A Recap of the Year Gone — And What Lies Ahead

Published in

Power Level

4 min readJan 17, 2018

We’re already in the third quarter of January, but we’re hoping it’s not too late to greet all of you a Happy New Year, and that everyone would have an amazing Year of the Dog ahead of us.

For us, and most likely many of you too, welcoming the year 2018 means looking back at the great, the good, and the not-so of the past year. This way, we have more to look forward to, and better prepare ourselves for the challenges and obstacles lying ahead.

So without further ado, here’s a look back at what 2017 had in store for us.

January

We officially received an OMDC grant! It was an awesome way to start the year, since it allowed us to start working on the first Soul Reaper prototype. And that’s not all: we got new, kick-ass Lead Artist, Karla, to define the right art style.

February

We finalized the decision on which art style to use. And we welcomed aboard Matt, our Lead animator!

May

With Mandy being hired, PLS now has an artist for making the game’s creepy and cool backgrounds.

June

Wooooh! We finally finished the official prototype and released it on our website! Shortly after, Danny left Canada and started working on Soul Reaper full-time, while slowly wandering the world.

July

Square Enix Collective featured Soul Reaper and garnered 80% like. Thanks guys! Plus, PLS came in contact with Kickstarter.

August

We filmed 2 Kickstarter videos… We haven’t released any though. But! This only means we’re more excited for a release this year!

September

Danny settles in Siem Reap for two months and works from AngkorHub. Productivity ensues.

October

Danny networks and meets a local game studio called DirexPlay. He also meets Dax, a regular at the coworking space. It’s also during this time that the idea of branching out into two games came up.

November

As Danny moves from Cambodia to settle in Málaga for 3 months while working from The Living Room, Soul Reaper gets two new minions! Dax, as Community Manager, and Glanna, as Outreach Manager.

December

PLS bustles with activity! We released the first prototype of Soul Reaper: Unreap Commander. Teaser is also in the works, which we’ll release sometime in January. Plus, we received approval for a Steam submission, all the while getting valuable help from Taylor Wright with UI/UX and Major redesign. And we welcomed two new members of the family: Vanni as Artist and Kenneth as QA Lead. What a way to end the year, yes?

What’s in store for everyone this 2018?

For January, we’re really excited not just for the release of the Teaser Trailer, but the Soul Reaper: Unreap Commander Alpha too! And everyone’s in for a bucket load of treats — tons of new content for both games.

Come February, we’re hoping to get the Unreap Commander released on Steam Early Access. We’re also in need of a composer and a writer, both of whom we’re looking forward to getting aboard during this month.

And in March, we’re hyped to set up shop (or booth) at the EGLX 2018 in Toronto!

For the rest of the year, we’ll work hard to push ongoing releases on Steam Early Access and major development on Rise of the Unreaps.

To wrap things up, we’ll say it one more time:
Happy New Year, everyone! Great work to everyone who toiled away the past year. And of course, let’s keep making and enjoying games!