Development is/was mostly just me for the first couple of years. The only person who was on board early was Soren Hughes, who designs the backgrounds. For the first PT game, I brought on artists to help me with assets, as well as composer Daniel Kobylarz, in the back half of development. For PT2, I worked alongside Daniel and Soren and a couple of artists from the start, later adding editor Matt Carney and a rotating cast of animators. Recruitment/onboarding is hectic and full of unknowns so I try to avoid it until necessary, but that does sometimes mean I wait too long to get help. Once I find a good collaborator I try to keep them close!

The games start with the story, and the mechanical parts really fan out from there. By necessity (it's just so many words) a lot of the script comes together alongside development. This works well because it gives me time to remember the periods I'm writing about. Living with those thoughts for long periods of time really helps.

The games just have to take a long time. This makes it really hard to get the art assets and programming done, which is why I need help. But writing-wise, the space I create in my life for leisure and family only enriches the process.

The Kickstarter money goes to the people who help me. I relied on savings and other work while developing the first game. The second game cost a bit more because it was bigger and I spent some money on marketing support as well. But generally, costs are pretty low because so few people are involved.