Author | Lightnews

The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 5d

And just like that Steam Next Fest is over.

We did just about everything wrong this time, but the results have been wonderful nonetheless!

People playing, Wishlists added, and feedback given.

Thank you to everyone who made this milestone feel so so good!

#gamedev #indiedev #firstgame

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 9d

Tonight we hosted a pre-alpha play test of our unannounced project! 📸 (we forgot to document with pictures...)

Great turn out, great people, great feedback!

Thank you to everyone who attended! Your feedback was awesome and will help us continue to improve! 🙏

#gamedev #indiegamedev #indiegames

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 12d

We would also like call out two of our fellow Boden Game Camp developers, who're also participating in Next Fest.

Check out their demos for "What do you call a group of Skeletons" and "The Tragedy at Deer Creek"!

🦴 store.steampowered.com/app/3747520/...

🦌 store.steampowered.com/app/4090830/...

The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 12d

Next Fest is live!

We hope all our fellow devs out there got their demos up in time, and that all players are ready to try all sorts of upcoming titles!

If you haven't checked out Fail Fail Succeed, consider doing so this week!

store.steampowered.com/app/4072000/...

#gamedev #indiedev

Fail Fail Succeed Demo on Steam

Puzzle your way through this demo, embrace failure, and learn to use it as your most important tool. Pick up orbs and change what you leave behind when you fail. Fail and fail again in order to succee...

store.steampowered.com

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 13d

Thank you for taking your time and responding, it's been super valuable! I will be looking to improve these sequences for the final release of the game, or perhaps even for an updated version of the demo. And ofc the thoughts on level sizing

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 14d

Celebrating the release of the Fail Fail Succeed Demo with some zoomies in the autumn sun, and a (well deserved) break from the computer screen!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend, and are all geared up for the upcoming Next Fest!

#gamedev #indiedev #dog

A pixel art dog and a pixel art character, from the game Fail Fail Succeed, running towards each other against a dark star filled background. Mirroring the other photo from real life.

Eira, a dog, and a girl running towards each other in the autumn sun, mirroring the pixel art sequence from Fail Fail Succeed. A picture taken from todays celebratory zoomies.

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you for your feedback! 🙏 Will definitely look into addressing it in the continued development!

To be clear on the second point, are you talking about all animation sequences, or just the intros to the bird-cage levels?

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 14d

Thank you 🙏

Hope you like it when you do, and even if you don't please consider sharing your thoughts! Our first rodeo this, and every bit helps!

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 15d

Our first ever build on Steam is live!

Get a head start on Next Fest and check out the Fail Fail Succeed Demo!

store.steampowered.com/app/4072000/...

Any feedback is more than welcomed, good, bad or neutral!

#indiedev #gamedev #puzzlegame #nextfest

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · 27d

After blood sweat and tears an updated trailer is live!

They do keep getting better don't they? But sure doesn't seem to get any easier.

Any and all reactions or feedback is welcomed 🙏

#gamedev #indiedev #puzzlegame #gametrailer

youtu.be/X0PwU37ju4M

Fail Fail Succeed — Pre-Launch Trailer (2025)

YouTube video by The Notlanders

youtu.be

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Sep 19

While scary to talk about, Fail Fail Succeed came about at a time when I was doing really bad.

The mechanics, visuals and more were originally "metaphors" to help me make sense of it.

We posted about it on Tiktok, if you'd like to hear more.

/Martin

vm.tiktok.com/ZNdpBm3R8/

#gamedev #indiedev

TikTok - Make Your Day

vm.tiktok.com

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Sep 18

Video/audio has been a source of anxiety for us. Probably the hardest thing about this indie journey of ours, and with everything else... we slacked off…

But no more!

Are you on Tiktok? Interested in #indiedev / #gamedev? Stop on by and lend us some moral support?🙏

www.tiktok.com/@thenotlande...

As advertised, the follow up! We're finally feeling like we're back on track, and we're so excited to soon bring Fail Fail Succeed live for anyone to play. Check it out on Steam or stay tuned for tom...

TikTok video by the Notlanders

www.tiktok.com

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Sep 13

This is Neo 🐕 a happy husky boy about as talkative, energetic and loving as they come.

He too can be your guide in Fail Fail Succeed, if you so please!

Do you know of a dog that needs to be in a game? Hit us up and Martin will work his pixel-fu! 👾🎮

#dog #gamedev #indiedev #screenshotsaturday

Neo, a happy talkative husky, in pixelated format. He's standing on a platform in Fail Fail Succeed, above the main character in sand-transformation.

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Sep 8

This is Eira 🐕

She's Martin’s dog, our unofficial third team member, and the original companion in Fail Fail Succeed. Without her there likely wouldn’t have been a game.

If you have a dog and want to see it in a game, Martin will do his best to pixelate them! 🎮

#dog #gamedev #indiedev #puzzle

Eira, a beige mixed breed standing on a stone with a banner with her name and a pixel art version of her

a pixel art version of Eira, a beige mixed breed, barking from a cliff of ice , with a dark sky and stars in the background.

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Sep 4

🥳 It’s Martin's birthday today! 🥳

For his birthday, he only has one wish: more Wishlists!

Click on through and Wishlist his creation on Steam, and make his birthday wishes come true!
🔗 store.steampowered.com/app/3816180/...

#indiedev #gamedev #birthday #indiegame #wishlistwednesday #videogame

The player character in Fail Fail Succeed with a birthday celebration hat, celebrating with confetti falling from the sky

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Aug 30

This is Texas🐕 my friend's childhood dog, and one of the good boys and girls you can choose as a companion and guide in Fail Fail Succeed.

Do you have a dog you would like to see in a game?🎮
Share it with us, and I will do my very best to make it happen! //M

#indiedev #dog #screenshotsaturday

Texas, a black lab mix, with prominent greying on the nose and eyebrows, in pixel form, in the game Fail Fail Succeed, standing on some grass amongst clouds

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Aug 29

Back from summer break with big news!

Fail Fail Succeed is live on Steam! You can Wishlist it today!🎉

Ready to embrace failure as a tool for progress?

🔗Wishlist it here: store.steampowered.com/app/3816180/...

Made with love (and lots of failure) by a single developer! 🎮
#indiedev #gamedev

Fail Fail Succeed on Steam

Puzzle your way through islands, embrace failure, and learn to use it as your most important tool. Find transformations and change what it is you leave behind when dying. Fail and fail again in order ...

store.steampowered.com

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Jun 12

No update in a while now, but progress is being made — promise!

It's been too scattered for the usual format, but has resulted in a new build for Fail Fail Succeed being sent off for some external QA. 🎮

In other words, expect some changes to the demo soon! 🙏
#IndieDev #GameDev

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · May 26

Another week, another review ⏪

Mostly addressing QA tickets on FFS, and finally getting around to supporting gamepads again!🎮

We've also laid out a rough roadmap for the coming months, regarding our unannounced project, which means you might be seeing more of that soon!📸

#indiegamedev #gamedev

Week Review, progress between 19/5/2025-26/5/2025.

•Addressing QA Feedback, including improved
UI features and additional bug fixes.
•Climbing added to improve game feel, navigation
and game readability.
•First pass on re-implementing gamepad support.
•New roadmap established for our secondary project,
we might drop some more hints in the future!

The two climbing animation frames used in Fail Fail Succeed displayed next to each other.

The gamepad control scheme displayed in a list.

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · May 20

I've missed working together! //S

The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · May 19

Weekly review to start the week? To be expected by now 😎

A lot of poking, tweaking and external testing — hard to showcase for now sadly, but progress is ticking along!

BUT!
As of today we're happy to announce that Sergei is back at the office full time! 🎉
#indiegamedev #gamedev #weekreview

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · May 12

2 Week Review!

Between national holidays and focusing on work we forgot to post here — but work we have!

For FFS the focus has been on polishing and improving the UI and improving the game feel. A new build is not quite ready yet, but not far away! 🎮

#indiegamedev #gamedev #weekreview #puzzlegame

Bullet point list of progress between the 28th of April and the 12th of May

A tilted head block falling towards spikes

Character in the midst of a sliding animation, with some dust particles being kicked up

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Apr 28

Weekly Review ⏪ (albeit a day late)

🎮 Playtesting with the neighbouring studio
🐜 Bug fixes - dogs now loading being the major one
🥪 Lunch with the local game cluster

Might not sound like a lot, but let me tell you... that one bug was hard to squish..!

#gamedev #indiegamedev #weekreview

Someone just out of frame, playing Fail Fail Succeed on a computer

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Apr 25

🐜 Bugfixes & minor updates are live on itch! 🎮

You can now reliably switch dogs in the settings, walls don't hit you in the head, and the darkness now creeps up on you & more...

Read the changelog or play the (fixed!🤞) demo over at martinzetterman.itch.io/fail-fail-su...

#gamedev #indiegamedev

Fail Fail Succeed by MartinZetterman

Puzzle Platformer where failing is a strategic move towards reaching your dog

martinzetterman.itch.io

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The Notlanders @thenotlanders.bsky.social · Apr 20

Weekly review ⚒️

🎮 Pre-release demo published
⏯️ Trailer published
🔈 Held 1 lecture
🐦 Another new challenge level completed
🧩 2 new regular levels

This week hasn't been so much about production as it's been about completing milestones. Feels good!
#indiegamedev #gamedev #weekreview

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