It's been a minute - sorry folks! - but we have heaps to update you on. Wishlists are cracking on; Dan and Chad went to Korea; Demo date delayed (are we real now?); grant funding joy (YAY $$$); EMBER ON TV?!; and we sadly farewell Eli from the studio.
Let's get into it, shall we?
Wishlists have been slow and steady but we had a bit of a bump due to a number of events and showcases, including the Insider Gaming Showcase and the Horror Games Awards Midsummer Showcase. Oh and the game was showcased in Korea.
All of this has taken us REALLY REALLY close to 5K wishlists, and we couldn't be happier. Thanks everyone!
Big news here is that Chad and Dan visisted Seoul in South Korea for GAME AiCON at the end of May. Fear not, the name stands for 'Asia Indies', not the usual AI, cos you know we are all hand-drawn here.
But seriously, this was such a great opportunity to make more friends for Ember. The game was received really well with almost everyone praising the art (natch) and saying it was really unique and stood out. This is super promising for the game in Asian markets, and we heard how Chinese and Japanese players are hungry for unique games that are off-the-wall and weird. Exciting!
Finally, early this year we signed an options agreement with Cosmic Scream studios to develop End of Ember into a film or animated TV series. We have a great creative vibe with these folks and wish them all the best in their pitching and funding quest. Hoping to see an animated Ember series soon!
So, some big news here too! Unfortunately, as you have probably noticed, we did not release our Demo at the promised time of May, 2026. Hey, we're now just like one of those big studios, making you eat your disappointment.
However, we have had some funding success: along with 11 other studios, we have received some funding for the development of End of Ember from the South Australian Film Corporation, the same mob who helped us get to GamesCom last year. We celebrated with a slightly new trailer:
What this means (among other things) is that we are now able to commit to a demo release date of the end of January 2027, at the latest. But we're not gonna do a big song and dance about it because, y'know, how did that work out last time?
Big sad news here: since our last update, we have farewelled Eli Smith, our founding programmer, from Bad Plan Studios. Eli had a lot going on in life and decided not to keep sacrificing himself on the altar of gamedev so that he could devote himself more fully to family and work. Eli was and always will be part of the founding vision of Bad Plan and we'll miss him. Love you, E!
Moving forward we'll be working with Chloe in programming, supporting Adam and Matt. Welcome Chloe!
Well that's it for this time round - we promise we won't make you wait so long for the next update. As always, we'd love it if you can spread the word about the game, and thanks for reading!