Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
@malicedafirenze.bsky.social
Horse Game Consultant. Game Designer, Producer, Writer. Creator of @themanequest.com and doing marketing at @okomotive.ch and @thoglistudios.com
Based in Zurich, Switzerland http://aliceruppert.ch/ (she/her)
Based in Zurich, Switzerland http://aliceruppert.ch/ (she/her)
Pinned
✨NEW VIDEO ✨ Horse Games – History of a Neglected Genre and its Untapped Potential – Talk from Devcom 2024
Many thanks to @devcom.bsky.social 💕
www.themanequest.com/blog/2024/12...
Many thanks to @devcom.bsky.social 💕
www.themanequest.com/blog/2024/12...
Horse Games – History of a Neglected Genre and its Untapped Potential – Talk from Devcom 2024 — The Mane Quest
I was a speaker at Devcom 2024 in Cologne, giving a presentation on my horse game work. The recorded talk is now available on YouTube!
www.themanequest.com
HEY SO my horse game talk from devcom is now available to watch on YouTube and you should definitely watch it because several people told me it was their favorite talk of the whole conference and NOW IT CAN BE YOURS TOO 😇😇
I'll be at the Swiss Game Hub Testing Night with Horses of Hoofprint Bay this Wednesday, in case anyone's nearby and wants to give it a try already :)
store.steampowered.com/app/3727090/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3727090/...
Horses of Hoofprint Bay on Steam
Horses of Hoofprint Bay is a lovingly hand-drawn 2D point and click barn buildup game. Take care of your horses, train them to build up their strength and confidence, and compete for prize money! Bree...
store.steampowered.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:02 PM
I'll be at the Swiss Game Hub Testing Night with Horses of Hoofprint Bay this Wednesday, in case anyone's nearby and wants to give it a try already :)
store.steampowered.com/app/3727090/...
store.steampowered.com/app/3727090/...
Great question, but no I'm nowhere near as diligent and algorithmically optimized about it as that. What I mean by "consistent" is just that you don't stop entirely as soon as your initial posts don't get a ton of attention yet. I've definitely gone days and weeks without posting on some platforms.
Ok, question about the “consistent effort” part: there are so many people out there that say you need to post X times a day and at Y o’clock to best appeal to The Almighty Algorithm. Have you found that to be true, or by “consistent” do you just mean daily, or don’t leave any big gaps, or…?
November 24, 2025 at 7:51 AM
Great question, but no I'm nowhere near as diligent and algorithmically optimized about it as that. What I mean by "consistent" is just that you don't stop entirely as soon as your initial posts don't get a ton of attention yet. I've definitely gone days and weeks without posting on some platforms.
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
I still remember playing My Horse Farm (aka Mein Pferdehof) way back when. Lovely to see that same childhood magic in Horses of Hoofprint Bay's trailer. 🐴💕 #indiegames
sometimes the creators of your childhood favorite games refuse to re-release or remaster their 20yo game despite it being a massive success at the time and you just have to take matters into your own hand 😌
November 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM
I still remember playing My Horse Farm (aka Mein Pferdehof) way back when. Lovely to see that same childhood magic in Horses of Hoofprint Bay's trailer. 🐴💕 #indiegames
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
BTW you don't need to already be an expert in something to start building community for it. I've been exposed to SO MUCH more horse knowledge since starting TMQ and its communities than ever before.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
I'm literally giving y'all the blueprints for how to build community around ANYTHING you are interested in, all it takes is a consistent bit of effort, and I get dismissed with this implication that I somehow got lucky or like "hah, I wish I was as passionate about anything" dude that's YOUR choice
November 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
BTW you don't need to already be an expert in something to start building community for it. I've been exposed to SO MUCH more horse knowledge since starting TMQ and its communities than ever before.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
just sayin I can REALLY recommend doing a re-imagining of a classic horse game as your next project too:
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
November 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM
just sayin I can REALLY recommend doing a re-imagining of a classic horse game as your next project too:
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
Guys. GUYS.
It's a *Shakespeare RPG*.
What the heck is wrong with you!? This should be selling a bajillion copies!!
Genuinely stunned to hear it sold poorly!
It's a *Shakespeare RPG*.
What the heck is wrong with you!? This should be selling a bajillion copies!!
Genuinely stunned to hear it sold poorly!
This Way Madness Lies is a great game and barely anybody bought it. It should be played by more people. If everybody here on @bsky.app banded together and bought a Steam copy and played it, well, that'd be a miracle and I would be forever grateful.
store.steampowered.com/app/1318970/...
store.steampowered.com/app/1318970/...
November 21, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Guys. GUYS.
It's a *Shakespeare RPG*.
What the heck is wrong with you!? This should be selling a bajillion copies!!
Genuinely stunned to hear it sold poorly!
It's a *Shakespeare RPG*.
What the heck is wrong with you!? This should be selling a bajillion copies!!
Genuinely stunned to hear it sold poorly!
just sayin I can REALLY recommend doing a re-imagining of a classic horse game as your next project too:
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
November 21, 2025 at 10:41 AM
just sayin I can REALLY recommend doing a re-imagining of a classic horse game as your next project too:
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
- you can use my communities to reach your exact audience
- you'll probably find a horse enthusiast artist through TMQ
- probably scope-friendly bc the original was made with duct tape and vibes
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
Jennifer English realizing she's a lesbian and falling in love with one of her mocap directors (Aliona Baranova) over the course of making BG3 and seeing all the queer folks embracing Shadowheart and the impact the game had is genuinely one of the best stories in game production in a long time
Congrats to Jennifer English for winning the Best Lead Performer award at the 2025 #GoldenJoystickAwards!
And her acceptance speech about queer joy was a love letter to @aliona.bsky.social 🥹🌈
And her acceptance speech about queer joy was a love letter to @aliona.bsky.social 🥹🌈
November 21, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Jennifer English realizing she's a lesbian and falling in love with one of her mocap directors (Aliona Baranova) over the course of making BG3 and seeing all the queer folks embracing Shadowheart and the impact the game had is genuinely one of the best stories in game production in a long time
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
I have had people say this to me re:ttrpgs. “Of course your stuff funds/gets awards/etc! You have a big community that supports you!”
THOSE THINGS ARE CONNECTED! Building community is the hardest part of making stuff. It takes constant effort, communication, and emotional capital. It’s not luck.
THOSE THINGS ARE CONNECTED! Building community is the hardest part of making stuff. It takes constant effort, communication, and emotional capital. It’s not luck.
I'm literally giving y'all the blueprints for how to build community around ANYTHING you are interested in, all it takes is a consistent bit of effort, and I get dismissed with this implication that I somehow got lucky or like "hah, I wish I was as passionate about anything" dude that's YOUR choice
November 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
I have had people say this to me re:ttrpgs. “Of course your stuff funds/gets awards/etc! You have a big community that supports you!”
THOSE THINGS ARE CONNECTED! Building community is the hardest part of making stuff. It takes constant effort, communication, and emotional capital. It’s not luck.
THOSE THINGS ARE CONNECTED! Building community is the hardest part of making stuff. It takes constant effort, communication, and emotional capital. It’s not luck.
BTW you don't need to already be an expert in something to start building community for it. I've been exposed to SO MUCH more horse knowledge since starting TMQ and its communities than ever before.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
I'm literally giving y'all the blueprints for how to build community around ANYTHING you are interested in, all it takes is a consistent bit of effort, and I get dismissed with this implication that I somehow got lucky or like "hah, I wish I was as passionate about anything" dude that's YOUR choice
November 20, 2025 at 4:08 PM
BTW you don't need to already be an expert in something to start building community for it. I've been exposed to SO MUCH more horse knowledge since starting TMQ and its communities than ever before.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
It really only takes an interest and a small but consistent effort.
side note there have been a small handful of people over the years within the horse game community that have complained about why I/TMQ is the one "dominant" voice in the genre and how that's annoying, and that pisses me off for the exact same reason: go put in your own goddamn work then
I think that response annoys me because it's never "oh wow you have really been preparing for this" but "well of course this works for you, you already have all these people listening to you" like do you people think I just popped into the world someday with horse game fans swarming around me??
November 20, 2025 at 3:42 PM
side note there have been a small handful of people over the years within the horse game community that have complained about why I/TMQ is the one "dominant" voice in the genre and how that's annoying, and that pisses me off for the exact same reason: go put in your own goddamn work then
Hey uuuuuh @fishingminigames.bsky.social does this count?
You can now WISHLIST my game HEART DRIVE on Steam, a driving 'n' fishing game!
Every wishlist helps 🙏 looking forward to share more about this project over the next year :)
store.steampowered.com/app/4026760/...
Every wishlist helps 🙏 looking forward to share more about this project over the next year :)
store.steampowered.com/app/4026760/...
Heart Drive on Steam
Catch giant fish from the top of your car, upgrade your equipment and uncover the mystery behind the legendary „Heart Drive“. Embark on a journey of action, friendship and letting go, in this fast-pac...
store.steampowered.com
November 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Hey uuuuuh @fishingminigames.bsky.social does this count?
some of the responses in that thread are all "well, so didn't build this from scratch, you had existing community" rather than listening to my actual point that maybe you should also try to build community for things that interest you in games & that you might want to make games about in the future
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
November 20, 2025 at 2:00 PM
some of the responses in that thread are all "well, so didn't build this from scratch, you had existing community" rather than listening to my actual point that maybe you should also try to build community for things that interest you in games & that you might want to make games about in the future
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
November 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
Heading over to Vienna tomorrow to talk about
"Surviving as an Indie Game Studio for 9 Years"
Looking forward to meet lots Austrian devs 🎉
subotron.com/event/strayf...
"Surviving as an Indie Game Studio for 9 Years"
Looking forward to meet lots Austrian devs 🎉
subotron.com/event/strayf...
November 19, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Heading over to Vienna tomorrow to talk about
"Surviving as an Indie Game Studio for 9 Years"
Looking forward to meet lots Austrian devs 🎉
subotron.com/event/strayf...
"Surviving as an Indie Game Studio for 9 Years"
Looking forward to meet lots Austrian devs 🎉
subotron.com/event/strayf...
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
I was starting to write a post here and then it turned into a blog post instead. Riffing off @malicedafirenze.bsky.social's recent good post, to talk about the future of indie games: blog.vbuckenham.com/the-future-o...
The future of indie games
I've followed Alice Ruppert on social media for a while now. She runs a website focused on horse games. I'm not a horse girl! I mean horses are fine, but they're not something I'm mega into. But what ...
blog.vbuckenham.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
I was starting to write a post here and then it turned into a blog post instead. Riffing off @malicedafirenze.bsky.social's recent good post, to talk about the future of indie games: blog.vbuckenham.com/the-future-o...
oh wow thank you so much!!! That's a lovely blog post and I agree that there's lots of "futures" of indie games 💖💖
I was starting to write a post here and then it turned into a blog post instead. Riffing off @malicedafirenze.bsky.social's recent good post, to talk about the future of indie games: blog.vbuckenham.com/the-future-o...
The future of indie games
I've followed Alice Ruppert on social media for a while now. She runs a website focused on horse games. I'm not a horse girl! I mean horses are fine, but they're not something I'm mega into. But what ...
blog.vbuckenham.com
November 19, 2025 at 12:15 PM
oh wow thank you so much!!! That's a lovely blog post and I agree that there's lots of "futures" of indie games 💖💖
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
November 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
good news I have done the thing! Please head over to reddit if you'd like to partake in my oversharing of gamedev insights!
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/co...
inside me there are two wolves
one of them says "oh cool, the post I made on Saturday had a huge impact! Nice!"
the other says "why is that curve dropping SO FAST are you not capitalizing on your traction why haven't you posted a new video since what are you DOING even"
They're weird wolves.
one of them says "oh cool, the post I made on Saturday had a huge impact! Nice!"
the other says "why is that curve dropping SO FAST are you not capitalizing on your traction why haven't you posted a new video since what are you DOING even"
They're weird wolves.
November 19, 2025 at 10:40 AM
inside me there are two wolves
one of them says "oh cool, the post I made on Saturday had a huge impact! Nice!"
the other says "why is that curve dropping SO FAST are you not capitalizing on your traction why haven't you posted a new video since what are you DOING even"
They're weird wolves.
one of them says "oh cool, the post I made on Saturday had a huge impact! Nice!"
the other says "why is that curve dropping SO FAST are you not capitalizing on your traction why haven't you posted a new video since what are you DOING even"
They're weird wolves.
Wanna listen to me explain horse care while my cat yells in the background? 260k people on tiktok/insta cannot be wrong about this being worth a watch 😏
November 18, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Wanna listen to me explain horse care while my cat yells in the background? 260k people on tiktok/insta cannot be wrong about this being worth a watch 😏
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
Hey so Anna is the wonderful illustrator and artist behind all the gorgeous Horses of Hoofprint Bay stuff I‘ve been posting and I think some of you should consider supporting her on Patreon for horse game reasons. And for other cute 2d art reasons.
As a celebration of completing my master's degree in Interactive Illustration & Games (the game demo below is my thesis), I'm giving you a special offer until end of this month: up to 80% off 1st month for all Patreon tiers with Code MASTER
You can see the entire backlog and also leave any time! 💚🦄
You can see the entire backlog and also leave any time! 💚🦄
New patreon post: Making of, art book, game design and narrative theory of "The forest game": The Search for the unicorn. 🌲🦄 playable demo and artbook (with lots of theoretical background) available as PDF in both German and English!
www.patreon.com/posts/143573... #indiedev #indiegame
www.patreon.com/posts/143573... #indiedev #indiegame
November 17, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Hey so Anna is the wonderful illustrator and artist behind all the gorgeous Horses of Hoofprint Bay stuff I‘ve been posting and I think some of you should consider supporting her on Patreon for horse game reasons. And for other cute 2d art reasons.
I didn't realize that the announcement of Horses of Hoofprint Bay would make my productivity on any other project completely plummet. Like what do you mean I have other work to do I want to just keep making tiktoks about this game
November 18, 2025 at 1:47 PM
I didn't realize that the announcement of Horses of Hoofprint Bay would make my productivity on any other project completely plummet. Like what do you mean I have other work to do I want to just keep making tiktoks about this game
Reposted by Alice Ruppert 🐴🎮
"I am excited and curious to see the ways in which this game’s success will inevitably shape the future of the horse game niche. I want to live in a world where The Ranch of Rivershine is the start of what Good Horse Games can look like, not the conclusion."
--> you should read my articles btw 😇
--> you should read my articles btw 😇
Review: The Ranch of Rivershine – An Almost Perfect Horse Game and What We can Learn from it — The Mane Quest
I have written about The Ranch of Rivershine on this site on various occasions over the years, but what’s been missing is an actual review of the game. The time for that has definitely come, so let’s ...
www.themanequest.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:13 AM
"I am excited and curious to see the ways in which this game’s success will inevitably shape the future of the horse game niche. I want to live in a world where The Ranch of Rivershine is the start of what Good Horse Games can look like, not the conclusion."
--> you should read my articles btw 😇
--> you should read my articles btw 😇
ooh, fun question that might not make it into my reddit post but I can answer it here: I REALLY like bluesky as a platform, it replaces what used to be gamedev twitter for me.
That being said, it hasn't *specifically* driven a ton of opportunity for Horses of Hoofprint Bay yet
That being said, it hasn't *specifically* driven a ton of opportunity for Horses of Hoofprint Bay yet
How much is Bluesky driving the growth? It would be awesome if this app could be used to build a network to support indie developers
November 18, 2025 at 10:56 AM
ooh, fun question that might not make it into my reddit post but I can answer it here: I REALLY like bluesky as a platform, it replaces what used to be gamedev twitter for me.
That being said, it hasn't *specifically* driven a ton of opportunity for Horses of Hoofprint Bay yet
That being said, it hasn't *specifically* driven a ton of opportunity for Horses of Hoofprint Bay yet
good morning, we've just cracked 6k Wishlists within less than 3 weeks of announcing our game through nothing but organic exposure 🥰
November 18, 2025 at 8:33 AM
good morning, we've just cracked 6k Wishlists within less than 3 weeks of announcing our game through nothing but organic exposure 🥰