Retro Synthesis

There are projects that impact your entire life. Retro Synthesis didn't quite have that effect, but it came close.

My fiancee introduced me to her colleague at a party. The conversation smoothly shifted to what he was working on after hours. A game in a retro future setting. Comic-style graphics. The atmosphere thick and immersive, like in Blade Runner. All he was missing was someone who could code. We hit it off so well, and the project seemed so great that I didn’t even mind that my partner had clearly arranged the whole thing.

Retro Synthesis was developed in our free time by two graphic designers using Unreal Engine. I didn’t know the engine back then, so I asked if switching to Unity 3D would be a problem. It wasn't. I set up a repository, wrote the first scripts, and the project started to gain momentum. I proposed a dialogue system partially based on iconography, which they liked, so I started implementing it. Before I knew it, I was thinking about Retro Synthesis all day long and couldn't wait to write the next script or pitch the next idea.

We began meeting regularly and started talking more seriously about our aspirations — getting a publisher, starting our own studio. At that time, it didn't take much to attract investors, and we had a half-hour demo! All the feedback we got was overwhelmingly positive, our ambitions grew, and it seemed like nothing could stop us. We signed an initial agreement with a publisher who set out strict conditions. We were set to launch a Kickstarter campaign, so we prepared as best as we could and... then came our first reality check. Failure. A counteroffer from the publisher. Resignation and the project's surrender.

Does it sound sad? Looking back, I think we were lucky. Today, we could've been another struggling gamedev company laying off people. One potential investor asked us, "Do you want to finish the project or start a company?" and I admit, we didn't have a good answer. Now I know — it was about the project. Sometimes we get together over a glass of whiskey, sigh deeply, and think back to that crazy project. And even though we speak of it in the past tense, I feel like we're all just waiting for that one question: "So, should we finish what we started after all?"