“Welcome to Palm Mall: A place to relax. A place to explore. A place to dream…”

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile, no?

Sorry for the silence - the world’s been on fire for the past 15 months, so dealing with that whole mess has been kinda rough. With that being said, I’m continually humbled and thankful for all the love shown to the game throughout this garbage ass year; this project (and by extension, myself) has come out all the better for it, so I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support and enthusiasm. Y’all are truly the best!

Today, I’m very excited to reveal a brand new area from the full game - Palm Mall, a dazzling, vaporwave-inspired shopping center set amongst the stars. Despite the exterior extravagance, there’s barely any customers around, and the employees are either stressed, jaded, or completely over it (that’s capitalism for ya!). Still, the mall begs you to explore every detail, and promises a surreal shopping experience that you won’t forget anytime soon.

At Palm Mall, who knows what great deals and hidden secrets you’ll find in store...? (Get it? Store? hahaha im so funny buy my game plz i’m begging you)

As for the rest of the game, it’s definitely been a busy, eventful time here at the studio! Just to recap:

Announced plans to launch on Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, and confirmed support for Xbox Series X|S alongside Xbox One and Xbox Game Pass
Partnered with Kowloon Nights to take the game to the next level
Partnered with Whitethorn Games to make the console versions a reality
Partnered with the fine folks at Popagenda to help spread the word and keep me somewhat sane
Got invited to speak at GDC Summer 2020 (somehow????)
Adopted a cat :)

Not only that, but there’s some fresh faces helping out with the game too! As you heard in the newest trailer, our music composer Mimi Page has been hard at work on the original soundtrack, and it’s sounding absolutely amazing so far. Newly onboard is sound effects designer Chel Wong, whose work is shaping up to be truly something special.

I’m happy to share that I’ve also been able to license even more dope songs from incredible artists! (Shoutout to Kowloon Nights for allowing me to do that) I’m gonna be honest - this soundtrack has been one of the things keeping me going this whole time. Why? Because it SLAPS and I really believe y’all are gonna love it. In fact, here’s a peek at one of the battle tracks for Palm Mall, courtesy of the legendary Nmesh:

Be on the lookout for more music previews in the future - there’s much, much more where that came from! ;)

As for our character designer/illustrator, Yanina Nesterova, well… she just keeps killing it with her artwork. Every. Single. Time.

SERIOUSLY LOOK AT THESE MASTERPIECES:

As for myself, things are progressing along fine. I won’t lie, it hasn’t been the easiest year to be an indie dev, especially when 95% of the time you’re just working by yourself during a global pandemic. It’s funny - turns out making a game about keeping up hope in the darkest of times is really hard when you yourself are going through the darkest of times. After all, when the world is on fire, who cares about some weird little indie game?

Ironically enough, that’s the whole point of why I’m making this thing. To show that it’s okay to not be okay. To find strength and hope even in those dark times.

So I kept going. Again, I know it’s only a game, but if it can bring a smile to at least one person’s face… then maybe it just might be worth it? Maybe???

I dunno. I’m tired, fam. All I really wanna do all day is just play Smash Ultimate all day and chill with my cat…

ANYWAY. Yeah. All that kinda sucked. But things are getting better with each passing day. Despite this horrible ass time, it’s actually made the game itself even better and that much more emotionally resonant. I’m really happy with how things are coming along and I hope y’all can hang in there a bit longer while I finish things up.

…Oh, and I actually moved into my first apartment / WFH studio setup last summer! That’s not super relevant, I just wanted to show off my nerd paradise:

But yeah. That’s the E3 update. Hope ya had fun. More to come soon.

As always, if you’d like to keep up with She Dreams Elsewhere, make sure you follow the game on social media - Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! Wishlisting on Steam helps out a ton too. I also plan on hosting a few more development streams this summer, so definitely stay tuned for that.

God, I’m so tired…

Happy E3 everyone! Stay safe and be excellent to each other, yeah?

<3

Welcome to Palm Mall: The E3 2021 Update