Hey there guys!
It's been almost a year since I did my last article here at IndieDB and boy, things have been whirling like crazy this past year. As a Full-time solo dev, I am so grateful and feel so humbled that the reception of my indie horror game - Mirror Forge was so positive and if it weren't for you guys, the fans and lovers of horror, it would've been impossible for me to go through this amazing journey and get to where I am at the moment. Okay, let's start with the most important thing - How much and in what way has Mirror Forge grown since then?
The Growth
Where do I start? What began as a Silent Hill / Stranger Things / Lovecraftian-inspired horror game has grown so much thanks to the community and a couple of other factors which I'll mention further down here. It established its own unique story, characters, plot, and world-building. Although I tried to keep it a mystery for quite some time, eventually, the Main Plot was revealed (as opposed to the first demo where we dived into the backstory). The Main Plot revealed the Ancient Mesopotamian Deities - The Anunnaki, the Multiverse, Parallel Dimensions crashing down and so many more mysteries.
New Features & Mechanics were established:
• Use Mirrors to travel in space OR between dimensions
• The defenseless person (the main character) was equipped with an Ancient artifact known as the "Seal of Nur" capable of stunning enemies, used for solving certain puzzles and revealing "Frozen Moments" - ghosts stuck in space and time which give back-lore of their last moments, Steam Achievement Progress and charge your Artifact
• Solve various puzzles from logical to physics-based puzzles and puzzles that involve light manipulation
• An open-world area was added
Steam Next Fest 2022
Back in February, besides my usual shares on my social platforms (which you can follow if you like):
✔️ Twitter.com
✔️ Tiktok.com
✔️ Instagram.com
✔️ Facebook.com
Mirror Forge was also accepted into the Steam Next Festival. It was back in that period when over 400+ content creators, streamers and YouTubers managed to play the first demo and it was shared by over 90+ gaming portals around the globe. I enjoyed watching the jumpscare compilations popping up all around and seeing their reactions to some of the scares! It motivated me to work even harder seeing that people really love the idea.
The Steam Next Fest demo I did dived deep into the backstory of the main protagonist, trying to avoid the main plot as much as possible and keep it a mystery.
Acquired by a Publisher
It did not take long after the festival, but Mirror Forge was acquired by the amazing guys from DreadXP (the horror publisher known for Spookware, Sucker for Love, The Mortuary Assistant, Dread Delusion, etc.). Thanks to this new partnership, their expertise, and the awesome collaboration, Mirror Forge was completely reworked and brought to a whole new level.
At Gamescom 2022 in Cologne, Germany
Near the end of August, we got our booth into possibly the largest European event for video games - Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. It was one of the best days of my life - getting to meet so many lovers of horror games, other indie game developers, and journalists and build strong friendships. Again, the feedback for Mirror Forge was amazing!
A thing I absolutely did not expect was:
• Before Gamescom, Mirror Forge was featured in the Demos to Try section on the official Gamescom website.
• The second (and largest) surprise for me which felt so overwhelming was that Mirror Forge was featured in the Must TRY section of the official Gamescom Magazine.
• I was invited to the Streamers Booth for a 45-minute interview where we spoke about the game development, the story, characters and so much more.
One thing that was also different was that for Gamescom, we put together a completely new demo, so different from the first one and it showcased several new game mechanics, an open-world area, and bits of the main plot.
Overall, the Gamescom experience is something I'll never forget.
PAX West 2022
Immediately after Gamescom, we proceeded to PAX West in Seattle, Washington. Again, Mirror Forge's reception was great! And both of these events opened the game to so many lovers of the horror genre.
Realms Deep
Briefly, after PAX West, we were invited to be part of "Realms Deep", an amazing online event organized by 3D Realms and friends where they spoke about the game, played the latest demo, and revealed a completely new trailer that explores bits of the protagonist's past.
A Couple More Events Coming up!
Still early to tell, but we are also participating in a couple more large events with Mirror Forge where even more horror players will be able to get their hands on the latest demo and try it out.
