It is pronounced “qwomp”
qomp releases on february 4th on Steam for €5.69 // $6.99 // £5.19
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Based on playtesting, we estimate that it takes between 1 and 3 hours to complete. qomp is not an extremely hard game, even if it looks like it. Players can always enable any of the following modes:
qomp contains no secrets or hidden areas. After completing the game, players get access to a more challenging version of each level. Completing all challenges will unlock nothing.
I could not have made qomp without Clovelt, Britt Brady and Miroko and I would kindly request that you credit all four of us, if you cover qomp.
Clovelt reworked my weird code and made the menu, savegame and steam achievements. Without him, qomp would have been an extremely buggy mess. Without him, qomp would not be a commercial product we could sell in good faith.
Miroko made all the art assets and animations for the game. He started helping me out back in 2019, when I was pitching the game to publishers and without his art to motivate me, qomp would have never even made it off of the ground.
Britt Brady made all the sound effects and music for the game. His experience, dependability and skill made the horrible middle part of developing a videogame bearable. Without him, qomp would be a quiet, cold affair.
I tried to get funding for qomp in the first half of 2019 but I am not a good business person. The deals I wanted fell apart and the deals that I could have taken were not bad, but they made me extremely anxious and I rejected them. I was working in a hostel during the global pandemic and had just wasted 6 months trying to get funding for qomp. Without Mario Zechner, who provided a micro-fund with generous conditions and George Hobmeier, who set me up with freelancing work, I could not have made qomp.
This is probably the 7th version of qomp.
I started working on this game back in 2017, when I got a publishing deal for it. I was not given enough money and used up all my savings while making a game that was, honestly, pretty bad.
Instead of taking a step back and re-evaluating my choices, I doubled down and completely remade the game a few times. When qomp was finally done in 2018, I gave a talk about the development process.
2 months before the release of qomp, the publisher broke all contracts and disappeared.
In a weird way, I felt relieved, because the game was not what I wanted it to be. I tried to get some other projects funded and failed.
Through all this time I was being supported financially by my parents. I was doing freelancing as well, but it was never enough to live a self-sufficient life. I was unable to stop chasing the dream of indie game development.
The feelings of failure, regret and despair slowly drove me mad. I collapsed, moved back in with my parents, got a job and went to therapy in 2019.
To keep qomp from haunting me forever, miroko and me started to slowly work on a new prototype
In the summer of 2020 we got microfunded and I was able to quit my minimum wage job. We started making the final version of qomp.
Because I was afraid of running out of money, I kept freelancing on the side, which ended up delaying the release of qomp by 3 months. This delay was worth it, both for my mental health and the quality of the game.
Now, 3 and a half years after starting, qomp is finally getting released. The main reason for that is that I have access to a very strong and very forgiving support system.
My parents encouraged me to follow my dreams. When my dreams broke me, they encouraged me to set them aside. They helped me recover. Then, they encouraged me to try again.
qomp would not exist without them.