Until last year, I worked hard on a game about exploration, mystery, and animals for four years. After announcing Animal Well on the PlayStation Blog and then showing it at Developers’ Day during the Summer Game Festival, I’m still working hard, but with less obfuscation. When Dunkey announced that his new indie game publishing label Bigmode was going to publish my passion project, which only my parents and best friends know, it topped the list of games to be released. Most expected of many people.
It’s time to update the status of how the game evolved and properly introduce it to those who are new to its existence, including (and especially) those who learn about it for the first time reading the article. post this.
Today, I’m excited to share a new look at Animal Well with a trailer that showcases some of the exciting moments in the game. In the new video, notice the updated slings, which now swing contently as you push through them. You can also check out one of the many unique ways in-game items can be used, as well as many other examples of how you can interact with the animals in the well. These elements are some of Animal Well’s most obvious features, as there are plenty of animal interactions and surprising item usage in the game.
An origin story
In a way, it seems like all the scattered interests and hobbies I’ve pursued throughout my life contributed to the skills needed to release this game. I loved building things, drawing and playing the piano as a child. I envision myself growing up to be a cartoonist or a veterinarian. In high school, I explored filmmaking and animation while becoming increasingly interested in computers. Then I went to film school, but I started learning to code in my spare time. Various interests come and go, but the one that remains consistent throughout is a deep passion for video games. They are absolutely magical to me, and I have loved them for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until after graduation that I realized that all my hobbies were just an attempt to understand some personal aspect of their creative process. I zoomed in on the details, not knowing about the bigger picture.
Over the 2006 holidays, I saved enough money from working at Blockbuster video and got a PS3 in time for launch. This is its box placed in various places around my parents’ house
After finding this clarity, I quickly realized that gaming alone is extremely difficult. I spent the next ten years working at various game studios learning as much as possible about the process. Animal Well is my attempt to fully understand what it takes to make a game from start to finish: from a blinking cursor in a blank IDE window to a complete game. I also made the task more difficult for myself by forgoing the use of any middleware or available tools. There’s nothing wrong with games that use those engines. It’s just that if I did, I’d still have a lot of unanswered questions.
What is an animal well?
Animal Well is all about exploring a mysterious world. You hatch from a flower and are tasked with understanding your surroundings in any way you see fit. The world exists for the benefit of the many creatures that live in it, whether they be dogs, mice, kangaroos, capybaras or chinchillas. Not that you are not welcome there. It’s just that they’ve been here before. Some animals can be quite friendly and others hostile. None of them are your enemies, and none of them are your friends. They react to their environment in ways that make sense to them. You may have to work with them or work your way around them to get where you want to be.
You may discover some of the items you use that can help navigate the world. You can find several hidden passages and secret passages that open up entirely new areas to explore. There will be puzzles to solve and foundational challenges to overcome along the way, with some not immediately obvious.
How is the development going?
It’s great. I’ve made more progress in adding content to the game in the past year than I have in the previous two years. My level editor and tools have essentially matured for a while (though I keep adding features as I come up with new things I want it to do), so adding content content happens quickly. One of my biggest design goals was to make sure that every part of the game was purposeful and didn’t feel clunky or clunky. As I add new content, I keep coming back and iterating over existing content—think of what items players might have when they reach a certain point, what entrances to rooms they can enter, and how high Hard overall curved from start to finish. Build, build, build, polish, polish, polish.
I realize that many players will approach the game with different expectations. Some will want to play through the game and get to the end. This group will want to have a great time in every new room they come across. Others will want to take their time and explore every nook and cranny. They will look for secrets and enjoy looking through all the details hidden in the room to see if they can find something that others might accidentally pass by. And others will obsess about the relationship between certain rooms and what details in one room can tell you about another. This team will try to squeeze every last drop of the game. When I design the game, I always keep all three objects in mind to make sure each person comes out of Animal Well what they are expecting and hopefully more.
I’m not ready to announce a release date yet but assure everyone that I’m doing my best to make Animal Well the best it can be. I hope everyone agrees it’s worth the wait.
