The real reason this game took 8 years to reach you.

[p]Hi everyone,[/p][p]Today, I want to talk about something simple: Why it took 8 years to finish?[/p][p]When we started Apopia eight years ago, we had a timeline in mind. Like most beginner developers, we thought we knew how long it would take to build a world, write a story, and make it playable.[/p][p]We underestimated it…[/p][p]Not because we failed, but because we kept finding ways to make it better.[/p][p]Here’s the truth: we’re gamers, just like you. We KNOW what it feels like to play something incredible. And we KNOW what it feels like to be let down. We’ve all bought games that looked amazing in trailers but felt rushed, unfinished, or shallow when we actually played them.[/p][p]By Mid2024, we have actually “completed” a “full game”, somehow… It was about 4-5 hours long, rushed, rough, unpolished, anything you can expect from a rushed game.[/p][p]But we refused to let that happen with Apopia.[/p][p]This wasn’t about being perfect. It was about being respectful, to you, to the story, and to the time you’ll invest in playing it.[/p][p]Game development isn’t a straight line. Sometimes the best ideas come late. Sometimes you play your own game and realize: “We can do better than this.”[/p][p]And when that happened, we had 2 choices: [/p][p]1, Stick with it, and it will be a bad game forever.[/p][p]2, Make it a good game, but that will take another 1.5 years.[/p][p]We chose the latter.[/p][p]That’s why those “extra” months happened. Not because we were lost, but because we were honest and responsible to ourselves, to our players, and to the story that kept asking for a little more care.[/p][p]In the end, we weren’t building a product. We were crafting an experience. One we’d want to play ourselves. And true to my initially idea of delivering a message / an experience to make the world a slightly better / caring place.[/p][p]Next time, I’ll pull back the curtain on how we made Apopia’s world look so sweet and inviting. Even when the story goes to some deep, emotional places.[/p][p]Thank you for your patience. We can’t wait for you to finally play it.[/p][p]Yours,[/p][p]Onon[/p][p]Director, Apopia[/p]