Hello! Welcome to the devlog for May! We have survived the demo update, which was a towering giant of a task. I’ll go into details of that, since this devlog will be more of a postmortem of this last ‘release’. I originally slotted the subject to be my design process, and how I’ve planned out the rest of the game, but I feel like this could be an introduction. I’ll either save it for next month, or maybe I’ll drop a surprise devlog in the middle of May. Who knows, we like to be wild here. 

Speaking of wild, Artificium Games is already a year old! I started it on May 1st, which is crazy to me that a year has passed by. Time flies when you’re constantly busy, apparently. But it feels good, I think? If you had told me a year ago that this is where both the studio, and the game, would b, I probably would have vomited. I started the studio because I wanted to do something. I’m sure countless people would agree with me, hearing rejections one after another stops feeling good. But that shouldn’t stop us from making games. I wanted to take it into my own hands, and come hell or high water, it would be done. And that’s what I keep holding on to. 

And look where it’s led! A demo out that people can play! With a plan from start to finish how it’s going to end. It’s funny, having it line up on the week of the studio’s anniversary. I’m tempted to do it again for the full release? Right now, it’s slotted for around March of 2026, but maybe I move it to later. Definitely wouldn’t do it for the extra time or anything, haha! 

JK….unless…

But where does that leave us now? I will tell you. 

First things first, I’m the realest. 

Second! I already have a lovely list of patches that I get to work on. Little bugs and mechanics that I just wasn’t happy with, that I’m going to fix and update. Those may take some time, but nothing too crazy. Did you know that [I looked this up] that you can have 7 bugs when you release a demo? That’s all you can have, and we are definitely under that amount. And the person totally didn’t make that up, went on the Internet, and just lied about it. So we’re good there. 

But like I said, those may be a little bit til all patches are complete. And that’s because I’m starting on the rest of the game. Next levels, next bosses, all that good stuff I get to start putting together. And while I’ll be making sure that the demo is good, I cannot WAIT for the rest of the game to come to life! I’ve already gotten to see new music and new character models [thank you to my amazing composer and 3D artist once more, I’m putting their links here] and it will be so good to see it all come together. And I’ve said it before, but I get to add new people as well! So very exciting all around. 

And if I could speak for a moment and make it a true postmortem, I want to go into what I learned, what went well, and what can be better. Obviously, getting the thing out the door was a huge accomplishment for me, and I’m very proud of it. Are there some bugs and last changes? Sure, but it’s not the end of the world. Which is one of the biggest takeaways was that it’s not perfect, and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Which is a crazy thought for me to put down, but just like Indiana Jones's dad in the Last Crusade, sometimes it’s ok to let it go, and do what you can. The fixes will come, but there's no need to crunch and burn yourself out over stuff like this. This is my earl of wisdom to any developers, if it helps. I had to remind myself this as the stress kept building over deadlines I had set for myself. Do what you can, and the rest will follow after. 

So overall, not a terrible experience! And I get to jump right back into it, how exciting for me. 

And that’s my update for the month! Once again, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. And check out the people I’m working with! They’ve made some pretty amazing things. 

And if you’re interested in following along, you can check out my one-year-old baby studio! 

Me: https://linktr.ee/katiea_athanatosdev

Guilherme Alexander: https://www.guigagliardo.com/

Pedro: https://pedrofigueiredo.artstation.com/albums/2133675

The Studio: 

Bluesky:  https://bsky.app/profile/artificiumgames.bsky.social

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ArtificiumG

The Game: 

Itch:  https://athanatos-dev.itch.io/oops-youre-the-hero

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3166160/Oops_Youre_the_Hero/?beta=0

If you want to tag along, thank you <3 

• Kit 

PS. I didn’t get streamers for the release like I said I would. Boooooo me