It’s a tough time for pretty much everyone in the games industry right now, and for the developer of one of 2024’s best indie titles, he’s grateful for the position he’s in despite some of the hardships he’s faced surrounding its release.
If you haven’t checked it out, Tactical Breach Wizards is one of this year’s best indie gems; a turn-based strategy puzzler where you clear various levels with what is essentially a wizard SWAT team. For developer Tom Francis, the game’s success this year has put him in a position that many other developers haven’t been so lucky to find, and he hasn’t shied away from acknowledging it.
“I’m just in the luckiest possible position in the games industry, and that’s getting rarer and rarer”, he says in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel. “I see all the job losses and the failures and the hardships around me, and you just feel ridiculous for having any kind of issues going on.”
Despite the success of Tactical Breach Wizards, Francis is open about some of the struggles he’s faced in the time since the game’s launch. “There’s always a lot of mental distortion around launch,” he explains. “a lot of extra stress and tension leading up to it. Things get distorted and seem bigger than they are, and then afterwards sometimes a numbness.”
The stress surrounding Tactical Breach Wizards’ launch is something that Francis has struggled to get over, stating that in comparison to other game launches, he’s “never had to take this long to recover from anything.”
Francis remains jovial, however, and is keen to make it clear that he’s “not in a bad place”, joking that part of his stress comes from the fact that he’s well aware of how lucky he is to be in his position and career, but is unable to enjoy it fully, “Feeling like I’m not enjoying it enough is stressful in itself and I’m trying to snap out of that”, he chuckles.
Not content to rest on his laurels, Francis also discusses his potential ideas for his next game, with one potential idea being an information-driven Outer Wilds-like game, something that we’re already very excited about, just as long as he gets some well-deserved R&R before he gets started on it.
You’ll find Tactical Breach Wizards alongside some other gems in our best strategy games list.