21-Day Contract Update — Balance, Performance & Steam Cloud

Hello, this is the developer of ForgeTax. Thank you for playing and reporting the rough edges. This update focuses on making preparation and relic combinations matter more, while improving tribute interactions and forging performance.

A 21-day contract

• The contract now lasts 21 days instead of 30, from April 15 to May 5. START and CLEAR are marked on the calendar.

• Mid- and late-game tribute requirements have increased. The final day's base requirement is 145,000G. Requirements keep rising if you continue forging after completing the contract.

• Higher-tier relics and merchant stock become available earlier, giving you earlier opportunities to build a combination within the shorter contract.

• Look at the bell or tribute counter to see your contract progress and tomorrow's requirement.

Existing saves are kept. Your current day keeps its previous requirement; the new curve applies from the next day. If your save is already past day 21, surviving the current settlement completes the contract. A shortfall on the final day still counts as a clear if the dragon's anger has not reached the lethal stage.

Interactions and tutorial

• Fixed unoffered swords on the anvil disappearing when advancing to the next day after tribute.

• Improved sword placement and aiming at the tribute counter, and fixed difficulty interacting with the bell from the side.

• Revised the tutorial and clarified the consequences of insufficient tribute: one fewer sword in the next supply, and death when anger reaches its third stage.

Performance

• Optimized fragment and salvage visuals to reduce stuttering when swords break.

• Set a default 60FPS cap and reduced unnecessary load in menus and inactive windows. You can change the frame limit in display settings.

• Added the game's Windows executable icon.

Performance can still vary between PCs. If you encounter stuttering or high load, the scene where it happens and your PC specifications will help with investigation.

Steam Cloud and optional anonymous play data

Steam Cloud syncs your progress and unlocks. Before switching computers, exit the game and let Steam finish syncing.

Added optional anonymous play summaries to help improve balance and performance. Only with your consent, the game sends round progress, tribute, currency, relic combinations, forging results, play time and frame-stutter measurements. Declining does not restrict gameplay, and you can disable this in settings at any time. We do not send Steam IDs, names or the contents of save files. Records are kept on Cloudflare for up to 90 days. IP addresses reach the service when connecting, but are not stored in the game's records database.

Earlier hotfix, included here for reference

These changes were already released and are included in this update:

• The first-launch language follows the game's Steam language. Your manual language choice is preserved.

• Language now has its own entry below Resume in the ESC menu.

• Reduced normal movement head bob and camera response delay.

• Lowered the anvil and working viewpoint to remove the upward viewpoint shift when entering forging mode.

Please share bugs and balance feedback in the comments or Bug Reports & Feedback. Save files and logs can be sent privately to dev.graveyard.games@gmail.com. Including the round, sword and relics you were using helps a lot.

Thank you for helping me improve ForgeTax. — GraveYard DEV