Strangeland
Strangeland: Hungarian Translation NOW Available!
Boldog Karácsonyt! Örömmel rántjuk le a leplet a Strangeland magyar fordításáról! Ez egy teljesen új nyelv a Primordiához készült lokalizációkhoz képest, és számos technikai kihívást is jelentett a megvalósítása. De warg kiváló segítségével nemcsak legyőztük ezeket az akadályokat, hanem elő is készítettük a terepet a többi fordítás számára. Reméljük, hogy az új évet a németre átültetett játékkal kezdhetjük, utána pedig a francia és spanyol következik. A japán, koreai, orosz és lengyel próbálkozások eddig még nem jártak kézzel fogható eredménnyel, de reméljük, hogy egy nap ezeket is megvalósíthatjuk. Üdvözlünk mindannyiótokat, különösen azokat a magyar játékosokat, akikhez így egy lépéssel közelebb kerülhettünk!
Welcome Holiday Customers!
Season's greetings! We are delighted to celebrate the end of Strangeland's first year with all of you!
Like our first adventure Primordia, Strangeland is an homage to the classic point-and-clicks of the 1990s, a deeply personal story, and our effort to provide players with a rich, smooth gameplay experience.
While Strangeland is a psychological horror game that explores despair and isolation, it is ultimately a game about hope, love, and generosity, fitting for the holiday season and the coming new year. We approached our development in that same spirit: hope that it finds a connection with you; love for our players and for the genre; and an effort to be generous in the polish, extra content, and ongoing support we put in the game.
With that in mind, if you play the game find that connection, we would love to hear it. But if you hit any technical snags, puzzle frustrations, or other issues, please let us know either in the forums on by email (mark@wormwoodstudios.com), and we will try to help you out as soon as possible.
Happy holidays to all!
Minor Mac Patch
Steam Awards
With that in mind, we humbly ask that you consider nominating Strangeland for a Steam award, to the extent you think it deserving. While some categories are obviously inapplicable, we ask that you consider it for Outstanding Story Rich Game and Outstanding Visual Style.
In the meanwhile, we hope that you are well in this season of giving thanks for the earth's bounty, and connecting with friends and family. Though the days are short and the nights long, may your lives be full of light.
Happy Halloween (Sale)
In the spirit of the holidays, you might check out "Why Horror?" -- a development update explaining the philosophy behind our game's genre. You can also check out a recent interview with Strangeland's team in Monstrum, a leading horror journal, here.
Enjoy the game! If you have any technical questions or need hints, or just want to discuss themes and images, stop by the forums, where all of us developers are very active!
Happy Halloween!
Monstrum Interview
Strangeland's writer Mark Yohalem and artist Victor Pflug were recently interviewed in the magazine Monstrum about their influences and their interest in horror. (The interview was conduct by the prolific Jeffrey Klaehn.)
Here's a taste:
There is the Lovecraft cliché that fear is the oldest and strongest emotion. I don’t know if that’s true, but I think horror will always be with us. The Greeks taught that our very efforts to impose control over the things we fear simply hastens us toward our doom. All of human history is an effort to control primordial horrors, but our “war to end all wars” yielded a hecatomb like no other, our green revolution against famine created the specter of an unnaturally brittle food supply, and our miracle cures have bred prodigiously resistant diseases. I truly believe our striving is noble and has generally made the world a better place, but the lesson here is that we cannot conquer the things we fear; they are protean and eternal; hubris summons nemesis. So we will never be free of these terrors.
That means we need horror. Horror is a way of manifesting our primordial dreads (including the fear of powerlessness and loss of control) in forms that we can wrestle with. Just as nightmares help us process fears while we’re asleep, horror helps us process those fears while we’re awake. As long as life is a chaotic mess that resolves only in death, we will turn to horror to help us survive.
You can read the whole article, and the rest of the excellent fourth issue of Monstrum, here.
National Suicide Prevention Month
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline explains that “individuals are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful after speaking to someone who listens without judgment.” Each of us has an internal voice that sits in harsh judgment; for some of us, that voice is louder; for some of us, it is so loud that it is the only internal voice we ever hear. And when fear of judgment stops us from speaking with others, then that harsh spirit inside is also the only one listening. It becomes easy to get trapped in an internal conversation of cruel self-judgment. Strangeland is the story of a protagonist caught in that trap. As the NSPL explains, one way we can help others find their way out is to provide a sympathetic ear and an open heart. We can offer a light to those lost in that darkness simply by “ask[ing] after them in a caring way.”
If there is a single message we hope reaches Strangeland’s players it is that, even if we don’t know it, the light of love is shining on us from many directions, though it is sometimes hard to see, and that—simultaneously—even in our darkest hours, we are a light of love shining on others. Each of us is a person worthy of love, whose love is worthwhile to others. But those of us who most need to hear that are those who hear it least often. And, too often, we don’t hear them, either.
According to the American Association of Suicidology, suicide steals away tens of thousand of people a year, with no demographic spared, though its toll is worst among older men. The pain radiates out through a web of connections—connections that might have seemed invisible to one lost in despair, but which were there all the same. And beyond those lost to suicide, or who lose another to suicide, are the many who are afflicted by it in other ways, by attempting or merely imagining the possibility of suicide. The AAS indicates that more than 1 in 20 people may suffer from suicidal ideations each year. This means it is very probable that all of us know someone who is suffering, likely silently and secretly, from this agony.
It is a truism that the internet and video games can bring out the worst in people. But truisms aren’t the same thing as truth, and this one is at best a partial and distorted view. The other part is that the internet and games are also the means by which communities and relationships form. I have gained deep, lasting friendships through making, playing, and discussing games online, and have received many kindnesses and much love through these media. The intensely meaningful, positive, and often personal feelings that so many have shared with us about Primordia and Strangeland have been a light when things seem dark, and a balm for lifelong wounds that never fully heal.
This month should serve as a reminder of the opportunities we have to show love and kindness to others—whether at the bus stop or on Steam, whether in our households or on Twitter. Every one of us has great capacity to lift up and comfort our fellow human beings, and they in turn hold a wealth of happiness for us. We won’t always know when a small gesture, a kind word, a sympathetic ear, or just a friendly smile will have an outsized effect on someone in pain and in need. To err on the side of kindness is no error at all.
Finally, if you are suffering from suicidal thoughts, please remember that you are a light to many, and you are worthy of love and life. There are free resources that can help, and there is only strength, not shame, in seeking out such assistance. The resources below are based in the United States, but wherever you live, there are those who can help.
With love,
Mark, James, and Victor
Wormwood Studios
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1 (800) 273-8255 [1-800-273-TALK]
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide
https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources
Suicide Awareness Voice of Education (SAVE)
https://save.org/
[REPOSTED]
Strangeland Update [WIN/LINUX/MACOS]
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1369520/discussions/0/3033725780712121643/
Strangeland Update [LINUX]
That's pretty much it!
National Suicide Prevention Month
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline explains that “individuals are more likely to feel less depressed, less suicidal, less overwhelmed, and more hopeful after speaking to someone who listens without judgment.” Each of us has an internal voice that sits in harsh judgment; for some of us, that voice is louder; for some of us, it is so loud that it is the only internal voice we ever hear. And when fear of judgment stops us from speaking with others, then that harsh spirit inside is also the only one listening. It becomes easy to get trapped in an internal conversation of cruel self-judgment. Strangeland is the story of a protagonist caught in that trap. As the NSPL explains, one way we can help others find their way out is to provide a sympathetic ear and an open heart. We can offer a light to those lost in that darkness simply by “ask[ing] after them in a caring way.”
If there is a single message we hope reaches Strangeland’s players it is that, even if we don’t know it, the light of love is shining on us from many directions, though it is sometimes hard to see, and that—simultaneously—even in our darkest hours, we are a light of love shining on others. Each of us is a person worthy of love, whose love is worthwhile to others. But those of us who most need to hear that are those who hear it least often. And, too often, we don’t hear them, either.
According to the American Association of Suicidology, suicide steals away tens of thousand of people a year, with no demographic spared, though its toll is worst among older men. The pain radiates out through a web of connections—connections that might have seemed invisible to one lost in despair, but which were there all the same. And beyond those lost to suicide, or who lose another to suicide, are the many who are afflicted by it in other ways, by attempting or merely imagining the possibility of suicide. The AAS indicates that more than 1 in 20 people may suffer from suicidal ideations each year. This means it is very probable that all of us know someone who is suffering, likely silently and secretly, from this agony.
It is a truism that the internet and video games can bring out the worst in people. But truisms aren’t the same thing as truth, and this one is at best a partial and distorted view. The other part is that the internet and games are also the means by which communities and relationships form. I have gained deep, lasting friendships through making, playing, and discussing games online, and have received many kindnesses and much love through these media. The intensely meaningful, positive, and often personal feelings that so many have shared with us about Primordia and Strangeland have been a light when things seem dark, and a balm for lifelong wounds that never fully heal.
This month should serve as a reminder of the opportunities we have to show love and kindness to others—whether at the bus stop or on Steam, whether in our households or on Twitter. Every one of us has great capacity to lift up and comfort our fellow human beings, and they in turn hold a wealth of happiness for us. We won’t always know when a small gesture, a kind word, a sympathetic ear, or just a friendly smile will have an outsized effect on someone in pain and in need. To err on the side of kindness is no error at all.
Finally, if you are suffering from suicidal thoughts, please remember that you are a light to many, and you are worthy of love and life. There are free resources that can help, and there is only strength, not shame, in seeking out such assistance. The resources below are based in the United States, but wherever you live, there are those who can help.
With love,
Mark, James, and Victor
Wormwood Studios
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1 (800) 273-8255 [1-800-273-TALK]
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
American Foundation for the Prevention of Suicide
https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources
Suicide Awareness Voice of Education (SAVE)
https://save.org/