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A new game I made just came out. It's called Dead Horizon. It's pretty cooool.Aug 11, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsToday my new PC game, Dead Horizon, releases. It's very different from Boon Hill, which was odd... I am sitting here, unable to sleep, because I have to figure out some way to convince everyone out there on the collective “internet” to play it... or my effort over the past six months has been wasted. I don't know how to do that. So, I'm going to try something. Something that I've always been told is the absolute worst thing you can do. I'm going to be 100% honest. I'm going to be completely open about how afraid I am. How afraid I am of YOU specifically, and what you might think of my game. Well, let's begin. How do I get you to care? Steven Martin would say “Be so good they can't ignore you”, Which is such an easy thing to tell people when you're already successful. Not that I'm not successful. You see, I write video games for a living. Millions of people have played games I've worked on. I've written words for franchises like The Walking Dead and Galaxy On Fire. I mostly work freelance, which means I get to set my own hours and show up to board rooms as the “out of town guest”, talk story for 20 minutes, then walk out before the boring part of the meeting hits. But I don't get to tell my own stories. I get to help other people craft and perfect theirs. I get to work on machines already in motion. I tune the engine or rebuild the carburetor mid-race or whatever other metaphors I can use that prove I'm not a car guy. I don't get to do that most terrifying and wonderful thing. I don't get to connect with people. Not through my art. At least not the art I get paid to make in my day job. So, I burn the candle at both ends. I get up and I start dealing with my clients. I take the notes, I write the drafts, I beat out the stories. Heroes save the day, cats fall out of trees and dogs learn the meaning of friendship. Around sixteen hours after I wake up I finish the last of what I should be doing that day. Then I yawn. Drink an energy drink, and start working on one of my own projects. I have about four hours before sleep will demand I stop. I write, plot, craft, build, beg, and talk to the team of people I've put together to work on my own stories and my own games. Games like Dead Horizon. It's not one of the Triple A games I write for. It was made on a shoestring budget, paid for out of pocket by me. This is because as someone who has worked on the other end, I'll never ask someone to work for free if I can avoid it. Dead Horizon is a “retro” indie game. That means pixel art and chiptune music. But it's not just for style, it's there because it's very evocative of a time and place in which the emotions I'm dealing with in the writing for this game are from. A lot of the game is about my relationship with my grandfather, my feelings about gender and masculinity, and my emotional attachment to the western genre. And that... ooooh boy. That is the scary part. This game isn't like the Triple A games I write for. It's me. It's me splattered across thousand...A new game I made just came out. It's called Dead Horizon. It's pretty cooool.Aug 11, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsToday my new PC game, Dead Horizon, releases. It's very different from Boon Hill, which was odd... I am sitting here, unable to sleep, because I have to figure out some way to convince everyone out there on the collective “internet” to play it... or my effort over the past six months has been wasted. I don't know how to do that. So, I'm going to try something. Something that I've always been told is the absolute worst thing you can do. I'm going to be 100% honest. I'm going to be completely open about how afraid I am. How afraid I am of YOU specifically, and what you might think of my game. Well, let's begin. How do I get you to care? Steven Martin would say “Be so good they can't ignore you”, Which is such an easy thing to tell people when you're already successful. Not that I'm not successful. You see, I write video games for a living. Millions of people have played games I've worked on. I've written words for franchises like The Walking Dead and Galaxy On Fire. I mostly work freelance, which means I get to set my own hours and show up to board rooms as the “out of town guest”, talk story for 20 minutes, then walk out before the boring part of the meeting hits. But I don't get to tell my own stories. I get to help other people craft and perfect theirs. I get to work on machines already in motion. I tune the engine or rebuild the carburetor mid-race or whatever other metaphors I can use that prove I'm not a car guy. I don't get to do that most terrifying and wonderful thing. I don't get to connect with people. Not through my art. At least not the art I get paid to make in my day job. So, I burn the candle at both ends. I get up and I start dealing with my clients. I take the notes, I write the drafts, I beat out the stories. Heroes save the day, cats fall out of trees and dogs learn the meaning of friendship. Around sixteen hours after I wake up I finish the last of what I should be doing that day. Then I yawn. Drink an energy drink, and start working on one of my own projects. I have about four hours before sleep will demand I stop. I write, plot, craft, build, beg, and talk to the team of people I've put together to work on my own stories and my own games. Games like Dead Horizon. It's not one of the Triple A games I write for. It was made on a shoestring budget, paid for out of pocket by me. This is because as someone who has worked on the other end, I'll never ask someone to work for free if I can avoid it. Dead Horizon is a “retro” indie game. That means pixel art and chiptune music. But it's not just for style, it's there because it's very evocative of a time and place in which the emotions I'm dealing with in the writing for this game are from. A lot of the game is about my relationship with my grandfather, my feelings about gender and masculinity, and my emotional attachment to the western genre. And that... ooooh boy. That is the scary part. This game isn't like the Triple A games I write for. It's me. It's me splattered across thousand...I left a comment on all reviews, images, and posts!Jun 22, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsIn celebration of the steam summer sale, for which, if history has taught me anything I will sell tens of copies of this game. I've made a comment on all posts, screen shots, and reviews. Most of them don't say much of anything. Thanks for everyone who paid money for this game. You're all very strange. -Always The Boon Hill TeamI left a comment on all reviews, images, and posts!Jun 22, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsIn celebration of the steam summer sale, for which, if history has taught me anything I will sell tens of copies of this game. I've made a comment on all posts, screen shots, and reviews. Most of them don't say much of anything. Thanks for everyone who paid money for this game. You're all very strange. -Always The Boon Hill TeamDLC now downloadable. Really? that seems like the DLCs been out awhile for that to be the case... hmmm...Jun 22, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsSo, Apparently for a long time you couldn't download the music DLC if you bought it. Yeesh. The fact that no one who did this then gave me a bad review is a testament to just how awesome humans are. It was like that for six months, and I know, as I have the analytical right here, that roughly 1,000 people got shafted on the music. I'm so sorry. You should be able to get it now. The soundtrack is amazing and I'm terrible for not getting this fixed sooner. There's no excuse. Other than all the excuses. -Always and forever with regrets for everything The Boon Hill TeamDLC now downloadable. Really? that seems like the DLCs been out awhile for that to be the case... hmmm...Jun 22, 2017 - Community AnnouncementsSo, Apparently for a long time you couldn't download the music DLC if you bought it. Yeesh. The fact that no one who did this then gave me a bad review is a testament to just how awesome humans are. It was like that for six months, and I know, as I have the analytical right here, that roughly 1,000 people got shafted on the music. I'm so sorry. You should be able to get it now. The soundtrack is amazing and I'm terrible for not getting this fixed sooner. There's no excuse. Other than all the excuses. -Always and forever with regrets for everything The Boon Hill TeamNo more ghost trees! Now at half price!Aug 7, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsThere was another update I meant to use for this but there was a SNAFU with steam. So, now it's happening now, way later! Uh, yeah. The ghost tree issue has been fixed. Hopefully no one runs into any more but feel free to message us if you do. As they have been exorcised all is well! Also, Boon Hill is half off for the week. So, if five dollars was too much for you... uh... Honestly, if five dollars was too expensive for you I'm not sure 2.50 will sound better. If it does, enjoy Boon Hill! -Always The Boon Hill TeamNo more ghost trees! Now at half price!Aug 7, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsThere was another update I meant to use for this but there was a SNAFU with steam. So, now it's happening now, way later! Uh, yeah. The ghost tree issue has been fixed. Hopefully no one runs into any more but feel free to message us if you do. As they have been exorcised all is well! Also, Boon Hill is half off for the week. So, if five dollars was too much for you... uh... Honestly, if five dollars was too expensive for you I'm not sure 2.50 will sound better. If it does, enjoy Boon Hill! -Always The Boon Hill TeamTree Ghosts no Longer Haunt the Graveyard!Jun 23, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsWelcome those that live and walk, -Small patch but still. Apparently there was an issue with... tree ghosts. Strange instances where things would pop up on the map in the middle of nowhere you couldn't walk through. It has hopefully been fixed! May the ghosts of trees never haunt your graveyard exploration again! -Issue where a very small number of players say they get stuck in the first tree... still happens. Seriously, I don't know what causes it and why only on a TINY number of games. Less than 1% of users it seems. Enjoy not bumping into invisible trees this summer? -Always The Boon Hill TeamTree Ghosts no Longer Haunt the Graveyard!Jun 23, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsWelcome those that live and walk, -Small patch but still. Apparently there was an issue with... tree ghosts. Strange instances where things would pop up on the map in the middle of nowhere you couldn't walk through. It has hopefully been fixed! May the ghosts of trees never haunt your graveyard exploration again! -Issue where a very small number of players say they get stuck in the first tree... still happens. Seriously, I don't know what causes it and why only on a TINY number of games. Less than 1% of users it seems. Enjoy not bumping into invisible trees this summer? -Always The Boon Hill TeamDeath is funny. Death is really really funny.Feb 25, 2016 - Community Announcements...it just isn't fun. That statement has gotten me in a lot of trouble before. Claiming death is funny. People always give me odd looks or shake their heads. Yet the same people often laugh when a death fueled joke hits them just right. Indiana Jones shoots a man dead - often hailed as one of the best gags of all time. No, we're not morbid monstrous demons. It's about surprise and expectation. The laughter comes from the set up of the situation and how what happens isn't what we think will happen. Something that surprises a person evokes an emotional reaction. Fear is common if we feel threatened; laughter is common if we feel relived. Nothing is more surprising than death. Even the slow hand of disease. It feels wrong. I've lost a lot of loved ones in my life. I've stood by my share of hospital beds and I've gotten my share of phone calls at odd times. I go through a pretty predictable pattern. First I am cold and numb inside. I do not really want to deal with how sad everyone is and how upset they are at me for not being sad. I don't want to go to a funeral and talk to everyone about how sad they are. I don't want to stand up in front of a bunch of people and tell them how sad I am. I am often required to do these things anyways. It makes me very unlikely to care much about any will or other such things if I am involved in one. I don't want clocks or coin collections, I want the person back. Still, thanks to how overly emotional everyone is I tend to question if I'm a sociopath at this point. Generally a good deal after all of that hoopla is done I will be sad. That is my second stage. I don't sit around crying. Which once again can offend people as I tend to cry at everything. Music. Movies. Really good comic panels. A dog with a hurt leg. The future death of people. It is a different kind of pain, though. I am sad someone is gone. Not being emotionally moved by art or the fictional story I'm creating in my brain about when they might be gone. It just hurts that I can never see them again. I think about them a lot in this period. Especially animals I've known. For some reason I dwell a lot on how I could never truly communicate to them how I cared. After that, stage three of my own personal pain cycle is getting over it. I'm less sad after awhile. After that I'm even less sad. I think about the dead less and less. Even if I told myself I wouldn't forget them. I start to. They fade. They're no longer part of my life. I consider doing things like visiting graves or setting up a ritual to keep thinking about them. I always decide at the end that would just be an unnecessary step. Generally later, much later, after I haven't thought about them for weeks, a year, longer, comes the dreams. My fourth stage or step or whatever you want to call it. Vivid complicated dreams about those I've lost. Long detailed conversations with them over coffee. Or in their workshop. Oddly eloquent and creepy predictions about my future from passed friends and family. ...Death is funny. Death is really really funny.Feb 25, 2016 - Community Announcements...it just isn't fun. That statement has gotten me in a lot of trouble before. Claiming death is funny. People always give me odd looks or shake their heads. Yet the same people often laugh when a death fueled joke hits them just right. Indiana Jones shoots a man dead - often hailed as one of the best gags of all time. No, we're not morbid monstrous demons. It's about surprise and expectation. The laughter comes from the set up of the situation and how what happens isn't what we think will happen. Something that surprises a person evokes an emotional reaction. Fear is common if we feel threatened; laughter is common if we feel relived. Nothing is more surprising than death. Even the slow hand of disease. It feels wrong. I've lost a lot of loved ones in my life. I've stood by my share of hospital beds and I've gotten my share of phone calls at odd times. I go through a pretty predictable pattern. First I am cold and numb inside. I do not really want to deal with how sad everyone is and how upset they are at me for not being sad. I don't want to go to a funeral and talk to everyone about how sad they are. I don't want to stand up in front of a bunch of people and tell them how sad I am. I am often required to do these things anyways. It makes me very unlikely to care much about any will or other such things if I am involved in one. I don't want clocks or coin collections, I want the person back. Still, thanks to how overly emotional everyone is I tend to question if I'm a sociopath at this point. Generally a good deal after all of that hoopla is done I will be sad. That is my second stage. I don't sit around crying. Which once again can offend people as I tend to cry at everything. Music. Movies. Really good comic panels. A dog with a hurt leg. The future death of people. It is a different kind of pain, though. I am sad someone is gone. Not being emotionally moved by art or the fictional story I'm creating in my brain about when they might be gone. It just hurts that I can never see them again. I think about them a lot in this period. Especially animals I've known. For some reason I dwell a lot on how I could never truly communicate to them how I cared. After that, stage three of my own personal pain cycle is getting over it. I'm less sad after awhile. After that I'm even less sad. I think about the dead less and less. Even if I told myself I wouldn't forget them. I start to. They fade. They're no longer part of my life. I consider doing things like visiting graves or setting up a ritual to keep thinking about them. I always decide at the end that would just be an unnecessary step. Generally later, much later, after I haven't thought about them for weeks, a year, longer, comes the dreams. My fourth stage or step or whatever you want to call it. Vivid complicated dreams about those I've lost. Long detailed conversations with them over coffee. Or in their workshop. Oddly eloquent and creepy predictions about my future from passed friends and family. ...Boon Hill Patch 1.1.2 Live! FOR JUSTICE!Feb 15, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsA small patch has gone live fixing a few issues. Mostly with the front office area of Boon Hill. Specific fixes include... It is harder to get stuck in the wall of the office. Still possible if you really wish to attempt it. The cabinet in the front office now has the history of Boon Hill. The person working in the front office has had their dialogue fixed. Some other boundaries have been fixed. Crow sprites have been made more clear and a rare graphical glitch has been improved. Gravestones never sleep. A few spelling and grammar errors on graves have been fixed. Fixed a small crash bug that I think only annoyed me. Fixed an issue with the menu screen when controlling the sound volume. That is all. If there are any issues or other bugs people notice feel free to leave a comment. Also, I hope all of you lead interesting lives. Boon Hill Patch 1.1.2 Live! FOR JUSTICE!Feb 15, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsA small patch has gone live fixing a few issues. Mostly with the front office area of Boon Hill. Specific fixes include... It is harder to get stuck in the wall of the office. Still possible if you really wish to attempt it. The cabinet in the front office now has the history of Boon Hill. The person working in the front office has had their dialogue fixed. Some other boundaries have been fixed. Crow sprites have been made more clear and a rare graphical glitch has been improved. Gravestones never sleep. A few spelling and grammar errors on graves have been fixed. Fixed a small crash bug that I think only annoyed me. Fixed an issue with the menu screen when controlling the sound volume. That is all. If there are any issues or other bugs people notice feel free to leave a comment. Also, I hope all of you lead interesting lives. Boon Hill OST For Sale!Jan 11, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings those that still walk above ground, The Welcome to Boon Hill OST is now for sale if you so desire it. If you've played the game and ever thought 'hey, I should listen to this kind of sad but very pretty music during my every day not playing Boon Hill life' well, we have you covered. It's a beautiful soundtrack and designed with the kind of care and love that one would design a baby. A... sound baby? It was composed by the talented Hayden Dingman. A perfect soundtrack for... Feeling sad while making a sandwich Waiting for the bus while thinking about turtles Playing a very violent video game and wanting ironic background music Throwing a ball for a dog Playing with action figures Jogging Feeling happy while making a sandwich The ending credits of the TV show about your life (No good for opening credits) Playing Welcome to Boon Hill Your intro music into the arena Your phone ringtone Dance parties! (...when you want them to really slow down) Whatever you want A lot of hard work went into the soundtrack and many people consider it the best part of welcome to Boon Hill. I tend to agree with them. So, if you've desired to own it on its own, enjoy.Boon Hill OST For Sale!Jan 11, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings those that still walk above ground, The Welcome to Boon Hill OST is now for sale if you so desire it. If you've played the game and ever thought 'hey, I should listen to this kind of sad but very pretty music during my every day not playing Boon Hill life' well, we have you covered. It's a beautiful soundtrack and designed with the kind of care and love that one would design a baby. A... sound baby? It was composed by the talented Hayden Dingman. A perfect soundtrack for... Feeling sad while making a sandwich Waiting for the bus while thinking about turtles Playing a very violent video game and wanting ironic background music Throwing a ball for a dog Playing with action figures Jogging Feeling happy while making a sandwich The ending credits of the TV show about your life (No good for opening credits) Playing Welcome to Boon Hill Your intro music into the arena Your phone ringtone Dance parties! (...when you want them to really slow down) Whatever you want A lot of hard work went into the soundtrack and many people consider it the best part of welcome to Boon Hill. I tend to agree with them. So, if you've desired to own it on its own, enjoy.Boon Hill Patch 1.1.0Dec 21, 2015 - Community AnnouncementsPatch Notes: This is a large patch for playability. Shoring up several bugs and making many tiny changes to improve the overall experience. the overall game is much the same. The main difference is that it should be much easier to read in game text. -Grave Digger's grave is no longer able to be walked through. -'Invisible' graves moved to the proper place. -Easier to read font for NPCs and on gravestones. -Increased the distance you can 'read' a grave from. -Fixed a game breaking bug with the Goth Girl's dialogue. -Game breaking bug fixed where the player would get stuck in a tree at game start up. -The spirits of the dead are restless. -Controller support - should work with everything. Though some controllers will default to being read as an Xbox controller. -Hit detection on walls improved. Should be harder to 'break' out of intended areas. -Several other small bug and control fixes. Please leave a comment if there are any issues with the new build.Boon Hill Patch 1.1.0Dec 21, 2015 - Community AnnouncementsPatch Notes: This is a large patch for playability. Shoring up several bugs and making many tiny changes to improve the overall experience. the overall game is much the same. The main difference is that it should be much easier to read in game text. -Grave Digger's grave is no longer able to be walked through. -'Invisible' graves moved to the proper place. -Easier to read font for NPCs and on gravestones. -Increased the distance you can 'read' a grave from. -Fixed a game breaking bug with the Goth Girl's dialogue. -Game breaking bug fixed where the player would get stuck in a tree at game start up. -The spirits of the dead are restless. -Controller support - should work with everything. Though some controllers will default to being read as an Xbox controller. -Hit detection on walls improved. Should be harder to 'break' out of intended areas. -Several other small bug and control fixes. Please leave a comment if there are any issues with the new build.Boon Hill has trading cards!Nov 3, 2015 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings those that walk among the living, Welcome to Boon Hill has trading cards. We made them for the game and I didn't realize this wasn't a thing that all games on STEAM did. I plan to edit the game description to mention it. I think they're cute. Sadly, the game will never have achievements. It goes against the core principal of the game and if you won't buy the game because it doesn't have achievements, honestly you probably would not have enjoyed it anyways. That is all! -The Boon Hill TeamBoon Hill has trading cards!Nov 3, 2015 - Community AnnouncementsGreetings those that walk among the living, Welcome to Boon Hill has trading cards. We made them for the game and I didn't realize this wasn't a thing that all games on STEAM did. I plan to edit the game description to mention it. I think they're cute. Sadly, the game will never have achievements. It goes against the core principal of the game and if you won't buy the game because it doesn't have achievements, honestly you probably would not have enjoyed it anyways. That is all! -The Boon Hill Team

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