Trout Priest - One Year Old

Happy Birthday, Wallace

I made a cake for you!

It was this day one year ago that the idea for Trout Priest was born. In the quaint town of Bibury, UK, on a break after a music festival.

They have a trout farm here. It is very cool, you can catch your own fish to eat. 

"A priest? What on earth..." 
This is when we found out that a priest is, basically, a stick. A stick to hit fish on the head with. After doing more research, some of these are more like a fish mace! A wooden handle with a metal bit on the end to do the bashing.

"Oh cool, a mace, like a paladin or something. Paladin. Holy magic. Priest. Hmmmm" 

I had those words circling around in my head for the next couple of days, and as soon as we got back I made this intitial concept prototype (yes that is the same grass texture as in the final game. If it aint broke, don't fix it!

You can go back to the first devlog here to see how things started, but it's crazy that this game has been "around" for a year now! And it's pretty cool to see how far the game has come since then!

So where is Trout Priest now?

Right now, Trout Priest is sitting, basically finished, on my computer. As it is BLAZING HOT and sunny here in the UK right now, it doesn't feel like the right time to release a dark, broody game about undead fish. So until the weather cools, Trout Priest is going to lay in stasis (on the floor with the fan on, probably).

I could spend that time adding features to the game, and while that would be cool (there are SO many things I'd like to add) I am keeping to a 100 hour limit working on the game (already up from my intial plan of 80 hours), so I am reluctant to put more time into it than absolutely necessary - Trout Priest is a personal project just for fun, and a chance to learn a few skills, so I don't mind it being a little rough around some edges. 

But for now, I have other things I want to make, and minimal free time to make them in. As proud of Trout Priest as I am, I don't want it to be this life-encompassing Magnum Opus that I pour all my evenings into, just to get a handful of plays on itch and maybe a couple of retweets.

So watch this space, I'll be posting more about the game as we get into Autumn. I am even working on a trailer! Who knows, maybe with some publisher interest, Trout Priest could become something bigger and spookier. I have submitted the game to a few events, so it might be playable in the wild before you know it! 
If any press or streamers want to have an early play before release, send me a message on Social media (Twitter) (Bluesky) and I'll give you access to the game.

But for now, remember to keep out of the sun and stay hydrated!