It's been almost a year since the cosy dinosaur farming simulator Paleo Pines was released, and unfortunately, it has been anything but a smooth ride for developer Italic Pig. After a year of hard work, the studio finally resorted to asking its players for help.
"A lot of you have been asking what's next for Paleo Pines, and we wanted to provide our community with an update on the challenges we are facing," Italic Pig says on X. "The sad truth is, the future is uncertain. We've been searching high and low for a production partner, one that felt your love and passion to help us bring the next Paleo Pines to life. On several occasions in our journey, we were within a few small steps of the finish line, only to have circumstances beyond our control cause the future to fall through."
The team has been working on extra content for DLCs, which includes more dinosaurs, regions, and even multiplayer, but without a production partner, it doesn't really matter how much extra content is planned down the road. "We've managed to keep the lights on… until now," Italic Pig says. "Unless we can find a partner who is keen to see the Paleo Pines universe grow, we won't be able to keep our team together for much longer."
While Paleo Pines does have pretty good reviews on Steam, with an 82% "very positive" score, it hasn't really been able to make the most of the cosy farming sim community. It's never been able to beat an all-time peak of 1,716 concurrent players, according to SteamDB, which it attained on release, and while there's been a small bump in traffic recently, this enthusiasm also seems to be waning.
There are plenty of cosy farming sims out there, so it takes something really special to stand out, and Paleo Pines isn't the most thrilling farming sim I've played lately. Its day cycle does get repetitive, and the little stamina that you have can get annoying, but there are obviously plenty of dinos that can help out around the farm and make up for lost energy.
But even with a small community rallying around this game, Italic Pig is adamant that this issue isn't just restricted to Paleo Pines. "It seems the whole indie game scene is facing a sudden drying up of publishing and investment opportunities," the studio says. "Thanks to the unwavering dedication of our small team and the massive love from all of you, we've been able to support the first year of Paleo Pines on a shoestring budget."
We have seen some marvellous breakthrough indie hits this year, like Manor Lords, Lethal Company, and Balatro, but just because these games have managed to make it big doesn't mean that that's the case for everyone. So, to try and keep the lights on a little longer, Italic Pig has come up with a couple of ideas for how players can help.
If you want to help out Italic Pig, the developers suggest checking out the new Halloween DLC for Paleo Pines or buying the full game if you're still in the demo and like what you see. There's also merchandise like plushies, and a portion of the sales for these go towards development. But if none of that sounds good, then you can always share the X post asking for help.
"Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us on this roller coaster of a year since launch and your patience and understanding with our current situation," Italic Pig continues. "Hopefully, with your help, this won't be the end of the Paleo Pines adventure."
