We are Small Loan Studio, a collective of volunteer junior game devs and career changers expanding our skillsets! The Ouroboros Express Patch is out on Steam!
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ALT A gold logo with a snake eating its tail around the game title “The Ouroboros Express” Image text reads: “The Production of The Ouroboros Express: A logistical look back.”
ALT Image text reads: “(Tool emoji) 35 Member Team. (two snake emojis)) Roughly 65% worked on both the original game jam & the 2024 patch. (Three earth emojis) 4+ Different Countries across 8+ different Time Zones.”
ALT Image text: “Teams were broken up by discipline, however, our Leads & Producer’s did amazing work to make sure each team communicated with one another effectively, and facilitated a smooth production.”
ALT Image text reads: "We aimed for our volunteer studio to function professionally with structure and regular check-ins on progress. But also with the humanity to work with folks if life happens and they need adjustments to their responsibilities.”
ALT Image text reads: “It was important for us to have a studio environment that respected our volunteers’ time, by having clear expectations and doing our best to not have periods of excessive crunch. This included weekly check-ins, and a two-week sprint structure.”
ALT A gold logo with a snake eating its tail around the game title “The Ouroboros Express” Image text reads: “The Music and SFX (Sound Effects) of The Ouroboros Express: An audio look back.”
ALT Image text reads: “Expanded the soundtrack from 4 to 18 songs. 6 crew members. 4 composers. 1 ethereal soundscape.”
ALT Image displays 6 circular portraits of the members of the Ouroboros’ Express Music and Sound team. Image text reads: “Music SFX Crew.
ALT A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads I was brought in to write the ‘main track’ of the game. Andrea (pre-patch audio lead) gave me a lot of context and diverse musical references to wrangle all together…Our main character finds herself in troubling circumstances, but paradoxically, the musical impression of the train was to be eerily soothing…
ALT A quote from one of the composers, Scott Stinson, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. I decided to sample and manipulate some violin lines from the main menu music (performed beautifully by Max Lincoln) and from that, the backbone of the musical track was created. After that, I worked to strike the balance between the near sedative tranquility and unearthly mystery.
ALT A quote from one of the composers, Noah Campodonico, sits in the center of the post. It details a behind-the-scenes look at the music for the game. Their portrait is on the lower left. Image text reads: One of the first things I worked on when I joined the project was the attraction/decay sounds. Originally, I'd wanted to keep it simple and use a classic bellhop call bell, but after feedback from Naj, I ended up incorporating a gamelan into them as a reference to Vivi's Southeast Asian heritage.
ALT A gold logo for the game “The Ouroborous Express” with a gold snake eating its own tail in a circular shape is surrounded by text. Image Text: The QA of The Ouroboros Express. A quality control look back.
ALT Ten portraits of the Quality Analysis (QA) team sit in front of a graphic of a gold snake that is eating its own tail. The “Ouroboros Express” logo sits in the upper left corner. Image Text: The Ouroboros Express. QA Crew.
ALT A drawing of Bianca, a grey skinned woman wearing blue/grey clothes sitting on a red couch looking bored with her head in her hands. Text reads ‘Nothing to do during the holidays?’
ALT A gold logo for the game “The Ouroborous Express” with a gold snake eating its own tail in a circular shape is surrounded by text. Image Text: The Programming of The Ouroboros Express. An engineering look back.
ALT Image text: 2 programmers. Nearly 5,000 voiceover identifiers. 1 fantastic game.
ALT Nine portraits from the voiceover crew sit in front of a graphic of a gold snake that is eating its own tail. The “Ouroboros Express” logo sits in the upper right corner. Image Text: The Ouroboros Express. Voiceover Crew.
ALT An image of an observatory background with a window looking out to a starry sky. Image Text: Updated Background Art.
ALT A young woman in a blouse and jumper is floating slightly and looks surprised in front of a gold snake eating its own tail in a circular shape. This is Vivi. Image Text: New Unique Vivi Pose.
ALT A photograph of Sean, a man with silvery hair smiling slightly.
ALT A photograph of Allyson, a young Black woman with wavy dark hair smiling.
ALT An image of the Ouroboros Express logo, a golden snake eating its tail. Text reads ‘A behind the scenes look at the UI/UX’.
ALT Text reads ‘For the latest iteration of the game we focused on making sure we had accessibility features such as high contrast, different text sizes, self voicing, a tutorial. We also incorporated a survey to add additional accessibility features that we may have missed.’
ALT A screenshot of the game, two characters standing in an old-fashioned bedroom. One tan androgynous character with short brown hair and an off white shirt, one pale masculine character wearing a pristine waistcoat and shirt with a conductor’s hat. Text reads ‘Ah, Miss Sanssouci, I’m glad you are awake. Welcome to the Ouroboros Express. We’ve been expecting you.’ At the bottom of the screen is some game options: back history, skip, auto, save, Quick save, Quick load, settings.
ALT Image Text: The Writing of The Ouroboros Express. A Narrative sneak peek
![An image of the game’s protagonist, Vivi, sits below a quote from the game’s writers. Image Text: [We worked really hard on] Vivi's inner voice, showing her nicer unhinged side. We wanted Vivi to have a complete mess of an inner world she continuously rejects...but at the end of the story it is a part of her she has to embrace, because hell---it's her feelings after all.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GcdiwJoWgAA_W-q.jpg?name=orig)
ALT An image of the game’s protagonist, Vivi, sits below a quote from the game’s writers. Image Text: [We worked really hard on] Vivi's inner voice, showing her nicer unhinged side. We wanted Vivi to have a complete mess of an inner world she continuously rejects...but at the end of the story it is a part of her she has to embrace, because hell---it's her feelings after all.
![An image of the game’s protagonist, Vivi, sits below a quote from the game’s writers. Image Text: “One of the wilder writing tasks for this patch was toning down Vivi’s potty mouth without compromising her savvy sarkiness. This meant trawling through the every line of Vivi dialogue in the game. [We] Ctrl + F-ed every bad word I could think of in VS Code!”](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gcdi42tXAAAdzMP.jpg?name=orig)
ALT An image of the game’s protagonist, Vivi, sits below a quote from the game’s writers. Image Text: “One of the wilder writing tasks for this patch was toning down Vivi’s potty mouth without compromising her savvy sarkiness. This meant trawling through the every line of Vivi dialogue in the game. [We] Ctrl + F-ed every bad word I could think of in VS Code!”
ALT Image Text: Obviously there would be one ending for each candidate and one bad ending. Then I was like... wait. I WANT AN ASEXUAL ENDING. So I pushed for a good ending that did not finish with a relationship that is what we have today as the "friendship" ending.
ALT Image Text: We went back and forth on how ‘forgiving’ to make some mysterious new story content, but in the end decided that story justifications and the greater feeling of reward meant we should make it hard-to-get! So, if players want to see it, they should be sure to take their time, really listen, and freely share with others when they have the option.
](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GcM5f0jXsAAmkuc.jpg?name=orig)
ALT A graphic lists a number of mental health resources. Text ID: “You are seen. You are not alone.” Mental health resources: - Safe in Our World: safeinourworld.org - US: National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): nami.org/home - Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386 - https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/ - Suicide or Crisis Lifeline: dial/text 988 - Crisis Text Line: text 741741 - National Domestic Violence hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233) or text 88788 - Alcoholics Anonymous: 1-206-587-2838 - Crisis Connections: 1-866-4CRISIS (1-866-427-4747) - Amir Satvat Compiled [Mental Health Resources](https://www.notion.so/Mental-Health-Resources-a2dfcad9b21f49f78ddb0f485278e59b?pvs=21)
ALT Text ‘The Ouroboros Express’, ‘Allyson Frazier as Vivienne Sanssouci’. On the right is a photograph of Allyson, a young black woman with wavy dark hair smiling. On the left is an illustration of Vivienne, a tanned androgynous-looking woman wearing a shirt and trousers with a serious facial expression.
ALT Text ‘The Ouroboros Express’, ‘Sean Baxendale as Urshunabi’. On the right is a photograph of Sean, a man with silvery hair smiling slightly. On the left is an illustration of Urshunabi, a pale otherworldly being wearing his train conductor outfit with a slight smile.
ALT Text ‘The Ouroboros Express’, ‘Sera Milano as The Avatar of Asha’. On the left is an illustration of The Avatar of Asha, a dark-skinned woman wearing a bright yellow dress with gold and orange accessories. She has a neutral expression.
ALT Text ‘The Ouroboros Express’, ‘Preston Yeung as Susu’Rha Balrinn’. On the left is an illustration of Susu’Rha, a blue-green lizard-esque humanoid, wearing informal clothes and grinning.
ALT Text ‘The Ouroboros Express’, ‘Rydberg Delta as Darius Wrecker’. On the left is an illustration of Darius, a purple illithid mindflayer, wearing a trench coat and a serious expression.
ALT Five people sit under a banner for two logos. The logo on the right reads "Small Loan Studio." The logo on the left reads #SafeinOurWorld, The Video Games Mental Health Charity.
