Project History

SP Era
Barrow began development under Samurai Punk in late 2023, at the time the project was codenamed Rip and Care. It had inherited a lot of tech and temp assets from a previously cancelled Samurai Punk game which meant I was able to prototype it pretty quickly and was aware of some design pitfalls already to avoid. With Killbug wrapped at the studio I was interested in making another FPS but something a bit more substantial in terms of scope and ambition. Sadly, Samurai Punk closed in November 2023 around the same time we got VicScreen approval for preproduction funding. I should point out here that Samurai Punk’s closure was going to happen regardless of this grant. However I was committed to making this game and was able to get the rights and continue development under a new studio name.

Founding Searching Interactive
After SP closed I had to re-submit for the game given the grant process requires a business entity to be linked to the submission I decided to found Searching Interactive in order to resubmit. I had wanted to continue development under a new label regardless so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to plan for the future. Whilst the game was back in for re-submission I took a short 3 month break and made two small prototypes one of which is on my itch page. After the normal waiting period the project was funded again and I started gathering the team to enter pre production.

Pre-Production
The roughly $145k AUD grant we received covered a portion of the development costs over pre-production but meant we would need to secure further financing in order to continue development and enter production. This meant the pre-production would also need to include a large portion of time dedicated to building a pitchable demo on top of all the normal pre-production efforts. Much new tech also had to be built to facilitate the style of level design and combat we wanted for the game in order to build it with a small team as no engine provided all the tools off the shelf.

People came on and off the project as the budget did not allow me to bring anyone on full-time, but the credits below reflect everyone who got involved at this stage. We spent the better part of a year and a bit building out the pitch build with the initial goal of pitching at GDC 2024 which due to the needs of pre-production got moved to a post-Gamescom date. During this phase the game was regularly playtested to validate ideas and changed quite a lot from its initial Rip and Care pitch build to what became Barrow.

This tension was constant for me throughout pre-production of not being 100% sure if efforts should be on short term improvements to get the demo read to pitch vs actually planning out production, building tools and prototyping new systems. As you’ll see if you play the demo there are areas of the game that got very little attention, for example the UI visual style is fully whitebox at this stage as executing on that wasn’t something we had time for. There are many smaller examples where a system is either just the bones of something to come or fully temp with the intention of being replaced later.

Pitching
I took the game to MIGW 2025, GDC 2024 with proper pitching actually starting during Gamescom in 2024.
Builds and the final pitch deck were sent out as well as many follow up emails beginning Jan/Feb of 2025 and really continuing for a few months as I tried to get a bite with the game. I had planned for getting a deal to take up to 6 months so over this time the rest of the team continued on other projects whilst I began making Crabmeat. Unfortunately things did not go as planned, hence this announcement.

Today
Barrow will not get made. But at least you can check out all the awesome work the team put together. I’m so proud of the work everyone did so please check out the demo, soundtrack, gallery and everyone’s portfolios.

<3
Nicholas McDonnell