The Merry Fairy News

Dear friend,

I am so excited to let you know that I have an update for you! The new version of The Merry Fairy Demo is now 29 and it includes the following:

• Subtitles for the introductory video! This is something that makes me extra happy to present, as it is something I have never done before. But now I learned and this made me very happy! I hope the font and the colour choices allow you to read the subtitles comfortably.
  
• A little bit of volume control! This is far from perfect and only available in the main Settings that you can access from outside the cottage, but you can now lower the overall volume for The Merry Fairy
  
• A brand new mushroom! I experimented with many ways to enchant the mouse cursor, including many leaves and even a lilac branch (lilac is my most favourite flower!). But in the end, the mushroom won!
  
• A much requested tour! When you first come to The Merry Fairy, the Caretaker will now welcome you immediately and offer a tour (or tutorial). You can also ask for a tour of The Merry Fairy via the bell that is on your desk.
  
• A better way to talk to Fairy's whimsical friends! Previously, it was very easy to exit the current dialogue by clicking anywhere outside the dialogue window, such as clicking on the character portraits. This will no longer happen. You can still exit by clicking anywhere outside the dialogue area, but this area is bigger now and it includes the character portrait.
  
• Updated dialogues - this is probably something I will continue to change and tweak until the end of times. Please give me feedback about the visits you are getting from my whimsical friends and what you think about their chatter! It is the only way I'll manage to edit them less!
  
• Dev menu accessible using the F5 key now! This is more important than it sounds, I think, since F12 is the default Steam key for screenshots.
  
• Some lightning improvements but there is still some flickering left.
  
• Tiny new sounds that feel a little better for when someone knocks on your window
  

There is also an unwanted behaviour in version 29. In theory, the Caretaker will welcome you at the start of the visit and then come back half an hour later to check up on you. But for now, he wants to visit you right away. I think he is simply too excited about your visit!

I hope you will enjoy this update and please continue to give me feedback!

I would also very much love to see what you create in your journals, if you would like to share your screenshots in The Merry Fairy community hub! And if you have wishes for any specific decorations, I would love to know ❤

Yours,

Fairy

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.

[previewyoutube]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht1QLIIx6aM[/previewyoutube]

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.

[h2]The Merry Fairy Demo updates[/h2]
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.

[h2]The future of The Merry Fairy[/h2]
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

Dear friend,


The Merry Fairy Demo is finally ready to play on Steam! Come spend a little time at my beautiful cottage and enjoy the Fairyland vibe. Here is what you can expect:

• A beautiful scrapbook journal ready for your thoughts and creativity
  
• Various decorations that you can gather from all kinds of places, such as the Guestbook (but there are hidden decorations, too!)
  
• Two of Fairy's whimsical friends, Jack the Caretaker and Lekkote the Wishtree, ready to visit you every half an hour and talk about magic and matters of the heart
  
• A few letters from Fairy
  
• A friendly weather that follows your wishes
  
• Candles, a soothing windchime and a tiny companion
  

I have been fussing the entire night before opening the doors for your visit. I might have left a thing or two extra, for your visit, and perhaps not everything is fully built and polished. I do welcome every thought and wish you have, as I do desire to make your stay as comfortable as possible.

I launched The Merry Fairy Demo with the occasion of the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration fest. Depending on the kind of feedback I will receive from you, I may have to close The Merry Fairy Demo on occasion. So please try out the enchanted scrapbook journal well aware that you might lose your beautiful entries and creations.


Enjoy The Merry Fairy!

Yours,
Fairy

Dear friend,

Tomorrow I am launching The Merry Fairy Demo.

It is an occasion that evokes many feelings in me, and it is a little rushed. I submitted The Merry Fairy to the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration on a last minute recommendation from a friend, and I had not expected anything of it. When I received an email from them, I did not even open it right away - I thought it was a polite refusal. But it wasn't, and this made me very happy. So about two weeks ago, I took the decision to participate in such a beloved event with a demo.

This was not an entirely impulsive decision. I have been working on The Merry Fairy since spring last year. The core mechanic of my game, the Scrapbook Journal, is working smoothly. The cottage and the desk looks quite cute, and I feel that I have enough surprises to keep you relaxed in my beautiful little cottage for a few hours. It all depends, of course, on the expectations. But I do hope I have done a good enough job with my Steam store front for you to know what to expect.

And yet taking the decision to launch The Merry Fairy Demo on August 15 put me in a state of rush and unrest. I prioritised my work on the demo above all else, and this lead to a few small disasters. I have neglected my partner far more than usual, spending entire days closed in my office. I postponed my beloved walks in the forest and said goodbye to my idea to pick enough chanterelles this year, so that I can freeze a few over the winter. My broccoli and green kale crops have been completely claimed and extremely fast eaten by the butterflies. And overall, I have done the very opposite of what The Merry Fairy stands for. I lived a rushed, ambitious life, too fast to notice its wonder.

But yesterday, the sweet peas have won.

Yesterday was supposed to be another fast paced day where my heart felt a great deal of unrest as I tackled a long list of titbits I wish to have ready for you. I woke up early and, as I usually do, I took a little walk in my garden as I sipped my coffee. That is when I noticed that the caterpillars were quite done with the broccoli and kale, and were getting ready to eat my cucumbers and radish pods. I tried to ignore this new knowledge, but somehow my wise and wonderful body did not. And I realised I am tired and stressed, and that this reflects not only in my life in general, but also in the quality of my creative work for The Merry Fairy.

So yesterday I worked in the garden. I picked the peas that need picking, I cleaned and dried and froze them, I removed the weeds around the leek, I removed half of the eaten broccoli and all the kale, I picked some wild potatoes and I started to prepare the land for autumn crops like spinach, winter radishes and pak choi. And today I will polish The Merry Fairy Demo to the best of my abilities, but not without breaks and a little garden work. And I though about how much I love this life of mine, and that I want to treasure it, which means valuing my health, my relationships and my beautiful Fairyland above all else. This is exactly something I hope to inspire you to really think about, as well, when you visit my cottage.

What, in your life, truly, deeply matters?

Yours,

Fairy

Dear friend,

It is with great joy that I announce The Merry Fairy's participation at the wonderful Wholesome Games Steam Celebration event, which will take place starting August 15 and until August 21.

The Merry Fairy will participate with a shiny demo, where you, my friend, will be invited to spend a few days at Fairy's enchanted cottage in the middle of Fairyland.



If you would like to visit The Merry Fairy during the Wholesome Games Steam Celebration, here is what you need to know:

• One day in Fairyland lasts 5 hours by the way humans count
  
• You will notice a curious thing, which is that you can control the weather - this is because Fairy asked the weather to kindly follow the wants and needs of your heart! So you will start every day in Fairyland by choosing the weather that suits your heart best
  
• Every day, you will find a nice letter from Fairy on your desk! And it is good to know that Fairy loves to give small gifts with every occasion
  
• An enchanted journal already awaits you, ready to safe-keep the deepest of your thoughts
  
• Decorations will also be readily available to gather from various places and adorn the pages of your journal as you wish
  
• You will be able to browse the Guest Book, with doodles and interesting thoughts from a few of Fairy's former guests
  
• Every 30 minutes, the Caretaker or the Wishtree will knock on your window to see if you would like a little company. They have a lot of wonderful stories to tell - about Fairyland, about Fairy, about magic and about hope!
  

Perhaps there will be more delights to discover! But some things are best left untold.

I will now go back and tend to the exciting preparations needed for my cottage. Keep an eye out for a shiny new The Merry Fairy Demo page on Steam, which I hope to launch in the next few days!

Yours,

Fairy