The game is out, and what a journey it's been! Twinkleby existed for quite some time on the drawing board, and to finally take it from concept to a full game over this past year has been a blast.
Now that the game is out (what a feeling to finally be able to say that!), we’re inviting you to play it and join the whimsy-bizarro world of Twinkleby with us, so, let’s set the scene –
Pictured: the star chart of Twinkleby, showing both the linear path and hidden locations to unlock off the beaten track
One day, not too long ago, the world drifted apart. What was once one big continent split into islands and became an archipelago, spreading out amongst the stars.
Adapting quickly to the upheaval of their old life, Twinkleby’s residents turned to a nomadic life, travelling between the islands, looking for their forever home. Meanwhile, collectors (like Molligan – famous shop-owner from “Molligan’s Antiques”) travelled deep outside the charted islands, scavenging for items dating back to before The Great Drift.
Now, you can chart the islands of the archipelago, and either follow the path set by the stars, or diverge to discover hidden islands and antique secrets. You can encounter the many, many different creatures of Twinkleby, and figure out what makes them happy – or evict them to make room for others to take their place. You can unlock all the different sceneries, and use them to compose the game soundtrack to perfectly set the soundscape for your islands; rain or snow, island clusters or a sky full of planets – in Twinkleby every setting has its own sound, and you’re the composer.
Pictured: an atmospheric in-game photo of Georgiana walking through an autumn forest, the scene lit by street lamps
We’re so much looking forward to sharing this game with y’all; to see which characters you encounter, and what kind of islands you create. Since we implemented photo mode ahead of the release, everyone on the team has gone ham with photographing their islands and all the character drama that happens, and we can’t wait to see your photos.
And, we also want to address two known, platform specific issues for Mac and Steam Deck that we’re currently working on fixes for. None of these should be game breaking, but if you encounter them, please reach out through discord, as it would be of great help to get more player logs and reproduction cases to look into.
Known issues on macOS:
Inhabitants may sometimes walk through placed objects.
Various shader issues. Some houses and other visual elements may not look like they should.
You can try to launch the game through Rosetta to hopefully mitigate these issues.
Known issues on Linux, Steam Deck specific:
We have gotten some reports of crashes on islands late into the star chart progression, specifically on the Steam Deck. If you experience a crash, you should be able to reload the game with a majority of your progression intact (the auto save is frequent, and should ensure this).
If you start to experience frequent crashes, you can try running the game through Proton 10, as this seems to fix the issue. For instructions on how to do this, go to the bottom of the post for a detailed guide*.
We are actively working on fixes for these, and are expecting to have them live in the near future. Because, Neighbours and friends, this is only the beginning of a starlit fall. The rest of the year will feature seasonal events in the Twinkleby archipelago that introduces new items, scenery, aesthetics, and characters, and along with these events, we will work closely to follow up on any reported bugs and make sure everything is addressed quickly. Don’t hesitate to reach out through discord (or other platforms!) if you encounter anything odd – we’ll get right on it.
We’re so happy to finally share Twinkleby with you, and make sure you make the most of our launch sale! Twinkleby will be 15% off until October 3rd, and we have also bundled with our pals at Malapata Studio, Kylyk Games and Raw Fury to bring you a Twinkleby bundle with Camper Van: Make It Home, a Twinkleby bundle with Urban Jungle, and a Twinkleby bundle with Townscaper respectively. If you snag one of these bundles, you get an additional 10% off!
You’ll hear from us again soon, both with smaller updates, and some big seasonal shenanigans we’ve got planned for later this year.
See you then—and in the meantime, sparkle on! ✨
P.S. If you want to check out the Twinkleby gameplay, our pal MadMorph uploaded this amazing game preview a couple of days ago! It features several islands, many characters, and cozy, relaxing vibes.
*If you have already run the game with proton before, you can skip steps 1-10.
1. Go to Twinkleby in your steam library.
2. Click the cog icon to the right.
3. Go to "Properties".
4. Go to "Compatability"
5. Check "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatability tool".
6. In the dropdown menu, select Proton 10.0-2 (beta).
7. Go back, and open the game.
8. If you see a "Continue" button, you can stop and quit the game here.
9. If you do not see a "Continue" button, select "Start Game" (don't worry, this will not override your safe file).
10. Progress to the first island, then save and quit the game.
11. Go to desktop mode. (Steam button > Power > Switch to Desktop)
12. Navigate to the folder: ~/.config/unity3d/Might and Delight/Twinkleby/steam/(YourSteamID)/save . Where (YourSteamID) is a 17 digit string of numbers. It is unique per steam user.
13. In here, copy and save the save.sav file to a safe location. (Do not delete the file)
14. Then, navigate to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/3362960/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow/Might and Delight/Twinkleby/steam/(YourSteamID)/save
15. Here, replace the save.sav file with the file you copied.
16. Return to the desktop and click on the "Return to Gaming Mode" icon.
17. If you now start the game through proton again, it should load your old save file.