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The H.A.M - Hangry Animals Magazinehttps://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals A newsletter keeping you up to date with all things Hangry!Sun, 19 Jul 2026 02:16:08 GMThttps://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.htmlhttps://github.com/jpmonette/feedenThe H.A.M - Hangry Animals Magazinehttps://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus\_images/eb2f1faf6053ea68c115bd830c43bf42.jpghttps://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals

All rights reserved<![CDATA[Following the fun]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/following-the-fun rsyQvgXvkNQ45gaDnKeKTue, 30 Jun 2026 19:07:00 GMTGreetings folks, Hangry Andy here with another content packed Newsletter for you all.

In this edition I’ll be exploring how our catchy physics mechanic is both fun, frustrating, meditative and even a learning experience combined… In theory at least, with a closed group of support and involvement from our community we’ll be putting this to the test. Nothing is ever 100%, but we're working towards a polished game loop that feels satisfying and leaves players wanting to explore more. I’ll be looking at recently released games like Mina the Hollower as well as the newly announced evolution of games like Crazy Taxi and the murmurs of Jet Set Radio Future successor on the horizon too..

Yes I know the last two are not Indie titles by any stretch, but immersive, quirky, high octane and fun titles, pushing the boundaries of what games were back in the 90s that had an impact on me, and its interesting to see how SEGA is taking these experiences and circling back to release these iconic titles to appeal to modern audiences.

Why Certain Games Stick With Us

When I look at some of my favourite games over the years, a pattern starts to emerge. The games that stay with me aren't always the ones with the biggest worlds, the most realistic graphics, or the largest budgets. They're usually the ones built around a simple idea or mechanic that feels fantastic to perform. A double jump, boost or chaos mode that looks and feels awesome, a mechanic so central to the experience that you can describe the game in a single sentence. OR a story so immersive, your imagination takes you there and you believe you are truly with the lead character, you have empathy for the story and the characters you encounter along the way.

Take Death Stranding for example. On paper, "walking and delivering parcels" sounds absurdly mundane. Yet the genius of the game is how it transforms balance, terrain, and cargo management into a constant source of tension and decision-making. Every rock, slope, and river becomes meaningful because you're carrying something valuable. The delivery itself isn't the objective—it's the challenge of getting there. That singular mechanic helped define the entire experience and gives the game an identity unlike anything else. ( GameSpot). When I started creating the concept for Nom Nom Express, I truly had no knowledge of Death Stranding’s existence at the time, but have since come to consume as much information on the game and its creator Hideo Kojima’s drive to make something different and meaningful in games.

Then there's Crazy Taxi. The premise is equally simple: pick up passengers and get them where they need to go as quickly as possible. What made it memorable wasn't realism—it was the increasing momentum and tension. Every shortcut, near miss, drift, mini game and reckless decision fed directly into the score system. The game encouraged players to drive in ways no real taxi driver ever should, creating a joyful feedback loop of risk and reward. More speed meant more excitement. More excitement meant more stories to tell. ( MobyGames) With a new World Tour Crazy Taxi title being teased recently, it sure is great to see classic like this getting a new lease of life!

More recently, Mina the Hollower has become one of the standout indie successes of 2026. At its core is a deceptively simple burrowing mechanic. Mina can dive underground to evade danger, traverse terrain, uncover secrets, and launch attacks. Critics consistently point to that one mechanic as the heart of the game because it serves multiple purposes simultaneously. But this is way more to this pixel art, retro style game. Movement, exploration, quests, feel good combat, discovery—it all flows from that single idea. The entire game is designed around making that action feel satisfying. ( Mina the Hollower Guide)

Another fascinating example is Cairn, a climbing game that turns the physical act of placing hands and feet on a mountainside into the entire experience. There's no combat spectacle carrying the player forward. Instead, tension comes from mastering movement itself. Every grip matters. Every route choice has consequences. Progress feels earned because the mechanic is the game. ( The Verge)

The Dumb Ways to Die Effect: One experience I've been thinking about a lot recently is not actually a game at all. At least, it didn't start as one. Back in 2012, Melbourne's Metro Trains launched a public safety campaign called Dumb Ways to Die. On the surface, it was a collection of absurd cartoon characters meeting ridiculous ends through increasingly silly decisions. It was funny, darkly charming, catchy, and completely ridiculous. Millions of people shared it because it was entertaining, not because they wanted a lecture about railway safety. And that's exactly why it worked.

Out of all of the above, the game that stands out for me, even today, is Jet Set Radio Future. You play the role of an inline skating graffiti gang member tasked with defending their territory by tagging the streets and racing against rivals to control as much territory as possible. It oozes sub culture, style, tunes and back to an analogue era where the anticipation of a scene loading or cinematic intro meant something and told you part of the story. The tagging mechanic was overhauled from the original Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast to be more intuitive, and the tricks were so snappy, they felt awesome. To think that the grind rail stickiness wasn't originally part of the game, but left in, due to the fact testers and developers loved sliding along it and performing trick combos so much, it actually ended up defining the games overall feel and attraction for me. To this day, I still play this game to just vibe and get lost in the streets finding those Soul unlocks!

What's evident from all of the above examples is that the creators understood the assignment: players are seeking to be entertained, to be challenged, and want to find the fun...

Testing stack stabilizer pickups

What This Means For Nom Nom Express

When people hear me describe Nom Nom Express, they often focus on the delivery aspect. That's understandable. But the deliveries aren't really the mechanic, they're the reason the mechanic matters. It's balancing a stack of items with varying physical properties while navigating a challenging series of environments. It's deciding whether to take the safe route or risk a shortcut. It's protecting an order from enemies, hazards, weather, physics, and your own mistakes. It's recovering from disaster when a burger flies off the back of your vehicle at exactly the wrong moment. That's the bit I'm obsessed with right now… following the fun.

Not how many enemies are on screen or how pretty the environment looks or even whether the robots have enough animations. I'm trying to discover whether carrying, balancing, protecting, and delivering food can become one of those mechanics that players instantly understand and enjoy, and lightly introduce the concept of scarcity, health, well being and food poverty as a conversation starter through the absurd order combinations on the delivery rota for our players. Think reverse psychology of how Dumb Ways to Die touches on the subject of rail safety through overtly extreme ways a character manages to get themselves killed.

Development progress

So where are we at? Well, slowly, slowly I’ve been butchering the code.. Again, as in almost every development cycle we face... physics, mechanics and bits of game play I want to introduce make certain aspects of the experience bloated, crash and freeze… standard, so I'm iterating through every script and optimising framerates, frequency of calls and updates each script can trigger, to avoid massive lag.

How many items can we stack at speed?

When I described NomNom to people at an event recently, they commented on it sounding like Death Stranding, with the challenge of balancing items feeling similar, and to an extent, that’s an aspect of play I really liked, mastery of the terrain and control of the physics. Maybe our Hook should be "Death Stranding for tweens"?? Hah!

Our games need flow, pacing and timed events that don’t overlap, but seamlessly interact to maintain interest, allow room for exploration and mastery, as well as some high octane action to temper the experience. That’s where I’m at truthfully. Testing, changing elements of the configuration to allow for different cadences in the world of the Hangry’s and their intergalactic delivery service jobs at Nom Nom Express. There's a story here, and this needs bedding in to allow for exposition, immersion and a reason to believe as we say in the branding world. That thing that draws the player in and compels them to want to know more.

So… Test with more enemies in the level, test with no enemies and the challenge is purely physics mastery of the items aboard the players mode of transport etc. All of this is taking time to get right. There are no textures or pretty things in the scene right now, simply boxes and a skinned character for me to show the impact the environment and enemies have on our player. I’ve also now replaced the creepy crawly spiders in this Desert test level with Unicycle robots… much more appropriate for those hard to reach customers in an AI/Automated dominant world. The drones are still here in the scene doing their thing, but with much less frequency… They were stealing too many food items for my liking haha!

Added Exploding bombs which disrupt your entire stack of items too! bewssh!

Adding more UniBot enemies into the scene to check when the game slows down dramatically!

Striking a balance

Making games that are fun is super hard. Creating something that hangs on a single mechanic or gimmick has to have a strong visual identity, lots or depth to even be considered good. Players dictate whether a game is fun to play, so anything I say, has to be peppered with a pinch of salt.. Baddum chh… Hangry already eh?!

“People don't engage with the lesson. They engage with fun.”

I'm not interested in creating a game that pauses every few minutes to tell players how they should think about food poverty, nutrition, or healthy choices. Nobody wants homework disguised as entertainment.

Instead, I want players laughing at the absurdity of a delivery rota that asks them to transport six triple-stacked marshmallow pizzas, three chocolate milkshakes, and a suspiciously large bucket of neon-green custard across a desert filled with rogue delivery drones and unicycle robots.

The educational layer exists underneath where players start noticing patterns.

Why is one ordering fresh vegetables while another only has access to processed foods? Why are some communities thriving while others are struggling? Why are certain ingredients harder to obtain? This is where the player gets to know their customers..

Why does one delivery create a positive outcome while another simply satisfies a short-term craving? The player isn't being lectured, they're experiencing a system, and hopefully, without realising it, they're beginning to think about food choices, accessibility, waste, nutrition, transportation of ingredients, and food insecurity. That's the sweet spot.

If players finish a session talking about the funny delivery they almost lost while racing over a canyon, or they share a moment as a meme when all their cargo of marshmallows explodes everywhere leaving one or two Hangry customers… then we've succeeded as a game in my opinion.

If, somewhere later, they also start asking questions about where food comes from, who has access to it, and why healthy choices aren't always simple choices, then we've succeeded in something bigger.

That's the balance we're aiming for. Fun first, meaning second, impact as a bonus.

Just like some of the best examples that have inspired us to date.

Let's Connect

If you want behind-the-scenes updates as we build (and occasionally break things), don’t forget to check our our Discord https://discord.com/invite/DAJQ6KgD3x where we share sneak peeks of art and game and platform development, and LinkedIn page where we provide monthly updates on what we get up to https://www.linkedin.com/company/hangryanimals

Stay Hangry

Andy & Ceri

Hangry Animals 🐾

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingimpactbootstrapdevelopmenthangrymechanicsgoodgames<![CDATA[Creating the look of Battle for the Habitats]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/creating-the-look-of-battle-for-the-habitats 034Dbajz6LewEts0QDd1Wed, 27 May 2026 19:35:00 GMTGreetings, you Hangry lot! Hangry Andy here, we hope you're enjoying the UK heatwave? I'm not melting... you're melting! Whatever the weather is doing near you, hoping everyone is taking advantage of this dry spell to cram all of those chores in. We certainly have been!

Over the past two months, we’ve had the absolute joy of collaborating with PlanetPlay on a campaign called Battle for the Habitats a large-scale environmental initiative bringing together studios, creators, players, and communities across the games industry to support biodiversity and habitat restoration.

The campaign, spearheaded by Felix Bradshaw and the PlanetPlay team, launched on Earth Day and runs through to World Environment Day, challenging the gaming community to rally behind two hugely important environmental organisations: Oceana and Rainforest Alliance.

The concept is brilliantly simple:

Two teams. One planet.

Players choose a side, support an ambassador, grab discounted games, engage with creators and social campaigns, and ultimately help fund real-world environmental projects through gaming. It’s playful, competitive, collaborative… and exactly the sort of thing we believe games should be doing more often.

Building the Battle for the Habitats Universe

For myself and Ceri, this project became something much bigger than producing campaign assets.

Working alongside PlanetPlay’s social team, we helped shape the visual identity, tone, and personality of the campaign through a cast of original mascots and narrative-driven artwork designed to make environmental advocacy feel approachable, energetic, and fun.

That process led us to creating:

And honestly? Watching these characters evolve from rough sketches into fully realised campaign ambassadors has been a rewarding experience.

The final cast in their toonshaded glory!

Like most character work, nothing arrives fully formed. There were dozens of iterations, expressions, poses, silhouettes, colour tweaks and “what if we made him even MORE obnoxiously evil?” moments before we landed on the final results.

And yes… BigChop absolutely became more ridiculous with every version. As all good villains should.

The BigChop that could have been, but was deemed too cute, and the closer to Evil BigChop on the right.

The Logo/Brandmark

Ceri explored the logo and social assets on this project, as there was a need for both, I was already off on a deep dive into characters and we knew the brief involved Street Fighter'esque aesthetics with iconography communicating habitat restoration and green initiatives. You can see how that balance has been struct with the paw print and leaf in the word Habitats against the fiery 16Bit Console gradients of the wording Battle. The colourway treatments work across all sorts of formats too. Love the way it's turned out and complements the characters. Go team Hangry!

Why PlanetPlay Resonated With Us

For those unfamiliar with PlanetPlay, the platform operates with a very different mission to traditional game storefronts.

PlanetPlay is a not-for-profit gaming marketplace where profits generated through game sales contribute towards certified environmental and sustainability projects around the world.

That immediately resonated with us at Hangry Animals and Hangry Studio (Our Creative Agency).

We’ve spoken extensively about our long-term vision for:

So when the opportunity arose to contribute creatively to Battle for the Habitats, there really wasn’t a hesitation on our side.

Projects like this demonstrate something important:

PlanetPlay themselves reference growing evidence that players engage positively with environmental themes when they are integrated authentically into gameplay and community activity. Their Play2Act initiative (which I also did some primary conceptual illustration work for), developed alongside the UNDP, found that many players exposed to environmental content in games reported making greener lifestyle choices afterwards.

That’s powerful.

When I sketch, I ink quickly to explore the form, BigChop and the BFTH hero's turned out a bit too mature, so we had to youthify the cast.

Early Momentum & Community Engagement

One of the most exciting parts of the campaign so far has been seeing the level of engagement across social platforms, creators, studios, and players alike.

The first Battle for the Habitats bundle reportedly sold out in under 72 hours, which was incredible to witness from the side lines. Seeing players rally behind causes through gaming communities is exactly the sort of momentum the industry needs more of.

Across Instagram, X, creator live streams, and participating studios, the sentiment surrounding the campaign has felt overwhelmingly positive — not because players are being guilted into participating, but because they genuinely want to engage when the message is delivered through creativity, humour, and community spirit.

That balance matters enormously.

Green Leaf Games, Make Green Moves... all the green feelsCookie and Dougie almost in their final form here, but BigChop needed to be more sinister at this point, so we returned to the drawing board, adamant to keep the golden chainsaw hand as a symbol of big corp greed.

Bringing Battle for the Habitats Into Games

In the middle of campaign planning, we were approached by one of the studios collaborating with PlanetPlay to explore something really special.

FLICK, The team behind Art of Solitaire reached out with the idea of creating a Battle for the Habitats-themed card deck and play space for the game.

Naturally, we leapt at the opportunity.

This became a chance to take the campaign narrative and weave it directly into a playable experience through:

What we loved most about this collaboration was the ability to tell a story through the art itself.

Every card became an opportunity to reinforce the personalities of Cookie, Dougie and BigChop while maintaining the playful energy of the campaign. It allowed us to build an aesthetic identity that felt cohesive, accessible, and fun without losing sight of the environmental themes underneath it all.

And honestly this is the kind of work that reminds us why we do this.

Long days. Endless revisions. Tiny tweaks nobody else notices.

Then suddenly… a player somewhere in the world is interacting with something you created, and it contributes, even in a tiny way towards positive causes.

That feeling never gets old.

Grab a copy of the game on Steam, Apple Store or Google Play.

Games Can Do More

What Battle for the Habitats demonstrates is something we’ve believed for a very long time:

Games are no longer just entertainment products.

They are:

When studios collaborate instead of compete, when communities rally around positive initiatives, and when creativity is used to amplify important causes rather than simply sell products… genuinely exciting things can happen.

And we’re incredibly grateful to have played a small part in this campaign.

Team Reef joining the cause across a series of live streams too!

Support the Campaign

Battle for the Habitats runs until 5th June, with discounted games and bundles available throughout the campaign.

Every purchase contributes towards supporting Oceana and Rainforest Alliance projects helping to protect oceans, reefs, rainforests, wildlife, and ecosystems around the world.

Go grab yourselves a bargain or two and support a genuinely brilliant initiative while you’re at it:

Explore Battle for the Habitats

An indie classic in the making, Cairn is one of the games available via the BFTH campaign. Go grab a copy of this amazing game.

Hangry updates

It's been a quiet one on the game and platform development front recently as we've been focused on building relationships with good people in the space at events and online meet-ups. More development work to follow in the next newsletter, with exciting progress for Nom Nom Express, Hangry Animals and all that crittery goodness, stay tuned. If you want behind-the-scenes updates as we build (and occasionally break things), don’t forget to check our our Discord https://discord.com/invite/DAJQ6KgD3x where we share sneak peeks of art and game and platform development, and LinkedIn page where we provide monthly updates on what we get up to https://www.linkedin.com/company/hangryanimals

Stay Hangry

Ceri & Andy

Hangry Animals 🐾

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)battleforthehabitatsbfthartistcharacterdesignillustrationbrandimpactoceanarainforestalliance<![CDATA[Games for Change day at London Games Festival]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/games-for-change-day-at-london-games-festival 4airJWRxpzKimjCaDNJfMon, 04 May 2026 09:56:41 GMTThis month, we headed to London for something that felt very us: Games for Change day at the London Games Festival.

Originally we were planning to attend the main event in New York last year, but timing (and budgets) had other ideas. So when we saw it land in the UK for the first time, we didn’t hesitate to grab some tickets.

For context, Games for Change is a global non-profit focused on using games for social good. It brings together developers, educators, researchers, policymakers, and organisations who are all exploring how games can go beyond entertainment and create meaningful impact.

This newsletter is a high-level overview of the day (because there’s a lot to unpack). Over the next few months, we’ll be diving deeper into specific talks, tools, and takeaways, especially the ones relevant to parents, developers, and anyone curious about games with impact.

Overall Experience

It was one of those days where your brain feels full by lunchtime… but the talks were useful, insightful and engaging that we kept absorbing more.

We split our time across sessions to cover as much ground as possible, regrouped between talks, compared notes, and filled notebooks with ideas, questions, and “we need to look into this” moments. It’s become part of our process now - attend, absorb, step away, reflect, and then turn it into something useful.

There’s also something reassuring about being in a room where people genuinely care about what they’re building. Not just what it does, but what it changes.

It’s still a relatively new space for us, so there’s a lot of learning, a lot of discovering new voices, and a constant reminder to give ourselves a bit of grace. We don’t need to understand everything straight away. It’s a gradual process, and over time, things start to fall into place.

As we arrived, we were greeted by the Sesame Workshop and Joan Ganz Cooney team (yes, that Sesame Street), which was a bit surreal, but also, who doesn’t love Sesame Street!? There happened to be space in one of their workshops, and we were invited along to another one the following day. More on that later… but from that moment on, we knew the day was going to be a good day.

Ceri highlighting a Champion piece of branding work we've developed at the studio Good Game Club

Games for Change: 25 Years of a Game-Changing Community

This session set the tone for everything that followed. Susanna Pollack, president of Games for Change co-hosted the introduction alongside Alan Gershenfeld of E-Line Media.

Alan shared his journey through games, from early development work to exploring how games can influence behaviour and create meaningful impact. It wasn’t just a look back at the past 25 years, but a reminder of how far this space has come and how much potential still exists.

One of the standout examples by Alan and E-Line Media was Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna), a game developed in partnership with the Iñupiat community. What made this different wasn’t just the story itself, but how it was created. It wasn’t a case of developers taking inspiration from a culture. It was built with the community, ensuring authenticity, respect, and depth in the storytelling.

That really stuck with us, because it reinforced something we’ve been thinking about a lot with Hangry Animals - it’s not just about creating a game. It’s about creating something that carries meaning, something that connects people to a bigger story or purpose.

Alan also spoke about the wider power and potential of games - how they can build empathy, deepen understanding, motivate action, and even influence behaviour. But alongside that came a more realistic reflection.

There’s still a gap between potential and actual impact.

And bridging that gap? That’s where the real challenge lies… we have our work cut out for us! https://www.neveralonegame.com/never-alone

Reframing Play for a Healthy Gaming Future

Hosted by George Osborn (Video Games Industry Memo) with panel members: Ben Golant (Tencent), Dr Rachel Kowert (Psychgeist), Susanna Pollack (Games for Change), Andy Robertson (Family Gaming Database)

This panel focused on something we’ve seen come up time and time again in our own research.

Parents don’t necessarily dislike games. What they lack is clear, digestible information from game studios/developers about the benefits (and safety aspects) of the game(s) they’ve built.

The challenge is that the research and insights are not reaching parents in a way that’s useful, accessible or quick. Which means there’s a responsibility on developers (including us) to communicate better.

Saying “our game is safe” isn’t enough, we need to explain what that means. Breaking things down. Making it easier for parents to understand how the game works, how long to complete the game, what their child will experience, and what the benefits might be.

One idea that really stayed with us was how quickly parents make decisions. Within minutes, they decide whether a game feels right or not for their child.

So it makes sense that we should make that decision easier with clear information, no jargon, and honest insights.

The Family Gaming Database is already doing this brilliantly, offering structured, easy-to-understand breakdowns of games for families. It’s a great example of how trust can be built through clarity. https://www.familygamingdatabase.com/

From Campaign to Culture: Building Purpose into Hay Day’s Brand

Presented by Maya Hofree and Deborah Mensah-Bonsu of Supercell.

This session felt particularly relevant to what we’re building.

Supercell shared how Hay Day integrates social impact directly into the game experience, not as an add-on, but as something that naturally sits within the gameplay.

Their approach is simple, but effective.

Players log in, play, and contribute to something bigger without it feeling forced. Over time, those actions become habits, and those habits start to form part of the game’s culture.

They also talked about the importance of rituals. Seasonal events, predictable cycles, and shared experiences that players come to expect and look forward to. It creates rhythm, anticipation, and a sense of community.

Another key takeaway was visibility and tracking success.

Players want to see the impact they’re making. Not in vague terms, but in clear, tangible outcomes. Knowing that their actions have contributed to something real is what builds emotional connection and long-term engagement. And how do you show them that? Tracking success is not just a KPI for managers and investors, players want to track their contribution to these successes too.

This case study raised more questions for us that we weren’t expecting:.

What would this look like for Hangry Animals?

What could our cycles look like - could work for us as a brand?

How do we show impact clearly without disrupting the experience?

So much to think about!

Hay Day Giveback

The Prosocial Blueprint

Hosted by Matt Vernon-Clinch (PRELOADED) with panel members: Laura Higgins (Roblox), Meredith Ford (Jagex), Shuli Gilutz (UNICEF), Anna Rafferty (The LEGO Group).

This panel explored how games can be designed to encourage positive behaviour, from empathy and cooperation to collective problem solving.

One of the key ideas discussed was prosocial design, which focuses on creating systems that naturally encourage healthy interactions between players. It’s not about forcing behaviour, but about shaping environments where positive behaviour is more likely to happen.

It also reinforced something that kept coming up throughout the day: Supporting parents isn’t optional. It’s part of the responsibility.

Helping them understand the digital world, the language, the expectations, and how they can engage with their child’s experience all play a role in building trust.

The UNICEF RITEC framework was mentioned here too, providing a structured way to think about children’s wellbeing in digital play.

For us, this session triggered a lot of internal reflection.

What are our design principles?

How do we keep them consistent during build and within the community?

How do we set the tone early?

How do we maintain that tone as we grow?

No simple answers (yet), but definitely important questions.

Can Games Change Real-World Behaviour?

This was one of the most exciting sessions for us from a research perspective.

The short answer?

Yes… they can.

Research from Ximeng Fang (Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Oxford) showed that games can influence real-world decision-making, even weeks after someone has stopped playing.

In this case, players who experienced environmental storytelling within a game, including visual consequences, made more sustainable shopping choices. They reduced their selection of high-impact food products, and these changes lasted for up to three weeks.

That’s not just engagement. That’s measurable impact.

One simple framework explained it well. For behaviour change to happen, people need to:

Be able to do it

Want to do it

Have the opportunity to do it

Games are uniquely positioned to support all three.

Another interesting insight was that players didn’t feel like they were being taught. The experience was still enjoyable, still entertaining, and not perceived as preachy or forced.

That balance between education and entertainment is something we’re particularly interested in getting right.

Pecking orders, was Ximeng Fang's game experiment for behaviour change.

Good Game Club Live: The Power of Storytelling in Crafting Positive Communities

This one felt a bit more personal. The Good Game Club is one of our Hangry Studio clients. We designed the brand and assets, and many items including banners, pin badges and caps.

We’ve had plenty of conversations with Jude Ower MBE and her team via email and Slack, with the odd video call but you can’t beat a face to face catch up - there were plenty of hugs!

The live podcast session focused on storytelling and how it shapes player connection.

It highlighted how people don’t just engage with games, they connect with the stories, the characters, and what those experiences represent. That emotional connection is what builds communities and keeps people coming back.

It was great to be there for their first live event, and be able to offer our support (and laugh and cheer in the right places), it’s a good reminder that behind all of this work… there are real people making an impact.

Check out the podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/live/Kv58GgDQZkU?si=sW4GyOB5I9dDfst5(and the cool looking banner in the background designed by us :)

RITEC Workshop (and an unexpected twist)

This is definitely one we’ll be revisiting in more detail.

Presenters and workshop facilitators for the festival: Shuli Gilutz (Programme Specialist at UNICEF’s Office of Innovation leading the RITEC project), Allisyn Levy and Emily Reardon (Joan Ganz Cooney Center), Caroline Hurst and Declan Henesy (The LEGO Group)

During the festival Andy attended a workshop focused on the RITEC framework, a child-centred model designed to support wellbeing in digital play. It looks at areas such as safety, creativity, relationships, autonomy, and identity, giving developers a way to think more intentionally about how their products affect young players.

One of the key takeaways was that you can’t design for everything.

Instead, you need to focus, prioritise certain areas, make intentional decisions, and ensure that the core foundations like safety and inclusion are always in place.

What we didn’t expect… Was both of us being invited to a follow-up session the next day.

That session was facilitated by Shuli Gilutz (UNICEF) and Allisyn Levy and Emily Reardon (Joan Ganz Cooney Center, Sesame Workshop).

For context Joan Ganz Cooney was one of the founders of Sesame Workshop - the company that created Sesame Street (of which she co-created too). The Joan Ganz Cooney Centre is a non-profit research and innovation lab within Sesame Workshop that advances positive futures for kids in the digital age. https://joanganzcooneycenter.org/

During this workshop the facilitators introduced us to a smaller group working on shaping the future of the RITEC framework and its wider adoption. By the end of it, we found ourselves part of the RITEC Community of Practice steering group.

It’s an exciting opportunity to contribute to something we already believe in and plan to use within Hangry Animals, and with organisations that are already having an impact.

We will delve deeper into these workshops and the framework in a future newsletter!

Image courtesy of JGC website

Final Thoughts

We went to Games for Change hoping to learn.

We came away with:

Most importantly…

We left feeling like what we’re building matters.

This is just the beginning.

Over the next few newsletters, we’ll be diving deeper into specific talks, tools, frameworks, and practical takeaways – including resources for parents, insights for developers, and ideas we’re actively applying to Hangry Animals.

So keep an eye out.

There’s a lot more to come.

If you want behind-the-scenes updates as we build (and occasionally break things), don’t forget to check our our Discord https://discord.com/invite/DAJQ6KgD3x where we share sneak peeks of art and game development, and LinkedIn page where we provide monthly updates on what we get up to https://www.linkedin.com/company/hangryanimals

Stay Hangry

Ceri & Andy

Hangry Animals 🐾

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingimpactfestivalritecdevelopmentg4cgamesforchangehangry<![CDATA[UK Events Worth Leaving the House For]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/uk-events-worth-leaving-the-house-for BEunb1PFMTkt8shlblyuTue, 31 Mar 2026 18:22:11 GMTThe weather is (trying) to get better, which means It’s festival time!

We thought we’d round up a few events happening across the UK this year, and maybe we’ll see you there…

If you’re building something or a fan of gaming, comics and creativity, this list is for you.

Why do we go?

We’ve realised it’s not just about building, it’s about seeing how others are doing it (and where the work fits in).

Simon Bisley inked Lobo for Andy while at Thought Bubble this year. Legend

We’ve split the events into 3 categories: Gaming, Art/Creative/Indie Comics, Comic Cons

GAMING

London Games Festival

A week-long celebration of games from indie to global, with different events depending on what you’re into – from playable showcases and dev talks to publishing and industry sessions. Worth checking the side events at the very bottom of the website for a full list.. especially events like Games for Change.

Date: 13th-19th April

Location: Tower Bridge, London

https://festival.games.london/about

GAConf

Focused on accessibility in games – practical, thoughtful, and genuinely useful. Ideal for developers, publishers, students and educators. Talks, case studies, and conversations that push the industry forward (in the right direction). GAConf will also have an in-person event during Develop Brighton in July.

Date: 27th-28th April

Location: Online

https://www.gaconf.com/conference/

Impact Games

A focused event for indie devs looking to actually get their games seen. Covers everything from marketing and visibility to press, creators, and getting your game out into the world – not just building it. Practical, honest, and very useful if you're figuring out your next steps.

Date: 21st May

Location: Bristol

https://impress.games/impact/2026

UKIE

A series of online sessions throughout May covering real challenges in the games industry. Expect practical advice, useful perspectives, and the chance to discover people and companies you didn’t know you needed.

Date: May

Location: Online

https://eventbrite.co.uk/ukie

Liv Games Summit

A one-day event bringing together devs, studios, freelancers and students to celebrate, connect and support. Expect expert panels and talks, indie games showcase, portfolio reviews, and networking.

Date: 11th June

Location: Liverpool

https://livgames.net/liv-game-summit-2026/

Develop Brighton

One of the UK’s biggest games industry events where learning, sharing and networking are the key purposes of the event. Covers everything from design and story to audio and business.

Date: 14th-15th July

Location: Brighton

https://www.developconference.com/

Image Courtesy of Develop Brighton

ART / CREATIVE / INDIE COMICS

If you like discovering new work, chatting to creators, and leaving with things you didn’t plan to buy, then this is your zone.

These events are packed with illustrators, writers, small press publishers and makers. You can browse, collect, ask questions, and get a real feel for how things are made – not just the finished piece.

The art of giving back. Andy gifting John Lees an inked piece of art inspired by John's 8 part series The Nasty.

Lawless (comics)

Date: 9th-10th May

Location: Bristol

https://lawlesscomiccon.co.uk/

Inkblot Indie Comic Festival

Date: 30th May

Location: Nottingham

https://inkblotfestival.com/

Upfest(Street Art)

Date: 15th-31st May

Location: Across Bristol

https://www.upfest.co.uk/

Creator stalls galore at Thought Bubble. Amazing talent on every table.

Lakes International Comic Arts Festival

Date: 2nd-4th Oct

Location: Kendal, Lake District

https://comicartfestival.net/

Thought Bubble (creatives, artists, writers)

Date: 9th-15th Nov

Location: Harrogate/Yorkshire

https://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/

We went for the first time last year, and yep, we’re already hooked. A space packed with creativity – indie creators, well-known artists, and practical workshops across the industry.

What’s different about Thought Bubble is that they have a week-long festival, and the comic convention is at the weekend.

Festival Week: 9-15th Nov, across Yorkshire

A full week of events across Yorkshire – workshops, talks, exhibitions and socials.

Comic Convention: 14th & 15th Nov, Harrogate

Over 600+ stalls spanning artists, writers, illustrators and indie creators – plus a great kids area with free activities.

If you want a feel for it, check out this video and have a quick wander through the event:

COMIC CONS / POP CULTURE

If you’re into films, TV, gaming, anime (or all of the above), comic cons are your playground.

A lot of the most popular comic cons in the UK are run by events organisations throughout the year and across the UK.

Expect guest talks and panels, kids zones, cosplay, comic artists, merch, artist stalls, and a lot of “I didn’t expect to see that but I’m glad I did”.

Telford's 90's theme included the cast from Angel, amongst many others.

Head over to each organisation's main website where you’ll find all of the events for the rest of the year. In most cases, each location-based event has its own website/social channels where you can find out what’s on and the guests that will be attending.

Felicia Day - Prolific gamer, actress, voice artist and all round awesome human!

Monopoly Events

One of our favourites to attend that include well known actors, franchises, kids activity area, and artists alley They run these events all across the UK throughout the year. Comic Con Liverpool is their flagship event, having not one but two every year.

Monopoly also runs For The Love of Fantasy, For the Love of Horror, For the Love of Anime and more!

Check out their website for the full list of events and to access the websites for each event for full details and guests.

https://www.monopolyevents.co.uk/events-and-tickets

Here’s a video from when we went to Liverpool:

Showmasters

Film & Comic cons across the UK, and the London Film Fair, Comic Mart and Collectormania.

https://www.showmastersevents.com/events/

MegaCon Live

Events in Birmingham, London, Dublin, Manchester and Farnborough. https://megaconlive.com/

MCM Comic Con

Two events in London and one in Birmingham

https://www.mcmcomiccon.com/

Guess who's a big Supernatural and The Boys fan?

AnimeCons

If you’re a fan of Anime, you will find a full list of events for the UK and worldwide

https://animecons.com/events/schedule.php?loc=uk

AnimeLeague

Anime & Gaming Cons across multiple UK locations

https://www.animeleague.com/our-events/

Don't forget to check out your local area for comicon and collector type events... there's so many to choose from!

Latest haul of exiting indie and established titles from Newport Comic Fair at Sin City Comics. Great event.

We go for the talks, the insights, the industry knowledge…

…but also for wandering around, spotting weird and wonderful things, and quietly thinking we need to add that to our inspiration board!

We come away with a mix of half-formed ideas, conversations that stick, and things we didn’t even realise we were looking for.

We’ve got a few of these dates in our calendar already.

If you’re heading to any of them, give us a shout – or send us events we should have on our radar.

P.S. Did you know Johnny 5 is still alive? Check out the video below:

Stay Hangry!

Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

👉Still want more?

Click here to explore our social channels

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)eventscomiconsgamefestivalsgamedevcreative<![CDATA[Empathy in Action]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/empathy-in-action mSBL0JrhMVcJPK57IqtzMon, 02 Mar 2026 12:37:00 GMTGreetings folks! it's been a minute but what a month!

This update isn’t about a new mechanic, nor a grant update, or some leader board tweak or a physics overhaul. It’s about people. Specifically students, and more specifically students with Additional Learning Needs (ALN).

Over the past month, I’ve had the privilege of running game development workshops in secondary schools and colleges with students of mix levels and abilities. The sessions we're vibrant, hands on, and facilitated opportunities for the groups I taught to make games along with me. What I didn’t expect from the sessions was for me to learn quite this much from the groups in my care.

The assumption vs the reality

There's a misconception that surrounds people with additional learning needs, at least in the mainstream. My approach was present broad stroke concepts around game loops, level design, progression alongside my own journey into branding, web development and eventually games. In preparation for some of the sessions I was told that:

“Some of our ALN students might struggle to stay focused.”

A fair concern. Game development has moving parts. Coding can feel abstract, workshops can drift and attention spans falter if the engagement ebb and flow doesn't meet the needs of the group. But what happened surprised everyone.

Engagement didn’t drop, it increased. The questions cam thick and fast, observations and errors in the code presented were highlighted in record time, mastery was a breeze for some. That focus, didn’t disappear, it stayed. When we shifted from passive listening to hands-on building, something clicked in everyone, and the flexibility of the tools began to shine.

Why building beats listening & consuming

There’s a huge difference between talking about how games are made, and letting someone make one. When we opened up Scratch, something wonderful happened.

Instead of intimidating lines of syntax, students saw:

A jump mechanic wasn’t abstract code, it was something they could drag, break, test, and fix in real time. For students who struggle with abstract instruction, visibility changes everything. Game logic and fixing a bug becomes a puzzle to solve, not a lecture. When you gamify making games, a new world opens up to the user I'd never experienced before. If you’re a parent wondering whether games can actually support focus, confidence, or problem-solving — this is where it becomes interesting. When children are building rather than consuming media, the shift is dramatic. Ownership changes attention in the task. Creation truly builds resilience. That trial and error, the fail often fail fast mindset, really does support a shift in pupils understanding, determination and focus to see a task to its completion. Games are good for helping support mental health and learning.

Some great examples of games to download and play can be found on the GoToDBA website: https://gotodba.com/2020/03/30/scratch-projects-for-kids/

From confidence to complexity

As confidence grew in Scratch over a few weeks, we transitioned into Unity.

We explored basic movement logic, triggers and collisions, simple win conditions, timers, object interaction and states. What stood out for me wasn’t technical ability and knowledge gained, it was the immersion, collaborative nature of problem solving for themselves and others. If ever there was a conversation starter, it's presenting a group of students with an incomplete piece of code to debug and problem solve. It's magical to experience a classroom of students who rarely converse outside of class, help each other achieve a common goal or a working game. Magical.

Students who were expected to drift off were:

The act of building created focus, collaboration and a sense of joy.

And that’s a lesson we should all remember. Games are fun to play, but making games, also brings people together... I mean Roblox saw this opportunity to monetise creation, and are now a dominant platform for tweens in the creator economy space.

What we’re learning as we build

Here’s the part that matters most for Hangry Animals. When you build games with students & players rather than for them, patterns emerge. You see where pace feels overwhelming, where your instructions or game objectives feel confusing, or your control mechanics are overwhelming, or the juice (fun factor) doesn't resonate as well as you thought it would. Without this clear and honest feedback, we'd be building blindly.

ALN students, in particular, exposed some important fundamentals:

Making a game that is clear what the aims of the game are.

Controls that are accessible, snappy, not complex combinations.

Balanced cognitive load (pace of game and feel) works for our audience

We showcased early prototypes of our delivery game during the sessions as a reward for milestone achievements in their own game builds. The students feedback, our observations of players experiences, even for 15 minutes has provided great insight and has real implications for Nom Nom Express and every game we shape into the future.

Accessibility isn’t a compromise

Some may see accessibility in gaming as something you bolt on later, in reality, accessibility forces better design. Clear UI. Readable feedback. Adjustable pacing. Layered difficulty that matches players abilities. Intuitive mechanics and controls. Prince of Persia on Mobile is a fantastic example of a game that fully embraces accessibility features in the right way. From sounds, cognitive load balancers, controls are all configurable for the users needs and abilities. A fantastic job all round.

Image Courtesy of Ubisoft: https://ubisoft-mobile.helpshift.com/hc/en/59-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown/faq/2361-key-and-button-mapping-in-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown/?p=web

When you design for humans, you create a better experiences. Players thrive when the design supports their actions.

Why this matters beyond the classroom

These workshops aren’t just educational outreach, or a gimmick to gain an audience. They are an opportunity to share experiences with others, share the joy of making games. It's where live idea validation comes to life. Where testing new mechanics and emotional insights can truly reveal a gem of an idea, directly from the audiences we are building for. Before committing to expensive production cycles and asset pipelines, we can test:

All in environments where opinions have no filter. Students are gamers with a world of experience to share, and that kind of grounded feedback shapes better products. And better products shape stronger foundations for building games of the future.

As we move toward to the next phase of Hangry Animals, including conversations that will expand our reach and accelerate development, these insights are super valuable to our evolution into games and a platform for good causes.

Game Development update from early Feb 2026 for you to check in on what we're building and Hangry Animals HQ.

The bigger picture

Scratch as a learning tool tells us something important; Game development doesn’t have to be and elitist pursuit of AAA perfection. It doesn’t have to be a massive steep learning curve to grasp game loop concepts. It doesn’t require a £4,000 laptop to spark creativity, and own the massive library of assets to build something cool.

It can start with Lego style coloured blocks and a healthy dose pf curiosity.

Build With joy. That mirrors our philosophy at Hangry Animals.

These workshops will remain part of our rhythm.

They keep us grounded.

They keep us honest.

They remind us that “fun” isn’t about complexity — it’s about clarity and connection.

If students with Additional Learning Needs can become immersed in building small games in under an hour, that tells us something important about our industry.

The future of gaming belongs to those who make it accessible, playful, and inclusive.

Until next time —

Stay curious.

Stay creative.

Stay Hangry.

Andy & Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

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]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gaminglearningdevelpomenthangryunityscratch<![CDATA[Attention Spans, Swipes & Clicks]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/attention-spans-swipes-and-clicks 6ulzpZqVtJztSb8QKK4HFri, 23 Jan 2026 15:55:00 GMTThere’s still a lot of noise about “the TikTok generation”.

Short attention spans.

Constant scrolling.

Instant gratification.

And while there’s some truth in there, it’s also… incomplete.

Over the past year, through our Seed Fund research, interviews with kids and parents, and a frankly unhealthy amount of snacks (and reading), we’ve been trying to get past the headlines. Not to label younger players, but to understand how they actually make decisions, what keeps them engaged, and why some experiences stick while others disappear almost instantly.

What we’re seeing isn’t distraction for distraction’s sake. It’s selectivity. Younger players decide quickly, yes – but they’re not careless. They’re filtering.

And that distinction matters.

One thing that keeps coming up across research and our own conversations is that decisions are fast, emotional, and deeply contextual.

Young players aren’t sitting down thinking

“I will now commit 40 minutes to this experience.”

They’re thinking:

Does this look interesting right now?

Do I get what’s going on immediately?

Does it feel like it’s for someone like me?

In our Seed Fund interviews, kids talked far less about genres, platforms, or features. Instead, they focused on things like how something made them feel, whether they could “just have a go”, and whether they understood what they were meant to do without being told.

That emotional gut-check happens in seconds. If it passes, attention follows. If it doesn’t, no amount of clever design hidden underneath really gets a look-in.

One thing that surprised us as this research progressed was how consistently emotion showed up before reasoning.

A lot of Gen Z and Gen Alpha decision-making research points to emotive choice first, rationalisation second. That doesn’t mean younger players are impulsive or careless. It means emotion is the gateway. Logic still matters – it just arrives later.

We saw this clearly when talking about games linked to causes. Younger players weren’t motivated by abstract impact statements or donation totals. They also didn’t talk about how much they donated, instead, they talked about:

Image reference: Ofcom Report - Parents Media Use 2024-25

If you’re a parent watching how your child decides what to play, or a game dev trying to design responsibly for younger audiences, this distinction is important. It changes where effort and time is best spent.

That’s one of the reasons we keep coming back to micro-actions and micro-rewards. Small, repeatable moments that feel good, make emotional sense, and reinforce identity over time.

We’ve also been thinking a lot about how storytelling connects these motivations.

There’s a noticeable shift away from long, epic narratives towards self-contained story moments that resolve quickly but build meaning.

You see this in education through bitesize learning, social platforms through updates, streaks, daily check ins and the occasional mini side quest. And you see it more frequently in games aimed at younger audiences.

Our research also uncovered that kids consistently respond more to a short situation they can understand, a choice they can make, and a visible outcome.

Each moment doesn’t need to carry the whole story. It just needs to resonate quickly.

It’s less “here is the whole journey” and more, “here’s what’s happening and what happens next”.

That approach is incredibly powerful for games built around strong values. You don’t need to convince a player of everything in one sitting. Trust and meaning build gradually, through repetition, familiarity, and fun.

Stacking those food deliveries real good. Nom Nom Express in early development.

When we pull all of this together (research, player behaviour, and our own findings) a few design patterns keep resurfacing:

Visual clarity, simple actions, and immediate feedback do a lot of heavy lifting before deeper systems and game mechanics have a chance to take hold.

Small scenes, small choices, and small consequences can accumulate into something much bigger over time.

Every choice should do something the player can see or feel, even if the wider structure stays simple.

One area we’re particularly focussed on is data and trust. If we’re designing for younger audiences, transparency and consent aren’t optional add-ons. They’re part of the experience itself.

There isn’t (yet) a single rulebook for “TikTok generation game design”.

What there is, is a growing body of evidence suggesting that younger players

This thinking is already shaping how we approach the next stage of what we’re building - not just what we make, but howand why we make it.

And that means building a platform to bring additional revenue to charities and showcase games that respect how young people actually experience the world today - and give them something worth staying for.

Stay Hangry!

Andy & Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

If you’ve not seen this yet, click here and read about how Hangry Animals came about.

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

👉Still want more?

Click here to explore our social channels

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingcharityplayersdonationbehaviourtiktokattention<![CDATA[What 2025 Taught Us About Building Games That Give Back]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/what-2025-taught-us-about-building-games-that-give-back keH5nZcmUEHB3u9jgq1hFri, 26 Dec 2025 20:15:00 GMTHi Hangry Fam,

We’re sitting at the last stage of 2025 and, as always, it’s time to take stock - not just of what we achieved, but what stirred us, challenged us, and changed us.

This year wasn’t just another lap around the sun. It was a gathering of questions, momentum, hard data, and deep gratitude. It was refinement over hype - not just building a game, but building something that could create real-world change. That’s always been the Hangry dream: play with purpose, not just with pixels. And this year, we pushed that boundary harder than ever.

WHAT WE DID, NOT JUST WHAT WE BUILT

One thing that shifted our thinking this year… was realising just how much responsibility comes with building experiences for younger players - and how much appetite there is for doing things differently.

If you’re a parent watching how games shape younger players, this won’t come as a surprise. We spent a lot of time listening - to families, to players, and to people working across games, charity, and education - and what came through consistently was a desire for experiences that feel complete, safe, and meaningful.

We absorbed insights from reports, surveys, community interviews, and industry transition signals - especially around the ethics of content on big platforms and the exposure of younger gamers to harmful material.

At the same time, we watched indie studio after indie studio break through with shorter, sharable experiences that felt finished - not endless grind loops. These games didn’t just succeed commercially; they connected socially, creatively, and emotionally.

We asked ourselves: can charity and creativity coexist in gaming without cheap hooks or vapid mechanics?

Slowly, carefully, the answer became clear: yes - but only if it’s built with integrity from day one.

The industry is at a crossroads. In 2025 alone, over 17,000 games launched on Steam, all competing for attention. Very few deliver genuine value to players. We don’t see that as a complaint - we see it as a calling.

Sneak peek of the cover of our research report. Stay tuned in Jan 2026 when you will be able to read the full report.

BUILDING WITH PURPOSE

What this year made us more certain about… is that purpose-led work can’t be a bolt-on. It has to be structural.

Our grant wins this year weren’t just cheques.

They reshaped how we approach research, product-market fit, and the core problem we’re trying to solve.

Interviews with young gamers and parents didn’t just validate ideas.

They became part of our blueprint, shaping how charities might engage with us and how players might feel rewarded for real-world impact.

Conversations with animal welfare partners like Hope Rescue grounded everything.

Seeing rescue work up close influenced game concepts, narrative direction, and the tone of what we’re building next.

These aren’t side quests. They’re the foundations of something we want to last, and contribute to this planet in a fun and meaningful way.

WHERE WE’RE HEADED: 2026 VISION

A decision we made that changed everything… was committing fully to building more than a single game.

We’re building a platform - think of it like a curated library of small, meaningful game experiences (like Roblox, Yandex and YouTube Games), where playing and supporting animal charities are designed to work together.

Our vision includes:

It’s something we’ve been circling in our H.A.M editorials all year: games that give back.

REAL IMPACT. REAL IDEAS

We’re exploring pet ownership games that go beyond “cute”. Showing responsibility, care, and real-life consequences. Education through play, not preaching.

Tokens, access, and safety will sit at the heart of our 2026 roadmap. The ecosystem we’re shaping isn’t just playable - it’s exchangeable, giftable, and aligned with charitable missions through shared value.

EXPANDING THE UNIVERSE BEYOND GAMES

This year also leaned further into multi-media storytelling.

Two three-part comic arcs are underway, moving toward 96-page trade paperbacks intended for both comic stores and mainstream bookshops. With over 22 pages already inked, the Hangryverse is becoming an accessible entry point for fans old and new.

This isn’t side content. It’s part of building a brand designed to grow.

Otis sneaking a good look at those tasty tarbal treats!

FINAL THOUGHTS. THANK YOU

As we wrap up 2025, we want to say thank you - to every supporter, commenter, partner, mentor, advocate, critic, and believer who helped shape this year.

Thank you for sticking with us as we refine not just what we make, but why we make it.

The questions we’re asking now will shape everything we build next.

From all of us at Hangry Animals,

Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year.

Stay Hangry. Eat Well. Be Merry.

Andy & Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

Pssst!

If you’ve not seen this yet, click here and read about how Hangry Animals came about.

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

👉Still want more?

Click here to explore our social channels

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingcomicscharityinvestmentplatformgiving<![CDATA[Play with purpose]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/play-with-purpose rXqfTF7Xhb93y2V4x8klFri, 12 Dec 2025 20:12:00 GMTHi friends, Hangry community, parents, guardians, gamers, and those simply here for the snacks 👋

This week we’re diving into something we’ve been thinking about a lot lately:

Can games actually help younger players build empathy for others without turning into a dull “edutainment” slog from 1998?

We’ve spent some time researching, prototyping ideas, and testing early progression mechanics, for our game, and there is strong evidence that:

Games can teach empathy — when done right. Transparently, subtly, and playfully. No pop-ups saying “BE KIND NOW.” No finger-wagging quests. Just fun, choice-driven mechanics that nudge the heart while tickling the funny bone have proven to re-enforce a behaviour change for the better.

Let’s break it down.

Why empathy works well in games (when done right)

Empathy in games isn’t about forcing morality lessons.

It’s about letting players:

The sciencey bits (we promise it’s painless):

Study 1 – Prosocial games increase real-world helping behaviour when players choose kindness rather than being scored on it.

Study 2 – Small emotional moments inside fast gameplay stick better than long moral stories.

Study 3 – Embodied roleplay (perspective switching, 1st-person vignettes) amplifies empathy and memory retention.

This isn’t just a theory, modern games are proving it.

Three examples that encourage empathy (and are not boring)

1. Kind Words (PC), “Sometimes all you need are a few kind words.”

Age suitability: 10+

A quiet multiplayer room where players write gentle notes to each other, while listening to chilled beats. It’s a cosy, safe, wholesome experience, and has helped thousands manage stress through the art of writing kind letters of support to other people in the game.

Why it works: Completely optional kindness. No pressure. Just humans helping humans. The game explores our relationship with other humans struggling to cope with life experiences, and naturally taps into our empathy around anonymity, where helping others we don’t know comes naturally when there’s no baggage or pressure, and how the act of writing back brings us a greater understanding of our collective struggles. A problem shared is a problem halved as the saying goes.

2. Venba (PC/Console), “Cook your way into someone else’s culture”

Age suitability: 12+

A heartfelt cooking narrative about an immigrant family, with puzzles tied to culture and memory through life, love, loss and cooking.

Why it works: You connect emotionally not through lectures, but through food, taste, and family moments of a family emigrating to a Western country, and how re-discovering traditional cuisine in a tattered recipe book, re-connects generations to their past, whilst embracing a future together in an unfamiliar land.

3. Spiritfarer (PC/Console) — “A cosy management game about dying gracefully”

Age suitability: 12+

A soft, stunning game about ferrying spirits to the afterlife through the lens of a cosy management game.

Why it works: It explores loss and compassion in gentle, beautiful, non-frightening ways. The style has remnants of a Ghibli’esque world, with wonder and bold characters to interact with as you ferry spirits to the next chapter on their journey. It’s encouraging to see this subject matter being explored through gaming, as cinematic formats tend to not allow the time to digest a narrative or provide room for reflection or repetition of a concept enough for the empathy to take hold. There are several fleeting and emotional moments to experience in this game, along with the Deluxe edition which includes a soundtrack and digital artbook.

Summary: These titles are evidence of empathy and playfulness resonating with audiences of today. Educational games are often labelled as such, and seemingly offer no fun value. These examples are well crafted visual and audio experiences that go beyond the dopamine craving FPS, Shooter games that plague the charts of today and it’s worth taking the time to try them out with your loved ones to experience something different that may spark further conversation.

Broader discussion around motivations in gaming are also part of the mix, hence research comes from a whole lot of places right now.. Super Sonic has a great article on player motivations in games, that’s a great read and something we’ll also touch upon in the near future too.

How we're building empathy (without losing the chaos)

We’re taking those lessons and weaving them into our own deliciously chaotic food-delivery adventure right now.

Our first game has always been about:

But now, there’s a subtle layer underneath that silliness — something we call:

🎁 Micro-Moments of Empathy

1. Fragile Deliveries

You can rush the noodles… or slow down for the tiny creature who really needs that meal intact. Your choice shapes the world around you and the outcomes for others as well as yourself.

2. NPC Emotions You Can Influence

Deliver a meal to someone who’s had a rough day?

Watch them perk up, thank you, or give you a little tip or story fragment.

3. Optional Detours of Kindness

A lost critter wandering in the street?

Help them or roll past — both are valid playstyles leading to alternative avenues of game play.

4. “Care Score” Leaderboards

Fastest delivery still counts, so does a clean un damaged order for the neat obsessed among us, but kindest delivery gets its own spotlight and badge too, for those extra something you manage to deliver along your routes.

5. All Wrapped in Hangry Humour

No moral lectures. No heavy-handed quests to contend with. Just worlds made richer through small acts of care and interactions that build more empathy through funny moments. We learn empathy best through gradual repetition and positive re-enforcement and when we don’t even realise it’s happening, that’s where the magic happens.

Why empathy matters for Hangry Animals

Our mission has always been:

Games for good causes that are fun to play. Not a charitable cause/donation disguised as play. Not morality dressed as a quest log, but actual fun filled escapism that builds.

We want kids to laugh… then feel… then see things a bit differently.

If our delivery game can teach that:

…then we’ve succeeded.

Thank you to all the new and long-term believers

We’re still only at the beginning of this adventure.

You’ve stuck with us through pivots, stalls, small wins, losses, rethinks, and breakthroughs.

Your support keeps us building, every day.

This is a playground for empathy, humour, chaos, creativity, and care, and you’re helping shape it with every bit of feedback and every moment of support.

Final thought

Gaming with purpose doesn’t have to be boring. It just has to be honest, fun, and full of heart. The world could use a bit more empathy — and a lot more snacks to fuel our game development.

Until next time:

Zebrina taking on the enemy, ready to deliver some tasty goodness.

Stay Curious.

Stay Hangry.

Ceri & Andy

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

👉Still want more?

Click here to explore our social channels

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gaminggoodcausesdevelopmentcharityempathyingames<![CDATA[Celebrate the wins]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/celebrate-the-wins pl3im5RmGI7BwfbYkOrqFri, 28 Nov 2025 20:28:00 GMTReflections

Finding the uniqueness in our product market fit has been fraught with so much uncertainty and pivots it’s hard to keep count. But that’s what building a start up is all about. You have an idea, a vision and determination to see it through, which more often than not, means changing direction when and where it’s needed.

We started Hangry Animals with a grand vision of an animated series, toys, games, comics and a want to share the joy of creating something with a community who cares about animal welfare. That vision still exists, and is still alive, but we missed a big chunk in the middle… Who and where is our audience, why and what are we building this for on top of personal gratification and recognition. Who are our end users?

We’ve recently been meeting with business mentors to discuss commercialisation of our products and strategies around the road to market. It’s been great to have someone else, who gets the vision of what we’re aiming to achieve, especially with web2 and web3 blended approach, with a platform dedicated to helping charities unlock new revenue streams through unique and tailored gaming experiences for their younger supporters. We’re slowly growing a network of charities who need our help, partnerships that are super exciting in the gaming space, yet we’ve got to hold our tongue until these relationships and roads to market are ready to announce. Super exciting times ahead for sure. But the daily tasks of building, finding new sources of funding, and networking have taken a break for a while as we’ve focussed on work coming into the studio side of our businesses, both a blessing and a hindrance in equal measure considering progress.

Validation

Our feasibility report finalised in August with the Media Cymru Seed 2025 funding has highlighted some key preferences of younger players that are informing how we approach building these gaming experiences of the future. Games have a major role to play in educating us to change the way we look at giving, caring for, and restoring the lives and habitats of 1000’s of species across the globe. But it all starts at home, on our doorstep with causes we can see, feel, hear and touch. That’s why our first planned charity partner will be Hope Rescue - Dog shelter, right here in Wales. The team at Hope, have been generous with their time, shown us around the facility and sparked a tonne of ideas for gaming experiences we can create that would both generate revenue and support the educational aspects of caring for a pet as well as debunking what a shelter’s role is in the journey of a stray or ill treated pet when they arrive at the kennels for assessment and are cared for by the team. If you want to know more about a shelter at breaking point due to human neglect or mistreatment of pets, mainly dogs, visit their website: https://www.hoperescue.org.uk/

Collaborations

Our recent work for a platform called Planet Play through our creative agency at Hangry Studio, has provided us with amazing insights into ‘in-game’ items and discounted games with the proceeds from sales funding green projects across the globe where they are needed most. Alongside this platform, conversations with Jude Ower one of the authors of Gaming for Good, a recent best selling book success discussing how games have the power to change the world, is providing us with further validation that Hangry Animals is not alone in our approach to entertainment, fuelling the behaviour change and empathy for others through play. If you want to read Jude Ower and Mathias Nørvig’s (Yes, Mathias of SYBO, Subway Surfers fame) best seller, it’s available digitally or in print

Origins & celebrating the wins

Way back in 2021-2022 when I was hosting livestreams on Twitch of me sketching and colouring these human hybrid heroes I’ve now come to love, the mission was ‘just draw’. That was a personal response to help my mental health recover from more than 15 years of creative agency life at the helm with no breaks or consideration of the toll the job was having on my wellbeing. I found an outlet that gave me joy and got me back to my roots of character design and creativity, away from the head of a design studio mindset of juggling so many things. Creativity became my freedom and Hangry Animals was born out of this release alongside a small growing community of supporters online. That was almost 4 years ago now, and we’ve come so far, met some amazing human beings in that time and dodged a few rubber bullets in the same breath. In all that time, whether in the evenings or now full time, we’ve managed to launch a fun digital collection, some cool merchandise of hoodies, T-shirts, Caps and Socks.. Yes socks hah, released our first origin story comic of Otis’ back story digitally (physical prints coming in 2026), won numerous pockets of funding in Wales for the animated series and gaming side and internationally on the blockchain side to further develop our IP, and even gained trademark status for 2 categories in the USPTO for games and merchandise… and yet, it still feels like we haven’t properly started.

Road trip, aherm.. “Research”!!!

We recently took a trip to Harrogate to the Thought Bubble Festival which takes place annually in the North of England. A 2 day event crammed with industry professionals in the creator space for comic and graphic art as well as writing. Thought Bubble isn’t your typical MCM, Comicon style event where every bit of plastic from TEMU or Ali Express is up for sale, or knock off T-Shirts from licensed brands in a mishmash or stalls flogging tat. This is pure sequential art across 4 halls of stalls and breakout spaces all dedicated to the craft of comics and books from independent studios and creators as well as the big publishing might of established brands. The aim of the visit was twofold, scope out the breadth of art and stalls on offer, meet a few legends and get inspired.

This year was our first visit to Harrogate and the festival itself and I nervously came armed with a gift for an influential writer named John Lees, who wrote a fantastic 8 issue comic called The Nasty, which captivated my love for 80’s VHS low budget horror movies or “Video Nasties” from back in the day. I was inspired that much, I illustrated an original piece for John and presented it to him at Thought Bubble. Hope you like it John, took me three attempts on that one :)

Here's a picture of me (Hangry Andy), and John Lees author and creator of The Nasty, beaming with delight at my gifted creation :)

Also in residence at the festival was Simon Bisley, artist extraordinaire of Slaine the Horned God, Lobo, ABC Warriors and Judge Dredd/Batman Crossover graphic novel that made me appreciate the craft of sequential art beyond titles for kids such as the Beano and The Dandy.. Art for grownups. I took the opportunity to get a speedy commission and a signing of my copy of Judgment on Gotham book for good measure! Nice one Mr Bisley.

The entire weekend was rocket fuel for the soul when it comes to motivation to continue developing Hangry Animals. We met some artists and writers who live literally 10 minutes down the road, by travelling 6 hours in a car to the Northern lands of the UK, go figure. All in all, amazing experience and we are sure to be back. Let’s gooooh.

Future Plans

2026 promises to be a year of focus, product releases and growth, and we hope you’re here to share the joy of these developments with us. Overnight successes… take 10 years. It’s true in the music industry and it’s equally true in the entertainment industry of games and storytelling. Take Super Meat Boy for example, although they had what seemed to be a overnight success was actually 5 years of development as a Flash Game prior to porting to XBox Arcade for the success and launch.

We’re absolutely on that journey right now.

The grind

We’re hard at work on our first issue of our main comic story of the Hangry Animals in action… Delivery drivers by day, galactic saving vigilantes by night, and it’s shaping up to be a banger! The comic series title is still unknown as yet, but I’m sure you’ll all love it when announced. I’m drawing the pencil work physically, but taking all the inking and colouring into the computer for the greatest flexibility and control. Sneak peek of 2 pages here:

So where’s the Game then Andy?

A rejuvenated me, is also now evaluating the Nom Nom Express game with a level 1 push and polish to attract some interest. The mechanics are crude but functional after a third iteration to get the stacking physics optimised, and the game loop seems to work as expected, but it needs testing and butchering by some game testers in this early form to ensure we’re hitting the right motivational moments to make it fun to play, it’s currently a tad too slow, so we need that high octane version for the dopamine fuelled among us. Will be making some progress on this front over the next few months, so stay tuned for more game dev updates.

With the game(s) and platform plans being formulated, it’s important we pitch this right to our target audience - the charities, and you, the charity supporters as end users!

Our skills, track record of building brands and experiences for good causes, are coming to fruition, with Hangry Animals as the brand at the centre of it all. We’re hoping kids resonate with the characters we’ve designed, and creating these entities and games with partner charities to earn a revenue share is what our mission is ultimately about.

Gaming for good causes for the win.

Until next time:

Stay Curious.

Stay Hangry.

Ceri & Andy

The Hangry Animals Team

www.hangryanimals.com

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our newsletter homepage in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on Discord or email us at hello@hangryanimals.com.

👉Still want more?

Click here to explore our social channels

]]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingcollaborationgood-causesgivingcreativitycomics<![CDATA[The Humans Behind the Hangryverse]]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/the-humans-behind-the-hangryverse bfAMGmPcevWLGoWDFIrlFri, 14 Nov 2025 20:14:00 GMTEvery good story starts with a bit of chaos.

Ours began with mental health, redundancy, curiosity, and one slightly hangry idea that refused to sit still.

A doodle turned into a distraction.

A distraction turned into a purpose.

And that purpose became Hangry Animals - a purpose-driven entertainment project turning play into real-world impact for animals, and raising awareness for good causes.

The first every sketch of a Hangry Animal on a scrap of paper.

Art School Origins (and the Power of Pencils)

We met at art college, back when deadlines involved making a mess, saving work onto zip drives, and Freddos were still 10p.

Andy was the animator and puppeteer - hands always in motion, sketchbook full of characters that had more personality in ink form than most people.

I was the designer and photographer - calmly turning creative chaos into something organised, functional, and visually appealing (usually while Andy was still looking for his pencils).

It was the start of a creative (and lifelong) relationship built on curiosity, poor man’s pizza, and a shared love of making things that actually mean something.

Collage life

Fast Forward: Building Worlds, One Idea at a Time

After more than 25 years each working across branding, animation, education, and digital design, we found ourselves circling the same question: what if creativity could do good?

Andy wanted to reconnect with drawing after years of commercial deadlines and drawn out meetings that never quite satisfied the creative itch.

I had just been made redundant and finally had the space to ask: what if we actually built something for us that can also make a difference?

Hangry Animals began as a way for Andy to look after his mental health, to draw again, to create something joyful, through digital collectibles of all things.

Back when we first moved in together, I persuaded Andy to bring a dog into our lives (it didn’t take much persuasion to be honest). I grew up with pets, Andy didn’t. But one dog turned into two, and neither of us looked back. The mutts were a massive part of our lives for 18 years. Somewhere between those muddy walks and doodle sessions, the project found its feet. It’s also why we chose to partner with an amazing dog charity as our first cause - one that could see, first hand, the benefits of gaming for good and the power of regular small donations.

From sketches, to colourful collectibles, comics and story ideas, it has become a registered IP. With multiple rounds of successful grant funding, a growing network of collaborators, it all contributes to our mission of showing how gaming can give back.

Mutts with huge personalities!

Where Creativity Meets Strategy

Andy is a creative innovator - the one who dreams up characters, builds worlds, and codes late into the night with a head full of ideas and Wagon Wheels.

I'm a creative strategist, always have been - the organiser of creative chaos (who’s also partial to making the chaos too), connecting the dots between imagination and impact, bringing depth to every character through profiling techniques that make them feel real.

The beauty in this? We’re both creative, problem solvers, fixers and strategists - but in different ways. Whichever one of us builds something, the other questions it, challenges it, sees it from a different angle. It’s a constant loop of ideas, feedback, and collaboration.  We're two brains wired differently but heading in the same direction, and that has been a great recipe for success so far. That mix of creativity, resilience, and curiosity has shaped everything from the Hangryverse’s tone and lore to its purpose and evolving community.

Socials, Merch in hangry development

Play with Purpose

Together, we’re creating an entire IP that entertains, educates, and empowers players to make a difference. Our vision is simple: play, earn, and give back. No gimmicks. No guilt. Parents stay in control, kids see where their donations go, and animal charities gain new, sustainable income streams. We call it gaming for good causes, because fun should always have a little purpose or message baked in.

Meanwhile, Behind the Scenes…

Somewhere along the way, people noticed what we were building, and wanted us to create for them too.

That’s how Hangry Studio was born. A creative agency built out of the same spirit that fuels Hangry Animals. We take on selective, values-aligned projects that make a difference. From character branding to toys, games, web, and animation, we help other purpose-led brands build what matters. Essentially, what we do for Hangry Animals, we now do for others - just with fewer snack puns (sometimes).

What’s Next (and Why We’re Still Hungry)

We’re still bootstrapping. Still learning. Still building. Hangry Studio gives us the freedom to balance commercial and helpful creativity with our long-term mission for Hangry Animals. It keeps us fuelled, flexible, and (mostly) sane to work on impactful brands alongside nurturing the development of Hangry Animals.

The future?

More partnerships, more development, more small wins that stack up into something bigger. We’re cracking on, chipping away, proud of what we’ve built so far and excited for what’s ahead. And like any good snack break - once you’ve had a taste, you just want more.

We don’t have all the answers, but we know we’re on the right path. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to build a creative business with your life partner, or how we’re developing games that give back - ask us anything.


Stay Curious.

Stay Hangry.

Ceri & Andy

The Hangry Animals Team

[www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

👋 Just joined us?

You can rummage through every past issue on our [newsletter homepage](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 Got questions or reflections?

Pop them into the **#ideas-vault** on Discord or email us at [hello@hangryanimals.com](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com).

👉Still want more?

[Click here](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) to explore our social channels

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingbrandgaming4goodhangryanimalscomics<!\[CDATA\[Indie Game Wins We Should Be Celebrating \]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/indie-game-wins-we-should-be-celebrating
 9KnSsQ5fyrhqpKsonyQyFri, 31 Oct 2025 19:35:03 GMTHey Hangry Fam,

Ever sit back and think: “Wait — _indie_ games are _actually crushing it_ this year?” Because we’ve been watching, playing, wish listing… and yes: the numbers don’t lie. Small teams, big dreams, huge results. And it’s fuelling our excitement for **Nom Nom Express** even more. It’s the kind of motivation we need sometimes as a small indie team, building for impact, boot strapped, you know the deal.

Here are five indie titles we love that are absolutely crushing it in 2025, and why they matter to our journey as much as any AAA title showcase.

* * *

### **1\. Peak** _(Aggro Crab Games)_

- **Genre:** Cooperative climbing adventure / physics-based comedy

- **Sales:** Over **6.5 million units** sold, generating an estimated **$45–55 million** to date

- **Why it resonates:** Peak’s joyful chaos and unpredictable multiplayer antics make failure funny, not frustrating — a reminder that games thrive when they _don’t take themselves too seriously._

- **What it teaches us:** Comedy and co-op can co-exist beautifully. If players are laughing as much as they’re losing, you’re doing something right.

- **Target Audience:** Teens and young adults (13+), co-op gaming fans

- **Age Suitability:** According to its EULA, players must be **13 years or older** to access the game. There are online co-op aspects to this title.

* * *

### **2\. R.E.P.O.** _(Moscow Mule Studios – Early Access)_

- **Genre:** Vehicle-based delivery roguelike / sci-fi adventure

- **Sales:** **1.2 million units** in early access, estimated **$18–22 million** revenue so far

- **Why it resonates:** A blend of roguelike strategy and exploration where every delivery feels personal. Fans love its hand-drawn style and quirky “cosmic postal service” theme.

- **What it teaches us:** Even early-access projects can find huge followings when the concept is strong and updates are transparent. It’s about community-driven growth, not perfection.

- **Target Audience:** Teens and fans of co-op suspense / monster chase games

- **Age Suitability:** Family Gaming Database suggests an anticipated **PEGI 16** rating at this early access stage.

* * *

### **3\. Tiny Delivery** (Sinica)

- **Genre:** Job simulation / exploration puzzle

- **Sales:** **2.8 million+ units**, approx. **$30 million** in total revenue

- **Why it resonates:** It nails the _slow-and-steady satisfaction loop_ — think “Job Simulator meets Studio Ghibli.” Every delivery feels rewarding, and its cosy, meditative pacing is loved by younger audiences.

- **What it teaches us:** Not every game has to be fast-paced. Slower, task-based gameplay can build incredible engagement through calm, mindful play and charming world design.

- **Target Audience:** Kids, preteens, simulation / delivery game fans

- **Age Suitability:** Based on genre and simpler mechanics, likely **8+ to 12+** would be reasonable — with parental guidance. No official rating at the time of writing.

* * *

### **4\. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33** _(Sandfall Interactive / Kepler Interactive)_

- **Genre:** Turn-based action RPG / narrative adventure

- **Sales:** **5 million+ units** sold, estimated **$125–175 million** in revenue

- **Why it resonates:** Its painterly visuals, emotional storytelling, and rhythm-infused combat make every moment feel handcrafted. A masterclass in world-building and tone.

- **What it teaches us:** A distinct visual and emotional identity can elevate smaller projects to global success. Style, sincerity, and atmosphere matter more than spectacle.

- **Target Audience:** Mature teens and adults who enjoy narrative, darker themes, RPG stylings

- **Age Suitability:** Official ESRB rating is **M for 17+** (due to violence, gore, strong language, suggestive themes)

* * *

### **5\. RV There Yet?** _(Roll7)_

- **Genre:** Narrative adventure / road trip management sim

- **Sales:** **2.3 million+ units**, generating **$25–30 million** in revenue

- **Why it resonates:** A mix of humour, discovery, and relationship-building wrapped up in a bright, painterly aesthetic. Its road trip metaphor mirrors the player’s own sense of progress and reflection.

- **What it teaches us:** Small games that lean into human emotion and nostalgia can achieve mass appeal — especially when supported by a compelling aesthetic and simple, heartfelt mechanics. Physics and getting it wrong, can be hilariously amusing with huge replay factor.

- **Target Audience:** Kids to teens (family narrative adventure fans)

- **Age Suitability:** Given its narrative and relatively mild content, a **10+ to 13+** bracket seems plausible (with parental discretion). No official rating is available at the time of writing.

* * *

### 🎮 **So What Does This Mean for Us?**

We’re building our first game slowly but surely, titled Nom Nom Express — a game that blends fun mechanics, stack-based chaos, and quirky delivery mayhem. What we’re learning though R&D, and industry developments:

- **Define your identity**: Be weird, be simple, be memorable.

- **Leverage social share-ability**: A delivery going wrong? Surprise alien attacks on food hauls.. That becomes a clip, a laugh, a hook. Virality is key (sharable moments).

- **Engage early, iterate fast**: Indie success is more about **momentum** than millions of dollars, we’re learning as we go, it’s a hard road, but a fun one.

- **Focus on joy + community**: Craft a smaller world that people want to revisit, stream, share. Again lessons learnt from the RPG vision we had.

- **Purpose matters**: We’re not just making a game. We’re building something with heart, that will help real world causes and feed the Hangryness for us all and importantly hose that need it the most.

Here's Hangry Andy playing with the early prototype in Unity from recent developments. We're focussing heavily on the replay ability right now, so visuals are the last thing on our mind! Pickups, how to influence the stack stability, how and what destabilizes it, terrain obstacles etc..

* * *

### 🐾 **Final Bite**

The indie successes of 2025 aren’t anomalies. They’re signals. Signals that _good ideas_, _sharp focus_, and loyal _strong communities_ can still break through the noise. They inspire us to keep building Nom Nom Express — full of silliness, stacked food, chaotic runs, purpose and heart, full of the Hangryness we know we already have.

Thanks for being part of this ride. The world of games is vast, the noise levels are static at times — but with you, we’re tuned into the right frequency to make it happen. Your quiet encouragement is felt.

Stay hangry, stay inspired, keep on gaming!

**Team Hangry**

[**www.hangryanimals.com**](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

👋 **Just joined us?**

**You can rummage through every past issue on our** [**newsletter homepage**](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) **in Paragraph.**

**No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.**

👍 **Got questions or reflections?**

**Pop them into the #ideas-vault on** [**Discord**](https://discord.gg/hangryanimals) **or email us at** [**hello@hangryanimals.com**](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com) **.**

👉 **Still want more?** [**Click here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) **to explore our social channels**

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingindiephysicssteamsuccesses2025<!\[CDATA\[Are Streamers the New Brand Ambassadors?\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/are-streamers-the-new-brand-ambassadors
 IYkFLll4xjcHokDLRLafFri, 17 Oct 2025 19:09:03 GMTAbout ten years ago, something quietly shifted in children’s entertainment.

A new type of “celebrity” appeared - not on Saturday morning TV, but on Twitch.

By the mid-2010s, platforms like **Twitch** and later **YouTube Gaming** turned gaming from a private pastime into a shared spectacle. Events like _Twitch Plays Pokémon (2014)_ drew millions of curious viewers, many of them, kids discovering live streaming for the first time.

It didn’t take long before watching someone else play became as common, and as exciting, as playing the game itself.

Fast forward to today, and streamers aren’t just entertainers.

They’re teachers, influencers, community hosts - and for under-16s, often the reason a new game ends up on their wishlist.

* * *

### **A New Kind of Playground**

Our R&D project uncovered a clear trend: streamers and content creators play a _huge_ role in how kids and teens discover, choose, and talk about games.

Streaming has effectively become the new digital playground - where entertainment, education, and influence all collide.

According to _Ofcom’s 2024 Children’s Media Literacy Report_, nearly **90% of UK children aged 3–17 play video games**, and over **half of those aged 8–15** regularly watch gaming content on **YouTube, Twitch, or TikTok**.

Platforms that used to be about sharing highlights have evolved into 24/7 hangouts. It’s where kids pick up new games, new friends, and even new ambitions.

Many children in _The Children’s Commissioner’s_ report _Digital Playgrounds_ spoke about wanting to become professional gamers or streamers themselves - seeing it not as a hobby, but a genuine career path.

It’s a far cry from the days of “turn that game off and go outside.”

* * *

### **Why Kids Watch Streamers**

From our research and supporting studies, kids watch streamers for a mix of reasons:

- **To discover new games**

Live playthroughs feel authentic. Kids get to see how a game _really_ works, not just the polished trailer version.

- **For social connection**

Watching streams isn’t a solo activity; it’s social. Kids chat, react, and share opinions in real time - often carrying those conversations into school the next day.

- **To learn and improve**

Streamers often act like informal teachers, showing tips, tricks, and strategies.

- **To feel part of a community**

The chatroom becomes a shared space, where viewers can belong without needing to be the best player in the room.

It’s part learning, part leisure, part lifestyle.

Our parent interviews echoed this shift - many noticed their children discussing what streamers were playing, recreating gameplay moments, or requesting games and accessories featured in popular streams.

For some, watching streamers has become as routine as watching a favourite TV show, influencing not just what children play, but how they talk about games and socialise around them.

* * *

### **Trust, Authenticity, and Influence**

So why do streamers carry so much weight?

Because they feel _real_.

Research from our analysis and the _Streamers Articles_ file highlights four traits that make streamers especially influential for under-16s:

**Authenticity**

**Entertainment**

**Interactivity**

**Relatability**

Young viewers trust people who react naturally, share their mistakes, and make them laugh.

They prefer a streamer’s genuine “oops” moment over a glossy ad any day.

It’s this authenticity that turns streamers into modern-day brand ambassadors.

According to the _ESA 2024 Essential Facts Report_, **54% of game buyers rely on online videos and streams before deciding what to play next**, often more than reviews or official ads.

For younger players, this influence is even stronger - streamers don’t just shape what they buy; they shape what they _talk about_.

As one section of our R&D showed, discussions about favourite streamers often spread through peer groups, reinforcing which games became “must-haves” across friendship circles.

* * *

### **The Platforms Powering It All**

The big three for under-16 audiences are:

**YouTube**, **Twitch**, and **TikTok Live.**

- **YouTube Gaming** dominates for younger kids, due to familiarity and recommendation algorithms.

- **Twitch** attracts tweens and teens looking for live interaction and a sense of belonging.

- **TikTok Live** has exploded recently - short, fast, and full of instant reactions.

Together, they’ve blurred the line between gaming and socialising. Kids no longer just _play_ games - they experience them as ongoing, shared events.

_Twitch and YouTube streamer_ **_Kai Cenat_** _\- one of the most-watched creators in the world - known for his high-energy reactions, spontaneous humour, and community-driven streams. His rise reflects the shift in youth entertainment from TV to live, interactive content, where charisma and authenticity count more than production value._

* * *

### **A New Type of Influence (and a Few Questions for Devs)**

For indie developers, this shift opens opportunities - but also challenges.

If your audience is under 16, your marketing strategy can’t ignore streamers.

Authenticity trumps ad spend. Streamers are the “word of mouth” engine of today’s games.

**But here’s the tricky part:** the same systems that make streaming powerful also make it unpredictable. A single streamer’s reaction (positive or negative) can skyrocket a game or sink it.

Things to consider for developers:

- **Build streamer-friendly games**

Make gameplay engaging to _watch_, not just to play.

- **Encourage community participation**

In-game customisation, challenges, and replayability keep content fresh.

- **Be transparent with sponsorships**

Today’s young audiences spot “fake enthusiasm” a mile off.

- **Think accessibility and tone**

If younger audiences will inevitably find your content, make sure it’s something you’re proud to have them see.

* * *

### **Parents in the Loop**

Our findings also show that while many parents are supportive of gaming, they often feel left out of the streaming loop.

Some see it as harmless entertainment; others worry about screen time, language, or parasocial relationships.

The _Children’s Commissioner_ report suggests balance is key. When parents take an active interest, asking questions like _“Who’s your favourite streamer?”_ or _“What do you like about them?”_, kids feel understood, not policed.

And for those concerned about safety, all three major platforms (YouTube, Twitch, TikTok) now include **Family Pairing** and **Supervised Accounts** features, though the effectiveness often depends on how consistently they’re used.

_“K-City Family (aka KidCity) is inspiring families to play together, one crazy moment at a time!”_

* * *

### **So, What Does This All Mean?**

For kids and teens, streamers aren’t just entertainment - they’re educators, entertainers, and trusted voices rolled into one.

For developers, they’re the new gatekeepers of discovery.

For parents, they’re a window into what’s shaping their child’s digital world.

And for us, it’s another reminder that “playing” now means more than just picking up a controller.

It’s a shared experience, across multiple platforms and it’s evolving faster than ever.

* * *

Whether you’re a parent trying to keep up, a developer navigating the noise, or simply someone fascinated by how culture shifts, one thing’s clear: the next generation isn’t just playing games—they’re _watching, learning,_ and _influencing_ the industry as it happens.

Exciting times!

**Thanks for being Hangry**

Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

[www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

😢 Missed a week? Don’t worry – every edition lives forever (like a digital pet) at [paragraph.xyz/@hangryanimals](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html). Go have a nosy.

💡 Got ideas or feedback? Email [hello@hangryanimals.com](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com) or drop into the #ideas-vault on Discord.

🧭 Curious creatures welcome - follow us [**here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) for all things Hangry.

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingstreamersbrandinfluencersresearch<!\[CDATA\[Where Adventure Meets Job Sim: Nom Nom Express\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/where-adventure-meets-job-sim-nom-nom-express
 JQTqEmhhrh92GIeRuY7kFri, 03 Oct 2025 19:06:02 GMTHey Hangry Fam,

Some weeks, we’re elbows deep in code and physics, testing how high we can stack jelly without it sliding off into chaos. Other weeks, we’re thinking about the _bigger picture_ — what kind of game Nom Nom Express is shaping up to be, and why it matters. This week, it’s a mix of both.

* * *

### **Adventure + Job Sim = A New Recipe**

Adventure games are having a moment. In fact, in 2024 they were the **most popular genre by sales on PC**, taking **17.1% of total revenue**, beating out Shooters, RPGs, Sports, and even Battle Royale titles. People clearly want exploration, narrative, and discovery at the heart of their play, and 2025 shows little signs of it slowing down, despite the extraction shooter frenzy of releases happening out there.

Meanwhile, job simulators have carved out their own niche, offering players rewarding task loops, quirky humour, and a sense of satisfaction without the grind of real life. As [_The Courier Online_](https://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/why-is-society-obsessed-with-job-simulator-games/) put it:

“Sometimes a chill, predictable and boring game is what someone needs at the moment instead of a thrilling, epic adventure.”

Job sims satisfy our basic need to try things without consequence. To turn mundane tasks we sometimes take for granted and play with them in a sandbox of safety without the risk of losing our job, failing or getting stuck in an endless loop. In fact, part of the release and dopamine delivery of a job sim game, is the ability to mess it up, fail, try again and find numerous way to fail. Part of the appeal and sometimes quest is to fail often and fail fast, whilst other times, seeking order and getting rewarded for completing repetitive tasks, satisfies that part of us we sometimes don't get to explore in our daily routine. The quiet moments and solo play escapism is the area of gaming we're very interested in right now.

Here’s where we get excited: _Nom Nom Express_ isn’t trying to pick one lane. We’re **blending the principles of adventure games**, exploration, story, a world worth discovering, with the **task-reward mechanics of job sims**, where stacking, delivering, and surviving ridiculous hazards become the backbone of the fun. Some say Job Sims have had their day?? But with Power Wash Simulator doing great numbers, the Tony Hawk style mop game (Mop Skater) doing great numbers, it appears the smaller more agile titles that tap into the fun aspects of mundane tasks simply does it for us.

* * *

### **Chaos, Precision, or Style: Pick Your Path**

In our game you can:

- Go **chaotic and speedy**, chasing that fastest delivery time, even if it means items fall off your stack mid-run.

- Play for **precision and perfect scores**, earning badges for flawless orders and immaculate stacking.

- Or take the **adventurer’s route**, exploring strange environments, uncovering secrets, and taming creatures that stand between you and your delivery.

It’s not just a delivery game. It’s not just an adventure game. It’s not just a job sim. It’s a _weird and wonderful hybrid_, and we think that’s where the magic lies.

**Inspiration Corner: Job Sims We Love**

We’re not the only ones who see the charm in turning everyday work into something fun. A few games we’ve admired along the way:

**Job Simulator**, the VR classic that proved even mundane office work could become comedy gold.

**PowerWash Simulator**, strangely zen, deeply addictive, and proof that clean streaks can be as satisfying as a boss fight. With a second iteration looming, this one is definitely a hit for us. It's also one of my fav's (Hangry Andy) to relax, whilst not coding or illustrating the next character to add to the Hangryverse world.

**Satisfactory**, is a first-person open-world factory building game with a dash of exploration and combat. The humour in this game is on par, with the tone, we aim to achieve with Hangry games into the future. Universal, happy accident, chaos.

Each of these titles took something ordinary and made it extraordinary — exactly what we’re aiming for with _Nom Nom Express_. There are many other titles in our Wishlist… eherm “Research” list that we’re drawing inspiration from to flesh out a world to explore, but starting with the core urgency delivery mechanic is key, then we build flavours of play modes from there. Exciting times.

* * *

## Collectibles and your support.

September has been a great month for us, with our 1/1 Illustration prize draw coming to a close, we will be announcing the winner of the latest 1/1 Character to be added to the Hangry Animals universe next week, as well as a special gift for the winner too. Keep an eye on our X, Insta for the announced winner. To everyone who purchased a collectible this month, thank you so much, it means a lot to us that support continues as we build out this world of interconnected experiences for everyone.

Ozzy the Guinea Pig, immortalized as a collectible. Thanks Vicky for allowing me to draw Ozzy. Bruce the Boston Terrier! Kevin's 1/1 came together nicelyKenji the Samurai Monkey has origins beyond pixels. Can't wait to share Kenji's adventures with everyone

Vicky’s Artwork for Cute & Creepy gang is amazing, go check work out over on [X/Vickilicious10](https://x.com/Vickilicious10). Ozzy the Guinea Pig, Bruce the Boston Terrier and Kenji the Samurai Monkey are new characters integrated into the lore and storylines of the Hangry Animals world. More to follow as we continue into Oct with new characters to reveal and more prizes to be drawn.

### 💜 **Thank You, Believers**

To our early adopters, your support gives us the freedom to experiment with hybrids like this. To dial in physics until stacks topple hilariously. To test difficulty curves so each world feels unique. And to push forward with originality, not clones, not shortcuts, but art and technology moving in unison. Woooop.

Adventure + Job Sim + Hangry. That’s our recipe. And we can’t wait for you to get a taste when the game is fully baked.

With love and hangryness!

**The Hangry Animals Team** [**www.hangryanimals.com**](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

👋 **Just joined us?**

**You can rummage through every past issue on our** [**newsletter homepage**](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) **in Paragraph.**

**No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.**

👍 **Got questions or reflections?**

👉 **Still want more?** [**Click here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) **to explore our social channels**

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingcollectiblescharitygaming4good<!\[CDATA\[Brand is everything - Hangry Animals\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/brand-is-everything-hangry-animals
 NImZC7a515HrWcJQSxisFri, 12 Sep 2025 19:30:03 GMTGreetings folks, after a good bit of R&R over the summer, we're back at it with concepts, further development and pitching our buts off to make Hangry a reality beyond ideas. First off, we appreciate everyone sharing the adventure with us and supporting what we're sharing on socials... we have pockets of busy weeks and dry spells as we focus on the actual doing! So it really does help when folks enjoy, comment, like and further share our content. Community is key, and that's something we're determined to build and get right.

## Onwards

Now into the meat and potatoes of it all. Hangry Animals is and always has been a long term vision of products surrounding good causes. But it's not the focal point, it's the benefit of all the pieces we bring together under one umbrella of a universe, we call The Hangryverse. Stories, characters, ideas and personalised collectibles for everyone to enjoy. From comics, games, animated shorts and series, to vinyl toys and wearable merch... we can have it all, but we need to start small and build from there. We'll be posting a future blog on our adventures at this summers Comicon's later in Sept, so keep an eye out for that! Have we reached peak digital? who knows? We're certainly feeling the urge to break free of the screen and create physical experiences alongside our digital products here, and our adventures at recent Comicons.. eherm "Research trips", may have tipped the balance to explore more physical goods and product ranges.

## Business models

We're seeing emerging brands such as Claynosaurz and Pudgy Penguins gaining traction in the merchandise and product space, which all started with a reverse model to what is traditionally used to grow brand in the entertainment space. Typically there's a $10m animated series, followed by comics, toys and merch, where the licensing companies are recouping their promotional dollars before the brand owners gets their cut of the proceeds, beyond that advance on the sale of the series to a network or streaming service. That advance sale by the way, may involve a buy out of the IP... meaning the creator no longer owns or has the rights to their work for future projects.. crazy. If anyone watched Final Space on its run over on Netflix, look up [Olan Roger's journey to regain control](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/final-space-streamings-cruelest-cancelation/) of a slither of his creation to make a graphic novel that completes the story of the series he created that was cancelled by Warner Brothers/TVS during a merger, crazy to think your pride and joy, part of your being can be buried in a file cabinet at a network never to be seen again or written as a tax write off in Olan's case...

Enter community first, community owned IP! Welcome to a new business model for creators.

Go visit the Claynosaurz website... it's awesome

Claynosaurz is a great example of how a very capable team, with film and effects experience saw the light and built a series of dynamic collectibles (Yes NFTs, spits out mud, blerrchhh), built an audience around these fun, colourful dinosaurs and got the publicity and attention of big networks resulting in a deal with Disney. The community made that happen, by buying into colourful jpgs... mad right? No upfront expenditure or venture capital money, no outlay of additional costs beyond staff wages paid for by ongoing revenue from effects and animation work! Just graft and an idea, and a community.

Claynosaurz is now one of the biggest success stories of 2024/25 in the animation space, having presented at both web3 conferences and Annecy international Film Festival this past July. They are blurring the lines and narratives associated with NFTs in the media space, and we're all for it. With these guys and legends like Todd McFarlane (Spawn, Spiderman) advocating for the perks of digital collectibles on live streams, even this year, we see a future where collectibles as tokens of attendance at events or participation in livestreams will become more commonplace as creators see the upsides of gifting pieces of digital art to their audiences at one off events as a token of gratitude. That's the beauty of art in the hands of creatives.... So exciting!

Watch Todd's Live Stream with his Digital Community OddKey - Digital Collectible drawing session & giveaways

This model of growing a community alongside the brand and IP, is the model we've been advocating for since day one. But what's missing? The Markets? The vision? resources? maybe all of them. Timing plays a huge role in when to launch or promote a product, and finding our feet in web2 & web3 has not been easy. But among all of the projects that had hype, made a handsome fee from sales of collectibles through 2020 - 2025 and faded, there aren't many of note that have stuck around and are still building the vision they set out to build.

Even Bored Ape Yatch Club's seems to have put a sour taste in the mouths of it's community an games seem to be on the back burner following the downturn in market and attention. We can't compare ourselves to these properties right now, but the ambition remains. Build a brand that resonates for the characters, stories and causes we stand for and have fun while doing so.

## Product development

### Game(s)

We're in the middle of development of our first game Nom Nom Express, which will have both a web2 experience we aim to release on platforms such as Steam etc, but we also want that extra slice for the web3 digital collectible owners, and will therefore offer an independent release for our community of holders with added benefits and ways to give & earn through play, new characters and items to use in the challenges as well as unique vehicles exclusive to holders. The mission to revenue and giving back, and finding the sweet spot with both has been a long and arduous journey, but one we fully believe will reap the benefits in years to come. Let's not forget, cash is king, so building and releasing products audiences want, comes first, so we're in it for the long haul for sure. With the completion of our R&D (Research and Development) project now done, we've gained some great insight to move forward with our game development strategy. Some surprising nuggets of data too! All will be revealed in good time.

### Comic(s)

As well as this complex adventure with games, we're in the early stages of development with a comic mini series that better ties to the worlds of the game we're planning. We've always wanted the Hangry Animals characters to feel grounded and build empathy in the worlds they occupy. This interconnected series of experiences will place Otis, Zebrina, Brian, Sue and Marv in tricky situations on our version of Earth at their delivery day jobs with a twist... as well as their night time super team adventures defending their world one snack at a time!! Comics are accessible, fairly quick to produce and can be distributed digitally and eventually physically. This allows us the opportunity to test what works before committing to print. We've already completed 17 of the 22 pages required for issue 1 of this mini series concept and will update the community as this evolves over the coming few weeks..

Early stage colour test for Issue #1 coming together nicely

Don't forget our fist Comic was created last year, and tells the story of Otis' origins. We may revisit this in a future release or retrospective review to connect the newer art style and persona work developed by our very own Ceri Angel, to further ground our Hangry's ready for the spotlight. We also created a mini comic with Bill Blazer a community member, and his two kids, telling the tale of Finn the young skateboarding Shark, guest staring Bill's kids toys Butcake and Dave. We've since minted 1/1's of Butcake and Dave as illustrations for our young fans, and can't wait to do more of this community gratitude initiatives in the future.

Read Fynn's story over on Issue.com: [https://issuu.com/hangryanimals/docs/a\_sharks\_tale\_-\_fynn\_-\_butcake\_and\_dave\_-\_single\_p](https://issuu.com/hangryanimals/docs/a_sharks_tale_-_fynn_-_butcake_and_dave_-_single_p)

## The Future

As ideas and stories develop, we're seeing more opportunities to express the essence of each character fully. Zebrina is definitely a hard ass, focussed on the mission kind of gal, but there's humour in this bluntness. Same goes for Otis's size to scared ratio.. We first saw Otis as this beast of a guy who can handle anything, but the more situations we through him into, the inexperience, clumsiness and finding the fun in everything attitude makes for better reading and character exploration we're enjoying writing Otis right now! Onwards to more adventures with everyone.

With love and hangryness!

**The Hangry Animals Team** [**www.hangryanimals.com**](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

Susannah the Gorilla - Imagine this young lady delivering your Vegan Sushi Order??

👋 **Just joined us?**

**You can rummage through every past issue on our** [**newsletter homepage**](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) **in Paragraph.**

**No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.**

👍 **Got questions or reflections?**

👉 **Still want more?** [**Click here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) **to explore our social channels**

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)comicsartistgamesbrandweb3<!\[CDATA\[Curiosity at Work\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/curiosity-at-work
 MZh0aRIpDdoQGjfS4vuDFri, 29 Aug 2025 19:01:02 GMTAs a husband-and-wife team, people sometimes ask us how we switch off from work.

The truth? We don’t.

Because for us, creativity isn’t a hat you take off at the end of the day. It’s everywhere. It’s in the wallpaper of a restaurant, a funny one-liner by a supporting character, the background art of an animated TV series or, my weakness - the new seasonal stationery that somehow always ends up in our basket.

The Bagelry - Nelson St, Liverpool

And we wouldn’t change it.

Because this is what fuels us.

* * *

## **Why We Can’t Switch Off**

Here’s the thing: when you’re a creative, your mind is always _on_.

It’s not exhausting. It’s energising. Our brains are constantly asking questions:

- _Why did they design it like that?_

- _Why are the characters behaving that way?_

- _What if the palette shifted?_

- _How could this spark a new character, mechanic, or story?_

- _Why is there no background noises to set the ambience?_

- _And ‘Ohhhh shiny’_

What might look like clutter - photos, sketches, postcards, comic books, badges - is actually a toolkit. Every scrap is a stored spark, ready to be reignited when the right project comes along.

For some, that might mean a computer game mechanic inspired by a cooking method.

For others, it could be the sound a starling makes that has a robotic feel to it.

Street performers bring tangible inspiration too.

* * *

## **The Science Bit**

When you let your mind wander, something fascinating happens.

Neuroscientists call it _diffuse thinking_: your brain slips into a different mode where it’s quietly connecting ideas in the background. That’s why the best ideas often pop up in the shower, on a walk, or when you’re absentmindedly sketching shapes in the corner of a notebook.

Daydreaming and doodling are not wasted time. They’re brain workouts. Problem-solving in disguise.

And it’s the same with curiosity. The more you let yourself notice things - textures, colours, rhythms - the more material your brain has to play with.

So next time you see someone gazing out of the window, don’t hurry them back to “focus.” They might be building the foundations of an idea or solving a problem (even if they don’t realise it).

* * *

## **Why Our Differences Work (And Why Yours Do Too)**

Everyone sees the world differently. That’s what makes creative teams powerful.

Some people sketch their thoughts. Others take photos. Some write notes, collect artefacts, or save references in sprawling Pinterest boards (guilty!).

In game development, this mix is gold dust. One person’s obsession with fonts might collide with another’s love for animal behaviour documentaries - and suddenly, you’ve got the seed for a new character, an interface, or even a storyline.

Parents see it in their kids too. One child builds with Lego, another prefers to draw. Different approaches, same creative energy. Encouraging both gives them space to see problems - and solutions - from fresh angles.

Can't take this big kid anywhere...

* * *

## **What Fuels Hangry Animals**

If you’ve ever wondered what inspired the world of Hangry Animals, it’s not just one source. It’s a patchwork quilt of influences:

- **Comics** – from glossy superhero epics to small indie titles.

- **Artwork & Illustrators** – unique styles and techniques that spark moods and emotions.

- **Voice Artists** – because a character’s personality lives in its sound too.

- **Animators** – from timeless Saturday morning classics to bold experimental shorts.

- **Social Media & Marketing** – sometimes a campaign can teach you more about storytelling, audience and timing than a textbook.

- **Brands & Community Building** – the way they connect, grow, and inspire loyalty.

- **Colour Palettes & Drawing Styles** – endless ways to grab attention, set tone and mood.

- **Moodboards** – our go-to tool for capturing a feeling in one glance.

- **Toys** – from the cute and cuddly to the trendy (and sometimes unhinged) vinyl collectibles.

- **Cartoons & TV** – the ones that shaped us, and the ones we binge today.

- **Films & Animated Films** – Character and story development, lighting, framing and so much more.

- **Games** – From the technical to the visual and audio, and not forgetting the psychological.

- **Collaboration & Conversation**\- the ideas that only emerge when people share their experiences and bounce thoughts off each other.

These are the threads that stitched together the Hangryverse. But they’re not unique to us. They’re available to everyone - if you choose to notice them.

Still watching Cartoons on a Saturday

* * *

## **Why It Matters**

Creativity isn’t just about making art. It’s about how we think, solve problems, and make sense of the world. When you let curiosity guide you, a few powerful things happen:

- **You see possibilities where others see limitations** – noticing details opens doors to new solutions.

- **You connect ideas in unexpected ways**– sparks from different places often combine into something original.

- **You train your brain to be adaptable** – curiosity builds resilience by helping you approach challenges from fresh angles.

- **You fuel motivation and joy** – inspiration keeps work and play energising, not draining.

- **You make space for impact** – the smallest doodle, thought, or detail can grow into something meaningful for others.

* * *

## **A Final Thought**

Hangry Animals didn’t start with a neat business plan. It started with curiosity. With scraps of inspiration, collected and collaged into something bigger.

That’s why we live in-between the blurred lines. Because the difference between life and work, doodles and ideas, daydreams and solutions - is actually quite thin.

Our inspiring visit to Hope Rescue - sparked so many game ideas

So the next time you catch yourself staring into space, let it happen.

Who knows? You might be building the start of something that matters.

* * *

Thanks for being Hangry!

Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

[www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

💡 Got ideas or feedback? Email [hello@hangryanimals.com](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com) or drop into the #ideas-vault on [Discord](https://discord.gg/5QZDsVPg).

🧭 Curious creatures welcome - follow us [**here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) for all things Hangry.

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)comicsbrandproductsgamescreativity<!\[CDATA\[Respect the Craft\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/respect-the-craft
 A1yTvn2jgN4zaMWvGLEdFri, 08 Aug 2025 19:45:06 GMT**Hi Hangry’s,**

This week, we’re tackling a topic that hits close to home for many small studios like ours: **intellectual property theft**, the ethics of game development in open platforms, building in public, and the ripple effects these actions have on indie creators building with care, creativity and a growing community.

#### **The Case of Peak vs. Cliff – and Why It Matters**

One of 2025’s surprise indie hits, **Peak**, a chaotic, co-op climbing adventure by the brilliant folks at **Aggro Crab**, has found itself shamelessly copied on Roblox under the name **Cliff**.

Image courtesy of Polygon Article: [https://www.gamingamigos.com/post/peak-cliff-roblox-controversy](https://www.gamingamigos.com/post/peak-cliff-roblox-controversy)

It’s not just "inspired by"... it’s **mechanically, visually and stylistically lifted**. Cliff launched with nearly identical art and gameplay, and despite Aggro Crab's very clear callout of the ripoff, it’s already **been played over 5 million times**. It even monetises in-game items with microtransactions, earning revenue that never touches the hands of the original developers, while **Roblox itself also profits** from the activity.

_“TBH would rather you pirate our game than play this microtransaction-riddled @Roblox slop ripoff,”_ said Aggro Crab in a direct, and understandable, post on social media.

And we agree.

These practices **exploit small developers** while celebrating scale and virality at the expense of originality, effort and community. When games like Peak cost less than a sandwich ($7.99), it's hard to justify rewarding blatant clones built for a cash grab.

#### **Game Creation is Easier. But Where’s the Respect?**

We live in an exciting time where **AI tools, low-code platforms and sandbox engines** make game creation more accessible than ever. That's great. But with that freedom and power at a creator's fingertips comes responsibility. Platforms like Roblox must do more to **uphold ethical standards**, protect original ideas, and **give credit and control to the creators** who shaped the experiences they're profiting from.

At Hangry Animals, we’ve poured our hearts into building a world that’s meaningful, messy, and fun, a game with a mission to **educate, entertain and uplift**, while delivering genuine laughs and challenges for younger audiences and families alike.

When others blatantly lift without care, it damages **trust in creative communities**, discourages risk-taking, and pushes creators into silence… or out of the industry altogether.

#### **How This Ties Back to the UK Online Safety Bill**

We’ve recently been journaling about the **UK’s new Online Safety Bill**, which aims to make digital spaces safer, especially for children and vulnerable users, as well as enforce a proof of age and identity measure to further force platforms to comply with age appropriate content. While the bill focuses on content moderation and platform accountability, it opens the door for a **broader conversation** around **ethical content**, **monetisation**, and **protecting younger players from exploitation**.

In theory, a world where exploitative clones flood platforms is **exactly the kind of thing responsible regulation should discourage**, especially when those platforms' entire strategy is to empower younger creators and actively market to younger audiences.

#### **Our Perspective**

We’re not anti-AI or anti-fan creation. Far from it. We embrace remix culture, community mods, and playful iteration. But we’re **anti-exploitation**. Especially when it undermines the hard work of small teams. There’s a **line between inspiration and theft**, and it’s time we acknowledge when that line’s been crossed, and hold platforms accountable for allowing it.

**We make games for good causes. That means standing up for good practices too.**

#### **TL;DR**

- **Peak**, a hit indie game by **Aggro Crab**, has been blatantly copied on Roblox as **Cliff**, with monetisation that benefits the copycat and Roblox.

- As a small studio, we stand with Peak and other indie devs against this kind of IP theft.

- **Platforms must do more** to protect creators and encourage originality.

* * *

## Game Development Updates

**It's been a slow one this week, with other projects taking centre stage, and the closing our of our R&D project with Media Cymru consuming our focus. The stats are awesome, and we will seek to publish our findings in the near future for sure!**

**The next task on our list is fleshing out the Food Order system, where the vendors get added every time a level is completed. This is the core of the game and will take some time to build out dynamically with some variance to ensure fresh replay ability down the line. Order up! We're excited to start coding this next week.**

We've come along way from this blockout prototype in 3 weeks.. Can't wait to share the new play through.

## Funding - wah wah wah waahhhhh

Nope, we didn't get the third application we bid for, which is a kick in the proverbial, but we're not deterred, simply fuelled to make game experiences that have impact. We will continue to seek out suitable grant and competitive funds that align with our mission to grow the studio and experience until we're generating the revenue we need for a sustainable future. Onwards.

**Until next time, support original creators. Buy the real game. Build with heart. Make fun. Stay Hangry.**

With respect and resilience,

**The Hangry Animals Team** [**www.hangryanimals.com**](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

Marv the Moose - Owned by Hangry Andy - Imagine this guy delivering your Pizza order??

👋 **Just joined us?**

**You can rummage through every past issue on our** [**newsletter homepage**](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) **in Paragraph.**

**No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.**

👍 **Got questions or reflections?**

👉 **Still want more?** [**Click here**](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) **to explore our social channels**

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingtheftofipweb3charitycreatorcreativity<!\[CDATA\[Gaming in Small Doses\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/gaming-in-small-doses
 RpLe2L15dowQWIebO6TFFri, 01 Aug 2025 19:15:02 GMT_By Ceri – R&D project lead at Hangry Animals_

If you're new here: I’m one-half of Hangry Animals, and we’re on a mission to make games that help real animals. But before we build them, we’re doing our homework.

We’re deep in R&D, asking big questions like:

- _How can games teach kindness?_

- _What makes kids want to help others while they play?_

- _Can 30 minutes of gaming a day actually be good for young people?_

Turns out – yes.

In fact, the benefits of short, age-appropriate play sessions are more interesting (and reassuring) than you might think.

* * *

### ⏱ **The Sweet Spot: 30 Minutes a Day**

You’ve probably heard the headlines: _"Screen time is bad!"_

But research suggests that **brief, balanced sessions** of gaming (around 30–60 minutes) can be **beneficial for a child’s development**.

According to studies by [Oxford University](https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-08-04-little-video-game-playing-linked-better-adjusted-children), [UNICEF](https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/press-releases/video-games-can-have-positive-impact-children-if-they-are-designed-right-says-new), and [Internet Matters](https://www.internetmatters.org/advice/by-activity/online-gaming-advice-hub/online-gaming-benefits/), kids who play games for short bursts are **better socially adjusted** than those who don’t game at all.

Not what we expected either!

* * *

### 🧠 **What Can Games Teach in Just Half an Hour?**

**Cognitive & Educational Wins**

- Games help with **memory** and **processing speed**

- They encourage **strategic thinking** and **creative problem-solving**

- Action and puzzle-based games can improve **hand-eye coordination** and **reflexes**

- Educational games make learning **interactive and sticky** (in a good way)

**Social & Emotional Boosts**

- Games offer a “mental holiday” – helping kids **de-stress and feel happier**

- They learn to **fail safely** and try again, building **resilience**

- Multiplayer games can build **teamwork and communication skills**

- Progressing in a game can give a big **confidence lift** – even if it's just levelling up a banana-wielding raccoon

### 💡 **Why Short Sessions Are So Effective**

**1\. They fit into real life.** Thirty minutes of gaming won’t derail family time, outdoor play, or homework. Instead, it complements a healthy routine.

**2\. They keep the fun fresh.** Short bursts mean games remain exciting without becoming overwhelming or addictive. Think “treat,” not “escape.”

**3\. They support wellbeing.** Moderate gaming has been shown to support **life satisfaction**, **emotional balance**, and even **creativity** – especially in kids under 14, when supervised and age-appropriate.

* * *

### 📌 **So What’s the Catch?**

The catch is _balance_ – and guidance.

Research shows that **problems arise not from gaming itself**, but from **excessive, unmoderated play**. That’s where screen fatigue, withdrawal, and negative behaviour can creep in.

So if you're navigating game time within your household, here are four takeaways from our research so far:

**Choose games wisely.**

Go for age-appropriate, values-led titles.

**Keep sessions short and sweet.**

Around 30 minutes is a good baseline.

**Play (or talk) with them.**

Being curious about their in-game world builds trust and awareness.

**Balance is everything.**

Gaming is just one slice of the pie – not the whole meal.

* * *

🎯 **TL;DR?** Short gaming sessions (30 mins or less) = more focus, better mood, stronger friendships, and a sense of achievement – all backed by reliable research from Oxford, UNICEF, and more.

The benefits drop off with hours of daily play, but in small doses, games can teach a surprising amount.

* * *

That’s it for my monthly insights!

Until next time:

Stay Curious.

Stay Hangry.

Ceri

The Hangry Animals Team

[www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

* * *

👋 **Just joined us?**

You can rummage through every past issue on our [newsletter homepage](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) in Paragraph.

No paywall, no spam, just pure Hangry.

👍 **Got questions or reflections?**

Pop them into the #ideas-vault on [Discord](https://discord.gg/hangryanimals) or email us at [hello@hangryanimals.com](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com).

👉 **Still want more?**

[Click here](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) to explore our social channels

\*Cover Photo by [Kevin kevin](https://unsplash.com/@0x00kevin?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash) on [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/black-and-red-game-controller--HuMEdCPM0U?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash)

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingresearchgivingunityhangry<!\[CDATA\[Games that Give\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/games-that-give
 qw6HGQUZGOyXZaBtnPjbSun, 27 Jul 2025 19:15:02 GMTLet’s be honest, if you’d told me ten years ago that in-game skins and Twitch streams would end up saving lives, I’d have raised an eyebrow. Possibly two.

But here we are in 2025... and the gaming industry has become one of the biggest unsung heroes in the charity space. Not just raising funds, but actually reshaping how we _give_. And I don’t mean sticking a donation button on a loading screen and calling it a day.

We’re talking about bundles that support mental health, races that raise millions, and downloadable dog missions that make a difference.

### **Bundles With Bite**

Remember when game bundles were just a chance to grab 12 random platformers for the price of a Greggs? These days, they’ve got a purpose.

Take Fanatical’s 2025 charity bundle in support of Safe In Our World - 27 games, every penny going to mental health in gaming. Smart, generous, and the kind of initiative that actually makes a dent in something that affects so many players and developers alike.

Same goes for GameBlast25 and Wish 200 Week. They’re not just clever names, they’re fully baked fundraising events. Bundles, discounted sales, exclusive items… all with proceeds funnelled into real causes like SpecialEffect and Make-A-Wish UK. And not just once a year either. These events are becoming part of the rhythm of gaming now.

### **Streaming That Saves**

Streaming used to be all about “look at me play.” Now? It’s “look at us change lives.”

Games Done Quick is still breaking records, but it’s the _everyday_ creators that are turning stream time into lifelines... raising money for cancer research, disaster relief, mental health, and more. Jingle Jam alone pulled in £2.7 million in 2024, and this year’s line-up includes everyone from War Child to The Trevor Project.

The message? Charity streams aren’t an extra anymore. They’re part of the culture.

### **Giving Inside the Game**

One of the best shifts we’ve seen is how in-game charity features are no longer clunky add-ons—they’re fully integrated experiences.

Indie devs are creating seasonal storylines tied to real-world causes. Others are dropping limited-edition charity items that unlock missions _and_ support non-profits. Buy a special rescue-dog skin? It funds an actual rehoming charity. Complete a challenge in-game? You trigger a micro-donation.

We’ve been exploring this a lot with Nom Nom Express and other game concepts, where players can unlock story-driven content by making small donations to our collaborators Hope Rescue. The idea is to make the donation _part_ of the experience, not a guilt trip, but a reward. It’s empathy on a leader board.

Image Credits: [Vitaly Gariev](https://unsplash.com/@silverkblack?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash)

### **Play for All**

It’s not all about money. Some of the most impactful work is happening through partnerships with accessibility charities like AbleGamers and SpecialEffect. They’re helping devs make their games playable for _everyone_, and that’s just as valuable as raising a million pounds. And let's not forget PlanetPlay; bringing sustainable and green causes to gamers attention through their humble bundlesque platform for game expansion packs and in-game items. We love it all!

Charities are also using gaming to fight loneliness, build community, and give a voice to players who are usually left out of the conversation. Whether that’s through modified controllers or custom-built social games, the mission is simple: make gaming fairer, friendlier, and more inclusive.

Prototype of new physics in progress

### **Why It’s Sticking**

This isn’t just a trend. It’s a shift in mindset.

Players _want_ to feel like their play has purpose alongside the fun factor. Charities _need_ new ways to reach younger audiences. And game studios are seeing that doing good doesn’t mean sacrificing profit, it often drives loyalty and positive press.

It’s the kind of win-win we talk about a lot at Hangry Animals.

If you’re a gamer here, you’re already part of a community that’s reshaping the way we support causes. If you’re a dev, there’s never been more creative ways to make charity a core part of your design. And if you’re a charity... you might just be a few joystick clicks away from your next breakthrough.

Don’t forget to catch Ceri’s Cwtch newsletter next week, she’s diving into some of our research findings around kids, gaming, and what actually motivates them to do good. It’s the science bit, but with snacks.

* * *

🐾 **Let's make this happen!** Gaming’s evolving. Giving’s evolving. The two are finally playing on the same team.

Let’s keep pushing for play that makes a difference.

* * *

🎮 **Much love Hangries** Hangry Andy & _The Hangry Animals Team_ [www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

📬 **New Subsctiber?** Missed a week? Don’t worry – every edition lives forever (like a digital pet) at [paragrpah.xyz/@hangryanimals.](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) Go have a nosy.

💭 **Feedback/Questions** Got ideas or feedback? Email [hello@hangryanimals.com](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com) or drop into the #ideas-vault on [Discord](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@hangryanimals).

🔗 **Linktree & Socials** Check out our [Linktree](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) for social channels and other ways to connect with us

Cover Image Credit: [Onur Binay](https://unsplash.com/@onurbinay?utm_content=creditCopyText&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash)

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamingcharitygivingtrendsgaming4good<!\[CDATA\[Back to the (Drawing Board) Future...\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/back-to-the-drawing-board-future
 KSTy1EozjAnZ6uBQxLF8Fri, 18 Jul 2025 18:35:02 GMTThis week’s update is all about fun and making sure we've captured it in our game.

After a few months of testing, playing and layering in features, powerups, projectiles, enemy waves, first-person food fights and more… we took a deep breath, stepped back, and asked:

**“Is this still fun to play?”**

The answer was… not quite. So we’ve done what every good dev team should do now and again... ripped it apart, put the wagon wheels down, and gone back to the drawing board to focus on the fun factor for **Nom Nom Express.**

The result?

An absolute **rage-fest** of physics, chaos, patience and strategic **stack-building** fun in the making.

* * *

### **Stack It Up, Stack It Right**

Welcome to the new and better focussed Nom Nom Express:

Stacking food items isn’t just for show anymore. It's the core mechanic, and it finally feels right!

Each delivery is a physics-based puzzle in motion:

- **Stack items heavy to light**, or risk toppling your tofu on a corner.

- **Get greedy with speed and hit a bin?** Watch your burritos bounce into traffic.

- **Maintaining perfect balance?** Then you’ll earn those sweet stack stability badges.

- **Prefer chaos and mayhem with max orders and full throttle boosts?** You do you... and yes, we’ll be tracking your fastest times too.

Each different food item affects your speed, handling, and momentum, meaning your playstyle shapes your score. We're contemplating when and where to drop the pickups for extra boosts and alternative approaches to stacking, to mix it up a bit and give players that personalisation vibe.

Oh, and yes... we’ve added **velocity penalties** for **sharp turns**, **overclocked throttle** and **hard landings**. You want that perfect run? You’ll have to **_earn_** it the **hangry way!**

* * *

### **Play How You Like... We’ve Got Rewards for That :)**

We’re making sure a mix of player styles gets some love in this game:

**Speed Demon?** Burn rubber for leader board glory.

**Stack Strategist?** Build it right, keep it tight.

**Perfectionist?** No drops, no bumps, all smiles.

**Chaos Gremlin?** Make it rain meatballs and still cross the finish line? We salute you.

Achievements and badges will be baked into the game, and we’re fine-tuning how we reward fun over frustration in this **Job Simulator/Rage Stacking** hybrid. Yes, our genre or mix of genres changes over time, but it's been important to find that sweet spot and follow the fun at all costs, especially when we are aligned with good causes.. so good, clean, but chaotic fun is coming thick and fast. Woooop.

* * *

**On the Funding Front…**

Unfortunately, we didn’t make the cut for the **Media Cymru Development Fund** this round. This was a closed round follow on, from our Seed Fund R&D that we're in the process of preparing for interviews here.

It’s a knock, for sure — but we’re _so grateful_ for the opportunity to pitch the vision of **Hangry Animals**. The support and introductions so far on the Seed Fund have been incredibly helpful, and while the outcome wasn’t what we’d hoped, the mission stays the same.

**We're still 100% focused on:**

- Building games and entertainment with heart and humour

- Creating meaningful social impact via digital experiences

- Offering value to players, charities and our community alike

- Having fun while building the characters, story and products

It’s all part of the journey. We learn, we iterate, and we build the best games and experiences possible.

* * *

### **What’s Next?**

We’re now heading into full focus mode on:

- **Core mechanic** testing for stack weight and velocity

- **A few _very funny_** physics fails to dial up even more

- **More player styles** = more types of reward and challenge

- **Internal playtesting** to lock the new fun-first approach

- And yes... **more bad puns** in the delivery dialogue

There’s still a long way to go. But we're more confident that we’re building something with soul & silliness, and _just the right amount of jellied eels_.

* * *

### 🎮 **Did you know?**

**Watching games is just as popular as playing them.** Kids aren’t just gaming - they’re watching _other people_ play too. Platforms like YouTube and Twitch are packed with livestreams and ‘Let’s Play’ videos. Joining in as a parent (even just for one video) can be a great way to spot if the content is right for your child - and share a laugh or two!

* * *

Thanks for sticking with us and supporting where you can.

Thanks for helping us shape something weird and wonderful.

Thanks for being Hangry. 💜

The Hangry Animals Team

[www.hangryanimals.com](http://www.hangryanimals.com/)

[Click here](https://linktr.ee/hangryanimals) to explore our social channels

**PS** Hello new subscribers! Don’t forget to [visit our Paragraph](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) page where you can read previous newsletters 🦓

_If you have questions or suggestions on what you'd like us to include in future newsletters, drop a message in the #ideas-vault channel on our Discord or email us via_ [**_hello@hangryanimals.com_**](mailto:hello@hangryanimals.com) _with your feedback._

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gamedevelopmentbrandcharacterssocialimpactweb3unity<!\[CDATA\[Hangry Animals - Game Development Update #13\]\]>https://paragraph.com/@hangryanimals/hangry-animals-game-development-update-13
 KruFMt66Pc4ot7EjyjnyThu, 03 Jul 2025 19:03:02 GMTHey Hangry Fam, hope all is well out there in human land?

A warm and Hangry welcome to all our new subscribers! It's great to have you on board, following the adventure whilst we build out this project, mostly with you by our sides. Just how we like it! So settle in, we've got some hangryness to share.

Our H.A.M (Hangry Animals Magazine) newsletter covers a series of topics weekly, from project development (The visual stuff), game development (The codey stuff), partnerships (Ways to accelerate growth), business growth (the nessasary stuff) and traction (the fruits of our labour) as well as the behind-the-scenes of building something with purpose (the honest stuff). As the project evolves and we find our paws/feet, you will experience the adventure alongside us, warts and all. Insights from our COO in Ceri's Cwtch, early access to artwork, game and animation footage and merch regularly, all in active development from the attic studios of South Wales UK. exciting eh!

## Muggy Hangry

It’s a scorcher in the UK this week, and finding somewhere cool to write this week's news was a bit of a muggy task, to say the least. I’ve been tempted to sit in the freezer to write this latest instalment haha! So pull up an iced tea or twister lolly (look 'em up, they're amazing) to cool you down and enjoy some further insight into the business of building.

## Refactoring code anyone?

Let’s be honest, not every week needs, or has, shiny new features and flashy teasers. Some weeks are just about the **grunt work**. The **boring but crucial stuff** that makes a gaming experience stable, scalable, and shippable. Bigger scope projects go through these lulls in development as the months roll on, fatigue sets in, and the allure of shiny features teases you each day, trust me, this happens on a daily basis rn. But these dips in productivity and energy are also a natural occurrence. We're human after all, and as the ebb and flow of crafting gaming experiences evolves, especially concerning features, production plans, and timelines, we also need to adapt.

This week? We’ve been knee-deep in **refactoring and scene clean-up** of the core game loop in Unity. And yep… that means a lot of behind-the-scenes sweat, with very little visual fireworks. Inside some of our scenes are helper scripts to quickly check different weather conditions and lighting, a plethora of surface scripts to test how the modes of transport will be affected by those surface properties, as well as way out of proportion food items, mountains, buildings and enemies, so it all needs a tidy up, to get us on track for preparation of our vertical slice.

* * *

### 🛠 **Prefabs, Please!**

One of our big tasks has been moving models and meshes into **Prefabs**; Unity’s magical, reusable building blocks for scene assets.

If you’re new to game dev, think of a Prefab as a **templated object**. You create one, reuse it a hundred times, and if you update the original, every version updates automatically. Magic, right? It’s pretty cool.

Except... once your project’s halfway built and you’re converting things into Prefabs, that’s when gremlins come out to play.

- Objects that used to behave nicely? Broken.

- Scripts suddenly missing their connections? Gone.

- Whole scenes behaving weirdly? You guessed it, unintended consequences of **refactoring in progress**.

But this is the stuff that needs doing. It’s what **makes future work faster, more efficient, and more reliable**.

Image coutesty of [https://visualdesigncafe.com/learn/nested-prefabs](https://visualdesigncafe.com/learn/nested-prefabs)

We’re setting things up to scale… so that every level we build, every character we drop in, and every feature we test can plug and play without headaches. This is the foundation stage. And while it's not glamorous, it's vital. Especially considering the ability to drop in new character avatars that we detect in players' profiles from the digital collectables they own. Prefabs, with automatic asset detection, will feel like magic when they’re completed.

* * *

### **Code Clean up: The Hidden Hero Work**

Refactoring doesn’t just stop at visuals. We've also been cleaning up and consolidating **legacy code**, removing duplication, fixing odd behaviours, and reorganising folders and file naming conventions so our future selves don’t cry into their coffee. I’ve always been a fan of clean semantic folder structure for projects, but when you start a new project, sometimes, well most of the time... it doesn’t begin in an organised fashion. It starts with chaos as you experiment and try new features without thinking where the script needs to live. As you focus on the feature, how it works is more important than where it lives at the time.

But here's the truth: **refactoring is risky**.

Every change comes with a ripple effect. A single misplaced script reference can trigger bugs five scenes deep. And sometimes, progress means stepping back before you can step forward.

This week has been about doing just that! getting the foundations right, removing technical debt, and prepping the path for the exciting stuff to come.

## Pretty pictures

A hangry newsletter would not be complete without a glorious pic or two of progress in the world of development. As the style evolves, or Look Dev as the industry calls it, we love sharing how this is shaping our strategy for consistency from Comics, Games, Animation, Website and Merch. With the assistance of the amazing Chris McFall, the guru of rigging in Blender and beyond, we're evolving this into a toon shader extravaganza for the eyes. Sketchy outlines, hatched shading, rim lighting that feels nostalgic but fresh, and a colour palette that works both on screen and in print. It's important for us that the brand comes alive wherever it's displayed, and the inspiration of artsists and creators such as Oscar Martin - Creator of Solo, Daniel Warren Johnson (God) - creator of Murder Falcon, The Moon is Following Us and writer/cover artists of Transformers - Energon Universe. My go to franchise has always been TMNT and Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and the art style of Into the Spiderverse, naturally, all feeds the creative beast of influence for this brand. Here's Marv getting a first outing as a toon-shaded model. Feast your eyes on how we're bringing my 2D illustrations and the elasticity of a drawing into the world of 3D, I'm loving it.

Stage 1: Toon Shader BAse colours and shadows with simple line art using referced fresnel effect. We're aspiring for this thick and thin line work, solid shadows and rim lights to capture that 2D feel already established in my artwork

* * *

### **Funding Update: Keep Moving Forward**

We also shared that we weren’t successful in this round of the **UK Games Development Fund**. The feedback was general and not tailored to individual projects, which makes it tricky to pinpoint exactly where we could have improved, but that’s the game, right? We press on, there are other funds to explore and refine the presentable game loop for an even greater chance of success.

We’re still learning, still building, and still 100% committed to bringing our vision to life.

Sometimes it's a win, sometimes it’s an unexpected setback, but either way, we keep moving. And we’ll keep finding the partners and platforms that _get_ what we’re trying to do with **Hangry Animals**, a world of games and entertainment that’s fun, fast paced, and full of purpose.

* * *

## R&D progress

We're preparing to reach out to our budding interviewees over the coming month. Over 30 people have opted to be interviewed in a follow-up conversation about gaming, donation habits and how games play a role in households in 2025 and beyond. We're grateful for the enthusiasm and appetite to participate in our research! It makes this 100% worthwhile to be crafting a new kind of experience. Everyone we've spoken to, even those who know nothing about the products or game development, says that this feels unique and very innovative. Our objective now is to validate and iterate this sentiment, in readiness for a clearer product-market fit. To those keen to be more involved, we wil be in touch with dates very soon.

* * *

That’s it for this week. Not the flashiest update… but probably one of the most important ones.

Prefabs

Cleaner code

Stronger foundations

Purpose, always

Thanks for following our journey, I hope you enjoyed your Iced Tea or Lolly! And as always, if you’ve got questions, ideas or want to share some encouragement, come chat with us on [Discord](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@hangryanimals) or [socials.](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@hangryanimals)

Early concept art we developed for the mini game before refactoring the look development

## We want to hear from you!

We are a fledgling early startup brand and are always open to community input and feedback! It's what makes this journey worthwhile, and a major reason for its existence in the first place. So, if you have any suggestions, feature enhancements or wish to connect and support the adventure in meaningful ways, we'd love to hear from you. You can reach out on our socials or join the Discord for an in-depth chat on how things are progressing. If you've just joined us, you can catch up on previous newsletters by visiting our newsletter homepage at [https://paragraph.xyz/@hangryanimals](/content/@hangryanimals/index.html) to see how far we've come. Be sure to tune in next week for another mailer and also look out for Ceris Cwtch feature each month for a deeper behind-the-scenes write-up too! Stay Hangry, folks!

Until next time: stay kind, stay curious, stay Hangry.

**Hangry Andy**

**\*Cover photo courte** s **y of** Lucie Liz: [https://www.pexels.com/photo/flatlay-of-gaming-equipments-3165335/](https://www.pexels.com/photo/flatlay-of-gaming-equipments-3165335/)

\]\]>hangryanimals@newsletter.paragraph.com (Hangry Animals)gameweb3developmentrefactoringanimation