Three and a half years and we are finally done!
Run From Mummies is out now! The launch has left Matt and me feeling a bit nostalgic. Looking back on the last three years and how we ended up where we are today.
While we had been sitting on a vague idea since 2011, born of brainstorming between rounds of Halo 3 or Team Fortress and a random first sketch, things did not kick off in earnest until much later.
The first sketch that would eventually start it all.
Once we were committed to this concept, prototyping began at rapid speeds. It took a mere couple of weeks before we had levels that were playable. These levels weren’t exactly what they are now but they had everything to take out a tourist, boulders, spike traps and rudimentary mummies. Run From Mummies was starting to quickly take shape… but there was still much work to be done.
Early concepts of levels and level loops
From the bare bones, we began the long road of experimenting, balancing, and innovating, refining the game modes we wanted to add, levels, and tourists. At one point on death, tourists would reset back to the level’s start and have to run all the way back through all the rooms. Thankfully, that was changed and tourists now start at the beginning of the room they died in.
Run From Mummies would go through a series of small changes just like that until we refined and better-defined mechanics. Even the levels themselves got multiple ‘decoration’ passes to make sure things like lighting, sprites and secret passages were exactly how we wanted them.
Tourists did not slide by these passes, also going through design changes as we went on. Remember the first guy in the blue hat? Well, he became Steve, the very first character players have unlocked. Our wonderful and painfully normal guy.
Be This Guy became Be That Guy! Steve .0 vs. Steve now.
More of our Tourists then vs. now.
Eventually after a year and a half of bold changes, milestones (the addition of Eric Benaim to the team to create the music being no small triumph), tweaks and many…many…lessons along the way we began to see Run From Mummies turning from a simple sketch to a fully formed game made out of a collective labor of love.
As levels were tweaked (some being much larger than they are now) abilities and game modes adjusted we took our lessons from the previous years and the age of innovation began! Finally, we were in the ‘home’ stretch and could look towards release plans, reworking and tightening what we had, and releasing our Kickstarter and demo.
Assets and levels slowly coming together!
Looking back it’s easy to see how much changed in the early years of Run From Mummies. Yet the last year saw significant change for the better. Game modes, locking down the story, refining the art and levels, and even hiring voice actors who did an amazing job bringing enemies and tourists to life. It’s a lot like having a loose sketch and now having a fully drawn illustration, at times barely recognizable yet you can’t help but be proud of the change and where you ended up. All of this was done with the help of our friends, family and the amazing strangers - now also friends - who came along for the journey with hearts full of support.
At the end of the day, there would be no Steve in his current rounder form without that support. Now with with Run From Mummies released and a hell of a journey, thank you for supporting us during this time and for reading this far.
From the bottom of Matt’s and my hearts, Thank You, and we sincerely hope you enjoy Run From Mummies.