Not only has the I Was a Teenage Exocolonist fandom kept the story going with fic (336 works and counting on AO3), theyve been busy modding the game and making rad fan merch. Northway Games has always granted permission for anyone to sell fan merch of our games using their own original art. It feels so amazing to have a piece of Exocolonist fandom hanging from my bag or dangling from my ears, out here in the real world. So heres a showcase! (this is a repost from the Northway Games blog which is so popular it got 4500 spam comments last month when I accidentally broke the recaptcha)

Official-ish Merch from Mei

Meis wooden charms Exocolonist artist Mei (@bkomei) just announced preorders for the cuuuuuuuutest wooden character charms, with unique shapes and different pictures on the two sides. Theyre so slick! I love that theyre in a different chibi style than Mei used in the game, but they still give 100% Exocolonist vibes. Preorder them here: https://bkomei.bigcartel.com
Meis also selling several prints of their in-game illustrations, and making these cool interactive CD jewel case charms that are just beautiful and all kinds of nostalgic. These will be a limited run so get one while you can!

Official-ish Merch from Lindsay

Glow Season by Lindsay Ishihiro (on my wall o stuff) Exocolonist writer/artist Lindsay also has semi-official prints available on Inprnt. I love this one of the gang telling stories around a campfire, the colors are sooooo purdy. There are also prints available of Lindsays creature art from in the game. All here: https://www.inprnt.com/frames/neomeruru

Poayos Etsy Empire

Poayos shop recently added keychains from guest artist Begonia With everything from stickers to acrylic standees to body pillows, Poayos Etsy shop covers a lot of ground featuring their own fanart style. They regularly post new goodies on r/Exocolonist (Reddit profile) and the Seraphic Discord, so keep an eye there to snag the new-and-hots before they sell out.
Yes even body pillows I wasnt kidding Ive come across a few other online stores with Exo merch out there, but lets move on to one of my favorite fan creations:

The ExtraColonist Mod

Available on NexusMods. This overhaul of the first year of the game introduces a bunch of new characters, even animated and on the map. New storylines, locations, backgrounds, cutscenes, activities, items. Its really a LOT more than you imagine.
Theyre calling it a beta and I hope we get to see more, but in its current state ExtraColonist is absolutely worth playing once you reach the end of the official content and want more. Its easy to install and jump into with a fresh game (you can keep your groundhogs/past memories). Team Seraphic (Patreon / tip jar here) has done an amazing job. What an absolute labor of love.
New scenes with characters old and new
I love this kid Download it from Nexus Mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/iwasateenageexocolonist/mods/5/ Team Seraphic socials: https://seraphic.ju.mp Poayo is part of the team and sells ExtraColonist merch too: https://poayosuniverse.etsy.com

Official-official Merch

The Finji Store still has pinnies, stickers, tees and hawaiian shirts available. Were selling a physical card game at cost via Gamecrafters. And youve seen my posts for print-on-demand xmas sweaters and other clothes. Weve done five plushies through Makeship and although these are one-off productions, I have a few squirreled away under the bed (literally) for some future giveaway. Makeship has also been bugging me to do another doll so you never know join the Official Discord or follow Exocolonist on Steam to hear more! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2025-03-14 02:05:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Do you need a break? To lose yourself in a fantasy sci-fi world? One that, while perhaps reflecting our own in some ways, does so in warm layers of distance and abstraction and comforting nonconformity? Then come with us, and forget about our shared real life problems for a minute. Let's hang out with some fictional teenagers out in space somewhere instead. I'm sure everything will work out just fine for them. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be 50% off during the Visual Novel Fest from March 3 - 10, then again for the Steam Spring Sale on March 13-20. Don't miss all the other narrative games on sale this spring!

[ 2025-03-03 18:01:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

From February 17-24, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be featured alongside the best recent and upcoming interactive fiction and narrative games on Steam. If you like stories that move you, choices that matter, and word counts in the hundreds of thousands, this festival is for you:

The Storyteller's Festival

2025 edition! Last year's festival included my personal recommends Scarlet Hollow and Slay the Princess. What will this year bring??? To celebrate the Exocolonist demo will be live for a limited time. It includes the first year of the game (about 2 hours of gameplay) and can be played multiple times. Happy reading! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2025-02-17 19:17:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join us on November 4-7 for SAVE&SOUND: an online music festival celebrating the fusion of innovation and artistry in gaming audio. Don't miss: Exocolonist audio team A Shell in the Pit will be discussing their first in-house game Fish Game on Nov 4 at 1pm PST (10am CET) here on Steam. I love aquarium sims and this is for sure the best one I've played. The plants and hardscape customization is soooo good and they're still adding stuff all the time (but no breeding yet - IT'S HARD). All week (Nov 4-11): the Exocolonist demo is up for a limited time. Also all week: Exocolonist will be on sale! Also-also all week: We're streaming the Exocolonist soundtrack on Steam. Our soundtrack features two hours of tracks from fourteen artists, including Em and Gordon from A Shell in the Pit (who did our sound and trailers too). If you want to know more, I wrote a blog post about it! Also-also-also all week: listen to rad soundtracks and amazing sound design in the other festival games. Hosted by Bedtime Digital Games and a group of amazing creators, the live SAVE&SOUND show will stream here on Steam, and on Twitch and Youtube. See the official site for more info.

[ 2024-11-04 18:00:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

We released I Was a Teenage Exocolonist here on Steam just over two years ago! This week we're celebrating our Exoversary with a big 50% off sale (our deepest discount yet), a free demo, and the launch of two new plushie campaigns! Oh, and we'll be streaming the complete soundtrack here on Steam, so sit back and listen while you gaze at these sweet balls of fluff n' stuff.

The two featured specimens are:

Xenofelis monopodus (the common hopeye)

Hopeyes leap around on a single foot, and live in colonies with up to 100 others. They love cuddles.

Xenosaurus polyped (the dillypillar)

Dillypillars are generally solitary, and can grow up to 100 pairs of feet! This particular dillypillar is just a wee four-legged juvenile, named Socks for her white-colored feet. She loves cuddles too.

Get yours before September 25th

Crowdfunding-style campaigns

We have one month to get a minimum of 200 orders. On September 25 the campaign ends, and if we've met our goal then every plushie will be made-to-order for our backers. After that, no more will be made! The estimated shipping date is December 14th so you miiiight get yours in time for the holidays, but if you're planning to gift one to somebody, maybe have a nice card ready just in case your xenofauna is a little late.

Limited time only

Socks and the hopeye are the final Exocolonist plushies we have planned to make. I may always change my mind later, but you've been warned, these might be the last! So if you get one (or both for a 10% discount) maybe don't play with them in the garden like I did with these two samples. They have dirt all over their butts now!

Get yours before September 25th

Come join us on Discord to celebrate with the devs! - Sarah exosmile

[ 2024-08-28 17:00:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Simulation games are my favorite genre. Debatably, the way I play some RPGs and strategy games by ignoring main quests or playing in sandbox mode probably makes them sim games too. Hold on, could EVERYTHING be a sim game? I mean they're all simulating something, right? Let's back it up. I just reinstalled the Sims 4, arguably King of Sims, which is ten years old and still in the top 30 most played games on Steam. I never played with dolls as a kid but hoo boy watching these poor creatures slapfighting and peeing themselves in public never gets old. Despite I Was a Teenage Exocolonist not simulating bladder-fullness, I still hope people get a similar joy from guiding Sol/Solane/Solanaceae through all the many possibilities of adolescence on Vertumna. Oh, right, and the game is on sale, with a limited time demo, for SimFest 2024 from July 22-29! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2024-07-22 17:00:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're celebrating the sun with a tremendous trio of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist deals:

Discount - 40% off the game

Our lowest price yet!

Demo - playable for free this week!

The demo includes the entire first year of the ten-year game, and your savegame will transfer over to the full game if you buy it.

Deadline - to get your Nomi-Nomi plush

Our month-long campaign for Nomi-Nomi plushes via Makeship ends July 2nd Nomi has reached the minimum number of sales (hurray!), so these dolls will definitely get made, and will be shipping out in September. But we don't plan to make a second run or to sell them elsewhere, so this is your one-and-only chance to bring the one-and-only Nomi-Nomi into your home and heart. These are a limited-time pride month exclusive.

Preorder your Nomi-Nomi here before July 2nd

More info and rainbow-Nomi goodness in the original announcement. - Sarah :exosmile:

[ 2024-06-27 17:01:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Our first round of limited-edition Exocolonist plushies was a big success, with Sols and Vrikis now nestled down in their new homes all over the land. But someone felt left out. Someone who absolutely needed to be incarnated in plushie form.

Pride Month Nomi-Nomi Plush

Get yours here before July 2nd 2024!

The first 200 sales will include a Steam key for I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, and 10% of all sales go to the Trevor Project.
Nomi is a perfect fit for plushification. You know they'd want to own a doll of themselves.

A Limited-time campaign

These Makeship campaigns run like Kickstarter: we need to reach a minimum order size of 200 for the dolls to get made, and there will only be a single run of them. They should start shipping out at the end of September.
Nomi enjoying some of their favorite hobbies: video games and old zines. Well, they would be holozines in Exocolonist, but these Art Disk back issues will do.
Nomi hanging out with their buddies Sol and Squidley Feeterson.

Celebrating Pride in Style

Again, these dolls will only be for sale for one month, and you can preorder them here! Because this is a Pride Month event at Makeship, each doll comes with a cute little detachable cape. Nomi's dress is detachable too, if you wanted to, say, design custom clothes for them. Just putting it out there. If you do customize your Nomi plush, please let us know!

Sorry about the rainbows. I can't seem to stop. - Sarah r3fuel

[ 2024-06-19 01:58:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Time for one of my favorite yearly Steam events: LudoNarraCon, a festival featuring demos and discounts from story-rich games like our very own I Was a Teenage Exocolonist.
This year's featured new games include some of my recent favorites: The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood Stray Gods Slay the Princess Final Profit Plus 50 other new narrative games, newly-minted demos, big sales on tons of older games, and two days of panels and fireside chats from devs.
I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be 35% off from May 6 - 13, and our demo will be available for the week! This festival brought to you by the following Steam tags:

• Choices Matter
• Story Rich
• Multiple Endings
• Interactive Fiction
• Visual Novel
• Dating Sim
• Choose Your Own Adventure

[ 2024-05-09 17:00:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

For one week only, the demo is live and game is on sale as we celebrate the best of deckbuilders on Steam! I LOVE deck building games. Some of my recent favorites (all roguelikes): Cobalt Core Inscryption Monster Train Dream Quest (obscure but essential) Balatro (current obsession) But there will always be a special place in my heart (and a not insignificant part of my brain) for Magic the Gathering. It's been years since I've played online, but I have an unopened box of Lord of the Rings in my closet just waiting to be drafted. Something about the feel - and that smell - of glue and cardboard. So naturally when I was designing the deckbuilding component for I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, I was already thinking about how to make a physical game out of it.
Behold: you can buy it from TheGameCrafter.com for $14.99 USD! These are made to order (so it might take a while to ship) and feature 52 UV-coated cards in a cute mint tin, with card art from the game. I originally designed them as promotional merch so I'm selling these at cost.
And yes it includes instructions for a playable 1-person game, a simplified version of the minigame in Exocolonist. Shuffle and draw 7 cards, then play a hand of 5 which scores at least 3 points to win the round. Points come from straights, flushes, pairs, or total score, and yes, order matters. Or screw playing the game, just enjoy the feel of your favorite Exocolonist cards right in your hands. Breathe deeply and smell that hot ink and glue. Ahhhhhh. - Sarah cccat

[ 2024-03-25 17:00:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're celebrating the launch of our friends' game Regency Solitaire II with a limited time bundle. Buy both I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and Regency Solitaire II this week for 10% off, or complete the set for a 10% discount on whichever game you're missing. Like Exocolonist, Regency Solitaire II features a mix of story and card game, but set in a Jane Austen-esque world of romance, intrigue, and shifting fortunes. You play as Bella, the heroine from the original 2015 casual hit Regency Solitaire, who finds herself embroiled in a new maze of family secrets. [previewyoutube=NwKTg2o51zI;full][/previewyoutube]

About Regency Solitaire II

Revisit romantic Regency Britain and build a glorious garden, in this charming solitaire sequel. Brought to you by the creators of the hit casual card game, Regency Solitaire. Resolve a tangled web of family secrets to help Bella silence the gossips, and host the seasons most anticipated soiree. Unlock gameplay features with your makeover project, and reveal bonus 'Collector's Edition' levels and a love story. Don't miss the party everyone's talking about! [previewyoutube=I3ofuvHGhCE;full][/previewyoutube]

Complete your bundle here!

[ 2024-02-22 18:00:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

From January 29th - February 4th, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be featured alongside the best recent and upcoming interactive fiction and narrative games on Steam. If you like stories that move you, choices that matter, and word counts in the hundreds of thousands, this festival is for you:

The Storyteller's Festival

We'll be celebrating with a discount, looping restream of me playing the game, and the Exocolonist demo will be up for a limited time. Happy reading! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2024-01-29 18:00:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Merry various winter holidays!

It's that time of year, full of cheap games and cheer, Exo plushies are near- ly gone, So don't miss out, it won't be long!

Plushie campaign is ending soon

exobrain Sol Plush: https://www.makeship.com/products/sol-plush exobrain exoflex Vriki Plush: https://www.makeship.com/products/vriki-plush exoflex Sol and Vriki dolls are flying off the (figurative, preorder) shelves. This limited run campaign is ending January 5th. We don't plan to sell them again after that, so if you've had your eyes on one make sure you preorder soon.

Winter Sale discount, demo, stream

Exocolonist is 35% off for the Steam Winter Sale, a magical time when I impulse buy far too many games even though I'll never have time to play them all. I tell myself it's important for "market research", but really I just love all the games and I can't resist a good deal. The demo is also up for a limited time, and we're re-streaming a cut of Syafire's August 2022 launch day playthrough. She's so lovely! She designs her own VTuber characters and posts tutorials on how it's all done on Youtube and Twitch. - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-12-21 18:02:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

exosmile exothumbsup exosmile It's plushie time friends!! exosmile exothumbsup exosmile

Get your Vriki and Sol plushies here for a limited time ending Jan 5th 2024.

Twenty-five days to meet our campaign goal

We've partnered with Makeship to do a limited run of Sol and vriki plushies. It's like a Kickstarter thing, where we need to reach a minimum order size (200 of each) for the campaign to succeed and the plushies to get made. Once that happens, they'll manufacture and ship them out by March/April. The campaign runs from now until January 5th so preoder yours now! exobrain Sol Plush: https://www.makeship.com/products/sol-plush exobrain exoflex Vriki Plush: https://www.makeship.com/products/vriki-plush exoflex Get a 10% discount if you buy both together! And the first 200 purchases of each comes with a free Steam key - share it with friends if you already own the game.

Two little buds stuffed full of surprises

They sent me some samples to play with and I looooooove them. The minky material is so soft and pettable, they're sturdily constructed with dyed fabrics and embroidered details. Exocolonist artist Mei worked on the production design for these to make them look just right, and finally we know just how many tentacles a vriki has. I took them out to explore the wild and alien world of my houseplants and deck and they fit right in.
One last time - we don't plan to make or sell these again after Jan 5th, so preorder yours today! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-12-11 18:00:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join us on September 11-14 for SAVE&SOUND: an online music festival celebrating the fusion of innovation and artistry in gaming audio. September 13 at 12pm PDT: Exocolonist sound designer Em Halberstadt shows us how the sounds of Exocolonist were made on the official festival stream. All week: the Exocolonist demo is up for a limited time. Also all week: listen to rad soundtracks and amazing sound design in the other festival games. Also-also all week: We're streaming the Exocolonist soundtrack on Steam. Our soundtrack features two hours of tracks from fourteen artists, including Em and Gordon from A Shell in the Pit (who did our sound and trailers too). If you want to know more, I wrote a blog post about it! Really don't miss Em's deep dive stream - her process for making the Exo ambient tracks is magical. Spoiler: It involves CAMELS. Hosted by Bedtime Digital Games and a group of amazing creators, the live SAVE&SOUND show will stream here on Steam, and on Twitch and Youtube. See the official site for more info.

[ 2023-09-11 17:00:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Exocolonist just turned one!

We're celebrating with a 35% off sale all this week, and the demo will be available for a limited time . It's been a wonderful year of player stories and kudos (the kind you can't spend on soysweets and cake, usually).

• People have written 143 fanfics about Exocolonist on Archive of Our Own.
• They've posted countless works of fanart on Instagram, The Platform Formerly Known As Twitter, and yes, even Tumblr.
• Exocolonist was nominated at just about every video game festival last year, and even won a few (Best Video Game at the Canadian Screen Awards, aka the Canadian Oscars!)

We've been celebrating a month-long Vertumnalia festival on the Finji Discord with giveaways and livestreams. While prepping for a developer Q&A, I took a trip down memory lane and dug out my original design documents from 2017. Read my post about it but beware of spoilers, spicy details about inappropriate romances that never were, and Sol's long lost sister who was cut from the final game. Stay tuned for streams here on Steam and on Twitch from some very lovely streamers on the 26th, 27th, 28th. Happy Vertumnalia!!!
Oh - and if anyone was wondering about the outcome of the plushie survey:

• We had 3000 responses!
• People want: Vriki (73%), Sol (60%), Socks (54%), Hopeye (52%), Dys (42%), Rex (39%), Sym (37%), Nomi (34%), Faceless (29% adjusted for being added late), Tangent (28%), Tammy (27%), Unisaur (25%), Anemone (23%), Cal (22%), Marz (14%), Vace (6%).
• 14% want a character, 37% want a creature, 49% want both.
• 90% of survey responders were playing on Steam and 80% heard about the survey from Steam
• You're all wrong about Marz!! Marz is the coolest!
• Thanks to everyone who shared how their day was going. exosmile

Still no guarantee we'll make these plushies, but we will let you know when we have more news on them! Vriki and Sol are the clear winners! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-08-25 17:00:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Celebrate a Year of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist with Vertumnalia Festivities! Can you believe it's been a year since Exocolonist blasted its way onto Steam and into our hearts? We're setting out the feast table and building the stage for an exclusive Vertumnalia Festival on the Finji Discord!

Show off Your Talent

Starting now! Dive into our digital talent showcase:

• Showcase your Exocolonist fan art, fiction and cosplay magic.
• Culinary wizards, cook up and share dishes inspired by Exocolonist
• Send the developers your questions for our upcoming livestream!

Exclusive Creator's Corner Q&A

Mark your calendars! On August 25, 12PM PDT/3PM EDT, join the minds behind the game:

• Interact with Lead Developer Sarah Northway and Writer Lindsay Ishihiro.
• Watch as Artist Meilee Chao crafts live Exocolonist art inspired by fan suggestions.
• Plus, get a chance to win some Exocolonist goodies including Steam keys, exclusive pins, and rare press kits! Start dropping your questions and artwork ideas in our Discord now.

More Surprises in Store!

Stay tuned to our socials for community-led special streams on Twitch & Steam and other surprises. Lets make this anniversary a blast! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-08-18 16:00:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

I am still chasing that sweet green checkbox for being fully verified on Steam Deck. Although those in the know can tell you it plays beautifully on there already, there are some sync issues that could make it annoying to switch between deck and PC and downgrade us to only "playable".
While I was tackling that, I went through all the bug reports you lovely, lovely people have sent through the game's feedback menu (thank you! exoflex) and fixed some small issues with particular cards and rare errors. Here's the list:

• Typos typos teh-zypos! ("only" 20 of them)
• Make Small Skills Boost perk and Clear Minded status roll their chances separately instead of adding them together in a confusing way
• Fix Bravely Helping to Fight and other +1 to total cards showing bonus beside the total, but not actually adding it to the total on rounds 2 and 3
• Fix Tracking the Airsquid card text to explain it only affects physical cards
• Confirmation dialog when forgetting or not forgetting a card while relaxing, so it's much harder to skip by that option by accident
• Warn in a popup the first five times any file fails to save during each play session
• Slightly speed up first game boot after install or update (stop unnecessarily recompiling story files)
• Fix controllers not closing text input popups on Steam Deck
• Hide resolution and quality settings on Steam Deck and stop syncing them between deck and pc, just default to what works best on that specific hardware

- Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-08-03 15:17:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Would you like a real-life squeezable Cal? A huggable squiggly Vriki? We're still in the early planning phases but we'd like to bring an Exocolonist character into the world as a stuffed toy.
The burning question is... which one?? Don't think of this as a "which is your favorite Exo character" quiz; think of it as "who would look coolest as a teddy bear version of themselves" or maybe "what would I be the least embarrassed to put on my bedroom shelves"? Yes, Vace is on the list. For some reason. Here is the Google Forms survey. All questions optional and anonymous. Tell us what you want, and we will do our best to make it happen! Also! There is a small Patch #4 coming soon to Steam, and now up on the testing beta branch. Feel free to take it for an early spin! Here are the changes:

• Typos typos teh-zypos! ("only" 20 of them)
• Make Small Skills Boost perk and Clear Minded status roll their chances separately instead of adding them together in a confusing way
• Fix Bravely Helping to Fight and other +1 to total cards showing bonus beside the total, but not actually adding it to the total on rounds 2 and 3
• Fix Tracking the Airsquid card text to explain it only affects physical cards
• Confirmation dialog when forgetting or not forgetting a card while relaxing, so it's much harder to skip by that option by accident
• Warn in a popup the first five times any file fails to save during each play session
• Slightly speed up first game boot after install or update (stop unnecessarily recompiling story files)
• Fix controllers not closing text input popups on Steam Deck
• Hide resolution and quality settings on Steam Deck and stop syncing them between deck and pc, just default to what works best on that specific hardware

- Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-07-27 17:00:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

The narrative games festival LudoNarraCon will run from May 4th - 8th right here on Steam. This is your chance to check out what is new and upcoming in narrative games, and get I Was a Teenage Exocolonist at limited time discount!

We also have two Exocolonist-related narrative panels during the event:

Lindsay's is at 1pm PDT on Thursday May 4th. They'll be discussing whether a game narrative needs words with Tunic creator Andrew Shouldice. https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/33025617/view/3710443172337737687 Mine is at 1pm PDT on Friday May 5th: a sit down with some very cool fellow devs to chat about systems-based narrative writing. https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/33025617/view/3710443172337887533?l=english - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-05-04 07:09:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Patch #3, version 2716 (March 16) is up now on Steam! This build restores some accidentally lost content, adds custom cursors, fixes issues with equipment bonuses and some statuses, and a bunch more small issues and typos.

• store hogs in save files and offer to restore if Groundhogs.json corrupt
• improve loading an age 11+ game in a demo version
• custom cursors, can be disabled via settings, bigger on 4k
• better fix for cards getting stuck
• redirecting thumper now adds to defense one time
• immediately skip current card challenge when you disable it via tutorial
• show card art and text in controller tooltips that include both
• strip exoscript markup from all user-entered names
• fix starting the game in controller mode with no controller plugged in
• fix hitting home with H hotkey while entering name if input box loses focus
• fix feedback menu truncating jankily after 13 lines
• fix tooltips disappearing too fast when using mouse and keyboard together
• fix steam deck tutorial where it says "click" so we can finally be verified
• fix disabling past lives with negative checks
• fix WAKE UP font being huge sometimes
• fix medallion and other gear bonuses that should only be on the first round
• fix becoming enlightened after first or second perk with gear skill bonuses
• fix fillbars not showing changes when gear bonuses push skill over 100
• fix autosaving when returning from an expedition before the date changes
• fix showing -15 when you have net +0 skill change and gear equipped
• fix calm and starving statuses not affecting skill changes
• fix not showing skill bonus info in bubble tooltip when net is +0
• fix remove incrementMonth to keep from skipping important events
• fix opening credits menu during ending doesn't let you close it again
• fix upgrading hopeye
• fix missing skill card sub-events for vace/rex/nomi/sym
• fix old sol not saying interesting things about many endings
• a regular helping of narrative fixes and typos

Another giant thank you to everyone who reported bugs from inside the game's feedback menu! I couldn't have found these without you! exoflex - Sarah

[ 2023-04-11 08:22:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Big news - I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a finalist for Excellence in Narrative at the IGF (Independent Games Festival) (plus an honorable mention for Visual Arts!).
Not only that, our game has also been nominated for Best Narrative in the GDCA (Game Developers Choice Awards - these are like the Oscars of video games)
AND we're a finalist for the Social Impact Award in the GDCAs.
These are the big ones; the awards that devs (speaking of myself here) spend their entire career working towards. It is an incredible honor to be nominated. The IGF also features an audience award, so jump in and cast your vote here! Since our narrative design is getting so much attention, here's an article I wrote for gamedeveloper.com about The Narrative Octopus of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. If you'd like to play around with Exo's custom scripting language yourself, I've made a rough version of Exoscript open source on Github. - Sarah nyaa

[ 2023-01-27 12:59:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

To celebrate the Steam Winter Sale (December 22nd - January 5th), I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be 20% off. We'll also be streaming the official soundtrack here for your listening enjoyment (yes, the soundtrack is also on sale!). The soundtrack features 2 hours of music by 14 incredible artists: Gordon McGladdery (A Shell in the Pit) Daniel Rosenfeld (C418) Shannon Mason (Pongball) Andrew Rohrmann (scntfc) Gabriel Koenig (Ghost Time Games) sintecta Kiyoshi Iio (Koku) Al Diaz, Rupert Lally and Espen J Jrgensen Boris Potschubay (Jogging House) Tim Rich (Crooked Walking) Jake Gauntlett Frances Aravel Colin Northway Em Halberstadt For more about the music of Exocolonist, I wrote a whole dang blog post about it here. - Sarah

[ 2022-12-26 23:08:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Steam Awards nominations are now open! Time to let the world know about your favorite games released in the last year. Final voting will be held during the Steam winter sale. You can nominate I Was a Teenage Exocolonist for any category, but you can only pick one. How abouuuuuut Outstanding Story-Rich Game? Lindsay and I are so proud of our dynamic storytelling in Exocolonist. It's 600,000 words (that's like 6 novels!) of complex triggered events and choices that really matter. Here's a GameDeveloper article I wrote about our custom scripting language and how we wove it all together: Deep Dive: Using Exoscript to tame the "Narrative Octopus" of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist
(Nomi-Nomi writes a multi-ending visual novel in Exo, because everybody loves a game-within-a-game)

[ 2022-11-23 15:00:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Patch #2, version 2315 (November 15th) is up now on Steam! More typos and a few bugs with gear and collectibles squashed. Patch notes:

• fix double-equipping gear when upgrading, not being able to equip
• fix crystal cluster making cards unselectable in controller mode
• fix negative skill bonuses for statuses (mourning, injured etc)
• fix (hopefully) can't drag battle cards in mouse mode
• fix (maybe) groundhogs steam sync issue, stop saving on game exit
• fix gear menu card scaling in biggerMenus mode
• fix some job start events that weren't high priority
• fix a bunch of references after you preempt famine
• move hard-coded english strings into localization tsv for modding
• buncha typos

One bug I'm hoping to (maybe) fix with this update is an issue where past memories are disappearing (characters from the main menu, endings and achievements in the gallery). This might be due to a Steam sync issue reverting the file Groundhogs.json. If you think this might still be happening to you with the new version 2315, please report it from inside the game, and if possible please also email your Steam cloud_log.txt and cloud_log previous.txt files to support@finji.co (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\logs on Windows, ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/logs on MacOS, ~/.local/share/Steam/logs on Linux). Another issue I haven't been able to track down is fast-disappearing tooltips. They're supposed to stick around under your mouse, not disappear after a second! If this is happening to you (especially if you can figure out why!) please report it from inside the game. Thank you for all your help! - Sarah nyaa

[ 2022-11-15 17:00:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist has been nominated for best Games For Impact in the Game Awards, and best Playstation Game of the Year in the PLAY Magazine awards. It's a big honor to be included in these shortlists! Seeing our game casually listed beside Elden Ring and God of War is a trip. And yes, these awards are both public ballots so you too can vote for Exocolonist! The Game Awards winners will be announced in a live ceremony on December 8th at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET. - Sarah nyaa

[ 2022-11-14 21:50:44 CET ] [ Original post ]

Stop by and watch pre-recorded streams by amazing streamers like Syafire, Zeenigami, and Skittzipoo. And don't forget you can try out the I Was a Teenage Exocolonist demo through November 11th!

[ 2022-11-05 16:08:11 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist was the winner of the 2020 IndieCade award for Procedural Design (now called Systemic Design). Now that our game is all grown up and released, it'll be featured with other IndieCade alumni games as well as this year's nominees in a special Steam festival from November 4 - 11 2022. :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:

[ 2022-11-04 17:00:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist has been nominated for Best Storytelling in the 2022 Golden Joystick Awards! Voting closes this Friday, November 4th at 4:00pm PST / 7:00pm EST / 11:00pm GMT. 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 nyaa

[ 2022-11-02 14:00:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

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

[ 2022-10-05 17:22:47 CET ] [ Original post ]

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! [previewyoutube=oRRanzUQ0Vw;full][/previewyoutube] 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 nyaa

[ 2022-08-25 17:00:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

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!

[ 2022-08-24 15:35:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

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. [previewyoutube=6bD1YOtFNlY;full][/previewyoutube] 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 nyaa

[ 2022-08-23 00:27:05 CET ] [ Original post ]

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. [previewyoutube=oRRanzUQ0Vw;full][/previewyoutube] 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 nyaa

[ 2022-08-18 16:12:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 nyaa

[ 2022-08-11 22:40:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Were 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 Sunday, July 10th: 12pm PT / 3pm ET- BarghestBlack demo stream 5pm PT/ / 8pm ET- Lets Play I Was a Teenage Exocolonist with Developer Sarah Northway Stop by! Wed love to see you there! I Was a Teenage Exocolonist will be launching on August 25th. Wishlist it now!

[ 2022-07-07 20:15:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Announcing our launch date of August 25th 2022! [previewyoutube=tRmTUiqjIRU;full][/previewyoutube] 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! nyaa

[ 2022-06-11 20:15:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

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! Thursday May 5th: Skittzipoo 8pm-10pm ET Friday May 6th: Zeenigami 3pm-5pm ET Saturday May 7th: Miisty 12pm-2pm ET Syafire 3PM - 5PM ET Sunday May 8th: Poiyapng 1pm-3pm ET 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!

[ 2022-05-05 19:11:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

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.

[ 2022-02-23 02:21:49 CET ] [ Original post ]

I Was a Teenage Exocolonist Developer - and I still am. A dev, that is, not a teenager. Nope, I am a (mostly) developed human adult working on a card-battling life sim about growing up on an alien planet. Digging the demo? Have any questions about the game? I'll be around on Friday (3pm pst) this and every week for a developer update. It's the best way to get in touch with me and the rest of the team. Join us on the Finji discord: https://discord.com/invite/finji - Sarah

[ 2022-02-22 17:47:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Weve started the private beta test of I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, and our first playtesters are kicking so much ass! If youd like to join, swing by the Finji Discord, get your Exocolonist Fan role, and apply to be a tester on the #exocolonist-beta-opt-in channel. Well be adding new testers every couple weeks and working together to make this game the best it can be. Later rounds (November / December) will use the Steam Playtest system, so Request Access now from the Exocolonist store page to get on the waitlist and you'll be notified when it starts.

[ 2021-10-01 23:52:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, WARRIOR!! For years, we've wondered: Which Indie developer would win in an honorable fight to the death? That's what we'll learn this weekend when we head into the INDIE ARENA, a colosseum-like fight-to-t.... hold on a second, I've just been handed a note.. Oh, yes... I see. That... that makes much more sense. Okay, so as it turns out, Indie Arena Booth Online is NOT a gruesome Mortal Kombat style tournament featuring your favorite Indies, but instead is a weekend full of demos, live streams, and more. In this sprawling Narrative RPG, you get to grow your character as they live in their community on a strange new planet. Make friends, master the mechanics of the card-battling system, and see how your fate changes again and again. The demo will arrive on Steam on August 26th and will last through the weekend, going back into the Finji vault on August 28th. For all things Exocolonist & Indie Arena Booth Online, head on over to the official Finji Discord to hang out with us and check out our weekend live stream schedule. Cheers!

[ 2021-08-25 16:47:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join Twitch Streamer and Finji QA dev McSassblast as they play through the I Was A Teenage Exocolonist demo with you, the community! You can watch McSassblast right here on Steam or on our Twitch page!

[ 2021-04-25 15:38:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join Sarah Northway and Adam Saltsman as they do a deep dive into the complex systems designs of I Was A Teenage Exocolonist live on Twitch!)

[ 2021-04-22 20:04:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join Twitch Streamer JeffBrutlag as they play through the I Was A Teenage Exocolonist demo with you, the community! You can watch Jeff right here on Steam or on their Twitch page!

[ 2021-04-22 19:56:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ask your questions to the I Was A Teenage Exocolonist's development team during this live Q&A in our Discord (and broadcast to Twitch!) To join our Discord and participate, click here!

[ 2021-04-22 19:52:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're excited to announce that starting Friday, April 23 through Monday, April 26, we'll be a part of LudoNarraCon! LudoNarraCon is a games convention that takes place entirely online, through Steam! Starting on April 26th, you'll be able to hop on to the special LudoNarraCon steam page and access dozens of demos, including ones for the games we're exhibiting: Chicory: A Colorful Tale, I Was A Teenage Exocolonist, and TUNIC*. Demos will be available on each game's store page, so keep an eye out for a chance to go hands on! Additionally, we'll be hosting various panels, streams, and Q&A sessions, both here on Steam and in our official Discord server. Keep an eye out on our official channels for a schedule. We're stoked to be a part of LudoNarraCon once again, and we can't wait to hear what you think of our upcoming titles. Don't forget to wishlist if you haven't yet! See you soon! *The TUNIC Demo requires the use of an Xbox 360 or newer controller (XInput)

[ 2021-04-14 18:42:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Big news: we are teaming up with our friends at Finji to bring I Was a Teenage Exocolonist to you! To celebrate, the Exocolonist 2020 demo will be available again until the end of November.
Yes THAT Finji, the people who brought you Night in the Woods, Overland, Wilmot's Warehouse, FEIST, Panoramical, Canabalt and Capsule. And soon Chicory, TUNIC, and I Was a Teenage Exocolonist! We are incredibly stoked by our partnership with Bekah, Adam, and the rest of the Finji team. Ive known them for many years and cant emphasize enough how much respect I have for Finji as publishers, designers, and leaders in our industry. Northway Games has always self-published until now, but I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is our biggest game yet, and merits this opportunity to reach a wider audience with Finji leading the way.
Happy Thanksgiving to Americans, and happy Exocolonist-Finji day to everyone. - Sarah and the Exo team

[ 2020-11-24 23:48:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Join me this afternoon for an impromptu live stream where I play I Was a Teenage Exocolonist and ramble on for a bit about game development or whatever. No I will not do funny voices. I'm not promising high energy. It's going to be SO FUN especially if you like watching people squint and screens and mumble about bugs they have to fix.

[ 2020-06-19 19:48:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi there! I'm Sarah and I'm one of the developers for I Was a Teenage Exocolonist. Do you want to try it? We've got an empty spot right here... Okay great, take a seat, and here are some headphones for you. You can put your swag bag on the table there. Wow, that's a cool enamel pin you're wearing, what game is that from? So, this demo is 1 to 2 hours long, and you can play it again to see different events. I know - that's a long demo! But it's only the first year of the game. The full game will take place from age 10 - 19. A lot will change from the innocent first steps you'll take in this demo. Okay, just press that DOWNLOAD DEMO button and you're all set. I'll be over here in the Steam Discussion Group and I'd love to hear what you think when you're done!

[ 2020-06-16 21:12:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey friends! During the Steam Game Festival June 16-22 you'll have a chance to play the I Was a Teenage Exocolonist demo, and on Wednesday afternoon join Sarah Northway (that's me!) and the Exocolonist team on all our Most Social Medias, including:

Discord

Join I Was a Teenage Exocolonist on Discord: https://discord.gg/cefCccT Starting a 12PM PDT on June 17, we'll be there answering all your questions! Or at least most of them! I'll be happy to chat about Exocolonist, the team, game development, other games, or whatever. Your thoughts on the demo will be most appreciated! I'll stick around all afternoon so latecomers welcome! Set yourself a reminder with the dropdown to the right.

Steam Discussions

If Discord isn't your thing, you can post your thoughts and questions to our Steam Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1148760/discussions/ I'll be around all afternoon to answer them, starting at 12PM PDT on June 17.

Twitter

You can also ping me on Twitter at @sarah_northway I'm excited to hear from you! :D



See you on Wednesday!!

[ 2020-06-10 21:53:38 CET ] [ Original post ]