Avast, ye maties! No, wait, this is not a pirate game. This is a wholesome game about a dad and his family. Right. I'm happy to announce that a new version of the demo is available! It contains a lot of things, and is essentially a collection of everything that is going into the full version... except the adventure. Saving that nugget for later.

First, about that art...

First I'd like to address something that can be considered an elephant in the proverbial game room. One of the most common comments I hear are friendly (and less friendly) variants of "the game is nice, but the backgrounds are obviously AI-generated and bad!" It's a very fair point. To be honest, I went with generated backgrounds because I didn't think anyone but my family and friends would play this game. However, now that I see that it is played by a few more people, I'm happy to announce that I'm working with an artist to redraw all of the backgrounds! Her handle is SprainedTootsie, and I'm really excited about our collaboration. Our goal is to first give the demo an overhaul, and then work on the final game. Stay tuned!

The update!

That said, here's all that's new in version 1.5 of the demo:

• The endings collection tease a bit more about what you can find in the full version. (And more will come.)
• There's a new collection called "The dad". There you can see skills, items and anxiety you've collected over your playthroughs.
• Many reactive things are now highlighted with orange. It makes you wonder how you can otherwise affect the day, does it not? Hm? Hm? :)
• You can now see the ending group when you finish a run
• This just in: hide the UI by pressing a button! Neat if you want to see the illustrations better. Important since we're getting nicer art soon.
• When you finish a run you now see the items you collected over the run, not just the ones you had when you finished.
• We have a custom mouse cursor. Why not, right?
• When you start a run you get a glimpse into the mind of the dad via a short thought. There are many of these thoughts, and which you see is depending on what you have accomplished so far. (Oooh, building suspense!)
• ... and some other minor visual improvements.

I hope you enjoy this update! If all goes according to plan we should see a new version of the demo when we have the new art done, and then we'll shoot for a full release in a timely manner after that. If you find any bugs or inconsistencies please let me know - it's much appreciated. Parents will be parents, Linus

[ 2025-01-08 21:06:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oh, hi there! Your friendly neighborhood dad Linus here. I just wanted to let you know that I've just finished the major narrative arc that I want to include in the game, and I'm pretty proud of it! It was the most important thing that I wanted to make for the full version, so it was real good getting it done. Now I just need to get to the one million other things I also want to include. With that out of the way I decided to revisit the UI. It didn't feel quite right, so I...

• Made the buttons bigger
• Increased the contrast of some elements
• Made it work better on different screen resolutions
• Adjusted some font sizes
• And made the game work waaaay better with controllers and keyboard

The last point is important, because with that... I'm happy to announce that the game works pretty well on Steamdeck! Huh? You already know because I told you in the title? Oh, right. I mean, no big surprises then... just enjoy! I'm still tweaking it, but please let me know if you find any bugs. This is all new to me. And tell me if you like the game, too. That also means a lot. Cheers! Linus

[ 2024-10-26 18:00:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

You want a trailer? I made one! It was quite tricky to make a game about clicking buttons visually interesting, but I think I managed to capture the essence of the game pretty well. Do you agree? Let me know! Now I will enjoy having that one ticked off. At least after the kids have gone to bed. hashtagdadlife Take care friends! Linus

[ 2024-10-09 14:31:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Oh, hello there! I just published a new update for the demo. Turns out the 10 000 word script contained a bunch of spelling and grammatical errors, among things. We can't have that, can we? Here is a nice little bullet list with changes:

• You can now see the diaper on the child when you have both. That's probably the most important change in this patch.
• Pickup labels stuck around when you clicked on them, like an uninvited guest. They disappear when you focus on something else now.
• There is an ending in the collection that you can't get in the demo, but I still want it to be there. Added a label that says "Not in demo" on that one, so you don't spend too much time chasing it. It's a mystery to be concluded in the full version.
• More language fixes than you can shake a stick at. And I'm 40 - practically an old man - so I can shake a lot of sticks.

Keep on keeping on! Linus

[ 2024-09-22 12:21:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

This is a big milestone for me - I just hit the big "release"-button. It released the Demo version of You're a dad. It's the first thing I publish on Steam. Neat. What do you get if you download it?

• A lovely story based on my experience of becoming a dad
• A non-linear narrative. You go where you like
• Different options based on what you've done in the past
• A repeating day where you can collect 15 endings
• Short playthroughs of roughly 3-20 minutes per ending

I'd love it if you download the game, play it, and tell me what you liked or disliked. I've got a long list of things I want to put in the full version of the game from playtests, but I want to hear more. Let me know in reviews, the community hub or the small discord server. Happy parenting! Linus

[ 2024-09-18 13:25:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

taps mic Hello? This on? ahem Hello world! My name is Linus, and I'm the developer for You're a dad - a sleep deprived text based adventure about becoming a parent. I'm thrilled that the Steam page is finally published. It's a big moment for me. (Not as big as becoming a parent, but almost.) This is my first game, built so that I could explore new ways to tell stories. So far I'm really enjoying the process, and I hope you will enjoy the final result, too! I'm currently putting the final touches on the demo, and after having it tested by a trusted group of beta testers, you will have access to it here on Steam. If all goes according to plan I want to have the completed game out early next year. That plan might change - I juggle this as a side project and have to prioritize family and work, but so far it's looking doable. Anyway, thrilled to have you here. Please, follow along if you're interested. Like and subscribe... no, wait, that's YouTube. Let's try again. Wishlist the game to get notified about updates. It really helps me out! I've set up a Discord server to share some updates with my family, which you're welcome to join if you want to talk. Excited to share more as I discover it. Have a good one!

[ 2024-09-03 09:19:42 CET ] [ Original post ]