AN UPDATE (MARCH 2026): NO MOVEMENT, BUT MUCH PUSHING
AN UPDATE! (April 2026) Hey folks! Here's where this build of The Dark Room on Steam currently stands: 1. I've got a great team of folks helping try to get the game finished / remade. Since about 2023 Imre Jele of Bossa Games has been assisting and we've spoken to various publish
AN UPDATE! (April 2026)
Hey folks! Here's where this build of The Dark Room on Steam currently stands:
1. I've got a great team of folks helping try to get the game finished / remade. Since about 2023 Imre Jele of Bossa Games has been assisting and we've spoken to various publishers and developers about a bunch of different approaches. It always comes down to money, which nobody has! I don't really want to run a Kickstarter, but that's looking increasingly like it may have to be the way.
2. What do I mean by "remade"? Well, since the game came out 8 years ago, a lot things have changed in the world (you'll note Elon Musk is mentioned positively in the trailer, which in 2026 is INSANE. Also the trailer says the game would release complete because I personally hated when games didn't do that. HA! Reality really kicked me in the nuts there, didn't it?)
The current goal is to rebuild the game in a different engine, since mo-cap software has improved and every studio we've spoken to doesn't want to deal with the old code. This would involve me writing a new map, new mo-cap, new voicing, and best of all, new puzzles and traps. My hope is one day everybody who bought the game will wake up (in a dark room, of course) and see an update queued in their Steam - and a new adventure will come out. (Your progress in the first map will be saved, I've had people waiting 8 years.)
3. Just for clarity, the original developers - Stirfire Studios - are lovely people, and featured some great friends of mine, unfortunately their company went into liquidation back in 2018. I'm given to understand that happens a lot in indie gaming! I bought the rights back, the game back, and proceeds from it support me directly. All good there!
I would have written all this earlier, but to be honest, I had a pandemic and a bunch of big life stuff to get through first before I could even log in here. Indie game development is its own incredible headache and I wouldn't wish it on anybody! It's still incredible though, and ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I WILL FIND A WAY TO RELEASE THIS THING.
In the meantime, THE DARK ROOM live show remains on tour, come see me out there:
www.thejohnrobertson.com/livedates
And clips from said show are all over socials:
Insta: @Mr_Dark_Room
TikTok: @RobbotronTwitch
Twitch: @Robbotron
YouTube: @Robbotron
Facebook: Mr John Robertson