Dear Friends and Supporters,
Today, I’m tasked with sharing a disappointing update. Despite our earnest efforts, we were unsuccessful in securing a publisher for the reboot of Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure.
Why did this happen? Allow me to distill the key reasons:
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Genre Constraints: The market for standalone action-adventure games presents substantial challenges. With fierce competition and a lack of community-oriented features, publishers tend to shy away from this genre.
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IP Recognition: Despite a passionate, albeit small, community of fans, Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure isn’t globally recognized, which added to the hesitations of potential publishers.
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Cost and Scale: While indie game studios can often deliver remarkable games with lean teams (as we’ve seen with Death’s Door and Tunic), our vision for this project involved a team of 15 to 20 people, echoing the original game’s size. This considerable investment, juxtaposed with the risk inherent to the genre and IP, was a factor in the decision.
What’s the path forward? With a heavy heart, we’ve halted our work on the reboot and, for the moment, regard the project as canceled. This allows us to channel our focus and energy into the remastered version of Twinsen’s Little Big Adventure (TLBA Remastered). We will explore whether we can reincorporate the reboot’s ideas into the remaster, but that’s a conversation for another time.
What does this mean for our team? Regrettably, we are reducing our team size. Letting dedicated members go is a tough and painful part of this process, but it’s a decision driven by our current circumstances.
So, what’s the next step? We’re exploring two main avenues for TLBA Remastered: finding a suitable publisher or self-publishing. The rationale for seeking a publisher for the remaster aligns with that of the reboot, but the substantially lower cost offers a compelling difference. We will know more in the coming weeks. For the self-publishing route, we will need additional funds (Patreon?) and are considering collaboration with another studio.
You may wonder if these challenges have dampened our spirits or diminished our motivation. I assure you, it’s quite the opposite! Our confidence is buoyed by the phenomenal feedback from our recent playtest. With 4000 participants and 2000 detailed feedback forms, we’re immensely grateful. A remarkable 33% of you rated the experience a 9 or 10/10, and 80% scored us a 7 or higher. We’re excited to improve and grow from this constructive feedback.
The future of Twinsen hangs in the balance over the next few weeks. Rest assured, we are wholly committed to turning the tide.
Thank you for your understanding and unwavering support.
Best regards,
Ben
Damn that sucks balls. I was really hyped for this. Is that the end for the project? They still have their steam page up…
The remasters are being done, that didn’t change. But without any publisher, the reboot is almost impossible at this point.
Anyway, the full text is in the link, with further information.
Hopefully the remasters do well enough to demonstrate an interested market.
That’s good to know. Couldn’t read anything from the link, requires an account.
Sorry. I’ll update my post then.
And interest rates are pretty up there, having companies attempting to run lean and safe.
I remember this game. I was to young to get very far and found it way too challenging for my age (I was like under 10 so understandably not the audiance).
I just remembering really wishing I could understand it because they graphics where really cool and whimsical.
It’s a shame no one whould pick it up. It’d have been excellent for somthing like super gaint games as they seem to have a great isometric engine built and Darren Korbs music style whould fit perfectly. I guess they’re busy with a Hades sequel though.
Same story here, plus I loved the different “moods” thing. I don’t think I ever got past like the second screen but it’s still a game that’s stuck with me. I’ll be looking out for the remaster.
