This announcement is unlike any others: we’re extremely happy to reveal that GOG, together with Chucklefish and Robust Games, join forces for an upcoming release, Loco Motive, now available for wishlisting! Loco Motive is an adventure pixel-style game with text-based point-and-click mechanics and a fair amount of comedy. Taking place in the Reuss Express, it unwraps a classic story of “who killed?”. The player’s quest will be to uncover the thrilling murder mystery and solve satisfying puzzles – all that, while being one of the main suspects. It’s a slapstick journey, filled to the brim with twists and turns you definitely won’t expect!
To make the announcement even more exciting, together with Chucklefish, we’ve gathered some insights from the game creators –
Adam Riches, experienced artist and animator and co-founder of
Robust Games, known for work on titles like Wargroove and Starbound, and
Joseph Riches, software developer with a background in educational game development, also co-founder of
Robust Games.
In our conversations, Adam highlighted the challenges of being a small team working on an ambitious project with under ten members. Despite this, they collaborate with freelancers in various fields such as art, animation, UI, composing, and sound design. Together with Joseph, they take on multiple responsibilities including game design, art direction, programming, narrative design, voice direction, and more. They also manage social media, development blog, and administrative tasks. While on the topic, Joseph commented: “
There’s also the added pressure that we’re writing a comedy. The narrative has to come together in a satisfying way, but it’s equally important for us that the humor lands.”
Asked about any turning points of the game’s development, co-founders of Robust Games answered:
Joseph: “
I think the biggest turning point of development was getting to watch people play the game for the first time. We’d been working away on it in a bubble essentially, but we took a playable demo to AdventureX 2022, in London, and got a very positive reception from the Narrative games community. People were queuing to try it during both days of the show.”
Adam: ”
I found that personally very validating. I think it’s easy to doubt yourself during development, you’re looking at the game every day and you begin to lose all perspective. You may begin to question if what you’re making is going to resonate with an audience. All of those doubts fell away as soon as we saw people enjoying the game.”
They also shared an intriguing story about the origins of
Loco Motive. Initially, the idea for a point-and-click adventure game had been brewing between them, but lacked a starting point. In 2020, AdventureX announced their inaugural game jam, AdvXJam, prompting Adam to propose the idea to Joseph, who eagerly agreed. Through brainstorming sessions, the initial concept for
Loco Motive emerged.
Upon releasing the game jam entry,
Loco Motive received an overwhelmingly positive response. Thousands of downloads, press coverage, and user demands for more content fueled their confidence. Harnessing this feedback, they crafted a compelling pitch for a full-sized game based on the concept. The efforts paid off when, six months later, an agreement was secured to develop
Loco Motive into a reality.
But the development process wasn’t just praises and success; it was a hard learning process, too. Adam acknowledges the daunting nature of game development, describing it as one of the most challenging endeavors he's undertaken. While integrating content into the game may seem straightforward, achieving seamless cohesion and polishing the final product demand significant time and effort, surpassing initial expectations.
Finally, our guests brought a piece of advice for aspiring game developers; and the story of their own success couldn’t be a better testimony.
Joseph: “
Don't be afraid to build connections with people who fill out your missing skills. Game development is much more enjoyable as a collaborative effort, and it’s true what they say - It’s a marathon, not a sprint! If you’re doing all the work yourself as a solo developer it may be a struggle to keep that motivation up long term.”
Adam: “
It’s common for people to attempt their big idea right away, because ambitious projects are immediately exciting. My advice to any aspiring game developers is to start small and try to keep your scope in check where possible. Game jams are great for this because you learn to collaborate in a team, they’re usually only a few days long so they’re not a huge time investment, and you’ll usually have something you can share with people by the end.I also recommend connecting with other developers if you can, there are plenty of online game developer groups out there. Start building yourself a network of people you can collaborate with, people you can ask for feedback and advice. If you can do that for yourself, it will help you in the long term.”We’d like to thank Adam and Joseph for taking the time to share their insights – and we couldn’t be happier for being a part of the Loco Motive journey. It is now available to wishlist on GOG; stay tuned! 