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More dev logs from Mops & Mobs!

Apologies for not posting here more often - we really should get back to that. The truth is that we do not get much feedback here, so most of our game updates are currently posted on Discord, where we reach our small community directly, on the Steam forum and on IndieDB. But yeah, Discord, Steam and IndieDB are owned by other people, and this blog is actually ours. And it's also very long-lived now, which is pretty cool and it would be sad to let it die just because of convenience.

For a few months now we post weekly updates of Mops & Mobs. The basic idea was to let each team member (Jana, Patrick and myself) write a few sentences of what they achieved the last week and then collect that, add a screenshot, and post this small dev log on the game's Steam forum. As Jana created an IndieDB page for Mops & Mobs, it also made sense to use the articles section there for this (with the additional benefit of having a site to host the screenshots). And finally, just posting the updates on Discord was a no-brainer anyway. But of course feeding three different platforms is already a bit exhausting, and I'm not automating this in any way, so I didn't even think of this blog.

Still, a little update here is in order. This is what the latest entry of our dev log looks like (yes, it actually spans two weeks, because life got a bit into the way).

Dev log for the weeks from 26-05-25:

Friedrich:
So this is another two-week devlog entry, because we had some off-time for a few days (no laptops during the weekend :O), and in the second week I got pretty sick. Still, I did some stuff. I gray-boxed the fourth level and did some more quest plans for it. Right now I try to make these plans more concrete, which somehow is more difficult than ever, probably because my own standards raised during the process. Other than that I added small bits to the levels, wrote dialogs, added a quest, and fixed a few bugs. One big change to our project was switching the extension of our dialog files - don't laugh, this was much more involved than it sounds, and it was necessary because I got very annoyed how Godot would always reformat the JSON dialogs and pollute our commits this way … Finally, I made sure that the demo will soon have an additional localisation. I hope next week I'll be back on track.

Jana:
In preparation of gamescom I sent out some material for our group exhibition, followed by the pitch deck for potential publishers. Fingers crossed we eventually draw attention to a cool supportive publishing team.
The other big task was planning: I'm working on the character arcs for two of our main monsters, Wyrmheimer the dragon and Odette the lich knight, while also creating a character with Friedrich (writing) and Johannes (art) who you'll meet in the later chapters. And who has quite the story AND look AND involvement – so agreeing on a look is quite the challenge.

Patrick:
The only thing I made (modelled and textured) the first week was a mysterious stele. You need it to get into … a special room. That's all I can say. I was a bit down that week so I was going to make some 3D stuff at the weekend. Do you like digging through walls? If yes, then I made the perfect thing for you in the second week … a super heavy drilling machine! It rumbles, it puffs, and it'll soon be blazing its way into the depths of the dungeon… known as Level 4. :D I've also started working on this particular level. Friedrich created some cool level block-out for me, which I now have to fill in with nice looking 3D models.

Let's see if I can cater our official blog with the weekly dev log too. Would be nice. Oh, and there's a second AND third video now, with the fourth one coming soon:


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That's a lot of Mops & Mobs to digest, I guess. If this is TL;DR for you, just be assured that we're still working on the game, that we're still motivated, and that we hope to finish it this year. Which might be a tad too optimistic.

AdventureX – Combine enthusiast community with fun

From gamescom to local meetups - today there’s no shortage of opportunities to display your game. You can get feedback, watch players react to your latest build, connect with fellow devs, and chase wishlists. But it’s often the smaller events, that have a huge impact as the community surrounding them can make all the difference. And if it applies to anything, it's the AdventureX.

The Tower Bridge in London.
London delivered the expected: Rain. And well-humoured Britains.

Last weekend, Jana was attending the AdventureX in London, a conference dedicated to narrative games - and especially those rooted in classic Point & Click gameplay.
Thanks to a jury, we were selected with Mops & Mobs to showcase our current demo there, as well.

Being part of the 30 exhibited games was a real treat. From organizers to volunteers, everyone was enthusiastic and dedicated to the genre and it's fans to create a well-run space for both devs and fans. Attendees were committed to often play thoroughly and discuss their experience in detail with the devs. Therefore, it makes total sense, the AdventureX requires developers to attend in person: catering to a special interest group made every discourse and examination of the games more focused and thoughtful than the typical questions you might get from the audience at a mainstream expo like gamescom.

A tale with a laptop and lots of stickers and buttons.
My humble desk had nothing but a laptop. A poster would have been smart, but honestly: the swag felt far more important at AdventureX!

AdventureX isn't just an exhibition! You will quickly experience that these are not just any volunteers or attendees, they are a tight community that has grown together over the years. Therefore, the overall event is a big hello! for everyone that's ever been at AdX before, devs that attended previous years and the Discord community that's been meeting online over the year. It’s rare to find something comparable in the wider games scene - perhaps A Maze Festival or developers being present at the Indie Arena Booth. But both grew significantly in size over the last years, while the AdventureX is quite small - they sold about 700 tickets over the weekend - and with that the event was sold out!

As I was solo at the event, staying in my little corner, I did mainly experience watching people play Mops & Mobs, having the most encouraging feedback we've had so far. Though that meant I missed most of the overall event - there were some developers or writers attending, that I would have deeply loved taking to - but hey, without the exhibition we wouldn't have attended our first AdvX either.

So I had an excellent time with my neighbours who are these wonderful people - and show the amazing diversity the overall exhibition offered:

Amy from AdvX, Eike and Ben from Trans Theft Horso - loved the humor, characters and songs - they're still stuck in my head.
Mosu from The Dark Queen of Mortholme - you play as the final boss - love just everything about the premise
Hammered Crow Games with Dark Tides - Victorian era, a weasel as sidekick, dark Rituals and a character that can fit anything into her inventory. Anything.

Now that I’ve experienced it, I’m absolutely in the loop, and I’d definitely return to London next year. With much more time to explore, I presume, as you can't submit the same game twice.
And the talks are even online. And the AdventureX Sale is still running until December, 2nd on Steam.

New demo of Mops & Mobs dropped!

After a very long silence we finally released a new-ish demo of Mops & Mobs! While the story and level of the demo is largely the same as before, there's now the combat gameplay we already talked about. It's a non-demanding card game, and like everything it's still a WIP (and probably will be until release). We'd like to know what you think of it, so with this new demo we also added a new feedback form, but of course you can also write in the comments (here, itch or Steam).

Other added content includes:

  • saving and loading (only one slot for now)
  • several new settings, for changing the FOV, reducing movement animations, and more
  • improved decoration mode
  • improved dialog visuals
  • improved in-game map
  • optimized performance

We also replaced the art for Odette, one of the inhabitants of the dungeon - so currently she looks a bit different from the rest of the lot. This is because over time we will upgrade all the characters, which is a longer process, and we wanted to showcase it already.

As we started full production some time ago, there are actually much more internal updates. We're now in the process of building more levels and implementing the full story. And while the gameplay of Mops & Mobs is "complete" feature-wise, every area - combat, decoration mode, dialogues, UI, etc - is still being expanded and polished. There's always a lot to do!

Don't forget to wishlist to support the development and follow us on Mastodon, BlueSky and/or Discord!

A Maze Open Screens and festival baby

There's one festival that's an absolute no-brainer, a must-go-every-year event for us: the incredibly colourful, inspiring, and inventive A MAZE. Festival in Berlin. With its talks, a huge exhibition, and wonderful attendees, all set in the relaxing atmosphere of Silent Green — a former crematorium right next to a cemetery — it’s weird, but in a very Berlin way.

We were there to enjoy new games, meet friends and colleagues, and show Mops & Mobs around a bit. Like every year, there was a space to showcase games outside the official award competition: the Open Screens. For two hours, Friedrich presented our Dungeon Novel to curious festival-goers.

Our slot at the Open Screens was on Friday from 12pm to 2pm (together with a few other games). While there was almost always someone playing Mops & Mobs, the attendance was pretty low overall, especially compared to the Long Night of Computer Games from the weekend before. Of course the game wasn't to blame for this, there just was a lot of great looking competition to play all around us — and midday maybe isn't the best time for showcasing? We're not disappointed by the outcome, though, as we got valuable feedback once again. Big thanks go to Phillip Gong for organising the Open Screens!

By the way, the only person who actually played the demo till the end (quite a feat, considering there were no chairs) left quite quickly without saying a word… our guess is that they were satisfied.

A Baby At A MAZE. – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

This year also brought a new twist for us: we attended A MAZE. with our child. That alone was a whole new experience. Would it work out? Would it even be possible to enjoy the festival while caring for a baby?

In the end — no, it wasn't the same. I missed just forgetting time and space to submerge myself into the exhibited games and talks. I didn't watch any talk, but played more games than I expected. We took turns with childcare and split up, so we both could enjoy the festival. We even brought her to the exhibition - but that didn't work out for very long.

But after nearly a year with her, if we learned anything, it's this: be patient and let go of expectations. It was exhausting at times, but also fun and meaningful to bring her along. Indie games have always been something personal for us — it would be strange to exclude something so beautiful and personal when work and private life are so intertwined anyway.

So, yes, it works and we didn't regret it. (Okay, maybe the weather. That was annoying. Our plan to chill with her on the meadow in the festival area fell through for most parts.)

Looking forward to how next year will be.


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