We are happy to announce that Above Snakes received the "Verified" status for Steam Deck. Above Snakes runs great on deck, from day one on.
You’ll notice that Above Snakes is now marked as ‘Verified’ on the Steam Store, which means that the game should work seamlessly when you play it on the Steam Deck.
Steam Deck features:
UI scaling to make small text easier readable.
Native 720p resolution support.
Performance optimization for Steam Deck.
Steam Cloud saves support cross-saves between PC and Steam Deck.
If you own a Steam Deck, give Above Snakes a go on release!
Cheers, Tobi Square Glade Games
🔴 LIVE Developer Q&A
Got any questions for the Developers?
Join us on May 23rd, two days before release to ask us any questions regarding Above Snakes or the development.
It’s not long now until Above Snakes releases on May 25th! We hope you are as excited as we are! As promised, we will give you an overview regarding all of the supported languages, as well as regional pricing.
Localization
Above Snakes will be fully localized into the following languages:
English
Deutsch
Español (España)
Español (Latinoamérica)
Français
Português (Brasil)
Polski
Русский
简体中文
繁體中文
한국어
We will consider adding more languages down the road based on demand for the game in certain regions.
Pricing
Prices on Steam depend heavily on your location and currency. We stick to Valve's pricing recommendations regarding regional prices which takes regional economic differences into account.
Please note that Valve updated their regional pricing in 2022, therefore you will find games released prior to that with vastly different regional pricing.
$24.99 (US Dollars)
24.99€ (Euro)
£20.99 (British Pound)
880 ₽ (Russian Ruble)
R$ 73,99 (Brazilian Real)
¥ 2800 (Japanese Yen)
₩ 27000 (South Korean Won)
₺235,00 (Turkish Lira)
Mex$ 282.99 (Mexican Peso)
CDN$ 32.50 (Canadian Dollar)
A$ 36.50 (Australian Dollar)
89,99zł (Polish Zloty)
¥ 85 (Chinese Yuan)
NT$ 408 (Taiwan Dollar)
ARS$ 1750,00 (Argentine Peso)
you can ask us for other currencies.
We will also grant a 10% launch discount for the first week!
It is important to note that these prices may not be final and we reserve the right to make adjustments. In the event that there are any adjustments, we will communicate them to our community accordingly.
We can't wait to see you enjoy the game and craft your own beautiful worlds. Let us know in the comments if we are missing a localization for a language that you would like to see and we will check if it is possible to include.
Cheers, Tobi
🐍 Release Announcement!
Howdy adventurers!
We have very exciting news to share with you today!
After years in development and months of beta testing, we are ready release Above Snakes publicly into version 1.0! The release date will be...
🥁 drum roll 🥁
May 25, 2023
To celebrate this date and the love that’s gone into making this game. We have a brand new gameplay trailer to share with you!
Play Above Snakes: Prologue now for free!
And you can already get a taste of what is to come! We released Above Snakes: Prologue that contains about the first 2-3 hours of gameplay and basic survival systems. Download Above Snakaes: Prologue now and play it for free!
We hope you are as excited as we are about this news and will enjoy playing the prologue! We are eager to hear your opinion and want to encourage you to write a steam review, after you played it!
Cheers, Tobi
🏁 Devlog #10 - We Finished the Game!
Howdy and welcome to the second Above Snakes devlog of 2023! As usual, we are very transparent about our progress and we aim to continue doing exactly that. With that said, we are thrilled to say that we've finished the game feature-wise and entered the stage of final polish and bug fixing. Make sure to stay tuned and read the whole devlog, because we will talk about next steps and the release!
Announcing the Above Snakes: Prologue
This month, we will launch the Above Snakes: Prologue on Steam! The prologue covers about the first hour of Above Snakes gameplay and is meant for people to be introduced to the game for free and to provide any feedback regarding basic mechanics before release. Feel free to play it and share your feedback so we know where to improve.
We intentionally planned for there to be some time in between the Above Snakes: Prologue and the release of the full game. This will allow us time to consider any last minute feedback so that you can enjoy the game to its fullest! We encourage you to wishlist the Above Snakes: Prologue so you don't miss out on the launch! By the way, the save file will carry over to the full game, so you can continue where you left off.
As stated in the intro, we are happy to announce that we finished the game! You can now play through the whole main story from the first intro quest up until the credits! That means that we've closed our development process for any new features or ideas and are now focusing on polishing the game and making it the best version of itself as possible. Next to fixing lots of bugs, we are also revisiting UI/UX, lighting, effects, and the overall performance of the game. Here is a recent example of improvements we've made to lighting:
Character Model
The feedback we received after Devlog #5 regarding the low-poly, more blocky character model has certainly not been forgotten. As promised, we worked on it and are happy to share the improvements we were able to make. In our last update, we revealed the release art work with Aiyana's updated clothing and props. We incorporated those into the in-game character model. We also took time working on her face and making it much more detailed and less blocky.
Stone Buildings
We also added another building style towards the ending of the game: stone buildings. Upgrade and fortify your beautiful cabin with sturdy stone walls and rain-proof shingle roofs.
Will the Beta Be Updated?
We have been asked this question a couple of times and want to give an "official" reply. Short answer - no. We won't update the Beta anymore. The reasoning for this is to avoid spoilers prior to the game's release. Just to give an idea, the full game contains about the final third (33%) of content when compared to the Beta, including Corpse Creek and the main story ending.
The Game is Finished. Now What?
As we mentioned, we are working hard on polishing Above Snakes. We are true believers in the idea that it's better to release a stronger game than launching it prematurely. We're taking our time with this and will do it right. We want people to enjoy the game from the first day on (and hopefully avoid any critical day 1 patch). We are also very happy that we're able to confirm that we stuck to our initial roadmap that had been shared during the Kickstarter!
We have internally decided on a release date and will communicate it to you all with the next update.
Closed Play Test
We will conduct a final closed play test before release! We have not yet decided on a final timing and sizing of the test. If you want to be a part of it, make sure you're subscribed to our e-mail list to receive an invitation.
PAX East
We’re incredibly excited to participate in PAX East on March 23rd - March 26th in Boston! You will be able to play a demo of Above Snakes at the Crytivo booth! If you are there, make sure to say "hi" to our publisher, Crytivo!
That's it for this update! We sincerely hope that you're happy with the progress we've made and hope that you're looking forward to the release of Above Snakes. Since we recently finished the game, we think that this is a good opportunity to thank everybody involved, especially our community that has supported us on this incredible journey.
Cheers, Tobi
Release Cover Art Reveal!
Video Version
Hello everyone,
My name is Tobi and I am the lead developer of the team behind Above Snakes. Today, I want to talk to you about the portrayal of our main character, Aiyana, and the exciting update we have given her! We wanted to take a moment to go in depth about why we chose certain design elements for this rework and why it was important to do so.
First and foremost, we want to say that we still love the original design of Aiyana. However, over the past two years, we have noticed that she is often mistaken as a fully native character when, in actuality, Aiyana is an individual that represents both the tribes of Above Snakes and its colonists. Aiyana's father descends from a tribe while her mother is a colonist from Corpse Creek (that’s all we can say without spoiling anything). As we are nearing the eventual full release of Above Snakes, it felt more important than ever to capture the essence of both in Aiyana’s design.
Additionally, we were made aware that the original art featured some historical inaccuracies in Aiyana’s portrayal. We aimed to correct those errors. Despite Above Snakes being a work of fiction and fantasy, some design choices broke the illusion of a believable world as it didn’t properly represent the whole of Aiyana’s character or background. We are happy to say that we did our very best to amend these concerns and to better portray Aiyana as she truly is.
For the new artwork, we worked closely with Native American fans and volunteers who were kind enough to offer insight about how to best express Aiyana’s background and how to tease the larger story of Above Snakes.
We want to offer a big thank you to the Native American gaming community for assisting and consulting with us during this exciting process! A lot of thought and hard work went into this new design. We also want to thank Lyubov Kolodeznikova for bringing this vision to life in such a beautiful way.
Full Artwork by Lyubov Kolodeznikova
Since we collectively put a great deal of thought and research into this new design, we want to highlight some key elements. Please keep in mind that, despite Above Snakes being a fantasy world, the game borrows heavily from the history of the American Wild West.
Firstly, we decided to stay away from feathers. Originally, we utilized feathers on Aiyana’s tomahawk and her bow but, historically, eagle feathers were considered to be a man's item.
Aiyana's dress is now a basic two-hide dress. The cream white color - due to the lack of heavily smoking the leather - are typical for Native American dresses from that period. Additionally, the dress is not heavily fringed on the sleeves. This style of dress could be anything from the northwest, Great Basin, the Great Plains, Great Lakes, and even representative of southwest cultures like the Jicarilla and Lipan Apache.
Aiyana is wearing white shell earrings that were common among many men and women west of the Mississippi River. They could be whelk shell from the southeast, wampum from the northeast, clam from the northwest, or pink concho (which is mostly white). In the southwest, it was common for men to wear headbands, but this was not a common practice for women. Therefore, we removed the headband.
Another key element to Aiyana’s updated look is her belt which would usually feature three items: a knife, a fire steel striker, and an awl. These were commonly found in historical depictions of Native American characters. In the case of Aiyana, we chose to go with a tomahawk to showcase her survival abilities - both for daily necessity and for fighting, if needed. The tomahawk was widely used by Native American tribes and is a symbol of both strength and skill.
Selection of used references.
Aiyana’s leather hat is an inheritance from her colonist mother. One of the most interesting details we’ve implemented into her new look is the change to Aiyana's initial black hair. Dark brown-black hair is a typical attribute for Native women, but since Aiyana’s mother is a colonist, we painted the tips of her hair a lighter color, almost blondish. The blonder tips typically appear in women of mixed backgrounds - yet another subtle nod to our protagonist’s heritage.
We decided against the more traditional Native American braid for Aiyana and instead went a slightly different route. Aiyana now wears her hair in some braids (not historically accurate) with looser hairs to again represent both sides of her family.
Aiyana's props were reworked to better reflect the materials available at the time, along with appropriate bead patterns. Even though backpacks were not exactly a thing, we imagined what a backpack could have looked like by taking inspiration from different handbags.
In summary, we put a great deal of thought and care into updating Aiyana’s design to better represent her background and show a greater respect to the inspirations that help breathe life into the world of Above Snakes. We hope you enjoy her new look as much as we all enjoyed creating it!
Steam Cover Art
Alternative Artwork
Please note that we will not be removing the old design associated with the game. We love and celebrate our initial rendition of Aiyana and will simply refer to that design as "Alpha Artwork." We want to encourage content creators, media, and fans to use the new design going forward when showcasing Above Snakes content.
Let us know your thoughts below! As always, thank you for following along on this incredible journey.
Howdy and welcome to the first Above Snakes devlog of 2023!
We're excited to give you a sneak peek of one of the final biomes in our game: an epic, wild Western town called Corpse Creek. Corpse Creek plays a significant part in the story of Above Snakes and is a place you may discover towards the end of the game. We have also implemented horses, made adjustments to the cooking system, and have some other exciting features to showcase this month!
Watch the Devlog on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_BI9fL_K_s
Corpse Creek
Corpse Creek is a gigantic Western town and the fateful place where the plague first started. It is largely a ghost town now, as many of those who had survived fled from there. We don't want to give away too much just yet, because we want players to experience the biome for themselves. Corpse Creek, despite recent events, still has inhabited buildings. However, the streets are littered with debris and the overall environment is eerie and atmospheric. It is sure to be a unique experience for players. We're putting forth a lot of effort into making this biome feel special. We're also adding interesting characters who will have their own stories to share with you. Our hope is that these characters help to add depth to the game. Byrd the bartender, for example, might already be familiar to those in our Community Discord server.
Horse Riding
What kind of Western game would Above Snakes be if there were no horses? You can now find hitching posts with horses in certain places throughout the world that you can use for fast travel. For instance, there is a post located at the trading post, the tribal village in the birch forest, and Corpse Creek. Using a horse costs carrots, but it's a great way to get around quickly. Carrots can be found in the wild and/or cultivated in your garden plots. Additionally, you can build your own hitching post at your base and own your very own horse!
Cooking System Improvements
We've revamped the cooking system so that you now need to discover recipes before you can cook specific dishes. Discovery works by throwing ingredients together. After you have cooked a meal that results in a certain recipe, the recipe is "discovered" and added to your recipe book. For those of you who like to collect things, there are now books that you can find (or purchase) that teach you the recipes for certain items.
Of course, you can still throw every ingredient together, even if they won’t result in a certain recipe. For those, the sprites are now color-coded and icon-coded depending on the stats they provide. This makes it a lot easier to identify such things on your hot bar. We've also made it so that items that don't "make sense" to be cooked together will now result in inedible meals. For example, if you throw a couple of bones in a bowl, you can’t expect it to be an edible meal.
Multiple Save Slots
There's no longer a need to delete your saved game! We've added the ability to have multiple save slots. You can now have up to 3 saved games at a time with story progression shown for each game.
Performance Improvements
Lastly, we've made some big performance improvements to the game. We've reduced the initial loading time when starting up the game from around 30 seconds to just a couple of seconds! Now, you don't have to worry about the "black screen of death" anymore when starting the game (Beta testers know what I mean). We've also made some improvements to the memory management of the game, which means it now uses a lot less RAM. If you are an Alpha or Beta tester and were not able to run the game, now is a good time to try again. Let us know how it's running!
We hope you're as excited about these updates as we are! I can already tell you that we have a couple big announcements planned for the next few weeks! As always, we're looking for your feedback so please let us know in the comments what you think of Corpse Creek, the new horse riding, and the updated cooking system!
Cheers, Tobi
Your Steam Achievement Ideas for Above Snakes!
Dear community,
We're looking to expand the list of steam achievements and need your help! Have an idea for an achievement that would be fun and challenging? Let us know in the comments below!
Something funny like hitting a rock for so long with an axe that you destroy it? Something challenging like hitting a lost soul on the head by felling a tree?
We are looking forward to hear your creative ideas!
Cheers, Tobi
🎁 Above Snakes Holiday Season Giveaway!
Happy holidays!
In the spirit of the season, we are excited to announce that we're giving away in total
4 Beta Steam keys, and 4 fan shirts to 4 lucky winners.
If you win one of the beta keys, you can play Above Snakes immediately!
We are giving away 2 of each on Youtube. All you need to be a subscriber of Square Glade Games and comment under this video:
The giveaway closes at 5pm CET on December 29th 2022
Winners will be chosen randomly on December 29th about 6pm CET and winners will be announced with a pinned comment under the Youtube video and the Tweet.
Happy holidays to everyone and thank you for being such an amazing community. Tobi
🌱 The Beta is here!
We are happy to announce that the Above Snakes Closed Beta launched today. Everyone who pre-ordered the game at beta tier on Kickstarter back in January / February 2022 is now eligible to play. Alpha and Pre-Alpha backer's games are upgraded to Beta automatically. With that step we are on track with the Kickstarter and release roadmap and happy to fulfill backer's orders.
