Hi everybody. I hope you're all doing well. I wanted to post something here as it's the best way for me to reach out to all of you.

I wanted to briefly talk about the future of Summerland and it's progress moving forward. This game was a project I started for fun my senior year of high school, and that's what it continued to be all the way until completion. I did it almost entirely because I just really like to make games. Aside from that however, one of my main goals in making this was to cope with my own anxieties surrounding death and the inevitability and unknowns that come with it. Being able to box all of these big thoughts into a small, fictional world that was easy to digest really did help me come to terms with a lot of my world views. Obviously this isn't exactly what I think happens in death, but it just made everything seem a bit less scary.

I uploaded this game for free once I started college because I thought that maybe someone else out there may get the same comfort from playing it as I did making it. It was also just something that I was really proud of and wanted to share with people. And to all of you that have played the game, I sincerely thank you for taking the time to play through what I worked hard to create. For those of you who have donated to my one-man studio, I'm truly grateful.

With that said, I think I need to take a step back from working on Summerland. I've thrown myself entirely into making this game the best it can possibly be for all of you playing, but with that I've found myself having numerous sleepless nights, episodes of intense anxiety and panic, and it feels as though my mental health is currently at one of the lowest points it's been in a long time. I understand that the game has some issues, and I don't want any of you to think I've been ignoring the complaints. The simple fact is that I don't really know how to fix a lot of the problems you all are having. I understand that there are some technical and performance issues that have prevented some of you from enjoying Summerland, and for this, I am truly sorry. I'm not a professional developer, and I don't have the experience or know-how that I need to get the game in a state that is expected of me. It's all become incredibly overwhelming, and it almost feels as if the anxiety I was looking to curb by making this game is worse than it ever has been.

In addition to this, I've experienced attacks against me, not only as a game developer but as a person. While these have been very few and far between, it still hurts to know that some of you feel this way. For this reason, I also feel that it may be best for me to take a break from my socials that are directly linked to my game studio FYRE Games.

I do want to thank many of you again for the support of me and Summerland. It's been great interacting with a lot of you and I wish you all the best. It's just all becoming too much.

Don't worry though, I'm not going completely off the grid. I'm still going to be active on my personal instagram and tiktok. I'll also still be reading and responding to the emails you send. I just need to step away from this game for a bit. I'd like to spend some time working on other projects of mine and maybe jump into working on some more music as Auric Echoes (yes, I'm Auric Echoes). What can I say? I'm addicted to making things.

I do really hope you all understand my decision. I'm sorry if this comes as disappointing news to anybody, but it's something that I feel I have to do. At the end of the day, I'm still really freaking proud of Summerland. I think its an awesome game even in it's current version and I'm really happy with how my work paid off.

Please let me know if you have any questions or just want to reach out to say hi. I think I'm going to go for a walk. Take care everyone!

- Conner Rush

Hello everyone. I hope you're all well. It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I just thought I would let you all know the status of Summerland's optimization patch.

As stated in my previous post, I was searching for a freelancer to comb through the project and fix a lot of the issues. However, I was met with the obstacle of cost. According to those I've spoken to, he monetary price of having these fixes done is more than I can pay for at the moment. I will continue searching for more options, but at the moment, there;s yet to be anyone working on the project.

I'm sorry if this news is disappointing. I'm really trying my best to get this game working 100%. Let me know if there's anything else I can do in he meantime. Thank you for being here.

- Conner Rush

I'm happy to say that Summerland is now in the hands of a freelance developer who specializes in game optimization! I've learned that my skill set does not have the tools it needs to be done to make the game run as well as it can, at least not at this very moment. I will continue to research better optimization practices in the future, but until then, I feel that handing the project off is the best way to get these fixes to all of you as soon as possible. While I don't have an exact date on when an optimization patch will be implemented, I just wanted to hop on and let all of you know that it IS being worked on. I hope to have more news for you in the coming days. Stay awesome everybody!

- Conner Rush

Hey everybody! Late night update tonight. Believe me when I say I'm on the verge of falling asleep typing this. I was too excited to wait until the morning though, because I feel like I've done a lot to improve the overall experience of playing Summerland.

- An addition save-point has been added to trial 1 upon entering the trial.
- The blood in trial 1 has now become much more easily interactable. This should make the level a bit easier overall.
- Without spoiling, the thing you click at the end of chapter 4 is now much easier to figure out.
- The headbob no longer runs when you're examining notes.
- "Z" has been added as an alternative "focus" button.
- There have been some subtitle edits throughout.

Also, please leave a comment here if you can point out anymore specific subtitle typos! People keep pointing it out, but I can't seem to find anyone giving specific examples, so it's hard for me to find what needs fixed.

I'd also like to thank you all so much because I've made enough money through donations that I can now afford to higher a freelancer to help optimize the game! I've learned that my skill set isn't currently what it needs to be to make the necessary adjustments to get the game running smoothly, so bringing somebody else onboard will be the best way to get an optimization patch to all of you in a timely manner.

With all of that said and as always, please let me know if there's anything else I can do to improve your overall experience with Summerland. I'm always working to make sure it's the best product I can offer. Now, if you all don't mind, I'm going to go to my bed so that I don't pass out on the keyboard, haha. Goodnight everyone! I hope to talk to you all soon!

- Conner Rush

Surprise, surprise... version 1.0.7 didn't work! I do really apologize for that, no idea what happened there. 1.0.8 has the same fixes as 1.0.7 with some additional minor things. Hope this one goes over a bit more smoothly!

In other news, I'm looking into hiring a freelancer to improve game optimization. I'm realizing more and more that my skillset is not what it needs to be in order to get the game in a more performance optimal state. No one has been hired at the moment, but once the optimizations have been made, I'll consider it a victory worthy of a 1.1.0 update, so keep an eye out!

Let me know if there's anything else I can do to improv the Summerland experience for you! Take care!

- Conner Rush of FYRE Games

Late night last night, but I managed to update a few fixes into he game. Here's what's new.

- A freak bug caused the grass in the final level to just disappear. It'
s been added back
- Some more attempts to optimize the first trial have been made.
- The game levels have overall been slightly adjusted to be a bit easier.

Hope you're all well! Final exams today, so wish me luck, haha!

Hi everybody! Hope you're all well! I've been working hard on getting the game running a bit better, especially in trial 1. Again, I'm not 100% sure the best ways to do this, but here's the gist of it...

- Grass density has been decreased by about half in trial 1.
- Many meshes have been combined to reduce draw calls.
- Some minor adjustments have been made to make certain items easier to find.

I hope your all well! Let me know if there's anything I can do to make the experience better!

I'd first like to say thank you to everybody who's been here to support me and the game throughout the past couple of days. The reviews have been overwhelming to me and I can't believe how many people have taken so strongly to my small indie passion project! Most of the reviews have been glowingly positive, and I can't thank all of you enough for the kind words.

However, the one criticism that does seem to be pointed at is the game's optimization and low performance. This is an entirely valid criticism, and I understand now that the way Summerland runs is not up to current gaming standards. Put plainly, this is mostly due to lack of experience. While I've made games in the past, none have been quite this big or graphically intense. I guess I must have underestimated the amount of optimization I would need to do (My PC was also fairly low-end at the time, so I didn't have much of a gauge for good performance).

I sincerely apologize for anyone who's experience has been hindered due to these framerate issues. I've been trying to research better optimization practices for Unity, and I hope to be able to improve the game's performance in the coming days. Progress may be slow given that final exams are quickly approaching, but be assured that something is being done.

Again, I apologize and hope that you can forgive the problem for the time-being. From what I've seen, it's only very apparent in trial 1. The rest of the game seems to run pretty standardly.

I'll be working hard, and I'm hoping to have a fix in the v1.0.6 update. Leave a comment if there's anything else I can do. Take care, and have a good night!

- Conner Rush of FYRE Games

Hi, everybody! Late night last night trying to fix some issues in the game. Here's what's been done in the new 1.0.5 update.

- Some more attempts have been made to optimize trial 1.
- A new option is available in the settings page to invert the camera's vertical axis.
- Some adjustments have been made throughout to make certain tasks easier.

I hope this addresses a lot of your concerns with the game. I will continue working on and improving the experience, so please let me know if there's anything I can do. Updates may temporarily slow as final exams are coming up. Hooray for studying! Thank you all for the support, and thank you all for just being here.

- Conner Rush