Hey all!
Can’t believe If Found… has been out for two years already! We’re really proud of our little game and everything it’s achieved. Most of all we're super happy that folks are still discovering it and enjoying it! We’ve received so many wonderful reviews and kind words, AND fanart! Did not expect to see our characters created and recreated by others! So we can’t thank you all enough for loving this story as much as we do. :3
(An older drawing of Kasio looking eagerly at a piece of cake with a candle in it.)
Valerie Dusk commission
To celebrate we reached out to an amazing game maker, Valerie Dusk, who built us an really cool and unique commission: A 3D vignette inspired by the astronaut sections of If Found… You can explore it for yourself here.
(A screenshot of the Valerie Dusk commission.)
Smithsonian
In other exciting news, If Found… is going to be in the Smithsonian! In literal DAYS.
We’re part of this year’s Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Arcade Indie Developer Showcase, which is an amazing opportunity! It’s on Saturday the 30th of July (11:30 a.m. ET to 7 p.m. ET), and you’ll be able to come by and play the game, as well as chat with two of the team, Eve & Bri.
We’d really love to meet any fans who are in the area so please drop on by! There are going to be some other amazing games there too, check them out! https://americanart.si.edu/events/saam-arcade
(An early concept by Liadh with a tiny Kario floating in space looking at a black hole, one of the images that inspired Valerie Dusk.)
Side Project!
Right now Dreamfeel is focused on our next big game after If Found… but Llaura has had the chance to create a littler game on the side recently for the Milan Triennale. And even better, it's free!
The Triennale game collection is an amazing showcase of small games by really talented designers, and Dreamfeel is absolutely delighted to be a part of that. Our game is called CONTACT and it shares a lot of DNA with If Found. It’s a personal story by Llaura inspired by growing up trans in Donegal in the North West of Ireland with sci-fi elements (hmmm, that sounds familiar….). The art style has a collage vibe and the mechanics are kinda new and strange, so we can’t wait for people to play.
The first game in the collection, Wade, is out now, with the second coming tomorrow and the rest getting updated into the game/app over the coming weeks. Contact is the last game in the collection, and it’s going to be added at the end of September!
(An image of Shans from the original If Found... demo.)
Pride. protest. being seen. seeing others before you can see yourself.
June (and now July) has come and gone, and while Pride might be over in name, it continues to be essential to the lives of LGBTQ+ people around the world. Pride started as a protest, and with current circumstances being what they are, it’s essential to keep that spirit of revolution and activism alive. Trans & Intersect Pride Dublin happened here in Ireland a few weeks ago and it was really awesome to see everyone on, the trans folks and pals.
There are a lot of people in the world who would like LGBTQ+ people to vanish completely, and it’s vital we make sure they never get that opportunity. It’s so important that we get to see ourselves and each other as more than we are sometimes made out to be, to recognise all the wonderful and varied kinds of people that are part of the community, and to give ourselves space to be full and complete. Happy, joyful, furious, grieving, passionate and brilliant. And when we make ourselves seen, when we let other people see us, we give them space to see themselves, too. Sometimes you need to know that a possibility is out there before you can claim it for yourself.
(A very old drawing with the text "If Found Please Return" and a drawing of Kasio.)
Irish Awards
Imirt, the Irish Game Developer’s Association, held an award ceremony for their 2020 awards at the beginning of last December. They were kind enough to give If Found… three awards: for Best Narrative, Best Game Audio, and Game of the Year. It’s a real honour to be recognised by our peers like this. It was also really nice to be able to send the audio award to Eli in the UK & Matt in the States (Imirt graciously made us two awards specially!).
(A photo of the If Found... awards.)
Text bug:
Lastly, we’ve been getting some bug reports of text missing, etc. This seems to be happening on m1 macs most commonly. While we’ve had to focus on our new game, we still love If Found and even more importantly we want to make sure everyone gets the best experience possible, so we hope we can look into this very soon. If this has happened to you, reach out on the forums and we’ll see what we can do.
We hope that you’re all safe and well in these difficult times. Take care of yourselves and keep playing games!!
(A photo of Liadh standing outside the Hellfire Club from 2015 on our first ever research trip for If Found....)
Eve, Llaura & Dreamfeel Team <3