I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Patch #1, version 2204 (October 4th) is now live on Steam!
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 Was a Teenage Exocolonist is officially released today! I started development almost exactly five years ago, and wowowow has the game ever grown up since then!
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!
To celebrate the launch of I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, we're streaming the game live to Steam during Indie Arena Booth Online! Swing by all weekend to catch streams from your favorite broadcaster, and be sure to hang out on launch day (Thursday, August 25th) to catch Syafire playing the game all day long!
The Exocolonist Soundtrack is out!
Featuring artists C418, scntfc, A Shell in the Pit, Jogging House and many more! Our soundtrack blends beautiful acoustic instruments with ambient synth vibes for a style that is uniquely Vertumnan.
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!)
On Thursday August 25th at 10am PT we'll finally loose our arrow into the world, piercing the hearts of narrative rpg fans as they live (and re-live) their teenage years on the planet Vertumna.
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!)
Today we're unveiling our beautiful new key art by Meilee Chao. It shows off the more mature side of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, including older versions of all the teen characters and a mysterious Sol (our name for the player character) looking like some kind of sorcerous card-o-mancer.
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!
We’re so excited to be participating in PAX Rising Online on July 9th and 10th!
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
Stop by! We’d love to see you there! I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be launching on August 25th. Wishlist it now!
Launching August 25th!
Announcing our launch date of August 25th 2022!
Yes, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is only a few months away! We were excited to announce our upcoming launch as part of this weekend's Guerrilla Collective showcase. To celebrate, the Exocolonist demo will be up all weekend (and possibly longer if you're lucky and we forget to take it down)
It's been a long road since I started working on Exocolonist in August 2017. Five years!! It's dizzying to think about, and also dizzying to think about how huge this game ended up being.
If you've played the demo and are eager for more, hold on to your hopeyes because there is a lot more game where that came from, and in a few short months you'll get to play the rest! ːnyaaː
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist @ LudoNarraCon
When you're not playing the limited-time demo, watch live streams of I Was A Teenage Exocolonist live all weekend during LudoNarraCon!
We'll be hosting broadcasts from streamers around the globe enjoying the game - check back on this page as we're expecting additions to the broadcast schedule!
Also be sure to catch the Art of the Twist panel on the LudoNarraCon main stage featuring Exocolonist's own Sarah Northway at 4PM ET on Friday, May 6th!
*Streamers will be viewing Twitch chat. If you want to chat with the streamer, head over to their Twitch page!
Demo and dev stream
Watch me (Sarah) give a tour of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and show off some content from the full game, and some card challenges with powerful late game cards. Might be some light spoilers in there but mainly I'll be going over the basics.
The demo will be available all this week (Feb 21 - 28) and includes the first year of the game (when your character is 10 years old). The full game has ages 10-19, as you grow up on the alien planet of Vertumna.
