I mean I should have known given that's exactly my experience with the first one. Just with more of a feeling that all of those 5 years went into the last 2 hours of this game alone, fuelled by an even blanker cheque than last time

tl;dr - come for the horses, stay for the fuckery.

It's just that this time, I've learned SO much about allowing that surface layer to go beyond a niche and be actually alluring to those other than sickos like me loool

This isn't to say the game will be more shallow or anything - it's become as layered and thematically considered as my previous stuff (if anything, I reckon I've become a better writer and I'm no longer shackled to an existing story started 7 years ago)

And ever since then, I've learned a LOT about making things that are more instantly appealing to more people. And the best part?? It doesn't even take more effort. If anything, a "less effort" approach can be way more impactful with the right conditions

What I made at the jam was basically nothing other than an island, a player character, and some humans and it fucking sucked, but even still people cared about it way more than any early development thing I've ever had!!

But while volunteering at the global game jam, I decided to put together a silly lil thing inspired by Lego Island, a beautiful photo of wild horses a friend took in Iceland, & some general shite talk with others at the jam.

Context: I spent about 12 months working on a game that was attempting to one-up [ECHOSTASIS]; my previous game, and one I still don't know how I managed to finish. In the back of my mind I knew it would never see the light of day given my limited resources. (It will eventually get made)

I've treated this project as a way to challenge my self-imposed obligation to make things that are considered "good".
Terrible models. Dumb writing. Nonsensical scenarios. Don't worry about it, just keep going.
Ironically, I ended up working on something that I think is *great*

store.steampowered.com/app/3812490/...
***GET IT WHILE IT'S HONSE***

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

HORSE GAME ABOUT HORCES DEMMO OUT NOW ON ITCH (coming to Steam later this week)
bsky.app/profile/enig...

I can't stress enough how much you should go play this demo right now enigma-studio.itch.io/tolt

You can tell it's the same developer as the Enigma series, which is a huge compliment in and of itself.

So excited to get my hands on the full thing next year!!!

(Steam version available just as soon as Valve lets me publish it 🙃)