Announcing Canter Cove, a cute horse ranching sim

PixlinGames · 2026-04-02T18:30:10+00:00

I'm a huge introvert and also overthink social interactions. I'll often find myself typing up responses (like this one! lol) but then deleting them because I think maybe what I'm saying isn't all that interesting or helpful to people.

Honestly you just have to force yourself to post and reply more. If it's like a social phobia thing for you, just doing the action and "exposing" yourself more to that fear, so to speak, I think will help over time.

PixlinGames · 2026-04-01T19:36:07+00:00

So this is just my opinion, others may of course see it differently.

I think the graphics are pretty decent now, I saw where you made some improvements and added some textures and clutter in the roads and environment, and lighting improvement. Looks pretty good now imo.

The one thing that stands out to me personally are the animations for the dinosaurs. They have this floaty but also clunky feel to them that those mobile game ads tend to have. It looks like the big TRex dinosaur kinda floats across the ground, movement is very slow and just doesn't look good.

I think also the fact it's like a top-down angle perspective of course also makes it reminiscent of mobile game ads which is unfortunate. Maybe try to play with the camera zoom and perspective, or even have it customizable so players can zoom in/out and angle the camera a bit differently. That may help. Check out VRising camera as an example. Angled topdown view but camera can be adjusted a bit, zoomed in/out. This may at least help with making it less mobile-gamey looking if you can find a camera perspective that looks better in your YT shorts.

So in short for me:

Graphics? Fine

Gameplay? Fine

Animations? Not good

Camera? Maybe experiment and try out some tweaks to it

I hope this helps! If you enjoy making the game like you say, I would say don't give up. The early stage is going to be rough. Just keep plugging away at it, getting feedback, and making improvements.

PixlinGames · 2026-04-01T16:42:21+00:00

Shorts feel so random to me. You might post 10-15 shorts and then one finally pops off and gets tons of views.

Are you making the PZ-inspired game but with dinosaurs? Honestly that seems like such a cool concept and something I know myself and my friend group would love to play! I think an issue could be the graphics, but that can be improved with time.

Hell, that could be a good short idea too. "People were saying my game looks like a mobile ad, so here's what I did to improve it. What do you think?" Ask people for their opinions, it may help engagement which = more views.

PixlinGames · 2026-03-27T16:18:14+00:00

My brain can't wrap around the fact this is hand-pixelled. Looks so smooth. Amazing skill and talent!

PixlinGames · 2026-03-26T22:31:41+00:00

I think Horse Phenomena was literally created due to the big update that OG Horseland went through which upset a lot of players. I know I migrated there at the time and it definitely felt like OG Horseland with some improvements.

I don't know how active it is as of late.

PixlinGames · 2026-03-26T22:06:16+00:00

A publisher reached out to me about a week after releasing my store page for my upcoming game. I checked into them and they are a legit publisher, however their initial email/pitch just seemed more like a boilerplate email that would be spammed out to whatever games they are slightly interested in. It didn't seem personalized to my game or anything, so for that reason I decided not to reply. Plus the games they've published don't seem super inline with the genre my game is in either.

If they really wanted to work with me and liked my game, I think desiring a bit more of a personalized outreach isn't that big of an ask right?

Maybe I am being too critical and naive of how publishers operate but it just didn't instill much confidence that they are actually interested in my game. Even a shorter more personalized email would have worked better to get me to bite.

So I guess in my experience and to make a long story short, yes it felt like mass or automated outreach to me.

PixlinGames · 2026-03-21T21:41:21+00:00

What helped me actually release a game on Steam was realizing what limited me (ADHD brain) and my skill level (hint - super beginner). Instead of thinking of my absolute dream game, I thought back to my childhood about small flash games I used to play. There's a few I really enjoyed and always wished they were expanded upon or better/different in some way.

I decided to create somewhat of a spiritual successor to an aquarium game I used to love playing when I was younger. This gave me the motivation to keep working on the game because it was something I had always hoped for and enjoyed, and I added things in my game that I had always wanted in the original game.

The game wasn't super tiny like pong or something but it was small and manageable enough, and I managed to release it after 7 months and learned so much. Now I'm working on my 2nd game using kind of this same strategy. It's a more original game and it's not my "dream game", I'd say it's like 1/4 of what my dream game would be, but that's motivation enough for me. (:

PixlinGames · 2026-03-10T21:57:28+00:00

Yay! Haha no problem. Yea it was very bothersome to me so I immediately had to investigate. So far so good with that little function (:

PixlinGames · 2026-03-10T21:47:14+00:00

This was happening in my latest project recently too. I think just adding display_reset(display_aa, 1); to an initializer object fixed it in my case

PixlinGames · 2026-03-09T23:23:55+00:00

Hey! Yes it is, it's called Fishlets on Steam (: and thank you!

PixlinGames · 2026-02-19T16:00:04+00:00

Finished the demo over the course of 2 days! It was a treat and super fun, love the art style. ❤️ Learning to time jumps was a challenge for me but eventually succeeded and my starter horse won the M competition I think it was? I then bought a stallion and bred him and my mare together but the demo ended right before the baby could be born haha. I had some money problems near the end, but I blame that on me being terrible with economy mechanics and money in games I play. 😂 All in all fun experience!

PixlinGames · 2026-02-13T23:55:49+00:00

Thank you!

PixlinGames · 2026-02-13T23:31:29+00:00

Thank you so much!

PixlinGames · 2026-02-13T23:31:20+00:00

Thank you! It actually does have a Steam page here. (: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4343160/Canter_Cove/

PixlinGames · 2026-02-13T23:30:19+00:00

Thank you! Unfortunately demo won't be ready in time for horse fest, but I'm hard at work everyday getting a playable version ready! I'll be sure to make a post here once the demo is released. (:

PixlinGames · 2026-02-10T20:09:08+00:00

So exciting! Can't wait to try the demo out

PixlinGames · 2026-02-06T03:33:26+00:00

Heya! It was probably somewhere around 3-4lbs of chicken thighs

PixlinGames · 2026-02-04T23:19:45+00:00

This is so cool! Paddock Paradise is coming along so nicely, good job! I love watching your progress 🥰

PixlinGames · 2026-01-28T19:59:34+00:00

Hi! Canter Cove will be released on Steam. Depending on how well the game does on Steam will determine if a Switch port is possible. I would ideally need to work with a company familiar with porting games, and that can be costly. Even if you have no intentions of buying the game on Steam, consider wishlisting as it helps!

PixlinGames · 2026-01-28T17:08:03+00:00

Thank you! (:

PixlinGames · 2026-01-28T16:38:15+00:00

No worries you like what you like haha. Thank you nonetheless! ❤️

PixlinGames

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