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Thomas Brush30 Sep 2023

I'm Making A Bioshock Willy Wonka Hybrid (Devlog)

Key insights

6 takeaways

01
The project required over six figures in capital investment to support a team of full-time and part-time staff during its development.
02
The developer experienced a period of prolonged silence from potential publishers, highlighting the difficulty of securing funding for projects lacking a consistent, focused vision.
03
The transition from development uncertainty to commercial viability was achieved only after the project committed to a singular, cohesive creative direction.
04
Frequent identity pivots—including shifting from a medieval shooter to an Art Deco platformer—created significant operational friction and strained team morale.
05
The project's history serves as a case study on the risks of frequent rebranding and mechanical overhauls, which can jeopardize both professional credibility and project stability.
06
Securing a publishing deal with 3D Realms validated the developer's commitment to a retro-inspired shooter aesthetic after a two-year development cycle.

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Transcript

So, we've been working on this project called Twisted Tower for 2 years and I'm confused today, honestly, and I'm a little freaked out because the project has taken 2 years, we've spent over six figures. I have a team, two people underneath me, one full-time guy and another part-time guy, Philippe and AJ, and basically all the publishers we reached out to about the project have either ghosted us or they said no, even the smaller ones said no. When you look for a publisher, it's because you need money, right? You need funding. So, I was expecting an offer to come through this week. It didn't come through. It's kind of just been silent. I'm starting to think we're not going to get funded and that we we just need to Uh I think we just maybe need to move on. I don't know.

This game has had way too many changes. I got to be honest, like I've been feeling really insecure because I used to change my games all the time. I would change the character art, I would change the story, I would change the music. And when you're indie or like when you're solo and you have basically nobody else working for you, it's not a big deal because it's it's your your time is being wasted. But the moment that I started doing this to Philippe and where I would just for example we changed the game name from Sliver to Father, then we changed it from Father to Twisted Tower. We changed the environment from a medieval like a old-school Wolfenstein medieval castle, we changed it from that to an Art Deco hotel. Um we changed the mechanics of the game to being purely a sort of Duke Nukem shooter to being more of a platformer shooter like Half-Life or or Portal. I I've learned that you can't do that all the time. You've eventually got to stop making changes and commit. And this was even affecting my

relationship with my wife. All of these constant changes are expensive. And I can't imagine how stressful it is for her cuz she's you know, taking care of the kids and I'm rambling on about Teletubbies. Thomas is the changing of the waves. He is constantly changing an idea or something will start one way and I'll get so used to a the way the game is, everything that he's talked about the game, and then the next day I go into his office to see what he's done, and it's a completely different idea, completely different. And I think it's good that I can be this kind of steady mountain that he hits up against. You got a whiff of a publisher last year. And then you changed the game. It has been whiplash. I know. Yes. I compare being an indie game developer

to being I think this is me just maybe cuz I think it's cool, but I compare it to being like Jack Sparrow or like a pirate. And your job as the as the pirate captain is to look for the booty. So, you got to you got to look through your you got to look through your uh what is it? A telescope or whatever it is. Uh you got to look through your your telescope and you've got to find where the islands are and where is the treasure, right? The problem with this is that when you have a crew and you you're pretty sure the booty's on one island, so you go to that island and you start digging for it, and there's nothing there. The crew has to they have to rely on some credibility. They have to think, "Well, we got we've we've gotten treasure before, right? We got it at a different island, so he just missed this one, right?" But if you miss it twice or three times, then your crew starts to question whether your opinion is even valid. So, by by the time we had changed the

game name three different times, I was feeling like I had led my team to all these different islands, and I remember having a Discord call with Felipe, and feeling like I was just not the guy for this job. And that's why I think that's why this this today is so important to me. I would love for a publisher to say, "No, you are on the right track. This is a cool idea, and we want to invest in it, and we want to partner with you." Tiny, I want you to imagine something. Imagine. Really think hard about reaching the top of this twisted tower. If there is a publisher that would be perfect for this game, it would be a publisher who's not shy about first-person shooters, not shy about violent games, dark, gritty games. I mean, that's the charm of Max Payne, or Duke Nukem, Doom, or Wolfenstein. The absurd grittiness, the

absurd violence. The just boomer shooters in general, there's there's an absurdity to them. But, I don't even know I don't even know if those publishers exist anymore, honestly. And if they do, they're few and far between. Um so, maybe it's wishful thinking. So, yeah, it's a complicated game. It's taken forever, and 6 months of trying to get a contract with a publisher, and today I was really hoping for something. I mean, there's nothing. It's just been radio silence. Yeah. I mean, I I don't really know where we go from here.

Hey, buddy. So, had a call yesterday with 3D Realms. Uh-huh. And you know, things have been um shitty. Yeah. And so, it's been back and forth, back and forth. So, um all in all, the uh I just signed the contract. And so did they. Uh-huh. So, we are signed with 3D Realms. Oh, you bastard. Yeah, I'm just excited, man. Cuz I mean, 3D Realms is like this 30-year-old brand. I mean, I grew up playing their games. I think you grew up playing their games. And I think it's awesome that we get to continue that legacy of just making really fun shooters. And I know that the team at 3D Realms, including

Justin, he's the the chief creative officer, he just wants to make great action games. Question is it is there a hunger in the market for 3D Realms style games? You know, cuz you can you can have a 30-year-old brand, but if they don't want it anymore, they don't want it. There is, and I even explained that. Because what right now, you have developers complaining that one, publishers are all over the place signing all sorts of games and no one understands the identity. So, there's no lane ownership, right? Where are all the action games? It's like, what if my feelings are just some crazy fun [ __ ] that I want to blow up? So, we're we're completely we're completely good here. 3D Realms wants to sign Twisted Tower. The contract is done. Yeah, you're good.

Summary

The development of the indie title Twisted Tower illustrates the volatile intersection of creative iteration and the financial realities of the modern game industry. Over a two-year production cycle, the project underwent significant identity shifts, transitioning from a medieval-themed shooter to an Art Deco-inspired platformer. These frequent pivots, which included multiple rebrandings and mechanical overhauls, created substantial operational friction, straining both the development team and the lead developer’s personal life. The core challenge highlighted is the difficulty of maintaining team morale and professional credibility when a project lacks a consistent vision, effectively mirroring the risks of a captain leading a crew to empty treasure islands.

The financial stakes were high, with over six figures invested into the project and a small team of full-time and part-time staff relying on the developer’s leadership. Despite the team's efforts, the project faced a period of prolonged silence from potential publishers, underscoring the precarious nature of securing funding for niche, gritty, first-person shooters in a market that often lacks clear identity or focus. The developer’s struggle reflects a broader industry anxiety regarding whether traditional, high-intensity action games still hold a viable place in the current publishing landscape.

Ultimately, the project secured a publishing partnership with 3D Realms, a firm with a thirty-year legacy in the action genre. This conclusion validates the developer’s pursuit of a specific, retro-inspired shooter aesthetic, suggesting that while the path to funding is fraught with uncertainty and creative whiplash, there remains a market appetite for titles that embrace the absurdity and intensity of classic boomer shooters. The successful signing serves as a case study in the necessity of eventually committing to a singular vision to move from development uncertainty to commercial viability.