The First Tree — patch notes and updates
Stored observation / content update:
Dated developer announcements recorded from Steam. Open the source for the complete update.
| Update | Date | Excerpt / source |
|---|---|---|
| My new game is We Harvest Shadows, a first-person farming horror allegory | 2024-09-12 | It's been a crazy few weeks! My new game I revealed to the world at gamescom is called We Harvest Shadows, a first-person farming horror allegory. Here's the trailer: I released a demo along with the big announcement, and the reaction has been absolutely wonderful. People love it! I really had no idea if people would like it or not, especially from all the lukewarm reactions I got when showing the game to publishers and playtesters. Countless content creators and streamers have said this is now their most anticipated indie game of the year, and might be the most interesting horror game of the last few years. I can't tell you the relief I'm fe |
| My new game will be revealed in the Opening Night Live pre-show | 2024-08-14 | Hello friends, it's been a while! I'm still around believe it or not, and I'm really excited to announce my new game to the world soon. It's very different from The First Tree, but it still shares my love for personal and emotional storytelling in games. Geoff Keighley and Kyle Bosman have invited me to share my game for the first time during the Opening Night Live stream for gamescom (!!!!!!). There's also a surprise announcement during the reveal, so be sure to watch the whole pre-show on August 20th. If you're going to gamescom, please come find my booth in the Indies of America (in the Indie Hall, 10.2) section and come say hi! Elise, who |
| Earth Appreciation Sale, 90% off The First Tree! + Live Stream | 2022-04-20 | Hi everyone, I was invited to the Earth Appreciation Festival sale on Steam, and my game is the cheapest it will ever be, which is 90% off! I'm also broadcasting a pre-recorded stream when I played my whole game from beginning to end and showed off all the easter eggs, so that will be running on loop for the next few days. Watch the stream on the store page, and thanks for your support! http://store.steampowered.com/app/555150/The_First_Tree/ |
| The First Tree Limited Edition, now available! | 2021-12-03 | I know, I know, you're probably thinking "a Nintendo Switch announcement here!?" ...BUT, this is a really special thing that I've worked hard on, and I think most fans of my game would find this limited edition interesting. This will be the last thing I release regarding The First Tree. A big thanks to all the amazing people who've played my game and enjoyed the journey. Without further ado, here's what you get in the full special limited edition: I've partnered with Strictly Limited Games, and we're both excited to share this collection with everyone. Pre-orders are open NOW, and there's only a couple thousand units available, then it's gone |
| A personal update + my next game | 2021-09-08 | OK, time to do this. I’ve been meaning to do a big DAVID WEHLE™ update for a while now and explain why I haven’t released a new game yet, but you know how life gets in the way. Especially when life is a quarantine hellscape, you have three beautiful, amazing, exhausting kids to raise, a spouse’s job you support, a viral YouTube channel that turns your brain to mush, a thousand emails waiting in your inbox since your game is free on the Epic Games Store (with an impressive number of redemptions too! … meaning lots of emails and customer support issues), etc., etc. What also contributes to my lack of updates is because… I just don’t really like |
| My game dev school just launched! Steam followers get 40% off | 2021-04-14 | It finally happened after 2.5 years of work: my online school GAME DEV UNLOCKED hit version 1.0! There is so much content that I can't even type it all up, so I made this sweet sizzle reel of everything: Don't know how to code? No problem. Don't know how to market your game on social media? It's covered. Want to publish your games everywhere including Steam and consoles? You got it. I put my all into this learning resource, so if you've ever been tempted to make a game yourself and release it on Steam, you'll love this online course. I even walk you through how to make a beautiful exploration game called The Last Waterfall, and show you how t |
| Vinyl release of The First Tree soundtrack | 2021-02-01 | I'm excited to announce that a limited edition vinyl OST of The First Tree is now available, courtesy of Mana Wave Media! It includes the gorgeous orchestral tracks by Josh Kramer, and also features new gorgeous artwork. Here's where you can buy a copy, hopefully there are still some in stock. All the income supports the record label and the composer, so if you loved the music in my game and you're a vinyl collector, I think you'll really like this record. Take care everyone, thanks for taking a look. :) - David |
| Learn to make games like The First Tree | 2020-06-25 | I made The First Tree without knowing code, while working full-time, and while taking care of a new baby, and somehow the game succeeded financially. I never thought this hobby would take off, and it's thanks to gamers like you. And one of the best parts of this game dev journey has been showing gamers how to get started making their own games and how to market them effectively. That's why I started an online school called Game Dev Unlocked. I've put years of my life into making this the best learning resource available, and I think you'll find it pretty helpful. If you've ever wanted to make a game and share it with the world, now is the tim |
| Let's Play The First Tree w/ the developer, David Wehle | 2020-03-28 | My first ever live stream! I'm gonna play through my second game The First Tree and answer questions about game development, reveal hidden easter eggs, and more. I'd love to see you, so come check it out and say hi, and if you've missed the stream, be sure to check out the replay for an in-depth look behind the scenes of The First Tree. https://youtu.be/qPdOQDy5yIA |
| Learn how to make games like The First Tree | 2020-02-16 | One of the perks of making a B-list, semi-popular indie game is that I get to help a lot of aspiring game designers. I gave a talk recently at the Game Developers Conference, and even though I was nervous wreck beforehand, it was a dream come true to talk about my experiences on how I became a full-time indie dev. After that talk, my inbox exploded again, and after answering the same few questions over and over, I realized I should make a high-quality resource for people to learn. So I'm proud to introduce my new big project: Game Dev Unlocked. I'm almost ready for early access launch, so if you have any interest in game development and makin |
| Mac 64-bit fix | 2020-02-15 | I've been getting some reports with the Mac version (not launching, glitchy graphics, IK animation bugs with the fox), so I updated Unity and uploaded a new build which should fix those issues. Remember, if you have any issues with crashing, please don't hesitate to report them to me on the Steam forums and get a refund! Thanks for all your help in reporting these issues. |
| Merch Now Available! | 2019-07-22 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/55dead07135cedcdea62ea6dea8972fa2e67fe8c.jpg I'm happy to announce that a variety of The First Tree shirts and posters are now available to buy! I teamed up with Printful and a couple of artists for these beautiful designs, and I'm excited to share them with you! My new dream is to see a random stranger wearing one of these on the street one day, so don't let me down! ;) Here's a link to the store. Thanks for the support everyone, it means a lot! |
| World Environment Day + Charity! | 2019-06-03 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/ac1037b141807b069c65608e26bc3819f18cf4ae.png The First Tree has been invited to a special sale event on Steam to celebrate World Environment Day! So for the next four days, my game is 60% off and 15% of the net profits will be donated to nature and environment conservation. I already have a charity organization picked out, but for legal reasons I can't share the name yet. Rest assured it's a good one! If you want any future updates, charity or otherwise, follow me on Twitter! Thanks everyone for all the support, it means the world to me (and hey, buying the game now w |
| The First Tree physical release for PS4, now available | 2019-04-12 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/7f036141da0f4284dd5ce526a29735502ec720df.png For any console collectible friends out there, thought you'd want to know this: Limited Run Games just released a very limited edition physical release of The First Tree for PlayStation 4! It's available now (and another release will be today at 6 p.m. EST). They will probably sell out fast since it's such a small print. Hey, where's the Nintendo Switch physical release? Limited Run Games wanted to try PS4 first and see if there's enough demand. So cross your fingers this sale does really well, and then we might be seeing a |
| Official soundtrack now available on iTunes, Spotify | 2019-01-02 | Happy New Years everyone! Josh Kramer, the talented composer who lent his music to The First Tree, just released a special album with all of his orchestral music. The best part is it comes with an amazing bonus track called "Starlight". The soundtrack doesn't include the two ending songs, but you can download them below separately via Bandcamp! A big thanks to Josh for letting his incredible music be licensed for The First Tree. It seems like yesterday that I would blast his song "Transformation" in my car as I went to work each morning, dreaming up the story of a lost fox and a lost son. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. iTunes link Spoti |
| Big, new update! The definitive version of The First Tree now available! | 2018-11-30 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/15466c2c623b0b55b2e60e6e2c0edc3e0f1152d1.gif Today is the day! The update I’ve been working on for almost a year is done, and along with it comes the definitive release of The First Tree on Steam, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PS4! All versions of the game are the same, which means Steam users get a long list of updates. Here are the most important ones: The biggest complaint has been the jumping physics, and that’s been totally redone. The double jump works more like other games. It’s more forgiving and less frustrating. Subtitle system have moved from choosing in-g |
| The First Tree comes to consoles Nov 30th | 2018-11-07 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/7b33b9d18651beedd982e385b537ab92ea703960.gif I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's almost here. On November 30th, you'll be able to once again take your journey to The First Tree on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. What does that mean for my faithful Steam players who have been here since the beginning? Well, if you have the game already, all of the new content and optimizations will be available for free on the same day as the console launch! Also, something important you guys should know... in a week or two, I'll be increasing the price from $7.99 to $9.99. T |
| Mr. Wehle Goes to Washington | 2018-06-23 | Now this is just crazy. The First Tree has been accepted to the Smithsonian Museum of Art for their Game Arcade exhibit on July 22! https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/c6bf9c355a0ecdc9afcf9433825a1ee1e1b07823.jpg Not only do I get to exhibit with other amazing game developers, this is actually like a homecoming for me since I lived in Northern Virginia most of my life. I've been going to DC and the Smithsonian for a long time, so it's kind of a dream come true to show something there. Like I said, crazy! Anyway, I'm working on a ton of stuff for a giant update coming this fall. This is to coincide with |
| Console progress | 2018-06-12 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/21fbcb37b76f858b40db02a7502d0f574ee7cb0c.jpg Good news! The First Tree is working on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4! They're not quite playable all the way through, and the frame rate is atrocious (15 FPS on Switch, yikes!), but we're working hard to optimize and add new content. Which brings me to my new point, I want to do a big update for the console releases and Steam, so please let me know in the comments what you would like to see the most! I'm thinking of adding things like dev commentary mode, new items, new secrets, and improving the controls. It's amazin |
| The First Tree is coming to consoles! | 2018-03-30 | https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27092572/e81cc2912af3bf6b7e665a57ead3786cc345c590.gif I’m super excited to announce that you’ll soon be able to take your journey to The First Tree on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PS4! I don’t have a solid launch date yet, but I’m setting my sights on a late 2018 release (with a simultaneous launch on all three consoles hopefully). This wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of DO Games, who also helped with porting Pinstripe and The Adventure Pals. Thanks everyone for the support, and please let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’d love to see in the new c |