Hey Spiritfarers and indie game enthusiasts! What a fantastic day for indie developers! We're proud to have been invited to partake in the Triple-i initiative, a new collaborative effort that highlights fan-favorite developers, hype up established indie classics and showcases wonderful new titles. For this occasion, we decided to celebrate with a special sale of all of our titles, starting now until April 15th! Now's the best time to try out Jotun, Sundered and Spiritfarer, inside the Thunder Lotus Collection.
Happy to celebrate indie games with fellow amazing developers! For more content from us, be sure to subscribe to our Newsletter! We have a lot of amazing content in the works that you will not want to miss! -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2024-04-10 17:35:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, Today, we're approving and locking in Steam's latest regional price recommendations on our games. Some of these new prices are a big change (check out the full list here), so I want to give a little context. For those who are unaware, Steam doesn't simply use exchange rates to set prices. In a nutshell, they try and consider many factors so that, hopefully, the average consumer pays a fairer price in each country. Read more about their policy here. We trust Steam with this; we always have, locking in Steam's recommended prices on all our games since we started publishing on the store back in 2015 - the alternative being to set, manage, and update prices manually across 30+ stores ourselves. As we understand it, Steam's new changes should account for all the crazy fluctuations in the worldwide economy over the past few years. Special mention to fans in countries where the price changes are more dramatic - Turkey and Argentina, especially: we see you and appreciate you, and apologize if these changes affect you negatively. What I can say is that we saw a huge increase in sales in your countries last year, but no increase in the number of players. Something like 85% of sales coming "from Argentina and Turkey" seem to be coming from people playing in other countries - people who are chasing the lowest possible price on Steam. This is apparently a widespread problem on Steam, which is why Steam is recommending an especially large increase in your regional prices. This is not an easy decision, but we do agree with it - the alternative is basically encouraging people to abuse the system and pay far less for our games than we know they're worth. Thanks very much for understanding. - Rodrigue and the Thunder Lotus Team p.s. Unrelated but very important side note for y'all: please spare a kind thought for the people of Syria and Turkey, who experienced a devastating earthquake this week! We've made a donation to The Red Cross to support relief efforts in the region; if you're able, please consider doing the same. To our friends in the region, we hope you're safe and sound. stella_hearts

[ 2023-02-10 20:30:51 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Holidays!

Hey everyone! Another year has flown on by, it's time for us to look back and reminisce on just about everything that happened in 2022... but first, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who have been supporting us, be it through reading my shenanigans, playing our games, making art, or being involved in our community. Your passion for games gives us the fuel to keep on burning as bright as ever! We really wouldn't be here without you!
Now, without further ado, let's dig into our recap of 2022!

Start of 2022 - Winter

The year started off fairly smoothly. With the busy release of the Spiritfarer's Farewell Edition at the end of 2021, we figured we'd take some time to recuperate and properly prepare the rest of the year.

Spiritfarer Poll

With the release of the Daffodil plushie last year, I figured it'd be fun to see which other spirit you'd like to see as a plushie. Figured it'd be fun to showcase my findings. Since I figured ranking 10+ characters in order of most to least huggable would be a nightmare to decypher (and answer ), I narrowed it down to Alice, Atul, Stanley and Summer, and sent it to our Mailing List. With ~7000 votes compiled, the battle raged on and, in a rather convincing fashion, Atul was crowned our winner!

Surveys

Through this experience with the poll, I've came to realize that I did not know much about who was reading my emails & blogposts, so I've started cooking up some fun small~ish surveys for our Mailing List audience to answer, in order to could learn a bit more about who they are, where they're from, what they enjoy playing, etc. While there were no big surprises to share, it did confirm my suspicions that I was indeed talking to an amazing group of lovely gamers Big thanks to everyone that answered my silly surveys!

Spring

New Office

We officially moved into a new, bigger office in the Saint-Henri neighborhood of Montral, Qubec. It's a really lovely place, with a lot of open space, a gym and an outdoor pool! We still haven't fully made this place our own just yet, so I won't share any pictures, but we love it very much and we can't wait to share how it will look once we're done! With it, we changed our routine from full remote, to two in-office days, which took a bit of getting used to, but we're all pretty happy with our current arrangements I get to see trains go by every hour.

Discord Events

Soon after, Discord released a new feature called Events to all servers, so it seemed fun to try it out with our community. Given my lack of culture of Ghibli movies, which were a huge inspiration for Spiritfarer, I figured I'd remediate the situation and host some movie watchalongs in our Public Discord. We'd get ourselves our own version of the film, synchronize on my timer and react together. We watched movies like Spirited Away and Kiki's Delivery Service. It was a lot of fun, thanks to everyone that joined and hung out! We also created an Events channel, for those interested in hosting their own event for the Discord community!

Fall

Soundtrack Update & Blogpost

The long awaited, and often requested, Soundtrack Update was pushed live in mid-November, adding a lot of the missing tracks that were added with the Lily, Beverly, Jackie & Daria updates. To commemorate this moment, and the shipment of the soundtrack's Vinyls, I sat down with MaxLL, our amazingly talented friend and composer, to talk about his processes while making the Soundtrack, and posted his answers in a Blogpost.

Artbook

Alongside the Soundtrack, we figured we'd take a stab at updating the game's Artbook, to add the post-release content contained in the Farewell Edition. Curious to know more about the Spiritfarer universe, see amazing high resolution art of all the locals & characters, and read about our inspirations? The updated Artbook is available here on Steam!

End of 2022

Discord documentary

In early November, Discord approached us with a fun proposition to highlight our Discord community in a mini-documentary, focusing on Spiritfarer. We wholeheartedly accepted! For the video, some members of the Spiritfarer team, two of moderators, a handful of community members and I had the wonderful pleasure of discussing with a lovely member of Discord's staff, about how our server came to be, how it has evolved in the last few years and how it has impacted our lives. The video was released in early December and was teased at the Game Awards 2022. If you haven't already, we highly recommend you to watch the video and join our amazing community. [previewyoutube=8Yh5AwmjEwY;full][/previewyoutube]

Games We Loved 2022

As always, we posted a list of all our favorite games we played this year! If you're looking for things to do during your holidays, I highly recommend you to check it out!

Plans for 2023?

We're now days away from the start of 2023. Truthfully, there will be a lot going on next year, a lot of things I'm super excited about, but a lot of things I'll be unable to share with you until the time is right. We'll be taking two weeks~ish off to rest and prepare ourselves for the exciting new adventures that awaits us. We hope to see you there! If you want to stay up to date with our news, I highly recommend you sign up for ourmailing list, if you haven't already!

Thanks for reading!

Okay, that's all I have for 2022. Thanks again for all the support, it really means a lot to us! Your passion for videogames grants us the ability to continue making what we love! Thank you for playing! Stay happy, stay healthy and please don't forget to take care of yourself! Have a happy holiday season & a happy New Year! See you in 2023! Many hugs, -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2022-12-22 17:30:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers!

To celebrate the long awaited Soundtrack update, which contains the theme for all the new spirits, islands and event (and some missing songs from the original game), I sat down with Max LL, our wonderful composer, to ask him some questions!
Max LL - Instagram

What is your history with Thunder Lotus?

Will (the studios founder) and I are childhood friends. We used to play in a rock/metal band together in high school, Will as drummer and I as guitarist and singer. We share some great memories from that time. Those were also very formative years for me as a musician, I started trying my hand at writing, composition and experimented with different musical styles. A few years later, as Will was contemplating the idea of starting a game studio, I was making my first steps in the film and game industry as a composer. We had kept playing music together through the years and it felt natural for us to collaborate on a first project, so Will asked me if I was interested in writing a musical theme for Jotun, which was still in its early conception phase. A Kickstarter campaign was launched, successfully funded, and this is what started this beautiful collaborative working relationship Ive had with the Thunder Lotus team since.
Max LL, Ulric Corbeil Trudel & Ian Lafontaine working on Jotun's sound design.

How would you define the music you created for Spiritfarer?

Im not the most eloquent communicator when it comes to describing music with words. Music can evoke an infinitely nuanced, complex and colorful array of emotional worlds in a way that other mediums cannot. For Spiritfarer, it was important for the music to have both complexity and simplicity at the same time and an intrinsic emotional duality, even sometimes dichotomy. Grief is a complex and difficult subject matter that the studio wanted to portray in a cozy and lighthearted way. Thunder Lotus wanted the game to help us free ourselves from some of the taboos surrounding death and passing. The music needed to reflect that, so it could never be just happy, angry, or sad. Sometimes, moments of happiness needed to be accompanied by a form of melancholy, moments of fear and sadness by nostalgia. Finding the right tone for some of the games moments was definitely a challenge but I think I eventually landed in an emotional space that felt right. I tried deeply reconnecting with all the moments of grief I had gone through in my life to summon the appropriate musical energy. In general, Id say that the kind of music I had to write for Spiritfarer is one that comes most naturally to me and that made the project such a joy to work on.
Spiritfarer's Sheet music - Max LL

What were your inspirations for the soundtrack, and how did you choose which instrument(s) to use?

Nicolas Gurin, Spiritfarers creative director, shared a wide selection of songs with me at the beginning of the project. The genres ranged from manouche guitar, jazz and french folk to Ghibli film scores and 20th century classical piano music. We decided early on that piano was going to be heavily featured in the soundtrack. Indeed, piano is an instrument that feels very familiar and cozy in the western world as it is common for families to have one in their home. Stella plays acoustic/nylon guitar in the game, so that also became an obvious instrument of choice. Luckily for me, those are the two instruments Im most comfortable with. Although coincidently, those instruments had not been used in any of the studios previous games. Playing guitar and piano for Spiritfarer felt like coming back home after a long trip abroad. A wide variety of other instruments was also featured in the score: sitar, mandolin, dulcimer, shakuhachi, singing bowls, to name a few. The traditional orchestral sound was used to blend those textures and colours with the guitar and piano. Its always present in a way that adds a more complex and profound emotional underscore when needed.
Max LL's creative space - Instagram Some of the tracks were also written as duets. Conversations are an important part of the storytelling process, so it felt natural to have instruments speaking to each other, asking questions and answering, conversating (for ex.: the tracks Gurenu Fields, At Night and Hummingberg).

Can you walk me through the process of creating a track?

The creative process was different for each track, but it always came back to connecting emotionally with the subject matter of the moment. I try speaking a language with music that most people, even if they don't understand it fully, will be able to feel. Everyone will experience the game and music differently based on their own life experiences and upbringing. A big part of my work was bringing to life the emotions that the characters inside the game were experiencing. If the player can relate to those characters, he will most likely experience those emotions as well.
What Will You Leave Behind - Spiritfarer's Animated trailer For What Will You Leave Behind, I originally wrote the first version of the song for the animated trailer that was launched a few months before the release of the game. The team had contemplated the idea of covering a well-known song, but I felt it was worth trying doing something original before venturing into licensing territory. I took a couple of days to write some lyrics and a first draft of the song. However, words on a page, an instrumental demo and asking the team to use their imagination wasnt going to cut it. I needed to communicate the idea as clearly and convincingly as possible. This was at the beginning of the pandemic, we were all in lockdown and I didnt have access to my usual network of musicians. So I asked my partner Maude, who has a beautiful calming voice, to sing the song in an acoustic demo I produced. The team fell in love with the song and were convinced an original track was the way to go. The animation style of the trailer called for a dynamic orchestral score and therefore, for a voice that was going to be able to soar over the ensemble. I emailed Timbre, a talented soprano singer and harpist whos music I truly adore, to ask if she was interested to work remotely on the project. She agreed, we were absolutely thrilled by her performance and the trailer was received with great enthusiasm in the community. Will mentioned to me a few times how much he wouldve loved hearing a calmer version of the song that had the same kind of intimacy the original demo he had fallen in love with had. I told him Id try my hand at rearranging the song for the end credits if time allowed at the end of the project. So two weeks before the release of the game, I rewrote What Will You Leave Behind for piano and strings and asked Maude if she could once again lend us her beautiful voice for the performance. This became the song you hear when you finish the game and its truly heartwarming to witness how much it has touched and moved people everywhere around the world. In retrospect, its also one of the pieces of music Im most proud of. Whenever I hear it, it brings back so many emotions from that particular moment of my life.

What were your intentions behind Alex the Seals infamous theme?

When I asked Nico to describe to me who Alex the Seal was, he told me he was a kind of annoying bus driver. I wanted to try something a little different, so I took a more radical approach and went a little crazy! The irritating honking imposed itself and the percussion ensemble was a way to evoke the circus-like nature of his behavior. The out-of-tune trumpet felt like the proper instrument to act as his voice and I added some cheesy vocals because Alex felt like the kind of person whod constantly be singing in a dooo dooo rhythmic manner while driving without too much regard for pitch. The resulting music is quite annoying, but that was all part of the original concept and it was a lot of fun to write!
Alex the Seal

What are your thoughts on the game / soundtrack's success?

The game was released a few months into the pandemic, one could say that it came at the right time and became a blessing for a lot of people who were trying to deal with a difficult moment in their lives. However, when the game launched, we were all apart, remote, separated. It made the moment very uneventful. We could see in the numbers that people were interested in the game but it all felt very impersonal and abstract. Nonetheless, since then, the team and I have been submerged by an unbelievable amount of truly moving comments and messages from fans about how the game and music had helped them in a difficult moment in their lives. Some of the unbelievable testimonials weve received have been both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Im so humbled and grateful when people take the time to write about their stories. I would love to be out there to personally support everyone thats been through hardship, but I have to accept that its impossible. Its comforting to know that the game and its music are now out into the world doing a little bit of good. Spiritfarer is not only the studios project now, it has left home, has a life of its own and now belongs to everyone who wants to experience it. The initial launch was slightly bittersweet because of the circumstances I described above, but I think we all now all realize that Spiritfarer is a special project that we were all lucky to be a part of.
Spiritfarer's vinyl - iam8bit

Any final thoughts you'd like to share with your fans?

To everyone out there who has been moved by Spiritfarer, who took the time to play the game, to listen to the music, to write to us, or share their stories, I would simply like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And no matter the challenges you are going through, there are always ways to find support, dont give up, the hard times will pass.

Thank you so much for the Music, Max LL

We truly appreciate the wonderful work you've contributed to our games over the years and are looking forward to our next projects together! -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2022-11-15 18:00:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! Small patch today for the game's Artbook & Soundtrack.

Changes:

• Added pages for Lily, Beverly, Jackie & Daria in the Artbook.
• Added themes for the spirits, islands & event from the three content updates to the OST.
• Added some of the missing themes from the base game to the OST.

To celebrate this update, we also wrote a DevBlog with the composer of the OST! Thank you so much for the support these last few years! stella_hearts -Med
Please check out the Original Soundtrack & the Digital Artbook if you haven't already!

[ 2022-11-15 18:00:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! Super fun announcement to share with you all! Spiritfareris out now oniOSandAndroid, exclusively forNetflix subscribers!
Ever wanted to take your spirit friends on a magical journey? Well, now's your chance! You're now able to play through Stella's adventures directly from the comfort of your phone! We partnered up with our friends atPlaydigiousto bring Spiritfarer to iOS & Android, and we're super glad to announce that it's available to download through theNetflix mobile app! Please let us know on social media where Spiritfarer has taken you, or where you have taken it! Hope you'll enjoy the experience, now on the go! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2022-10-04 18:30:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! Small patch today to fix some of the remaining issues most commonly encountered by players.

Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where players would get stuck in stations when encountering a dragon or new location while playing guitar.
• Fixed a typo in Gwen's dialogue when she explains sleep.
• Fixed a missing chair in Hummingberg.
• Fixed Stanley causing a black screen when attempting to sleep while he was in Stella's cabin.
• Fixed being unable to sleep at minigame events.
• Fixed an issue where Gwen would appear on islands even when narratively they are supposed not to be able to do so.
• Fixed being unable to move the ship at minigame events.
• Updated Report a Bug to redirect to our support page.

Note: This update is only for the Windows version, Linux and OSX will come at a later date.

[ 2022-07-19 16:07:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! I'm happy to announce that we're proudly supporting the Whale & Dolphin Conservation for their World Oceans Day Steam sale! Spiritfarer will be joining a myriad of incredible games to help raise funds to protect whales and dolphins across the globe! We will be donating 25% of the net revenue for each Spiritfarer sale directly to WDC, to support their conservation work! About WDC: WDC is the leading global charity dedicated to the protection of whales and dolphins. They defend these remarkable creatures against the many threats they face like captivity, hunting and whaling, pollution and entanglement in fishing gear. Their vision is a world where every whale and dolphin is safe and free
Our game being so tied to sea exploration, we felt important to help protect its beauty and its inhabitants! Please join us in support of such a wonderful cause! Happy World Ocean Day! -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2022-06-08 17:00:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! Small hotfix today!

Bug fixes:

• Spiritfarer's custom cursor is back!
• Fixed an issue where events would no longer have any music.
• You can no longer play music for your plants during events.
• Fixed an issue with Alice's "On Shoop, Two Sheep" quest, where the key would not be collected properly, leading to a complete halt in its progression.

[ 2022-03-24 17:01:40 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers! We're here today with a pretty long list of bug fixes in this patch.

Bug fixes:

• A black screen no longer occurs if you pause during the Mind Palace event.
• Alice now properly recognizes the Beach outfit.
• The wardrobe now remembers a full outfit's settings even when the player modifies a single item.
• Stella and Daffodil get teleported to Jackie whenever the other player triggers the conversation inside Gwen's house.
• The boat now properly continues to its destination after encountering a turtle sister.
• Sleeping while Stanley is in front of the bed in Stellas cabin no longer results in a loss of functionality.
• Interacting with Stanley inside Stellas cabin no longer causes Daffodil to fall outside the boundaries of the world.
• Sitting on a chair while the boat approaches the Everdoor no longer leads to a loss of functionality.
• The game's in-game clock no longer resets after 24 hours.
• Stella's arm now uses the proper lighting when fishing.
• The Everlight now appears properly during Loom and Woodcutting Minigames.
• The Touchpad Icon now properly appears in the rebind menus.
• Navigation inside the Control Rebinding screen no longer skips two settings when moving up from the Restore Default option.
• Tuna fishing music will no longer prematurely stop if your co-op partner stops fishing.
• Beverly is no longer behind Stellas hat when hugged in ghost form.
• In local co-op, Daffodil no longer loses functionality when meeting the turtle sisters for the first time.
• Stella and Daffodil can no longer stand on an invisible platform in Stellas Cabin.
• The Real Spiritfarer quest now properly subtracts a Lightbulb from your inventory instead of adding one.
• Daffodil no longer falls through the floor at multiple points in the game.
• Going back and forth quickly on the zipline no longer causes the sound effect to disappear.
• Stellas bouncing animation no longer stutters when used on the umbrellas in Overbrook.
• Atul will no longer get stuck in a loop of exiting and entering his house if the kitchen is placed in a specific position underneath his house.
• The wind animation from the middle chimney at Bottom Line Corp no longer cuts off abruptly.
• Repeatedly watering crops no longer causes Stellas water animation to be skipped.
• Stella no longer gets caught on the environment when using the zipline in Hoseki Quarry.
• Saving/Quitting during the House Call quest no longer causes Darias icon to appear early in the Save Menu.
• Daria now plays her instrument properly during the Mind Palace event.
• Daffodil can no longer interact with the butterflies during the Hades events.
• Mickey no longer abruptly returns to Bruces head during their final conversation on the way to the Everdoor.
• Mickey no longer disappears too early during Bruce & Mickeys Everdoor animation.
• Denizen lost at sea now properly acknowledges your presence.
• Turtles no longer disappear when going to sleep.
• Daffodil no longer teleports during a Spirits release.
• Going to sleep no longer crashes the game.
• The ground inside the Field no longer appears upside down during the Edit mode.
• Sheep now properly have wool.
• Explored parts of the map no longer disappear upon reloading.
• You will no longer get stuck in the games intro sequence.
• Alices quest no longer bugs out and she will give you her obol.
• ESC/Back buttons now work in the Report a bug menu.
• It is no longer possible to lose functionality by remapping the buttons to navigate menus to the DualShock touchpad and relaunching the game.
• Save progress & boat will no longer merge with another save if you delete it without loading a saved game first.
• Hugging Daffodil near a wall in Gwens house will no longer cause Stella to fall through the wall and get stuck.
• Hugging Daffodil at a specific spot in Overbrooks hospital will no longer cause Stella to fall into the background.
• Players will no longer need to readjust from interactable objects (ore, trees, etc.) after interacting with it the first time.
• Nordweillers map tooltip no longer shows three chests instead of the intended two.
• Stella and Daffodil are now properly forced to row the tender during the Everdoor sequence.
• Exiting the Blueprint Station no longer causes the game to lose functionality.
• Sleeping near the Everdoor while the ghosts are on the ship no longer causes a black screen.
• A crash no longer occurs when loading a save file that has completed Stellas Last Voyage.
• Closing the game during Jackie & Darias quest where Jackie bursts into Darias house will no longer break the flow of the quest completely.
• Spirits can no longer be kicked-off the boat when moving builds to a higher altitude.
• Skipping the intro too quickly after starting a New Game no longer causes graphical issues.
• Going back into the game quickly no longer shows the map upside down for a couple of seconds.

Localization:

• Spirits mood bonus for eating a food they enjoy is no longer mistranslated to food they dislike in Portuguese.
• Summer no longer says that she is not hungry when rejecting a hug, in Simplified Chinese.
• Torn Letter and the Crumpled Letter from Jackie both contained untranslated lines in Russian, Korean and Simplified Chinese.
• There is no longer a typo in Charons dialogue at the start of the game.
• The button icons and text no longer overflow the UI when reading letters in Russian.
• Fixed multiple food items in the recipe list whose text overflowed in Russian.
• Denizen name in Quest Log for Perimeter Sweep was untranslated in multiple languages.
• Doctor had an untranslated speech bubble after completing his quest at Overbrook in multiple languages.
• Denizens in Southpoint Docks were not translated in multiple languages.
• Gwen will no longer say a specific hour to wake her up instead of in the morning in Korean.
• Text to confirm an event will no longer overlap with the Yes/No options in Simplified Chinese.
• Pop-up notification about Jackies house improvements had an incorrect line break in Russian text.
• Russian text box no longer overflows when talking about Daria in the Archive Room Filing Cabinet.
• Text in the Main Menu now properly appears when first launching the game in Japanese, Korean, Simplified or Traditional Chinese.

[ 2022-03-15 16:02:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Holidays, from the Thunder Lotus family!

Hey everyone! 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! stella_hearts

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! Thanks again for the invite! The Sundered speedrunning community is proud of you!
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! Side note, being Overwhelmingly Positive is nothing short of amazing! stella_hearts
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! It's hard to believe that we're almost 40 now! Anyway, we're so excited to enter the new building, it even has an outdoor swimming pool? Regarding Game Development, the Spiritfarer Teamis now going to be working full time on a brand new exciting project, and our shiny new Second Development team (Title Pending ) has a project that's steadily advancing! 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 ourmailing 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! Lots of love, -Med and the Thunder Lotus team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-12-24 13:00:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers, it's finally here! TheJackie & Daria Update is out today, and with it, an announcement! Last year, Ishared a roadmap of our plans for 2021 and, now that the third and final updateis available,we'll officially be sailing away fromSpiritfarer... 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 Editionis a free update for the base game that contains all previous content updatesas well as our last: the Jackie & Daria Update! You can watch the trailer here: [previewyoutube=mWcDpodmiKg;full][/previewyoutube] 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. Jackiethe Hyena is a fun, albeit vulgar, caretaker of the Overbrook health institute, a broken down hospital. Dariathe Bat, on the other hand, is one of his most notable patient, due toher being prone to very erratic behaviors. Curious to see them in action? Check out the trailer

Content Update

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 atOverbrook. You'll be working towards improving the living condition of the patientsby using a mystical Vending Machine, then going on a musical journey in Daria's subconsciousthrough herMind 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-relatedshenanigans!

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 [spoiler]Hades[/spoiler] 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)

And lots of bug fixes! Click here to read the full list of changes!
Hope you'll enjoy the Jackie & Daria Update as well as the completed world of Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day! Cheers, Med @ Thunder Lotus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-12-13 17:00:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey Spiritfarers, 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! stella_happy Go watch the Jackie & Daria Update Trailer now: [previewyoutube=aVbhDBYadPo;full][/previewyoutube] 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! Cheers, Med @ Thunder Lotus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-12-06 17:05:24 CET ] [ Original post ]

Changes:

• Minor changes to Gustav's monologues.
• 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 maps projector would fail to open properly.

And a slew of very minor bug fixes.

[ 2021-09-28 16:00:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 Updatehas finally arrived! You can go watch the launch trailer here : [previewyoutube=izkQNsycnRA;full][/previewyoutube]

Beverly - The Tiny Owl

While exploring Oxbury, Stella is accosted by a kind stranger. Turns out, it's her old neighborBeverly! Shes been feeling rather lonely on this island, so she couldnt be happier to have finally found someone to talk to about the past! You can start reminiscing about the past by recruiting her inOxbury!

Content Update

The Beverly Update has finally arrived and it is live today! 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 questswith 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 foodshavebeen 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 nowdisable (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.

And lots more! Click here to read the full list of changes!
Have a wonderful rest of your Summer, hope you enjoy the Beverly Update and thank you so much for reading! Many hugs! stella_hearts Cheers, Med @ Thunder Lotus
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-08-31 16:00:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey y'all! 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! Click here to add it to your calendar!
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 byYahtzee 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 onSpiritfarer 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 ofNick Calandra, Editor in Chief atTheEscapist, who reached out to make aGameumentary 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! Come watch it with us Monday, July 19th, 12PM ET! We hope you'll enjoy it! Cheers, Med & the Thunder Lotus Team

[ 2021-07-16 18:01:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 Gurin 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! stella_happy If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date. See you there! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus Team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-23 15:00:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

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! stella_happy 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! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus Team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-23 15:00:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 Gurin 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! stella_happy If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date. See you there! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus Team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-23 15:00:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

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 Gurin, 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! stella_happy If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date. See you there! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus Team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-23 15:00:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

Lily Update is Live!

Hey there, Spiritfarers! The Lily Update is ready to spread its wings, and Lily is finally making her debut to the Spiritfarer crew! This update is completely free! All you need to do is Update Spiritfarer! stella_happy Alongside Lily herself, you'll find some new features, a bunch of Quality of life changes and lots of Bug Fixes! You'll want to stick to the end, I have a handful of news that you won't want to miss! Oh and, before I forget, here's the Lily Update trailer: [previewyoutube=j9TGG72zmsA;full][/previewyoutube]

Content Update

Before we dig into the meat and potatoes of this update, I wanted to let you know that we decided to make the Lily Update a bit smaller than the others in order to properly take the time and address the most common feedback we received since the game's release: Stella's Story and Spiritfarer's Ending. We heard it loud and clear, and we agreed, so we really gave it our all to make Stella's story and its conclusion more satisfying. We're really happy with how it turned out, and we hope you'll enjoy it too! Now, without further ado, here's Lily, the Butterfly Spirit!

Lily - The Butterfly Spirit

Meet Lily, Stella's younger sister. She's here to be your guiding light by granting you the ability to navigate at night, and by offering a sweet and personal window into several scenes of Stella's life. Note that she'll only appear near the very end of the game, so it might a while before you'll get to actually meet her personally!

Patch Notes:

New Content:

• Lily can join your boat!
• Fishing can now be done in coop!
• Added a new atmosphere to Buck's event.
• New coop controller assignment screen.

Quality of Life Update:

• The boat can now travel at night after the first conversation with Lily.
• New visual effects when Stanley is found.
• UI now shows how many items can be added to stations.
• Recipe collection now shares the same sorting as the recipe book.
• Island's names now appear while fast travelling.
• Bus Stops are easier to see from the Fast Travel screen.

Click here for a list of all the bug fixes!

On to the News!

500k copies sold!

Spiritfarer is officially Thunder Lotus most successful project to date! Since its launch in August 2020, it sold over 500,000 units worldwide across all systems! cat_stars But that's not all, Spiritfarer is still sitting at Overwhelmingly Positive reviews thanks to you all! It received nominations at The Game Awards, The DICE Awards, and BAFTA Game Awards, and we won three categories at the Canadian Game Awards! We're eternally thankful for all the support you've given us! Thank you so very much! stella_hearts

Gustav update

We haven't forgotten about our announcement regarding Gustav's story. We're happy to say that we've collected invaluable feedback from a panel of gamers with disabilities, and will adjust the content accordingly, which we'll implement along with the Beverly Update this Summer. More information will come at a later date directly on our Website, please stay tuned!

LudoNarraCon

For those who might have missed it, we're taking part in LudoNarraCon this year! stella_happy Interested in hearing how we created Spiritfarer and meeting the team behind the game? Then you won't want to miss LudoNarraCon, between April 23-26. I'll be joined by our Creative Director, Nicolas Gurin, and our Art Director, Jo Gauthier. Mark your calendar and click here for more details and to look at our schedule!

That's all folks!

Time to say our goodbyes for now! Hope to see you this weekend for LudoNarraCon! If you can't make it, don't worry, I'll be back when the Beverly Update hits live this Summer! We're still putting the finishing touches on the more gameplay-heavy portions of the updates to come. In the meantime, go play through the Lily Update today! cat_cool Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day! Cheers, -Med
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-20 16:00:26 CET ] [ Original post ]

LudoNarraCon is a digital convention to celebrate narrative videogames, which is hosted directly on Steam! We're happy to announce that we'll be participating in the event with Spiritfarer! Curious to know how Spiritfarer was made behind the scenes? Just tune in every day between April 23rd and 26th from 1PM to 2PM EDT and find out! I'll be joined by our Creative Director, Nicolas Gurin, and our Art Director, Jo Gauthier! I will be hosting and engaging in the discussions throughout the weekend! Please join in, it should be a lot of fun!

Schedule for the weekend:

April 23rd: Q&A + Hangout

1PM - 2PM EDT I will start the weekend by hanging out and answering all your burning questions live! Please send me all your questions directly on Twitter using #SpiritfarerQuestions, on our Discord in the LNC-Questions- channel or in this event's comments section on Steam!

April 24th: Approach to Narrative Direction

1PM - 2PM EDT Nicolas will join me to discuss how we created the narratives to all the spirit, from techniques to methodology.

April 25th: From Charon to Stella

1PM - 2PM EDT Jo and Nicolas will join me to walk me down the evolution of Spiritfarer from its inception with Greek Mythology to what it became with Stella.

April 26th: Dissecting Stella's Story

1PM - 2PM EDT Nicolas 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! stella_happy If you can't make it, no worries. The streams should be archived directly on our Youtube at a later date. Remember to send me your question in the comments or on our Public Discord! And don't forget to tune in April 23rd 1PM EDT for our start to LudoNarraCon! See you there! Cheers, -Med and the Thunder Lotus Team
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ThunderLotus Facebook: https://facebook.com/ThunderLotusGames Discord: http://discord.gg/tlg Mailing List: https://thunderlotusgames.com/newsletter

[ 2021-04-19 23:13:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello there, Spiritfarers! The team and I are proud to finally unveil what weve been working on in the last few months. Well be releasing brand new content for Spiritfarer throughout this year! Without further ado, heres our Spiritfarer Roadmap! stella_happy
We have three major updates in the works, all of which will be completely free! cat_stars We are currently planning to release them in Spring, Summer and Fall of this year, and they will contain their own set of changes, including new spirits, new buildings, new resources and overall quality of life improvements to the game.

Lily Update

As Stella is getting more familiar with the job of Spiritfaring, she starts to uncover some of her memories, which are starting to blossom as wondrous flowers over her cabin. These flowers house butterflies that roost to form... Our brand new friend : Lily, Stellas younger sister.
Lily is the only spirit that's active during the night. Just as she had been a shining presence in her big sisters life, here she illuminates the night and lets you navigate your boat even when its dark! Isnt that convenient! In addition to adding Lily, well be enhancing the cooperative experience with a brand new UI and the ability to do some coop fishing! All that and more! The Lily Update is set to take flight this Spring!

Beverly Update

While exploring Oxbury, Stella is accosted by a stranger who turns out to be her old neighbor Beverly! Shes been feeling rather lonely on this island and couldnt be happier to have finally found someone to talk to about the past!
Speaking of the past, remember Overhead Projectors? To keep in line with our walk down memory lane, well be introducing a new station called the Archive Room, where youll be able to inspect a brand new set of collectibles called Acetate Sheets. Who knows what kind of information these wonderful transparent sheets will hold! We also have a plethora of quality of life tweaks in the works - full details to come at a later date! I cant spoil all the surprises! cat_cool Youll get the chance to reminisce about the good old days alongside Beverly this Summer.

Jackie & Daria Update

Out of the blue, Stella receives coordinates for a new island that houses a run-down hospital. There, shell meet Jackie, the caretaker, and Daria, his main patient. Seeing that Jackie is overworked, Stella decides to lend him a hand.
Youll be able to explore a whole new island, interact with two new spirits and experience a brand new event! Additional details coming later this year!
All will be revealed when the Jackie & Daria Update launches this Fall.

That's all folks!

More details to come when we settle on a specific release date for each content update. Remember that all these updates will be completely free! Speaking of free content, I just wanted to let you know we added badges to Spiritfarer today, where you'll be able to unlock Spiritfarer stickers and emotes! Head to the Points Shop to unlock yours today! Special thanks to our Discord community and all our Mailing List subscribers, whose feedback really helped us focus our efforts in the right direction for these content updates! Oh, and one last thing, it would mean a lot to us if you could please take the time to review Spiritfarer! Thank you so much for reading, have a wonderful day! Cheers, -Med

[ 2021-02-11 18:15:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Happy Holidays from the Thunder Lotus family!

Hey everyone, As this year draws to a close, I figured I'd take you on a journey back through memory lane and reflect on the... eventful year that was 2020... but first, I want to extend my deepest and most sincere gratitude to each and every one of you, who have supported us over these last twelve months and gave us the strength in face of adversities, and made this year truly unforgettable. You're the best darn community we could've ever hoped for!
To celebrate the holiday season, we'll be partying in style with huge discounts on all of our games, including Spiritfarer.

• Jotun & Sundered both have a huge -80% discount.
• Spiritfarer is also on sale ever sale at a staggering -25% discount!

Oh, you're in picking up all of them? Well, you're in luck! We actually have the Thunder Lotus Collection ready for you, with an additional -10% discount! With deals this craaaazy, it'd be insane not to share!
Now onto this year's recap!

Start of 2020 - Winter

We started the year strong with a small event called... PAX East, where we got to meet so many of you... in person! Still wild to think we used to gather in large groups...
I actually still have pleasant dreams about how comfy this rug was, as some of you have pointed out. PAX East was actually the last time we'd be able to showcase our game in person. While the pandemic wouldn't actually start for another couple of weeks, we did our best to avoid the PAX Plague by bringing around 1500 earphone covers, and roughly as many wet wipes to clean the controllers. We actually managed to run out of both midway through the last day of PAX. We're still happy to this day of how amazing the event has been, thanks to all of you and (most of all) our volunteers: Greg, David and Joe! Proud, with an award in hand and a couple of awesome articles under our belts, we drove back to Montral to continue working on completing the full game.

Spring

As the pandemic started and before everything started closing down, we took the utmost precaution and moved to working remotely, and to help everyone remember to wash their hands: we asked Atul for help!

With our plans steadily moving forward and Spiritfarer being steadily on track, we got the opportunity to release both of our previous titles, Sundered and Jotun, to Stadia.

Summer

It was at that point that we realized that the pandemic would be here to stay and that we'd have to release Spiritfarer remotely. While we were slightly bummed out, our wonderful partners at the Knights of the Light Table surprised us with the finished version of our animated trailer.
Reinvigorated, we worked with all our strength to get all the builds ready for publication, before our target date for release: Nintendo Indie World, on August 18th 2020.
When the day finally arrived, we were ready and we surprised the world by dropping the game live now! Proud with what we've just accomplished, we were met with thunderous applause from a rapidly growing community, a community that was built on inclusivity and respect.
We really couldn't be happier!

Fall

When the spooky season rolled around, Stella & Daffodil got all dressed up to celebrate!
In the meantime, we worked on resolving most of the issues Spiritfarer had on release and pushed out a patch containing all these languages.

End of 2020

We mostly continued working on minor fixes, and slowly prepared everything we need for 2021. As 2020 draws to a close, we are eternally grateful for all the happiness and support you've all brought us. To celebrate, Max LL, our wonderful composer, published the official sheet music for Stella's Departure.
We also decided to give some love back by publishing a list of all the games we've played this year. Curious what to do during the holidays? Try some of these games out, they're worth the detour!

What's the plan for 2021?

To get ready for next year's development cycle, we actually opened up our discussions to you all earlier this month. We shared our ideas and accepted any and all of your suggestions. Then, you voted on what interested you for additional Spiritfarer content. While we haven't fully tied the knot on all our plans for next year, we were really happy with your suggestions and comments! We'll let you know what we'll be doing with your suggestions in early 2021, so stay tuned!
We also actually have a lot of exciting new plans, that are not just inside Spiritfarer, coming next year! So, expect a lot of amazing things coming from us, some of them might even be physical... wait did I just hear merch? You'll have to wait and find out If you want to stay up to date with our news, I highly recommend you sign up for our mailing list, if you haven't already!

Thanks for reading!

Well, that about wraps it up for today. So much has happened, it genuinely feels like multiple years have passed, yet here we are... at the doorstep of 2021. Thanks again for making this year so special! Stay happy, stay healthy, and I wish you all a jolly good Holiday Season & a happy New Year! See you in 2021! Cheers and lots of love, -Med and the Thunder Lotus team

[ 2020-12-22 18:00:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey fine folks! It's Thanksgiving time for our friends down in the US of A, but we're reminded that it's never the wrong time to show a little gratitude! In that spirit, we'd like to offer our warmest thanks to all of you for helping make Spiritfarer the most enthusiastically received launch in our Studio's young career! We wanted to make this game something special, possibly not everyone's cup of tea, but we never dreamed that the game would touch as many as deeply as it has. So: thank you all for your love and support! If you're feeling generous, we'd like to ask that you please help spread the word about our game:

• Please nominate Spiritfarer in the Sit Back and Relax Category (and of course any other category that feels right to you!) in The Steam Awards!
• Spiritfarer has been nominated in two categories in The Game Awards! We hope you'll consider casting your vote for Spiritfarer as Best Indie and the Games For Impact awards.
• Don't forget that the best way to help get the word for your favorite games is to please review the game on Steam! It really does make a huge difference, so thanks for taking the time!
• Finally, if you want to share the Spiritfarer love in real time with fellow fans (and the devs!) do please join our Discord Community!

That's all she wrote for today! Stay tuned for news about our exciting post-launch plans for Spiritfarer, which we're currently mulling over with great care. Thanks again, y'all - stay safe, stay healthy, hug often. Cheers, - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2020-11-25 18:01:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! What a rush! We surprise-released our cozy management game about dying yesterday, taking advantage of an opportunity to have Nintendo broadcast our drop-dead gorgeous animated trailer in their Indie World Direct Showcase! Have you seen it? Check it out! [previewyoutube=UWsYE304k94;full][/previewyoutube] We're simply in love with that video - we didn't make it ourselves, though (check the full credits in the YouTube description). But we think it captures the essence of what we want you to experience in Spiritfarer. Of course, our Launch Trailer has all the juicy bits of gameplay you want to see, and is front and center on our Steam page. You may be interested in checking out our Steam-exclusive Digital Deluxe Edition, which includes the stellar soundtrack by Max LL, and also a beautiful 95 page art book.
That's all I got for now, folks! Spiritfarer is a game that's near and dear to our hearts, and we're so very proud of it. We hope you'll enjoy the experience! See you on the mystical seas! - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2020-08-19 13:01:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, Just a quick heads up to ask you to check out the latest and greatest Spiritfarer Gameplay Teaser! Behold: [previewyoutube=1ZkKocH2U-w;full][/previewyoutube] This new teaser finds Stella following Alice the Hedgehog Spirit on a not-so-little trip to heretofore unexplored locales, from the frozen landscapes of Nordweiler to the metropolitan areas of Oxbury. By the end, Stella is seen hurrying home, zipline-bound. If you've been following us for a while, you'll also notice some new faces, such as Giovanni the Lion Spirit and Stan the Mushroom Spirit too! Let us know what you think, please! And do please Wishlist and Follow Spiritfarer if you haven't already. Cheers, - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2020-07-30 19:17:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

EDIT: due to the revised dates for the Steam Game Festival, we have pushed our AMA to Thursday, June 18, at 12pm ET! Thanks for understanding! Heyo! All aboard for the Summer Edition of the Steam Game Festival! Won't you please come join us for the Spiritfarer Developer AMA? Got questions for us? We'll answer anything you ask! (it says so right there in the title!)* Date: June 18, 2020 Time: 12:00 PM ET Where: reddit.com/r/Games Can't make it to the AMA? Have a burning question? Please submit it in advance [HERE], and we'll try our best to answer it during the event! Please don't forget to set a reminder, too!
*Spoiler: If your question is "When will Spiritfarer release?", our answer will be: "We don't have a firm release date for Spiritfarer yet - we'll see what the future holds!" But if you wishlist the game, you'll know as soon as we do! ;) https://store.steampowered.com/app/972660/Spiritfarer/

[ 2020-06-05 22:50:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

Heyo! All aboard for the Summer Edition of the Steam Game Festival! Won't you please come join us for the Spiritfarer Developer AMA? Got questions for us? We'll answer anything you ask! (it says so right there in the title!)* Date: June 10, 2020 Time: 12:00 PM ET Where: reddit.com/r/Games Can't make it to the AMA? Have a burning question? Please submit it in advance [HERE], and we'll try our best to answer it during the event! Please don't forget to set a reminder, too!
*Spoiler: If your question is "When will Spiritfarer release?", our answer will be: "We don't have a firm release date for Spiritfarer yet - we'll see what the future holds!" But if you wishlist the game, you'll know as soon as we do! ;) https://store.steampowered.com/app/972660/Spiritfarer/

[ 2020-06-03 17:02:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, Just a quick heads up to ask you to check out the latest Spiritfarer Gameplay Teaser! Please feast your eyeballs on this: [previewyoutube=0AtPu52_plI;full][/previewyoutube] In this teaser, we wanted to give a spotlight to some of the sprightlier platforming levels that we're designing as spicy interludes to Spiritfarer's cozy management and emotional narrative. Long time fans know that we do enjoy us some smooth and satisfying platforming gameplay, and I personally feel there's some silky smooth Eshe DNA in Stella's moves! Let us know what you think, please! And do please Wishlist and Follow Spiritfarer if you haven't already. Hope you're keeping happy and healthy out there, y'all! See you out on the mystical seas, - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2020-05-26 17:14:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, I hope that you and yours are all keeping it together out there, and staying healthy! Did you happen to notice that the FREE playable demo for Spiritfarer is being featured in the Steam Game Festival - Spring Edition? It'll be available through the weekend before it's removed from Steam. If you haven't checked it out, this is your chance to get your first taste of the game we've been pouring our hearts and souls into for nearly two years now! (and if you have, maybe share with a friend who you think would dig it!) Grab or share the limited time Spiritfarer demo HERE! The demo is great, but TBH, it's just a little taster for the full game. Yes, production is rolling on at full tilt, and the whole team is spending this weekend playing through our first Beta build, before we're ready to release it for testing among a select group of players! Let it be known that the Spiritfarer Closed Beta is happening soon, and if you're interested in participating, we're holding signups through our mailing list! Please head HERE to subscribe to the mailing list, and we'll send you a link to get yourself on the list! (Note: If you're already a subscriber, we got you covered - you'll receive the same link shortly.) Hope to have you on the Closed Beta Team! Cheers, - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2020-03-20 21:59:31 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, Today, I'm very excited to announce that a FREE playable demo for Spiritfarer is available NOW, for a limited 48-hour window before it is removed from Steam. Now's your chance to get your first taste of the game we've been pouring our hearts and souls into for nearly two years now! In the demo, you'll be playing as Stella (with her trusty feline companion Daffodil - who can be played by a friend on a second controller, if you like!). You'll meet the snake spirit Summer and fulfilling her last requests before she completes her transition to the afterlife. You'll learn to improve your boat, explore the world, fish, garden, cook, and more! Grab the limited time Spiritfarer demo HERE! As a little bonus to the demo, we're offering a Mini Booklet introducing the characters of the demo to all subscribers of our newsletter! I do try my best to make the newsletter as fan-focused as possible, with free goodies and behind-the-scenes stuff galore, so I hope you'll join the family too, if you haven't already! Head HERE to subscribe to the mailing list and get your free Mini Booklet! The demo is being made available as part of The Game Festival, a first-of-its-kind digital consumer event that is launching a digital pilot program on Steam to celebrate this year's Game Awards. We love this idea of a new, digital version of the cons we travel the world to bring our games to - we're stoked to be taking part this year, and can't wait to see how The Game Festival might grow over the next few years! Let us know what you think of the demo, wontcha please! Cheers, - Rodrigue and the Spiritfarer Team

[ 2019-12-12 18:00:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

A cozy management game about dying

Hey everyone! Its a big red letter day here at Thunder Lotus! Were super stoked to finally reveal the project weve been lovingly crafting over the past 18 months or so. Behold Spiritfarer: a cozy management game about dying. Queue our first trailer and prepare thyselves for the feels! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnuEvePlxWI Spiritfarer is a project thats near and dear to our hearts. Heres the basic pitch: In Spiritfarer, you play Stella, ferrymaster to the deceased. Build a boat to explore the world, then befriend and care for spirits before finally releasing them into the afterlife. Farm, mine, fish, harvest, cook, and craft your way across mystical seas. Join the adventure as Daffodil the cat, in two-player cooperative play. Spend relaxing quality time with your spirit passengers, create lasting memories, and, ultimately, learn how to say goodbye to your cherished friends. Expect a release next year on Steam, as well as with Xbox Game Pass for PC and Console, Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch! We cant wait to tell you more about the game over the next few days, weeks, and months. Today, as I write this, were enjoying the frenzy of E3 2019, where weve been invited by the good people at Microsoft to present the first playable demo of Spiritfarer as part of their E3 activities. Come say hi at the Microsoft Theater if youre in town for the convention! If not, maybe were coming to another con near you over the next few months, hmm? Stay tuned (and do please Follow or Wishlist Spiritfarer)! https://store.steampowered.com/app/972660/Spiritfarer/ Back to you soon with more Spiritfarer news! Cheers yall, Rodrigue and the Thunder Lotus team

[ 2019-06-09 22:20:52 CET ] [ Original post ]