So. Spheroid. What even is that?

well, "Spheroid" is the name of Electrosphere 2d's spiritual predecessor, a game that which I created; put on steam, and then tragically canceled after a false feeling of under-appreciation, an increasingly difficult development cycle, and other factors caused me to lose all my joy.

Spheroid had a long journey. What started out as a joke birthday gift for a good friend of mine grew into a passion project which would go on to kickstart my entire career as a solo indie game developer, teach me many great lessons, and change my life forever.

Let us take a trip back in time to see where it all began.

Originally; Spheroid started out as no more than a joke birthday gift for a friend of mine who, at the time, was a huge fan of "Super Monkey Ball" - a game that, for those who may be unaware, features silly cartoon monkeys rolling around obstacles in hamster balls.

At the time I had never developed any serious games in my life; and aside from some distant-past tinkering with an early version of Unity, my only game development experience was in the form of modding Valve Software's most loved game, Portal 2.

As my friend's birthday quickly approached, I wanted to create something that would hopefully make him laugh. So I rigged up roll-a-ball style gameplay using a convoluted mix of logic entities within hammer editor and got to work. The map I made included checkpoints, music from donkey kong country 2, and even threw in a few references to JonTron jokes- and, amusingly, ended with a sudden blank screen from my favorite video editing software at the time which simply read "Video footage not found"; which was something my friend annoyingly laughed at every time he saw it for some reason.

But, alas, I couldn't make the deadline, and days turned into months. I canceled the project... or so I thought. But it wasn't the end...far from it.

Fast forward a few years. After several different failed prototype ideas, including a low-poly game with the wrong unity scaling and sluggish physics; I eventually began to create a full-on game based upon Ideas from a handful of former Portal 2 mod projects of mine, and I fashioned the first versions of what would soon become Spheroid.

Using aesthetics and story from my former Portal 2 mod "The IRIS Initiative" and re-using assets from a young-teen project of mine called "Hand-2-Face Laboratories"; I created a hub world, and then started brainstorming.

The game was now on steam- And I realized I needed a good amount of content to make it worth the $100 I had paid for it, the $100 monthly processing fee, and the %30 cut that Valve Software takes from all steam developers.

It was around this time that a viral video began to spread across the internet which would soon become one of my major influences.

Wintergatan, a Swedish music group specializing in the creation of unusual new instruments- had just released a music video in which a huge wooden machine played music using hundreds of small metal marbles. This video, aptly named "Marble Machine"; inspired me to create a level in the game. It was themed entirely around the video's concept, and your task was to get to the top of the machine without falling to the floor as so many other marbles did.

The gears turned to the beat of a cover of the song composed by electronic musician Vojta Siman, and the constant wooden clinking of marbles against wooden blocks chimed like badly tuned toy xylophones throughout the level. It was not too much later when I released the trailer for the game, and Wintergatan took notice- not because they saw it as a fan tribute, but because it was infringing their copyright.

At first, they demanded I pay royalties right away. However, after explaining that I wasn't making nearly enough money on the game to even cover my own costs, they seemed understanding- and they allowed me to continue using the song, under one condition: as soon as I started to make money, I either had to remove the song, or pay the royalties.

I ultimately planned to remove the song; replacing it with a slightly less well-composed song which I created myself to resemble the instrumentation of the original marble machine- using the same tempo, progression, and beat in order to avoid re-coding the background scenery which I had synced perfectly to the original song.

Months pass. The game Is well received, but by very few people.

As my codebase becomes increasingly convoluted, I begin to feel more stressed and less joyful- and it becomes clear to me, that I need to overhaul the project. I edit the store page description and promise to give people who buy the game, the new game for free with their purchase of the old.

Development begins on "Spheroid V2," a 2.5d side-scroller with a novel new concept: You can't jump, but you can still roll.

Unfortunately; the remake proved to be unsuccessful in rejuvenating my interest in the game, and what used to be a joyous hobby project was now doomed. With no visible support for the game, no revenue being made, and lacking further creative ideas... I made some last-ditch efforts to change my own mind, but ultimately, Spheroid met an untimely demise on the first of April, 2019.

But then; a surprise- Not more than 1 minute after the steam announcement went live; a miracle happened: Emails began to pour in from several different people. They loved the game. They loved it so much, they even refused when I offered refunds. They were genuinely sad to see it go. One player couldn't believe his eyes and angrily complained that this was the worst April fool's joke ever and the recent price drops felt unfair. He was understanding, however, when I explained my struggles to make income, and my subsequent price-lowering in hopes to gain more sales. And like the others, he refused the refund I was more-than-willing to offer him.

My journey with Spheroid was now complete. I had learned how to code, how to manage game development, and most importantly- I forever was changed as a person.

I realized through many trials and struggles one very important lesson:

Ultimately, It doesn't matter what people think of me- Because there are always people out there who love my work, no matter how silent they may be about it.

But now, where are we today?

That is where Electrosphere2d comes in.

After some time has passed, and after returning to portal 2 modding for some time- I have regained my joy; and the passion for Spheroid burns within me once more.

With fresh new experience from other failed indie game projects and a new outlook, I look forward to what's in store for Electrosphere2d; and I hope you can come along with me on my new journey to create something I love!

Electrosphere2d Is a spiritual successor to Spheroid- Learn more about it here!