I'm not sure if you got to see this announcement, but here's what we've been working on in the last 20 months or so:



Bloody Hell Hotel has 10 times the scope of DARQ - I can't wait to share this game with you all. As crazy as it sounds, we're trying to create the most ambitious first-person simulation game in existence. The Steam page is up, so you can check it out for more info.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2055770/Bloody_Hell_Hotel/


As the game is still in mid-development, we're asking people to contribute ideas on our Discord. If your idea gets used in the game, you'll receive a copy of Bloody Hell Hotel when it launches and your name will be featured in the credit roll. Multiple people have already done so.


As always, thank you all so much for your support over the years. Without you, creating a project of this scale wouldn't have been possible.

So I asked the Webby Award organizers to carve this line on the statuette and they did :) (see line 4):



Thank you all again for your support - this award is dedicated to all of you!

I know what you're all wondering: having completed this quest, how's his HP (i.e. hand)? How is his sanity meter? Did he level up? All of this and more will be answered in this update.


I'm happy to say that all cards have been sent today via the USPS First-Class Mail® / First-Class Mail International®. If you live in the U.S., expect yours to arrive within 1–5 Business Days. International shipping might take a little longer.




Yes.


Yes. It might seem like it would be a tedious task to write so many personalized notes, but it actually ended up being a totally wholesome experience. You won't receive a generic "THANK YOU - Best regards" card. Expect a real handwritten message. Many of you wrote kind, often touching emails that accompanied the forms. These emails allowed to me to write lengthy heartfelt responses. Other notes were interesting to write just based on the destination alone - to a country I've visited before, to a city that means a lot to me, etc. It's hard to avoid similarities when writing hundreds of messages, but for the most part, all cards are completely unique.




Kind of, yes :) Well, three of my fingers were red and felt bruised by the end, but luckily, they healed very fast. So a few HP points were lost, but a lot of XP was gained. Good quest overall. Lloyd approves:




Excellent, why?




Actually, I did just now :D Guess my age.

I hope you all enjoy getting these as much as I enjoyed writing. Stay awesome!



Much love to all

In my previous update I promised to do something special for you all, given how much support you've shown me. It's not just about the Webby Awards - it's about your support over the years (some of you were following DARQ way before it launched!). I don't mean to be unnecessarily dramatic, but without you, I'd likely be homeless right now (it's just the reality of my particular situation).

I had several ideas in mind:

• Steam gift cards! But...I can't possibly afford giving everyone a gift card.
  
• DARQ Content Update! Actually, it will likely going to happen one way or another, although pulling it off will surely take some time since I'm working pretty much every waking hour on a new game.

So what can I do now? Here's an idea...What if I were to send you a hand-written thank you note? This way, I can literally send one to everyone who wants one. People rarely get to connect this way because the Internet makes communication fast & easy...It's easy to say "thanks y'all!" online, but perhaps something gets lost when it's said like that...Hand-writing personalized messages takes time and effort - maybe that's why people do it so rarely. The only reason I want to do this is to show you that you all mean a lot to me and that I'm truly grateful.



The card is 5x7", glossy, shows the cover of DARQ and says "THANK YOU" on it. It will have a hand-written message on the back. If you want one, simply fill out this form & send it to pr@unfoldgames.org:

• IS SHIPPING WORLDWIDE?
  Yes, as long the USPS delivers to your location (which is almost every country in the world).
  
  
• PRIVACY?
  This is super important to me: I realize that in order for me to send you a Thank You note, I need to ask you for your shipping information. Please read this privacy policy - we tried to make it as short as possible. Here's a summary:
  
  • Your personal information will only be used to send you the hand-written Thank You note. It will not be used for any other purpose.
    
  • It will be deleted permanently as soon as the notes are shipped (May 30th, 2022).
    
  • It will not be shared with anyone.
    
  • No marketing emails, no newsletters - nothing.
  
  
• DEADLINE?
  You can send the form by May 21st, 11:59 PM Pacific Time.
  
  
• IS EVERYONE WHO REQUESTS A CARD GOING TO GET ONE?
  Yes, unless it can't be delivered for a reason beyond my control.
  
  
• ARE ALL THANK YOU NOTES GOING TO BE WRITTEN AND SENT BY YOU PERSONALLY?
  Yes.

People of the DARQness,

TL;DR: This is NOT your typical "Hey, we won this award, bye!" post.


DARQ won a Webby Award (Audience Voice) in the Independent Creator category. I must say, it feels crazy to see DARQ featured alongside NASA, Star Wars, Trevor Noah, Stephen Colbert, Billie Eilish, etc. etc. I'm pinching myself.

Yeah. My ego is happy I guess. I don't care that much about my ego though. Do you know what makes me so happy about this? It's the fact that I can't take any credit for this award. I owe it 100% to YOU, because it's YOU, the audience, voted for DARQ. It wouldn't have happened without you, and for that I will be forever grateful.

It's hard to explain how much this means to me. Perhaps you already know a bit about me if you read my book. I was born in Belarus, the last remaining dictatorship in Europe. My family fled Belarus when I was a child. As refugees, we came to Poland and within a number of years, went bankrupt. We had no money to afford heating and basic necessities. There were other problems that were making my life hopeless and unbearable (I won't go into much detail here). My mom abandoned me. A few years later, my dad passed. I came to the U.S. in 2007 with $300 of borrowed cash. I had no connections. I spoke zero English. I stuttered. Perhaps I'm oversharing, but I actually went through a period of real starvation and came very close to being homeless in New York. A lot of things happened since then and I owe so much to people who helped me along the way.

Coming from humble beginnings, it really feels overwhelming and humbling as hell to see how much support DARQ has received from this community. Making this game (+DLC's & console ports) took nearly 7 years of my life. I knew nothing about making games when I started and I took every risk in the world to make this game a reality. It was hard, ladies and gentlemen. Very, very hard. Seeing DARQ listed among all these big names is cool, but it doesn't mean much. Seeing that you care, however, means the world to me. It feels like we did this together. You had no reason to support me, yet you did. Again, after everything I've been through, I simply cannot take this for granted.

In my last update I promised you that I'd find my way to show you my gratitude. I intend to keep my promise. I have something planned for you. A gift. I'm working on it right now, and I'll let you know what it is later this year. It will be free for all of you to enjoy and I hope you like it. That's the least I can do to show you that I really mean every word I say.

Apart from that, I'm also hard at work on the new game. I can't wait to announce it, I've been working on it for quite some time.

You all mean a lot to me. Thank you.

Hi DARQ fam!


The craziest thing just happened. DARQ got nominated for a Webby Award, in the "Independent Creator" category. Other category nominees include NASA, Stephen Colbert, Seth Rogan, Billie Eilish, The Star Wars app, and many more familiar names & brands.

You probably know my story by now - I have to say, coming from very humble beginnings, this nomination feels completely surreal. All the success that DARQ has had, including this nomination, I owe to you and your support. I'll never forget this, I promise (if I ever do, please smack me hard so I could re-read this promise and come to my senses).




We're currently in the lead when it comes to the audience voting, but a lot can change in the coming days. Games that are nominated in this category all deserve to be recognized, and I'm a big fan of some of them myself. I'm truly humbled by the fact that DARQ is one of them. Needless to say, I'm asking you to consider voting for DARQ. If DARQ wins this award, you have my word I'll find a way to show you my gratitude. I already have a pretty good idea what I would do.

1. Go to Webby Awards website
   
2. Click VOTE next to "DARQ: Complete Edition" (if you could click the Twitter or Facebook share button, that would be super helpful!)
   
3. Sign up for a new account with your email (or alternatively, twitter or facebook).
   
4. If you voted with your email, it's important that you confirm your vote by clicking a link in the email you will receive from the Webby Awards (otherwise, your vote won't be counted).

Thank you - truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support so far. Look how far we've come! It all started in 2015, with a crazy dream that seemingly had no chance of coming true. Now, the second game is in the works and will be announced later this year. I can't wait to share it with you.

Love you all.

This 60-page graphic novel answers many questions about the game and reveals numerous secrets hidden in it. But there's much more to it. It also greatly expands upon the DARQ Universe with new characters, new locations & events not shown in the game. The comic book represents a full-fledged story in which the events shown in the game are just the tip of the iceberg.



You can grab it on Amazon here.

BTW, wow. You really destroyed that pre-order button! The comic book made it to the Best Seller's list before it was even released. Nearly 500 days have been spent working on this thing, not to mention a big chunk of cash. This was never meant to be a "money-maker" - I just felt the story of DARQ needed to be revealed, whether it's a profitable endeavor or not. While I still doubt I'll break even on the costs of making it, it really means a lot to see so much support for this project. You know, I actually approached a large comic book publisher asking to release the comic worldwide. Although the project got interest due to its quality, it ended up getting rejected because there wasn't much conviction in the demand. Well, you've proven them wrong, which I must say, feels pretty damn awesome. Thank you for that.

A 60-page DARQ graphic novel, over 1 year in the making, is finally finished and ready to be released. I'm super excited to share with you this trailer:

(epic voiceover alert: sound ON)



Art Directed by a former Disney, Dreamworks, and Universal Studios artist.

• You can preorder it on Kindle here ːlloyd_happyː. The paperback version is coming on March 15th.

Speaking of Kindle, I didn't know it would make for an awesome reading experience of a graphic novel, but it actually does. It can be viewed on any device and it allows for reading in the full page mode as well as in the panel mode (in which you scroll through individual panels, one by one). It surprisingly works very well for comic books.




As you might already know, the story of DARQ is not told in the traditional, direct way. The events shown in the game are highly symbolic and cryptic, not unlike dreams. Inspired by David Lynch, I always wanted DARQ to be open to interpretation like dreams are. I love watching theories videos and reading people's thoughts about the meaning of the game. There are no right or wrong theories, they're all fun & super creative. To this day, however, I never stumbled upon a theory that comes close to the story that I had in mind when creating DARQ. It's not the only "right" explanation of DARQ. It is my explanation, one of many. I chose to share it with you through this graphic novel, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I & an amazing team of talented people enjoyed making it.


The graphic novel answers many questions about the game and reveals numerous secrets hidden in it. But there's much more to it. It also greatly expands upon the DARQ Universe with new characters, new locations & events not shown in the game. These 60 pages represent a full-fledged story in which the events shown in the game are just the tip of the iceberg.

I hope you enjoy this treat while we're preparing for the announcement of our second game. As always, thank you all for your support - our second game is big and ambitious. Making it wouldn't be possible without you. Stay tuned & have an awesome weekend! ːlloyd_in_loveː

Hi everyone! I have a few updates to share!




I'm excited to announce that DARQ: Complete Edition has just won the Game of the Year Award at the Overcome Festival! I’m honestly super humbled by this. I had no idea the game would end up winning so many awards when I was working on it, not to mention an award like this! It really means a lot to me (as a reminder, I had to clue about making games when I started working on DARQ back in 2015). As always, thank you all for your support!


We're finishing up a comic book based on DARQ. It has 60 pages and will be released soon. It was art-directed by Kelsey Haley (known for her work for Disney, Dreamworks, and Universal Studio), drawn and inked by Marco Ferraris, colored by Chiara Parisi, edited by Dean Clark, and proofread by Nancy Haight. The story is by yours truly.



The comic will not only explain the events in the game but also will significantly expand on the DARQ Universe. If you want to be notified when it’s released, add your email here.


DARQ recently launched on the EGS. Back in 2019, I had said that if DARQ were to launch on the EGS, I would donate all EGS sales revenue to charity. I'm keeping my word - all revenue generated from sales on the EGS will be donated to charity. If you're interested in more details about the choice of charity and how the launch on the EGS happened, check out my Medium article here. If you have any questions, feel free to ask either here or on Twitter(@UnfoldGames).


Stay tuned for the announcement of my 2nd game. I've been hard at work on it for the last 6 months, and this time it's a pretty big production that has 10-times the scope of DARQ. It's a "AA" kind of project with a pretty large team behind it, including a number of AAA veterans. I can't wait to tell you more!

Thank you for your support on this journey spanning over half a decade - it really means the world to me!

Hey Dreamers!

My apologies for the blunder - the 1.3.2 version came with an unexpected bug. This little patch should fix the black screen / soft-lock issue when switching between the head and the body in several spots of The Crypt. A big THANK YOU to Dean C. and Georgie G who submitted videos, which made it so much easier to pinpoint the issue.

Thank you all for understanding & your patience! Please make sure your build is updated to the 1.3.2b version (it shows in the top-right corner of the pause menu).

Any other issues, let me know - Lloyd will get it fixed immediately ːlloyd_happyː