The Year 2021 in Review
/Wait, wasn’t it just 2020? This year went by too fast but we hope you had time to relax and enjoy good moments with your friends and loved ones. A lot has happened to us over the last year, we’d like to say a big thankyou to our community and players for going on the journey with us. You’re all awesome!
Don’t forget to sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with us or join us on our Discord to chat about all the things we’ve done this year. Here is our End of year round up of 2021 🎊
January
Start of 2021! Everyone has new year, new me vibes, right? Well here at Auroch we decided to help everyone who's resolution was to make a game. We started the year off giving advice for how you can make your own game.
♟Want to make a boardgame? That’s great! You don’t need to be technical to be a designer, you just need passion. 🎮 Want to make a video game? There are loads of free software you can use for free.
Check out our blog post and see for yourself.
February
Well, as it is the shortest month, we spent all our time planning for what became one of our busiest years to date... 📃
Mars Horizon Early observation DLC
March
The beginning of spring brought the beginning of Mars Horizon updates. This first one was called Early Observation and included the SPOT satellite mission and rockets Nippon 1 and Nippon 2 to the game.
Not only did spring bring us an update, but it also announced our newest game from us, Brewmaster, the homebrewing simulator. We announced our newest title over on the PlayStation blog. We gave you the first sneak peaks into what the game is about, showed off a bunch of screenshots and premiered our trailer.
April
No sooner as the Early Observations had landed, we launched the next Mars Horizon update, Distant Observations. This update allowed for extra satellite to be crafted and a new rocket. Talk about a quick launch time!
Also, remember those cute little space robots? We finally revealed that they would reach consoles on the 4th May...
May
Now May, was a busy month, with two bank holidays we had a lot to do. Firstly, the Colonist finally landed on all consoles which was amazing! There were tips, blog posts and love from content creators galore.
Secondly, we got a whole new logo! This was an exciting reveal, but we also wanted to share with everyone how we went about designing one as you don’t tend to change logos often. This process did go through the works, but we love our cow – thanks @eirawave!
Lastly, we bid farewell to chainsaw warrior. Our publishing rights stopped so we had to end all sales. It was a special place in our CEO’s heart, and you can see how much it means to him.
June
What’s that we hear, you wanted more from Mars Horizon? Well, we gave you Expanded Horizon which was our biggest update to date. It went to all platforms and included new missions and payloads such as the Mars Perseverance and the Ingenuity helicopter. Out of this world, right?
The best part of this update, was the sandbox mode which was highly requested by our community so they can experience Mars Horizon however they choose.
July
July was not only a scorcher weather wise here in the UK, but also hot off the Kickstarter press, Auroch Digital has two games going onto the Gameboard.
For those who are don’t know, Gameboard is the next dimension in tabletop, a complete gaming system that you’ll be able to play with anyone, anywhere, and with any game piece you have on hand! We are working hard to bring two of our games Gameboard, Ogre and Mars Horizon: BLAST OFF!
August
With covid cancelling all the carnivals, we decided to write some blogs to keep us busy and you entertained. The first blog post was aimed at content creators and getting game codes. Now, we are not saying that following this post means you will 100% get a key from a company, but it is always nice to know what we are looking for when we are receiving emails.
Remember our new year's resolution we made about making a game? Well, we wanted to give you some realistic advice on how much it cost to make a game.
Did you know that game developments are split into three tiers;
Indie game - This is a game made by a solo developer (or small team) and released onto Steam (or similar storefront). Good examples of this type are our games (so far!) such as Mars Horizon and Dark Future: Blood Red States.
AAA game - This is the major publisher release that most people think of when they think of a ‘game’, so your FIFA and Battlefield titles, for example.
Triple ‘i’ game - This is a game between the two types above, so a bigger project than a small indie, but not the size of a major AAA game. Examples here include Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey and Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice.
September
We became one big happy family within the Sumo group in September. We joined 15 studios which span across the UK, Poland, Canada India and the US.
We are looking forward to our future with our new family!
“We have a shared desire always to improve the quality and depth of the games we make, a commitment to being a positive and respectful workplace, a desire to invest in new talent, and a shared wish to make a lot of fun, engagement and gameplay for all. Auroch Digital joining Sumo Group really is the natural next step in our journey and we're really excited to be taking it together.“ - Tomas Rawlings, Auroch Digital Studio Director
October
We organised and ran Steam Digital Tabletop Fest | RPG Edition, which is a multi-day celebration of tabletop gaming. This is the second year we have done this event since last year was a big success. This year we had a special focus on Role-Playing Games.
Just after the festival w then announced our Brewmaster Alpha would be live from 23rd r –29th November and gave everyone a brief look into what they can be expecting.
Finally, as more and more people are looking for jobs in games, we made a brief video on what it's like to work here, at Auroch Digital. Look out for our easter eggs and company mascot Coco! 😀
November
We know what you are thinking, we have been a bit too quiet on the Mars Horizon front the past few months but don’t worry, we have a juicy one coming. We announced our new update, Daring expeditions with a bang. Not only did we announce it on the anniversary of the Rosetta mission which is included in the new update, we also had a stream with an ESA special guest who was one of the original team members. Oh, and Mars Horizon turned one at the same time.
The Brewmaster Alpha ran from 23rd November – 29th November. We had so many delightful comments and feedback from our community during this whole time. We have learnt so much and we are so grateful to everyone who took time to tell us their thoughts.
For those who haven’t seen this on our social media, here is a video we made of streamers playing the alpha:
December
Ok, so we haven’t really finished the month yet but it deserves its own space as we announced that we are now Patrons of the Sunflower ward of Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
The children in the Sunflower ward undergo extensive medical treatment and if there was ever a time where games and joy were needed, here is a prime example. We recently gave a holiday update on how they are celebrating with some amazing pictures from the children. 🎄 We will continue to support and promote the ward going forward, we are proud to be a patron of such an important case and ward.