February is a short month, but it has felt rather long. This is indeed the last day of it - and it’s good that it included a bonus day so that we could make the update in time!

So what have we been up to since last time?

Showcasing at Folk & Kultur

We showed Truer than You and took part in a panel about games as an artistic expression at the cultural politics convention Folk & Kultur (People & Culture) in Eskilstuna. Yes there exists such a festival in Sweden, which is pretty cool! Our goal wasn’t so much to present the game as to discuss the conditions for being an indie game creator in Sweden. We have no national public support for game development as it stands right now, and that is something we wish to change. A bonus of us having the game at the festival was that it was shown in the background during this interview with the Swedish Games Industry association that was broadcast on national TV.

To discuss using games as a means for expression in a panel was also a great experience and something we really haven’t done before. There were many people listening and it led to interesting discussions afterwards. Lately, I think there has been a much larger interest for games as a cultural form - and that makes me really happy!

Assignments system re-design

Pixie is working on the systems for assignments that Rin can get in Truer than You. We decided to make some changes to it, to make it easier to put the whole game together. It turned out that the way we had previously solved it led to tedious manual work that also created a risk for getting bugs added in the process.

Back to the drawing board

In the last week of February, I finally got back to drawing. There has been so much other stuff going on, so I really haven’t had the time to focus on making any art. I see this as a shift back into production after a long period with funding in focus. Which is absolutely necessary, but making the game is, too. I have added some new character sprites for chapter three. There are two more characters to draw for this chapter, and then a number of backgrounds and other illustrations. Looking forward to drawing more, since that work is very relaxing compared to getting funding (!!), and having a calmer period is something I really need right now. Hoping to make more or less every graphic for chapter three during March!

The first pitch for our next game

We also did a first pitch for our next project at Sweden Game Arena’s winter pitch, and got feedback from publishers and investors. It feels like a big milestone to have presented this project to external people, even though it’s in a super early stage. Keep your fingers crossed for this project - we are super hyped about it.

See you next time!

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