About
This is a website for the game development company swalk studios. The company's first game, Legends of Mythology, started as a hobby project in 2018, which then evolved to the founding of the company in 2022 and a demo release on Steam in 2023. The company is based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Currently it is a one-man company, but with a hope to be able to expand in the future.
I, Mads aka swalk, am the founder and sole developer of swalk studios. I grew up with a passion for video games and have always dreamed of creating my own games, but I didn't believe creating your own games to be a viable way of life. I am a self-taught programmer, since the age of 14. I changed profession from the construction industry to software development from 2020-2024, as I took a Computer Science degree.
I have decided to give my childhood dream a shot and see if I can make it work with a policy of; "Don't spend money you don't have". So everything is on a shoestring budget and I am doing everything myself, from programming to art and music, while working a full-time job. Unless the income I get from the games can fully support me, I will continue to work full-time and develop games in my spare time.
This means that this company is a passion project and it goes hand-in-hand with the name of the company. While 'swalk' is a nickname I have had since I was a teenager, it also something that used to be written on the back of letters; "S.W.A.L.K" - which means "Sealed With A Loving Kiss". This is a nod to the fact that I am putting my heart and soul into this project and I hope that it will be received well by the community.
Mission statement:
"swalk studios are committed to crafting games that prioritize player agency, harnessing the true potential of the medium. Games are a unique medium that allows the audience to directly shape their own experience. It's a core belief that this intrinsic quality of the medium should be leveraged to create experiences that elevates the medium of video games."
We will always prioritise the games. The industry standard of creating most games as a service, is not something we believe in. We believe in creating a product that is finished and polished before release. We believe in ownership of game copies. That flies in the face of the current trend of almost every major game being advertised as products but sold as a service. So whenever possible, as some genres would require games to be a form of service, we will release our games as products. If any of our future games are a service and we end support, we will provide the tools so that the community can take up the support of the games themselves.
The studio believes in equality of opportunity and will never comply with policies that promotes equality of outcome, as the studio believes that these policies are extremely harmful to the creative process and the quality of the products, as well as being harmful to workers as it dictates hiring based upon identity, using quotas, rather than hiring by merit. That goes against the company's core beliefs and values and no amount of monetary- or governmental pressure will change that.
This obviously excludes the company's games from receiving funding, coverage or awards from certain ideologically captured organisations. But we will be proud to stand up against these tenants of Marxism and make products that people can enjoy, rather than trying to appease people who don't actually care about the medium and are just seeking to forcefully insert their political agenda into it. Hopefully you will help us in this mission by spreading the word and supporting our products.
We are betting on the grassroots. We are betting on you.
Posted by: swalk - 14/06/2024 12:33:34 - 6 months ago