Small Loan Studio
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smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Small Loan Studio
@smallloanstudio.bsky.social
150 followers 62 following 91 posts
We are Small Loan Studio, a collective of volunteer junior game devs and career changers expanding our skillsets!

The Ouroboros Express Patch out now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3234430/The_Ouroboros_Express/
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smallloanstudio.bsky.social
For anyone looking for a little creative inspiration, we are kicking off our 28-Day Tiny Creativity Jam!! Each week contains a few phrases that pay homage to our previous (and upcoming 👀) titles. A big thank you to @najmahsalam.bsky.social for setting up the jam!
August 1, 2025 at 8:42 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Meet The Faceless. Armed with n’owt but his own wit and a mask carved from wolfsbone, he scours the land in a bid to extinguish the darkest of terrors.

Where others would hide from the darkness, this vagabond marches willingly into its inky black heart.
This is a promotional poster for the upcoming game, The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw. The poster mimics an 18th Century newspaper article while featuring the protagonist, Faceless, in a charcoal drawing. Image text: The Daily Courant. Tuesday, July 23. 1732. Faceless Vagrant Banishes the Banshee of Birchgrove. On Wednesday last, resi-dents of Horsted Keynes, West Sussex, rejoiced after a vagrant who would reveal neither his name nor his face put the terror known as the Banshee of Birchgrove to rest. The Banshee had caused great distress since it first emerged in February of last year, visiting several families at night and forecasting their untimely deaths. The vagrant, who locals refer to as “The Faceless,” did not reveal his methods. Many, however, report that he sought a golden blade for an encounter with the appa-rition.
July 23, 2025 at 2:40 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
By the grace of His Majesty’s parliament, our SINFUL reliance on gin is CURTAILED.

In this sprit, we have listed ALL taverns, coffee shops, grocer’s, homes and prisons you MUST avoid — lest you succumb to Mother’s Ruin.
A worn 18th century poster covers the reaction to the Gin Act of 1743 while also serving as a promotional poster for the game "The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw"
July 16, 2025 at 7:43 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Hear ye! Hear ye! The hunt is afoot. Darkness runs rife in Oakshaw, a cursed English settlement plagued with terrors. Step into this otherworldly tale, a pixel art psychological horror game with puzzles that ensnare your mind and a world rich with stories from beyond the veil.
A worn 18th century poster depicts a demon enchanting a young maiden. This is a promotion for the upcoming indie game "The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw" Image text: "Beware all good souls of this Hamlet. Drive out with prayer and Faith the evil witches enchanting maidens, bewitching boys, snatching infants. Causing myriad grievous calumnies & unnatural sightings as of late here in Oakshaw. You must find, and done and burn all of these servants so darkness.'
July 7, 2025 at 3:06 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Do monsters lurk in the darkness, or do they lurk within us? Find out in our next title — The Tūn-Gāst of Oakshaw — a top-down pixelated folk horror game. Armed with only your wits, can you uncover the secrets buried deep within Oakshaw?
June 30, 2025 at 7:24 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
This week, love is in the air as The Ouroboros Express is being featured during the Otome Games Celebration! If you fancy uncovering a few devastating secrets while riding a luxury train then hop aboard here: store.steampowered.com/app/3234430/...
A banner for the Otome Games Celebration displays an anime girl holding a bundle of multi-colored balloons. The event occurs on Steam from May 19-26. The golden Ouroboros Express Logo sits on a black background.
May 19, 2025 at 8:34 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Big shout out to a fellow volunteer studio @digiscorp.bsky.social for their recent game, “Tales of Valoris: Swallow’s Defenders!”

This tower defense title features high-energy levels across multiple maps and a competitive Endless Mode! ⚔️

Check it out: store.steampowered.com/app/3059570/...
May 9, 2025 at 10:26 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
After recovering from GDC, we sat down with @kelsey-phelan.bsky.social and @jisaacgadient.bsky.social
to hear about their favorite talks, a few GDC hacks and networking tips!

Check it out here: youtu.be/2xmd17GAk60?...

Prod. by @najmahsalam.bsky.social
hosted by @monihymn.bsky.social
April 17, 2025 at 5:45 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Hol' up ✋ this is a riddle checkpoint 🚋
What did bro mean by this?
March 28, 2025 at 5:14 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
@kelsey-phelan.bsky.social was on the GDC floor and enjoyed Adobe's Developer Summit for Silent Hill 2

They admired the level of detail the SH team put into Pyramid Head’s gloves via 3D scans, simulating moisture and opacity between fingers and more!

(🧵 2/?)
Photo of a 3D model of Pyramid Head Photo of 3D gloves being textured Photo of 3D scans being used for Pyramid Head's fused fingers.
March 20, 2025 at 12:44 AM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Check out this special podcast episode where @najmahsalam.bsky.social (Director) sat down with @monihymn.bsky.social (Marketing Lead) to share her experience directing The Ouroboros Express! (🧵 1/3)
February 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
To coordinate our global colleagues, the Production team worked in sprints to routinely address production needs and streamline our process. Please enjoy some highlights from Rachel.
Image text: “Teams were broken up by discipline, however, our Leads & Producer’s did amazing work to make sure each team communicated with one another effectively, and facilitated a smooth production.” Image text reads: "We aimed for our volunteer studio to function professionally with structure and regular check-ins on progress. But also with the humanity to work with folks if life happens and they need adjustments to their responsibilities.” Image text reads: “It was important for us to have a studio environment that respected our volunteers’ time, by having clear expectations and doing our best to not have periods of excessive crunch. This included weekly check-ins, and a two-week sprint structure.”
February 5, 2025 at 4:21 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Making a game is a logistical puzzle. That’s why, we want to thank Rachel Lee (Lead Producer) and Najmah Salam (Director) for managing our leads and guiding our teams across the finish line: a full Steam release!
A gold logo with a snake eating its tail around the game title “The Ouroboros Express” Image text reads: “The Production of The Ouroboros Express: A logistical look back.” Image text reads: “(Tool emoji) 35 Member Team. (two snake emojis)) Roughly 65% worked on both the original game jam & the 2024 patch. (Three earth emojis) 4+ Different Countries across 8+ different Time Zones.”
February 5, 2025 at 4:21 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
A quote from one of the composers, Armoni Boone, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image Text Reads: “Darius’s haunting theme used vocal samples for those eldritch ASMR sounds. Asha’s theme needed to be vibrant, like her, and utilized strings and vocals with little- to-no percussion Susu’s theme benefited the most from Noah’s direction for a summer Ghibli vibe. Instead of solely using a marimba, the score sampled the experimental instrument, Korg’s Phase 8n, for a warm-yet-otherwordly sound. A quote from one of the composers, Noah Campodonico, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads: The horror stingers all use my own voice in some capacity. Whether that's making horrible guttural sounds or just whispering ominously, my own mouth sounds are in there contributing to the atmosphere!
January 14, 2025 at 7:18 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads I was brought in to write the ‘main track’ of the game. Andrea (pre-patch audio lead) gave me a lot of context and diverse musical references to wrangle all together…Our main character finds herself in troubling circumstances, but paradoxically, the musical impression of the train was to be eerily soothing… A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. I decided to sample and manipulate some violin lines from the main menu music (performed beautifully by Max Lincoln) and from that, the backbone of the musical track was created. After that, I worked to strike the balance between the near sedative tranquility and unearthly mystery. A quote from one of the composers, Noah Campodonico, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads: One of the first things I worked on when I joined the project was the attraction/decay sounds. Originally, I'd wanted to keep it simple and use a classic bellhop call bell, but after feedback from Naj, I ended up incorporating a gamelan into them as a reference to Vivi's Southeast Asian heritage.
January 14, 2025 at 7:18 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Enjoyed the Ouroboros Express's soundscape? If so, thank the following audio superstars:

Noah - Audio Lead, Sound Designer, Composer, VO Editor
Scott - Composer, VO Editor
Lindsay - Casting Director, VO/Audio Prod., and VO Editor
Armoni - Composer
Charlie - Composer
Alec - Additional Audio Support
A gold logo with a snake eating its tail around the game title “The Ouroboros Express” Image text reads: “The Music and SFX (Sound Effects) of The Ouroboros Express: An audio look back.” Image text reads: “Expanded the soundtrack from 4 to 18 songs. 6 crew members. 4 composers. 1 ethereal soundscape.” Image displays 6 circular portraits of the members of the Ouroboros’ Express Music and Sound team. Image text reads: “Music SFX Crew.
January 14, 2025 at 7:18 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
A quote from one of the composers, Armoni Boone, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. A quote from one of the composers, Noah Campodonico, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads: The horror stingers all use my own voice in some capacity. Whether that's making horrible guttural sounds or just whispering ominously, my own mouth sounds are in there contributing to the atmosphere!
January 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads I was brought in to write the ‘main track’ of the game. Andrea (pre-patch audio lead) gave me a lot of context and diverse musical references to wrangle all together…Our main character finds herself in troubling circumstances, but paradoxically, the musical impression of the train was to be eerily soothing… A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. I decided to sample and manipulate some violin lines from the main menu music (performed beautifully by Max Lincoln) and from that, the backbone of the musical track was created. After that, I worked to strike the balance between the near sedative tranquility and unearthly mystery. A quote from one of the composers, Noah Campodonico, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads: One of the first things I worked on when I joined the project was the attraction/decay sounds. Originally, I'd wanted to keep it simple and use a classic bellhop call bell, but after feedback from Naj, I ended up incorporating a gamelan into them as a reference to Vivi's Southeast Asian heritage.
January 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Our phenomenal QA team, led by Rafael Campbell, combed through test builds of The Ouroboros Express on a biweekly basis, really upping the polish of our game! Check out their work in The Ouroboros Express on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/3234430/...
A gold logo for the game “The Ouroborous Express” with a gold snake eating its own tail in a circular shape is surrounded by text. Image Text: The QA of The Ouroboros Express. A quality control look back. Ten portraits of the Quality Analysis (QA) team sit in front of a graphic of a gold snake that is eating its own tail. The “Ouroboros Express” logo sits in the upper left corner. Image Text: The Ouroboros Express. QA Crew.
December 27, 2024 at 5:16 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Off work and bored of eating mince pies? Check out one of our other titles, Santa’s Secret, for free on itch.io for a taste of noir, mystery, and shiny dashing characters…

Here’s the link to download Santa’s Secret. Happy Holidays!
smallloanstudio.itch.io/santas-secret
A drawing of Bianca, a grey skinned woman wearing blue/grey clothes sitting on a red couch looking bored with her head in her hands. Text reads ‘Nothing to do during the holidays?’
December 24, 2024 at 4:33 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
"My favorite programming challenge...was scripting...new visual effects like highlighting speaking characters, having animated expressions, and [background] lighting effects! It took a while...but I think they help make the characters and the world...really come alive." (🧵5/5)
Image text: “My favorite programming challenge for the patch was scripting the new visual effects like highlighting speaking characters, having animated expressions, and lighting effects in the backgrounds! [T]hey help make the characters and the world...really come alive.”
December 21, 2024 at 5:09 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
"Implementing [VO], we had...almost 5000 different identifiers (one for each dialogue line) that [changed] every time [the code changed]! This was a big headache but the VO and narrative teams [tracked] every change...and QA...helped us fix all the errors that arose." (🧵4/5)
Image text: “Implementing the voiceover (VO), we had to keep track of almost 5000 different identifiers (one for each dialogue line) that kept changing every time we made a change in the code! This was a big headache but the VO and narrative teams did an excellent job of tracking every change during production and QA spotted and helped us fix all the errors that arose.”
December 21, 2024 at 5:06 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
"[We] implemented all the dialogue for the jam version, but we onboarded...narrative and audio...to do their own implementation for the patch. It was great to have people from different teams working [in engine] so they could make sure...the code aligned with their vision!"
Image text: “[We] implemented all the dialogue for the jam version, but we onboarded several narrative and audio team members to do their own implementation for the patch. It was great to have people from different teams working hands-on in the engine so they could make sure what we had in the code aligned with their vision!”
December 21, 2024 at 5:01 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Our engineers @xomerry.bsky.social @dennedelta.bsky.social knocked the socks off the programming for The Ouroboros Express! Lead Programmer Mica shares some behind-the-scenes details below and in thread (🧵1/?). Check out their work for yourself on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/3234430/...
A gold logo for the game “The Ouroborous Express” with a gold snake eating its own tail in a circular shape is surrounded by text. Image Text: The Programming of The Ouroboros Express. An engineering look back. Image text: 2 programmers. Nearly 5,000 voiceover identifiers. 1 fantastic game.
December 21, 2024 at 4:56 PM
smallloanstudio.bsky.social
Honestly, we gotta give a HUGE shoutout to our Voiceover Production Crew for coordinating 500+ hours of VO takes into one incredible experience. 🧵1/6
Nine portraits from the voiceover crew sit in front of a graphic of a gold snake that is eating its own tail. The “Ouroboros Express” logo sits in the upper right corner. Image Text: The Ouroboros Express. Voiceover Crew.
December 19, 2024 at 9:40 PM