After two long years of working as a solo developer on Equitania, I am finally ready to announce it to the world. Let me take you on a journey. Where did the idea come from?
My relationship with horses
I have a close relationship with horses. In the past, when I had more time, I did a lot of trail riding and even had a couple of horses of my own and a small farm. Then life happened… fast forward. I made a couple of smaller VR games and was ready for my first Steam game.
Listening to the horse game community
I found a horse game community, and I saw that there are a lot of games, but most of them focus on breeding, realistic simulation, or simple arcade racing. That's great and tells me a lot about what players want, but I felt it's not the whole story.
After listening to the community, I started to see a hunger for a different kind of horse game. One with infinitely replayable fun gameplay. Such as allowing expression of skill and progressive learning. Also, I saw content creators struggling with creating new original content with current horse games that are often repetitive and grindy. Nothing against that. I have a lot of friends who appreciate games like that. I just saw a big want for something else.
I play a lot of different games, and I like action
I play a lot of different games, and I like action and speed in my games. One old game I played as a kid was Tony Hawk. You ride a skateboard and do different tricks while traversing outdoor areas with ramps, rails, and other typical skateboarding features. The whole gameplay is about chaining combos and pushing your score as high as possible while completing different challenges.
Expression of skill
I saw horse games use checkpoints that you pick up, similar to coins in mobile games. I wanted to do something different. After a long thought, I decided to combine classic disciplines, racing, dressage, and showjumping with archery using a combo system similar to the Tony Hawk game. Every checkpoint, jump, and target is an objective to express your skill - timing, accuracy, and speed.
I wanted the player to aim for challenging 100% accuracy on each of these. At the same time, there should be potential for strategy and balancing of speed and accuracy. Then it needs to be intuitive and straightforward to learn for new players without the need for a long tutorial. It took a long time to figure out - visual and audio effects helped a lot.
Slow down time mechanic to unlock cool and fun gameplay
The key to the whole gameplay was the introduction of focus state - slow time while aiming. The inspiration came from many games with this mechanic, but my favorite is TimeShift. A fun old FPS game that opened my eyes, how cool it can be. In Equitania, it's automatic. It needs to feel natural and good. I am excited about how the system turned out and expect to fine-tune it with broader user feedback.
Horse in the horse game
Regarding the horse itself, I had to be smart about this. I can't create too many complex systems, especially when I have a core gameplay loop that is very specific and requires dynamic and smooth gameplay overall. Too complicated bonding mechanics could kill the pace of the game. I decided to approach it in two ways that combine.
Bonding
First, there is a bonding system that rewards resting, feeding, and watering your horse. You get a riding bonus for the next couple of races. Each completed race with the bonus increases the bond. Completing challenges while having the bonus increases it too. This is optional. You can ignore it and come back to it later when you need to level up your horse. So, if you are in the flow of racing, you don't need to break it. Just enjoy the game and take care of it later at your own pace.
Silver (the horse) is an active and essential part of the story
I wanted the horse to be part of the story. Not just a means to get from point A to B. I heard that complaint about other games a lot from the community.
I decided to make Silver a sentient being with her struggles and motivations. She wants and even needs to talk to Mia because she needs her help. By doing this, my goal is to make Silver an iconic character in the story that people remember long after finishing the game.
Her story is very moving when players take the time to learn about her. But she is a horse. You can't just talk to her. I wanted players to take a break in communication with her between races. Players will need to slow down and think about her message and their response to her. It's made into a reward for bonding and progressing in the story.
World and story inspiration
My inspiration for the world comes from many places. The first one is Narnia. Travel to a fantasy land to save it. They are children’s stories, but common. Who wouldn’t want to go? Matrix is a more modern version of the hidden parallel world. Iris created Equitania as a virtual world turned real. That’s where the dark forces and the story of Faust come in. And finally, Orpheus and Eurydice. Travel to the underworld to save a loved one.
Hidden layers of the story
There is more to the story than meets the eye. It will become clear to players who decide to dig under the surface. I wanted the story to feel like a fairy tale for people who wish for a happy ending. But also to have a much deeper meaning for people who want to invest time and effort into learning it.
Horse customization is essential in horse games
Horse coats. I know they are essential. I saw other games develop complex and varied breeding and horse customization systems. I wanted something else, something simpler. I created a horse painter that is a simplified version of modern 3d painting/texturing tools like Substance Painter (basically Photoshop for 3D). It had to be easy for anyone to use, including non-artists.
I also wanted players to be able to share their created coats with other players easily. Well, in the end, it turned out to be much more complex than building a breeding and customization system. But it was worth it. From initial responses, it looks like people are even more excited about the horse painter than the game itself.
If you made it down to here, you are probably as excited about the game as I am. I will appreciate your wishlist, follow the game, and share it with others.
P.S.: Shout out to YouTube influencer @unicornis_et_curedent for asking me that exact question in the subtitle and inspiring me to write this article. And to all other influencers who liked the game and decided to make content about it. You are the heroes!