Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Building on the ground from scratch

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In Failed, you mine, craft and build your way from a single castaway survivor to a space company – from nothing to everything. I have the impression that the development of Failed was a similar process.

When I had the idea of Failed, I had the singular theme of progression. I wanted to be able to go from stone tools to space, gradually mining and fabricating your path way beyond what you might assume possible. But, unlike previous games, I didn’t carefully plan every step of the journey. I wanted to mirror this process, gradually building each stage of the game as you go, remaining flexible and able to change stages of the game as needed.

It got off to a rough start – because not only was I not sure exactly where the game would end up, but I also received mixed reviews from early game testers and no interest from publishers. Discouraged, I fixed the game the best I could with feedback and released it as a free browser game in October 2017. Now, over 3 years later, Failed finally made my dreams come true for the original idea and launched on consoles, becoming by far my most successful game.

The real breakthrough of my journey has been all the support and feedback from the people who have played. Failed in the browser. Not only was it highly rated and much better received than the first prototype, but I had more suggestions than I knew what to do with. Incremental design went from a weakness to a strength, and I was committed to adding updates, interacting with the emerging community, and building what ultimately became the Failed demo.

Failed

I didn’t know which mountain I should climb from demo to full version. With only a vague goal in sight, lofty goals, and a willingness to accept all kinds of suggestions, the game quickly got out of hand. Among game developers, we call it “Feature Creep”, and it has killed a lot of games.

Since the Early Access sales weren’t as high as I wanted and the to-do list grew insurmountable, I was really worried. In fact, I have the impression that the majority of FailedFor 3 years of development I had worried about one thing or another – which is unusual for me. But I was not discouraged. I eliminated the items from the to-do list one by one, as if I was mining an entire island in Failed. I discarded items that weren’t worth it. And, when I finally got to the top and added the endings to the game, I watched everything I accomplished in amazement.

Failed

Despite the early stumbles, the creep functionality, and the uncertainty and concerns of the incremental design of Failed caused, looking back, I wouldn’t have done it differently. Each bug fix has improved the polish of the game. Each feature added to the depth and variety of the world. Every suggestion and conversation on Failed builds the community that Failed owes much of its success to – including the vibrant modding community.

I was aiming for the stars, wanting to do something bigger than I had ever done before. And I ended up with something even bigger than I imagined. With unforeseen paths, entire star systems, multiplayer, console ports, community of support, and a hugely positive PC launch, Failed met all of my game development goals, and more.

Failed

Maybe you will feel a bit like me playing Failed – build great things. Hopefully without all the worries and difficulties. Failed has been an incredible journey for me, and the game reflects that journey in so many ways.

Xbox live

Failed

Digital whitethorn


3

$ 14.99

Survival is just the start. The only way for humanity to have a future is to go back to the stars and face them. But, it will take a lot of ingenuity and help recover whatever has been lost, and even that might not be enough … Aground is a mining / craft RPG, where there is a purpose, a story and a reason for it. create and build. As you progress you will meet new NPCs, unlock new tech and maybe some magic too. Will you be able to breed dragons? Launch into space? The sky is literally not the limit. Beneath its simple exterior, Aground hides a lot of depth and surprises that will make you wonder “what’s next?”



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