Hiya folks,
Welcome to the second issue of Footnotes. As we inch ever closer to Bundle of Joy’s release next year, we’d love your help bringing our to the masses. Please share this post and with a friend, colleague, or anybody who’d like a peek behind the curtain of indie game development.
Ok, December. Here we go…
New Bundle of Joy Demo Dropping December 9th
Mark your calendars: the new BoJ demo goes live on Steam next Monday, December 9th!
We’ve packed in some exciting new features for this update:
- Controller support
- Steam Deck compatibility
- New 'Tidy Up Toys' mini-game
- New ‘Burp the Baby’ mini-game
- And plenty of [b}improvements, flourishes, and polish since the last demo.
If you play the demo, don’t forget to take a moment to share your feedback with us — it’s invaluable as we make the final push toward release. You can do that on the Steam Community Hub for the game, get in touch via Discord, or send us an email.
Your Parenthood Stories Wanted
Parenting during the pandemic was… a lot. So much, in fact, that we built a whole game around the experience (lol). But we want to broaden the texture of the game with other pandemic parenting experiences. So, we’re looking for your stories to help us bring a “bundle” of voices into BoJ. Whatever your “how the heck did I survive this?” tale, we’d love to hear from you.
If your story is selected, we’ll credit you in the game (should you want that) and send you a Bundle of Joy Steam key for your troubles when the game launches.
Submit your Stories here.
A Deep Dive Into Difficulty
One of the most important themes in Bundle of Joy is difficulty. Not just from the traditional gameplay perspective, but in a much deeper, more philosophical sense, too. Raising a kid is tough. Doing so locked indoors, during a global pandemic, all while you’re adjusting to a new life as a parent (and mourning the loss of your old life) is Nightmare Mode difficulty.
As players progress, you’ll inevitably revisit minigames and when you do things get a bit more challenging. I wanted to disrupt the predictability of already visited minigames, while also showing how performing redundant tasks doesn’t necessarily equate to “things getting easier.” A familiar task becomes clunky, a simple chore suddenly becomes complex, a seemingly KNOWN activity just up and changed.
So much of parenting is about finding patterns and rhythms in daily life and then having those completely destroyed because your kiddo reached a new developmental milestone. Sleep patterns constantly shift; feeding schedules rapidly change; soothing techniques fall apart.
Bundle of Joy replicates this sentiment by altering how minigames behave. New challenges make the possibility of STRESSING OUT more likely but also make downtime more necessary. Because one of the most difficult things to do as a parent is to find time for yourself.
Thanks for reading this month’s Footnotes. If you haven’t already, give Bundle of Joy a wishlist on Steam—it makes a world of difference. And keep your eyes out for the new Demo when it drops next week.
Enjoy the holidays, and we’ll catch you in 2025 (!).
Nicholas
Essay Games