Hekki Allmo!
It’s been around 4 months since the release of 1000xRESIST (can’t believe) and we wanted to take a moment to update you on how it’s going and future plans.
This is going to be a somewhat long post, so settle in, grab a coffee or tea, and put your feet up on the chair; there’s lots to cover!
Before we get into it – THANK YOU. These past few months have been wild. We’re so grateful to everyone who has been spreading the word about 1000xRESIST. We honestly wouldn’t be here without you. We’re serious.
Fan Reception
We’ve been floored by the fan reception. Sometimes when you work on something for so long, you just have your head down in it. The last couple of months have been some of the most rewarding of our careers. As you may know, many of us on the team are from the experimental performing arts. The reach for that is confined to physical location. To have the game reach people across the world and make an impact has been such a privilege.
We’re so thankful to everyone who has been shouting about the game, writing essays, making videos, memes, cosplay, streaming, drawing AMAZING fan art – the burgeoning community around the game just makes us feel all the feels. We see you – on socials, on Reddit, on Discord, on ResetEra – and we appreciate you! We had a cast party in July and it was so great to show the performers all the fan art and comments. They were ecstatic.
We also recently hit the 1000 Steam Review milestone and it means so much to us that people are taking the time to leave something of their experience. To everyone who wrote, “if the devs ever read this...,” we do read it and some of the responses have made us tear up (in a good way!). If you haven’t left a review yet, please do! It’s one of the best ways to support us and in general, indie devs.
Fan Art credits - Left to right: Yuu@home, Maarika, garmmy, Brianna Lei, Peach & Grey, roll, smushypanda.
Content Creators
The videos and podcasts being created by content creators has been overwhelming. We’re still catching up on all of them! Geeks + Grounds did a month-long “book club” style playthrough with multiple spoilercasts. Welonz did a wonderful playthrough, speaking from her perspective as a member of the Hong Kong diaspora. Matt Horton published a one-hour deep dive. And dotzip recently released a FIVE HOUR long epic spoilercast.
Don’t forget Bullet Points Spoilercast, our interview with Gaming In The Wild and Anime Sickos. And of course, Jacob Geller’s stunning video “Nothing Ever Stops Existing.”
There’s more and I’ll be sure to list them next time – we’re amazed by all this and want to thank all the creators for taking the time to share their passion for the game.
Press Reception
The press response has been truly, wonderfully, humbling. 1000xRESIST is currently sitting on OpenCritic’s 2024 Hall of Fame with heavy hitters like Hades II, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, and Animal Well. This is something we never could have dreamed of. The whole team has been taken aback time and again by the thoughtful writing in so many reviews.
Here are some (but not all) of our favourite quotes:
“The feeling I experienced while playing 1000xRESIST is similar to the one I experienced while playing NieR: Automata—it’s the feeling that I’ll remember this story for the rest of my life...” – Paste Magazine
“1000xRESIST doesn’t just show what’s possible for narrative adventures or games in general; it shows what’s possible for art and entertainment as a whole.” – GoNintendo
“What a journey that was. Every time I thought I knew where it was going, it went somewhere else.” – TouchArcade
“1000xRESIST is unlike anything I’ve played before. Not since FromSoftware’s Dark Souls has a game captivated me utterly.” – Pop Matters
“It’s a cathartic and authentic representation of the common ground Asian Americans/Canadians share, extending to anyone who grew up a first generation from an immigrant family – the disconnect we feel from being pushed into assimilating and functioning in a western society while clinging on (sometimes reluctantly) to the cultures of our motherland. It's also an open invitation to those on the outside to see what our lives are really like, and a shining example of how the local is universal.” – IGN
How It’s Going
We launched during one of the busiest days in indie game history and even through that, we were able to punch up. To date 1000xRESIST has sold over 25,000 copies! And while this number may not seem huge compared to other games shipped on that day, it’s extremely meaningful to us.
What does it mean? It means we can keep the lights on. It means we can keep making games.
So, please excuse me for repeating: THANK YOU. To all the people who have supported the game by telling their friends, colleagues, and family – I said this above, and I really mean it, we wouldn’t be here without everything you’ve done to spread the word.
It’s working. We’re seeing 1000xRESIST continue to sell well through word of mouth and we couldn’t be more excited to have more people experience this strange thing we made. We’re going to do our best to support this as much as possible going forward. For example, check out our character screenshot references for fan art (1000xRESIST Character Screenshots (notion.site)).
So, six to one, sisters! Let’s continue to spread the brain rot.
What’s Next For 1000xRESIST
First up: Japanese localization!
Shipping within the next three months, the game will be fully localized to Japanese. We’re really excited about this and can’t wait for Japanese audiences to experience 1000xRESIST.
We’ve also been listening to the fans on other things. We’re actively looking into making an artbook and a script. Our hope for both of these is to include cut content, in-progress pieces, and some behind the scenes nuggets. Keep an eye out – but please be a bit patient – as we want to make them worthwhile and a good insight into the process.
Fans have also expressed an interest in having access to the in-game models to create fan art, fan animations, and the like. We’re also looking into this. Give us a bit of time to figure it out!
What’s more? We’re exploring a physical release. Many people have expressed a desire for this, so we’re taking it seriously. We have no news to share on this just yet, but stay tuned!
MERCH. Yes. We can say the first piece of merchandise coming up will be a plushie (produced by our industrious fan Pidge). We love the idea of fans making things for other fans. The pre-orders for these will be up before the end of the year!
Let us know if you have any other merch desires in the comments or the Discord! Maybe one day, you can even have a Picture Jiao of your own...
OST IN MORE STORES. We’ve been trying to get the OST on more digital stores, but an 85-track album is a challenge to distribute digitally on major storefronts. We may need to split the OST into multiple volumes for this reason. We’re still holding off on Spotify and Apple Music streaming. Our composers get a percentage of each soundtrack sale, so in an effort to support them, we’re sticking with outright sales. For the foreseeable future, the best place to get the OST will still be Steam and Bandcamp!
PIANO BOOKS. Drew has been passionate about transcribing the piano pieces in 1000xRESIST for others to play. We’ll be releasing these in small volumes, leading up to a complete book. In the meantime, check out purpleschala’s cover of “A Teardrop.”
VINYL RELEASE. We’ve heard you loud and clear. You want a record and so do the composers. We’re thinking about it. We’re working on it.
And last but not least, we’re exploring the world of Film/TV adaptations. Recently CAA – one of the big talent agencies in Hollywood – approached us with a partnership to represent our IPs in that space. We’re still at the very, very early stages of this but excited to consider the possibilities, whether that be animation or live-action (our minds boggle at how that could be done).
What’s...N E X T
We’re moving offices!
We’re trading our little office with a nice view for a bigger office that looks out onto a back alley (with trees! There’s trees.)
More importantly, our new office will be quieter. We do all of our voice over recordings in-house, so we’re always looking to improve the technical process. A quieter office means a lower noise floor. We’ll be able to record audio that won’t require as much cleanup in post-production (Justin will be very happy about that). With more space, we’re also hoping to record more than one performer simultaneously, so they can play off each other's energy, opening up all kinds of new opportunities.
Finally, the larger space will give our motion capture performers more room to do things without hitting a computer (or one of us).
There’s also a sink now. Thank the ALLMOTHER.
We’re making more games.
It’s both exciting and terrifying to be looking at a blank page again. It’s been awhile. We’ve been so encouraged by all your messages about future titles and I’d be lying if I said we’re not feeling the pressure.
The studio was founded to explore meaningful subject matter in new and experimental ways. Very much in the spirit of 1000xRESIST, we like left turns. All I know at this point is to expect the unexpected.
Come along for the ride! If it’s not clear already, we love to surprise.
In Closing...
We’re excited to embark on this next phase, supporting 1000xRESIST and exploring new games. To risk sounding like a broken record, we’re so grateful to all the people who have supported us so far.
We’ll be sure to update everyone as things progress. Follow us on Twitter or Bluesky for the most recent news and join us on the Fellow Traveller Discord to chat with the community and ask us questions directly.
A quick shoutout to Maarika, who we commissioned to produce the main image for this post! They’ve been making amazing fan art and we couldn’t help but ask them to make something for us.
Until next time!
Hekki grace.
– the sunset visitor 斜陽過客 team