Twinkleby News

[p]Twinkleby is finally live, and we're so excited to share our cozy little universe with the world! Dive right in and chart the islands of Twinkleby's starlit archipelago, discover hidden islands, antique treasures, and build dreamy dioramas to see which spacefaring characters you can entice to move in ✨[/p][p]
The game will be 15% off until October 3rd, and we have also bundled with our pals at Malapata Studio, Kylyk Games and Raw Fury to bring you a Twinkleby bundle with Camper Van: Make It Home, a Twinkleby bundle with Urban Jungle, and a Twinkleby bundle with Townscaper respectively. If you snag any of these 10% bundles, you get that extra % along with the launch discount![/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]For technical information and what events we have in store for Twinkleby throughout fall and winter, you can read an in-depth post about Twinkleby’s release here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]And if you want to check out Twinkleby gameplay, you can watch our pal MadMorph play the game here:[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]Join us in the escapist world of Twinkleby, and create the eerie gothic or blissfully romantic scenes of your dreams! Expand your collection, add new islands to the star chart, collect all the rare visitors of the archipelago, and when you change your mind – evict everyone and throw their furniture into space! 🪐[/p][p][/p][p]PS. Join our discord and stay tuned for competitions, news and other exciting things.[/p]

[p]The game is out, and what a journey it's been! Twinkleby existed for quite some time on the drawing board, and to finally take it from concept to a full game over this past year has been a blast. [/p][p]Now that the game is out (what a feeling to finally be able to say that!), we’re inviting you to play it and join the whimsy-bizarro world of Twinkleby with us, so, let’s set the scene –[/p][p]Pictured: the star chart of Twinkleby, showing both the linear path and hidden locations to unlock off the beaten track[/p][p]One day, not too long ago, the world drifted apart. What was once one big continent split into islands and became an archipelago, spreading out amongst the stars. [/p][p]Adapting quickly to the upheaval of their old life, Twinkleby’s residents turned to a nomadic life, travelling between the islands, looking for their forever home. Meanwhile, collectors (like Molligan – famous shop-owner from “Molligan’s Antiques”) travelled deep outside the charted islands, scavenging for items dating back to before The Great Drift.[/p][p]Now, you can chart the islands of the archipelago, and either follow the path set by the stars, or diverge to discover hidden islands and antique secrets. You can encounter the many, many different creatures of Twinkleby, and figure out what makes them happy – or evict them to make room for others to take their place. You can unlock all the different sceneries, and use them to compose the game soundtrack to perfectly set the soundscape for your islands; rain or snow, island clusters or a sky full of planets – in Twinkleby every setting has its own sound, and you’re the composer.[/p][p]Pictured: an atmospheric in-game photo of Georgiana walking through an autumn forest, the scene lit by street lamps[/p][p]We’re so much looking forward to sharing this game with y’all; to see which characters you encounter, and what kind of islands you create. Since we implemented photo mode ahead of the release, everyone on the team has gone ham with photographing their islands and all the character drama that happens, and we can’t wait to see your photos.[/p][p]And, we also want to address two known, platform specific issues for Mac and Steam Deck that we’re currently working on fixes for. None of these should be game breaking, but if you encounter them, please reach out through discord, as it would be of great help to get more player logs and reproduction cases to look into.[/p][p]Known issues on macOS:[/p]

1. [p]Inhabitants may sometimes walk through placed objects.[/p]
2. [p]Various shader issues. Some houses and other visual elements may not look like they should.[/p]

[p]You can try to launch the game through Rosetta to hopefully mitigate these issues.[/p][p][/p][p]Known issues on Linux, Steam Deck specific:[/p]

1. [p]We have gotten some reports of crashes on islands late into the star chart progression, specifically on the Steam Deck.
   If you experience a crash, you should be able to reload the game with a majority of your progression intact (the auto save is frequent, and should ensure this).[/p]
2. [p]If you start to experience frequent crashes, you can try running the game through Proton 10, as this seems to fix the issue. For instructions on how to do this, go to the bottom of the post for a detailed guide*.[/p]

[p]We are actively working on fixes for these, and are expecting to have them live in the near future. Because, Neighbours and friends, this is only the beginning of a starlit fall. The rest of the year will feature seasonal events in the Twinkleby archipelago that introduces new items, scenery, aesthetics, and characters, and along with these events, we will work closely to follow up on any reported bugs and make sure everything is addressed quickly. Don’t hesitate to reach out through discord (or other platforms!) if you encounter anything odd – we’ll get right on it.[/p][p][/p][p]We’re so happy to finally share Twinkleby with you, and make sure you make the most of our launch sale! Twinkleby will be 15% off until October 3rd, and we have also bundled with our pals at Malapata Studio, Kylyk Games and Raw Fury to bring you a Twinkleby bundle with Camper Van: Make It Home, a Twinkleby bundle with Urban Jungle, and a Twinkleby bundle with Townscaper respectively. If you snag one of these bundles, you get an additional 10% off![/p][p][/p][p]You’ll hear from us again soon, both with smaller updates, and some big seasonal shenanigans we’ve got planned for later this year.[/p][p]See you then—and in the meantime, sparkle on! ✨ [/p][p]P.S. If you want to check out the Twinkleby gameplay, our pal MadMorph uploaded this amazing game preview a couple of days ago! It features several islands, many characters, and cozy, relaxing vibes.[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][p]*If you have already run the game with proton before, you can skip steps 1-10.[/p][p][/p][p]1. Go to Twinkleby in your steam library.[/p][p]2. Click the cog icon to the right.[/p][p]3. Go to "Properties".[/p][p]4. Go to "Compatability"[/p][p]5. Check "Force the use of a specific Steam Play compatability tool".[/p][p]6. In the dropdown menu, select Proton 10.0-2 (beta).[/p][p]7. Go back, and open the game.[/p][p]8. If you see a "Continue" button, you can stop and quit the game here.[/p][p]9. If you do not see a "Continue" button, select "Start Game" (don't worry, this will not override your safe file).[/p][p]10. Progress to the first island, then save and quit the game.[/p][p]11. Go to desktop mode. (Steam button > Power > Switch to Desktop)[/p][p]12. Navigate to the folder: ~/.config/unity3d/Might and Delight/Twinkleby/steam/(YourSteamID)/save . Where (YourSteamID) is a 17 digit string of numbers. It is unique per steam user.[/p][p]13. In here, copy and save the save.sav file to a safe location. (Do not delete the file)[/p][p]14. Then, navigate to ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/3362960/pfx/drive_c/users/steamuser/AppData/LocalLow/Might and Delight/Twinkleby/steam/(YourSteamID)/save[/p][p]15. Here, replace the save.sav file with the file you copied.[/p][p]16. Return to the desktop and click on the "Return to Gaming Mode" icon.[/p][p]17. If you now start the game through proton again, it should load your old save file.[/p]

[p][/p][p]We’re so excited to finally be live with Tokyo Game Show on Steam, but beyond that – we will be participating in real life![/p][p]You will find Twinkleby in booth H11-C05 with our friends at NeonNoroshi, and between the 25th and 28th of September, you’ll be able to find out more about Twinkleby from our friends, play the game on Steam Deck, and pick up some fancy Twinkleby stickers only available at TGS.[/p][p]What better way to celebrate the release of Twinkleby than hanging out at Tokyo Game Show? Come by the booth and say hi, and check out the other rad indie games exhibited alongside Twinkleby.[/p]

[p]We’re one week from Twinkleby’s release, and are so excited to tell you about the events and festivities that the Neighbours have scheduled for the rest of the year ✨[/p][p]Twinkleby has a calendar of its own, with festivals and holidays sprinkled throughout the year. Some of these events mirror celebrations from across our globe, and some of these events are unique to the Twinkleby archipelago. Most of these events feature one or several unique item sets that you can collect while the festival is ongoing, but some festivals move beyond the material realm, and affect things like weathers and backdrops. There are also holidays during which you might get unique Neighbours visiting your islands.[/p][p]Pictured: the three Twinkleby holidays that will be celebrated during the fall and winter of 2025[/p][p]For now, we’ll focus on the three seasonal events that are scheduled for the remainder of 2025, the first of which will be live on our release day! 🌔 Moonstead is a small lunar festival that falls during the early-to-mid fall each year. The Neighbours celebrate it with lanterns and eating special moon-cakes; all of which will be available in a special section in Molligan’s Antiques at launch.[/p][p]Then, as the autumn fog grows thick and the days grow shorter and darker, a much spookier season will be upon us; Hallowtide – an event that features both the wholesome, harvest festival vibes of pumpkin patches, homemade pies and lit candles, as well as gothic gravestones and strange creatures in the dark.[/p][p]2025 will then wrap up with a winter wonderland, spanning all the way from December and into January, featuring everything from some nostalgic, Swedish, yuletide items to New Year sparkles and maybe, just maybe, some unique visitors.[/p][p]We’re so excited to set out exploring the customs and culture of Twinkleby with y’all, but first – the game release! Next week we’ll be back with a final diary entry as the game goes live, and from that point, well; we’ll explore the galaxy together.[/p][p]See you then—and in the meantime, sparkle on! ✨[/p]

[p]Stockholm is still a surprising 20°C degrees and sunny as all heck, but the leaves are slowly shifting to gleaming gold and burgundy – fall is nearing, and with it; our September 23rd release date 🎉[/p][p]For today’s diary, we’ll chat about the cast of Twinkleby. The many personalities traversing the archipelago, and the development mishaps we’ve run into along the way.[/p][p]The first character we created for Twinkleby was Theodore, and as the first character, he went through a lot of experiments. The first draft of Theodore, that we mostly threw together so we could start concepting animations and have an inhabitant for our houses, was very orange, and is to this day lovingly referred to as “football-head Theodore” by the team. Even at this time though, we knew that Theodore would happily wiggle his moustache when drinking coffee (something seen much later in the game-reveal trailer).[/p][p][/p][p]Pictured: original Theodore drinking coffee, and wiggling his moustache[/p][p]From the moment he made it into the game, Theodore went through animation tests and interaction tests. He was then quickly joined by Wallis, and the two of them would together learn things like “walking down the stairs”, “talking to each other”, and “glitch out while reading a book”.[/p][p]As we then started working on the trait system for the game, Theodore and Wallis started developing personalities of their own. They got to try out being introverted and extroverted respectively, and in the first test of these mechanics, extroverted Wallis chased introverted Theodore around and round the smallest island in the game, which – you could say the experiment was a great success, but we’re not sure Theo and Wallis would agree. In this scenario, neither of them had a chance of becoming happy, and well – being able to make the Neighbours happy is one of the core features of Twinkleby.[/p][p][/p][p]Pictured: Theodore and Wallis reading books together, after they’d made peace over the Chasing Incident[/p][p]When an island is full (as in; the max number of Neighbours have moved in), and every Neighbour is happy, they will sing you a song. In fact; we created the song very early on as we concepted the “music assembly” feature for the game, and we not only knew that this would be one of the major beats of the game progression, it would also showcase the different characters and show different styles of singing and emoting.[/p][p]After the Neighbours have sung their song, they will open their bags (gasp!) and offer you rewards. Among other things, they sometimes carry map fragments; an item that will allow you to unlock hidden islands on the map.[/p][p]There are many ways to make the Neighbours of Twinkleby happy, as they now have a big range of traits to cater to. We have bibliophiles who long for rooms furnished floor-to-ceiling with literature and creative types who want nothing more than to make music and paint; we’ve got a mail-mouse who longs for cheese (and mailboxes to deliver letters to) and a lady in a gorgeous coat who only visits winter wonderlands; nightowls and gourmands; outdoorsy hikers and plant-loving Neighbours with a green thumb – there are many ways to attract specific residents to your islands, and just as many ways to cater to their wishes and make them happy.[/p][p]Pictured: a group of Neighbours singing their song[/p][p]But the road here was long, and paved with many animation glitches and character mishaps (“the mishaps keep mishappening” is a phrase uttered many times during development). Overtime, the glitches have made their way into the real world, being named, printed, and taped to the wall of our meeting room.[/p][p][/p][p]Pictured: character mishaps, proudly displayed on our meeting room wall[/p][p]And digitally, the character journey has been documented by our devs as they’ve shared their work in game development communities. On tumblr, Theodore has grown quite a reputation for his terrifying transformations. In fact, the first piece of fanart ever created of Twinkleby was this incredible image made by tootkin, where Theodore eats a lemon and reacts in proper, glitched-out fashion.[/p][p][/p][p]Pictured: art created by tootkin, where Theodore eats a lemon and his head glitches out in response[/p][p]As the release of Twinkleby gets closer with each passing day, it’s fun to look back at the road that led us here. The many, many design iterations, the series of mishaps that shaped Theodore and Wallis as characters way outside the realms of the game, and how wild it is to finally see all the Neighbours happily go about their lives in the game, tending their gardens, reading through their libraries, or – one of their favorite pastimes – standing at the island edge and stare into space.[/p][p][/p][p]Pictured: a grainy screenshot of Theodore standing at the island’s edge staring into space, the word “man” written in the sky above him in reference to the horse meme[/p][p]Next week, we’ll be back to chat about the Twinkleby calendar; the holidays and festivals celebrated by the Neighbours, and what in-game events you can expect to experience this fall and winter.[/p][p]See you then—and in the meantime, sparkle on! ✨[/p]