Indie roguelike citybuilder dev celebrates success by threatening to add all the features they didn't have time for during its 9-year development
Jan. 5, 2024Going back to their “don’t do this or you will never release it” notes
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DotAGE- the merciless citybuilder about an impending apocalypse - justified its nine-year-long development cycle with unexpectedly strong sales, and now its lone developer wants to implement the ideas they never had the time for.
We recentlyinterviewed the sole developerbehind the hit roguelike, Michele Pirovano, when it reached 20,000 in sales. At the time, Pirovano called his unexpected success “life-changing,” and since then, the game has passed a whopping 30,000 units sold.
Pirovano doesn’t reveal what those notes include or which ideas are being revived in post-launch updates, unfortunately, but at least we know that dotAGE has plenty more content incoming. “I am reading my endless design notes on dotAGE and there is so much doubt in there and so much iteration,” Pirovano writes in anotherpost, “so many versions of dotAGE that people never even saw.” Perhaps some of those versions - or some parts of those versions - can make a comeback.
For the uninitiated, dotAGE has you doing the regular citybuilding chores: assigning tasks, micromanaging economies, and building up settlements. The twist comes from its roguelike structure, which chucks new variables into the mix with every run, from disease and earthquakes to loveable kittens. All wrapped up in a quirky pixel art style, the game has already reached an “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating based on over 1,000 Steam user reviews.
Keep your eyes on ourupcoming indie gamesguide to discover more unexpected hits.
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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