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LONE STAR
Created by Eric ‘ConcernedApe’
Barone, Stardew Valley is an
inspiration to indie developers
everywhere. Not only did
Barone create his much-
loved farming sim entirely
by himself, but the game’s
also gone on to become a
storming success, with over
ten million copies sold to
date. “It wasn’t until after I’d
played the game that I learned
about Eric Barone’s personal
story,” Beckerton says. “It was
incredibly inspiring to me to
hear that one developer could
not only make a game on their
own, but also make a huge hit.
I later heard similar stories
with developers like Toby Fox
creating Undertale, and Joakim
Sandberg creating Iconoclasts.
Though I didn’t have a
background in anything
game development-
related, I figured
that there’s nothing
I can’t learn if I
try hard enough.
Developers like Eric,
Toby, and Joakim are
the reason I took the
first step and started
making games.”in South Korea, where he visited the country’s
bath houses – known as jjimjilbangs – and
generally soaking up the country’s atmosphere.
“The layout can vary immensely between
locations, and some may offer types of baths
not available at others,” he recalls. “I once had to
contain my laughter after seeing three heated
barrels with three people’s heads poking out the
top of them at one of the bath houses I visited
in Japan. It’s simply not something you’d see
in Canada.”
BATHS OF GLORY
It was in South Korea that Beckerton first
started thinking about switching his career path
towards the game industry, when he took up an
online course in Unity. Returning to Vancouver,
he made the brave (and “not recommended”,
he adds) decision to work as a full-time game
developer while living off his savings. “I was really
enjoying life as a full-time indie game developer
and was reluctant to let it go,” he says. “I made a
deal with my wife that I would work super-hard
on my next game, Spirittea, until November, at
which point I would try a Kickstarter. If it was
successful, I could continue to work on it full-
time. Otherwise, I would need to finally find a
regular job.”
Thankfully, Spirittea’s campaign has been
a success: at the time of writing, it’s already
Collecting will be an important part of
Spirittea, whether it’s fishing, bug-
catching, or the figures you can win from
a gacha machine in the nearby town.passed its CA$18,000 goal. As a solo developer,
marketing and funding has, Beckerton says,
proved to be one of his biggest challenges of
the project so far. “I once looked at Kickstarter
as a source of funding to make a game,” he
says. “What I should have realised sooner- especially considering the name – is that
Kickstarter is a great way to start your company
or project. It very likely won’t be your solution
to completing your first game, but it can help
you build a community around your game
while giving you a bit of pocket money to get
started. Regardless of how my current campaign
works out, I’ve made a ton of great fans and
contacts in the industry, as well as learned a lot
throughout the process.”
Beckerton’s only about five months into
development right now, so he’s remaining
realistic about how long it’ll take to make his
Ghibli-esque sim: he has ideas for numerous
spirit characters to realise, as well as collectable
figurines and a side-scrolling minigame that
involves collecting magical tea leaves. “I’ve given
myself the target of January 2022 to launch the
game in Early Access, but that date may shift
depending on if I need to find more regular
work,” Beckerton explains. “I’ve got the basic
framework set up for the game, but I’ve got loads
more to do. The nice thing is, it’s not a daunting
amount of work. I’m creating my dream project
right now, and I’m enjoying watching it grow
every day!”
Spirittea is built in GameMaker Studio 2,
with the ever-popular Aseprite used for
sprite work and Reason 10 used for music.