Welcome to Elk, Ynglet and Dead Pets Unleashed devs “no longer exist” as whole team laid off after bankruptcy
In a reminder that 2023 continues to be a rotten ol’ year for the people making games, no matter what Geoff Keighley and Gonzo might tell (or not tell) you, indie devs Triple Topping Games have laid off the entire studio’s staff after declaring bankruptcy.
After their thoughtful exploration of relationships in not-as-gross-as-it-sounds bodily-fluids platformer Spitkiss in 2018, Triple Topping developed biographical adventure game Welcome to Elk, a fairly short but touching mix of minigames, visual novel and actual interviews drawn from real-life stories that Katharine compared to “a challenging piece of arthouse cinema” in its emotional yet sensitively handled exploration of a remote community.
Their next game Ynglet was something very different: an auditory platformer with hand-drawn visuals that struck the balance between chill and challenging, which Katharine praised as “probably the most delightful 90 minute adventure you'll play all year” back upon its release in 2021.
In the time since, Triple Topping have been working on Dead Pets Unleashed, their slice-of-life ode to the rock-punk lifestyle, being in your thirties and trying to get your life together. Like Welcome to Elk, it had plenty of minigames that veered into the wonderfully eclectic and observational, whether saucing up a hot dog, playing uterus pinball or washing a dildo in a sink. A demo was released last year ahead of a planned release in 2024.
An update on Triple Topping, which, sadly, no longer exists.
The "official" statement is below.
We added details on how to support the team in the thread. pic.twitter.com/4o3pvib5i4
However, the developers’ bright future has been suddenly extinguished by the declaration of their bankruptcy and resulting
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