Whoop whoop!
Our newest game “Margaret Wants to Go Home,” an over-the-top twin-stick bullet-hell roguelite shooter, just got funded for concept and prototype development!
A bajillion thanks to @filmedienrw for still believing in our, let’s put this mildly, ludicrous ideas! 😊
So what the hell is this game?
In short:
MWTGH is the story about Margaret, a 75-year-old widow suffering from dementia. After the death of her recently deceased husband, Tom, her home has become unbearable, because one of the few memories her illness didn’t take from her is that he died in that house.
So every morning, she heads out to search for the park bench where they once spent countless happy hours together. But because of her illness, she can’t ever find the specific bench she’s looking for.
The game tackles dementia in a way that lets players feel a tiny bit of that disorientation: how the world can shift, memories blur, and familiar things suddenly stop making sense.
And yes, all of this happens inside an over-the-top twin-stick bullet-hell framework, but the topic itself is treated with the utmost care — backed by research, conversations with experts, and talks with people who live with dementia or support those who do.
The chaos and our stupid sense of humor (spoiler: grandchildren with full diapers you can use as poison-damage projectiles (don’t worry, they’ll be fine)) is just our way of expressing it.
The roguelite structure fits that perfectly: starting over and over again, getting knocked down, standing up anyway, pushing forward even though the fight seems unwinnable — that’s Margaret.
A tough-ass woman who refuses to give up, no matter what her mind throws at her. The story isn’t just told around the gameplay; it IS the gameplay loop.
And yes, there will be a dog. And yes, you can pet it. And the more you pet it, the stronger you get!
We are already busy and hope to be able to show you more soon!
And also a big thank you to @mediengruenderzentrumnrw for always supporting us!
🎬🎮 Bridging Filmmaking & Games!
Wie können Film und Games voneinander lernen – und gemeinsam völlig neue Inhalte, Formate und Geschäftsmodelle schaffen? Genau darüber haben wir auf unserem MGZ-Panel am Stand der @filmedienrw im Rahmen der @gamescom diskutiert. 💡
Von KI in kreativen Prozessen über Cross-Marketing von IPs bis hin zu rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen: Film und Games profitieren, wenn beide Branchen ihre Stärken bündeln und auf Augenhöhe zusammenarbeiten.
Danke an unsere Speaker:innen @ericfrantzen , @hans_boehme , @koerner_christian , Renate Schmid & Moderator Markus Dichmann für den spannenden Austausch!
Danke an unseren Programmpartner @wbs.legal
📸Fabian Strauch/Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
#MGZ #MediengruenderzentrumNRW #gamescom2025 #FilmMeetsGames #Crossmedia #Storytelling #Innovation
First day of @devcom_global leaderslip summit in a nutshell:
- Bleeding feet ✅
- Sore throat ✅
- Met a bajillion lovely people ✅ ✅
- Got great feedback on the game ✅ ✅ ✅
- Got Ice cream ❌
- early alarm clock set for tomorrow 🫠
Yep. Sounds about right. We love it!
Two of the most important things to consider when making a game:
Marketing and bug fixing (or testing)!
And what a feeling when you can hit both at the same time.
That’s basically what we’re doing right now.
The vertical slice / early demo is done, and we’re digging in to make sure it runs smoothly, has no game-breaking bugs (or any at all), and that people actually hear about the game.
So if you want to help us out, share the cinematic teaser – the link’s in the bio – and tell people our weird game exists. ❤️🦞
It would mean the world to us!
It’s time for a Cinematic Trailer!
And to not waste anybody‘s time, you can watch the whole
"Shellbound – A Mucus Tale | Cinematic Teaser"
via the link in our bio!
Last year, we teamed up with the amazingly talented (and genuinely lovely) folks at @ommeanimation to bring to life the moment that kicks off the entire story of the game.
So buckle up—it’s gonna be a long (and surprisingly fast) ride! 🐌💨
If you like what you see, please share it, like and comment the video as much as you can:
Tell your friends.
Tell your grandma.
Tell your pet snail. (Especially your pet snail.) 🐌💛
Thank you so much for the support—
Your Lobsters 🦞
Buckle up, it’s time for some NPC love!
An important aspect for us is that the story doesn’t revolve just around you and your actions. Every living creature has their own agenda, plans, dreams, and problems.
And you crossing their path is not always just sunshine, lollipops, and unicorns.
Every interaction can go multiple ways: either they enjoy your company, despise you, or something in between. Either they open up to your requests and make an all-important entry into your very own friend-book (more on that in the future), ask for help, or hate you for treating them the way you choose to.
And sometimes your actions affect their story without you being nearby or even in the same area. Every story builds over the course of the game, and maybe you won’t meet them for several hours – only to find they’ve changed in a way you could have guessed, but couldn’t be sure of.
So, tell us – who do you want to get to know first?
🦞 Grobb, an aristocrat with a heart for lonely creatures
🦞 The Amber Hunter, a loner who doesn’t like company, but somehow…
🦞 The Mulikoo, the Amber Hunter’s only friend, who still kinda grows fond of you
🦞 The Merchant, a dealer of goods who definitely only has good intentions
🦞 The Machinist, one of the oldest creatures, who has a very specific job to do
Over the next weeks, we’ll make a deep dive into each of them – what drives them, what they fear, and how your story might entangle with theirs.
And if you have any questions, drop them in the comments – we’d love to tell you more about them!
And don’t forget to join us on Discord and wishlist the game on Steam!
Links are in the bio!
Recap time!
First things first: We have a playable demo! Woop woop.
Well, we’ve had one since Gamescom, but we’ve spent the last four months digging our teeth into it to improve it as much as possible. And to spare you a novel (don’t worry, we promised ourselves we’ll never shut up talking about this game), here’s the TL;DR:
We’re looking for playtesters! 🎮
If you’re up for helping us make the game as awesome as it can be, hop over to our Discord—that’s where all the details about the playtesting magic will happen.
Looking ahead to 2025, the big dream is to transition into a full-time game development studio. And thanks to the funding support of the @filmedienrw and also the support of @mediengruenderzentrumnrw and @indiehub_network that dream feels closer than ever. 🔥
Right now, Shellbound is still a side project for every single one of us—a hobby, if you will. Some of us are basically juggling two jobs to make it happen, and yeah, it’s tough—physically, emotionally, mentally.
But with funding like this and the positive feedback from all of you, we’re finally starting to believe that this whole thing, which began way back in 2018 as a “why not” idea, is finally shaping into something that might actually happen!
So thank you to all you lovely people who already played our game, visited us at different events, and gave us feedback on all those platforms—the good as well as the critical—that helped us improve Shellbound!
And for all you curious folks, here’s a little teaser of what we’ve been pouring our hearts into all this time.
#fakelobstergames #shellbound #metroidvania #metroidvaniagame #gamedevelopment #gamedev #unity #indiegame #gamedesign #indiegamedev #gamedeveloper #indiedev #game #gaming #indiegames #games #videogames #gameart #madewithunity #gamer #gamedevelopers #videogame #art #gamedevlife #programming #indiegamedeveloper #gamedevs #unitygames #2DGame #2dgamedev
From a single hand-drawn picture to a living world. We are proud to have such talented artists who work day by day to bring our fantasy to life. Check it out and leave your thoughts. Do you like the style? #fakelobstergames #gaming #indiegamereviewer #metroidvaniagame
After over 30 years of playing way too many video games it’s time to bring in our own character to the world.
It is still a little bit shy towards humans but Isaac, the Knight, Mario, Luigi and Yoshi seem very intrigued already.
I am sure it will show itself to everyone very soon!
Buckle up everyone, @sofa_lein , @andreas.olenberg , Nils Klatt, @jenzlazer and myself are making a video game!
More info very soon!
And thanks Mom @andreefrantzen for all the plushies, I love them all 😊
