- Project Songbird OUT NOW!!! - 3 April 2026
I can't believe I finally get to say this, but...my new game PROJECT SONGBIRD IS OUT NOW!!!!!You take control of Dakota, a musician who has decided to retreat away to an isolated cabin n the remote Appalachian Forest amidst a writer's block to record their newest album. Tread carefully, however, these woods were never empty...This has been such an undertaking for me over the past few years, and I'm so so happy that you can all now finally experience it for yourselves. This has been one of the most nerve-wracking yet important moments of my career thus far, and I can't thank you all enough for being here for it.I truly hope you're able to take something away from this game by the end of it. It's been a project that holds a special place in my heart, and it's so surreal that I'm now finally able to share it with you all.Thank you all so much, and I can't wait for whatever comes next :)Con…
- Project Songbird | New Game from Summerland Dev - 17 October 2024
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180410/Project_Songbird/ Hi, everyone! I'm beyond excited to announce my next game, Project Songbird. This has been a labor of love for years, and it's getting closer and closer to seeing the light of day every single day. Project Songbird is a first-person cinematic narrative psychological horror game where you take control of Dakota, a career musician who, amidst writer's block, decides to isolate themself in a cabin in the remote Appalachian forest in order to record their next album. Take in this gripping tale, explore the natural environment and haunting dreamscapes, and fight to survive in this short horror experience. A dark, enthralling 2-3 hour narrative to keep you hooked and guessing until the end. Gorgeous visuals as you traverse numerous and diverse environments, presented with a cinematic, film-like aesthetic. Ranged and melee combat wit…
- News on the Future of Summerland - 2 January 2021
Hi everybody. I hope you're all doing well. I wanted to post something here as it's the best way for me to reach out to all of you. I wanted to briefly talk about the future of Summerland and it's progress moving forward. This game was a project I started for fun my senior year of high school, and that's what it continued to be all the way until completion. I did it almost entirely because I just really like to make games. Aside from that however, one of my main goals in making this was to cope with my own anxieties surrounding death and the inevitability and unknowns that come with it. Being able to box all of these big thoughts into a small, fictional world that was easy to digest really did help me come to terms with a lot of my world views. Obviously this isn't exactly what I think happens in death, but it just made everything seem a bit less scary. I uploaded this game for free onc…
- Optimiazation News Update - 17 December 2020
Hello everyone. I hope you're all well. It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I just thought I would let you all know the status of Summerland's optimization patch. As stated in my previous post, I was searching for a freelancer to comb through the project and fix a lot of the issues. However, I was met with the obstacle of cost. According to those I've spoken to, he monetary price of having these fixes done is more than I can pay for at the moment. I will continue searching for more options, but at the moment, there;s yet to be anyone working on the project. I'm sorry if this news is disappointing. I'm really trying my best to get this game working 100%. Let me know if there's anything else I can do in he meantime. Thank you for being here. - Conner Rush
- Summerland Optimization News. - 11 December 2020
I'm happy to say that Summerland is now in the hands of a freelance developer who specializes in game optimization! I've learned that my skill set does not have the tools it needs to be done to make the game run as well as it can, at least not at this very moment. I will continue to research better optimization practices in the future, but until then, I feel that handing the project off is the best way to get these fixes to all of you as soon as possible. While I don't have an exact date on when an optimization patch will be implemented, I just wanted to hop on and let all of you know that it IS being worked on. I hope to have more news for you in the coming days. Stay awesome everybody! - Conner Rush
- Summerland Version 1.0.9 Patch Notes + Optimization News - 11 December 2020
Hey everybody! Late night update tonight. Believe me when I say I'm on the verge of falling asleep typing this. I was too excited to wait until the morning though, because I feel like I've done a lot to improve the overall experience of playing Summerland. - An addition save-point has been added to trial 1 upon entering the trial. - The blood in trial 1 has now become much more easily interactable. This should make the level a bit easier overall. - Without spoiling, the thing you click at the end of chapter 4 is now much easier to figure out. - The headbob no longer runs when you're examining notes. - "Z" has been added as an alternative "focus" button. - There have been some subtitle edits throughout. Also, please leave a comment here if you can point out anymore specific subtitle typos! People keep pointing it out, but I can't seem to find anyone giving specific examples, so it's hard…
- Summerland Version 1.0.8 Patch Notes + Optimization News - 7 December 2020
Surprise, surprise... version 1.0.7 didn't work! I do really apologize for that, no idea what happened there. 1.0.8 has the same fixes as 1.0.7 with some additional minor things. Hope this one goes over a bit more smoothly! In other news, I'm looking into hiring a freelancer to improve game optimization. I'm realizing more and more that my skillset is not what it needs to be in order to get the game in a more performance optimal state. No one has been hired at the moment, but once the optimizations have been made, I'll consider it a victory worthy of a 1.1.0 update, so keep an eye out! Let me know if there's anything else I can do to improv the Summerland experience for you! Take care! - Conner Rush of FYRE Games
- Summerland 1.0.7 Patch Notes - 7 December 2020
Late night last night, but I managed to update a few fixes into he game. Here's what's new. - A freak bug caused the grass in the final level to just disappear. It' s been added back - Some more attempts to optimize the first trial have been made. - The game levels have overall been slightly adjusted to be a bit easier. Hope you're all well! Final exams today, so wish me luck, haha!
- Summerland Version 1.0.6 Patch Notes - 6 December 2020
Hi everybody! Hope you're all well! I've been working hard on getting the game running a bit better, especially in trial 1. Again, I'm not 100% sure the best ways to do this, but here's the gist of it... - Grass density has been decreased by about half in trial 1. - Many meshes have been combined to reduce draw calls. - Some minor adjustments have been made to make certain items easier to find. I hope your all well! Let me know if there's anything I can do to make the experience better!
- Working on the Game's Performance / Optimizing - 4 December 2020
I'd first like to say thank you to everybody who's been here to support me and the game throughout the past couple of days. The reviews have been overwhelming to me and I can't believe how many people have taken so strongly to my small indie passion project! Most of the reviews have been glowingly positive, and I can't thank all of you enough for the kind words. However, the one criticism that does seem to be pointed at is the game's optimization and low performance. This is an entirely valid criticism, and I understand now that the way Summerland runs is not up to current gaming standards. Put plainly, this is mostly due to lack of experience. While I've made games in the past, none have been quite this big or graphically intense. I guess I must have underestimated the amount of optimization I would need to do (My PC was also fairly low-end at the time, so I didn't have much of a gauge…
- Summerland Version 1.0.5 Patch Notes - 4 December 2020
Hi, everybody! Late night last night trying to fix some issues in the game. Here's what's been done in the new 1.0.5 update. - Some more attempts have been made to optimize trial 1. - A new option is available in the settings page to invert the camera's vertical axis. - Some adjustments have been made throughout to make certain tasks easier. I hope this addresses a lot of your concerns with the game. I will continue working on and improving the experience, so please let me know if there's anything I can do. Updates may temporarily slow as final exams are coming up. Hooray for studying! Thank you all for the support, and thank you all for just being here. - Conner Rush
- Summerland Version 1.0.4 Patch Notes + Message from Dev - 4 December 2020
I've been working all day on a few small things to make the game an all around better experience. Here are a few of those... - Some performance enhancements have been made throughout. - Mouse Sensitivity has been slight decreased across all mouse sensitivity presets by 1/4. - Some minor reworking to trial 1 to make some evidence easier to find. - Some models causing clipping issues have been fixed. While I'm always looking for things to fix and ways to improve the game, keep in mind that I'm just one guy, and I just got out of high school. Working on this while in my first semester of college has been a big stress. While I'm more than happy to address issues, just keep in mind the fact that this is a free passion project by a self-taught high schooler, haha. All of that aside, I do really appreciate all of the support, and I hope t0 keep making you all proud in the future! Take care! -…
- Summerland v1.0.3 Patch Notes - 3 December 2020
It looks like v1.0.2 went over much better than v1.0.3! Still, some very minor bugs fixes and improvements have been made. Here's what's new... - Trial 1 has been very slightly reworked in an attempt to make evidence a bit easier to find. - A bug in trial 5 preventing the reminder from playing through completely has been patched. I will also be combing the remaining trials for similar issues. - Fixed the arms being pink at the end of trial 8. - Fixed some things in trial 4 causing Matthew to clip onto furniture and tables. The response to Summerland has been incredibly positive! Thank you all so much for the phenomenal support! Let me know if there's anything else I can do to improve your experience. - Conner Rush of FYRE Games
- Summerland Version 1.0.2 Patch Notes - 2 December 2020
I apologize for the previous v1.0.1 update. It came with some issues that were entirely human error on my part. I've fixed these and a few other things present in v1.0.2. Here's what's been updated: - The bug preventing players from talking to Evelyn at the end of trial 1 has been patched out. - On the subject of trial 1, The level has been very slightly modified in the hopes of making some evidence easier to find. - The police report typo in trial 1 has been fixed. - Objects causing the player to clip onto the furniture in trials 2, 5, and 8 have been modified. - The barriers in trial 8 have been adjusted to prevent the player from falling through the map. Let me know if there's anything I can do to further improve the experience for you!
- Summerland v1.0.1 Live Now! - 2 December 2020
Thank you for the support through the game's launch! Here's a list of things that have been fixed in Summerland v1.0.1. - The bug where the ending conversation of trial 1 is repeated has been patched out. - Framerate drop when answering your phone in trial 3 has been patched. There are a few things being addressed for a v1.0.2 update scheduled for tomorrow. Let me know if there's anything you'd like to be looked at and I'll be sure to work on fixing it!
