Who created Main Street?

 

Main Street is created by two indie developers - River does the programming (@riverforgegames on Twitter) and Sonic does the art (@Sonics_Art on Twitter).

How did you meet and end up developing games together?

River and Sonic met and became close friends in high school and both independently explored game design without telling each other for years, working in totally different genres. In college, they collaborated on a few small projects - their most exciting and well recieved project was Main Street.

When was Main Street first prototyped and what was the game originally like?

Main Street was first prototyped in late 2016. River was improving his programming skills and approached Sonic with the idea for the game. Sonic had never done pixel art before but was happy to help. Despite its original flaws, people loved Main Street.

Why wasn't Main Street continued back in 2016?

When River got engaged and married, he began working full time and didn't have the leisure time to continue the project. The engine that was used for Main Street also had technical limitations that made the game difficult to distribute.

What made you decide to remake Main Street?

In late 2019, River and Sonic wanted to pursue a bigger and more serious project than our old hobby games. They both felt passionately about the old Main Street game and earnestly missed playing it. In the time they hadn't worked on the project, a new game engine had also taken off that addressed some of the technical constraints of Main Street, and they decided to port the game to that engine.

How is the old Main Street different from the new Main Street?

Much of the programming has been rewritten and all of the art assets have been completely redone. The gameplay is very similar to the old Main Street but River and Sonic plan to expand on that throughout development.

What state is the game in now?

Main Street is now fully ported and River and Sonic have been enjoying playtesting it. At this point they're striving to take what Main Street was (a small scale multiplayer tycoon game) and build on that to be a fully featured RPG/tycoon hybrid designed with multiplayer as a core feature.

What games are similar to Main Street or have served as inspiration for the game?

Their biggest inspiration for Main Street was an old Byond game called Omega Mall. However, they also draw inspiration from old tycoon games, Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and other games!