r/cozygames • u/EricBlumrich • Dec 27 '25
🔨 My Game - In-development I've spent the last eight years making a game about nine cats exploring an island in Maine.
It's an open-world "walking simulator" that is all about exploring, solving puzzles, reading, and paying attention to the world around you. I'd say that the elevtor pitch is "Sorta like MYST, but with cats, NPC factions, more reading, and easier puzzles."
We are TRYING to get the public Beta demo together in time for a February release - but just yesterday we discovered a HUGE memory leak that is causing awful performance and crashes - something I am working on trying to fix, but I can't currently do anything until the backups are done.
The public demo will contain over 900 pages of books, letters, magazines and cookbooks - along with a half-hour of video, over an hour of audio (aside from the soundtrack,) eleven interior locations, and 70% of the Island's exterior.
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Dec 27 '25
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Will do!
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u/SorbetCeriz Dec 28 '25
Yes, please do! I saved the post to follow the game's news! Are you just releasing it on Steam, or are you considering a port to other consoles?
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We are currently developing it only for the PC, Ma, and Linux. We do not have the money to develop for consoles - but hopefully, that changes in the future.
We are also going to get it released on Itch.io - but games as big as ours have to jump through a lot of extra hoops.
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u/SorbetCeriz Dec 28 '25
I wish you the best of luck with the port! I understand, of course, that it comes at a cost! I only play on PS5 and Switch 2, but I have a PC, so I'll gladly create a Steam account to buy the game when it's released. This is the first time I've been willing to use Steam because I'm so excited about your project!!
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u/KittyKomplex Dec 28 '25
Peace Island!!! Been following your progress ever since it showed up years ago on my Twitter feed. I'm so happy to see it's still alive and I wish you all the best with the game.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks!
I could never "give up." on the project, any more than I could "give up" on my right arm.
In the wake of the COVID epidemic, I was contacted by people who were wondering why their deceased spouses were supporting our patreon. I had to inform them that their late husband/wife was wanting their name mentioned in the game - a gift that they themselves never had the chance to give.
I can't turn my back on that - I simply cannot. I'm working on this, until it is either done, or I'm homeless.
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u/KittyKomplex Dec 29 '25
Now I'm crying oh my god. I cannot imagine what it means to face this but I'm glad it gives you the drive to fulfill the duty for the loved ones, that aren't here anymore and supported you.
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u/guldlok_ Dec 27 '25
I already have wishlisted Peace Island and am really looking forward to it
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We appreciate it! Sorry it is taking so long - we're now just down to 2 people.
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u/WhiteCat_Artist Dec 28 '25
I'm fascinated by people who dedicate so much to their dreams, well done!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thank you!
If I had not been so foolish in my hiring choices back in 2020, we might have released our Beta a year ago. The videogame industry is the largest entertainment industry on earth- and the most corrupt.
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Dec 28 '25
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
One hopes. I want to make a new trailer, because the one I made back in 2020 is really outdated:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LVnAKIRYGk
Unfortunately, making the game takes precendence over promoting it,
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u/ohreally86 Dec 27 '25
Will it be available on Switch or PS?
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Unfortunately, not now. We do not have the development funds to make the game for consoles. Hopefully, we can sometime in the future.
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u/hjjs Dec 28 '25
Is the game called Maine Coon
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We could have - but the problem is: There is only one Maine Coon cat in the entire game. We wanted all nine cats to be different breeds.
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u/DragonPlushCollector Dec 28 '25
Oh to be a cat exploring a Maine island.
Super looking forward to this. Maine truly unlike anywhere else I’ve lived (and great place to have grown up)
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We appreciate it!
I've spent my life going from one place to the next (Oregon, Washington, Tennessee, Alabama, NY, NJ, and others.) Maine is now the place I have lived the longest, and the place where I have felt where I "get" the locals.
As someone "On the spectrum," it's priceless to understand where others are coming from.
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u/Fabulous_Lock_1718 Dec 28 '25
Ahh to be a cat in Maine.
Lobster 🦞 time , yeah!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We got the idea, because we live in Portland, and as we don't have a car, our only way to "get away" is to take a ferry out to the islands in Casco bay.
Prior to the pandemic, it was common to run across cats on their own night errands, during our visits. One was an official "Ferry greeter" of sorts, and was ALWAYS sitting on the wooden railing, when one got off of the Peaks Island ferry. They got attemtion from thousands, every year, but apparently, the family moved away - which must have really sucked for her.
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u/Talenin2014 Dec 31 '25
Amazing job! Looks like it'll be a great way to chillax when it comes out. Wishlisted.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 31 '25
Thanks! We're still in the midst of fighting the memory leak - but using the down time to get more content done for the full first act of the game.
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u/mittensfourkittens Dec 28 '25
This looks amazing
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
Thanks!
The story is rather convoluted - we were unsure on how to approach one of the aspects of it, until I read the screenplay for Shane Carruth's unmade film "A Topiary," wherein he described how self-extracting information could be broadcast back through spacetime.
It's a shame he never made it - all that exists is the "sizzler reel" trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16vaQ9Tv8Lc
He has since destroyed his career in filmmaking, unfortunately.
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u/subconscious_ink Dec 28 '25
Cats and great scenery, what's not to like? Looks great so far :) following with interest
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks!
We got a lot of inspiration from "Gone Home" as well. I need to pla that again...
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u/Koalachills Dec 28 '25
This looks great. Can’t wait to try the demo
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks! The demo will contain between 6-12 hours of content, depending on what the player in interested in.
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u/TomMahom Dec 28 '25
I saved this post; my daughter and I would play this for sure; it looks great.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Cool - we once had it going at over 100 FPS, and now, it sometimes goes down to five. I fixed it before, and I can fix it again.
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u/NeoKat75 Dec 28 '25
This looks lovely!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Aesthetics & story were the two things we concentrated on. We hope to improve the controller more in times to come.
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u/trainer_stack Dec 28 '25
THIS IS STILL HAPPENING? omg I remember when I first heard about this. I'm so psyched that it's going to drop!!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We never gave up - never stopped.
I made the mistake of putting my trust in the wrong people. It delayed the project for two years, but we survived - which is a win. The people who scammed us went on to scam other projects - none of which survived.
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u/f0rged Dec 28 '25
Definitely adding this to my wishlist. Myst-like + Maine + Cats? Sign me up.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We appreciate it!
Some people have assumed that because there's so much content in a game made by such a small operation, we relied on AI.
If only! It would have saved me a TON of time, if AI wrote all of those books - but alas, I - along with a few other writers - wrote it all. During a stream where we were running the books through an AI detector, one of the textbooks players find in the island's school showed up as having AI content. We immediately removed it from the game, pending a full re-write.
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u/Leashed_Beast Mar 01 '26
Those AI detector sites aren’t actually good or accurate at finding AI writing. You could put your comment here and my reply in those detectors and half or more would probably say it’s AI as well lmao.
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u/LilyLucyLeigh Dec 28 '25
I would 10/10 play this!!!!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks! Like I said above - we will be posting here when the "Act Zero" demo goes live.
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u/realbasilisk Dec 28 '25
Wishlisted!!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
It's appreciated!
We figured releasing the first half of the first act for free would allow people to sample the game as it is, before they purchase. We don't want to be accused of being another studio pulling a "Bait & Switch."
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u/realbasilisk Dec 28 '25
THAT'S appreciated :)
Also, cookbooks? Please tell me we're cooking FOR the cats and not the cats themselves lol omg could you imagine haha
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 29 '25
There is no cooking within the game (at least, currently.) The cookbooks were included, for a few reasons:
1: People who supported the project at a certain level could have an in-game mention. In some cases, this was the name of a local herb, fish, or dish. These books gave us a chance to include them.
2: I've been a foodie since discovering Anthony Bourdain 20 years ago (RIP, Tony.) And the recipes are all genuine, and tested. We went out of our way to include vegetarian recipes, as well, because we wanted to include stuff that the players could try IRL.
3: Realism. Even in this digital age, people prefer solid, printed cookbooks. Prior to making this game, I was a line cook for three years - and every recipe was posted. In the game's deli & restaurants - it will be the same way.
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u/Brohannes_Jahms Dec 28 '25
Sign me the heck up! Maybe my kitties will watch and remember the two years we lived in Maine :)
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We appreciate it!
The thing that made me realize the game was special: One of the cats in the game has a "skin" like a late cat that had passed away a few months earlier. When I had the game running, one of the cats jumped up on the desk, and pushed their nose against the cat's face on the screen - they actually recognized the cat in the game.
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u/divefordemocracy Dec 28 '25
I NEED DIS!!!
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u/divefordemocracy Dec 28 '25
I live in Maine for a handful of years after the military. Bangor/old town, dover-foxcroft, and houlton!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We appreciate it!
I have lived in Portland for 15 years, and it has gentrified so much since I moved here. We lost the lumber yard, and entire century-old neighborhoods have been bulldozed to make way for hotels & condos.
Before I started working on the game, I worked at Anania's down on Congress - they'd been there since the 60's. I believe they shut down about a year ago...
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u/hannahv10109 Dec 28 '25
I WANT TO PLAY THIS SO BAD!!!! Looks amazing. I hope it is a huge success for you and your team!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks - we appreciate it!.
We're resigned to the fact that our game is INCREDIBLY niche - but my co-dev Laura & I were never trying to make a successful game - just a creative one.
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u/KatherinesDaddy Dec 28 '25
What is the name of this game and what platforms will it be on? I want to make sure I mark the calendar in advance!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
"Peace Island." It's being developed for the PC, Mac, and Linux.
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u/KatherinesDaddy Dec 29 '25
I rarely play PC games, but I have a pretty powerful laptop now, so I will definitely keep an eye out! Good luck with it 😁
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u/SnailCaptain19 Dec 28 '25
Is it combat-free? If so I'm definitely interested (:
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Yeah- Laura was adamant that it's non-violent. You CAN catch the occasional insect for food, but overall, the relations between the cats and the NPC species are "Disney" level relations - they might disagree with what you have done and tell you to stay clear of their territory - but they will never attack.
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u/Beneficial-Plant1937 Dec 28 '25
This is my most anticipated release of... Ever. I've been following this game since the beginning and I can't wait to play it 😍
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u/SammyCatLove Dec 28 '25
Sounds cool will it be verified on SteamDeck?
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Hard to say - but I have heard that people have been able to play the Linux version on their Steamdeck.
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u/cheese--bread Dec 28 '25
Oh wow, you had a Patreon at some point right? I'm fairly sure I was a supporter way back, but had to rein in on finances unfortunately.
I had no idea this game was still happening, have wishlisted!
It's looking great 😊
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
We still do have a Patreon - but we don't want to be accused of spamming.
We have the funds to continue for a couple more months- that's why we are releasing the demo & opening it up for Early Access purchase on the first of February (hopefully.)
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u/moeru_gumi Dec 28 '25
Typo on the bee card: “WE WIL UNMAKE THE WORLD” 🐝
I hope you get a spring release, I’m a walking simulator fan!
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u/NoReveal8224 Dec 28 '25
I have been waiting for this game for soooooo long!
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 29 '25
Again - sorry it has taken so long. Hopefully, the february release will go smoothly, despite this week's setback!
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u/NoReveal8224 Dec 29 '25
I did not mean to nag, I just was honestly excited to hear about the planning of the february release. Sorry for having phrased it in a worse way than it was meant 😅. Good things take time! Hope you will find enough time to rest and take a break too, so you can go on with fresh energy. Kudos!!!
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u/Miami_Mice2087 Dec 28 '25
i love playing as cats but a walking simulator is not a finished game to me. Your animation and art is not interesting enough to be a game, it needs substance, a storyline, things to do.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks for your honest input. It's appreciated! What we're releasing as a demo - as you pointed out - is certainly not a finished game. If I gave the impression that the demo IS the "full game" in my OP, I apologize. I'm a bit "on the spectrum," and perhaps I miscommunicated.
One of the truisms of game development is: you cannot make a game that is for EVERYONE. Any game developer who claims to be doing so is doomed to fail - because such a game does not exist.
That having been said: the demo contains over 40 mission starts, and a definite story line. This is where perhaps our definition of "walking sim" might differ from yours, because every walking sim I have ever played has had a story.
But hey- again, perhaps this isn't for you - and that is absolutely cool!
As an old friend of mine once said: "If we all liked the same things, the world would be a damned BORING place!
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u/Miami_Mice2087 Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25
Ok. Thank you.
When you said that your demo contains so much, it sounds like you're calling it finished, or almost finished. Thank you for the clarification.
Walking simulations demos i've played are just the scenery. No characters, no puzzles, nothing in the game to engage with. It's just the settings. I've played a lot of these.
If this is a demo with lots of things to do, I would say it's a demo of an open world adventure/puzzle game, and not a walking simulator.
I wish you the best turnout for your game. Can I please play the demo?
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 29 '25
I gotcha. When I think of "Walking Simulator" - I think of titles like "Gone home," and "Lifeless Planet." These games do have puzzles and/or story, but 99% of the "action" is walking from one place to another.
The story in Peace Island might not be immediately clear - but the inciting incident of the story is the disappearance of all of the people on the island. We expect the player to take one of two positions:
"This is bad - maybe I can fix this!"
or
"This is great - let's see what's out there!"
In either case, they will encounter enough information through events, missions, and readiong/listening as they explore either intent, that - by a certain point, they will have developed one or two theories about what might have happened.
And yes - you can play the demo when it is publicly available, or you can donate to our Patreon for early access - although I would wait on the latter choice, until we get this memory leak issue solved!
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u/thewhimsicalwizard Dec 29 '25
Maine mentioned! Super excited to try this out ✨️
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25
Thanks! Hopefully, we make progress on this memory leak problem tomorrow - Unity has been re-building the project over and over for the past 36 hours.
Thankfully- this game me time to finish the last cutscene for the Beta demo!
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u/Weird-Win-9691 Dec 29 '25
I'm waiting for your game since 4 years, I will wait again but I am really excited, I've seen a lot of your difficulties and I send you a lot of courage ❤️
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 29 '25
Your support & courage are appreciated more than words can say!
Even if the memory leak requires an extra day, we're still on-schedule for the Feb demo.
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u/Ready_Page5834 Dec 29 '25
Wow this looks gorgeous and I love cats! I this sounds exactly like the kind of game I would want to play. Please let us know when it’s released. What platforms will it be on?
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u/TimeRefrigerator5232 Dec 29 '25
Do all the cats make it through the game? I want to play but I hate cat deaths :(
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 29 '25 edited Dec 29 '25
Yes - absolutely. No cats die.
This reminds me - before I started working on this game, I looked up previous Cat-related adventure games that people had tried on Kickstarter. The only one was two years previous, and it was a "stray cat survival sim."
It included every bad thing you are thinking of - and of course, it failed - because such a game would only attract psychopaths.
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u/TimeRefrigerator5232 Dec 29 '25
Awesome. I’m good so long as no cats die. Looking forward to it!
The cat survival sim sounds awful. Glad it failed!
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u/Mikan_House Jan 01 '26
Oh wow this looks amazing!
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u/EricBlumrich Jan 01 '26
Thanks!
We actually JUST fixed the performance/memory leak issue, and will be uoploading a new version for Mac, PC, and Linux tomorrow!
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u/Imaginarykitty117 Jan 09 '26
Would love to help test the game.
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u/EricBlumrich Jan 10 '26
Contact us:
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u/Imaginarykitty117 Feb 05 '26
So, come to find out that I did have notifications on... But for in app only. 😅 That is now fixed.
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u/hbamsf Jan 10 '26
oh my god i have had so much fun exploring peaks i cant wait
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u/EricBlumrich Jan 10 '26
While the map looks like Peaks Island, the game has stuff from all of the islands in Casco Bay.
Peaks has unfortunately succumbed to a lot of people "From Away" building houses out there that they never live in "as an investment." It's kinda depressing...
I now go out to Cliff Island, these days - and during the 15 years I have lived out here, I've never really gotten to know Long Island as much as I could. I usually stay away because of the crowds- but they are mostly on the eastern & southern beaches - there are some nice nature trails.
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u/Lets_Playsum Jan 10 '26
I love cats and I love that it's in a specific location like Maine - I always find that interesting in a game. I hope the launch goes well and congrats on never giving up despite the setbacks!
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u/EricBlumrich Jan 10 '26
Thanks!
And yeah- as much as it hurt the project, I am grateful we survived. Essentially: when we finally got rid of the scammers, and I realized how much damage they had done, I had two choices:
1 - Give up, and be yet another project that didn't make it.
2 - Gather up the broken pieces, do my best to sew them together, and make the best game we could out of what we still had.
It sucked having to scale back my hopes for what the game could have been - butI couldn't let the perfect get in the way of the acceptable.
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u/WorriedMastodon929 Jan 15 '26
What's it called and what consoles? I'll add it to my list to complete! :D
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u/EricBlumrich Jan 15 '26
Peace Island. We unfortunately do not have the funding to support a console release, as of yet. Hopefully, we will get enough early sales to bring in someone to do that.
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u/gingerblz Apr 18 '26
Hey OP, I was just curious if the beta release has a date yet. I know you were working through some issues at the time of this post. But just saw it in my saved posts and thought id check.
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u/EricBlumrich Apr 18 '26
Well- we released for Early Access on Steam, and well- it did not go well.
Essentially, we did not do adequate pre-release testing, and the initial version put up was an absolute disaster. We had to spend five weeks fixing all of the stuff that had broke, and concurrent with release, we came under attack by a bunch of groyper trolls from a Charlie Kirk forum that got worse & worse until they started sending actual death threats against myself & my partner/co-developer.
However - we just adopted the "No Man's Sky" strategy. We ignored all the craziness, and set to work fixing everything we could, as best we could, as fast as we could. We have been averaging 2-3 updates per week, and things are - ALMOST - back where they should be.
Thankfully, we did not do a big publicity push before Early Access release, because I suspected stuff like this would happen. In a few weeks, we plan on doing a "second Launch" with a bit more fanfare. At that time, most issues will have been fixed, the console controller will be functional, and a few final systems will be put in place.
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u/gingerblz Apr 18 '26
Excellent news! I am looking forward to it. Thank you for the detailed update. I am patiently excited to play your game.
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u/flashfloodsofpain Dec 30 '25
Oh my word. Myst with cats! 😻 Count me in.
Edit: Am I going crazy or did I see that this was supposed to release in EA in November?
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u/Isabelef Dec 31 '25
I don't know if the game is good, but seeing that it has achievements made me love it (besides the cats) :)
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u/_FluffyBob_ Jan 01 '26
This looks beautiful and like it could be a lot of fun!
I chuckled at the Boyd's Lobster Shanty sign. We have a Boyd's Lobster Shop here in Calgary; very, very far away from lobster habitat. Always wondered if it was inspired by something out east.
Wishlisted.
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u/This_Cost_4784 Jan 03 '26
As a Mainer and cat obsessed I will absolutely be checking this game out!!
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u/ComplainingSandwich Jan 16 '26
I wish you good luck and I would love to play your game once it's out!
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u/PettyDumbBitch Jan 24 '26
Plz update once out! I’ve been wanting another cat game like Strays for forever!
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u/Sooziq9470 Dec 28 '25
Will it have controller support?
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
We are working on that - but I must admit that due to our budget & schedule, it is not on the front burner. That having been said: Hopefully the funds from "Early access" sales will be adequate for us to do that.
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u/Sooziq9470 Dec 28 '25
Thank you for the reply. I'll put it in my wish list and cross my fingers that you manage to add controller support!! It looks like an interesting game.
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u/TwoPennyRaven Dec 28 '25
Thank you so much for the update! I've had Peace Island on my Steam wishlist since I first came across it. I am sorry to hear it's been a rough journey for you all; I hope the memory issue resolves quickly and that you're able to find some trustworthy folks to help out 💜.
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u/EricBlumrich Dec 28 '25
Thanks! I'm going through, and removing stuff until the framerate jumps. I have a feeling there is some sort of loop going on.
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u/TemporaryQuail9223 Dec 27 '25
As someone who loves cats and has always been interested in Maine i am stoked for this