Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Strategy, Adventure, Indie, Visual Novel, Card & Board GameI Was a Teenage Exocolonist
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist @ IndieCade 2022
And don't forget you can try out the I Was a Teenage Exocolonist demo through November 11th!
Exocolonist in the IndieCade 2022 showcase!
:r3fuel: Visit the Steam festival page here :r3fuel:
IndieCade is a special show for Northway Games because we used to drive down to LA for it back in the early dawn of indie games (all the way back in 2010 when I was making Flash games), and I've helped judge the awards off and on in years since. They often feature games which push the boundaries of what a game can be, from massive meat-space events to interactive art exhibits.
This year's IndieCade festival will be online, with an awards ceremony on Steam and Twitch on Saturday, November 5th at 11:00am PDT. I'll be watching! During the 2020 ceremony I was so convinced we weren't going to win that I was in the middle of making lunch when Exocolonist was announced as the winner. I had to do a mad dash to setup a webcam and give an acceptance speech. :nyaa:
The Exocolonist demo will be up from November 4 - 11, and we'll be re-streaming some of this year's interviews and developer playthroughs on the Steam page.
- Sarah :eyebug:
Last chance to vote for Exocolonist in the Golden Joysticks!
Vote now at: goldenjoysticks.com
List of nominees: gamesradar.com
The Golden Joystick Awards are the longest running public-voted gaming awards show, first held in 1983 and now in its 40th year. The ceremony will be streamed digitally at twitch.tv/goldenjoystickawards on Tuesday, November 23rd at 1:30pm PST / 4:30pm EST / 9:30pm GMT.
It's a huge honor to be nominated! The other games up for the Storytelling category are IMMORTALITY, Return to Monkey Island, Horizon Forbidden West, NORCO, and Wayward Strand. Also our Finji sister game TUNIC is up for the Best Indie Game category. What a lineup to be included in!
- Sarah ːnyaaː
Exocolonist Patch #1 (version 2204) changelog!
It fixes a few big bugs (the gym does something now!), a bunch of rarer issues (all cards now gettable!), plus better support for the Steam Deck and non-16:9 aspect ratios.
No more letterboxing - resize the game window to whatever scale you want!
Thank you so so so much to everyone who sent in bug reports and helped me track these down, especially machine-specific problems and all those obscure typos and issues in hidden corners of the narrative.
If you run into any more problems, please report them from inside the game so it sends me your logs and stuff too!
Patch notes:
- change vibration toggle to an intensity slider
- improve controller navigation of settings and custom gender menus
- force teleport back inside colony during glow or when too young
- improve collectible use with gamepad
- upgrading cards now works, eg marz1 disappears when you get marz2
- increase food if you find mushrooms while foraging
- optimize opening the deck menu
- show "start your next life" on main menu after an ending
- improve food supplies notice in depot
- no more cake for sale while starving
- remove sound from northway games splash logo
- back up savegames, memories, and settings to avoid file corruption
- hide mouse cursor while in gamepad or keyboard-only mode
- smoother switching between mouse and gamepad/keyboard-only mode
- support ultra-widescreen monitors and more other resolutions
- improve text menu layout for 16:10 and other resolutions
- default some machines to lower resolution or lower quality
- on steam deck always show selection reticle, use gamepad tooltips
- change steam deck default settings and remove keyboard bindings
- on macs, hide buggy/unused vsync setting
- running game directly from exe no longer connects to steam client
- disable gamepad when exocolonist window loses focus
- optional setting to show controller glyphs on PC
- backup fonts for Japanese, Korean, Sim/Trad Chinese, other accents
- rename feedback menu to "report a bug"
- fix upgrading cards at the gym
- fix mid-life "Clear Past Memories" getting stuck in final event
- fix missing tracking the airsquid events and card
- fix missing beautiful vista card
- fix "Delete All User Data" wasn't properly clearing everything
- fix backpack gear card
- fix gamepad shoulder button nav moving to unmet characters
- fix button tooltips hanging around after menu closed
- fix story text jumping down to the first button on first page
- fix hidden pets not showing up in relax park events
- fix tutorial for exploration zones not appearing
- fix age 19 impossible battles being too easy
- fix credits scroll jumping down after a few seconds
- fix two infinite engineering / bravery skill loops
- fix to audio issue that sometimes froze cards
- fix mourning events playing after that status is gone
- fix clearing chara stories when you load the game in glow
- fix cancel button triggering "Go Home" instead of "Keep Exploring"
- fix card challenge tutorial straight example cards
- fix challenge goal box briefly saying overgoal on win/lose
- fix bonus skills not awarded in skip card challenges mode
- fix grabbing collectibles behind blocking events
- fix showing unique cards you already have in choice buttons
- fix black edges on some special ending art
- fix card header backgrounds sometimes disappearing
- fix rebellion skill increase bubble tooltip text
- fix text scrolling down after canceling gifting
- fix age 17 big portrait disappearing when you change appearance
- fix navigation up from top-right chara on charas menu
- fix pressing submit on popup input field now triggers OK button
- fix undoing picking a friend in intro leaving bonus skill
- fix not closing gallery when main menu opened via system menu
- fix briefly showing wrong info on deck menu as it opens
- fix characters being prematurely marked as met during dreams
- fix being able to interact with battle menu during win/lose
- fix incompatibility with turkish operating systems
- fix disappearing gamepad reticle after using input field
- fix saving email address on the feedback menu like we used to
- fix northway games logo on linux / steam deck
- fix software keyboard not opening on steam deck
- fix left menu button on steam deck
- fix around 50 minor typos and small narrative issues
Enjoy and take care!
- Sarah
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is out!
I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported Exocolonist and helped create it. Artists Meilee Chao, Eduardo Vargas, Sarah Webb, Leanne Roed, Sarah Roland, Diego De la Rocha, and our hundred card artsits for making the game so breathtakingly beautiful. Narrative designer Lindsay Ishihiro for making us laugh, cry, and fall in love with their moving prose. Gord, Em and others from A Shell in the Pit Audio, and all of our incredible musicians, for adding another dimension of wonder and beauty to the game.
Thanks to my husband Colin Northway for helping with tricky algorithms and game balancing, and for a tremendous amount of emotional support, idea-bouncing and code checks over the last five years.
Thanks to our publishers Finji, our QA and porting teams, and a very special thank you virtual hug to our incredible beta testers and all of our fans for your support and encouragement. And to my dad, who has logged hundreds of hours living life after life on the planet Vertumna.
Thank you, friends.
Okay enough mushy stuff, it's release day! Time to get in there and decide what sort of Teenage Exocolonist you'll be.
Vertumna awaits!
- Sarah ːnyaaː
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist Launch + IABO Stream Event!
The Exocolonist Soundtrack is out!
For the full artist list and to hear how it all came together, check out my Dev blog post about it.
Whether you're exploring a new planet, testing your mettle in card challenges, or dealing with the awkwardness of growing up while remembering past lives, this is your music.
The Soundtrack is now available here on Steam. It includes both MP3 and high-quality FLAC audio files, and comes bundled with the official PDF artbook for the game!
So you can feast your eyes and ears while you wait. But it won't be long! Exocolonist is coming out in just a few days on Thursday August 25th!
- Sarah ːnyaaː
One week until release (new trailer!)
Our new launch trailer features beautiful rock-ballad "The Child You Were" by Frances Aravel, and powerful imagery from emotional moments in the game. I'm not crying, you're crying.
Our sound designer Em Halberstadt from A Shell in the Pit Audio created it with help from Emily Liles and friends from Finji.
I'm as nervous as a hopeye about the upcoming launch!! I hope you're excited to play I Was a Teenage Exocolonist soooooooooon.
- Sarah ːnyaaː
Two weeks to launch (new art!)
Mei's older illustrations will still be in rotation on storefronts, including our beta box art showcasing a younger more innocent Sol in the natural world of Vertumna:
With exactly two weeks until release, we're thinking hard about how best to describe our narrative-rpg-deckbuilder-lifesim to the world. We've posted new screenshots and new text on our store page, and I've been practicing my elevator pitches in press interviews.
With such a unique cross-genre game that is both delicately beautiful and at times filled with viscous angst, it's been a challenge! I wonder if those of you who played the demo will be surprised with where the game goes after the first year? Only two more weeks to find out!
- Sarah ːnyaaː
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist @ PAX Rising Online!
Play the limited time demo this weekend and watch our special streams and developer panel!
Saturday, July 9th:
12pm PT / 3pm ET- JeffBrutlag demo stream
3pm PT / 6pm ET- Narrative Design Panel with developers Sarah Northway and Lindsay Ishihiro, hosted by Finji co-founder Adam Saltsman
Sunday, July 10th:
12pm PT / 3pm ET- BarghestBlack demo stream
5pm PT/ / 8pm ET- Let’s Play I Was a Teenage Exocolonist with Developer Sarah Northway
Stop by! We’d love to see you there! I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be launching on August 25th. Wishlist it now!