We were asked if we are insane (Spoiler Alert: Yes, we are!).
We gifted 150 keys to various charities.
We got a lot of more positive feedback, we are still at 80+ % positive reviews here on Steam.
We got some catchy review tag-lines like "9 / 10, would shag the sheep again" or "Dear Esther and Myst on Crystal Meth".
Press & Radio have covered us in a somehow positive way...
No haters yet. This and the fact that we were put onto the same stage as "Dear Esther", "Firewatch" or "Myst", could cloud (haha, no typo here!) our judgement. When an editor tells us he wished that goat simulator had the fulfilled its promise like we did with our games, it is suspicious. Especially as we liked that one (not the copycats, though). And when we read Father's Island being called a candidate for the game of the year, we panic. I mean, WTF?!
Perhaps we have really sacrified too many of our firstborns?!
Have they stolen our creativity-enhancing substances during the last studio visit?
Well, we get it, most of you like our game. And we are very happy and grateful for that. We see that also as a work order to imrpove the game, to make it better, more beautiful, more enjoyable and especially also more accessable for those who still struggle with some elements.
And that's why we have quite something prepared for the next update, version 1.07, coming in the next days:
:frogright: Enhanced level of detail without FPS loss or increased memory footprint
(and if you really don't have bought Father's Island yet, you can get it bundled with Into the Dark for only 10$ there!)
And of course, Father's Island will also get a Halloween Edition. But it's too soon to talk about that, comrades! :commie:
So far, thank you very much for all your love, support!
Ivan from Homegrown Games
PS: Although we appreciate all your feedback, messages and gifts, please don't mail any more drugs to our street adress. And no, we don't think that texturing is a work best done on Acid.
Edit 12th of July 2016:
:commie:Comrades!:commie:
Work on the patch has continued, and we also found time to create a very special surprise for all of you out there. It's currently reviewed by Steam, but I hope we get the go for it this week. Also, the 1.07 upgrade will *most* likely be ready by Thursday.
We would like to thank Kouen Hasuki, whose twitch session showed us some issues we still had to fix.
On another note, we were approached by a quite experienced film maker who wants to create a "real" B-Movie out of the story. We will keep you updated about the progress on that! :NaziUfoLeft:
In the meantime, keep playing!
V 1.06 released!
- IMPORTANT: YOU MUST START A NEW GAME -
Here we go with v 1.06!
Following the Feedback from AJ0X, one of the Reviewers, we made several improvements to the game. And by doing so, we stumbled across a very annoying bug that we could fix! Yeah!
And here for the changelist:
2 - 5 FPS more depending on scene on system
broad sliders for adjusting sound & music
dynamic ressource system: Will try to keep your fps at min. 25
dynamic ressource system: Will reduce LUA calls when system falls below 20FPS to compensate
Music set to 45% by default instead of 100%
Music set 60% in relation to voice overs (you can adjust that in the menu)
Fixed the window render bug introduced in 1.05
And we fixed a bug that made it very hard to pick up a tool:
In the school, there is a tool in the basement that can be used to open the door to the father's office in the first floor. There was a bug that made it hard to pick up when approached from the wrong angle. Now it should work far better!
Save / Load behaviour basically works properly now. However, as some testers report an FPS loss after loading saved games, we still recommend finishing the game in one session.
Have fun!
Never play on patching day...
...except today!
Thank you very much for all the feedback, for the bugreports from the forum and via Email.
We have adressed as much as possible for this first patch and we hope you enjoy the game now even more.
PLEASE START A NEW GAME!
Changelist:
Reduced Memory Footprint by 25%
Reduced Loading times by 10 - 20 seconds
improved FPS Performance by 8 - 20% depending on PC
reduced propability of "Green Screen" bug
fixed several possible Save / Load hickup issues
Re-arranged the order of "Father's" Appearance to keep the player in the dark
Added new splash / loading screens
Added an "about" section in the proper menu spot
Improved the suicide ending experience
Known Issues:
On some systems, wmv and ogg codecs are creating a memory leak within Father's Island. We are investigating.
The windows of the school have a wrong render order in the transparency render buffer. Will fix in next version.
PLEASE START A NEW GAME TO MAKE ALL CHANGES WORK! :frogright:
Homegrown Games presents “Father’s Island”
A mystery visual novel in a 3D open world, a walking simulator with adventure and movie elements: Father’s Island, the new game from Austrian indie veterans Homegrown Games simply doesn’t fit into an exact genre definition. However, the primary focus of the game set in the same expanded universe as “Legacy of Cthulhu” (2007) and “Into the Dark” (2014) is storytelling end exploration.
The player takes over the role of John Richards, a high school teacher from New England. Charged for robbery & assault, with his face on the security camera and his DNA all over the crime scene – despite the fact he was 50 miles away. Alone. Bad alibi, no plea bargain, the hammer of justice smashes him.
5 years later, recently released from prison, John Richards starts to explore an island along the coast-side of New England. A priest had disclosed its location to him, pointing out that there he will find all the answers he is looking for. Trying to get hold of whoever had framed him, the player starts his journey to an island where almost everything is familiar, yet there is nothing he can remember exactly. Two square miles of beautiful landscape, strange architecture, abandoned buildings and structures, mountains, forests and even small lakes are waiting to be examined - while fighting the demons of the past coming as nasty flashbacks and buried memories.
Father’s Island is a new twist, combining elements of visual novels, walking simulators and adventures. The fully narrated game features the voice of John J. Dick (Serious Sam) as John Richards and Ivan Ertlov as Henry Richards.
Reading notes, discovering points of interest in the landscape and experiencing the memory flashbacks as FMV ingame scenes pushes the story towards the climax – or, better, to one of the four different endings the game offers, based on the decisions the player makes. The dynamic soundtrack reacts to the player’s mood and the surroundings of the character.
Developed in a customized version of TGC’S GameGuru engine accompanied by LUA script engine, Father’s Island features an open world with more than 5000 objects dynamically lit in a surreal, red-gold-yellow sundown setting on a perceived world size of 2 – 4 square miles.
Father’s Island is available for Windows via Steam and delivers 3 – 8 hours of playtime for US$ 4.99 Includes Trading Cards!
