- Update v1.2.0 - 31 July 2026
Shapers!Today we're releasing Update v1.2.0! This update includes the much-requested high score feature. You’ll now see your highest letter grade and score for every level directly on the Track Select screen. When you hit a new high score, you’ll also get a cute visual+sfx on the post craft screen!As would be hän's preference, we've also given Xielle's Flair nodes a glowup! Flair nodes are now more legible on the track, and more in line with Xielle's couture. You can read the full patch notes below! New Features & UpdatesHigh Scores:Overhauled the Track Select UI/UX. Now shows the highest letter grade and score for each track and each difficulty, respectively. Added additional controls \ to switch between difficulties during track selectTweaked the Post-Crafting screen and added a notification+sfx on achieving a new high scoreMinor clarifications and copy edits in the NotebookFixed some…
- Fine Work: Act I in the Steam Summer Sale! - 25 June 2026
Hello, Sendshapers! Fine Work: Act I is in the Steam Summer Sale! If you have been curious about Fine Work, it's the perfect time to jump in! This is our highest discount since release! ✨Explore a world that's both comforting and strange, and enjoy rhythm game play that moves at your pace! 🧵Whether you have been following our development for a while or are just discovering the game for the first time, we would love to welcome you to Gleamhold!💫If you’re not sure yet, we have a Free Demo for you to try first, featuring the first few in-game days! Thank you for supporting indie games, and stay vivid! ✨Tethys Games
- Fine Work Dev Stream, QDC Dev Swap, and #Blob-Alerts! - 4 June 2026
Happy Pride, Vivid Friends!It's June, and we've got lots to tell you about~! Starting with... an Official Fine Work Stream with our Devs tomorrow!!Tethys Games will be streaming Fine Work: Act I on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 9 PM CST!Come to the stream!! Hang out, chat, and cheer us on! We highly encourage you to join our Discord and RSVP to the event to be notified when we go live!This is the first time we will be live-streaming as a studio on Twitch!! We’ve all wanted to do this for a long time! The cast is very excited to do a scene from later in the game, complete with voice acting, and to share some stories from making the game. Characters will be read by some of the devs, artists, musicians, and writers who produced Fine Work: Act I!Follow Our Twitch - Tethys GamesFollow Our Twitch - Tethys GamesFollow Our Twitch - Tethys GamesThis event is a part of Qweerty Gamers' Queer Quest! A 7…
- Update v1.1.1 - 20 May 2026
Howdy, Shapers!We've been hard at work cooking up some fixes and features for Fine Work: Act I, and wanted to share some patch notes! Features: We moved the player character nameplate to the right side of the screen during dialogue, which helps make it clear who is speaking. We've added some default terms to the notebook to help new sendshapers better understand the world. We've smoothed out the audio transition between pausing and resuming the visual novel. Shapers can now calibrate the tempo from the settings menu inside of the visual novel. We've smoothed out the start button function for controller users, making it easier to enter and exit menus. Bug Fixes: Repaired some instances where scenery tended to vanish at the end of levels. Minor UI, visual and audio fixes focused on increasing clarity and ease of keyboard/controller use. Improved auto levels and mastering. Improved the vis…
- Upcoming Steam Festivals & Spring Updates! - 5 May 2026
Gleamholdians,In celebration of springtime, we are announcing multiple May events that feature Fine Work! Exclusive events like these make a huge difference for us as an indie studio, and we are so proud to showcase in these festivals!If you discovered us via one of these events, be sure to come say hi on our Discord! We encourage you to try the free demo of our fantasy visual novel x rhythm game! And, if you're already a Hobby Lantern regular, be sure to check out all the other indie games included in these fests!Psychodelic FestivalHosted by Skull Queens Games | Live from May 4-11, 2026Eldritch dance clubs with neon-pulse jellyfish? Huffing fungal spores that transport your spirit to an overgrown, breathing mail cavern? That’s only a taste of Fine Work’s psychedelic vibes! Get lost in the kaleidoscopic rhythm sequences, explore the familiar-yet-alien streets of Gleamhold, and fall hea…
- Fine Work: Act I 1.1 Patch Update! - 6 March 2026
Hello, Shapers!Today we're releasing the 1.1 update for Fine Work, Act I!! Since launch, we’ve pushed quite a few updates, features, and bug fixes. Our devs and artists have been hard at work making Fine Work better and better, so we thought we’d highlight some of the changes we’re most excited about this patch!🪡 Keyboard/Controller improvements: You’ll notice a smoother experience when playing without a mouse, with cleaner menu transitions, more responsive inputs, and numerous bugfixes for the controller experience!🪡 Sendshaping Autoplay: Our latest accessibility feature adds the ability to autoplay sendshaping sessions! You’ll be able to experience each song from beginning to end, totally hands-free, if so desired. You’ll be able to toggle this on in your game settings. 🪡 Notebook Improvements: For all of our lore-hunters out there, we’re happy to announce a round of improvements f…
- Fine Work: Act I Original Soundtrack is Out Now! - 25 February 2026
Fine Work: Act I Original Soundtrack is Available Now!The award-winning Fine Work: Act 1 Soundtrack illuminates the unforgettable characters and otherworldly locales woven throughout the city of Gleamhold. Music is at the heart of Fine Work: drenched in memories, vivid with nostalgia for realms unknown, these songs capture the simultaneously weird and cozy atmosphere of this picturesque fantasy noir.20 original songs composed by Casey Michelle and Evan Courtney for Fine Work: Act 1. An hour of music, available in MP3 and Lossless WAV format. In honor of our OST going on sale, we wanted to share a more in-depth look into just a few of the aspects of Fine Work's dreamy soundtrack! We do all of our music in-house! In fact, Fine Work's game director is also the composer of all of the sendshaping music and Fine Work's sound design! There is no better person to ask about the music in our game…
- Hotfix v1.0.5 - 3 February 2026
- Achievements now will trigger upon clicking "Retry" after completing a crafting level - Improved navigation for keyboard/controller - Various UI color and copy tweaks - Improved save file playtime readability - Credits have been added to the main menu - Credits are now skippable with the "Back" button - Menus are no longer openable during credits
- Hotfix v1.0.4 - 22 December 2025
- Various visual and focus improvements for keyboard navigation - Added quick access volume control while paused during rhythm gameplay
- Hotfix v1.0.3 - 12 December 2025
- Rhythm cursor no longer warps on misinput/realignment during acceleration and deceleration - Boundary-confining rhythm cursor logic improved - Backing out of Settings menu should now save all changes by default - Improved spacing on notebook entries - More intuitive naming conventions for Minimum Framerate setting
- Hotfix v1.0.2 - 4 December 2025
General - Rebinding keys in the Settings Panel should now work as expected - Airborne thread particles will no longer randomly stop after losing a combo - Softened jitter from activating/deactivating "focus" effect on character sprites when their dialogue is active - Addressed more "white background" issues in the visual novel - Should no longer need to press "Continue" twice post-crafting to continue Scoring - Scoring should now correctly value flair notes - Scoring should now properly display the flow modifier altered results in the pre- and post-bonus final score - Scoring should now reliably show the correct letter rating - S++ no longer possible without a perfect flow multiplier - S+++ now properly displays when a player achieves all perfect notes on a track Tweaks - Fixed artifacting in Steady Hands skybox - Abare audio levels normalized - Retinted various visual novel icons
- Hotfix v1.0.1 - 28 November 2025
- Various backgrounds will now load in correctly when quickly progressing through dialogue - Addressed multiple typos
- Happy Birthday, Fine Work Act I! - 26 November 2025
Vivid Friends,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. You’ve found one such place in Gleamhold, and today- you’ll open shop!! Happy Official Release of Fine Work: Act I! Available NOW on Steam! 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. 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. With 2 unique s…
- Fine Work: Act I Release Update - 24 August 2025
Hello friends, followers, and future sendshapers, 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 Before anything else: we want to offer our heartfelt apologies to everyone who has been looking forward to Fine Work's debut.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.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.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…
- Fine Work in Steam Next Fest June 9-16, 2025 - 9 June 2025
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. 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! NEW DEMO BUILD FEATURESNew Dialogue, Backgrounds, and Character ArtUpgraded UIA Big Upgrade to Save/LoadA Brand New Character New 3D Art and Beatmaps in the Rhythm Levels Watch the devs & community play…
- Worldbuilding in Fine Work - 9 May 2025
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 numero…
- Indie Assemble! - 5 May 2025
Fine Work will be showcased in the Indie Assemble Steam event from May 5-11, 2025! Indie Assemble features over 1,000 games by 600+ development studios (from 63 different countries)! You can check out this event - and all the cool indie titles involved - RIGHT NOW! Indie Assemble 2025 Thank you to Giorgio for including us in this fun event! Go check out some cool games! Stay Vivid~!
- DreamHack Dallas Announcement w/Discounts - 2 May 2025
Are you attending Dreamhack Dallas 2025? So are we! Come visit the Fine Work booth in the Indie Playground!! Play the demo, meet some of our team, & grab a QT sticker! Didn't buy a ticket yet? We’ve got you covered ✨Use our special code, FINEWORK, for a 15% discount on 1-day and 3-day DreamHack tickets. Be sure to drop into our DISCORD and let us know that you're coming!! Can’t wait to see you there! Stay Vivid!
- Fine Work Community Play - 31 March 2025
Peek into the Fine Work demo with friends of the studio, including @AustinRyder & @WMGSO
- DEMO LIVESTREAMS | Women's Day Sale - February 28th-March 9th 2025 - 28 February 2025
Watch a collection of community livestreamers playing the Fine Work demo, and perhaps, download, and play yourself!
