Island of Winds News

Derived from the Viking longhouses the Turfhouse or Torfbær evolved through the ages in Iceland and just in the last century people still lived in them. It is a way of building not known anywhere else in the world and a part of Icelandic cultural heritage. In Island of winds we have houses that are inspired by the Icelandic turfhouses.




The beating heart of the Dreitill village and unofficial headquarters of the Balance Keepers. Island of Wind's grass-roofed houses are undoubtedly a part of the country’s persona and heritage. Through the rough climate and isolation, the turf houses kept people warm.

Properly called the Elder House, although tradition dictates that any sitting Elder gets her name attached to the building for the duration of her rule. To Brynhild, it has always been Hrymja's House. To Hrymja, it still seems like Margrét's House. And so on and so forth, as it has been for a thousand years, going back to Gjóla's original settlement. The Elders come and go, but the core of their magic and teaching remains the same, passed down from leader to leader. With Hrymja and the whole clan gone, however, the future of the House remains uncertain.

There are regular spiders and then there are Húmabryðja’s spiders. Brynhildur never minded the first type. In fact, she has always been rather fond of arachnids and admired their artful skill at spinning intricate patterns. There is magic in a spiderweb. A mesmerizing balance of beauty and death. It is one of life’s great mercies that human beings are too large to be caught by any normal spider. However, that does not apply to the brood of Húmabryðja. Every now and again a Balance Keeper will venture into the Spider Caves to harvest glowshrooms and return with tales of spiders as big as cats and dogs. The general theory is that as Húmabryðja absorbed more of her spiderlike qualities, bits of her humanity were somehow transferred into her spiderkin, making them grow in size and adapt certain anthropomorphic qualities. Each time a Keeper is spooked, Hrymja will go to great lengths to convince them that the spiders are perfectly harmless and probably just curious. That might well be, but they have never come this far out of the caves before and these spiders are certainly not acting harmless.

If you come across a Gyrja bird, make sure you are not anywhere close to its nest. These birds will attack in a swarm to protect their young and anyone attempting to pick Gyrja eggs must wear a proper hat to avoid having their skulls pecked. Outside of nesting season, however, the Gyrjas are a friendly bunch. In fact, some might say too friendly, for hunters have long since learned to exploit their gentle nature. As long as one is ready to make the high climb to their habitats, Gyrjas will not shy away from strangers, which has resulted in heavy hunting around the Island. Their numbers have reduced drastically since the Island was first discovered by settlers and nowadays Gyrjas are mostly found in small populations around secluded reefs and unscalable cliffs. The Gorge is the exception, because here they roam free under the protection of the Balance Keepers and have no reason to live in fear.

This weekend María and Guðrún at Parity were so lucky to be able to attend a national costume convention in Stykkishólmur Iceland called Skotthúfan. We were invited there to talk about our game Island of Winds. We were so thankful for the opportunity to be able to share with them how we are using our cultural heritage in our game, we are very proud to be able to uplift it and honor it in so many ways.

The Icelandic national costume embodies the Icelandic woman, not only the woman but also the land itself. By using a version of the costume in our game we are celebrating and uplifting these women. While we are telling Brynhildur´s story, into the mix a lot of other women’s stories entwine. Not only Hrymja´s and Margrét’s but also the women that built our land, that farmed the land, made the clothes, wove the fabric and decorated it, bore the children that were the future of the land, from where we come. We sought inspiration from the Icelandic costume that goes by the name Faldbúningur. There are many Icelandic costumes, but Faldbúningur is the oldest that has been preserved, from the 18th century. The most prominent features of the costume are the headwear, the belt, the stitching and the footwear. The hat is called “Skotthúfa” in Icelandic, often used for everyday wear. The belt is called “Stokkabelti” which was commonly made out of silver. The stitching that was commonly used is called "baldýring" and was more often than not flower patterns, with silk or metal threads. The shoes are called “Sauðskinnsskór” which means shoes made out of sheepskin but sealskin, sharkskin and skin from skate was also commonly used for shoes in Iceland.


Image of the lovely lady in the Skautbúningur is from here, with permission from Heimilisiðnaðarfélagið:
https://www.heimilisidnadur.is/is/thjodbuningar/islenskir-thjodbuningar/18-aldar-faldbuningur

We've really enjoyed players trying our demo and we've gotten great feedback since the start of the Steam NextFest.. for this reason, we've decided to extend our demo until June 28th!

There have been so many amazing games at this NextFest that even we did not get the chance to test every one we would've liked, so here's a chance for you to try Island of Winds!

As always, feedback is very welcome and helpful to us, don't hesitate to share your feedback and share your experience with others who you think might like the game!