Hi everyone!
It’s incredible to think that it’s already been a year since we put Wayward Strand out into the world. We’ve been so chuffed with the response that you all have had to this experience we created together, and thought it’d be lovely to reminisce about what’s happened during Wayward Strand’s first year, as well as giving an update on where we, the people who made it, are at!
First things first, to celebrate Wayward Strand’s release anniversary, we’re doing a pretty big sale - our first 40% discount. If Wayward Strand sounds interesting to you, or you've had your eye on it for a while, but weren't entirely sure about it, now is a great time to get your copy and give it a try!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1080450/Wayward_Strand/
One year ago...
The team on launch day! September 15, 2022
Our launch party a couple of weeks later.
After seven long years, we finally released Wayward Strand out into the world on September 15, 2022. We were so proud of getting it out there, and made sure to celebrate!
Right out of the gate were the AGDAs (Australian Game Development Awards), where we were nominated for storytelling and serious games, and the Golden Joystick Awards, with a nomination for best storytelling. We presented Wayward Strand at PAX Australia the next month, both with a booth at PAX Together, and a really wonderful panel where we discussed the game’s development.
It’s been so wonderful every time that we’ve gotten to show the game since it’s released, to have players come up to us and talk with us about their experiences with the game, and how it made them feel - PAX Together was the first moment where that happened, and it was incredibly lovely to hear from all of you, and to talk with you.
The press...
As the game was launching, we also started to see the reviews coming in. We didn’t really know what reviewers would think of the game - they play and write about so many games every year, so we had no idea whether they’d have time for our (honestly a bit strange) experience, where we ask quite a lot of the player - in a pretty much objective-less experience, it’s up to you to explore the game and discover things for yourself.
But we were really pleasantly surprised how many reviewers and journalists got what we were trying to do. We were covered a ton in international media, often with people talking about how Wayward Strand made them feel things that no other game had made them feel; how it’s a step in a new direction for story-focused games; or how it made them want to call their grandma.
We really appreciate how so many reviewers played and enjoyed the game on its own merit, instead of focusing on comparing it with other games, which doesn’t really make much sense to do with Wayward Strand, because it (and we) are trying to create such a different experience to so many other games.
The positivity was such that we ended up in several ‘best games of the year’ list, including the top Switch games on Metacritic for 2022, and the LA Times’ most memorable narratives of 2022.
2023
2023 has been a wonderful year so far - the biggest thing is that we’ve gotten to talk about Wayward Strand a lot more, now that it’s out and people can play it! After being interviewed by Alanah Pearce and appearing on the Eggplant Show, Georgia and Jason did a talk at GDC that focused on the narrative and NPC development of Wayward Strand, which is now on Youtube. (A clip from that talk recently got a lot of attention on TikTok!)
We were also nominated for the A MAZE awards, and Goldie and Jason got the chance to do a talk about why we love frustrating the player. (Thank you again to the audience for some lovely and thought-provoking questions!)
A few last things to note!
While we’re still progressing on an update to the game that would introduce within-day saving, due to Life Stuff (including some extended trips and one of the team’s family getting a new member), work on that version will be pausing for the next couple of months, and then after that there’s still quite a bit more work to go before it's done. So, we’re still hopeful that it’ll make it out there eventually, but wanted to bo honest in saying that we can’t make any promises on how soon.
Also, we’ve had quite a few people ask us about our next plans - we can't say too much just yet, except that we've got Some Stuff in the works, and that the team love each other and are excited to get to work together again! It's been an interesting year, as we've scattered a bit to work on different other projects and at different companies, but what we've been finding is that we're still committed and excited to get together again on more projects.
Thanks so much for your interest in Wayward Strand, and your support of one-of-a-kind experiences like this, made by independent game artists that are exploring new territories in interactive storytelling.
