Fine Work: Act I News

- Various backgrounds will now load in correctly when quickly progressing through dialogue
- Addressed multiple typos

[p][/p][p]Vivid Friends,[/p][p][/p][p]This world is wild and ever-shifting. Dreamt by ancients of fathomless scale and power. Newer dreamers must find the gentle places - the easy places, by chance or design. [/p][p][/p][p]You’ve found one such place in Gleamhold, and today- you’ll open shop!! [/p][p][/p][p]Happy Official Release of Fine Work: Act I! Available NOW on Steam! [/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p][/p][p]Get to know Gleamhold’s otherworldly residents, and win them over with your artistic prowess (or, you know, just being friendly). You’ll grow close to your clients over late-night gossip, underground escapades, drinks at the Hobby Lantern, and exploring memories while sendshaping. [/p][p][/p][p]Craft beautiful, bespoke artifacts with musical gameplay. Explore your clients’ memories in a surreal 3D dreamscape as you perfect your trade. Each client brings their own distinct musical style, be it foley-driven electronica, sword-fight breakcore, or baroque chamber tunes. [/p][p][/p][p]With 2 unique sendshaping experiences per song, player-character customization, and many branching narrative paths, there’s a lot to explore! We really hope you love it! [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Congratulations to the whole Tethys team on this first team release![/p]

• [p]Gillian Bambule (Art, Character Design, UI Design) [/p]
• [p]Mel Bow (Puppeteering, Community Management, Business Development) [/p]
• [p]Calico (Narrative Design, Writing) [/p]
• [p]Miranda Holland (Technical Art, 3D Modeling, 3D Level Design) [/p]
• [p]Casey McKinney (Direction, Worldbuilding, Music) [/p]
• [p]Sam Niemeier (Maths, Rhythm Development) [/p]
• [p]Will Niemeier (UX, Sound Design, Whistling) [/p]
• [p]March Rozanski (Art, Environmental Design, Iconography) [/p]
• [p]Nic Stemm (Rhythm Design, Development, Beatmapping) [/p]
• [p]Ziggy Woythaler (Development, UI/UX, Systems Engineering) [/p]

[p]… with additional support from:[/p]

• [p] Evan Courtney (Narrative Music, FMOD Support)[/p]
• [p] Amber Howard (Testing Coordination, Dev/Ops)[/p]
• [p] Heather Mahoney (Art Consultation, Recruitment, “Bright Fugue”)[/p]
• [p] Sammie Snapp (Project Management, Event Coordination, Social Media)[/p][p][/p]

[p]We were all helped by so many people!![/p][p][/p][p]And, finally, if we can make another ask: please help us share Fine Work! Playing the game and leaving a review makes SUCH A HUGE DIFFERENCE in the game being seen by future vivid friends. Streaming FW, liking our posts, and sharing your FW-creations means so much to us! Thank you!!![/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]★[/p][p] [/p][p]We will be taking time to relax, enjoy Thanksgiving with our friends and family, and celebrate our release milestone! Stay tuned for updates on what’s next - patch updates, team updates, and, well, of course… Fine Work: Act II!!!! [/p][p][/p][p]Stay Vivid, and see you in Gleamhold! [/p][p]Tethys Games[/p]

[h2]Hello friends, followers, and future sendshapers,
[/h2][p]As you may have noticed already, we've had a bumpy run-up to launch. We've decided to delay the release of Fine Work: Act I [/p][p]Before anything else: we want to offer our heartfelt apologies to everyone who has been looking forward to Fine Work's debut.[/p][p]This was a really, really difficult decision for us. While the game is content-complete and looking lovely, there are still some tenacious bugs that we need to iron out before we can release Fine Work in good conscience.[/p][p]We want this game to be the experience you've been waiting for and more, something we're proud to share with you. We've appreciated your warmth, excitement, and encouragement so much, and we want you repay you in turn with the best first playthrough possible.[/p][p]We'll release Fine Work: Act I as soon as it's ready, and ask for your patience until then. This is our first game launch ever (!), and despite this setback, we've learned *a lot*, and feel confident that Fine Work will be in your hands soon. [/p][p]So, thank you, everyone, for your patience and grace. [/p][p]And, as Marr would say,[/p][h3]Stay vivid, friends

[p]Steam Next Fest returns June 9, 2025, bringing opportunities for upcoming games to connect with players. Steam Next Fest is a multi-day celebration where fans can try demos, chat with developers, watch livestreams, and learn about upcoming games on Steam. [/p][p][/p][p]We’re thrilled to announce that we’re dropping a major update to the Fine Work demo. As a game can only participate in Steam Next Fest once, we’ve been all “häns” on deck to bring you this latest build. This will be our final major demo update before launching Act I this summer! Thank you to the community for the feedback over the past year, we could not have done it without your thoughtful feedback, bug reports, and “WHO IS THAT?!😍”s!
[/p][p]NEW DEMO BUILD FEATURES[/p]

• [p]New Dialogue, Backgrounds, and Character Art[/p]
• [p]Upgraded UI[/p]
• [p]A Big Upgrade to Save/Load[/p]
• [p]A Brand New Character [/p]
• [p]New 3D Art and Beatmaps in the Rhythm Levels[/p]

[p]
Watch the devs & community play the demo on our Steam store page, download & play the demo yourself, and join our Discord to stay in the loop for the final updates before release! [/p][p][/p]

A great story-driven game needs a fully realized world. Plus, what’s the point of romancing outlandish QTs if they don’t have a compelling backstory? It all starts with a solid setting.

The story of Fine Work takes place in the city of Gleamhold, in a region of space bordering two great domains (Montemanor and Fluem, for the curious). Over the course of Fine Work, you’ll play as a sendshaper, an artisan that can receive memories, and shape them into artifacts. Throughout the game, you’ll meet some of the cutest (and strangest) beings Gleamhold has to offer, and craft lasting connections as you work with their memories to meet their needs.



The world of Fine Work is very different from our own. In this world, people like you and I (warmly referred to as muck) live forever. While there aren’t very many muck in the universe of Fine Work, the worlds that muck inhabit and travel to are numerous and varied. This universe is often referred to as The Ether. In addition to muck, stranger beings, known as Grands, pursue mysterious plans, seek inscrutable pleasures, and are generally not to be trusted. Forerunners, ineffable deities, serve as pillars of The Ether: too massive and abstract to be perceived, their idle dreams spin off worlds that muck can inhabit and explore.



The problem all beings face, from muck to forerunner: forever gets boring. Our worldbuilding and lore is very interested in the consequences of “deep time”: what happens to a mind facing eternity? What strange patterns emerge when habits, grudges, and desires are pursued and looped indefinitely? To stay vivid is to grow, to change, to be renewed against the desert of deep time. To mesh is to die in truth: to become frozen, blended with the surroundings, inert and automatic. To this end, muck swap memories to stay vivid: a fresh memory, given to another, is called a send. Sendings are the primary currency in the world of Fine Work. People go to great lengths to acquire fresh send, including stealing memories from sleeping Forerunners…




Much more to come, so stay tuned, friends :3 And, as the customary farewell of Fine Work goes:

“Stay vivid!”

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There are many ways to help support the project for free (or after pledging already), including:

• Joining the Discord!
• Wishlisting Fine Work!
• Sharing Fine Work with pals!
• Playing (and/or) Streaming Our Demo!