{"id":4696,"date":"2026-02-18T09:31:45","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T13:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/?p=4696"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:52:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T20:52:02","slug":"user-case-study-from-aaa-to-indie-how-she-was-such-a-good-horse-studio-built-into-the-unwell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/user-case-study-from-aaa-to-indie-how-she-was-such-a-good-horse-studio-built-into-the-unwell\/","title":{"rendered":"User Case Study: From AAA to Indie\u2014How She Was Such A Good Horse Studio built Into the Unwell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whole Tomato had a chat with one of the developers of <\/span>Into the Unwell, <\/span><\/i>an upcoming third-person co-op roguelite<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>We had the chance<\/span> to learn more about his journey, the studio, and their upcoming game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before joining <\/span>She Was Such A Good Horse<\/span><\/a> Studio, <\/span>M\u00e5ns Olsson <\/b>spent over a decade in a AAA game development company. He started programming in 2008 at the Game Assembly in Malm\u00f6, Sweden, a school dedicated entirely to making video games. After an internship at Massive Entertainment, M\u00e5ns joined the team full-time and spent a decade programming there. He then worked at King on Bubble Witch Saga before co-founding his own studio.<\/span><\/p>\n

After years in big studios, M\u00e5ns and a handful of friends felt something was missing. They wanted creative freedom, the kind of collaborative environment where ideas could be tested quickly, and where the game could evolve naturally. The result is She Was Such A Good Horse, a Malm\u00f6-based indie studio with big ambitions and a small, passionate team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their first project, <\/span>Into the Unwell<\/b><\/a>, shows that even a small group of developers can create something polished and unique. The game\u2019s charm comes not just from its gameplay, but from the personalities of the people behind it, their iterative process, and the way they bring art and story together in every pixel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Into the Unwell poster.<\/p><\/div>\n

From AAA Studios to Indie \u2014 Why We Started Our Own<\/b><\/h2>\n

M\u00e5ns explains that the transition from AAA to indie wasn\u2019t planned overnight. <\/span>\u201cSome friends came, and they asked me if I wanted to join and start our own game studio,\u201d<\/span><\/i> he says. <\/span>\u201cWe were five people who founded the studio.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

After years of following strict production schedules, M\u00e5ns and his co-founders wanted a different approach, one where creativity wasn\u2019t bound by rigid milestones and where the team could explore what felt fun first. M\u00e5ns adds, \u201c<\/span>We always have it playable. That way we can test all the things. We\u2019re not that much of a paper design studio.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

This combination of experience and experimentation is what defines She Was Such A Good Horse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Team, the Roles, and the Horses<\/b><\/h2>\n

Starting with just five people, the studio has grown to ten. Each member brings a unique skill set. <\/span>\u201cWe are three programmers. Then we have one designer, one technical artist, one animator, and then one, I would say, technical designer. Then we have a character artist. Did I miss anything?\u201d<\/span><\/i> M\u00e5ns lists.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked if he wanted to give a shout-out to anyone specifically, M\u00e5ns says, <\/span>\u201cI love my team and they\u2019re super nice […] All the horses* made this happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

(*What they call their team members)<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The studio\u2019s playful name fits this spirit. M\u00e5ns admits,<\/span> \u201cIt was something like it was so hard to find a name. And then we have one person who wants to stand out. I\u2019m not sure how he found his name, but it\u2019s quite long. And whenever we say it, people always react. It\u2019s more like people will remember it.\u201d <\/span><\/i>He adds a personal anecdote, <\/span>\u201cI have kids, and they go to their daycare, and they ask me, like, what company do you work for? And I have to say this, and they have no clue what gaming is.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Making Into the Unwell: Rubber Hose, Roguelite, and Mental Health<\/b><\/h2>\n

Into the Unwell immediately grabs attention with its rubber hose animation style. <\/span>Felix<\/b>, the studio\u2019s art director, brought his love for old Disney cartoons into 3D. <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s called rubber hose animation. Basically, where the hands and everything stretch a bit. So that\u2019s what he wanted to bring into 3D,\u201d <\/span><\/i>M\u00e5ns explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Early look at Into the Unwell gameplay. From Steam.<\/p><\/div>\n

Gameplay draws inspiration from roguelites like Hades but adds an extra layer of fun with multiplayer. <\/span>\u201cWhen you complete something, you go back, and then you can upgrade things in the village, and then you start a new run, and you meet new bosses,\u201d <\/span><\/i>M\u00e5ns says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Humor and storytelling are integral too. <\/span>\u201cNow we have some weird characters. Someone who resembles [a popular tech CEO], for example, but it\u2019s not his name. So I wonder if people will see it,<\/span><\/i>\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

Development at She Was Such A Good Horse is fast-moving and collaborative.<\/span> \u201cWe made a prototype. And that was the start of the game. And we sold that to a publisher. And then we just kept working on that. So we always have it playable. That\u2019s a big thing for us, to always have it playable, so we can test all the things. We\u2019re not that much of a paper design studio. <\/span><\/i>We\u2019re more of a try it, and if you like it, we keep it<\/i><\/b>,<\/span><\/i>\u201d M\u00e5ns explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playtesting happens every two weeks. <\/span>\u201cWe invite the publisher and everyone who wants to try it, and we play together using Discord. We write down all the feedback we have in the end, and then we work on that feedback for the next two weeks,<\/span><\/i>\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Surviving thousands of lines of Unreal code<\/b><\/h2>\n

Even a small team faces technical challenges. <\/span>Unreal Engine<\/span><\/a> projects can balloon to hundreds of thousands of files. <\/span>\u201cIt is quite a lot, though. Even if I don\u2019t do any code every day, there is code maybe every other day. But it\u2019s mostly like if I want to know what a function does, for example, then I always use Visual Assist. Unreal Engine has 350,000 files. It\u2019s quite easy to use Visual Assist instead of something else, or there isn\u2019t anything else that could compare to it,\u201d <\/span><\/i>M\u00e5ns says.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Blueprints handle most of the scripting, the underlying C++ systems, like multiplayer functionality, base systems, and initial prototypes, still rely on heavy coding.<\/span><\/p>\n

How Visual Assist helped jumpstart development<\/b><\/h2>\n

Visual Assist<\/span><\/a>, supports the team quietly especially in the early days of development. M\u00e5ns first encountered it at Massive in 2010. <\/span>\u201cWhen I joined Massive, they told me basically, you have to have this because it\u2019s a big project and you won\u2019t find anything if you don\u2019t have it,\u201d<\/span><\/i> he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even new team members are starting to adopt it. <\/span>\u201cThe one that started recently, he was new to Visual Assist, but he\u2019s starting to use it more, actually,\u201d<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now that they\u2019re closer to release, M\u00e5ns shared that they are more on using Blueprints heavily so their usage of VA is somewhat less than their early development days which was C++-heavy. But even then M\u00e5ns reports that it is still crucial with navigation, symbol searching, and understanding Blueprint nodes via C++.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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The best way to find files in hundred-file gaming projects<\/h2>\r\n\t

Try Visual Assist. Get a smart C++ assistant that understands what you\u2019re doing and adds smart navigation, refactoring, auto-completion, and code analysis features<\/h4>\r\n\t
\r\n\t\tLearn more<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Toward Beta and Beyond: All the Horses<\/b><\/h2>\n

With Into the Unwell moving toward early access, M\u00e5ns and the team are excited to share the world they\u2019ve built. Playtesting continues, bugs are being squashed, and the team is preparing for wider release.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like the art style and the humor. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve read any of the [in-game] jokes yet because I was looking at the trailer and the screenshots. But yeah, that\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For players and developers, the studio encourages checking out the trailer and wishlist on Steam, and they will soon be inviting players to join the playtest. This is a story about passion, creativity, and collaboration\u2014and the people, the horses, who made Into the Unwell possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Have your own story you want to share? Send us an email<\/a> about you and your gaming project and be the next features Visual Assist user on our blog!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whole Tomato had a chat with one of the developers of Into the Unwell, an upcoming third-person co-op roguelite. We had the chance to learn more about his journey, the studio, and their upcoming game….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213500340,"featured_media":4712,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[726360007],"tags":[2426,726360594,726360592,726360033,726359943,726359942,726359797],"class_list":["post-4696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-success-story","tag-c","tag-case-study","tag-developer","tag-development","tag-engine","tag-game","tag-unreal"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wholetomato.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Into-the-Unwell.png?fit=1200%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpLS4-1dK","aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t