On Monday the 29th of January, 2018 I wrote the very first lines of code for a project I called "land". It was meant to be a simple little project that I could knock out fairly quickly and get some experience actually finishing and releasing a game. How wrong that was- it wasn't quick, or simple, and really "water" would have been a much better name anyhow.

Well, 8 years later we've finally made it! It took 2,746 code commits, around 5,000 hours of work, 65,000+ players of the free version providing valuable testing and feedback, and approximately 89 trillion deer running around infesting your worlds but the day has finally arrived. No longer constrained to play Terra Firma for free, you are now able to play Terra Firma 2 in exchange for your hard earned money.

A sincere thank you to all the people who made this possible, most especially all of you on steam who provided your support. The game literally, actually would not be here without your encouragement and validation of the concept I had for this game.

But that's all history now! Looking forward there is still a ton of features and content I want to add and your support of the game will allow me to do that with 100% of my focus. I've decided to release the game as "Early Access", to convey a committment on my part to keep working on this project. I hope the 4 years I've been doing so in public on steam without taking payment shows how seriously I take the committment should you choose to purchase the game.

Happy worldbuilding!

During the Steam Scream Fest IV, Luce Spenta opens its doors.
Enter… if you dare to face your own decisions.
Five souls await your verdict, and one voice —Morta’s— whispers from the darkness to guide or condemn you.

Each story is a mirror.
Each judgment, a confession.
And when you think the game is over… she will still be there.

⚰️ Available with a 15% discount until November 3rd.
The judgment will not wait for you.

You can also pick now what stage to play from.

This is your typical super casual retro FPS Shooter!!

So waht are you wating for, go in and get vegging!!

Hey everyone!

For this screamfest we have a surprise update for you:

This Halloween, brace yourself for a spookier version of the clone hunting!

What’s New:

• Officers Turned Witches: Officers turned to a magical path

• Candy Weapon Boxes: Scattered around the map, these boxes hold either a broom weapon or a pumpkin bomb.

• Pumpkin Bombs: Dynamite is so old school. Toss exploding pumpkins and watch the chaos unfold!

• Broom weapon: Perfect for sweeping the house or clearing the streets of pesky clones.

Event Duration: 27 October – 3 November

You can disable the event by toggling the Seasonal Events off in the Options menu

8-Bit Loop Halloween Walz music by dAmbient

-wolderado

• A new version of Code Hunt is now in the game! Rather than being based on Discord announcements, there are 10 codes in the game which will cycle automatically every week for each player. Also, the location of the code hunt has moved from the menu to the Daily Gift panel to give more room to give hints. The old code has been deprecated.

• Fixed the blank space in the symbol of mysteries description when sacrificing or ascending it.
  
• Fixed a bug where guarding after meditating when Nirvana is active would make you lose your meditated strike
  
• Fixed the berry glyph panel
  
• Fixed an issue where upgrading a building at high levels could refund materials
  
• Oil offering progress calculated with more precision, which should prevent progress from appearing to go down at high oil offering levels
  
• Added missing text to the hotkey binding for singularity

• Added a visual indicator to show the empowerment level of accessories: nothing if they are not empowered, a crescent moon at <40% empowerment, a half moon between 40 and 60% empowerment, a gibbous moon between 60% and 100% empowerment, and a full moon at 100% empowerment
  
• The text and image of the quest progress meter now changes when it is past the point where progress can be accurately calculated to avoid confusion
  
• Singularity animations have been shortened slightly
  
• Clicking through Singularity messages is now faster
  
• Increased the cap on the number of berry trades, basic building upgrades, rebirth point allocation, and talent point allocation that can be performed at once

• Futhark rewards no longer spawn on the edges of the grid
  
• Adjusted blood golem's highest level knowledge bonus

Personally, I’m heading to a rock concert. Haven’t picked which one yet, but Halloween definitely calls for rock.

Meanwhile, the Steam Scream Fest is kicking off — and we’re offering 35% off the game and 20% off the DLC.

Plus, a bundle with Monster Train 2 for an extra 10% off!

We’re excited to team up with Monster Train 2, because two awesome games are always better than one.

1. Increase the speed setting of the regional mode and switch the game speed multiplier.

2. Modify the UI error issue when entering tower climbing mode after exiting from regional mode.

A new patch for Astride is now available. Here are the new features and changes/fixes that have been made. More patches and updates will come soon.

You may have to restart your Steam client if the update is not immediately available.

WARNING: Existing save files will not work with this or any newer build. The current save files will not be deleted and it will still be possible to use them for previous builds of the game. For this build, new save files will have to be created.

• A breeding board and a stable management board have been added to the stable

• A breeding feature using realistic genetics has been implemented in its first stages

• Foal models for the offspring that turns into the horse model after one in-game year

• Foal grows gradually over time

• The Percheron horse breed has been added

• Tutorials have been added

• Added cross country courses

• Stable assigning and horse placement feature was added to the main stable

• Day/night system with the sun/moon moving as time progresses

• Players can now lead horses

• Players can now open and close doors/gates

• Owning multiple horses is now possible

• Selling/deleting horses has been added

• Option to geld stallions has been added

• Added save slots

• A new interaction system is in place

• Renaming or changing horses’ names now possible

• It is now possible to buy horses

• The player can no longer sprint while crouching

• Fixed a bug that made it impossible to go from passage to trot

• The horse’s jumping animation height is based off the current jump

• Jumps in competition will no longer be allowed to be jumped from the wrong direction

• Jump refusal animation is now correctly animated

• Jump refusal animation is now played from gallop as well

• Jump refusal animation from trot is now not as extreme

• Fixed weird hip movement on the character while riding into a halt

• Adjusted jump animation to not overstretch as much

• Fixed horse coat name not being saved in horse definition for horse creator horse

• Fixed mane not getting the correct blendshape for Norwegian Warmblood

• Made changes to the code that spawns, initializes, and deletes horses

• Updated save and load system

• Fixed the horse head size between breeds

• Fixed the missing transition from riding idle to non-riding idle

• Fixed bugs in multiplayer

• All horses aged two years or older will automatically get the default saddle and bridle

• When skipping to the next day, it will sometimes get stuck on a black screen

• The option to sell horses will sometimes stop working

• Day and night cycle only works for the host in multiplayer

• The breeding tutorial and the Stable boxes tutorial are missing images

• Cross country uses the show jumping tutorial

We are still riding the wave of emotion after Poznań Game Arena 2025! A huge thank you to everyone who visited our booth in the Indie Zone (hall 5, booth 35) and played the Above the Snow demo! Your enthusiasm was absolutely incredible, and the queues of people eager to take on the challenge of running a mountain shelter exceeded our wildest expectations. Your support and positive feedback confirm our belief that our vision for a narrative, atmospheric tycoon game makes sense!

We are thrilled to announce that Above the Snow has been nominated by IGN Polska for the Best Polish Indie Game Award at PGA 2025! For us, as the independent studio Above the Desk, this is a great honor and proof that our unique genre blend (narrative tycoon strategy) has been noticed.

The trade fair in Poznań was a milestone for our project, the winner of the Grand Winner award in the PC Game City-Building category at the NYX Games Awards 2025. For the first time, we are publicly presenting a ten-minute gameplay video, giving you a glimpse into the daily life of an Alpine shelter manager from the 1960s. It is now available on our Steam page.

• Running the Shelter: You were able to step into the host's shoes, arranging interiors with stylish furniture from Heywood Wakefield and Fjordfiesta to create a cozy haven for hikers. Satisfied guests are the key to success!

• High-Altitude Logistics: We proved that the gameplay doesn't end with warm corners. A specially designed quest system allowed you to organize and transport supplies and mark out your own mountain trails.

• Legends of Mountaineering: Our game draws inspiration from the history of mountaineering. At the shelter, you will meet characters modeled after real mountain icons, including the Polish traveler Marek Kamiński and the legendary Himalayan climber Ed Viesturs!

The premiere of Above the Snow is planned for the first half of 2026. If you like the idea of managing an Alpine shelter and caring for the safety of hikers among majestic peaks, add Above the Snow to your Steam Wishlist! This is the best way to support our work and not miss the premiere.

Wishlist Now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2423760/Above_the_Snow/\

We are pleased to announce the release of ZEPHON's second DLC: The Platinum & The Infinite!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4046850/ZEPHON__The_Platinum__The_Infinite/Accompanying the DLC we're also releasing a patch that adds new diplomacy options and quality-of-life features.

A few changes we'd like to highlight (full patch notes below):

• Added diplomatic options to praise and condemn other leaders on the public stage. This costs influence and increases or decreases your and your friends' standing with the other party.

• The AI will now only praise a war if actual hostile actions have recently occured.

• Added UI buttons for "Order units in radius 3", "Order all idle units", "Order all units" and "Toggle Yield Overlay".

Grab the DLC with the Expanded value bundle:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/60909/ZEPHON_Expanded/Or support us with the Complete bundle:

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/54708/ZEPHON_Complete/Until later,

Survive.

# Version 1.2.0

## New

* Added The Platinum & The Infinite DLC content.

* Added diplomatic options to praise and condemn other leaders on the public stage. This costs influence and increases or decreases your and your friends' standing with the other party.

* Added DLC hero items, units and operations to advanced caches and Erebus Excavator (can trigger regardless of the DLC being enabled).

* Added UI buttons for "Order units in radius 3", "Order all idle units", "Order all units" and "Toggle Yield Overlay".

* Added World String to the game lobby advanced parameters: An encoded string of all the world parameters, including the mutators, but without the players. Use this to share your world setup with others or to save it for later.

* Added notification when ZEPHON and Anchorite regroup for the final battle.

* Added more terrain ambient audio.

## General

* For leader-specific mutators, The Deep acceptance stage can now only be reached when also playing the specific leader in combination with the mutator.

* Pressing the Cancel control (Escape key by default) now ends a diplomatic call.

* Units whose turn it is will no longer overwatch unit spawns whose turn it is not (e.g. "Did Our Unification Matter?" spawns).

* Ordering all units / all idle units / units in the area no longer orders units inside transports.

* "Must We Suffer So?" mutator now also unlocks Administration Complex and no longer shows the technologies in the research screen to better preserve research pacing.

* Diplomatic responses to a war declaration or trade agreement/alliance termination now state that the player has gained the Untrustworthy trait for 20 turns.

* Clarified that The Past, Mitigated trait affects Chieftess, Anchorite and ZEPHON units.

* Improved Logistics Experts description.

* Logistics Experts now says how many resources it provides on the tile.

* Logistics Experts can now be used on ally outposts.

* Improved move sound synchronization for walking units.

* Improved Scramblers voice overs to sound more like radio under a helmet.

* Improved Twisted Mother and Hollow Warlord leader illustrations to better match the style of the other leaders.

* Improved quest reward clarity.

* Starting the introduction no longer resets saved game settings.

## Balance

* The AI will now only praise a war if actual hostile actions have recently occured.

* Adjusted application of difficulty aggressiveness modifier to not have deminishing returns with naturally more aggressive leaders.

* Increased Amigara Exploration minerals from 1.5 to 2.

* Increased Biomass Generator energy from 1.5 to 2.

* Increased Fishery Wing food from 1.5 to 2.

* Increased Exobiology Station research from 2 to 3.

* Increased River Port influence from 2 to 3.

* Increased Safety Disjunction energy from 3 to 4.

* Increased Ichor of Uzhodai dimensional echoes from 0.3 to 1.

* Increased Hijack hitpoints from 25% to 33%.

* Increased Efficient Enrichment cost reduction from -25% to -67%.

* Increased Expedition Outfitter influence from 10 to 20.

* Changed Quantum Economics to give 0.2 singularity cores per other Quantum Manipulator you have.

* Mother's Favor can now only be applied to units under control.

* Increased Acrin Zealot morale from 8 to 10.

* Slightly tweaked cost and upkeep for the failed experiments in the Twisted Mother leader quest.

## Bug Fixes

* Fixed Hollow Warlord and Twisted Mother not researching several of their faction techs.

* Fixed advanced resources not being valued high enough for payments, gifts and tributes.

* Fixed ZEPHON and Anchorite regrouping when The Last Days of Earth begins if they have no units left.

* Fixed Untrustworthy wrongly being triggered when breaking a deal after exactly 10 turns.

* Fixed husband unit not being named in the first stage of the Twisted Mother leader quest.

* Bandit King (Mutated) now has all Phenaris Epicurean upgrades.

* Acrin Crash Site, Resource Network ad Logistics Expert now correctly interact and display provided research.

* Fixed Chayot Exterminator showing Combat Drones on the model without the upgrade.

* Fixed weapon muzzle flashes and charge effects not being properly positioned for missile and grenade weapons.

* Fixed `<onTraitAdded>` not triggering when a unit is created.

* Fixed Reject Troop Withdrawal translation.

* Fixed some translation issues.

## Modding

* `addTrait` and `addFeature` now support `durationRandomMin` and `durationRandomMax` for random durations.