I’m not sure when he posted this, but Mr. Phil of Mr. Phil Games has written a really nice review of Harvest. To quote,

Oxeye has done a wonderful job and I pray that they make massive piles of money so we can see what they do next.

… and we couldn’t agree more If you know about other reviews that we may have missed out on, please let us know in the comments!

/jeb

As some of you might already know, we’ve been working (experimenting) with adding Lua to Harvest. The mods allow you to alter the game rules in Creative Mode, and can be used to add new effects, triggers and even gameplay elements. While there still is a lot of work to be done (such as modifying alien AI), it’s already running nicely.

The mod support has its own forum category, where you will be able to find documentation and other people’s mods. So far we’ve released a “beta patch” for those who wants to try the mods or make their own ones. You find the patch, and some basic example mods, here: http://www.oxeyegames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=246

/jeb

It’s time for the first “Harvest: Massive Encounter” update. The new version is numbered 1.03, and is a non-crucial patch that fixes some errors. In other words, if you don’t have any problems with the current version, you don’t need to download this. The fix list:

• A weird crash bug before “Game Over” which occurred with the OpenGL renderer. This is one of those bugs that make me believe that there’s more to programming than bits and bytes. Somebody or something is out there to get us. Anyway, we added a redundant and “unnecessary” fix, and it seems to work…
• Removed the gamepad controller from the main game since it caused problems for some people. You can still play with a gamepad in the “easter egg” (check the forums for more info).
• On the Mac, files are now stored in your user folder instead of the system folder. This should solve some problems people reported on Leopard.

So… here’s the Mac OS X updater for registered users (2 MB). Open the dmg and run the patcher, then simply drag and drop the Harvest application on to the patcher’s window. Simple and elegant, huh? We have also updated the demo version, of course. You find it on the downloads page.

The Windows update is available here (1 MB). This patcher requires a previous installation of Harvest, simply use the same application folder when you run it. As above, the demo has been updated and is available from the downloads page.

Update: We’ve patched the patcher now Please try again
Hit the jump for more Harvest-related news…

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It has been a long year with ups and downs, but finally we are here. It’s with great pleasure we now announce that Harvest: Massive Encounter is released! Get the demo here, or skip the fuss and buy the game right now!

/The Oxeye Crew

Games4Mac.de has posted a video podcast of Harvest: Massive Encounter. The podcast is made by the Harvest expert Daniel Wolf, known as lupodw in the forums, and shows some useful tips and tricks. The podcast is in German, and can be found here:

• Games4Mac.de news item with comments (in German)
• Direct link to video (60 MB, in German)

Also, Daniel has constantly mocked our attempts to prevent super-high levels in the game. He has challenged me that he’ll reach level 1500 in the release version too, so now there’s a €20 bill at stake. In other words… if you happen to reach level 1499, and the progress bar seems mysteriously stuck… well, that’s why

/jeb

GameTunnel has published a preview of Harvest: Massive Encounter, just a few days before the release. Here’s an excerpt:

First impressions of the game are a little bit mixed. At first its all a bit confusing, there’s not much outline as to what you’re supposed to do and what does what. After a short while of figuring this out, Harvest shines. The game is fantastic to play! Finishing your first game you’ll readily want to take in the animated graphs and look over your explorations and weaponry. However, the game soon becomes a little tedious as the game grows ridiculously hard.

The version they have examined is the closed beta, which was developed last year. Read the whole preview here: http://www.gametunnel.com/gamespace.php?id=406&tab=2

/jeb

Only a week until the release of Harvest: Massive Encounter! We are very excited! The game will be released for Mac OS X and Windows, and launch with support for at least 6 languages (English, Swedish, Portuguese, German, French and Korean). If you plan to buy the game, you better hurry up to get the pre-order discount! We will have this option available up to this Sunday (March 2).

Hit the jump to see our release trailer!

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The Korean site Pig-min.com covers independent games from all over the world, and has now written a post about our Korean translation of Harvest. Head over there to see two previously unreleased screenshots of Harvest in Korean!

/jeb

In my humble opinion, the best part about working with game development is that it potentially involves many different skills, like programming, sound editing, composing and graphic design.
The downside of this of course being that each branch comes with an expensive license for the application involved.

Or does it?
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Harvest: Massive Encounter has been added to TowerDefence.net’s game list. The game seems to be quite popular there, getting a lot of downloads and a good rating! The game is listed as “Harvest Tower Defence”. A typo or a clever marketing trick? Who knows?

We’re looking forward to see how the full version is received, only a few more weeks now!

/jeb