Almost two years have passed since we, developer & publisher of trashy games like Father's Island and of course, the „Into the " Games Series by Homegrown Games have moved from Austria to Australia.
This has been recognized now by Steam, who have invited us to participate in their Australia Day Sale, a short Steam sale that highlights games from down under. Of course we participate, and as Australia Day is the 26th, and we have 2 games so far on sale, we decided to lock in a whopping -52% discount! Yiha!
However, more important is, that we have decided to donate all revenues from this sale to charities that really make a difference in our new country of residence. Not only that, we will top up all revenues received before doing so. So, all revenues from the steam sales between the 24th and 28th of January, minus Steam`s share and refunds, will be taken, split into three, rounded up to the next full 100$ and then distributed to:
- One charity that focuses on support for Aboriginal communities and / or students
- One charity focusing on wildlife or nature preservation here in Australia
- One charity focusing on help for the homeless
All that will be done end of March (when the steam report for March is finalized).
If you already have our game, or you hate their guts and don`t want to have them in your steam library, but still want to do something good, here are a few of the organizations on our shortlist:
we looked into Into the Dark again and did what was possible:
Re-rendered all video cutscenes with better sound quality
Improved the surface shading
Added a post-credits scene
Fixed the specularity artifacts
Replaced the ugliest textures with 3D scanned surfaces
Fixed all known sound bugs on weapons
Reduced memory consumption by 20-25% and crashes by 60-80%
Added additional fail-safes against script crashes
Reconfigured the entire post processing pipeline
Important: Please uninstall and re-install, instead of updating, to have all changes take place!
Still, keep in mind that this is a game that was first released in 2012, based on a shooter construction kit that was in its core technology from 2003. So basically, we have 15 years old tech trying to look cool.
It is a little bit sad to say farewell to our most successful "own IP game", to the title that got us both harsh criticism, a Jim Sterling rant in full beauty - and several game of the year and other awards.
However, all hands on deck now for the sequel, "Into the Ice", which is heavily delayed, but still progressing. As a matter of fact, you get a little bit mroe of that now. We wanted to include a full playable slice, but severe AI problems did let us down. We included an AI test, in which you can now try to fight against two different AI moduels we are testing right now. let us know which one was harder to beat!
And here the content list for this final edition:
Full "Into the Dark" game
Including full lenght "Night of the Living Dead" in the ingame cinema
Halloween Asylum level from 2015
Into Ice Level 3 Work in progress from 2017
Into the Ice AI test level from November 2018
Savegame before outro in last slot
Savegame before cutscene 1, one slot before the last one
So, if you are a friend of sinister stories, trash, b-movies and unexpected strange bugs, join the Homegrown Club now!
Warning! Ice Nazis detected!
Hello everyone!
Yes, we were awfully quiet the last months. But rest assured, we were not sitting around, smoking weed, drinking beer and spending your hard-earned money on Blackjack & Hookers.
Ok, maybe we did a little bit of that, but we were also working hard. Like, really hard. Because we know it's hard to top the Ultimate Trash delivered here.
But we can.
And we will.
Look for yourself:
https://youtu.be/QiFSSC3GmUQ
Soon we will open the Steam Page for that! :NaziUfoLeft:
Sales Countdown & Shout Out!
Dear friends of Homegrown Games,
our weeklong deal is coming to an end after this weekend. So if you you have read and understood our disclaimer here:
Additionall, I have to raise the bar for shameless self-advertising by pointing out that our second Steam game "Father's Island" is also on sale:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/460940/
It is less trashy, less buggy, but the system requirements and loading times are over the top!
However, while we Homegrown Games maniacs are up and running from Vienna to Bukarest, and here on Steam, some others, more serious and trustworthy Austrian colleagues need your help.
Unique Games from Styria (you know, where Schwarzenegger comes from) are working on the herculic task to resurrect and re-ignite some of the best sport managers ever and bring them to new glory. The first one is Handball, so please give them your Yes vote here:
*) We would have copyrighted this phrase, but Leningrad Cowboys were the first ones...
50% off! But read before you buy.
On request from interested players, we started a new weeklong sale where you can get the game for half the price. But keep in mind before buying and potentially regretting:
This game was released first 2012, on Steam it appeared 2014. It is developed of a (although heavily improved) 2005 technology, so don't expect visual orgasms.
If you expect a shooter experience like in Crysis and / or adventure sequences like in the most glorious days of LucasArts, please move on. THere is nothing to see here.
This is Trash in the meaning of a B-Movie, a hillarious nonsense slapstick feast, but for the most interesting (and best) jokes you need quite some knowledge about politics and crazy conspiracies to get them all.
This game contains the worst Austrian accent ever in a video game. Yes, that also includes potential games dubbed by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
IT IS OFFENSIVE. Like, really offensive. The point is, you can read as much or little irony into the messages as you want, and so we got beef with SJWs and their most bitter opponents alike, we were called Nazis and Communists for the same content, and there are tits.
The (painted) male private parts appearing ingame are mine. You have been warned.
There are not enough tits inside to justify a purchase if you are only in for that..
Purchasing the game unlocks the gates of hell by providing access to our Halloween Bonus levels, crazy gaming experiments and previews of the upcoming sequel "Into the Ice - Nazis of Neuschwabenland".
If you agree to those restrictions - go ahead and enjoy the show!
Roadmap for 2017
Dear Fans, Friends and Foes!
In an attempt to make our development procedures and priorities more transparent, we have decided to make our roadmap for 2017 public, so that you know what you are getting into when owning one of our games or planning to buy one of those.
Let's start with "Into the Dark":
http://store.steampowered.com/app/266050/
We will roll out a next (and, as we always say, LAST patch for our oldie in the first half 2017. the target is to apply our new post processing pipeline we have tested, clean up some scripts, implement more HD / PBR-based materials and remastered sound effects / voice overs.
However, the triggering of the voice overs is an important topic we have to give more thought.
Currently, we freeze the player whenever an important dialogue or monologue takes place. This was a design decision that not everyone of you liked, but it prevented us from triggering two narrations at once - something that gets remarked quite often as "con" in
http://store.steampowered.com/app/460940/
Of course, Father's Island will also receive patches and upgrades as we move on. The next most likely by end of march. Currently we are also working on a system that allows basic subtitles / written narration to accompany the voice overs. This doesnt't change the fact that it is very likely you will trigger more than one narration at least sometime during your journey.
The easiest solution would be a freeze as in Into the Dark - but obviously, this is not welcomed. If anyone has a better idea, please drop us some lines!
Of course, you can also write us if you want to test or participate in the production of Into the Ice, the direct sequel to Into the Dark. We prefer in semiclosed alpha and beta testing of course people who played, or, even better, have beaten Into the Dark before.
The release of Into the Ice is scheduled for late 2017.
And while it isn't a Homegrown Game, we would love to see also Unique Games Mars explorer to be here on Steam in 2017, so, please give them some Greenlight love:
Grab the Ultimate Trash Edition heavily discounted:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/266050/
or, if you are more into exploration, weird FMV storytelling and pure gaming solitude, get our award-winning adventure walking simulator B-Movie experience, which is currently half the tag!
http://store.steampowered.com/app/460940/
Save on our games and enjoy them more! ːNaziUfoLeftː
Weeklong Deal - 66% off!
Ladies & Gentlemen, friends and followers, haters and stalkers!
Into the Dark celebrates its 50000th Steam Player by having a week-long deal with a generous 66% discount!
Games for the masses! Playable Communism FTW! ːcommieː
Of course, all the bonus material released with the last update is included.
You can also combine that one with the bundle offer AND the 33% discount we have on Father's Island:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/460940
If you play your cards right with all that discount stuff, you will get both games together under $5. It doesn't get cheaper than that! (Except my acting skills, but this is something you have to find out on your own...)
On another note, we know many of you are voting us each year on the IOTY awards. We are grateful for that, having won two category awards and a 6th place overall in the past, but please, focus your love this year on our newer games.
Like Father's Island:
http://www.indiedb.com/games/fathers-island
When it comes to ratings, Father's Island is the most successful game we ever made, with 90+% here on Steam and 93% on IndieDB. We already have won some magazine / blogs awards and are running in several GOTY competitions all over the world.
And of course to the Into the Dark sequel "Into the Ice":
http://www.indiedb.com/games/into-the-ice
Thank you very many!
Welcome to Neuschwabenland!
If you have updated and started Into the Dark durign the last hours, you already know it: Our Halloween Event 2016 has started!
ːjawrightː Now, Into the Dark includes not only the old Halloween game from 2015, but als a fully playable teaser level from the upcoming (Fall 2017) Sequel "Into the Ice - Nazis of Neuschwabenland"! ːjawleftː
