Today I want to tell you about some of the different things that have inspired My Beautiful Paper Smile, and what helped shape what it is today. After all, every game takes inspiration from existing media, even if the creators aren’t consciously aware of it. While working on this game, I’ve tried to avoid as many major influences from external sources as possible to keep everything unique, but inevitably there have been some other things that have dictated the path of My Beautiful Paper Smile.

When making a video game, the first thing people will try is to make comparisons to other video games. Believe it or not, so did I! The idea of creating a game that had a new art style came from games like Cuphead, Limbo, Sally Face, and other games that use untraditional visuals and are all gorgeous and recognisable. I knew it would be important for me to have a design that people could see, and instantly know what game they’re looking at.

I also loved the extra depth that games like Five Nights at Freddy’s, Doki Doki Literature Club, and Petscop (while not a real game, it was still a big influence) give to telling their story, and give extra insight through hidden meta puzzles. Not that there are any of those in MBPS to look for. ;)

In a previous blog post about My Beautiful Paper Smile’s origin, I talked about how I found an old picture I had drawn of a creepy, stylized goat. This picture was monumental in shaping the majority of the game. If not for that one picture, MBPS would be a very different experience; both to make and to play. It was creepy, it smiled, and it was artistic, making it the perfect anchor for my game. I started asking myself questions about the picture, and the answers made up the concept and storyline of the game.

Out of that initial concepting stage of development, I struck on the theme of smiling, and emotions. This also became a big player in how the game works. The idea of objectifying different emotions, and making characters with the intent that they would relay a specific feeling on players was crucial to the disturbing atmosphere.

I found myself looking at lots of John Kenn drawings in the early phases of My Beautiful Paper Smile’s development. If you like cool creepy stuff, you need to look him up. There are also a lot of distorted biblical references in the game that give some characters “cult-like” intentions and backgrounds. I also liked the barebones, rugged feeling of old arcade games, so I was originally going to make MBPS a 2D, top down game. However, when I started putting things together in Unreal, I found that I could mix the 2D and 3D objects to make extremely vivid scenes. This is what spawned the 2.5D perspective I use. Many of the other rugged design decisions like the fixed camera and sound design remain though, giving a healthy blend of modern and retro gaming.

Those are the major things that have helped inspire My Beautiful Paper Smile! Hopefully that was at least a little bit interesting, and gets you hyped about the game.

Until next time! Keep smiling :)

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Welcome to “Game developer rants about the most challenging and most rewarding moments when working on My Beautiful Paper Smile”. Throughout the creation of any game, there are times that make you feel like the greatest game developer of all time, and times when you want to quit altogether. It can occasionally feel like there’s no inbetween, and that all your effort is for nothing, but at the end of the day, I know this is what I want to be doing. So, here are my top two challenging, and rewarding times, during the development of MBPS.



Fixing bugs… is really… really… fun (sarcasm). Fixing bugs and making other improvements is one of the most important things to do when making a game. If you have mechanics that are a little bit off, or menus that don’t work quite how you’d expect, people will notice. It’s super important to get as many corners of a game polished as possible. The saddest reality is, the bigger the game, the less you can get away with.


Every time you finish a large section of gameplay, it feels great. You get to look at a unique environment, with fresh animations, and see exciting new story developments in action. It’s awesome to have something new in front of yourself. Try sitting in front of the same 5 minute slice of a game for three months (I guess that could be “Challenging Moment #1.5”). As much as I love this game, it’s a huge breath of fresh air whenever I finish one part of it and get to move onto another.


After the initial high of finishing a section of gameplay, there comes another hurdle; sitting still long enough to write out a comprehensive plan for the next section of gameplay. Sometimes it’s a part of the game I’ve been thinking about a lot lately, and I already have an idea of how everything will work, but most of the time I still have lots of fine details to figure out. For example, right now I could be planning out a very big, important, scary part of My Beautiful Paper Smile, but because it’s big and scary, I’m procrastinating by writing this devlog. Seriously, I don’t need this thing ready for another week.

I think the most rewarding thing about creating My Beautiful Paper Smile is seeing people get really into it. Watching YouTubers and streamers get excited about it, and seeing the awesome fan-art you guys have made has been amazing. I saw a comment on a let’s play video of the game, that was basically a page-long sociological analysis of the game. It’s really cool seeing people theorizing on the lore and different characters, and I can’t wait for the game to release so you can get even more stuff to chew on!



That’s all I’m going to put into today's devlog. Hopefully that gives you a better understanding of how this process works, and what it’s like to work on a game like this.

Until next time! Keep smiling :)



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Today I want to talk about something a little bit different. It’s not directly related to My Beautiful Paper Smile, but it definitely has an affect on it. I’m going to talk about why you should support indie games.

From the dawn of the video game industry, indie games have been here. Many of the original indie game developers went on to start their own companies, which created many of the current AAA behemoths that we see in gaming today. Games like Pong and Tetris were created by a single person each, and are now hailed as some of the forefathers of video games today.

In recent years, solo and small teams of people create thousands of games a year. The indie market has seen some highs, and lows, and is currently in a pretty consistent state. People are learning to adapt to changes in the industry, and coming to terms with the new business models necessary to successfully launch a game. And this is where the rest of the world comes in.

Without the massive audience that indies have produced, it’d be a lot less fun for your local neighborhood geeks to make games in their home office. People are constantly searching for the next cool, funny, or bizarre game; and if we’re gonna keep making crazy games, we need crazy people to play them!


AAA games are pretty awesome, but they often lack the flavor that indies have. When you’re a massive company, pouring millions of dollars into every game you make, you need to make sure you can recoup your costs with as low of a risk as possible. This leads to most large studios creating many sequels, and using the same formula to create their games. Which isn’t entirely a bad thing. We all need some high-quality, action-packed shooters and open-world games. But in the same way that eating pizza gets old after a few days, so do those awesome AAA games. Gotta throw some burgers and fries into our meal plan!

The thing about indie games that makes them special is that their developers can create whatever they want, however they want. This leads to indie development being a high-risk business, but in turn allows an incredible payoff for those who can utilize this strength, and deliver an amazing, one of a kind experience to players. These games are the burgers and fries of the industry, and the biggest reason to support them.

If you see someone thinking outside of the box, and doing something unique, they probably put a lot of effort in to get there. When a developer makes something that people really believe in and get a lot of support, it allows them to continue sharing their creativity, and gives us all more amazing experiences. Almost every game I own is either made by one person or a small team of amazingly talented individuals, who love creating art for people to enjoy. If not for the players that make up the majority of the indie gaming community, this wouldn’t be possible at all.

Thanks everyone for reading my rant on indie games, and remember, keep smiling :)


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Hey everyone!

You’re reading the latest devlog for our upcoming horror game My Beautiful Paper Smile! Today I want to tell you the story of how MBPS came to be, and what inspired it’s style and creation. Let’s dive in!

First I’m going to give you a quick background regarding where I came from before the development of My Beautiful Paper Smile. I began learning game development in late 2013, and spent about a year making and abandoning small test projects. In 2014 I learned to use Unreal Engine 4 and soon began iPhone development. I released a few small games on the Apple App Store, before moving back to PC development. I spent a few more years making other small projects while trying to sharpen my skills in preparation for a larger project. Up until then, game development had been nothing more than a hobby that I enjoyed when time allowed. I knew I wanted to do indie game development full-time though, and to do this I felt I needed to make something big.

I began developing a first-person horror game about a woman who sails to a seemingly abandoned island, where spooky scary things happen, in an attempt to find her dead sister. After a few weeks, I realized that while this game might be cool, it wouldn’t be different enough to attract any attention, and on top of that, it wasn’t as personal as I wanted a long term project to be. I wanted to make something that people could love, and that I was also passionate about. I scrapped said game and spent months trying to come up with an idea for a horror game that would be as unique and different as possible. All I knew was that the idea should have lots of masks, and a new art style.

You’d be surprised how difficult it is to make something that looks new and different! I spent months trying different styles, pondering what might look cool. One day, I was cleaning out some boxes, and going through piles of notes. I found one page that was full of scribbled drawings I had made. There was one drawing in particular that caught my eye. It was of a creepy little goat character.



I decided I could make a game that looked like this cute little goat. So I did! I began crafting a story around this drawing. I took the goats gruesome smile, and made it a primary part of this new world. What if this society values happiness above everything else? What would happen if happiness was mandatory? And how would this shape the citizens of said society? And thus My Beautiful Paper Smile was born. It explores my take on an extremist world where you need to put on a happy face, no matter what.

I hope this gives you a little better insight into how the game was conceptualized and gets you more excited to see more as we continue this journey!

Thanks everyone! Keep smiling :)

You’re reading the third devlog for our upcoming game My Beautiful Paper Smile! Today, we’ll be stepping into the second chapter of the game, which is currently under development. Hopefully this will be a decent topic for this devlog! While, we’re still making improvements to the first chapter of the game, to prepare it for release early next year, we’re also trying to get a head start on the new content that’ll be coming a bit later.

The second chapter will take place in an expansive forest, full of interesting new characters, and enemies. You’ll need to safely navigate dark winding paths and avoid conflict with the creatures that lurk in the shadows. What I’ll be showing you today is some of the environment art I’ve been doing.


This, my friends, is a cabin. However you may notice that it’s a spooky cabin. And you’ll ALSO notice that there’s a fire in front of it. If you noticed all these things, then congratulations, you’re not blind! But more importantly, this screenshot is part of chapter 2’s environment (as are the rest of these pictures).


And here we see our hero interacting with some strange, mechanical contraption. I wonder what it does?


And then there’s this place. Not sure what to make of it, but I guess it’s supposed to be scary? Scream if you agree!


And the last picture that I have for you all is this picture of a structure, placed in the middle of the forest. Why is it here? What is it for? Who built it? So many unanswered questions!


And one last thing, which is a GIF, rather than a picture. And since a GIF is worth much more than a thousand words, I’ll just leave this here and let it do the talking (or screaming, or whispering etc.).

Well, that’s about it for today, folks! Thanks for coming to my show and tell, and I hope this gets you looking forward to what's coming next (I know I'm excited!).

Until next time! Keep Smiling :)

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the second devlog for our upcoming game, My Beautiful Paper Smile!

Today I wanted to tell you a little bit about some of the new features, and mechanics that have been added to the game recently. So, let me set the stage. It all began one fateful evening, after a new batch of testers had played the game (by the way, you can join the Discord server and request access to the game as a beta tester right now!), which means plenty of bugs would need squashing, and plenty of changes would need to be made. But most notably we got some comments about a few dull stretches in the game, that needed some spicing up!



Meet Security Camera Sam! That’s not actually his name, but it sounded better than just a plain old camera. In any case, I’ve added these guys around the whole facility to keep an eye on you at all times. They add a whole new layer of gameplay to the experience, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the result.

When sneaking around The Facility, these high-tech cameras will look around, constantly searching for intruders, or other threats. They record everything, but are especially sensitive to light. If they spot any bright shiny objects waltzing through the halls, they’ll pick up on it. If you don’t get out of the way, or you are spotted enough, an alarm will trip, alerting the Authorities of a disturbance. Unfortunately though, to save on power expenses, the Authorities keep most of the lights off, requiring you to use your own light to see. So, you need to be extra careful of the cameras! If you spot one, you’ll either need to turn off your light, or try your best to stay out of their sight.





So there you have it! Sam the cam will be watching your every move; if you’re careless, and don’t stay in the shadows. I really like how they work, and love the new gameplay element that they add. It’s one of the biggest additions we’ve made, and I think you’ll be glad we added it!

Also if you haven't had a chance to join our community, you are more than welcome to apply for beta testing or to share your feedback and ideas. Join us in Discord!

Join us on Discord!

Until next time! Smile :)

I’ll be writing out devlogs like this to give you a front-row seat of what has gone into the creation of this game, and what will happen to it in the future. Being the first devlog, it seems only appropriate to introduce you to the main characters you’ll meet in-game, and the world they live in. I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on!


These are the Joyous. They are children who are raised in large facilities and taught to be perfect by the Authorities (more on them later). Everyday they undergo various tests, and endure various forms of training that will ensure they are always smiling. If they are sad, frowning, or afraid, they have given up their perfection, and are regarded as defective and useless. Throughout the game, you’ll follow the story of one of the Joyous, who decide to walk a different path and try their hand at breaking their way out from the Facility.


And these are the Authorities that I mentioned! They facilitate the education, and wellbeing of The Joyous. They teach them the art of perfection, and how to smile. They are always there to help protect you from fear, and sadness. But, if you disobey them, or fail to follow their teachings, there will be consequences. When it comes time to attempt an escape, they may become your greatest obstacle.


As I said, you play as one of the Joyous. You have been held captive in The Facility for as long as you can remember, but know that there has to be more to the world than just the same brick walls that have surrounded you for your whole life. Your cellmate agrees, and the two of you constantly look for some opportunity to sneak past the Authorities, and maybe get a glimpse of the outside world, or even escape.

During your exploration, there are a variety of things you may encounter after a strange entity helps you escape your cell. You’ll need to stick to the shadows and be cautious as you snoop around halls and rooms that you’ve never seen before. Find various items that will help you along the way, and don’t get caught outside your cell. Hopefully, you don’t, but maybe you do; no spoilers here, after all.

Well, there you have it. An introduction to the wonderful world of My Beautiful Paper Smile! I’m excited to share more as time goes on, and hopefully, you’ll stick around to see what’s in store for the game.

Until next time! Don’t forget to smile :)