Yup, it's hard to believe it's already been a year since Esophaguys launched! Or should we say it has ONLY been a year, because we got more coming and these necks will keep stretching! Lets do a quick recap and then we see what's next.
The idea for this game was first birthed back in 2021, maybe even earlier if you include earlier shower-thoughts and studying necks in the public parks of Toronto. Since then, like many indie teams, we had our share of ups and downs, day jobs came and went, relocations, missed flights, no sleep, etc.
BUT, we kept pushing forward. Even taking on the challenge to self-publish the game ourselves. This was no easy task, so we would also like to thank the amazing indie developer teams as well as each of the console platforms that helped us get here. Their encouragement and belief in indie developers helped make this possible.
Release Year
It was quite the... adventure.
We experienced more delays than we expected, but many of them came from exciting opportunities like additional platforms. No regrets here, just had to keep you waiting. These relationships are established now, so you won't be hearing this excuse again.
Even when we were finally on schedule, everything still do not go according to plan. Our Steam launch was heavily impacted after our store page was temporarily taken down (days before release) due to some strange legal claims we would prefer to put behind us. We got through it, learned a few lessons, and it certainly made for a memorable release.
We also learned a lot about our players. The biggest surprise was how many people expected online multiplayer. Esophaguys was always designed and planned as a couch co-op experience, and we've taken those lessons with us for the future (Wink Wink).
During the year we also lowered the price to make it it a bit more accessible now that we understand the market better. (that one was on us)
Highlights From the Year
We've been incredibly fortunate to showcase Esophaguys around the world.
Winning the TGS Indie Grand Prix Award was an unforgettable moment, and being invited to BitSummit made our time in Japan even more surreal. (Our engineer loved it so much, he lives there now!)
Even before that, we've also been lucky enough to attend:
Gamescom
GDC
DreamHack
Kinda Funny
MadMushroom
Save and Sound
Day of the Devs
Mix Showcase
Short Shorts Film Festival (this weekend!)
The Gamers
A huge thank you to everyone who streamed, recorded, or shared Esophaguys. Watching people play has been one of the most rewarding parts of this journey.
Special thanks to (In order of appearance in the Anniversary Video):
If you're a content creator and would like to cover Esophaguys, feel free to reach out—we're always happy to provide keys.
One More Thing...
Be sure to watch the anniversary video all the way to the end... There's a little something there for you to get your dentures quivering. You should also pay a visit to the Steam page of whatever that is, maybe there's a special Wishlist button you can hit (or bite, if you into that).
Once again, thank you to everyone who has supported Esophaguys over the past year. Whether you are friends/family, played the game, left a review (we need more of these please), reported a bug, or simply showed the trailer to a friend, it all means a lot to us.
All we wanted to do as aspiring game developers was make a game that we love and you helped in making that dream a reality. You've impacted our lives more than you probably realize.
Keep stretchen!
-Esopha-Devs