On the flip side, the gaming industry has also seen massive shifts in how it operates. Numerous gaming studios were forced to transfer to a work-from-home system, and development on multiple games slowed. Fans are quite familiar with game delays nowadays, but are more often understandable than not. One such game that felt the effects of the pandemic is Loddlenaut, an underwater survival game inspired by Subnautica, the Chao Garden in Sonic Adventure 2, and more. Game Rant spoke to one of its developers, Ricardo Escobar, about his experience developing a game during the pandemic.

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Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Moon Lagoon is an indie game studio comprised of two developers, Escobar and Jin-Young Sohn. Its first project is Loddlenaut, which actually started as a thesis project when the two developers were students at NYU. Like almost all developers, they had to find ways to continue working on their game in a changing environment. Even humongous game developers like Microsoft found ways to work during the pandemic. Luckily, Loddlenaut’s two developers live together. Escobar and Sohn didn’t have to grapple with transitioning from an in-office workplace to an at-home one, so they were able to avoid some of the trouble the pandemic caused for game developers. However, it opened up new challenges, according to Escobar.

While understandable, it is unfortunate to have the feeling that a game’s development is progressing too slowly. With official development on Loddlenaut starting earlier this year, Moon Lagoon was thankfully able to avoid big interruptions stemming from the pandemic. Mostly, the developers were unable to participate in different end-of-year showcases at NYU, which was disappointing for them. Escobar also says he looks forward to actually having people in front of him trying out Loddlenaut for the first time, and giving in-person feedback.

Energy Grid Issues in Texas

The developers for Loddlenaut are based in Austin, Texas, which has led to other non-pandemic complications. Earlier this year, several video games studios had to shut down during winter storms in Texas that left millions without power or heat. Surprisingly, Texas’s energy grid is stressed out yet again due to the heat, which has more directly affected Loddlenaut’s developers. Rolling blackouts are becoming a common occurrence in places such as Texas to reduce the energy consumption from an area, according to Escobar.

Regardless, Loddlenaut was able to run a successful Kickstarter campaign, and its developers are still eyeing a 2022 release. Some Kickstarter backers will have access to an alpha version of Loddlenaut by the end of this year, and a beta sometime in 2022. Various indie games like Valheim launched in Early Access on Steam to help get player feedback, and Moon Lagoon is still toying with the idea.

In any case, Loddlenaut is another example of how environmental stressors like a pandemic or blackout can harm all kinds of developers. Countless games, from smaller indies to Resident Evil Village, were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. With the newfound attention the game is receiving, and a quickly expanding community interested in the game, Loddlenaut has a brighter future ahead.

Loddlenaut is in development for PC with an anticipated release in 2022.

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Source: Kickstarter