Fern 0.14

Fern 0.14 – two hands and a body with a daily rhythm

• Two hands on the mouse buttons (LT / RT on a controller). Click to punch, hold to reach out and grip whatever you touch until you let go: pick berries bunch by bunch, pull mushrooms, tear a real tuft of grass out by its roots by walking backwards, carry and fling stones, drag a log (one hand creeps, two hands pull it along), hold on to a tree. Binoculars: hold them in a hand.
• An energy bar in blocks – hunger, thirst, tiredness, cold (the colder the more), heat, injuries until you treat them, a heavy backpack and whatever you carry each block their own part of the bar.
• A daily rhythm – tiredness comes in the evening and at night, by day only when you're already very tired. Thirst grows faster than hunger, sprinting makes you thirsty, carrying hungry.
• Water – fill your bottle at a river with the bottle in your hand: the scout kneels down, in three different ways with their own tempo and finish. Without it, scoop water with both hands and drink.
• Third person – the whole scout turns towards what its hands reach for; hands rest on what they hold.

Downloads: Windows (Fern-Windows.zip), Linux (Fern-Linux.zip), macOS (Fern-macOS.zip).

Windows: if Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.
macOS: move Fern.app to Applications, then right-click → Open → Open the first time (the game isn't signed by Apple). If macOS says it's "damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Fern.app once in Terminal.

Fern 0.13 – a scout that lives in its world

Fern 0.13 – a scout that lives in its world

• The scout reacts to the world – looks at deer, birds and butterflies, catches snowflakes with its tongue, holds on to its hat in a gust, shades its eyes against the low sun, points at shooting stars, warms its hands at the fire, shakes itself dry after a swim … about 26 little moments (can be switched off).
• Gear you can see – what's in the backpack hangs on it; worn clothes show. Take things in your hands (X/Z, F to use): a walking stick planted with every step, a swinging lantern that is the light, a flashlight, the trail map (the next 1.8 km), a compass that points north, a camera (photos without the HUD), a harmonica the animals listen to, a water pistol that puts out campfires.
• 32 emotes on a wheel with three pages – the old ones reworked, 16 new (heart, aww, cry, sneeze, star jump, peekaboo, hero pose …); star, heart and teary eyes, blushing, little symbols above the head.
• Controller support – plug it in and play: analog walking, every action on a button, button symbols in the HUD, vibration.
• Music by the time of day – calm and bright in the morning, warm in the golden hour, dreamy at night; more of the soundtrack than before.
• Faster – new quality presets, a benchmark and a performance overlay (F3).

Downloads: Windows (Fern-Windows.zip), Linux (Fern-Linux.zip), macOS (Fern-macOS.zip).

Windows: if Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.
macOS: move Fern.app to Applications, then right-click → Open → Open the first time (the game isn't signed by Apple). If macOS says it's "damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Fern.app once in Terminal.

Fern 0.12 – every biome at its best

Fern 0.12 – every biome at its best

• Each biome at its finest hour – the biomes ahead are planned from your pace and the time of day, so the cherry valley tends to greet you at dawn, the golden birch slopes in the golden hour, the glowing, mushroom and fern woods at night and the sunset coast at dusk. Never always – every biome keeps coming, in a new order.
• The clock bends a little so the moment lasts: a long golden hour on the golden slopes, a longer night in the glowing woods.
• Weather that fits – the deadwood bog mostly in the rain, the giants' old forest in fog, the golden and night biomes under a clear sky.
• New time setting "Each biome at its best" – no running clock; the hour follows the trail and moves on at every border (golden hour → dusk → night → dawn).
• A cleaner, cuter scout – bigger eyes, a softer shape, less clutter. Its feet now really stay on the ground: a stroll, a brisk trot and a bounding sprint that always match the speed, arms that swing and pump, sneaking on tiptoes, a little "whoa" when stopping, new idle gestures.
• The title screen shows the first biome at its best hour.

Downloads: Windows (Fern-Windows.zip), Linux (Fern-Linux.zip), macOS (Fern-macOS.zip).

Windows: if Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.
macOS: move Fern.app to Applications, then right-click → Open → Open the first time (the game isn't signed by Apple). If macOS says it's "damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Fern.app once in Terminal.

Fern 0.11 – twenty-two biomes

Fern 0.11 – twenty-two biomes, skies and places to stop

Now also for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel, macOS 11+).

• 22 biomes – seven new ones: Giants' Old Forest, Mushroom Wood, Wheat Fields, Cherry Valley, Golden Birch Slopes, Rock Gorge and Blue Fern Hollow. Every biome has its own variants (a birch stand, a fern hollow, a flower carpet, a fairy ring …) and a small effect of its own, and the next biome grows in grove by grove.
• Real birches, cherry trees and giant pines, hedgerows, wheat, big rocks, colorful plants and new flowers from the full Stylized Nature MegaKit.
• Skies – towering clouds, mackerel skies, pastel bands at sunset, northern lights and shooting stars.
• Weather – fog days, snowfall in the mountains, heat lightning on warm evenings, rain shelters by the trail.
• Places to stop – ancient trees, fallen giants, circles of trees, campfires (bring matches and marshmallows), berries and mushrooms to gather, cairns to build, pebbles to skip.
• Wildlife – deer, songbirds, butterflies and bees in a new look. Crouch quietly and they come closer.

Downloads: Windows (Fern-Windows.zip), Linux (Fern-Linux.zip), macOS (Fern-macOS.zip).

Windows: if Windows says "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway.
macOS: move Fern.app to Applications, then right-click → Open → Open the first time (the game isn't signed by Apple). If macOS says it's "damaged", run xattr -cr /Applications/Fern.app once in Terminal.

Fern 0.10 – a living day

Download: Fern-Windows.zip or Fern-Linux.zip below, unzip, run. No installer.

New in 0.10 – a living day

• Times of day: misty dawns (mist lies in the valleys), golden hours, dusk with fireflies in every biome, short moonlit nights with stars. A little sun/moon dial under the distance; sleeping takes you to the next morning. Settings: day cycle or a fixed time, length of a day.
• Weather: showers come and go — rain, glossy trail, puddles with raindrop rings, wet rocks and leaves — and a rainbow afterwards. Never in the desert, often on the moors. Without a rain jacket or poncho you get soaked. Setting: changing / always fair / always rain.
• Wildlife: deer at the edge of the woods (they bound away if you get close), songbirds on fence posts, signposts and stones, butterflies that land on flowers, bees in the lavender.
• Water: clear brooks babbling beside the trail, reeds with cattails, water lilies.
• Light and landscape: sunbeams through the tree crowns, waterfalls on the far mountains, cloud shadows racing in the gusts, erosion gullies, hummocky meadows, scree slopes, lone boulders.
• Mood: color grading per biome and time of day, soft focus while you rest.
• Performance: distant trees are baked into impostors in the background (Ultra −6 ms, Extreme −14 ms GPU), so all of this costs nothing overall.
• Fixes: the scout's head casts its shadow again; nothing floats in front of the first-person camera.

Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" because the game isn't signed: More info → Run anyway.

Fern 0.9 – new scout, emotes, new biomes

Download: Fern-Windows.zip or Fern-Linux.zip below, unzip, run. No installer.

New in 0.9

• A new scout in the style of PEAK: round head, big eyes with lids and brows, many mouths, shirt and shorts, 8 hats, glasses and neckerchiefs, more expressive animation (fidgets, landing squash, scared, cold and effort faces).
• Emotes: hold G for a wheel with 16 gestures and expressions (wave, point, cheer, laugh, shrug, facepalm, sit down …). Slots are configurable.
• New interface: paper-card menus with settings in tabs, a stamina bar that shows what drains you (hunger, thirst, tiredness, cold, injury), keycap prompts, a backpack screen with slots and item details.
• 30 new items (50 in total, all hand-modeled with icons): cheese, honey, cocoa, sunscreen, boots, compass, lantern, kite, harmonica, fortune cookie and more, with real effects.
• Three new biomes: Lavender Hills, Birch Wood, Heather Highlands (with drizzle).
• Three new obstacles: a pasture fence with a stile, a mud hollow with stepping stones, a rockslide.
• World: a real sea instead of the endless tiled water, wet shores, fallen leaves and petals, footprints, dust puffs, footstep sounds, water rings.
• Graphics: new Extreme preset, longer view and grass distance, FSR 2 option, level of detail for distant trees and their shadows (toggles in Performance).
• Voice test: microphone detection with push to talk (T), always on or voice activation, level meter; your scout's mouth moves as you speak. Nothing is sent anywhere yet.

Windows may say "Windows protected your PC" because the game isn't signed: More info → Run anyway.

Fern 0.8 – your scout

New: your own scout! A round little hiker with noodle arms, a merit-badge sash and a backpack that's always a bit too big.

• Customize your scout under Your scout in the main menu (10 colors, 8 uniforms, 5 hats, 4 faces)
• Press V on the trail to switch between first and third person (mouse wheel = camera distance)
• Your scout hikes ahead of the camera on the title screen, waves, flails when falling and looks tired when exhausted
• New website with a playable 3D diorama: https://marne404.github.io/fern/

Download the zip for your system, unzip, run Fern.exe (Windows) or Fern.x86_64 (Linux).
Windows may warn about an unknown publisher: More info → Run anyway.

Fern 0.7 – first public build

The first playable build of Fern, an endless hike through painted worlds.

Download: Fern-Windows.zip or Fern-Linux.zip, unzip, run Fern.exe / Fern.x86_64. No installation needed.
Windows may warn about an unknown publisher – click More info → Run anyway.

In this build

• endless, seed-based trail through 12 biomes – share a world seed with friends
• river with a broken bridge, a giant fallen tree in a gorge, waterfall cliffs – ropes, knots, logs, swimming
• body and backpack: stamina, hunger, thirst, cold, 20 items
• weather: gusts, falling leaves, tumbleweeds, dust devils, small sandstorms
• 56 music tracks, a playlist per biome
• quality presets from Low to Ultra

Single-player prototype of a planned co-op game.