14 DAY TRIAL // Goat Simulator is indeed a real thing, with an official release date and all, but it still seems like such a far-fetched concept that a stupid idea can quickly escalate and turn into something that is completely beyond its initial scope.
But that's what happens when you set the internet on fire, which is exactly what the guys at Coffee Stain Studios unwittingly did when they posted some mock-up footage as a joke which swiftly became more serious than they could have imagined, as far as goat simulation goes.
The team made some very interesting reveals in a blog post on Gamasutra, showing the world how Goat Simulator became their next IP, which some gamers already hailed as game of the year for 2014, even though it all started with four houses and a goat on a UDK map.
Armin Ibrisagic of Coffee Stain shares that after working on the Sanctum IP for four years, having completed Sanctum 2, the team looked for other projects they could start work for, running a quick game jam in order to get the creative juices flowing and to get the junior programmers accustomed to Unreal Engine.
Many complex game ideas emerged in the process, every developer pushing for his "deep RPG they've always dreamed about making" or "a super-artistic story-based adventure." Getting people on board for a more creative and silly project was hard at first, but as time passed more and more people started considering the goat idea to hold the potential for a real project.
As such, although the team initially wanted to play around with the idea for a couple of weeks until pre-production started for their next game, they were overwhelmed with requests from people who wanted "some pretty big features and expecting a game the size of Skyrim with goats, when it in fact was four houses and a goat on a map in UDK."
Dealing with the increasing demand for mod support, goat customization, open world exploration and missions, the team decided to go ahead and make the crazy game a reality. As such, a development team was assembled, complete with level designers and a production plan, and when hearing that Valve is excited to see their game on Steam, they got to work.
Ibrisagic points out that Steam support is probably the most important part of Goat simulator, as it means that with Steam Workshop integration they can let players make their own levels, props and missions and generally try to break the game in different ways, which "will be glorious."
The game will launch for PC on April 1, is available for pre-order on the Goat Simulator website and it will most likely be both terrible and great at the same time, as most people expect it to be anyway.