Another new development has begun
If you like puzzle games, you're going to like this one.
I say it straight up like that because I've been turning this around in my head for weeks and I can't find any game that does exactly what I want to do. It doesn't exist, for now, as far as I know. And that is precisely the sign I had been waiting for to get started on something new.
What I can tell you and what I can't
Not the name yet. A couple of things need to be wrapped up before saying it out loud, and I prefer not to burn a title that might change later.
What I can tell you is where it will be available. It comes out first for Android and Apple, which is where this game makes sense from day one—short runs, one-handed, no fuss. Later, PC and Mac will follow; I'd rather not promise dates that I might not be able to meet.
A puzzle game that is also a roguelike
The idea is simple to explain and significantly less simple to code: I want a puzzle game with roguelike elements.
No fixed levels that you solve once. Every run is generated, every run can be lost, and what you carry over from one run to another isn't just progress—it's what you've learned. You choose between options that alter the rules, chain decisions together, and sometimes you back yourself into an impossible corner and just have to deal with it.
I love classic puzzle games, but it always made me sad when they came to an end. A roguelike doesn't end; you play through it again. Fitting that concept into a puzzle game is what has me hooked right now.
And on top of that, I want it to have a story
This is the part where anyone with good judgment would tell me I'm making my life needlessly complicated.
I don't want a clean, abstract puzzle with a colorful background and elevator music. I want someone to actually be in there. I want each run to advance something more than just your score, for there to be a reason behind why you're solving what you're solving, and for you to understand things near the end that you didn't grasp at the beginning.
Coming from Empty Inbox, which is a full-blown graphic novel, I guess it was only a matter of time before I ended up putting text and characters in here too.
The aesthetic of Amstrad, Commodore 64, Spectrum, NES, and that overall era
I'm heavily inspired by the aesthetic of the Amstrad and the Commodore 64. Not just the 8-bit graphics—which isn't the case here, as my game won't be 8-bit—but how everything felt back then. The tapes that took an eternity to load. The magazines with code listings you copied by hand. The cover art promising a game far better than the one inside, and it didn't matter because you believed it anyway. I'm inspired by dreaming of science fiction that is still actual fiction. Not like when we used to dream of something resembling a tablet, artificial intelligence, or a flying car.
There was something very specific about those games: they explained little and were understood by playing. Nobody held your hand. That's the tone I want, not just the look. I want you to die 7 times before you even learn the name of the universe you're in. Which, by the way, will be Universe T-373.
It's not going to be a copy-paste job with a scanline filter slapped on top. It's going to be a modern game that remembers back then very well.
Meanwhile, Empty Inbox
Don't panic—Empty Inbox remains the top priority. It's currently in Steam review, the trailer is already out, and all that's left is polishing.
And here's a little preview: our Steam store page is already live: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5178990/Empty_Inbox/?beta=0
This second project is what I work on when I get stuck on the first one, which turns out to be the best way I've found to unblock myself.
I'll keep updating on how it goes here, as always.
Thanks for reading!