- Dev Log #4 | A look at motion capture, lip sync, and improved visuals - 25 August 2026
Hey everyone!We've been hard at work behind the scenes and have some really exciting updates and footage to share with you all. Let's just get into it: Lip Sync & Voice OversThis is the part I've been most excited about - lip sync and voice overs! We're in very early stages of starting lip sync for the first voice lines, but it's already beginning to add so much life to the game's characters. Here's a behind the scenes look at some of the lip sync work, and of course, your first look at the voice for Eli, voiced by the incredibly talented Emaley Rose! (Ignore the textures and visuals etc, this is directly from the lip sync software, outside the game)Motion CaptureA few weeks ago we also wrapped up the motion capture shoots, and I've been hard at work implementing it into the game. It's still in the early stages - the cinematography, camera angles, lighting, and polish are still pending…
- An update on the release date (plus some good news) - 29 July 2026
Hello!As we entered Q3 earlier this month, a few of you may have been expecting an update on the game's status and news on the release date. Shutter Story's launch date has been pushed to the first month of 2027. This is not because of any delays in development, but purely because of the bloodbath of game releases that is September and October this year, which was our intended release window. As you may have heard, GTA VI's launch in November has caused chaos for every other game releasing around the same time. And it is not GTA, but these other high profile games that are the reason for the delay. Sept-Oct is shaping up to be one of the most crowded release windows in recent memory. With a lot of games releasing at the same time (including a few horror ones) press and streamer coverage becomes exceedingly hard to secure - especially on an indie budget. The first few days and weeks in t…
- Fan Art Contest | Starts Right Now - 13 July 2026
We want to see what you create.For the next month, we are running a fan art contest open to all forms of creative work. Drawings, paintings, poetry, needlework, sculpture, photography, if you made it yourself, it qualifies. There are no restrictions on medium or style, only on one thing: no AI generated work. This contest is about human creativity and we take that seriously. The PrizeThe winner receives an exclusive Shutter Story hoodie (which will be revealed soon so watch this space) and a key for the game on release. How To EnterPost your entry in the fan-art channel on the official Frostwood Interactive Discord server with the title Contest Entry, or post on social media using the hashtag #shutterstoryfanart. DeadlineEntries close on Monday 10th August. After that, our team will pick our three favourite submissions and put them to a community vote, because you should be the ones who…
- Dev Log #3 | Voice overs and story completion! - 28 June 2026
Hey everyone!Things have been a little quiet over the past month and a half as I moved cities and got settled into a new place. Things have finally calmed down, and I jumped straight back into one of my favourite parts of making this game: voice overs. Voice Overs Are HappeningVoice overs were only made possible thanks to your support and the Kickstarter hitting the stretch goal, so thank you! The first task was to hold auditions and find the right fit for each character. This wasn't easy, especially because Eli and the main character have very specific teen voices. But within a few days of auditions, I found the perfect voices. I can't wait for you to hear them! (Sneak peeks coming soon!) Recording sessions for both teen characters happened live over Zoom, which turned out to be a really fun experience. The next step is implementing all the recordings into the game and sending everythi…
- Progress blog #2 - Wrapping up the climax - 29 May 2026
Hi there!Here's another quick development update to let you know what I've been up to for the past month. The first task to get crossed off was the "10 additional photos" stretch goal. After that, I began work on the game's 3rd act. Of course, I can't go into details for fear of spoilers, but know that I had a lot of fun working on this part, subverting gameplay and adding a few surprises. I'm happy to share that this part of the game and the story seem a lot of fun, and I can't wait to see what you all think of it!Last week, I wrapped up the final ending cutscene! This was a major milestone and it felt so good to finally see that last shot that comes just before the end credits. In terms of endings, the game does have slight variations depending on how you play the game, and this decides the fate of Eli and his family members. So technically, the game is now playable from start to "end…
- Progress and release date update - 2 May 2026
Hey everyone!I thought I'd share a bit of what's been up behind the scenes, as we're in Q2 2026 which was the original estimated launch date here on Steam.Since the successful Kickstarter last month, I've returned to core development, and wrapped up the final batch of photos and videos for the game! I also finished up the final remaining room in the house (the ones that are locked off in the demo) so the house is about 90% complete as well, apart from a final polish and improvement pass that will soon follow.In terms of the story, I'm deep into Act 3 and am just about to begin work on the climax. I'm currently working on the final "results" and analysis screen that shows you how you've done. This, of course, includes a lot of the feedback you shared for the demo. I think it's coming along nicely!All that admittedly makes it sound as if the game is nearly complete, but there's a lot left…
- Here's how Shutter Story's creepy photos are made. - 3 April 2026
Hey everyone!Here's a little sneak peak at Shutter Story's photo creation process!I use licensed, model released stock photos of real people from different eras (from the 2000s dating all the way back to the 1920s!) These are not the usual "stock photos" that come to mind when you hear the word (the super slick ones specifically designed for advertisements) but real photos of people taken by their friends or family with their own cameras, for the sake of capturing a special moment.This is what gives the photos in the game the real, eerie, vibe - no staged or generated photo can capture this effect.To make sure the characters in the photos relate to the in-game family, and to ensure the family members look identical to their own older or younger selves in different photos, I use photoshop to replace their faces with the ones from the in-game characters.Here's a video that shows how it's…
- Fixes in demo v0.2.4 - 23 March 2026
Hiv0.2.4 of the Shutter Story demo contains 2 minor fixes -Fixed minor pathfinding issues.Fixed an issue with loading an autosave from the main menu after completing the demo.Thanks for playing!- Armaan
- Shutter Story's Kickstarter was successful! Also - voice overs! - 22 March 2026
WE DID IT!!! SHUTTER STORY is fully funded!!Not only that - we also managed to hit the VOICE OVERS stretch goal! Shutter Story's characters will now be fully voiced, how cool is that?!Thank you for backing the campaign, for supporting the game and for your words of encouragement through it all, it really means a lot
- Shutter Story needs your help! - 12 March 2026
HiAs you all may know, I'm currently running a Kickstarter to fund Shutter Story's development. We're currently at 62% with 8 days to go - this is achievable with a big, final push!Funding will allow me time needed to fix bugs and add all the requested improvements (including voice overs for all the characters!) Without this, Shutter Story's future is uncertain.The campaign ends on March 21. PLEASE consider backing it on Kickstarter if you enjoyed playing the demo - every little bit helps!
- Shutter Story's Kickstarter campaign is live now! - 19 February 2026
Hi everyone!Excited to share the Kickstarter campaign for Shutter Story is LIVE NOW!Click here to support the final stretch of the game's development - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frostwoodint/shutter-storyA new demo is also up now on Steam, with a bunch of improvements from your feedback included. Also, here's a cool new trailer!In case you're considering supporting, the first 24 hours are especially important for the success of a campaign. Thank you for all your love and support so far!
- Shutter Story demo v0.2 update - 19 February 2026
Hi everyone!Excited to share that the new v0.2 demo is live now on Steam! Thank you for your patience :) This patch includes a lot of exciting improvements based on your feedback, including hugely improved performance, a "summarize" toggle to make the guide less overwhelming/ text heavy, slider/filter controls when in fullscreen mode in SpectralAware, feedback for incorrect answers, completely rewritten dialogues and more!Here's a full list of the improvements in the new demo - PerformanceImproved load times.Improved framerate.Reduced GPU load.Reduced build size.SpectralAware gameplayIntroduced a new "summarize" toggle for the guide to make reading it less overwhelming.Added fullscreen mode UI.Added short feedback after each wrong photo submission/answer.Added reset all sliders button.Reduced category ambiguity/overlap in guide.Added false positives section for each category in guideboo…
- New cover art for Shutter Story! - 15 February 2026
Hey everyone!Very excited to share the updated artwork for Shutter Story! The artwork was created by the very talented Ludmila V. I'm especially happy with how the hands turned out :) What do you think?Oh and if you haven't heard - I will be doing a Kickstarter for Shutter Story on Feb 19 - just 4 days from now! Support it by hitting follow here so you don't miss it when the campaign goes live! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frostwoodint/shutter-story Following also ensures that the campaign gets maximum visibility right out of the gate.Thank you!- Armaan
- Updated demo coming soon! - 11 February 2026
Hi there!You might have noticed that the demo is no longer available for download. I've been working on the new and updated demo with all your feedback implemented (fullscreen UI controls, performance improvements, reworked guide and much more!) and this updated demo (v0.2) will be up on the 19th along with the game's upcoming Kickstarter!Consider giving it a follow if you'd like to support the development of the game :)- Armaan
- Kickstarter for Shutter Story this month! - 8 February 2026
Hi everyone! Got a little announcement to make - as the title states, I'll be doing a Kickstarter campaign to fund Shutter Story! I feel Shutter Story has the potential to develop into something special long term, something I can take beyond this specific game. I have avoided the publisher and investor route because I think the best way to achieve this is with complete creative and business control of the game and its future. Doing a Kickstarter allows me additional funds to pay freelancers and launch the game in the best state (and also avoid starvation while doing it ;))I have an interesting Stretch Goal planned as well, one which I think a lot of you will be pretty excited about!There will also be an updated demo to go with it which includes a bunch of the feedback I've received from you all.Here's a link to the Kickstarter coming soon page. Follow it to stay updated for when the cam…
- Thank you for 50K wishlists! - 30 January 2026
Hi everyone!Thank you for all the support, reposts, shares, reviews, feedback and wishlists so far! I'm hard at work and can't wait to share what I've been building! I've also gone through ALL the 750+ feedback I've received on the feedback form, made a list of improvements and feature requests, and I'm working on adding some of them now for an updated demo. Thank you for taking the time to leave all that lovely and detailed feedback :)Here's to a great 2026 with more Shutter Story news to come soon :)- Armaan
- Hotfix 0.14b patch notes - 18 November 2025
Hello!This is just a very quick hotfix to address a rare issue where the player would sometimes become stuck after a cutscene and be unable to move or look around. A fix for this has been attempted in patch v0.14b. Let me know if you run into any other issues!- Armaan
- Final results are now displayed after the demo ends! - 13 November 2025
HelloA lot of players have been asking for some sort of feedback or results that show if their choices during the demo were right, wrong or somewhere in between. Patch v0.14 fixes that! At the end of the demo, you'll get an idea of how you did - Note that this is just a quick fix for the demo. The full game will have more "in-universe" ways of conveying to the player if they're on the right track - changes in the house, random hauntings, corruption or possession of the SpectralAware software... (the options are open, I haven't 100% decided yet!)Updates to the demo will be slower from here on out (unless there are big game breaking bugs) as I now return my focus on making the full game and getting it to you as soon as possible! :)Thanks for playing and for the support!- Armaan
- Fixes in patch v0.13 - 12 November 2025
Hi!Here are some more fixes for the Shutter Story demo based on the feedback so far:Added mouse and controller look sensitivity sliders in the Options menu. Improved controller navigation experience in the Options and Controls menus.Fixed a bug where saving/loading at the very start before knocking on the door would allow the player to walk outside bounds freely.Small graphical fixes and improvements.More fixes coming soon. Thanks for playing!- Armaan
- Fixes in patch v0.12 - 10 November 2025
Hello!Thanks again for playing the Shutter Story demo! Your feedback so far has been invaluable and I've only just begun improving the game based on it. Keep it coming! :) Based on the feedback, patch v0.12 contains the following fixes:An Options menu with settings for sound, graphics quality, Vsync, display mode and monitor selection for multiple monitor setups.Balanced some photos to reduce false positives and to make hauntings slightly less vague and ambiguous.Fixed ghosting caused by TAA antialiasing.Made slight improvements to overall visuals, contrast and brightness.The large play icon on videos now also starts playback in addition to the main play button.Reduced the volume for an unintentionally loud glitch effect and removed additional unnecessary occurrences of it.More fixes will follow in the coming days! In case you missed the patch notes for v0.11, you can find them here - T…
