One of the situations any author faces after releasing their first work is: What now? What's next?
On the one hand, as much as we feel tremendously proud of Unmemory, the development and release process took a long time and although we are a little ashamed to admit it, we ended up a little exhausted (I guess everyone does). Thus, it made sense to look forward to doing something new.
On the other hand, however, we got a lot of messages from you, the reader-players of Unmemory, asking us to make more games like Unmemory. We consequently think it is definitely an option since a second one wouldn't take so much work and that we could take advantage of all the learning.
That's from an authoring perspective.
Then, we have to take into account the studio’s perspective.
As a company, you also have to take care of the feasibility and look at the economic side. In that sense, although Unmemory has had incredible reviews from public, press and festivals, it is also true that it is not a mainstream product. That's not necessarily a bad thing. We love making projects for a huge minority. But the question remains the same: what should be next from a studio perspective?
One option would be to launch something totally new and different. We have some new ideas, which are aligned to our studio’s DNA: they explore new ways of storytelling through game mechanics, which we see a lot of potential for. But, of course, maybe we're the only ones who see it. Innovation always implies risk.
Another option is to continue building on what we already have: a small but lovely and loyal audience that likes a format where the story and puzzles are well integrated, where reading becomes fun again.
Delete After Reading responds to this second path. An exciting choice that has to show us that beyond the stories, the format of a book that is played, a game that is read has more to offer. At least, we hope so. And you’ll be able to find it soon. Stay tuned and never forget to Delete After Reading!