they just go "oh hey game's dead btw" in the notes and leave it at that though

 

[CommandThrower]

It's a shame to hear this news, I think TFH is a really creative fighting game, mostly in the sense that it's a fully fleshed out fighting game where the cast are all four legged ungulates, and I think it does a good job of making each character unique. I didn't even realize that the third character was revealed five months ago until I saw topic today! 'Shows how much of an impact this game actually has or had on people, myself included.

I never backed the game, so I don't really have an attachment to the story. I'll just say that I think the final character being another longma is kinda disappointing. It could have been something like a hippo or a rhino, but oh well. I'm happy the game even got more content, that's probably a lot more than anybody could have expected.

 

[boontobias]

The new Tapir characters looks cool

With their team and experience, hopefully they've been working on a new kickstarter early access game to be revealed

 

[HardRojo]

I literally just got this game in the mail this week lol, installed it but haven't played yet. Oh well, a story mode is not something I look forward to in a fighting game, so I won't be missing much tbh.

 

[Sesha]

Couldn't they make something quick and dirty that's just for fun? A story mode doesn't have to be elaborate.

If they're stuck between making something great that they promised and not making it at all, seems like making something modest is a decent compromise.

 

[MikeProtagonist]

There is a story mode already though, but I haven't followed their plans. Maybe they wanted to expand it. It already seemed pretty meaty for a fighting game.

 

[TheShampion]

That is a bummer because the story mode that is in there now is pretty fun. It is too bad it'll never be finished.

 

[Great Martinez Jr.]

Had my eye on this game for awhile but admittedly never played it. Although my understanding was that it already had a Story Mode so I presume this refers to some kind of expansion.

Given how abrupt these news are, I presume something happened or they finally ran out of money. It's a shame, honestly.

 

[W.S.]

What a shame, the game is pretty fun and worth trying.

I guess at least they're able to finish up whatever they have but their plans for story sounded cool so that's also a huge bummer.

 

[flashman92]

Honestly i think it's the best feeling fighting game I've played, which I was not expecting. Shame it didn't get more popular.

 

[Rubblatus]

I only vaguely remembered the game due to being at EVO Online before that show got canceled (and being immensely confused why it was selected), but I do remember moreso the pre-TFH rebrand days when it blew up in popularity and had to be reworked due to Hasbro sending a C&D.

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The game was a four button fighter that had great rollback netcode and magic-series cancels which gave it a very similar feel to MVC3. It punches way above its weight for an indie fighting game title.

I really hope that Mane 6 get an opportunity to make another fighting game, because it is probably the best indie fighting game this side of Skullgirls.

 

[Tsumami]

The game's good but I liked it better when it was an MLP game. It was actually fuckin awesome. I did still like this and mained Paprika, feels bad about it just ending like this, oh well.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Damn.

The story mode is the one thing I've been waiting for most this entire time.

 

[Jawmuncher]

This game feels like it's been out for years. It's just getting out of Season 1?

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was wondering the same thing, did it have some resurgence and they decided to make dlc?

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It was on PC but only recently came to consoles (Which was always promised in the Kickstarter I believe)

 

[MikeProtagonist]

The game's good but I liked it better when it was an MLP game. It was actually fuckin awesome. I did still like this and mained Paprika, feels bad about it just ending like this, oh well.

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Paprika is simultaneously the best character ever and the worst character ever. Her and Velvet were great, from the little I played.

 

[Mesoian]

It truly is a shame. But I'm interested in whatever they do next.

 

[bibliodragon]

Such a damn shame, the story mode chapter they managed to get done was so so good, but obviously really ambitious for such a small team to make 6 more of them. I had a bad feeling when the publisher fire sale'd their merch store a few weeks back.

 

[Akira86]

did anyone ever do a pony mod for this? long journey it has been.

 

[dgamemaster]

Them Fightin Herds, as lovely of an indie fighting game as it was, never really managed to get the popularity needed to sustain the high dev costs. Average amount of players on Steam tends to hover around the double-digit mark, only reaching to the hundreds when a new character dropped. It's nowhere near good enough of a playerbase, so I'm not surprised that the dev team is moving on from the project once the final characters are done. Bit sad though, it reminds me of a similar situation like how Skullgirls will never get true story mode. Oh well.

 

[Orayn]

Truly the Weaponlord of our time: Brilliant, unconventional, designed for online play, and tailor-made for an audience that was too highly specific and hardcore to give it much of a future.

Wishing the Mane6 team the best.

 

[Malajax]

TFH is one of the most creative fighting games I've played, and a true love letter to the genre. There's so much innovative content in the story mode, the training modes, and the lobby system. I can only hope this is a happy coincidence where the sequel/new SKU is in the works due to restrictive crowdfunding/publishing agreements ala Skulllgirls, but fearing the worst.

I hope Mane6 gets another crack at the genre if that's not the case.

 

[03-AALIYAH]

Rise and fall of ponydom - fan games included - is something I hope future historians will seriously tackle one day, because what a bloody mess.

 

[Deleted member 8750]

That's a shame. I always thought the game looked great but I'm not a fan of fighting games so I never picked it up.

 

[SigmasonicX]

This game feels like it's been out for years. It's just getting out of Season 1?

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was wondering the same thing, did it have some resurgence and they decided to make dlc?

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Just comes down to a very small amount of devs slowly chipping away at promised features.

Given they were enthusiastic about continued progress just recently, it's pretty likely that their publisher pulled the plug rather than anything on the devs' parts.

As for this not growing much of an audience, that comes down to them botching their chance to get bronies onboard by making the fighting system too hardcore. They could have salvaged that with an easy but fun story mode, but they made that pretty difficult too. I and a lot of other people I talked to got stuck and just dropped the game. And this difficulty in turn made it difficult for younger kids to start playing.

 

[Jawmuncher]

Just comes down to a very small amount of devs slowly chipping away at promised features.

Given they were enthusiastic about continued progress just recently, it's pretty likely that their publisher pulled the plug rather than anything on the devs' parts.

As for this not growing much of an audience, that comes down to them botching their chance to get bronies onboard by making the fighting system too hardcore. They could have salvaged that with an easy but fun story mode, but they made that pretty difficult too. I and a lot of other people I talked to got stuck and just dropped the game. And this difficulty in turn made it difficult for younger kids to start playing.

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Yeah, it does feel a bit like they leaned a bit too heavily on one side here. Can't recall if a season pass of characters was promised in the Kickstarter but I feel like the console release should've been the game finally getting a story mode and after that pushing for the extra characters.

Since as it stands, everything is there for a hardcore FGC base which is cool but someone who might've wanted to enjoy the game more casually doesn't have as much to dabble with.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

This is a shame, especially since the crowdfunding campaign did reach what they originally felt would be enough to complete story mode.

This a big challenge indie fighting games face. Making a FG is really damned hard at any scale. Indies are all but forced to start with a playable client featuring a small number of characters. Then very slowly grow the roster over the course of years, if they're able to keep working on it. Then somehow work on other game modes and features as well.

Makes it difficult for interest in the games to be sustained at an appreciable size.

 

[Grain Silo]

I'm not much of a Fighting Games person but I lucked into a gift copy of this game and messed around with it and thought it was fun and well-made. The way the music instrumentation dynamically leans between one character or the other depending on who's winning was a really cool touch.

As for this not growing much of an audience, that comes down to them botching their chance to get bronies onboard by making the fighting system too hardcore. They could have salvaged that with an easy but fun story mode, but they made that pretty difficult too. I and a lot of other people I talked to got stuck and just dropped the game. And this difficulty in turn made it difficult for younger kids to start playing.

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Quoting for truth. TFH really caters to a niche of a niche, it's too hardcore for casual MLP fans (despite the actually really good and full-fledged tutorial) and the MLP baggage/aesthetic is alienating for the FGC.