Devlog #3 Whistling, Jumping, Indoor Arena & More!

**Hi ranchers! 🌱 I'm back today with a lot of new content for The Ranch of Rivershine. I took a little break to work on my other game Capybara Spa, but now that it's released, I'll be focusing 100% on this game until it's complete!!

A Day At The Ranch

Before we get into this devlog, I wanted to share a gameplay video I just posted on Youtube! This showcases a lot of the new features mentioned in this devlog and a full tour of the player’s ranch. While everything is still a work in progress, this might give you a better idea of what it’ll be like to spend some time at The Ranch of Rivershine!

Horse Whistle

You can now whistle and call your horse over! Based on the trust your horse has for you, they’ll walk, trot or canter over. But keep in mind this only works if the horse is close enough to you, and will work from further away the more your horse likes you! Unless they’re still getting to know you, in which case… they won’t come over at all!

Whistling works both in the pasture, where multiple horses can hear you and come over, or when you’re out exploring trails with a horse. Be sure to spend time increasing your horses trust for you, so you won’t have to run around chasing them!

Better rider

I’ve added more controls to make the horseback riding smoother. You can now stop quickly from a canter or a gallop, and walk backwards. While walking backwards on a horse is not easy, it will improve over time with your horse’s speed and flexibility skills.

You can now also change your controls to suit your playstyle better! Quickly change from freely moving the camera around and using the direction arrows to control your horse, or lock in the camera and use it to steer your horse in the right direction.

Jump Difficulty

You can now train your horse to jump higher obstacles, and from a wider angle of approach! When approaching an obstacle, you'll now see a guide that will show if you can jump the obstacle.

If the whole guide is red, the jump is too high for your horse. If a section of it is yellow, it means the jump can be cleared if you approach it from the correct angle. An unexperienced horse will have to approach the obstacle face on to jump it correctly, while an experienced horse will be able to clear it from any angle! Once you see the guide turn green, it's time to quickly press jump to clear it!

Indoor Arena

In addition to the outdoor arena on your ranch, you’ll be able to build an indoor arena! This will come in handy on rainy or snowy days, where horses would struggle to focus on training outdoors. It also gives you a really pretty view of your ranch!

Fellow Villagers

I'm really excited to introduce the first three characters we'll have in Rivershine! From left to right,** we have the auctioneer, the trainer and the grocer!** I'll go more in depth about each character as I add them in the game, but I just wanted to share their adorable portraits with you all!

Upcoming Features

I’m now shifting my focus to adding the villagers and the town they’ll live in! This will be a huge addition to the game as you’ll then be able to visit shops in town, purchase items and equipment for your horses, complete quests and chat with your fellow townspeople! This will take a while to complete, but I'll be sure to share more of my progress here!

Take care everyone! Éloïse 🌱