Hey folks.
The release of the new Beach areas and game's release on Nintendo Switch mark the end of the fourth year of making Hidden Folks. Before I started working on Hidden Folks, I had designed a few games and programmed several prototypes, but I had never programmed an entire game. When I met Sylvain and jokingly told him we should make a game together, I did not imagine we would then proceed to spend four whole years making a game to be released on 7 platforms!!
I learned so much from making this game. About game design, playtesting, iterating. About community, fans, communication. About programming, scalable interfaces, different input devices, and localization. About business, marketing, and dealing with (my) mistakes. About finding motivation, or having too much motivation and working overtime because I wanted nothing else. I learned a lot about teamwork, finding the right collaborators, and being a producer as well as a creator. Making Hidden Folks was very hard at times, and wonderful and fulfilling at other times. I am still learning today!
With the Beach areas out and the Nintendo Switch version released, I (and I think the rest of the team) need a break from our adventure. It has become hard for me to think about anything else besides Hidden Folks and that bothers me. I fear I have become boring at parties! For the foreseeable future, I want to take a step back from creating new Hidden Folks content and let my mind drift and linger. Maybe come up with a new game or two, make some prototypes, test some ideas. And, of course, figure out what else I want to get out of making Hidden Folks. I will continue giving support to the game, fixing bugs and whatnot, but there won't be new areas in the foreseeable future. But when the energy returns to me (and the rest of the team), you will hear from us again!
Thank you so much for your continued support, and talk to you soon!
Adriaan