You may have noticed that Driftmoon has received quite a few updates during the last week. We've managed to squash plenty of rare, but troublesome bugs that we weren't able to catch during beta testing. Don't forget, if you encounter bugs during gameplay, send us feedback by pressing F during the game. We've sent the update to all distributors yesterday, and you should be getting it soon. 
Game Changelog
- Fixed the quest log button.
- Minor performance improvements.
- Mod installer can now properly handle mods where files have been removed from the mod.
- Added an option to disable some graphics effects to make the game run faster.
- Text in the dialogue screen will now stay within the screen on very low resolutions even if the text size has been set high.
- Fixed infinite Ticker Mark 2's.
- Arrows no longer bounce from your companion's Mirror Shield.
- William will no longer vanish if you try to run from him before talking to him in the crypt.
- Fixed Feagle sometimes forgetting to drop you the message on Bobby's Island.
- Fixed crash when the game was unable to read an audio file.
Modding Changelog
- It's possible to use the old lighting system in a mod by specifying useOldLightSystemByDefault=false in settings.ini.
- Fixed the object export/import system.
- It's now possible to use subfolders when saving a map.
- The mod zipping tool will now helpfully recreate the installed.txt file in your mod if you've managed to remove it.
- Script action: setVariableRandom.
Ps. Driftmoon has been off to a great start! We're absolutely thrilled about the reception! Thank you so much for all those wonderful feedback messages you've sent us!
Driftmoon, our "charmingly quirky", and "absolutely brilliant" adventure role-playing game (as some have called it), is now officially released after only seven years of development time. Seriously, I'm not kidding you, it's complete now! 
First of all, a heartfelt thank you to all of our preorderers and supporters, we wouldn't be here without you!
We always love to hear from our players, so if you run into any problems, or think of something you want to share with us, please press the letter "F" while playing, and you can send feedback directly to us.
Remember Gareth Meek, our awesome composer? Head on over to Bandcamp, and get that Driftmoon soundtrack you've been dreaming of!
Recent Reviews:
 | "Driftmoon reminds of so much of what I loved about games when I was younger. The adventure, the story, the fun. It’s pure entertainment and a joy to play through." (9/10) Review at i-luv-games.com |
 | "...it's been a long time since I enjoyed a game as much as this one. Think Quest for Glory and Frayed Knights mixed and blended together and you'll have some idea of what to expect." (4/5) Review at rpgwatch.com |
 | "Driftmoon works so well because all the elements blend together like a good stew where each ingredient is cooked perfectly and there's more
depth to be found as you reach the bottom of the bowl." (95%) Review at fanboydestroy.com |
 | "Everyone who likes classic role-playing games, must play Driftmoon. A wonderful rpg with many great Features and a fantastic world. Buy it!" Translation from German provided by reviewer. Driftmoon Review at zockah.de. |
 | "...a delightful touch of whimsey and there's plenty of humour to be found here. How many other games would have the deadly Hoe of Doom as an early weapon? Or such wonderfully ordinary conversations with undead skeletons?" (96%) Read Preview at Bytten |
Ps2. If you like Driftmoon, and feel like you'd like to do something to help, we're always tremendously grateful for all help in spreading the word about Driftmoon! So do tell your friends, forum pals, Steam buddies, that grandma you think could really use more excitement in her life. Everything goes!
Here's also a link to a Facebook Fan page for Driftmoon, which Morgan just opened up for us. Thanks Morgan! Little thing like that mean a lot to us!
It took us a while to complete Driftmoon. In fact, it took us over seven years. But we're here now, and Driftmoon is finally just two days away from official release! Now is a good time to look at our long journey to today.
I just read my History of Driftmoon Development written in 2009. It's mostly a history of a project called Cormoon, a game that never was. The easiest way to describe what Cormoon was going to be back in 2005 is to have a look at Terraria. Me and Michael AKA Quanrian (Thank you for the work we did together, Michael!). The same excellent team as we had with Notrium, a game that probably had millions of players at its prime. I blame the Sun. Being online at the same time is a must in a tightly knitted team, and being separated by night and day didn't help much. It was a hard decision to stop the Cormoon project, but the truth is that it would never have become a reality, no matter how long we would have worked on it. Cormoon was the classic story of failed communications, stupid planning, unrealistic expectations, and of course, a story of boy meets girl.
But you don't stop a game project if you don't have a new one in your mind! In spring 2009 the Cormoon codebase turned into the Driftmoon codebase. This is what Driftmoon looked like in 2009. Did I have a real plan? No, not a real one. I just had an idea of making an RPG in the spirit of Ultima VII. Did I have a plot written down? No, I thought I'd make it up as I went along. Never make that mistake. It's fine to prototype and test game ideas, especially for a genre that isn't as story-heavy as role playing games. But a role playing game is all about the content, it's all about making the player believe he or she is in another world, and to take him/her on a fantastic adventure. And you can't do that without being absolutely sure what your story is about.
My lovely wife Anne joined me in developing Driftmoon, and by the end of 2009 we already had a demo available. We were planning on releasing the game soon(ish). But we still didn't have a definite idea of who the main villain actually was, who the player was, or even how the game would start. We took over a year of refining the plot, but it didn't get much further. The story we had going at first just wasn't interesting enough to convince us, and I was devastated... If I could go back to those days, I would say to myself: Get your story together!
Fortunately some very important people liked my work, and I received the 50 000€ Sammon Tekijät Award for making such excellent games. Can you guess what we invested the award money in? Developing Driftmoon, of course!
Then one evening, after countless hours of juggling different ideas (when we get going, Anne and I are real idea machines), and even praying about it, the perfect story came to us! It was exhilarating! We immediately started fitting the story into Driftmoon. In a very real sense, about two years ago, we decided to remake the game. But this time we had a story we could both stick to 100%, and it wasn't just any story, it was the perfect story!
Now we had a story worth writing home to your mom about, and we only needed to make a fantastic role playing game that tells the story. I keep telling people that making the game is the easy part, figuring out which game you should be making is the hard part! We kept releasing version after version with new levels, more content. And finally we started getting the kind of results we wanted to hear, people telling us of their own free will how much they enjoyed the game, some people even told us that playing Driftmoon cheered them enough to get through very difficult times. You can't beat the feeling of hearing that your game made a real difference to someone.
By the end of 2012 we had completed the plot, and were getting ready to release the game as soon as possible. But we had a strange problem. A problem of viewpoint. By now we were getting two kinds of feedback, others who loved the game and proudly told us so, and others who kindly mentioned that they were getting vertigo just by looking at the screenshots. It's not always easy to tell people what they really need to hear, and the people who told us about the viewing angle are to be thanked two times over. After finally realizing how many people truly had a real problem with the fully top-down viewpoint, it took us one more month to make it possible to tilt the camera. (Mind you, if you're one of those people who really liked Driftmoon better top-down, you can easily make it happen by pressing Page Up!)
And now Driftmoon is finally complete! It's been a long and eventful journey, with plenty of ups and downs, though gladly we've mostly had fun! We've finally arrived at a game that we can proudly call our own. And what's best, I now share a common hobby with my wife (without whom Driftmoon never could have been)!
Finally, here's a big hug to everyone who has ever helped us, be it by writing about Driftmoon, voting for us at Greenlight, sending us feedback on the game, or just telling your friends! It really means the world to us, and we sincerely hope that we've lived up to your expectations.
Ps. A friendly player called Morgan just put together a Facebook Fan page for Driftmoon.
Driftmoon will be released on the 26th of February 2013, that's less than a week away! Thinking back to the summer days of 2005 when all of this started, I can only say that Driftmoon has far exceeded my expectations. A lot of things can fit in seven years of development, and certainly there were times when I thought such a huge project could never be completed. But finally (and with the help of a huge amount of people - especially my developer companion and lovely wife Anne), Driftmoon is now very nearly ready!
Celebrating our soon-to-be launch, we're proud to present you with the brand new Driftmoon launch trailer! We'd be happy to hear what you think about it (...and at the same time desperately hoping you like it after all those sleepless hours of putting it together)!
Ps. Have you noticed the new Driftmoon logos yet?
Here's something I've been feverishly working on for the last couple of days. It started simply enough, I just wanted my 3D model to have a bit more depth, and it turned out to be a rewrite of the code that handles lights. Maybe you can guess which picture is which?
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