Back on April 14, we marked Stay Dead’s first year of development. Despite being a small group, passion, creativity, and hard work brought something truly unique to the gaming world. Looking back at that moment now, it captured not only how far the team had come in 12 short months, but also the spark that set this whole project in motion. And yes, one of the key developers was only 17 years old.
The Spark That Ignited the Fire
Animagic had primarily focused on animation for years, developing short films and creative ads. Their transition into game development came naturally, merging talents to create something interactive where players became protagonists. Confidence grew after developing three small games with Discord, which pushed the team to experiment further. Creativity took over, and the project took shape.
“The concept of merging talents to create an interactive format that turns players into protagonists of a unique experience captivated me. Our confidence to delve into this new arena was bolstered by the chance to develop three games alongside Discord. Collaborating and experimenting closely with them fueled our curiosity and marked our first step toward embarking on such a project.” – Jordi Ayguasenosa (Co-Director)
The Building Blocks
Unity became the backbone of development, chosen over Unreal because its style aligned better with Animagic’s visual goals. C# provided the accessibility they needed for programming. Blender handled character modeling and rigging, while Adobe tools and Substance Painter covered UI and texturing.
“We mostly used Unity for game development. Although we considered Unreal for a few weeks, we ultimately chose Unity because its style better aligned with what Animagic already does. Visually, it was easier for us to achieve our design and lighting styles. Additionally, Unity offered us more accessible programming for our experience, as we could program in C#. For creating 3D elements, we used Blender for modeling and rigging characters. This choice was due to how easily it integrates with other programs. As for designing the user interface (UI), we mainly used the Adobe suite, with Substance for texturing elements.” – Emilio Treviño (Developer)
Overcoming the Odds
Optimizing for mobile devices was one of the team’s toughest challenges. With so many different devices to account for, ensuring smooth performance was a constant struggle. These lessons pushed the team to rethink their approach to efficiency and optimization.
“Optimizing the game for mobile devices presented unique challenges compared to consoles or computers because the variety of devices and their capabilities varied widely. It was crucial that the game was lightweight and ran quickly on any device to ensure a smooth experience for all users. This experience allowed us to learn in detail about the complexities of mobile development and improved our overall understanding of the game development process.” – Emilio
Even small details caused big problems. A floor shader experiment blew past GitHub’s storage limits in a single day, forcing the team to simplify the design into textures.
“When it came to the floor shaders, we ran into a problem when we activated the large file system on GitHub. Our license only gave us 2 GB of space, but in no time, we ended up using up to 20 GB in a single day. Faced with this situation, we had to come up with a quick solution. We decided to simplify the floor design and turn it into a texture instead of a shader. And it worked!” – David Parra (Developer)
Laughter, Lessons, and Triumphs
Plenty of absurd and memorable moments defined that first year.
“When we introduced Hades’ ability, we soon discovered a problem: without a cooldown, players could repeatedly use the ‘dig’ ability at any point in the game. This allowed them to bypass enemies and effortlessly reach the final goal, essentially bypassing the carefully crafted game mechanics and skill-learning process we had designed. It was a bit absurd, but we quickly implemented a cooldown feature to address the issue.” – David
The team also built their prototype in secret, without telling Animagic’s director, just to prove they could do it. That moment was a turning point that gave them the confidence to carry the project forward.
“A moment that stands out for me is how we clandestinely organized the creation of the demo. The director of Animagic was unaware that we were working on a prototype, so we decided to start development on our own to prove to ourselves that we could take this step. It was a revealing moment that showed us that we could really carry the project forward.” – Emilio
One of the most personal achievements came when Emilio, without prior HLSL knowledge, wrote 3,000 lines of shader code in a week.
“Although I had no previous experience in this language, in a week, I managed to write 3000 lines of code and create the shader. This achievement made me realize that I could develop a game and was a turning point in my confidence and skills.” – Emilio
By December, the prototype was ready for GDC. The booth was packed, the reception was positive, and it gave the team a taste of what Stay Dead could grow into.
“We worked quickly and managed to showcase the game at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) with a version available for the first release outside of Animagic. It was exciting to see the positive reaction of people to the IP, and our booth was always filled with interested visitors.” – Jordi
Anticipation and Hope
Stress was ever-present, but so was excitement. With only two programmers, progress wasn’t easy, but every milestone showed what was possible with persistence.
“Stress was part of the process. Seeing how people reacted to the game was incredibly rewarding after so much effort. Development was challenging, especially when we were working with such a small team, but the fact that we got this far spoke volumes about our hard work and dedication.” – Emilio
At GDC, hearing players call the prototype “amazing” was a moment of pure validation.
“When most people said the prototype was amazing, it filled me with joy. Even though we had done very little for this game, it became huge for the fanbase. It was another way of saying that we could do it, even with limited resources.” – David
That first year was full of meticulous work, high standards, and long nights, but it also built a foundation of pride and confidence.
“It was inspiring to see how each day the project became more real and tangible. With careful dedication, I trusted we would be able to offer an excellent product. Although the to-do list seemed endless, our talent and determination always carried us forward.” – Jordi
Looking Back, Moving Forward
Looking back on the article we first shared on April 14, 2024, it’s clear how much of that first year shaped everything that came after. Those challenges, wins, and experiments set the stage for where Stay Dead is today.
The story of Stay Dead is one of indie grit, passion, and teamwork, and it’s far from over. The family of Porto Morto is still growing, the world is still evolving, and the chaos is only just beginning.
If you’ve been following us since that milestone, thank you for being part of the journey. If you’re just joining us, now’s the perfect time to hop in.
Wishlist Stay Dead on Steam and join our Discord to meet the team and community as we continue to build the weird, wonderful zombie world of Porto Morto together.