Demo and release update

We started developing FEAR THEM in March 2021. At that time, we thought that it would certainly not make big waves - after all, it is our first game, which we also develop in our spare time.

However, we quickly realized that the demand was VERY VERY high... and remains so.

So we poured all our motivation and financial resources into this project and founded a company in August last year: BURNOUT INDUSTRIES UG

The team of 4 to 5 developers is working on FEAR THEM in every free minute since then. But as it is our first project, we have to develop not only the game, but also our skills. We are not full-time game devs... yet.

Many of our ideas were and are BIG, NEW and not so easy to implement. Very early on we proudly started posting first pictures, only to realize that a lot of the development happens in the background. There has been tremendous progress in AI, function, and custom-created technology - but none of it is really presentable.

That was probably strange for some of you. And we thank you very much for your understanding.

Indie devs usually start with a simple game. A 2D jump'n'run. We went straight for the "online multiplayer everything has to communicate via network and we want an AI that does SOOOO many mean things!" path.

This makes it hard to gauge when an end to our work is in sight.

Whenever we had made a big step towards a demo, either our job, our private life or a new idea interfered and pushed the release further back.

Our ambition is and remains to deliver a demo so that we do NOT slip into the realm of "Early Access". This is not how we imagine games to be. We think you should be able to test what we offer for free. And if you like it, you should be able to buy the game.

Sure, it would be nice if we could pay our rent with a half-finished game, but we don't want that. We want to deliver the best possible finished game* that is ready for you.

*There will always be bugs that we can't detect with 5 people.

So when is release and when is the demo coming?

The demo will be released as soon as possible. EVENTUALLY in the first half of 2023.

The release will be based on your feedback. If we can, we'd love to integrate all of our ideas before we present our game to you.

We're as excited about the release as you are about playing it. But we want to be satisfied with our work before we hand it over. And the best way to do that is without suffering a burnout.

We will now post very regular updates on the current state here. However, we will limit ourselves to the truth. Example:

Just 2 days ago we messed up a Branch that contained about 28 hours of work. Happened. But we got everything back in order.

So keep an eye open, because our devs are currently streaming some of their work on Twitch. You'll always get fresh info on our Discord server.