Helvengard #005
When Everything Almost Stopped

After finishing our first game, everything seemed clear.

We had built something real.
We had finished it.
And it felt like this was just the beginning.

But then things changed.

Not suddenly.
Not dramatically.
Just naturally.

My son grew up.

His priorities shifted.
He had less time.
And he started to realize that this path — especially the graphic design part — was not something he wanted to pursue long term.

He was good at it.
But it didn’t truly capture him.

And that’s an important difference.

After Pingos Revenge, we didn’t stop immediately.

We started new projects.
Different ideas.
Different directions.

But something was different.

We started things.
Then stopped.
Then started something new again.

And eventually, we had to accept the reality:

None of these projects were going to be finished.

This wasn’t a conflict.

There was no argument.
No frustration between us.

It was simply a shift.

It became clear that this would not be his long-term path.

And that was completely fine.

What we had already achieved together was more than enough.

We built a game.
We finished it.
We published it.

That alone is something most people never do.

And for me, it was more than just a project.

It was a father-and-son experience.

Something you don’t get very often.

I’m proud of him.
And I’m proud that we went through this together.

At that point, I had to decide what to do next.

Wait and hope that we continue together again someday —
or move forward.

I chose to move forward.

Not because something went wrong.

But because things had simply evolved.

I decided to continue on my own.

But this time, I changed my approach.

No more jumping from idea to idea.
No more unfinished projects.

I chose something smaller.
Something controlled.

And most importantly:

Something I could finish cleanly from start to end.

With structure.
With documentation.
With a clear plan.

And I did it.

I built another game.
Alone.

Structured.
Controlled.
Completed.

Published on Steam.

That was an important moment.

Because it proved something different than before:

I could do this on my own.

At that point, the story felt complete.

One game together.
One game alone.

A clean foundation.

And that gave me the confidence to take the next step.

And that’s when I moved on to the bigger vision — Helvengard.