Dear friend,
This week I noticed the first signs of autumn. I usually have an inner resistance to admit the end of summer, but the past few days have been chillier and splashes of red and yellow started to pop on the forest floor. To my surprise, I found my heart happy at the thought! I long for the symphony of autumn colors, for wearing cozy woolen sweaters and boots and for observing a change that, in the past, I have mistaken for some sort of loss. It is not a loss though, nor a sad end. It is a transformation. Life is in a constant process of transformation.
I hope for an inspired and productive autumn and frankly, I could not have gotten a better start. This is thanks to you, who played The Merry Fairy Demo, who gave me extraordinary encouraging and helpful feedback, and you who wishlisted my game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht1QLIIx6aM
I underestimated the toll it takes to show a project as personal and intimate as The Merry Fairy to the world. I am so grateful for the gentleness I experienced and for the fact that it seems I got my idea across. I dearly wish for The Merry Fairy to give only oxytocin and serotonin to you and to me, as I further create it! Please keep your feedback coming, knowing that I am listening to you with care and joy.
The Merry Fairy Demo updates
Listening and watching you play, I realized some of the blinders I unwillingly inherited as a creator. I welcomed you to The Merry Fairy as if we were old, old friends, assuming that you know where everything is and how everything works in my tiny, cozy home. But we are new friends and I have been an absent-minded host. Well, I am fixing this now, and preparing a demo update that I hope to release sometime next week. Here is what I hope it will contain:
- Subtitles for the intro video
- Improvements for the mouse cursor, which sometimes disappears after using the freeform text entry in the journal
- Maybe even a cute cursor skin!
- A volume slider for the music
- A small tutorial designed as a mandatory Caretaker visit, so he can welcome you properly to Fairyland and explain how everything works and what to expect
- The tutorial will be skippable, but that line for dialogues will be available via the bell
- The development menu will stay but be changed to some other key than F12, which I forgot is the default key for screenshots
- A lighting improvement so that there is less flickering when the short candle by the stained glass window is lit
- A gentler way to exit the dialogues - right now, if you click anywhere outside the dialogue window, you exit it and lose the current conversation. I do believe dialogues, in general, need an improved design, but as a quick fix for now, I will make it so if you click on the character, you will not exit the dialogue - you will exit only if you click somewhere way outside the dialogue or the X button
Please do not take this list as a promise! I want to release an update next week no matter what. I will of course provide a clear and reliable list of changes then.
The future of The Merry Fairy
My shyness stood in the way of me being clear with my plans. I did launch The Merry Fairy Demo in a bit of a rush, due the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration event, and I did not really think much beyond that. But now that I have started to get your feedback, I know what I wish to do!
I have no intention to deactivate the Demo. I will keep it live and available for you at the very least until I really polish the features available in it. However, I do have a big worry. I know how important and personal a journal can be. If you continue to use the enchanted journal I prepared for you, please know that your work may be lost as I continue to update The Merry Fairy. I will be very careful with this and let you know when an update might endanger your saves, but this is not a very reliable solution.
The Merry Fairy Demo will get improvements and a bit more content, but no new features or characters. For the entire project, I plan to have more things to do and there are seven of my whimsical friends who really want to meet you. I will progressively reveal my plans here and on my social media, so I hope you will enjoy to tag along and keep me company. Here is where you can find me:
- On The Merry Fairy Steam community hub: I keep an eye daily for new comments and discussions
- On Discord: I have a small and very peaceful server here
- On YouTube: I made a YouTube channel for The Merry Fairy and update it occasionally
- On Tik Tok: I also made a Tik Tok account for The Merry Fairy, but for some reason, of all social media, Tik Tok really triggers y social anxiety. However, I do very much intend to get out of my comfort zone and post there, especially since more than a few people mentioned that my voice sounds like Björk!!!
I also have a very small Twitter presence but I am not sure I will keep it - I do not enjoy that platform.
I hope to release The Merry Fairy next summer. I hesitate to make this information too public since I know all too well how such plans can fail, but I do aim for that which is why I am very careful about keeping The Merry Fairy contained. However, your entire stay at The Merry Fairy is planned for one summer month, which means 30 days, and can continue indefinitely as long as you don't get too lonely.
Once again, thank you, my friend!
Yours,
Laura aka Fairy