When Beyond These Stars comes out, I hope you love it as much as I do. And, thank you very much in advance for spending time with our creation.
Wow, this is tough to write!
After 5 jam packed, adventure filled, and life-changing years with Balancing Monkey Games, I’ve made the difficult decision to leave you all.
My reasons are pretty simple – I’m moving away from Aotearoa NZ to Germany. Game development is already challenging, but collaborating across such a large time difference (ugh, timezones, am I right?) would make it too difficult for myself, and the BMG team, to work together effectively. I am a stubborn person, and I was determined to, somehow, make it work, but in the end wisdom has tempered me and I’ve realised making room for someone local to work with the team is the best for everyone.
I can’t fully express how amazing the last five years with Balancing Monkey Games have been for me. Sure, there’s been frustrating times, but for every sigh there has been a dozen laughs, interesting conversations, tricky design moments, and sentimental pieces of dialogue written. And, so many heartwarming moments with you, the community. I’ve been able to fully realise my dream of being a game developer through Balancing Monkey, buoyed by my colleagues, the wider NZ game development community, and of course the people that play our games. I am so much richer from having worked, struggled, and ultimately thrived through the last 5 years.
I want to write some heartfelt thanks. Thank you to Sam for welcoming me into his fledgling studio five years ago, and trusting me with the community of Before We Leave and then his vision of Beyond These Stars; to Anna, for adding much needed soul, strength and spiritual purpose to the studio; to Isaac, for his intellect and wisdom, dad jokes, and succinct but strong insights on so many topics related to our games and beyond; to Tom, for his consistently amazing art and for being someone I can rely on to challenge my assumptions and push me to consider things outside my comfort zone; to Sarah, for her unwavering encouragement and organisational prowess, even through the most chaotic of times; to Mereana, my partner in crime, the embodiment of mana – seeing you progress from a junior game developer to the one you are now will forever be a highlight of my career; to Nina, your endless determination, curiosity, and intellect has been inspiring; and to my fellow Aussie Lia, your warmth and passion for Beyond These Stars has influenced my work more than you know in the last twelve months. To our contractors Benedict, James and Rafal – we didn’t talk as much as I would have liked, but thank you immensely for your work, and finally to our wonderful publisher Hooded Horse who are a north star in the games industry; you have been a pleasure to work with.
You’ll see me hanging around until late April 2025, and after then, I’ll be trying to work on my own projects with small teams or… by myself?! A terrifying prospect, but an exciting one nonetheless! If you want to keep an eye on my work, feel free to follow me over on Bluesky.
On a final note – when Beyond These Stars comes out, I hope you love it as much as I do. And, thank you very much in advance for spending time with our creation.
Ka kite.
- Emily
