Oxenfree News

[p]Earlier this year OXENFREE turned ten years old. Like many awkward kids of that age, OXENFREE is experiencing a lot of big feelings and emotions. Most of all it wanted to fit in and have features like all the other ten-year-old games on the playground.[/p][p][/p][p]So, we revisited your feedback and realized there was one small improvement we could give you as a birthday present: volume sliders. Now, you can independently control the levels of music, sound effects, and voiceover to achieve audio bliss. If you think Jonas should pee quieter, that’s a real choice you can make right from the pause menu. Also in the pause menu, you’ll find a support option to reach out to a friendly customer support agent if you’re running into an issue.[/p][p][/p][p]Finally, we also dusted off the game and resolved a few outstanding bugs while we were under the hood. It’s just a small tidy and sprucing up. [/p][p][/p][p]Just never say. We didn’t provide you. Volume sliders.[/p]

Happy 10 years of Night School Studio! 

A whole decade, huh? That’s a long time to be making games. We’re stoked we’re still here, and even more stoked that you’re still here. We at Night School know we’re nothing without our incredible community. These 10 years wouldn’t have been possible without you.

From making OXENFREE as a scrappy, tiny ragtag team to joining Netflix and taking our games to new heights, it’s been a ride – and we’re deeply grateful to have had you along every step of the way.

To celebrate and to say thank you, we’re kicking off a couple of fun things this month:

[h2]10 Days to Celebrate 10 Years of Night School
[/h2]
Starting today, Dec 18, 2024, we’ll be giving away exclusive Night School merch and swag every day for the next 10 days. Each piece is a hand-picked nod to our history, featuring designs inspired by our games and the memories they created. All you have to do is fill out a Community Survey that’ll be included in each day’s giveaway post. We’ll select a random winner 24 hours later, and notify them directly. (US residents 18+ only. Sorry!)

[h2]Online Gallery
[/h2]
We’ve also curated an online gallery on our website to commemorate and celebrate all the hard work we’ve accomplished as a studio. Check out never-before-seen concept and production art, and take a walk down memory lane with us! (And each of our games has its own gallery to peruse!)

Whether you’ve been with us since we were just a few folks working at a kitchen table or you recently showed up to the party ‘cause you liked our vibe, we thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you for playing our games – we can’t wait to keep making them for you.

Here’s to the next 10 years. 

Love,
Night School Studio 

P.S. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the giveaways on our Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Threads!

ONLINE GALLERIES: OXENFREE | Afterparty | Next Stop Nowhere | OXENFREE II: Lost Signals

10 Years of Night School Studio, in (some) photos:

Oxenfree, the gloomy adventure game from Night School Studio, will leave indie game storefront Itch.io on October 1, according to an email sent to users who own it this week. And nobody, including anyone who has the game in their library, will be able to download it after it's fully removed...
Read more.

We're celebrating with our fellow Independent Games Festival award-winning games and studios this July! As part of the IGF Celebration Days, you can complete your collection of Night School games for 60% off. Just add the Night School Complete Collection to your cart!

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/16322/Night_School_Complete_Bundle/

The collection includes:

• OXENFREE, a supernatural thriller about a group of friends who unwittingly open a ghostly rift. OXENFREE was the 2016 Independent Games Festival winner for Excellence in Art.
  
• OXENFREE II: Lost Signals, the mind-bending sequel returns to Camena with an investigation into mysterious radio signals.
  
• Afterparty, a dark comedy about escaping Hell by outdrinking Satan.
  
• The original soundtracks to both OXENFREE I and Afterparty, by our #1 favorite composer, scntfc.
  

Make sure to check out all of the games featured during the event, which even includes new games from past IGF winners. Oh, and make sure to follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Threads for some other spooky and fun surprises this month as we also celebrate OXENFREE II's one year anniversary.

Dang. 8 years ago TODAY, we were crossing all our digits getting ready to launch the game into the world. Only a year and a half earlier, we weren’t a company, or even a team. Most of us were strangers 18 months earlier, and I’m so grateful that our game is what brought all of these cool folks into my life.

Today is the 8 year anniversary of OXENFREE, and your passion for the game is why we were able to create OXENFREE II (which is awesome and you should play if you haven’t yet). In retrospect it all seems stupidly simple; we dove headlong into a game design and story that were intuitively inspiring. We didn’t overthink it, hunted down like-minded folks with crazy skills, stuck them in a box in Glendale California, and hammered on architecting a tiny, scary world. We argued a lot, but over the little things, which felt a lot healthier than the alternative. It was always about getting the game and its world just right, and we had so much fun doing it.

Night School closed out 2023 with no shortage of cool news! OXENFREE II made a ton of end of year lists, and the voice of Riley, Liz Saydah, was nominated for Best Acting in a Game by the New York Video Game Critics Circle. The USS Kanaloa might not be treating the residents of Camena too nicely these last years, but it’s given us more than we could’ve dreamed of back in 2016. Thank you!

Also, it’s been awhile since we did a community Q&A (here’s the last one) and we’re going to do that again all week long. If you have a burning question about one of our games, send it to us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or in this form. We’ll pick a few good ones to answer each day until Jan 22.

-Sean