Primordia News

We are humbled by, and grateful for, the support that you have all given Primordia over the past nine years -- from driving Primordia through Greenlight faster than any other game ever, to giving it reviews that for years kept us in the top 20 games on Steam, to creating fan translations, fan art, cosplay costumes and more. We have tried to repay that generosity by supporting the game ourselves, patching it constantly to keep up with evolving hardware, implementing translations and quality of life adjustments, providing technical support and hints, and responding to every review, post, and piece of fan work.

With this nine-year history shared among us, we'd ask that you consider nominating Primordia in the Labor of Love for the Steam Awards -- a recognition that would belong as much to you as players as it would to us as developers.

The likelihood of our little engine-that-could winning a Steam award is very slight, but we might as well give it a shot!

"Come on, boss, you don't really think this is going to work, do you?"
"No, Crispin, but as Michael Scottbuilt once wrote, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take."

-Fixed an issue with speech set from lucas arts to sierra style in Metropol

After many years, we are very pleased to finally release a native MacOS and Linux versions of Primordia. The Windows version has had nine years for us to squash bugs, while the Mac and Linux releases are fresh out of the oven, so if you hit any snags, please let us know as a comment to this post or on the message board, and we will work quickly to address them. In the meanwhile, we hope new players will enjoy playing the game natively!

Every Steam sale we have the pleasure of having new players discover and explore Primordia. Happily, most of those players come away very satisfied, but some of them are disappointed. In hopes of minimizing the latter category, I wanted to share a few notes about the game for new players:

(1) There are no dead-ends and you cannot die. Some of your choices may change the course of the game a bit, but nothing closes off "good" (or "bad") endings altogether. So playing should be a low-stress experience.

(2) If you are unfamiliar with old school (1990s) adventure games, a few tips. You can interact with (left click) and examine (right click) many points of interest in a room. You can pick up, use, and combine many items. Horatio is scavenger and a mechanic, so a considerable aspect of the game is salvaging, building, and repairing machines.

(3) If you ever get stuck, you can ask Crispin for help by left clicking on him. If the hint doesn't help, wait a couple seconds and click on him again for another hint. These are designed to get "stronger" (i.e., more direct) if you continue to pester him while stuck at the same spot. If Crispin isn't sufficient help, you can always consult an FAQ or a walkthrough, though I recommend using that as a last resort and Crispin as a first resort.

(4) Many players think that you are required to take handwritten notes. You are not. The game automatically records all necessary information (and some unnecessary information) in the datapouch, accessible by the toolbar or by pressing D.

(5) Many puzzles in the game have multiple solutions or are optional. One puzzle in particular (involving an information kiosk) often stumps players. It is an optional puzzle

(6) If you want to try a demo, you can find one on the Wadjet Eye Games website, though it's from an older build: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/games/primordia/ If you want a taste of the setting, you can check out our story "Fallen" for free: http://primordia-game.com/fallen.html

I hope you play and enjoy the game! But if you encounter any technical snags and need assistance, come away unsatisfied, or just want to drop a line, feel free to email me at mark at wormwoodstudios dot com, message me on Steam, or leave a post in the forum. The game's coder and I check these things pretty frequently and will try to make sure that you're taken care of!

Finally, if you enjoy Primordia, check out our recent release Strangeland. It's also an adventure game, but with very different themes (and higher resolution graphics).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Eight and a half years after we released Primordia, we at long last are ready to share our second adventure game, Strangeland. We are grateful beyond words for the support and encouragement we've received over the years for Primordia, and we are hopeful that Strangeland will be a welcome addition.

If you're interested, please consider wishlisting: it helps raise the game's profile in Steam's sorting algorithm, and the success of a game on launch makes a big difference for whether it ever gets its legs.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1369520/Strangeland/