Hi everyone! Thank you all so much for playing and liking Herald: An Interactive Period Drama - Book I & II, and for your patience with us. We’re very happy to announce that today, at long last, we released the completed version of the game, containing the final two books and
Hi everyone!
Thank you all so much for playing and liking Herald: An Interactive Period Drama - Book I & II, and for your patience with us.
We’re very happy to announce that today, at long last, we released the completed version of the game, containing the final two books and several unique endings!
You will finally be able to conclude Devan’s journey, find out what the Rani wants from you, and discover the true reason behind the Herald’s perilous voyage.
Why a new store page? We have decided to launch the completed game as “Herald: The Interactive Period Drama - Complete Edition” on a brand new store page. We’ve always envisioned the story as a complete experience, and rather than offer the final two books as a DLC, which was the only option with our existing store page, we wanted to offer it as one full experience.
If you own Book I & II, you will receive an extra 40% discount for the Complete Edition with our special Complete Edition bundle.
Will my saves carry over? All your saves will carry over, so you will be able to continue the story where you left off.
What about achievements? Unfortunately, we were not able to carry over the Steam achievements. We are very sorry about that, but we hope you will easily be able to achieve them again with your old saves. You can always start completed books from the main menu. In addition, we’ve also added a new feature where your choices unlock unique sketches in Devan’s journal.
So what are you waiting for? Go play Herald: Complete Edition now, and don’t forget to leave a review on our Steam page if you enjoyed it. We’d really appreciate it.
At long last, on May 1st, Wispfire's high seas adventure will be complete! Following the release of Books 1 and 2 of Herald: The Interactive Period Drama, we are finally ready to release the thrilling conclusion to the story of Devan Rensburg and The Herald with Herald: Complete
At long last, on May 1st, Wispfire's high seas adventure will be complete! Following the release of Books 1 and 2 of Herald: The Interactive Period Drama, we are finally ready to release the thrilling conclusion to the story of Devan Rensburg and The Herald with Herald: Complete Edition, which will include the previously-released Books 1 and 2, along with the all-new Books 3 and 4, which conclude the story.
Herald: Complete Edition is a narrative high seas adventure where player choice is vital. As Devan Rensburg, you will navigate an alternate history 19th century where the west has united into a colonial superpower known as The Protectorate. Aboard the HLV Herald, a luxurious merchant ship bound for Devan’s home country, players will begin to unravel a conspiracy that spans the globe.
Herald: Complete Edition tasks players with navigating complex politics and social norms despite inhabiting the role of a man with very little power. The narrative of the game will force players to make tough, realistic choices as they deal with a world rife with racism and intolerance due to bitter class divisions. Will you boldly call out injustice, risking an already-tenuous position, or will you bite your tongue and weather it, hoping that it will win you influence that you can use later on to make a tangible difference? Where other games put the player in a position of power, Herald: Complete Edition challenges the player to contend with the reality of an unjust world, and the restrictions that come with it.
While this game has been in development for over a decade, its message is more important now than ever before. Despite Devan’s relative powerlessness, the actions the player takes in his role can have a massive impact on his found family. At its heart, Herald: Complete Edition is a game about how everyone, no matter how powerless, can do something to change the world in a small way, and we hope that lesson stays with players long after they reach the end of our story.
Please help us spread the word, join our BlueSky and Discord to celebrate the upcoming launch. More news on the release of Herald: The Interactive Period Drama - Complete Edition will be posted soon.
For everyone who bought Herald: Book I and II, we will have an offer to upgrade to the Complete Edition at a discounted price for you. More info on how this upgrade works will be released soon, we are still ironing this out with Valve.
In the meantime, do not forget to wishlist the Complete Edition on Steam!
Herald is taking part in AdventureX 22! We're excited to announce that Herald is taking part in the digital Steam event of AdventureX 22. For the duration of the event you will be able to get Herald Book I & II for 60% off. Herald Book III & IV We will also be revealing t
Herald is taking part in AdventureX 22!
We're excited to announce that Herald is taking part in the digital Steam event of AdventureX 22.
For the duration of the event you will be able to get Herald Book I & II for 60% off.
Herald Book III & IV
We will also be revealing the first teaser for Book III & IV, which will complete the journey of Devan Rensburg and the HLV Herald. This final chapter will be coming to Steam next year
Livestream by MangoBtuber
For the event we've teamed up with MangoBtuber. Mango will be livestreaming Herald Book I & II, first here on Steam, and then starting from 21:15 CET on her Twitch.
Patch 1.2.0 is here, with many small updates and several new quality of life features! To celebrate this, Wispfire has live streamed about the contents of this new patch. You can watch this and other streams on our Twitch channel: Patch notes: Patch 1.2.0 New Features: New Journa
Patch 1.2.0 is here, with many small updates and several new quality of life features!
To celebrate this, Wispfire has live streamed about the contents of this new patch. You can watch this and other streams on our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/wispfiregames
Patch notes: Patch 1.2.0 New Features: New Journal design. The journal in the original release Subtitles for all cinematics. Turn them on or off in the game settings or by pressing ‘z’ during a cinematic. Dyslexic font for texts. Since there is a lot of text in Herald we looked into providing support for different fonts. There is now an option to turn on a dyslexia-friendly font (OpenDyslexic) in the game settings. New text rendering method. All texts in the game should be crisper and easier to read because of the new text renderer. Starting a new game on chapter 2 (or later) will now use the decisions you made the last time you completed chapter 1.
Changes: We’ve upgraded the engine from Unity 5.6 to Unity 2018.3. This allows us to make use of many new features going forward.
Bugfixes: We’ve fixed many bugs throughout the game (and probably created some new ones too!).
Patch 1.1.0
New Features: - Controller Support for most Dual Analog Stick gamepads. - Alternative control scheme for controllers. Select 'Use Gamepad' in the Game Settings menu to switch between click-to-walk with the mouse and direct control with a gamepad's left analog stick. - Steam Trading Cards!
Notes: - The Steam Controller works best with the 'Use Gamepad' setting turned off. - If your dual analog stick controller doesn't work with Herald, and you think it should be supported, please drop by the community forum! We have only been able to test a limited number of controllers and will patch in more later. - Daniel now has his own theme, which can be heard when he tells you about himself in the Galley.
Changes: - When quitting the game, you now get a warning that you will lose unsaved progress since last checkpoint. - The graphic for checkpoints (spinning compass) now also says 'saving.' underneath, so you know your progress is safe. - NPCs' dialogue boxes now disappear when you click on them. - Added various animations to the dialogue window. - Various dialogue choice texts and help notes were rewritten for clarity.
Bugfixes: - Sometimes the game would not remember whether you found out certain information about Senator Morton, making a later dialogue branch harder to reach than it should be. This has been corrected. - VSync & Target framerate are now correctly reset after cinematic interludes.
Before the year closes, a short update from Wispfire. In the past year our studio has been a bit in limbo. We were stuck in-between finding money to continue with Herald, and doing a lot of other stuff like work-for-hire projects, giving talks, doing guest lectures and pitching n
Before the year closes, a short update from Wispfire. In the past year our studio has been a bit in limbo. We were stuck in-between finding money to continue with Herald, and doing a lot of other stuff like work-for-hire projects, giving talks, doing guest lectures and pitching new projects that we want to do once Herald is finished. It sure has been a ride, but it has finally bore its fruits.
In the most recent update we showed you a bit of Herald: Book III & IV in development, and we also went in depth about our situation regarding funding for the project. We were struggling to work on Herald without the neccesary funds to pay for the more expensive parts, like voice acting and 3D animation. Regarding this particular roadblock, we have some exciting news that we can share.
In 2019, Wispfire will partner with researchers from the Utrecht University of the Arts to do a reasearch project on Interactive Narrative Design, with Herald's final books as the subject of the research. To do this research we applied for a grant with the Creative Industries Fund NL, and we got the grant! This grant is a giant step towards finishing Herald, because it pays for our livelihoods, which in turn frees up a budget for voice-acting and animation. The research will also provide us ample opportunity to experiment with gameplay mechanics that we will be able to use in Herald: Book IV and future projects.
There is even more that we can't share yet, but will be exciting once we get to it, so expect to hear back from us soon. For now, thank you for sticking with us, we've grown imensely from trying to keep ourselves standing in this competitive industry. But since 2018 marked our fifth aniversary, we're confident that we will be able to weather the troubles still hiding along our way. We would like to thank all of those who played Herald since its release, and we hope to see you again in 2019, the year in which we will resume full-time production on Herald Book III and IV again! :D
Hello all, it's been a long time since we gave you an actual update on development, so we thought we tell you where we currently stand with Herald. All of it is taking a lot longer than we want it to, and this is mainly because we have been trying to find funding for Book III and
Hello all, it's been a long time since we gave you an actual update on development, so we thought we tell you where we currently stand with Herald. All of it is taking a lot longer than we want it to, and this is mainly because we have been trying to find funding for Book III and IV, but sadly haven't been successful in doing so. There are some very expensive parts of development that we can't do without a significant budget.
Reality is that Herald is a hard sell on the current market, story-driven adventure games are a niche, and we can't finish the game with only half a team working on it. To make up for this we're currently working on several side projects to support ourselves, as well as pitching new concepts to publishers that might be more lucrative and interesting for them to invest in. Such a project could potentially help fund Herald too, or at least buy us time to build a name for ourselves that will sway a party to invest in it.
Don't worry though, we aren't planning to cancel Herald anytime soon, it is just that we need to postpone the release date until we see an opportunity to properly finish it. As such, we aren't going to make any promises now, since that would be irresponsible from our part. But rest assured that we will keep you updated on any new steps we undertake to support Herald's development and secure its release.
Book III ----- [Images can be minor spoilers for some]
In the past few months we have at least managed to build up a structure within the company that gives us the opportunity to work on Wispfire, while at the same time do some other work that earns us enough money to live from it. Herald is sadly not part of that structure anymore at the moment, but it is our ultimate goal to include it again sooner or later. And to prove to you that we haven't sat still over the past year, we wanted to give you a sneak peek into what is in store for book III.
In book III we finally get to see more of the Rani's lavish palace. The splendor of former glory is seen in the image below, which is the first of several extravagant rooms inside her personal quarters that you will visit in book III.
Of course Tabatha Veazie and her uncle Louis Morton have their own private quarters aboard the Herald too. This large cabin is an area in book III as well. Below is a screenshot of this area that shows Lady Tabatha's side of the room.
Now bear in mind that these are all development screenshots that we use to pitch the game to investors and publishers. These aren't the final product, and many things could still change once we're back in full swing. But these images do give you a glimpse of what is in store for when you will finally be able to enter these new areas in the game.
Notice the relative darkness of the images? Aside from just being nice moody lighting, it's also a hint to the direction that the story is going into. In book III night will have fallen over the palace as you start telling the rest of your story to the Rani, and darkness will settle in over our protagonists as well. The secret that the Herald harbors will come to light, and we'll discover why the Rani wants Devan to tell her his story. The way you will help Devan tell that story to her will ultimately determine the fate of many.
Thank You
Thank you for checking in on us and reading this update. Once again, we're sorry we can't give you more clarity on the release date. We hope you'll bear with us for a while though. We'll always keep you updated on the most recent developments, and we'll post it here if there are any things of note about Herald or other story-driven games we're going to develop.
Remember that you are always free to ask us any questions. For more specific requests we'd advise you to send us an email through [email protected].
I've always been fascinated by the idea of one- or two-person indie game development teams. Dedicated people tackling all the tasks necessary to create and release a game is inspiring. That mythical status has an unfortunate side effect: we (including myself) have a habit of glam
I've always been fascinated by the idea of one- or two-person indie game development teams. Dedicated people tackling all the tasks necessary to create and release a game is inspiring. That mythical status has an unfortunate side effect: we (including myself) have a habit of glamorizing self-sacrifice and overwork. We laud the mental and emotional imbalance that's created when small teams combine their hobby and artistic passion and turn it all into a job. For small teams, social and professional life can become one and the same with no place to turn for a break.
Even more daunting is that idea of two-person teams made up not of friends or acquaintances but spouses and life partners. This special class of development team combines not only their hobby, social life, and profession, but their romantic life too. I spoke with six couples who have successfully developed a game together about how they kept their project from dominating their life or eclipsing their relationship. They all highlighted communication as key, as any successful couple or business partners will, but exactly how they go about communicating was different for each.
Here's what they had to say.
Helen Carmichael and Jake Birkett: Regency Solitaire, Shadowhand
Helen and Jake have been married for 20 years. They worked from home out of separate rooms doing different jobs for several of those years, only transitioning to developing Regency Solitaire and Shadowhand together when Helen had an off-the-cuff idea for a historical fiction solitaire game. Their prior experience working from home separately gave them the confidence they could make the process work, and they make it seem effortless, continually deferring to one another in conversation and speaking of each other supportively.
...having kids is indie hard mode.
Jake Birkett
"We've had a fairly good work-life balance," Jake says. "I haven't had this problem where I haven't been able to stop working. It's almost the opposite, sometimes. We did go out for a lot of trips, ostensibly research for a lot of our games, but also just to have a nice time really. I think other indies might view us as a bit lazy in that sense. I don't mind. It's all about quality of life, really. It's a bit like having a jogging partner, you're more likely to go out if you're meeting your jogging partner at the same time every day."
Although their children are older now, having young kids during their early days of development sounds a bit hectic.
HELEN CARMICHAEL: When we were doing Regency Solitaire—four years ago we started on that and our kids were a lot younger—I would do my work between 9am and 3pm. Then I would stop and I would be available for the kids to do whatever they needed to do. Whereas Jake would tend to start a bit later in the day and continue on working into the evening.
JAKE BIRKETT: It was always stressful if we were having meetings sort of near dinner time because the kids would come home and make a fuss and we'd be right in the middle of some really complex design thing and they'd all come home making noise or whatever and want our attention. I've said before that having kids is indie hard mode.
Rebekah and Adam Saltsman: Overland, Finji Co
Rebekah (Bekah) and Adam Saltsman have been together since 1998, married since 2006, and started their company Finji Co the same year. The creators of Overland, they went on to publish other indie games like Night in the Woods and Tunic. They work out of a home office from which they post Overland gifs to their official Twitter account and amusing interactions with their two boys to their personal accounts. It seems like a dream, but when asked if they're doing what they've always imagined, it turns out that's not the case.
..we have made this mistake before where you just go, 'Well we're basically on the same wavelength so we don t actually have to talk about our major goals and aspirations
Adam Saltsman
REBEKAH SALTSMAN: Somebody actually just asked me this at PAX, well no, it was just a throw-off comment. It's actually been sticking with me now for like two weeks. 'It's always been yours and Adam's dream to make games.' And in my brain I was like 'No?' This has actually never been a dream of mine—to make games.
ADAM SALTSMAN: Even my goal for most of my life was to be a cog in a machine that eventually produced a game. That was the biggest vision that I had. I would go 'Maybe I could be a level designer or something. That would be incredible!'
RS: The idea that my dream was to run a company with my husband—like, no! It's actually not, that's just the reality of what fell out of both independently and together following the things we perceived as our dream. Mine is I eventually wanted to be a mom and I wanted to work and I wanted to work with brilliant people. That's where I come at into the game industry. Whereas Adam has just forever needed to make games. The idea that I can help him accomplish that, which is one of the main tenets of who he is as a person, like hell yeah I'm all in!
Despite the chaos, Bekah and Adam seem like a well-oiled machine, even in casual conversation. It's a confidence in one another they've earned over 20 years by continually re-assessing their own wants and needs from the projects they tackle together.
"It sounds so obvious but we have made this mistake before where you just go, 'Well we're basically on the same wavelength so we don’t actually have to talk about our major goals and aspirations and things we want out of the company,'" Adam says. They both stress the importance of these "boringly explicit" conversations that they have with each other about the future of Finji and their personal aspirations. "The idea that you have that conversation once and then never again is insane. We basically have it every Sunday!" Bekah says.
RS: People are always so scared to have the first conversation. If you have the first conversation before there are any conflicts or feelings hurt, before—
AS: Before there's a ton of money involved. Before there's a ton of responsibility involved. Before you've settled into some kind of weird work habits or personal disputes. It's not going to magically protect you but—
RS: At least if there is a problem you can approach it like real adults and talk it out if you're on the same page.
Priscilla and Kevin Snow: Southern Monsters, Mama Possum
Kevin and Priscilla have been together since March of 2014. "Within the first few weeks of us dating we were talking about what we could work on together," Kevin says. They were thrilled to be in a relationship where they could be proud of their partner's creative work and feel as though their successes were shared rather than resented.
When Kevin gives a critique now I'm like, 'OK, there's probably something there and if I give Kevin a critique he's like, 'OK, I'll think about it'
Priscilla Snow
They work out of a home office in their apartment cluttered with Priscilla's eclectic collection of instruments (Theremin, acoustic guitar, Rock Band guitar, and Nintendo Labo piano to name only a few) and Kevin's collection of post-it notes chronicling the first draft of Southern Monsters, which he wrote while on hold at his old call center job. They both work on upwards of five games at a time—some together and some separate.
KEVIN SNOW: It's kind of easy to just work side-by-side for 12 hours.
PRISCILLA SNOW: Which we do a lot.
KS: It's super easy to turn into a work Katamari together. We're both excited and both working on creative stuff and then we're like 'Oh god, we haven't eaten today.'
KS: Let's say you have a client and you're paying them money to produce goods and services for you like you do with money. You have that professional distance where you're treating them respectfully and you can give really honest feedback. When you're in a relationship with someone and you're also working together there's an overlap between your personal relationship and work relationship that you have to be aware of. There's been moments where we’ve worked on something and we’re both really really stressed. What would be a normal round of feedback might upset the other person just because we have that close emotional connection. We have to be really careful sometimes and closely pay attention to the other person’s mood.
PS: The longer we work together the more we realize we have good heads on our shoulders. When Kevin gives a critique now I'm like, 'OK, there's probably something there' and if I give Kevin a critique he's like, 'OK, I'll think about it'. So it’s evolved from 'How dare!' to 'Yeah, you’re probably right'.
Bart Heijltjes and Roy Van Der Schilden: Herald
Roy and Bart have been together since meeting in 2009 at university. They founded their company Wispfire with a third co-founder in 2013 and moved to working from a dedicated office space while developing Herald, an interactive period drama set in the 19th century.
Bart and Roy have been an inseparable team since they met. Bart recalls their university graduation in which professors who had attempted to split them up creatively realized there was no keeping the two apart.
Often when you work with people who aren't your close friends or partner, it's hard to admit that you don't really know what you're doing
Roy van der Schilden
"They tried putting us in different groups so we wouldn't become too reliant on each other's opinions and work. So we could get more of our own artistic style. When we graduated from our Bachelor's degree one of the teachers said, 'OK, we failed. You can keep working together. We see that it was pointless to try and stop you.'"
BART HEIJLTJES: We can be very frank with each other because we know each other so well. So when we have creative differences, for us we are having a normal conversation but for people around us in the company it could be a little bit scary. Like 'Oh, they are really fighting right now!' when actually to us it's more like we're just having a creative difference and we'll work it out.
ROY VAN DER SCHILDEN: When you're in company culture, especially when you're a bigger company than we are, you have to have those practices to work together but in the end it loses a bit of the soul because fighting creatively is something that's needed sometimes to create something that's more than just a standard product.
RVDS: Often when you work with people who aren't your close friends or partner, it's hard to admit that you don't really know what you're doing. Sometimes you really want to say 'I'm so stuck. I have no idea what I'm doing. Please look at this.' It's nice that I don't feel a barrier to say that to Bart but I have certain colleagues I would never say that to because then I'm afraid they would think 'Nobody knows what we're doing!'
BH: Especially during the final production parts of Herald I think we had a couple moments where [Roy] said 'I really want this in the game' and I said 'That's not going to happen. It's impossible in the time we have.' And then later on maybe when other people are going home I was like 'Maybe I can make this work.' And I'd actually push myself to get it in there anyway. That happened a couple times. I think it made the game better in the end. I wouldn't do that for a boss or for anyone else. I know Roy really wants this in and I have an idea, I'll go and try it and maybe spend a couple hours working late on it.
Lottie Bevan and Alexis Kennedy: Cultist Simulator
Lottie Bevan and Alexis Kennedy are a rare sight: a relationship between former boss and subordinate with a significant difference in age—both qualities of their relationship they speak of willingly and with candor. They're eager to dispel the taboos associated with workplace relationships, having successfully navigated one themselves when they worked together on Fallen London and Sunless Sea at Failbetter.
In fact their working relationship was so productive, when Alexis left Failbetter to create Cultist Simulator they found they missed that sense of creative collaboration.
...we may have a tense couple of drinks at a bar
Lottie Bevan
LOTTIE BEVAN: With a totally new project that I had no professional involvement in, there was a bit of a wall between this guy that I am in love with and what he was really excited about right now. He could talk about it all he liked but it wasn't the same as working on the project.
ALEXIS KENNEDY: If you're doing intense creative design work it's a bit like going off to sea with somebody waiting at the shore for you and I don’t like that aspect in a relationship. I don't like feeling separated from Lottie so I was very keen to find ways for us to be on the ship together.
Now they're working together again as Weather Factory studio, recently releasing Cultist Simulator to rave reviews. They protected themselves against potential creative differences by taking unequal shares in the company to avoid the possibility of a deadlock. It works for them, they say, because of their established respect for one another as co-workers.
"If you ever overrule me to the point where I'm like 'I really disagree!' and you say 'No I'm going to use my power here' then we may have a tense couple of drinks at a bar where we discuss it and go back to being boyfriend and girlfriend," Lottie says.
Beth and Andy Korth: Verdant Skies
Andy and Beth Korth didn't intend to have their first child right as they were beginning development on Verdant Skies, a farm-life sim set on an alien world, but that's how the timing worked out. As full-time indie developers, they weren't able to set aside money for childcare. They worked it out like a relay race, tossing the baton back and forth (but never tossing their baby, I'm sure) until Verdant Skies reached the finish line.
It's really important to honor each other's time
Beth Korth
ANDY KORTH: What we try to do is decide 'today is my work day' or 'today is Beth's work day'. So one of us can stay at home and the other can get out of the house and work.
BETH KORTH: We did struggle with that a lot at the beginning when [our son] was born. Waking up in the morning and deciding whose day it is is not good because it's sometimes 11 by the time you decide. We tried to schedule it where I was Tuesdays and Thursdays for a while and at the end when it was obvious that the writing needed extra I switched to Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
Beth and Andy found that their most significant challenge as a couple and as development partners was acknowledging that both game dev and child-rearing were demanding tasks in separate ways.
"It's really important to honor each other's time," Beth says. "If it's somebody's work day you have to respect that they work but also know that person who stayed home spent a lot of time with your child or was taking care of the house or doing their day job. I think you can lose sight of that. 'I worked all day, why should I have to take the baby?' 'Well, because I sat at home with the baby all day and I need a break.' It's important to remember that the other person's also working and suffering too. Give them time to do something fun or go out or just be alone and sit in a quiet place."
Hey everyone! Have you been thinking about buying Herald: An Interactive Period Drama Book I & II, but weren't quite convinced if it's your style of game? We've just released our free demo for Steam. This is the same demo we've used to show off the game at trade shows during
Hey everyone! Have you been thinking about buying Herald: An Interactive Period Drama Book I & II, but weren't quite convinced if it's your style of game?
We've just released our free demo for Steam. This is the same demo we've used to show off the game at trade shows during production, but updated with the latest tech and bug fixes.
The demo takes about 15 minutes to complete and features a unique conversation with the Rani, a flyover of the Herald, and a modified version of the 'Missing Gun' quest from the main game.
If you want to play the demo, you can find the 'Download Demo' button on the right-hand side of the store page. Unfortunately, because of the way Steam works it is not possible to play the demo on an account that already owns the main game.
Hey everyone! Have you been thinking about buying Herald: An Interactive Period Drama Book I & II, but weren't quite convinced if it's your style of game? We've just released our free demo for Steam. This is the same demo we've used to show off the game at trade shows during
Hey everyone! Have you been thinking about buying Herald: An Interactive Period Drama Book I & II, but weren't quite convinced if it's your style of game?
We've just released our free demo for Steam. This is the same demo we've used to show off the game at trade shows during production, but updated with the latest tech and bug fixes.
The demo takes about 15 minutes to complete and features a unique conversation with the Rani, a flyover of the Herald, and a modified version of the 'Missing Gun' quest from the main game.
If you want to play the demo, you can find the 'Download Demo' button on the right-hand side of the store page. Unfortunately, because of the way Steam works it is not possible to play the demo on an account that already owns the main game.
Hey everyone! We're excited to announce the release of the first Feature Patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. This free patch adds support for dual analog stick controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller, the XBox One controller and the Sony Dualshock 4. As many people
Hey everyone! We're excited to announce the release of the first Feature Patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. This free patch adds support for dual analog stick controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller, the XBox One controller and the Sony Dualshock 4.
As many people have indicated to us, Herald is a very suitable game to play from the comfort of your couch. It's even more fun to play together with someone and get into fights over what dialogue options to choose. Couch gaming with a mouse has its downsides though, so even before Herald released we were already planning to add controller support, but unfortunately it didn't make it in for launch.
Now we could have just slapped a cursor on your right analog stick, pretended it's a mouse and called it a day. But we didn't want to deliver that kind of sub-optimal experience, so instead we overhauled the control scheme specifically for the couch experience.
If you have a GamePad connected you can go to the Gameplay Settings menu in options and choose 'Use Gamepad' to control Devan directly with the left analog stick.On the other hand we didn't want to lose the point and click elements of the game, so we did actually also slap a cursor on your right analog stick, with which you can inspect and interact with the environment. If we were able to identify your controller, dialogue choices show the appropriate button images for dialogue choices. If we were unable to identify it, the Xbox buttons will be used as default. The journal and in-game menus have also all been modified to be usable with only controller input.
And of course, if you'd rather play with a mouse (or a Steam Controller), you can just turn the 'Use Gamepad' option off in the settings and keep playing with click-to-move as you're used to. If the game detects there's no controller connected, everything stays the way it was.
But that's not all! We've also made some other improvements here and there, and added another piece of music. Details are in the changelog below.
We hope you enjoy the update, and if you run into issues or have comments, feature requests, etc, let us know in the community hub!
- The Wispfire Team
Herald version 1.1.0
New Features: - Controller Support for most Dual Analog Stick gamepads. - Alternative control scheme for controllers. Select 'Use Gamepad' in the Game Settings menu to switch between click-to-walk with the mouse and direct control with a gamepad's left analog stick. - Steam Trading Cards!
Notes: - The Steam Controller works best with the 'Use Gamepad' setting turned off. - If your dual analog stick controller doesn't work with Herald, and you think it should be supported, please drop by the community forum! We have only been able to test a limited number of controllers and will patch in more later. - Daniel now has his own theme, which can be heard when he tells you about himself in the Galley.
Changes: - When quitting the game, you now get a warning that you will lose unsaved progress since last checkpoint. - The graphic for checkpoints (spinning compass) now also says 'saving.' underneath, so you know your progress is safe. - NPCs' dialogue boxes now disappear when you click on them. - Various dialogue choice texts and help notes were rewritten for clarity.
Bugfixes: - Sometimes the game would not remember whether you found out certain information about Senator Morton, making a later dialogue branch harder to reach than it should be. This has been corrected. - VSync & Target framerate are now correctly reset after cinematic interludes.
Hey everyone! We're excited to announce the release of the first Feature Patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. This free patch adds support for dual analog stick controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller, the XBox One controller and the Sony Dualshock 4. As many people
Hey everyone! We're excited to announce the release of the first Feature Patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. This free patch adds support for dual analog stick controllers such as the Xbox 360 controller, the XBox One controller and the Sony Dualshock 4.
As many people have indicated to us, Herald is a very suitable game to play from the comfort of your couch. It's even more fun to play together with someone and get into fights over what dialogue options to choose. Couch gaming with a mouse has its downsides though, so even before Herald released we were already planning to add controller support, but unfortunately it didn't make it in for launch.
Now we could have just slapped a cursor on your right analog stick, pretended it's a mouse and called it a day. But we didn't want to deliver that kind of sub-optimal experience, so instead we overhauled the control scheme specifically for the couch experience.
If you have a GamePad connected you can go to the Gameplay Settings menu in options and choose 'Use Gamepad' to control Devan directly with the left analog stick.On the other hand we didn't want to lose the point and click elements of the game, so we did actually also slap a cursor on your right analog stick, with which you can inspect and interact with the environment. If we were able to identify your controller, dialogue choices show the appropriate button images for dialogue choices. If we were unable to identify it, the Xbox buttons will be used as default. The journal and in-game menus have also all been modified to be usable with only controller input.
And of course, if you'd rather play with a mouse (or a Steam Controller), you can just turn the 'Use Gamepad' option off in the settings and keep playing with click-to-move as you're used to. If the game detects there's no controller connected, everything stays the way it was.
But that's not all! We've also made some other improvements here and there, and added another piece of music. Details are in the changelog below.
We hope you enjoy the update, and if you run into issues or have comments, feature requests, etc, let us know in the community hub!
- The Wispfire Team
Herald version 1.1.0
New Features: - Controller Support for most Dual Analog Stick gamepads. - Alternative control scheme for controllers. Select 'Use Gamepad' in the Game Settings menu to switch between click-to-walk with the mouse and direct control with a gamepad's left analog stick. - Steam Trading Cards!
Notes: - The Steam Controller works best with the 'Use Gamepad' setting turned off. - If your dual analog stick controller doesn't work with Herald, and you think it should be supported, please drop by the community forum! We have only been able to test a limited number of controllers and will patch in more later. - Daniel now has his own theme, which can be heard when he tells you about himself in the Galley.
Changes: - When quitting the game, you now get a warning that you will lose unsaved progress since last checkpoint. - The graphic for checkpoints (spinning compass) now also says 'saving.' underneath, so you know your progress is safe. - NPCs' dialogue boxes now disappear when you click on them. - Various dialogue choice texts and help notes were rewritten for clarity.
Bugfixes: - Sometimes the game would not remember whether you found out certain information about Senator Morton, making a later dialogue branch harder to reach than it should be. This has been corrected. - VSync & Target framerate are now correctly reset after cinematic interludes.
To celebrate the imminent release of Patch 1.1.0 - the Controller Update, Herald will be 20% off over the weekend! If you were interested in Herald, but didn't buy it yet, now would be the time to act. And if you have any friends or relatives who you think might like Herald, now
To celebrate the imminent release of Patch 1.1.0 - the Controller Update, Herald will be 20% off over the weekend! If you were interested in Herald, but didn't buy it yet, now would be the time to act. And if you have any friends or relatives who you think might like Herald, now would be an excellent time to gift it to them as a present!
The Controller Update is the first feature patch for Herald and it releases today. It adds a new control scheme specifically designed for dual analog stick controllers. With the update it is even easier to play Herald from your couch, perhaps together with a friend!
Read the upcoming community announcement for all the details on this first patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. And if you've bought and played the game, leave a review and let us know what you think.
And if you like Herald, join us on our social media channels and share our news about this sale and the Controller Update. We'd really love your support! https://twitter.com/wispfire https://www.facebook.com/wispfire http://heraldgame.tumblr.com/
To celebrate the imminent release of Patch 1.1.0 - the Controller Update, Herald will be 20% off over the weekend! If you were interested in Herald, but didn't buy it yet, now would be the time to act. And if you have any friends or relatives who you think might like Herald, now
To celebrate the imminent release of Patch 1.1.0 - the Controller Update, Herald will be 20% off over the weekend! If you were interested in Herald, but didn't buy it yet, now would be the time to act. And if you have any friends or relatives who you think might like Herald, now would be an excellent time to gift it to them as a present!
The Controller Update is the first feature patch for Herald and it releases today. It adds a new control scheme specifically designed for dual analog stick controllers. With the update it is even easier to play Herald from your couch, perhaps together with a friend!
Read the upcoming community announcement for all the details on this first patch for Herald: An Interactive Period Drama. And if you've bought and played the game, leave a review and let us know what you think.
And if you like Herald, join us on our social media channels and share our news about this sale and the Controller Update. We'd really love your support! https://twitter.com/wispfire https://www.facebook.com/wispfire http://heraldgame.tumblr.com/
Hey everyone! We're very glad to see the positive responses Herald has received! OPNoobs: "Herald is a delight to play. It has a cast of complex, interesting, and incredibly voiced characters, beautifully captivating art design, and a fresh and fun story that will leave you wanti
Hey everyone!
We're very glad to see the positive responses Herald has received!
OPNoobs: "Herald is a delight to play. It has a cast of complex, interesting, and incredibly voiced characters, beautifully captivating art design, and a fresh and fun story that will leave you wanting more." 9/10
If you're interested in getting to see a little bit more of the game before you buy it, then we would recommend the following let's play video of our demo for a good and unbiased view of what the game entails:
Hey everyone! We're very glad to see the positive responses Herald has received! OPNoobs: "Herald is a delight to play. It has a cast of complex, interesting, and incredibly voiced characters, beautifully captivating art design, and a fresh and fun story that will leave you wanti
Hey everyone!
We're very glad to see the positive responses Herald has received!
OPNoobs: "Herald is a delight to play. It has a cast of complex, interesting, and incredibly voiced characters, beautifully captivating art design, and a fresh and fun story that will leave you wanting more." 9/10
If you're interested in getting to see a little bit more of the game before you buy it, then we would recommend the following let's play video of our demo for a good and unbiased view of what the game entails:
A story three years in the making, Herald: An Interactive Period Drama has finally released! Whoohoo! It's only been a day since release, and we've already received some very positive reviews :) But still, if you enjoyed the game after playing it, it would help us tremendously if
A story three years in the making, Herald: An Interactive Period Drama has finally released! Whoohoo!
It's only been a day since release, and we've already received some very positive reviews :) But still, if you enjoyed the game after playing it, it would help us tremendously if you'd write your own review on the store page.
And if you'd like to spread the word without much hassle, check out the social media posts below, and share them :)
A story three years in the making, Herald: An Interactive Period Drama has finally released! Whoohoo! It's only been a day since release, and we've already received some very positive reviews :) But still, if you enjoyed the game after playing it, it would help us tremendously if
A story three years in the making, Herald: An Interactive Period Drama has finally released! Whoohoo!
It's only been a day since release, and we've already received some very positive reviews :) But still, if you enjoyed the game after playing it, it would help us tremendously if you'd write your own review on the store page.
And if you'd like to spread the word without much hassle, check out the social media posts below, and share them :)
Hey everyone! We're soooo excited! Herald is launching in a couple of hours, and to celebrate we will host a devstream via our twitch channel at 5:15PM GMT/10:15AM PST We will play through a few older versions of Herald and discuss all the crazy stuff that happened since then! Ch
Hey everyone!
We're soooo excited! Herald is launching in a couple of hours, and to celebrate we will host a devstream via our twitch channel at 5:15PM GMT/10:15AM PST
We will play through a few older versions of Herald and discuss all the crazy stuff that happened since then!
Hey everyone! We're soooo excited! Herald is launching in a couple of hours, and to celebrate we will host a devstream via our twitch channel at 5:15PM GMT/10:15AM PST We will play through a few older versions of Herald and discuss all the crazy stuff that happened since then! Ch
Hey everyone!
We're soooo excited! Herald is launching in a couple of hours, and to celebrate we will host a devstream via our twitch channel at 5:15PM GMT/10:15AM PST
We will play through a few older versions of Herald and discuss all the crazy stuff that happened since then!
