Another year comes to a close, time to take you on a journey down memory lane to reminisce on everything that happened in 2021... but first, I'd like to extend our deepest and most sincere gratitude to each and every one of you, we really wouldn't be where we are now if not for all of your love and support.
Please stay the best darn community we've ever seen! ːstella_heartsː
Start of 2021 - Winter
At the start of the year, we unveiled the plans that we set in motion in November of 2020.
We had reached out to our lovely Discord community for their feedback on what they'd like for us to make in 2021 for Spiritfarer and, after a few months of discussion, upvotes and deliberating, we finally locked in our plans for the year, based on our interests and their feedback.
At the start of February, once everything was ready, we thanked them by sending them a quick sneak peak of what would become our future roadmap.
A week later, our official 2021 Roadmap was released!
We announced three major free content updates for Spiritfarer, each releasing during a different season this year.
Now, all that was left to do was to actually make them!
Spring
Spring was the real start of what would be a very busy year. In April, we released our first content update: the Lily Update.
Although it was the smallest, this update brought a major change to the way we handled the ending of the game, by giving a lot more context to our lovely protagonist's life prior to the start of the game.
We were pretty ecstatic and wanted to share this important milestone with everyone! With the pandemic and the weather being what it was, we couldn't realistically do it in person... but we were in luck! An online convention was just on the horizon: LudoNarraCon
I was joined by Jo, our Art Director, and Nicolas, our Creative Director, in our first real online convention! I hosted an hour-long talk show each day of the convention, where we answered questions about Spiritfarer, its world and its creation. If you haven't already, you can watch all of it on our YouTube, but be warned that there's lots of spoilers!
Summer
Our Summer was buuuusy.
It started out with a bang with Summer Games Done Quick! JeviLevee invited me to sit on his virtual couch during the show, where he showcased how he achieved the any% world record speedrun of Sundered, directly from the online big stage! His luck was unreal and the run was amazing!
Then, Max LL, our awesome friend and the composer for our games, released a brand new sheet music for What Will You Leave Behind (end credit song for Spiritfarer)!
Shortly after, TheEscapist premiered their Documentary on Spiritfarer, where the team and I reminisced about how Spiritfarer came to be and its release's impact on us moving forward. Being a big fan of Yahtzee, it was such a surreal journey for all of us to say the least!
Summer ended with the planned release of the Beverly Update. It brought our first full-length spirit story to Spiritfarer and a slew of much needed quality of life changes.
Fall
Spooky season started with a heavier note this year.
We kept true to our promise and, in late September, we finally released the revised version of Gustav's story, with the help and feedback from our wonderful panel of disabled individuals. We'd like to take the time to thanks them again for sharing their viewpoints and enriching our own, and shoutout to AbleGamers for putting us in contact with these lovely people.
Then, we had the pleasure of announcing our partnership with FanGamer in the creation of a Spiritfarer Shirt (out now!) and a Daffodil Plushie (coming next year 👀)!
And finally, we announced the release date for our last update, the Jackie & Daria Update.
Since this was by far the largest update we had planned for the game, we wanted to make it special!
It contained two additional full-length storyline for these two spirits, on a brand new island with a new event to experience! As grand as it was, being the last update, we wanted to make it extra with a proper send-off.
Farewell Edition
December finally arrived and the time to say farewell was upon us... to the year 2021, but also to something more than just a project.
By this point, we had decided that we'd be parting ways with Spiritfarer after this last update and, now that it was ready to be released, we decided it needed to be sent off with a big celebration. That's when the Farewell Edition came to be. Let's take some time to reflect on all that happened.
From its inception in 2018, its announcement at E3 in 2019, its release amidst a global pandemic in 2020, its three content updates this year... to its eventual conclusion, Spiritfarer was an epic journey we will not soon forget. Truthfully, making this game really helped us work through a lot of memories (good & bad) and remind us of loved ones we lost. It helped us experience feelings we had yet to fully embrace and create new memories. It helped us bond with others whose experiences matched our own. And it helped us grow!
Thank you for taking this adventure with us, genuinely. Whether you played through Spiritfarer, watched a playthrough, recommended to friends, or reached out to share your experiences with us directly, thank you. Without your support, we wouldn't be where we are today! You made all this possible and made this journey all the more worthwhile!
Thank you!
End of 2021
Now that the year is finally over, our yearly tradition is back! As you might know, we like to share the love for this wonderful industry by listing the favorite games we played each year! This year is no exception! Go check out the games we enjoyed in 2021!
We're now a lot of people, so there's something for every taste! You might even find something fun to try during this holiday period!
Plans for 2022?
First off, we'll be moving into a brand new office in January!
Although the pandemic hasn't fully let up (and we're still mostly working from home), our company has grown so much over the last two years that we no longer fit in our old building! We're so excited to enter the new building, it even has an outdoor swimming pool? 🤿
Game Development wise, the Spiritfarer Team is now going to be working full time on a brand new exciting project! Unfortunately, there's still a lot of work before we're ready to unveil anything, but we can barely contain our excitement for you to see what we've been working on! You'll have to stay tuned!
If you want to stay up to date with our news, I highly recommend you sign up for our mailing list, or follow our Developer Page if you haven't already!
Thanks for reading!
Now here we are... days before the year 2022.
What a year it's been. It started with only three key events in mind, and it feels like so much happened! Again, thank you so much for the support! Thanks for permitting us to share out passion for videogames with the world, and thank you for playing!
Stay happy stay healthy, have a happy holiday season and a happy New Year! See you in 2022!
The Jackie & Daria Update is out today, and with it, an announcement! 👀
Last year, I shared a roadmap of our plans for 2021 and, now that the third and final update is available, we'll officially be sailing away from Spiritfarer... so join me in welcoming Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition.
In the spirit of the game, we decided to celebrate this departure from the project by re-releasing it under a new and, most of all, complete Edition.
Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition is a free update for the base game that contains all previous content updates as well as our last: the Jackie & Daria Update!
You can watch the trailer here: [previewyoutube="mWcDpodmiKg;full"]
Now without further ado, let's navigate through our last content update.
Jackie, the Hyena & Daria, the Bat
Meet Jackie & Daria, the two new spirits joining Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition.
Jackie the Hyena is a fun, albeit vulgar, caretaker of the Overbrook health institute, a broken down hospital.
Daria the Bat, on the other hand, is one of his most notable patient, due to her being prone to very erratic behaviors.
The Jackie & Daria Update is the biggest update we've released, with two additional spirits, a new island and a brand new event to experience!
After uncovering the Mist near Oxbury, you'll receive a letter from Jackie asking for help at Overbrook. You'll be working towards improving the living condition of the patients by using a mystical Vending Machine, then going on a musical journey in Daria's subconscious through her Mind Palace.
New content:
New Spirits: Jackie, the Hyena & Daria, the Bat
New Island: Overbrook
New Event: Mind Palace
New station upgrade: Beehive
Sweet new recipes!
New Overbrook-related shenanigans!
Quality of Life Improvement:
Player Manual: Read all previously received hints, tips & tricks for Spiritfarer, from inside your Pause Menu!
Narrative Tweaks:
The last two Figureheads each cost 1 extra flower.
Meetings with Hades now occur at 1/5/9 spirits released, from 1/4/8.
Multiple achievements got updated requirements:
Spiritfared Achievement now requires 13 Spirits Released to complete, up from 11.
Upgraded all buildings (added Jackie's house)
Mood related achievements:
All Spirit Ecstatic, 5 Ecstatic Spirits & Any Spirit (added Jackie & Daria to requirements or potential spirits)
All Collections Collected (updated with new recipes)
I'm happy to announce that we've secured a release date for the Autumn Update of Spiritfarer! And it's coming very soon! Jackie & Daria will be joining the game Monday, December 13th! ːstella_happyː
Go watch the Jackie & Daria Update Trailer now: [previewyoutube="aVbhDBYadPo;full"] Sadly, you'll have to wait a tad longer before digging into the Jackie & Daria Update yourself, but, worry not, I'll be there to guide you through it with Patch Notes, and I'll even bring back more news to share!
Hope you enjoyed the trailer, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
Changed Start Game text to Continue/New Game according to if any saves exist or not
Modified Francis' acetate quest to be unique
Modified Buck's Mood graph so it scales properly during the building quest
Modified Beverly's food related quest to be skippable (Laksa)
Modified Spiritfared achievement requirements from 10 spirits >>>> 11 spirits
Modified the layers for items spawning in Floating Crate event to avoid overlaps
Modified the priorities of some of Beverly's conversations
Modified two typos from Gwen and Atul's dialogs
Modified Astrid & Giovanni's priorities so they come to welcome new spirits
Modified Safe Travel mode to enable events if it's disabled while the boat is on an event.
Modified Lily's flowers to only grow after meeting Hades
Modified Build Mode to only show available customization on building with decorations
Modified Delete Save Button from F12 >>>> F4
Disabled Stargazing mode when at the Everdoor
Added:
Added transition animation to Beverly between hug and talk animations
Bug fixes:
Fixed the text bubble appearing before the fade-in when the build mode activates
Fixed loss of functionality in Controls menu
Fixed Gwen's Kitchen quest validation dialogue not triggering
Fixed the navigation of the Music Mini-Game button in the rebinding menu
Fixed the duplicate Stella at the end of a hug with any spirits
Fixed the issue where you can't apply resolution changes when width or height has an identical component as the current resolution
Fixed the second player's recipe UI appearing over map
Fixed sheep upgrade getting removed when going in and out of enclosure to feed it
Fixed chicks going into different chicken coops before maturing into full grown chickens
Fixed the player falling out of building when hugging next to a wall with another building under it
Fixed some expressions not playing ever again after the first time
Fixed an issue where an acetate would not drop from a chest during a quest
Fixed the ''Safe Travel mode'' keyboard button not working in Azerty and Dvorak mode
Fixed an issue where Cow Stall and Sheep Corral improvements were available before finding the blueprints in the world
Fixed an issue where the Everdoor atmosphere didn't trigger when Stella came to the Everdoor a second time right after finishing The Last Voyage
Fixed an issue where the controller would vibrate even when left unused
Fixed an issue where Beverly would not recognize her favorite food as her favorite
Fixed an issue where Gwen's quest "Set Sail, Captain!" didn't continue forwards after clearing the trash on the boat.
Fixed the music minigame's UI changing to keyboard inputs whenever the mouse is moved during gameplay, while playing with a controller
Fixed an issue where the map’s projector would fail to open properly.
And a slew of very minor bug fixes.
Beverly Update is out now!
Hey Spiritfarers,
Hope your Summer has been enjoyable so far! Sad it's almost over! I could do without the occasional sunburns, but weather here has been pretty good! Anyways, time for a news update!
The Beverly Update has finally arrived! You can go watch the launch trailer here : [previewyoutube="izkQNsycnRA;full"]
Beverly - The Tiny Owl
While exploring Oxbury, Stella is accosted by a kind stranger. Turns out, it's her old neighbor Beverly! She’s been feeling rather lonely on this island, so she couldn’t be happier to have finally found someone to talk to about the past!
You can start reminiscing about the past by recruiting her in Oxbury!
Content Update
The Beverly Update has finally arrived and it is livetoday!
Lots of changes are coming to the game, from new features, to quality of life updates and even some narrative tweaks. There's a lot to unpack!
Here's a list some of the changes:
New Features:
New Save system: You can now have three separate save files.
Buck's Looter's Literary reviews: Special magazines that contains a series of quests with treasure maps.
Radio in the Lounge: Hang out by the bar and take a listen to any of the songs from the soundtrack you've heard before!
New spicy foods have been added!
Quality of life changes:
Destination queue: select up to three points to explore in a single travel!
New "Safe Travel" mode for travelling, which automatically skips events during your next travel.
You can now disable (or re-enable) Alex's bus station music. 😅
Sitting on any chair at night now enables the Stargazing mode, which hides the buildings and shows the starry night sky.
I'm happy to announce that a Spiritfarer documentary is releasing next week!
Monday, July 19th at 12pm ET, TheEscapist will be hosting a Premiere of their Documentary on Spiritfarer directly on their Youtube Channel, and you're all invited! The team and I will be present in chat all throughout the show to talk with you all, so please come join us, it'll be a lot of fun!
For those that don't know, TheEscapist is an American Videogame Website and Magazine with many popular series, one of which is a favorite of ours: Zero Punctuation, hosted by Yahtzee Croshaw, where he dissects newly released games using a sprinkle of dark humor, insults and satire, all while talking really fast (hence the name). It's great, honestly!
Last year, Yahtzee actually released an episode on Spiritfarer and, to our great surprise, he actually liked our game! (He later even named it his Game of the Year!)
Being a rare occurrence, it caught the eye of Nick Calandra, Editor in Chief at TheEscapist, who reached out to make a Gameumentary on Spiritfarer!
The documentary is made from his interviews with the team, where we reminisced on the stories that led to Spiritfarer's development, as well as the impact it had on our lives before and after launch. We're so grateful for the opportunity and we're looking forward to sharing it with you all!
We're celebrating LudoNarraCon by hosting Spiritfarer discussions all weekend! Curious to know how Spiritfarer was made behind the scenes? You're in luck! We'll be live discussing this very topic every day between April 23rd and 26th from 1PM to 2PM EDT!
April 26th: Dissecting Stella's Story
1PM - 2PM EDT
Today, Spiritfarer's Creative Director, Nicolas Guérin will join me to discuss the entirety of Stella's narrative, it's going to be spoiler-tastic!
We're going to be broadcasting directly here on Steam, but also rebroadcasting it live on Twitch and Youtube! Please make sure to follow us on these channels as well! ːstella_happyː
If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date.
We're celebrating LudoNarraCon by hosting Spiritfarer discussions all weekend! Curious to know how Spiritfarer was made behind the scenes? You're in luck! We'll be live discussing this very topic every day between April 23rd and 26th from 1PM to 2PM EDT!
April 23rd: Q&A + Hangout
1PM - 2PM EDT
Today, I'll be hanging out and answering all your burning questions live!
Got questions you'd like me to answer? Go to our Public Discord and write them in the LNC-Questions-❓ channel! I'll do my best to answer all of them live!
We're going to be broadcasting directly here on Steam, but also rebroadcasting it live on Twitch and Youtube! Please make sure to follow us on these channels as well! ːstella_happyː
If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date.
Please send all your question to our Public Discord and see you soon!
We're celebrating LudoNarraCon by hosting Spiritfarer discussions all weekend! Curious to know how Spiritfarer was made behind the scenes? You're in luck! We'll be live discussing this very topic every day between April 23rd and 26th from 1PM to 2PM EDT!
April 24th: Approach to Narrative Direction
1PM - 2PM EDT
Today, Spiritfarer's Creative Director, Nicolas Guérin will join me to discuss how we created the narratives to all the spirit, from techniques to methodology.
We're going to be broadcasting directly here on Steam, but also rebroadcasting it live on Twitch and Youtube! Please make sure to follow us on these channels as well! ːstella_happyː
If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date.
We're celebrating LudoNarraCon by hosting Spiritfarer discussions all weekend! Curious to know how Spiritfarer was made behind the scenes? You're in luck! We'll be live discussing this very topic every day between April 23rd and 26th from 1PM to 2PM EDT!
April 25th: From Charon to Stella
1PM - 2PM EDT
Today, I'll be joined by our Creative Director, Nicolas Guérin, and our Art Director, Jo Gauthier! We'll discuss the evolution of Spiritfarer from its inception with Greek Mythology to what it became with Stella.
We're going to be broadcasting directly here on Steam, but also rebroadcasting it live on Twitch and Youtube! Please make sure to follow us on these channels as well! ːstella_happyː
If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date.
