On this day, one year ago, The Bunny Graveyard released!
And what an awesome year it's been, thank you to everyone who played the game, talked about it, shared it to your friends or just simply expressed your love for it. Without you, we wouldn't be here! And I really mean that. It's insane that it's been one year and we're still working on this project, and hopefully this means that we can keep working on it for years to come.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you all for playing.
But the journey has only just begun! Check out our newly released roadmap for the game on our website! It will show you all of our plans, ambitions and dreams for the future of The Bunny Graveyard. We wanted to be transparent with you all and tell you what we've been planning, so there's no more confusion regarding our plans for the game.
So please, take a look at the roadmap if you've been dying to know what's next for the game!
Why we're leaving DLCs behind forever and moving on to full games.
Hello, everyone.
This is Kenneth, Creator and Developer of The Bunny Graveyard, but you can call me Pichon.
In July, I made the announcement that the next The Bunny Graveyard chapters are no longer planned to be sold as DLC, and instead they will be made as full sequels. After I made this announcement, it was met with a lot of divide, some people understood why I made the decision, other called me a scammer for this.
This will be the last time I talk about this whole thing, but before I begin, I just want to reassure everyone with this post that I'm not here to scam anyone, I'm not here to follow the footsteps of scummy videogame developers who only see you as numbers for their bank accounts, and I'm not here to make "mascot horror slop" as people call it these days (Which is a term I find to be disrespectful to some actual good mascot horror games out there, but that's beside the point because TBG isn't even a mascot horror game...).
I understand where you're coming from, Steam is a large platform that unfortunately has a vast majority of scummy publishers and developers who sacrifice their good reputations for a quick buck, but Pichon Games is not here to follow those footsteps. So, let me speak to you from the heart and explain why I'm doing this. I urge you to please read the full post before commenting.
The Beginning of Pichon Games
In around 2015-2016 I found the demo for a little game called Undertale, when I first played the demo, I instantly loved it, and my immediate reaction was to look up more stuff about it on the internet so I can buy the whole game! While looking through everything I remember stumbling upon some sort of article or something, and it said the developer of Undertale, actually made the entire game by themselves.
After seeing this, I was shocked, and it actually gave me hope that I could one day make a game by myself. So I began to save money and eventually bought GameMaker Studio 1.4, where I began to make my first ever video game, Pixolar. A cringey RPG game with a massive scope that I was not able to fulfill, eventually making me give up on it and start a new project. The years went by, and I was making more and more games, but every single one failed to be fully released due to the same problem: I wanted my first game to be something memorable and great, but I was alone and could not fully release anything. This was the beginning of what would soon become Pichon Games.
The Beginning of The Bunny Graveyard
One day in the year 2020, while working on one of the games that never released. I invited my best friend, Jorge Ramirez (Now writer for The Bunny Graveyard), to join me in creating a new project, This project was The Bunny Graveyard.
For more than two years... me and Jorge were creating the full story and lore behind the game. The story was massive, and it was perfect, everything fit together nicely and we didn't had to come up with the story as we made the game, because we already had it! So, it was time to create the game... but there was a problem, even if Jorge was with me on all this, he was only the writer, if I wanted to make one massive game, it had to be with a large team.... and we are only two guys.
Unfortunately, at the time, trying to get a whole game development team in my country, Puerto Rico, is just as dumb as trying to walk on water. Game development was something that was laughed at in my country, and is still sort of is! So I had to face the truth, I had to make this game by myself, and I made the tough decision, to separate the story in chapters. Luckily, the story was already divided into big arcs, so this was an easy move for us, but it was a tough pill to swallow due to the fact that we could not tell the full story in one game.
Changes in development
When we first released TBG, I promised that we would release all of its chapters as DLC. The reason I made this promise was because the fact that the story was not complete was something that actually bothered me... a LOT. I felt like I just released an incomplete game, and that made me sad, but I eventually had to face the reality of the situation, there is no way I could make one big game with the entirety of The Bunny Graveyard's story.
I was very indecisive when it came to how we released The Bunny Graveyard, I was even planning on scrapping the game completely and just dumbing down the entire story to a 5 hour game. But I knew that doing that would make me regret it in the long run, because the story needs to be told in its entirety. So I decided to still go with the chapter release strategy. I kept saying that the rest of the game was releasing as DLC so people knew that more was coming, not realizing that I just released an almost 3 hour long game, and I was making people think that I just released an incomplete product.
Chapter 2 turns into The Bunny Graveyard II
So we began development on Chapter 2, and we immediately faced some issues. The game had to be cut short. We wanted to make Chapter 2 bigger than Chapter 1, but that would've been impossible due to the fact that the game was a DLC, not a full game.
We knew deep in our hearts that we wanted The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 2...
To improve on every gameplay aspect of the last game.
Have a bigger story.
Have an entirely new cast of characters.
Have a story that stands on its own and doesn't completely rely on the last chapter, letting new players play the game.
Have new mechanics that would change the gameplay.
Have better animation, better quality and better music.
New minigames that will keep challenging us to create new and exciting experiences.
Have full voice acting for all characters.
It checked every single box for a sequel, but we were holding ourselves back due to one thing, it HAD to be a DLC... right? Well, that's when it came to me. We're not making the next chapter anymore, we're making something bigger and better, the sequel to The Bunny Graveyard. I eventually realized, that even if the story is not complete, The Bunny Graveyard was a full game, with a beginning and an end. Is it a short game? Of course. But to me, length never equals quality, and just because a game is short, doesn't mean it's incomplete or just a bad game. Did the story end in a cliffhanger? Yes, because there is so much more to the story, and I want to tell it in its entirety, but it will take me more than one game to do so.
So I made the decision, but I wanted to be honest with the community, and I made a formal announcement on Steam and social media.
The announcement of The Bunny Graveyard II
The Bunny Graveyard II was announced in July, and like I mentioned, divided the community. Why? Because I broke that first promise. So today, I'm asking not only for your patience, but your trust. I ask you to trust me and all the people who help me make this game a reality to deliver you an experience that you will never forget. I know it's hard to believe when the game is still in development, when I still haven't showed a single thing about the game, but I ask you for your trust. So with this, I want to apologize to the people who played this game and think I'm just another scammer, for not being able to fulfill my promise of releasing the rest of the chapters as DLCs.
So here is my new promise for you all....
My promise for The Bunny Graveyard II
My promise is to create not only the sequel to The Bunny Graveyard, but the best game we've ever made. I want this game to defy all of your expectations, I want it to be the best experience you've had, I want it to be worthy of the II in the title.
It would be a lie if I told you the first game is perfect, no game is perfect and I sure wish it was longer and better. But I am satisfied with what we made, and I could not be more proud of my first game to ever release. You will have to wait for the sequel, unfortunately, but I promise the wait will be worth it, and that I will stick to this plan until the very end. I promise that I will keep pushing myself to make better games, to improve on what we failed and to keep moving forward, no... matter... what.
In September 22nd, we celebrate the first year anniversary of The Bunny Graveyard and I'm preparing a little surprise for you all. I'm doing my best to get it out as soon as possible, so please look forward to it.
I will also soon release a roadmap of everything we want to make, so we no longer cause any confusion among the community and everyone can stay in the same page.
So with this, I want to end this discussion once and for all, as always, thank you all for putting me into this position, thank you for helping me release my first game and now moving on to the next one and thank you for supporting us.
Now, I have to get back to work, see y'all soon.
- Kenneth Alvarez "ElPichon"
The Bunny Graveyard has been nominated for Best Game of 2024! (GameMaker Awards)
So apparently we've been nominated for the Best Game category at the GameMaker Awards 2024! This is the first time we've been nominated for anything so this is very special for us, and it would mean a lot to us if you could help us out! Voting ends in September 11th.
Either way, if we win or not, it was awesome to be able to be nominated for something like this! Especially an event made by GameMaker, the game engine we use to make our game, it truly is an honor!
Of course, you don't really HAVE to vote for us...
....but please consider it! :)
- Ken "ElPichon" Creator and Developer of The Bunny Graveyard
Goodbye chapters, it's time for The Bunny Graveyard II
Hello, everyone!
So you might've noticed that both the DLC for The Bunny Graveyard: All Chapters and The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 2 have been removed from Steam, which means it's also gone from your wish-lists... this was not a mistake.
We're making a big decision, one that has been a long time coming, we are completely leaving chapters behind. There are many reasons why we decided to do this, but first of all, let me go back for a bit.
Confusion
Right after we released The Bunny Graveyard, we announced that the game will be releasing in chapters, this... was not met with the best reception. Not really because the game was releasing in chapters, it was actually because the chapters were going to be sold as DLC.
Now, as a gamer myself, I put myself in that chair, and realized how... demotivating that sounds. Not only does it look like The Bunny Graveyard by itself is an incomplete product, but several questions would be running through my head, how much will they cost? Are they really worth buying? Do I need to buy the base game just to play the next chapters? And honestly, that's just unfair. And we weren't good at communication either, cause honestly even we were still thinking if going this route was worth it. So we doubled down, and kept going, but we hit a wall.
DLC problems
When building the plan for the entirety of Chapter 2, we realized we would have to cut a large amount of content in order to sell it as a DLC, not only that, but there were some technical issues that we thought had been solved but it got worse once we had to consider DLC for consoles. And the more time we poured into this DLC, the more it felt like we were limiting ourselves.
We had already added a disclaimer saying that you didn't have to finish the first chapter in order to play this one, so the DLC was never even dependent of the base game, so why make it DLC?
They were always sequels
The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 2 already ticked all the boxes for a sequel, new gameplay mechanics, new world, new characters, new music and overall new experience. So why not just call it what it is? Why try to mold the game into something that it isn't, when we can just create what we've always wanted to create! It's time to make a TRUE sequel to The Bunny Graveyard, one that will improve on everything where the last one fell short, but also one that will expand on those things that made the first one special... it's time for The Bunny Graveyard II!
We always wanted every chapter to feel like a complete experience, so, again, why limit ourselves to DLC? Why make our players pay for the base game so they can buy the DLC? Seems unfair to me.
What does this mean for the future?
Simple, there will be no more DLC for this game, the story will continue in the next sequel. It also means we are restarting development on this project, and making it bigger. We hope you understand our decision, more details about this sequel will be revealed in October. Also there won't be a Steam page for 2 until we're ready to properly show the game, the DLC page for Chapter 2 was rushed and it was done because we felt pressured and wanted to clear the air on all the confusion going on with the game's release.
- Ken "ElPichon" Creator and Developer of The Bunny Graveyard
FIRST LOOK at the next big update for The Bunny Graveyard
Have you heard the news? Voice acting is coming for our next and ACTUAL final update for Chapter 1.
This update will include many new features, which are left to be revealed, but we'll be slowly showing you some of them before we drop the release date trailer on our YouTube channel! It's also important to note, that every new feature that will be introduced in this new update, will also come to the next chapters of The Bunny Graveyard, including voice acting.
The final big update for Chapter 1 of The Bunny Graveyard will be releasing THIS SUMMER! Which is... now... so.... stay tuned for the release date trailer, dropping anytime soon!
- Ken "ElPichon" Creator and Developer of The Bunny Graveyard
EDIT: Oops, almost forgot to mention this but, we opened a free email newsletter on our website. That way, you can get all the latest news right to your inbox! You can subscribe here if you want!
The Bunny Graveyard: Development Update [February 2024]
It's time for a new development update, we've been working on a lot of stuff behind the scenes so let's talk about some of it, shall we?
The Bunny Graveyard is coming to Nintendo Switch!
If you didn't know already, The Bunny Graveyard is on its way to Nintendo Switch. But this port will not just be any normal port, the game will receive some enhancements and changes both visually and gameplay-wise. Including motion-controls, HD vibration and more!
But do not worry PC users, even though some gameplay features will be exclusive to Switch, any content updates, improvements and future chapters will be released at the same time on all platforms.
More languages!
The Bunny Graveyard: Chapter 1 is currently being translated to more languages, some of these are:
Brazilian Portuguese
French
Russian
Japanese
Simplified Chinese
Korean
...and more!
Boxers Plushie!
You probably heard of this already, but yes! Boxers got himself his very own plushie, which is still available at the time of this writing, however, this is a limited edition plushie so make sure to grab one before they're gone. As of right now, there's still 8 days left, so think about it! You guys absolutely CRUSHED that funding goal by the way, 450 sold so far!
We're definitely making another one... hehe.
This is also our first piece of merchandise and we're open to do more merch stuff in the future! But for now we'll only be choosing things that don't slow us down during development. So, if you got any requests for merch, let us know and we'll look into it!
NEW free content is coming this year...
We are working on a new secret project for the game, it will be released as a free content update at the same time as the Nintendo Switch release. It's a small thing that we wanted to make for a while now, but never got the chance to do due to time constraints. Think of it as the next "4-1-1992" for now.
We'll be releasing a separate trailer for this soon, so stay tuned!
So... how's Chapter 2?
Finally, let's have a quick talk about Chapter 2.
We are still not ready to fully reveal Chapter 2, buuuut we can tell you a little bit about it. It is the most ambitious project we have ever done, we expect it to be about the same length as Chapter 1, but despite the length, this chapter has proven to be quite a challenge to develop... but you know us, we love ourselves a challenge!
The story has been fully written, the gameplay has been finalized, but there's still quite a lot of programming to go, and don't get me started on all the music and animations left. Oh, did I also mention that this chapter will be releasing at the same time on Nintendo Switch and PC? And that it will also release in multiple languages? And that I'm still working on this game mostly by myself?
Yeah, things are not the same as they were back when I was making Chapter 1, The Bunny Graveyard is no longer just a silly lil' indie game, but that's exactly what makes it fun. I seriously can't wait to show you guys what we've been working on, this chapter is going to blow you away. Expect a trailer sometime this year.
2024 is looking like an awesome year for this game, I'm hoping that this year we can get more people to know about this game.
I'm extremely thankful for all of the support that we've been getting lately, it's crazy that I can now FINALLY focus on this game full-time, something that I've been trying to do for a long time now. I'm still processing the fact that this game is coming to the Switch, but it really is! Truly a dream come true.
If you got any questions, ask in the comments and I'll try to answer as many as I can! And as always, thank you all!
- Ken "ElPichon"
1 WEEK LEFT until the Boxers Plushie is gone forever!
Oh no... looks like Mom's here.
The Boxers Plushie campaign will be over in one week! Grab one now while you still can!
PS: Also, stay tuned for a new development update sometime next week, it will feature all of our future plans for 2024!
We did it! The Boxers Plushie is now fully funded!
WE DID IT! The Boxers Plushie is now FULLY FUNDED, thank you sooo much for your support!
Now that the campaign is funded, this means that the plushie is now guaranteed to go into production, and everyone will be receiving their plushies when they're done! But don't worry, the campaign isn't over yet. You still have plenty of time to get one for yourself, so hurry before they're gone forever!
In collaboration with Makeship, the first official plushie from The Bunny Graveyard is here! Featuring the fan-favorite character from the first chapter, Boxers. Help us reach our goal of 200 pre-orders so we can get this plushie funded! ːTBGBoxersNerdːːTBGCursorPeaceː
