Owlboy: 10 Years of Indie Dev

In case you’ve never heard about Owlboy, it’s an indie game, which was created by a 5-men team D-Pad Studio. The project was conceived back in 2007 (so, yeah, almost ten years ago). It’s inspired by Metroid and it’s got some outstanding pixel art. Originally the project was conceived as a game for ‘Revolution’, Nintendo’s new console, which was later renamed ‘Wii’. Art director Simon Anderson though that this new system would mark the return of pixel art games. The new article at VICE gives some more details on the game’s production.

The game’s idea of flying was inspired by the Tanooki for Mario from Super Mario Bros. 3 and the Kid Icarus. However, the developers decided not to meddle with 3d, but instead keep their games firmly rooted in the 2d territory. The idea seemed to be quite simple and originally the game was to be released in 2011, but life got in the way.

The game was developed with the money they got from friends and family, $80k grant from the Norwegian government and $10k prize from Norwegian Game Awards. The money helped significantly since the developers went through a number of revisions of the original game. The players constantly demanded a higher quality of product and it took time to add everything into the build. The main designer Simon Anderson suffered from depression, other members of the team lost their relatives.

In 2013 the team released Savant – Ascent – a shooter game, which was well received. It worked as a proof that they can actually ship a game. You can buy Savant for $1,59.

It’s nice to see Owlboy finally coming out. D-Pad Studio is a heroic team, that managed to keep building their game no matter what. It took an awful amount of time. Most people would have given up long time ago. Such persistence and dedication is actually why indie games are so important. They teach of all things, that you need to follow your dreams.