Abstract
- Pilot a tub on wheels throughout brutally steep off-road hills.
- What started life as a joke grew to become a Foddian rage actuality.
- Out Now on Xbox with XPA.
Each recreation has an origin story. Mine begins, fittingly, with a espresso machine and a horrible concept.
Again earlier than Elegant Horse Studios was actually Elegant Horse Studios, my co-founder Liudas (everybody calls him Hangeris) and I have been nonetheless clocking into full-time company jobs, quietly dreaming of operating our personal indie studio. Our third co-founder, Tautvydas, was already within the image; the three of us have been deep in Sheep Sweep on the time. He simply wasn’t within the room for this explicit dialog. He labored at a unique firm, blissfully unaware of the craziness brewing round that espresso machine.
One afternoon, a couple of of us have been loitering across the workplace espresso machine, doing what recreation devs do greatest: throwing round half-baked recreation concepts. Somebody introduced up Chained Collectively and the entire “Foddian” style, these gloriously punishing video games constructed to make you rage. That’s when Hangeris had his lightbulb second. “You realize what the world doesn’t have?” he stated. “A standalone Foddian racing recreation.” After which, simply to spice issues up, he added: “And also you’d management the automobile utilizing solely a mouse.”
All of us laughed and shrugged it off. But when you understand Hangeris, you understand he’s bodily incapable of letting an concept go untested. He went straight dwelling after work and dove into the code, and one sleepless, hyper-caffeinated weekend later, a prototype of Driving Is Exhausting was accomplished. He fired the construct off to the remainder of us, we gave it a whirl, and it was terrible. Steering a automobile with nothing however a mouse turned out to be unintuitive, infuriating, and about as enjoyable as parallel parking on a steep hill throughout a snowstorm. So, we quietly retired the mouse-only dream in favor of extra conventional arcade-style controls.
With that hurdle cleared, Hangeris confirmed the up to date prototype round once more. This time, folks cherished it. That enthusiasm snowballed right into a full studio dialogue, and earlier than anybody might discuss us out of it, the coffee-break joke had grow to be an actual undertaking.
A tub on wheels, with a semi-nude bald man in it, sounded superior.
That’s the place I entered the chat. Whereas Hangeris saved refining the automobile dealing with and tuning ranges round playtest suggestions, my job as lead artist was to offer the sport an actual visible identification. I began by pitching three instructions for the participant’s car: an RC automobile, a stylized racing automobile, or a buggy. We went with the buggy. Its open, uncovered suspension paired superbly with the sport’s off-road terrain. So, I set to work, however one thing felt off. A plain off-road buggy was simply too primary. Nothing that might make an individual cease scrolling.
Then I remembered a narrative Hangeris as soon as advised me: as a child, his household’s condo had a tub, and after a renovation it vanished. Ever since, he’d quietly needed a tub of his personal, a want that someway by no means got here true. And that’s when it clicked for me. A tub on wheels, with a semi-nude bald man in it, sounded superior. I threw collectively a fast prototype, we ran some assessments, and the bathtub-on-wheels was unanimously accepted.
You may be questioning how our bathtub pilot received the title Jeff. Easy: I used to be out on a stroll with one other developer, the one behind the horror recreation Baisu, who instructed naming the protagonist Jeff for probably the most hermetic purpose possible. “My title’s Jeff,” he stated. And actually, I couldn’t argue with that.
Not lengthy after, Tautvydas jumped onto the undertaking to pile on extra options and assist with improvement. And the remaining, as they are saying, is historical past.
What started as a joke by a espresso machine is now a full-blown, rage-inducing, bathtub-racing actuality. Jeff is prepared. The hills are steep. The controls are unforgiving.
Driving Is Exhausting is obtainable now on Xbox with Xbox Play Anyplace. Seize the wheel, climb into the bathtub, and see how far up the mountain you and Jeff can get earlier than all of it goes mistaken.
Driving is Exhausting
Elegant Horse Studios
$9.99
Problem your self in Driving Is Exhausting! Drive a tub on wheels via steep, unforgiving terrain the place each mistake prices you progress. Grasp powerful physics-based gameplay, sharpen your endurance, and uncover Jeff’s journey of self-doubt, household struggles, and emotional development as he finds power, self-acceptance, and hope for a brighter future.
Options
• Drive a Bathtub: Navigate Jeff in a physics-based bathtub on wheels
• Choose Your Problem: Driving is Simple for a soothing time with checkpoints, Driving is Exhausting – the unique problem, Driving is Insane for insane folks.
• Discover 7 Worlds: Every with distinctive challenges and mechanics.
• Simple to Play, Exhausting to Grasp: Easy controls, difficult mechanics.
• Emotional Journey: Jeff faces his father’s expectations and finds his personal path.
• Customizable Bathtub: Unlock and use totally different automobile skins.
• Acquire Soaps: Discover 21 soaps as you play.
WARNING!
This tough recreation assessments your endurance – falling is a part of the problem. Will you rise or give up when it will get powerful?
