Tunic creator Andrew Shouldice on indie gaming success

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Through no fault of its own, indie game Tunic had a mountainous task ahead of it on release. Its launch date, March 16, was sandwiched between several of 2022’s biggest releases, including Elden Ring (February 22), Horizon: Forbidden West (February 18), Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (March 18), Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25), and others.

It could have disappeared among that many tall poppies. Instead, it garnered lots of positive attention and praise from both critics and gamers alike. I gave the game four stars out of five in my review, complimenting its design and inherent character.

I got the chance to speak with Andrew Shouldice, the developer who created Tunic, about the feedback for his game, the development process, and what it was like releasing so close to Elden Ring.

GamesBeat: How have you been since Tunic has launched? How has the response been?

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Shouldice: It’s been incredible. I need to remind myself of how I was feeling just before launch, because the change at that moment was so dramatic. People really seem to like it. The most surprising thing is that what I assumed to be — not necessarily a niche game, but something that has a particular sensibility about secrets and not telling you what to do and all that sort of thing — it made me think that some people would really like it and some people wouldn’t. But the broadness of the appeal has been surprising to me, and delightful.