Cutting a rough diamond: The collaboration with Headup

Greetings fellow Industrians,

because of gamescom, there was no new update on the development of INDUSTRIA last week. To compensate, this week we have kinda "double" update that was created together with our producer Tim. It's about how the contact with our publishjer Headup came about and how the whole project has developed through the collaboration. And here we go!

Tim/Producer: If I remember right the first contact with INDUSTRIA for Headup was in September 2018 at EGX in Berlin. At that time we presented Trüberbrook and Textorcist there and David approached our PR manager there. Everything took its typical course, email addresses were exchanged and relatively little happened over the following months. We were sent a build that was light years away from how you all know INDUSTRIA today. It was really difficult to assess what the project could - or would - become. Therefore, it was put aside for the time being.

David/Dev: So when I attended EGX here in Berlin, I did not really plan to show INDUSTRIA to anyone. It was my first real game convention I attended (yes, I've never been to gamescom). I met a few guys from Backwoods who had just released Unforseen Incidents, as well as Steffan Hövelbrinks who had shown a little bit of Death Trash. And there was the Headup booth and Gregor. And suddenly I thought, why actually not show him INDUSTRIA!

Tim/Producer: I was undecided at the time. Of course, INDUSTRIA - developed in an early version by only two guys - had many rough edges. But it also had a charm all of its own, and a lot that flipped a few switches in my head right away. The many mysterious and Lynch-esque aspects immediately drew me in, as did the story and the idea based on the Library of Babel. Even though Headup didn't officially talk to David and Steve about INDUSTRIA at the time, I did in my spare time.

David/Dev: I still remember all the talks and calls I had with Tim about INDUSTRIA. Every time we had something new I sent some screenshots over. Tim was very much into the concept and story. He understood what we wanted to achieve and patiently waited for the game to become better and better.

Tim/Producer: Little by little with exactly those endless chats and calls, I got to know the whole idea of and behind INDUSTRIA and the whole universe as well. I helped them on the creation of the Steam page and Twitter channel, and everything worked well. And it was during this time that I really came to LOVE the project. That's why I stayed on the ball, and tried to open the internal door for INDUSTRIA once again. Which eventually worked out in March 2020, when INDUSTRIA was added to the portfolio.

David/Dev: Yeah, then March 2020 happened. We now officially had a publisher. A big push for us, as we nearly dropped the project 6 months earlier. With Headup's involvement and branding on the product we surely knew that we had to get things going now. We went full steam ahead (pun not intended) to make INDUSTRIA even better. Especially the visual side of things changed dramatically on that time.

Tim/Producer: Also with me producing the game thenceforward, it was still what it had been before: an ambitious idea and project by just two developers, with support from their friends. But that changed radically in May 2020 when we announced Bleakmill and Headup's collaboration on INDUSTRIA. The feedback from players and press was amazing! Of course I had hoped for positive feedback on the announcement, but I didn't expect THIS. Seems that we had hit a nerve with INDUSTRIA.

David/Dev: The announcement. I took a week to produce the best trailer I could possibly do, we took a few new screenshots and pushed the thing out there. The response was a little overwhelming for us. We saw that Tim and the rest of the Headup team were pretty suprised as well. Our Twitter channel got a lot of visibility (thanks DuskDev!), we had a publisher and numerous press outlets were writing about our announcement. We would not be happier!

Tim/Producer: As gratifying as it is when a project is so well received, it is also a bit frightening. Especially for a project like INDUSTRIA. Because public perception brings with it expectation. And INDUSTRIA was associated very early on with monsters like Half-Life 2 or Portal. So for all of you out there: Nope, INDUSTRIA will not be a Half-Life game. INDUSTRIA is something of its own. Yeah, there is first-person gunplay, but that is not the main focus. It is a narrative mystery first-person shooter, that has a story to tell.

David/Dev: The Half-Life 3 comparison is a cursed one. The game was made by 2 people, now being supported by a handful more people and this is everyones first project. HL3 is literally one of the most aticipated games ever. Valve is a gigantic studio with loads of professionals working fulltime on games. No chance we could ever reach this quality level. But we would lie if we did not try our best to get close to it. Nowadays I'd call INDUSTRIA a homage, a love letter to Half-Life 2 and Portal. Nothing more, nothing less.

Tim/Producer: But despite all this, it was clear that something more had to come out of INDUSTRIA. Mission accepted! And - perfect timing - shortly afterwards the guys got a MegaGrant from Epic. We became the opportunity to significantly improve the quality in many places. And so, over time, INDUSTRIA unfolded more and more of the potential that I had already seen slumbering under the then still somewhat ugly duckling.

David/Dev: Epic's MegaGrant pushed INDUSTRIA into other dimensions! Suddenly we were able to pay a few freelancers upfront, a position that was completely new to us. We could not be thankful enough for what Epic's Grant enabled us to do.

Tim/Producer: So, what about today? Is the duckling a swan now? Well, that's for you guys out there to decide. I can only tell you what INDUSTRIA is for me: A project I really enjoyed working on - and still enjoy working on. And yes, I also spend my free time with it. But hey, that doesn't matter, I work on it with friends. And I'm really excited to see how you all like our little baby when it finally sees the light of day.

David/Dev: Same here. This journey has been a long one and we are so damn excited to send INDUSTRIA out there, to each and everyone of you. Its certainly the best game we could have done! Greetings from the whole team and talk to you next week!

All the best and stay healthy! David & the Bleakmill Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172650/INDUSTRIA/