- Steam's Party-Based RPG Fest 2026 is Live! - 14 September 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, faefolk, good evening! Steam's Party-Based RPG Fest 2026 is live! Come and check out all the incredible titles on display! Paige and I (the two of us making up The Incandescent Bard) sincerely hope you will find a gem of a game to play and fall in love with (fingers crossed it will be Sunflowers!) :). We just released a massive new update to the demo last week, and if you haven't tried it yet, we'd be honored and humbled if you would give the world of Urdin a look. And maybe drop us a Wishlist and tell your friends about the game if you like what you see? :) Have fun with the festival and we hope everyone has a wonderful week! -CW Hendricks
- Demo Patch 1.9 & Upcoming Festivals - 9 September 2026
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening! Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death has come a long way since we last updated the demo almost a year ago. The version of the game currently on Steam is quite outdated in terms of gameplay, accessibility, art, you name it. So we decided to take some time to create a new build that we can share with all of you :). This update to the demo is absolutely massive in terms of patch notes, though the vast majority of it is quality-of-life features and gameplay changes; if you've played the demo before, there isn't much in terms of new content, but there is a little! For those who have yet to try Sunflowers, now is the best time to do so! While we are always working on improving the game, and will continue to do so all the way up to (and for a little while after) release, this version of the demo matches the current dev build and represents the game at about ~…
- 📜Developer Diary #12 - Art is a Journey📜 - 18 August 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, great and terrible wyrms that make their home amongst the volcanic ashes of Ehngyldr, welcome! Tonight we're very excited to announce that we have new artwork rolling out on Steam, social media, etc.! Our new banner art was drawn by Red Potion Studios, an indie art group based in Bogotá, Colombia. They've done absolutely incredible work and we collaborated with them for over a month to get the art just right; to really nail the aesthetic of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. And we couldn't be happier with how things turned out! As a small team of two ourselves, who know well the arduous path that must be traveled in order to reach our audience and spread the word of what we're building, it was a priority for us to find another small team to work with in creating this art. That, along with their professionalism and the incredible portfolio of work they shared showin…
- 📜Developer Diary #11 - Accessibility and UI📜 - 15 July 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, fae from the meadowed wilds of Sylphtir, welcome! Tonight we'd like to share what we've been working on in improving accessibility and just making the gameplay of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death easier (from a controls/UI perspective) and more intuitive for all! We're also very excited to share that Sunflowers is about 85% complete and is getting closer and closer to release! We sincerely hope all of you are as hype (even if it's just a little hype!) about adventuring through the world of Urdin as we are to deliver our finished tale to you :). As always, thank you so much for following along with our journey in creating Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. If you have yet to do so, we would be honored if you would leave us a Wishlist on Steam or try out our free demo. And if you like what you see, tell a friend! All that said, let's get right into the improvements…
- The Steam Summer Sale Is On Now! - 25 June 2026
The Steam Summer Sale runs from June 25 to July 9! So many incredible indie games are on sale right now, from fully released titles to demos of up-and-coming works! Oh and, don't forget to wishlist Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death if you haven't yet :). While you wait, check out great deals on other indie.io titles during the Summer Sale to add to your collection! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2748520/
- 📜 Developer Diary #10 - Interview with Destroyah22 📜 - 11 June 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, phoenixes that live atop the peak of Adegoke, welcome! Tonight we have prepared something a little different for Developer Diary #10. For those that missed it, about a month ago we had an interview on Twitch with Destroyah22 where we discussed all sorts of things about Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death, about who we are as developers and gamers ourselves, and about our future plans for the studio. You can find the entire interview, uncut and unedited by us (complete with many "ums", "uhs", and the occasional awkward silence) on YouTube right here: However, for those interested, we've prepared a transcript with our favorite Q&A that we've edited for Steam below. We hope it will help shed some light on our motivations and goals for Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death, get you excited about what's to come in the full release, and also help everyone to get to know the t…
- 📜 Developer Diary #9 - Ekbatan & Resh 📜 - 11 May 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, Druugan fae from the sandswept land of Resh, welcome! Tonight, for your entertainment, we've prepared a sneak peek at the isle of Ekbatan, one of the major locations we've been creating for Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. In particular, we'll be focusing on Resh, a great desert that covers the western half of the isle! Here is a little information about the area, taken from lore you can read in-game: "The isle of Ekbatan sits within the Ribs of the Creator, a part of Urdin where seasons change little and the land itself roils and quakes. Ekbatan is rocky and barren, covered in the west by a great desert known as Resh, and to the east by an active volcano where dreaded wyrms and clutching phoenixes are known to nest. So grueling a land breeds hardy men and women, self-sufficient and capable. Though Ekbatanoi soil does not suffer the growing of grains or vegetables…
- 📜 Developer Diary #8 - The Class System 📜 - 9 April 2026
Ladies and gentlemen, good evening! Over the last few weeks we've been finalizing the abilities and design of our character classes, a key component of the battle system of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. This includes their animations, artwork, abilities, everything. So for tonight's developer diary, we're exploring all of the classes we've built for the game: how they function, what role they play, how they exist within the game world, etc. We've touched on this topic a little in previous dev diaries, but this time we are going further in-depth and laying bare the specific design and lore for each class. There are many classic RPGs with similar systems, and what we are working towards is creating a system that both hearkens back to what we loved in those incredible games of the past, but also brings the design forward into something that is modern, fun, and unique to our world. W…
- indie.io Franchise Sale 2026 is Live! - 4 April 2026
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome! We have a special announcement to make today: The indie.io Franchise Sale 2026 has begun! There are so many incredible indie titles made with love and passion by small teams of developers and gamers just like us featured in this event, on top of incredible discounts and deals to be had. We will be taking some time this weekend to check out the titles ourselves, and we hope you will as well :). You can find a link to the Steam event below! https://store.steampowered.com/developer/indieio/sale/indieiofranchisesale-2026?tab=9 Have fun!
- 📜Developer Diary #7📜 - 5 March 2026
Ladies, gentleman, faefolk from the drowned depths of Nyre to the withering dunes of Resh, welcome! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week. 🙂 Developer Diary #7 will be a bit smaller than is typical, but it contains some key details about how overall development of the game is going. Let's get right into the update, shall we? Overall Development Update We're very happy to share that development of SGoD is coming along smoothly, and we're roughly ~65% finished with the game. This month we wrapped up development of the 2nd Act of the main story, along with finishing all of the main systems that underpin the gameplay (such as the game's class system, spatial sound, and other engine/game mechanics-level systems). We're now full swing into writing, drawing, and designing everything that will be in Act III, which will include some of the most pivotal, climactic parts of the storyline. Ma…
- RPG Maker Festival 2026 is Live! - 10 February 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, faefolk, greetings and welcome :). We're very excited to be participating in this year's RPG Maker Festival 2026, a festival that celebrates indie games the world over! We invite you to head over to the festival page and join The Incandescent Bard and so many other wonderful indie devs in showcasing the worlds we have built with so much love and heart. Check out the demos, Wishlist and Follow the games you enjoy, and maybe even find your next great adventure :). Take care out there, CW The Incandescent Bard
- Developer Diary #6 & Hotfix 1.8.1 - 30 January 2026
Ladies, gentlemen, faefolk, welcome! Join us by the hearth and warm your hands and heart; we've a story to share about development on Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death :). We'll also have the patch notes for Hotfix 1.8.1 available at the end of this developer diary. As always, thank you so much for your support and interest in Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. We will continue to work our hardest to bring you the best possible JRPG we can build! If you've yet to try the demo, now is as great a time as any! We would be honored if you would give our game a try, and please Wishlist and Follow us on Steam if you enjoy it! And maybe share this dev diary with a friend? :) ------------------------------------------------------ A Hand-made World Map Pharsus is just the first of several explorable islands within the Broken Isles. One of the major parts of the game we've been working on this…
- 🎉indie.io Partnership and Demo Build 1.8 Patch Notes🎉 - 17 December 2025
Ladies, gentlemen, fae from the drowned depths of Nyre to the hymning branches of the Ardentwood, greetings and welcome! We have a couple of major announcements to share today, beginning with the biggest: The Incandescent Bard and indie.io have partnered to build Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death up to the best it can possibly be! We are incredibly excited and honored to be able to work with the folks at indie.io, a partner with extensive experience at bringing excellent indie titles to the widest audience possible. Some of the titles they've previously published include Dark Deity II, Coromon, and Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga, all incredible games in their own right (and titles I would personally recommend playing, if you haven't yet!) For those of you who may not know, working with a game publishing platform like indie.io greatly helps indie developers focus on game developmen…
- Our Kickstarter is now LIVE! - 21 October 2025
Hello everyone! We've just taken live our Kickstarter campaign! You can find it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theincandescentbard/sunflowers-and-the-goddess-of-death?ref=2x8rro We hope you will back us during the campaign and help us bring the world of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death to life :). -------------- There are a number of perks you can get by backing us on Kickstarter, like: 🌻 Kickstarter exclusive in-game rewards. 🌻 Ability to vote on new lore to be expanded within the game. 🌻 Opportunity to collab with the developers (us!) to create content that will be in the game on release. 🌻 Have your name in the credits and displayed on an in-game monument. 🌻 And more! :) We will also be sharing development updates on Kickstarter, so definitely take a look over the coming weeks for more news about the adventures, story, characters, enemies, and game mechanics that…
- Hotfix 1.7.5 - 17 October 2025
Greetings everyone! We've been getting quite a few new players of the demo lately and we are incredibly excited to have you all here with us! We really hope you enjoy the demo and are looking forward to the full release :). That said, this has also been a really good experience for us to get additional player feedback on the demo, and we've made some small changes to the final boss encounter on Normal difficulty, to make it less of a roadblock to someone who is newer to the game's battles. As a side note, both Frolic and Certain Death difficulties are remaining unchanged in this patch. Patch Notes 1.7.5 🌻 Fixed a bug that would cause the screen to pan when interacting with an invisible object. Developer's Note: This was actually a trigger we used to create some screen-panning gifs/movies for our Kickstarter that we accidentally left in the game. Apologies! That trigger is now removed!…
- Kickstarter Campaign Launching Soon! - 16 October 2025
Greetings everyone! We have 5 days remaining until our Kickstarter campaign goes live! 😅 We'll be sharing more news about Act II and other plans for the game throughout the campaign, so make sure to check it out! Kickstarter campaign link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theincandescentbard/sunflowers-and-the-goddess-of-death?ref=2x8rro --------------- Just in case you didn't know: Early-bird backer rewards will be available within the first 48 hours of our campaign launching (such as 25% off a digital copy of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death + a Kickstarter exclusive in-game item on launch), and some rewards are limited to a finite number of backers! So tell your friends and be ready to check out our page on Tuesday, October 21st! We hope to see you there!
- Our Kickstarter begins October 21st! - 7 October 2025
Good evening and welcome, everyone! We are incredibly excited (and a bit nervous) to announce we are launching a Kickstarter campaign on October 21st! From our Kickstarter, you'll be able to back us to get exclusive rewards like: 🌻 A Steam copy of Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death at a discounted price. 🌻 Day 1 in-game items, the Ring of Inversion, Twineoak of Glamour, Faunamancer's Sigil, and Crux of the Coven. 🌻 Lore and worldbuilding updates. 🌻 Betatest access. 🌻 An invite to a private discord with the developers. 🌻 And many other perks! We need your support to make Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death all it can be. Back us on Kickstarter, get exclusive rewards, and help us bring the world of Urdin to life! You can find our Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/theincandescentbard/sunflowers-and-the-goddess-of-death?ref=2x8rro While the official launch of the…
- 📜Anatomy of a Boss & Hotfix 1.7.3📜 - 4 September 2025
Ladies, gentlemen, faefolk of every creed, good evening! Tonight we're releasing an update to the demo that reworks the first boss encounter in Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death, Galgam'yrth, Avatar of Ishti. Our goal with this rework is to make the encounter more fun at all difficulty levels, more challenging on Normal and Certain Death difficulty, and generally just a little more thematic of a fight. First off, we wanted to open this announcement with a little insight into how we are designing boss encounters in Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death. Gaglam'yrth is back for round 2 and ready to put the "death" in Certain Death. Anatomy of a Boss EncounterThere are many RPGs out there that include difficulty levels, that's nothing new. However, for many games, the addition of a "hard" difficulty usually just means the enemies have increased stats, or the player gets reduced XP, or some…
- Hotfix 1.7.2 - 5 August 2025
Greetings! We've taken live a new build today that fixes a crash that has been reported and makes a couple gameplay related tweaks.Patch Notes 1.7.2🌻Fixed a crash that would rarely occur when saving or loading a game caused by a cache integrity failure.*It's likely most players never encountered this crash, as it only very rarely happened in typical gameplay and we could find no way to consistently reproduce it, but we took the time to fix it regardless. If you did encounter this crash at any point, we apologize; it should not occur again.🌻The Dryad class (Einno's starting class) now learns the spell Arczephyr at level 4.🌻The Priestess class (Wedelia's starting class) now learns the spell Wild Growth at level 5.*These class adjustments were made so that characters could deal AoE damage earlier, as well as to give Wedelia a little more offensive power on the Galgam'yrth boss encounter…
- 📜Dev Diary #5 & Demo Patch 1.7📜 - 23 July 2025
“Know this, she who deigns to speak for a god. To seize my power, to invoke a majesty as grave as it is divine, is to sacrifice a part of what makes one human. For when you stand on the precipice, no mortal can check thy might.” -Inscription carved in marble within the Cerulean Shrine of Aordhos. Dev Diary #5Greetings everyone! I hope this article reaches you in good health and good cheer. My name is C.W. Hendricks, lead game developer for Sunflowers and the Goddess of Death, and today I am very happy to bring to you an absolutely massive patch to the demo alongside some exciting news for our game’s development!First off, a special thank you to all who have played our demo and given us feedback and/or wishlisted our game on Steam. Your support means the world to us and we will strive to continue to earn it by delivering an RPG truly worth playing. Development UpdateLet’s first dive into…
