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Solo developer Brian "Burgee" of Burgee Media had made games for years, but only casually, and he still wanted to make one specific game. After several attempts in multiple game engines, his idea finally manifested last year as Erenshor, a single-player RPG that's meant to feel like a classical MMO, complete with simulated players and guilds. A year after Erenshor's Steam early access launch, Burgee tells me the game has done more for his life than he ever expected.
With 1,941 Steam user reviews averaging 94% positive and just over 80,000 copies sold while still in Early Access, Erenshor is a resounding success – the kind of game that can sustain a studio for a while, and especially a one-man operation.
"It started as this nights-and-weekends project that was generating some buzz and then almost overnight it changed my life for the better in every way," Burgee recalls. Compared to his previous career, "I get a ton more time with my kids during summer break, I can flex my work schedule for family events, and I can really take time to engage with the Erenshor community properly."
Erenshor wasn't Burgee's first Steam release, but it was his first RPG, and his first success. His previous games were cheap or free, and much smaller, released two or three years apart – a 2D shooter, then a roguelite, and finally a math puzzle game. None of them got much attention at all, which is extremely common on Steam and among new developers. After his third game, with some experience under his belt, Burgee spent years pouring whatever time he could spare – after shifts at his day job – into Erenshor. Even with some distance from a successful launch, part of him is still afraid to just let the game sit, worrying that what comes easily may leave just as easily.
"For the first year, it was really tough to put it down sometimes," he says. "I have this sort of irrational fear that it's all going to just go away if I don't give it my constant attention. My new juggling act has been being able to put it out of mind and unplug, but it can be hard when my 'office' is 10 feet from the couch. It's been a learning process though and I'm getting better at carving out downtime for myself."
"Working full time on games was this seemingly unattainable dream I had for my entire adult life, and now here I am doing it," he continues. "I can't imagine anything else at this point."
Erenshor's Steam description says it will leave early access and hit 1.0 sometime in 2027. After a year of live development, Burgee says the community that's sprung up around the game has enabled a much better vision for 1.0.
"Man, I am so lucky in every way with how Erenshor's EA launch has gone so far," he says. "The game has attracted this absolutely incredible community who roots for it probably as hard as I do."
Throughout early access, Erenshor players have reported bugs, made mods, and volunteered "to test content," and filled out a wiki. By every metric, Burgee says he struck gold, which helps take the edge off running this show alone.
"Year 1 sales vs wishlists, review score, attention from gaming media, and community involvement - I did a ton of research on 'what to expect from an EA launch' and every bit of it exceeded my launch day predictions by a pretty wide margin," he observes.
"The game is heading to a way better place for 1.0 than it would have been had I worked on it in isolation until it was 'done'. Early access let me take this solo project and put it in the hands of the community for their guidance, and with their input I've been able to make what is, simply put, a better game than I would have made alone."
