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We Were Here Before

@frontierfilings.bsky.social
66 followers 118 following 89 posts

Solo Developer of We Were Here Before - Coming To Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/4513390/…

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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
The Bureau found the records of the governor. They noted the names of four racoons. They noted a widow who had complained. They noted the child that named them. They did not note the name of the widow or the child. Only the racoons. #indiegame #indiedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
So thrilled to be able to witness and comment on a play through that was so enjoyable! Thanks for having me, and thanks for all those that showed up! #indiedev #indiegame #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The word that didn't survive Some words do not make it through revision. They were not wrong. They were simply in the way of something more precise. The Bureau does not mourn them. It has noted, however, that the sentences that survive are almost always shorter. #indiegame #gamedev #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The Cartographer does not knock. She set the report on my desk without a word. A camp found three days out. Tent lines staked in a way only one person stakes them. The date at the top was four days before they left. The Bureau is still reading the report. #indiegame #booksky #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
NOTICE OF OUTSTANDING SCOPE Original estimate: reasonable. Current estimate: filed separately. Reason for discrepancy: the frontier kept requiring new categories. The Bureau accepts partial responsibility. The Bureau has always accepted partial responsibility. #indiegame #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Is it just me, or is the hardest part of game dev sound effects? 😂I can easily search, pay for, source certain art needs by describing it easily. But trying to search / find / buy a specific sound you have in mind as a 'whoosh', no no, not 'wooooosh' feels impossible. #indiedev #indiegame
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
The Merchant has sent caravans down the first two routes. They arrived where they were supposed to arrive. The third route he has not touched. He set the map on my desk this morning. He said: I wanted to ask you first. The Bureau has noted that he did not say what he was asking. #indiegame #indiedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
The ledger knows what we need before we do. The Bureau has reviewed its own filing practices. It cannot rule out a similar situation. It has decided to call this pragmatism. It finds it helps to call it something. #indiegame #cosmichorror #indiedev #visualnovel #writingcommunity
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
A structure like a great fan or sail. Membrane between long pale spines. Collapsed against its body now. The Warden said the frill had been open when she first arrived. The Bureau has begun a file. The creature, apparently, has become more stable since. #indiegame #cosmichorror #indiedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
The Scientist arrived ten minutes after I sent for her. She is looking at it the way she looks at something she does not yet have the right words for. She is waiting for my decision. The Bureau has noted that some things become more real when documented. #indiegame #cosmichorror #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
They have been at the settlement's boundary for three days. They have not approached. They have not left. One worker went to ask what they wanted. She came back unsettled in a way she could not explain. She said: they said they were waiting. What would you do, governor?
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
She sat in the chair across from my desk for two hours. I asked her name. Her daughter's name. What she liked to eat. Whether she was afraid of the dark. She answered every question. I did not tell her we would find the child. I stayed until she was ready to leave. #indiegame #cosmichorror #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Some cultures already understood. Death is not chaos. Death is paperwork. A list of names. A road with a name. A hall at the end of it. The Bureau has studied these arrangements with professional admiration. It has opinions about the filing system. 국이 동료를 표창한다. #indiegame #booksky #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
She has been standing outside the governor's office for twenty minutes. She is not sure, she says, how to be announced. The rain went back this morning. The instruments recorded it perfectly. That is the problem. #indiegame #cosmichorror #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Some nights the settlement does not go outside. No order was filed requiring this. No policy was written. They simply learned. The Bureau has noted which nights. What does your culture know to stay indoors for? Algunos saberes no necesitan ser escritos. #visualnovel #cosmichorror #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The Empire has always had something that watches its officials. Something that knows the difference between a just decision and a convenient one. The Bureau is not that thing. The Bureau has, however, filed a note about it. 邊疆對於總督自有其看法。 #indiegame #booksky #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
We do not know what we are paying. We know what we owe tends to grow when left unattended. We will process it. We will file the receipt. Whatever RWU means, 107 of them feels like a manageable number. The Bookkeeper has not said whether she agrees. #indiegame #cosmichorror #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The frontier has things living in it that were there long before the settlement arrived. They did not file paperwork. The Bureau has decided this does not make them less real. Hello sa lahat ng nakakaalam niyan. #visualnovel #indiegame #indiedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
How do you pick the theme ofr your game? Mine revolves around saving memory. A grandfather that had alzheimer. It was my mom's greatest fear before she passed from a brain tumor and couldn't remember us. A grandmother that had dimentia. What is your reasoning? #indiegame #indiedev #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
Great things have been written about impermanence. About what remains when everything else is gone. The Bureau has read widely on this subject. Older cultures understood: the record outlasts everything. Certaines choses méritent d'être écrites. #indiegame #booksky #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The Bureau has noted something about the frontier. It does not choose who arrives. It receives everyone. Different languages. Different instincts. The same impossible desk. The obituaries are never the same. The Bureau finds this beautiful. フロンティアが、あなたを待っている。 #indiegame #vndev #indiedev #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
The settlement receives everyone. No founding order specifies who may apply to govern. The Bureau has noted applications from everywhere. It files them all with equal care. Bienvenidos. El expediente ya está abierto. #indiegame #gamedev #cosmichorror #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
The settlement will be lost. That part is not a question. The question is what kind of governor you were when it happened. The Bureau is taking notes. What would you file under: leadership style? #indiegame #cosmichorror #indiedev #visualnovel
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
The Bureau has openings. The frontier has questions. Qualifications: willingness to file, a love of reading. Try the approved simulator to test if you fit. store.steampowered.com/app/4561810/... #indiegame #gamedev #booksky
store.steampowered.com
We Were Here Before Demo on Steam
The frontier does not want to be settled. A narrative roguelite where your choices build a settlement, shape its story, and seal its fate. Every run ends. Every obituary tells a story only you lived.
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
The frontier gave the expedition four unrequested days. What each person found there was their own. The frontier did not give them peace. It gave them themselves, without the usual interference. The Bureau is not certain what to do with that. #indiegame #cosmichorror #gamedev #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
A difficult writing trope to avoid in 24 story arcs is to make things black and white. The choices here explore what you'd personally give up to help. The good of the few over the effect of all knowing. #booksky #vndev #indiegame
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Currently working on the end choices for how you deal with the dissipation of your settlement. It's the last choice you make as governor. #screenshotsaturday #indiegame #indiedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
The frontier is warming. The Bureau has noted this. The Bureau has also noted that things tend to arrive with the warmth. New things. Unexpected things. We have filed a preparatory alert. We remain cautiously optimistic. #indiegame #gamedev #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
And then the rain went back. The drops lifted from the ground. From the rooftops. From the sleeves of coats. Back into the sky. The instruments recorded that correctly too. The Bureau has noted this. #indiegame #cosmichorror #solodev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
The Bureau has noted before language design. It's importance. We have published our full thoughts on it. The Administrator has filed it under: 'Language, bureaucratic horror'. #indiedev #writingcommunity #indiegame steamcommunity.com/games/451339...
steamcommunity.com
Steam :: We Were Here Before :: Language Design as a Discrete Discipline
On writing a game where the prose is the mechanic
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
With #adhd it isn't what project I'm working on, its always... projects. Different themes, types, etc in the hopes when those weird moments of no motivation come, something pulls. Here is one that is far along: a story game where you are an AI operator... or are you? #cyberpunk #indiegame
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Inspiration comes in many forms. The Bureau has recorded: #cultistsimulator #papersplease #douglasadams These are a few of many. The Bureau are thankful for these authors and games, and hopes soon to find more to add to our collections. #indiegame #visualnovel #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The Administrator has stopped working. She stands in the archive room holding a register. The register is ours. The dates inside are not. Someone has been keeping records here for twenty years. We arrived three months ago. #indiegame #cosmichorror #gamedev #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Like Choices Matter? True narrative? A different set of stories for each 25 minute run through? The Bureau has the experience for you! #wishlistwednesday #booksky #indiegame #visualnovel store.steampowered.com/app/4513390/...
store.steampowered.com
We Were Here Before on Steam
The frontier does not want to be settled. A narrative roguelite where your choices build a settlement, shape its story, and seal its fate. Every run ends. Every obituary tells a story only you lived.
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Reposted by We Were Here Before
Dashingclaire @dashingclaire.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
#art by Smard.Art - #painting
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
The Bureau writes in We. The governor writes in I. We governs collectively. I decides alone. Every sentence in We Were Here Before is assigned to one of them deliberately. The pronoun is the character. #vndev #booksky #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
The Bureau would like to clarify that Form 7-C ('Request to Finalize Game Mechanic') has been revised 1,247 times. Each revision was necessary. Each revision was also, in retrospect, wrong. We expect revision 1,248 to be the one. #indiedev #indiegame #vndev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Language Design: When creating a story arc, I ask myself: What is this really about underneath the premise? Who will these choices affect? Who discovers thestory? These are worked into the language. Emotional connection. Difficult choices. At least, hopefully! #indiegame #booksky #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
What does one do when their #adhd brain doesn't want to write and is hyperfocused on the storms we've had the past few days? Wonder if you can make a diorama like little incremental prototype, apparently. The brain latches onto weird things sometimes! 😂 #indiegame #gamedev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
A blank form is potential. A completed form is fact. The frontier has enough potential. Fill in the boxes. Date it correctly. Sign where indicated. The Bureau thanks you. It means this sincerely. #indiegame #booksky #vndev
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
A valley two days northeast. Permanent water. Deep soil. Better than where we are. The Scout never editorializes. She said: it's a nice place. Seven words. The governor hasn't moved since. #indiegame #narrativegame #gamedev #bluesky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
For people who read games as much as play them. We Were Here Before is 180,000 authored words of bureaucratic cosmic horror. Every run ends in an obituary written about your choices. Demo out now. store.steampowered.com/app/4513390/... #booksky #indiegame
store.steampowered.com
We Were Here Before Demo on Steam
The frontier does not want to be settled. A narrative roguelite where your choices build a settlement, shape its story, and seal its fate. Every run ends. Every obituary tells a story only you lived.
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Another arc done. That brings me to 14 of them fully finished, whew! I'll have to share a snippet of the obituary soon, once it is all loaded into the game. "It's a nice place." A few words that changed life for the governor forever. #vndev #gamedev #indiegame
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
The Empire celebrates the census. Not what the census finds. The census itself. The act of counting. The act of recording. The settlements that no longer appear are observed in silence. The Bureau finds this appropriate. #indiegame #cosmichorror #bluesky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
WWHB is, no doubt, a niche game. Text heavy, minimalist art. I'm so happy to see for those it does appeal to... it appeals greatly. The demo takes 10-12 minutes for one run. 71% of users have a minimum of 10 minutes. 22% at least 30 minutes. One soul? Over an hour.😅 #indiegame #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
A garden grows where the settlement was. Before that, a mother stood in the doorway. Before that, she came to ask if anyone remembered her daughter. No one did. She did not believe us. The Bureau is not certain she was wrong. #indiegame #cosmichorror #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Language Design: Each story arc in WWHB follows a cycle of: story,choice,A Truth,choice,An Answer. It's small but meaningful, A Truth. Not The Truth. Not The Answer. What we perceive, remember, act on affects what we see as the truth and resolution. #booksky #indiedev #indiegame #narrativegame
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Something arrived in the vault last night. The lock was not forced. The seal was intact. A stone. Dark. Rose-cut above. Every facet shows you back to yourself. Not quite the same each time. The Bureau has opened a file. #indiegame #cosmichorror #gamedev #narrativegame #booksky
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Language Design. Characters in the game have depth, but their name? Bookkeeper. Warden. It lets the theatre of the mind take over, so the player invests their own thoughts into who this person is. Or at least... I hope so! 😂 #booksky #indiegame #gamedev #godot
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We Were Here Before @frontierfilings.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Seventeen mirrors. Same figure. Not a reflection. The Warden has been documenting it for three weeks before telling us. The Bureau has opinions about that. The Bureau has also not said them yet. #indiegame #cosmichorror #gamedev
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