Animal Well developer on working with Dunkey's BIGMODE Publishing label

We spoke with Shared Memory to learn more about the first game from publisher BIGMODE.

October 31, 2023 11:30 AM

Last fall, YouTuber Dunkey introduced the world to BIGMODE, a new publishing label with a goal of being “developer-friendly” and helping to build some amazing games. The publisher’s first game will be Animal Well, which is currently in development at Shared Memory. We spoke with the developer to learn more about working with BIGMODE and bringing their vision to life.

Shacknews’ Greg Burke caught up with Billy Basso, the solo developer behind Animal Well at PAX West. During the chat, Basso talked about how the perception and response to Animal Well has shifted and grown under publisher BIGMODE. He reveals that he wasn’t originally looking for a publisher for the game until BIGMODE came along.

He also speaks to how Dunkey’s coverage of the game has led to a boom in excitement and anticipation around it. Basso specifically calls out a Dunkey video covering last year’s Summer Game Fest, in which he praised Animal Well despite being critical of the overall event. Basso said that this video led to a huge boost in wishlists for Animal Well on Steam.

Animal Well is currently set for release in 2024. For more insightful developer interviews, subscribe to the Shacknews Interviews YouTube channel.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_

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