under-resourced, there’s an expectation of a sort of customer service model for these kinds of games. Obviously, if someone buys and supports the game, I don’t want them to be disappointed. I want to make sure that their needs are met and their bugs are addressed and things like that. And so maintaining that has also been its own struggle in a way. “But we’ve also been fortunate in


more ways than I can count. We have the support of our publisher Raw Fury, who has been extremely generous and patient throughout the development process. We got a Game Pass deal which has helped us financially so we’ll be able to break even sooner. And we have the support and the endorsement of so many influential people in the games space. All of those things are absolutely wonderful, and I think make


the personal sacrifice worthwhile. But nonetheless, a part of the development was a great deal of personal sacrifice, sleepless nights, insomnia, anxiety, all of those things. “It’s in many ways entirely my own fault. I


underestimated how much time the game would take. I was a little too timid about asking for a budget that I really thought was realistic. A lot of it was self-imposed, and I have learned some lessons. Should we make another game, there’s a threshold of crunch beyond which I refuse to go or allow others to go as well.” It’s a painful lesson to learn, but one that we hope the team can maintain going forward. As successful and wonderful as Norco is, I’m sure I speak for us all when I say I hope they can use their new-found experience and success to create a better, healthier development process. Though to hear Yuts tell it, the process could have been much worse without Raw Fury’s support. “We have a very good relationship with Raw Fury,”


says Yuts. “They’re just an exceptional publisher, they’ve been so supportive. A lesson I’ve learned is that when you’re in the thick of game development you might be saying to yourself, ‘Why did I sign with a publisher? I can handle this myself!’ But the closer you come to release, the more that gets knocked out of your head completely. We couldn’t have done a game like Norco without a publisher. Tribeca would have certainly never happened without Raw Fury’s support. “We couldn’t have handled this by ourselves, and this game would have been exactly what I had anticipated from the beginning – a niche, regional game that hung out on the lower tiers of the Steam algorithm.”


“We couldn’t have handled this by ourselves, and this game would have been exactly what I had anticipated from beginning – a niche, regional game that hung out on the lower tiers of the Steam algorithm.”


Despite finding acclaim with the studio’s first game,


Yuts is far too cautious to celebrate his successes too loudly – Instead choosing to focus on the lessons the team has to learn as they move forward.


“I just have a fundamental superstition, almost a fear of


expressing any kind of confidence,” says Yuts. “I feel like the minute I rear in my head and say ‘we did a good job’ and pat ourselves on the back, I’m gonna get crushed. So I try to remain humble, I try to remain vigilant. “The praise is rewarding. We’re not without critics, and people who approach the game in good faith and walk away from it not enjoying it. I respect those opinions too. And I try to hold them in mind, and not get too swept up by the praise – because this is our first game. We are in many ways amateurs, we have a lot to learn. And I just don’t think we should rest on our laurels.”


May 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 61


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