- This surreal RPG's battle screens look so good - 16 June 2021
One game which caught my eye during all of the E3 everything is one I'm apparently late to notice: surreal RPG She Dreams Elsewhere . A new trailer with mock VHS effects showed off its shopping mall level with a CGA-ish palette and sure, that was interesting enough, but then it hit a battle and WHAT HELLO THIS IS GORGEOUS. Read more
- This year's Game Devs of Color Expo will be held online, and it's set for September - 18 March 2021
The sixth Game Devs of Color Expo has been announced, and is scheduled for September 23-27. After successfully shifting to an online format last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will once again be held online this year and will highlight the work of people of colour across the games industry, with exclusive talks and spotlights for exciting upcoming games . In the past, the Game Devs of Color Expo has been held in person at the Schomburg Center in Manhattan's Harlem neighbourhood, but organisers say the transition to a virtual event last year was a hit, attracting more than 1,500 online attendees. The goal each year is to amplify the creative work of people of colour in roles across the games industry, from small indies to big triple-A publishers. Organisers have put out a call for submissions, both for games to showcase and speakers to give talks during the five-day…
- Screenshot Saturday Sundays: She dreams of timeless deserts, and orcs - 6 December 2020
Screenshot Saturday Sundays! And really, shouldn’t you all be sending me cool videogame snaps on this, my birthday weekend? Generous soul that I am, I’ll let this slip and continue with our regularly scheduled line-up of jpegs, gifs and cheeky little mp4s. This week: pistol-whipping orcs, awkward texts, dreamlike deserts and the interminable stillness of time. (more…)
- The Game Devs of Color Expo presents developer talks and free demos this weekend - 18 September 2020
The fifth Game Devs of Color Expo kicks off this weekend with presentations by a number of different creators. Although the weekend of talks is a paid event, you can spot some developer interviews and free demos being hosted by the expo over on Steam in an event called Gradient Convergence. You’ve got from now until Monday, to try those out if you’re keen. (more…)
- The best Steam Festival demos: RPGs - 19 June 2020
Readers, I have put on my waders and made my way into the deep mill pool of the Steam Game Festival: Summer edition free demos. There are a lot, so I confined myself to RPGs. This isn’t an exhaustive list, of course, even though I got overexcited and did far too many, but it’s hopefully going to give you a place to start. If you saw RPGs and thought “Christ, she’s done a list of all elves and wizards and that” then you’re wrong . There’s only, like, two elves, and the rest is an array of witches, sentient animals, magic paintbrushes and surreal dreamscapes. Wares to suit every purse (especially because these demos are all free for the weekend, right?). If you can’t be bothered to read the lovely words I spent ages writing for you, hit the jump to the bottom of page 2 and you can see the full list. (more…)
- I want more of She Dreams Elsewhere and I want it now - 9 June 2020
Thalia wakes up from a vivid nightmare, and realises it’s 9pm. Her friend drags her to a party she forces herself to go along to, where she worries she’s unwelcome, has an anxiety spike and has to leave. I’ve played only the demo so far, roughly an hour long, but I’m ready to go all in. I am quite excited about She Dreams Elsewhere . (more…)
- She Dreams Elsewhere to Premiere on Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC! - 14 November 2019
Hey y’all! I’m very excited to announce that She Dreams Elsewhere will officially be premiering on Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC on DAY ONE! You can check out the official announcement video revealed at X019 here: I’m very excited and grateful to be working alongside Microsoft on this. Xbox has been a huge part of my gaming life since I was a kid, and the ID@Xbox team has been nothing but supportive of my vision, so much love goes out to them! At the risk of sounding like a shill, Game Pass is a really dope feature that I’ve personally received a lot of usage out of, so I’m extremely happy that many more people will be able to experience the game in this format. Not only that, but this opportunity means I can focus squarely on the game’s final quality throughout the rest of development and further expand the resources I’ve got to work with. The game is only going to get better from…
- The November 2019 Development Update - 12 November 2019
Sup y’all! Been awhile, yeah? Just wanted to pop in and say hello real quick - there’s a massive new development update that just went out on my website today, check it out! https://i.imgur.com/lCPHHLT.gif TL;DR version: The game’s gotten immense event and press coverage in the past few months (including from The New York Times!), development itself is going smoothly bar for a brief break to focus on bizdev housekeeping, the entire story is finally getting eyes on it, battle system is being played around with a bit, yada yada, just read the full thing. :p I’ll be back later this week with a huge update concerning the Xbox One version, which will be announced at Xbox's X019 event in London this weekend. For all you other console players, don’t worry… there’s special announcements coming up in that regard soon! (hint: it’s something that’s been long requested by, like, everyone). Talk soo…
- She Dreams Elsewhere Goes to NYC! - 22 July 2019
Hey y'all! Hope y'all have been doing well. Just a brief little update for today that I should've posted awhile ago but oops: First off, She Dreams Elsewhere will be playable at the Game Devs of Color Expo this Saturday, July 27th! Not only will there be a few goodies and a surprise announcement, but I'll also be personally speaking on a panel about hip-hop and gaming with Shawn Alexander Allen, Mega Ran, Sammus and Mike Eagle. If you're in the area, definitely stop by and check out all the other dope games and talks! Again, it's on Saturday, July 27th from 11am-6pm at the Schomburg Center in Harlem, NY. There's also a chill afterparty at Babycastles right after the event at 7pm; you should definitely check that out too if you can. https://cdn.steampulse.org/steam/asset?u=https%3A%2F%2Fsteamcdn-a.akamaihd.net%2Fsteamcommunity%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fclans%2F32847484%2F4296ad2c31991d5a3f8a9a2fd032ae795ece3e58.gif I've also been thinking about doing…
- The pets immortalised in videogames by their developer owners - 2 May 2019
Matthew Holland never planned to add his dogs to Divinity: Original Sin 2 . It happened on a lark, but turned into a wholesome story about his two canine companions. Holland worked as a scripter at Larian, the studio behind the fantasy RPG. While they were designing Fort Joy, an introductory island prison, the team came up with a quest about two separated dogs who wanted to find one another. At the time, their names were just “Dog A” and “Dog B”. While brainstorming with lead writer Sarah Baylus, Holland jokingly pitched the names of his two dogs, Buddy and Emily. The names stuck and Buddy became the lonely dog on the beach at Fort Joy who was missing his partner, Emmie. Although they planned a golden retriever modeled after the real Buddy, it turned out that a golden dog on a white beach wasn’t so easy to see. Buddy became a black labrador in-game, but his…
- Overcome a personal nightmare world in She Dreams Elsewhere - 17 March 2019
Strange monsters and more adult fears blend together in She Dreams Elsewhere , an upcoming surreal adventure JRPG. A young woman named Thalia must navigate her nightmares in an attempt to wake up from the subconscious maze she s stuck in, facing all kinds of foes both supernatural and everyday. Here s a trailer to get lost in. (more…)
- It's official - we're in the INDIE MEGABOOTH! - 26 February 2019
Hello everyone! I've got some exciting news for y'all today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpdnT_LJ5Wk&feature=youtu.be Very excited to finally announce that She Dreams Elsewhere is a 2019 Indie Megabooth Official Selection, and will be playable at this year's Game Developer's Conference (GDC) from March 18-22! I've known about this for a little while now, and since being in the Megabooth has been a dream of mine ever since I started the game, it's been hard keeping quiet for so long. Cat's out of the bag now. ;) Not only that, but a full, brand new trailer will be dropping within the next few weeks (as well as the new cover art), and the demo playable at GDC will contain all-new, never before seen content. I hope you all look forward to it, and if you're at GDC, come on by! The game will be playable in the Moscone Center, on the 2nd level of the West Hall, and is open to all GDC badg…
- Demo is LIVE! (Featured on Polygon!) - 11 December 2018
Hey guys! Thank you so much for the support over the past few days; the demo's reception has been nothing but incredible and I'm super hype to finish the rest of the game now. I'm also super psyched to announce that the game was recently covered by Polygon! (also talked about in podcast form here - starts at 17min). Enjoy!
- One-hour demo drops NEXT WEEK! (Wednesday, December 5) - 27 November 2018
Hello everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving. I’m super excited to announce that the playable demo for She Dreams Elsewhere will launch next week on WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5th! It’ll contain the first hour of the game and should get across the general vibe I’m going for. You’ll be able to download and play it via here on Steam, itch.io or RPG Maker.net when it releases. Also, the postmortem for DreamHack Atlanta will be dropping later this week as well! I hope you all look forward to it; I loved the event and I can’t wait to share my experience with you all. Oh, and before I forget, poll for you guys – how would you all feel about a behind-the-scenes development vlog? Kind of a like a more personal, smaller-scale version of Double Fine Adventure, with stuff like map creation timelapses, design processes, tutorials for RPG Maker, maybe even a livestream or two… I’ve…
- Exhbiting at GDEX 2018: The Great Post-Mortem - 14 October 2018
Hey guys! Hope you all are doing well. There's a new development blog post up covering my experience showing the game off at GDEX 2018 in Columbus, Ohio. You can check it out here. Lemme know what you think! Have a great weekend!
