The W H O and H O W
Who is behind the development of Horse Legacy, what's their experience and what are the current projections for The Game's Development?
Horse Legacy is an artistic rendition of the silent language between horses and people. Your choices relived, irrevocable; their history visioned, a teacher. Immersed in a explorative, adrenaline-packed adventure, the first touch is the origin story.
Hello, my name is Abby! Like many, as a born horse-lover I can confirm to have heard about every single horse game. A love molded into a passion to create what has yet to exist. As an emerging game developer and artist, with Horse Legacy as my debut title, I'd love to share with you my journey!
Horse Legacy has been in an out of development since 2017, with The Name finalized on May 9th, 2017!
If you aren't open to flipping through pages, below is a refined—blunt explanation. For elaboration you know where to look: ‘the book’ awaiting.
The Quick Summary
→ My Personal Experience
The languages of programming
C++ and Luau; Javascript, HTML, and CSS since before 2020 haven't been revisited.
The experience in softwares
Blender, CozyBlanket, Visual Studio Code & Visual Studio, Figma, Linearity, Procreate, Milanote, Mailchimp
The experience of game engines
Unreal Engine 5 and Roblox Studio; opened GameMaker and Unity.
The experience from . . .
Front-end web development
Sculpting, doing the topology, and quickly animating a horse model.
Regarding animation, young, along with watching and reading, The Animation Course—as a Visual Art Student at Perpich - Center for Arts Education—assisted in the animation process for the horse model.
Having created the logos, thumbnails, and anything related to Horse Legacy¹—no AI
The portion of the recorded, dependable learning resources . . .
Brilliant, W3Schools, Game Developer Conference, Youtubers², Online Documentations³, Deepseek .
→ Stages of Horse Legacy
The Research and Conceptualization
Throughout the years prior of 2022 . . .
Important Note 1:
I'm trying to steer away from a sob story, others have had it worse then me, but the events that occured delayed Horse Legacy's progress; 7 years of development either stopped or production reduced to just dreaming, writing down concepts and filling my brain with useful pieces of information.
Important Note 2:
Created first website design for Horse Legacy.
Important Note 3:
After scribbling ‘What is Horse Legacy’ as the flowery header in 2017, I was convinced I was ready to get right into it. MMORPG, bond with your own pegasus and build anything you can imagine!
That first concept, well that story is for another time—that story explaining a reason aside from subconsciously being drawn away from MMORPGs. Horse Legacy tried to be condensed into GameMaker, Unreal Engine 5, Unity, and C++. Each attempt period lasting little less then a month: limited access to the required device due to life events the cause of progression being hampered.
Important Note 4:
Through researching, I proved I wasn't a horse know-it-all, something that was hard to accept. Milanote the useful tool to record everything that I end up including in Horse Legacy.
In addition, Stacy Westfall and Alycia Burton, are of some of the people that will be communicated with to further make Horse Legacy an immersive experience.
The Experimentation and Prototyping
Toward the beginning of 2024 . . .
Programmed a mini prototype on real-time herd generation, using C++. This roughly simulated the formations of bands over long periods of time and daily life patterns. Added later will be a deeper dive on what was achieved here.
In the beginning of 2025 . . .
The Concept for Horse Legacy confirmed after discarding or revising the bajillion.⁴ Prepping for another Prototype, The Horse Model, started before 2022, finished in 2025, topology done in CozyBlanket and Blender, and animated in Roblox Studio⁵.
In 17 days . . .
A prototype built answering the few questions that could only be answered through experimentation and visual feedback. Added later will be a deeper dive into what was accomplished.
You can play Horse Legacy's prototype here.
The Life Event: Game Development switched to Promoting
Leading up to March 21st, 2025 . . .
Passion, a red, hot ball of flame, the concept long been solidified, a prototype released, my workflow understood. The excitement brewing for the moment where C++ would take full reign, for bringing what's on paper to life.
Life event.
Seeing the end where I wouldn't be able to resume development, instead of using the time to further program I decided to be here. Hello.
March 21st, 2025 is the start point where I began to learn everything I could to promote Horse legacy.⁶
After Mar 21st and during that timespan of 3 months . . .
I settled on the brand colors, logo, and icon for Horse Legacy. The Press Kit finished, and, while temporarily hating writing, descriptions for the game in all lengths devised; if I thought I understood The Game before, I sure as well do now.
The Future
Scratching making The Game immediately in a new Engine⁷, following the success of The Crowdfunding Campaign, the attained resources⁸ will be used to continue production of Horse Legacy. Subject to change, below is a projection for the future.
The Trailer Prototype
Eliminating any questions to pop up during development; a reference point to future team members and to the public.
→All of Kickstarters rewards will be simultaneously worked upon.
In Roblox Studio, the vertical slice
While towards completion, partially work in the new engine, progressing with the real vision of Horse Legacy. In addition, if there's time, topping off with any projects to add to my portfolio: something additional to later present.
→ Kickstarter rewards will simultaneously be worked upon and released to backers by completed category
Create Trailer for Steam page
Along with the new trailer, content from vertical slice cinematically rendered, Horse Legacy's Steam page will launch.
→Ideally all Reward Categories should be finished and at this point will be simultaneously focused on getting them directly under your eyes.
In the new engine, development resumed of Horse Legacy or The Game's progression so far promoted
Public Release of playable version
A solid roadmap toward The Full Release is desired to be shared during this point of time. The release date for the Full Release roughly estimated and made public.
The vertical slice VS. The Full Release and The Roadmap for the vertical slice is provided at the end of ‘The Book'.
¹ A full list is provided within ‘The Book’. See Chapter 1, 2025, →Mar 21st - May.
² TheCherno and CodeBeauty just to list a couple.
³ Examples included are for programming languages and for any software.
⁴ Horse Legacy has underwent A L O T of versions. Of them being a MMORPG sandbox where you own a pegasus; two an Overwatch twist—you're on the back of pegasi; three, a fantasy horse collection game; four, a game just text-based, ASCII graphics; five, a game that included mechanics from Sky : Children Of Light, a sci-fi evolutionary experience living as the wild horse; Six—the list goes on, glittery in all its glory within Horse Legacy's Journal.
⁵ You can see photos and a deeper explanation in Chapter 1, 2025, →Feburary
⁶ You can see a list in Chapter 1, 2025 →Mar 21st - May
⁷ For a much desired elaboration, please look into Chapter 2, What's the next step then?
⁸ In order to resume production as quickly as possible, the required devices and workspace will be re-secured. For a little more context, see Chapter 2, What's the next step then?
Chapter 1 : My Experience in chronological order
I'm trying to steer away from a sob story, others have had it worse then me, but the events that occured delayed Horse Legacy's progress; 7 years of development either stopped or production reduced to just dreaming, writing down concepts and filling my brain with useful pieces of information.
Provided in chronological order, what Horse Legacy has achieved alongside my grown experience has been condensed and provided below.
< 2022
Young, through Brilliant, and other learning resources like W3Schools, Online Documentations, and YouTubers, I've expanded my understanding on various subjects surrounding game development. Throughout, as I touched up on these game engines, I was convinced—only to be proven wrong—that I was ready to begin developing Horse Legacy; these game engines included GameMaker, Unity, Unreal Engine 5, and lastly building what I needed in C++.
During this time, wanting to just produce something . . .
I delved in the world of Front-End Web Development, understanding HTML and CSS and designing Horse Legacy's first website. However as time followed, the language wasn't revisited—favoring attention toward C++ after research.
I also began sculpting The Horse Model! This slapped on skills surrounding the world of 3D modeling, becoming especially familiar with Nomad Sculpt and comfortable with Blender.
Using Milanote, I proved I wasn't a horse know-it-all, something that was hard to accept. The question covering what was missing in realism with horses in games and how can Horse Legacy simulate companionship picked and picked; drove me nuts, along with batteling with what Horse Legacy really was—the name the only anchor.
In addition, aside from recording my research on horses on Milanote, all of the early design concepts for Horse Legacy remain, colorful and glittery, in a physical journal. To get an idea of how big of a scope Horse Legacy dropped from, the first idea was a MMORPG where you bonded with your own pegasus, building your dream… property in the land of Euthoria. That was around 2017.
2022 - 2024
With a deadline, the clock ticking . . .
Around a week I tackled a question on how I would simulate herds in Horse Legacy, how would they populate the land real time? This answer was recieved through a small prototype in C++. With no sand left in the hour glass, the project was shelved, question answered and abandoned was the early concept—complete text-based gameplay with ASCII graphics discarded.
During that week, my C++ experimentations, I learned of the game loop, programmed from scratch to my astonishment after making a comparison to a Youtuber.
2025
→ Feburary
In 17 days, Luau learned and questions answered using Roblox Studio. During that time span . . .
I resumed the production of The Horse Model, learning about topology through trusted learning resources. Using the combination of CozyBlanket—creating the topology from scratch there—and Blender—making any neccessary tweaks—I was ready to export! The rush forcing me to scrap the dream of animating in Blender, and dissect the model for animations in Roblox Studio.
The Animations finished in Roblox Studio are jumping, walking, trotting, and galloping. Taking special attention to raw footage of horses, alongside referring back to time-saving documentations and knowledge acquired from an Animation Course as a student at Perpich, Center of Arts Education.
You can experience the result here, the rushed prototype to just desperately answer questions the showcase. Some of those questions included what would be the default keys, what formula when in movement for the experience and of the mechanics; and what camera formula to elude the player.
You can see the result camera perspective decided on through this clip.
In additionally, provided a library of assets, I grew an understanding of how long it would take for me to block and flesh out a level.
Unlike other horse games, it's envisioned for obstacles to not be placed manually but to be created naturally. Here is an example idea of a fallen tree. 
“Wait, this was here all this time? How can we get over there . . .”
→ March 21st - May
Figma learned and used . . .
To create elements and rewards for The Game's Kickstarter.
To create the linked presentation; informational in explaining Horse Legacy.
To design and create elements of The Game's Website.
To create The Game's Logos
In addition, with the help of Deepseek, I'm learning how to properly market The Game: the definition rewrote numerous times, social medias formed, and first promotional emails sent out with Mailchimp.
Chapter 2 : Now, I'm ready.
Horse Legacy may seem like a big project—props to the marketing—but, without diluting the vision, as a single-player game, and mechanics that with the one, knock three—I could go into depth in how this could compare to a flappy bird game—that's my level of comfortablity.
As an artist, 3D modeling, UI and UX design, level design is a breeze. And whatever I dont know, I know exactly how to learn it.
The concept art, the loading screens--The game is the canvas, and I'm excited to start painting.
Programming? That's the playground I'm even more excited to lose myself in.
Again, I could explain on and on, the fluff endless, the art the words themselves.
The only thing I know Horse Legacy will reach out for is the music and help regarding the business side of things. This will be a path further explored during full development in the new engine. The music roughly tackled earlier following the completion of the vertical slice in Roblox Studio.
Just tell me what you doubt and I'll be happy to reassure you. How to approach the AI? The gameplay? Watching only for behavioral cues, no numbers or bars?
The point is research has been done, and with this trove of knowledge, the questions left to answer require visual feedback.
The solution?
The Trailer Prototype.
Cue the holy music
The Trailer Prototype will knock out any questions that will delay development midst, answering hose questions that require visual feedback, and providing a reference point for the public and any future team members!
What's the next step then?
First it had been desired to continue developing Horse Legacy in a different engine, running away from Roblox Studio.
But considering that the prototype I S on Roblox Studio . . .
Presenting T H A T is better than the reassurance of my mini prototype on real-time herd generation using C++, and spewing how I'm self-taught and learned this from here, read from that and watched from this.
With that in mind, scrapping 6 months of full-time development in the new engine, Horse Legacy will just focus on re-securing the required devices and workspace to resume production. Instead of 6 months it'll just be 3 months.
The Trailer Prototype
Eliminating any questions to pop up during development; a reference point to future team members and to the public
In Roblox Studio, the vertical slice
While towards completion, partially work in the new engine, progressing with the real vision of Horse Legacy. In addition, if there's time, topping off with any projects to add to my portfolio: something additional to later present.
Create Trailer for Steam page
Along with the new trailer, content from vertical slice cinematically rendered, Horse Legacy's Steam page will launch.
In the new engine, development resumed of Horse Legacy or The Game's progression so far promoted
Public Release of playable version
A solid roadmap toward The Full Release is desired to be shared during this point of time. The release date for the Full Release roughly estimated and made public.
The Vertical Slice Expectation
It's projected that about a third of the content in the full release will be showcased in the prototype:
48%ㅤ[ㅤHorseㅤ]
○ㅤAs a foundation for the future, within a certain vicinity they'll be able to discern their surroundings; this includes detecting you, the player.
○ㅤThe current horse model, sculpted personally, is a placeholder and will not be provided mane and tail until a later date.
○ㅤThe main focus is for there to be clear communication between what they're currently feeling and what's being displayed. Ears, posture, to breathing pattern will all be taking into note when conveying body language by just looking at their vessel.
○ㅤOf flight, fight, or freeze, flight will be the first to be realized in reaction to how fast you're moving.
○ㅤWithin a single game session, memory will stay intact: the data being wiped upon exit of game.
○ㅤTo start, the first and only gait will be a walk. The animation will be rough with the idea to be solidified in the future. If there is time, next would be the gallop.
○ㅤOn leveled ground, without any obstacles, they'll be able to navigate to sources of need: food, water, comfort.
○ㅤYou'll find defecation or wallowed areas to be your first notable piece of evidence outside of observing the horse themselves.
28%ㅤ[ㅤGameplay Experienceㅤ]
○ㅤWith a layout for non-linear progression, the map of Euthoria, the routes and areas within, will be blocked out with geometric shapes. There will be no assets.
33%ㅤ[ㅤVisualsㅤ]
○ㅤOnly the color theme will be applied to the gameplay experience. There will be no assets.
24%ㅤ[ㅤDimensionㅤ]
○ㅤPartial of the dream experience at night will be activated.
33% ㅤ[ㅤFeeling of Immersionㅤ]
○ㅤOutside of tackling basic player maneuverability in Euthoria, you'll get a simple taste of the first mechanics for interacting with the horses and the world.
The 6-Month Roadmap
Condensed into flowery, comprehensible text. Never. Again. A statement sure to be challenged when it comes to the roadmap for the full release. Maybe I'll just ask someone to write it for me . . .
First Month: The Trailer Prototype
During the creation of the trailer in the first month, designs will be sifted through. These would range from the UX design of entering and leaving dimensions and how it would look and feel, Euthoria’s layout for non-linear progression, to the extent and limits of body language and gestures for the player. In addition, following the confirmation of whether I’ll be using an engine or just coding what I need to build Horse Legacy, the trailer will become a reference point during development, for the public, and for any future team members.
Second Month: The Foundation of The Horse — The Mind
Coming into the second month we’ll first take a step into the horse’s mind, the foundation. From their memory to capturing the ability to see through their eyes, to experience what they'd feel; The Dimension. Simultaneously the space will be abyssal no more, providing minimal visual feedback to test what's needed.
Third Month: Building Euthoria and The Horses own navigational system
Onto the third month, the second quarter in the upbringing of the horse, we'll focus on their ability to discern their surroundings, to appreciate the land that'll grow to not be just a space, but a step closer to the haven Euthoria ought to be; blocking out non-linear progression and sources for the horse's survival.
Fourth Month: Horse reactions and Their Trace in The Environment
They're able to recognize the world, but what of the other way around? Detection, but what of reaction? In the fourth month the trace they’ll leave behind will be remembered, and their body language and fight, flight, or freeze will be realized.
Fifth Month: The final step toward their awakening
Throughout the fifth month, whilst ensuring you can retain all the information by just looking at them, the horse's vitals will be introduced, really bringing them to life.
Sixth Month: The visual touch-up and the Player's presence – completing The Prototype
Coming on to the final month, the sixth, we will be focused on bringing your presence into Euthoria, providing the ability to retain information through touch and sound, aside from the finished—sight. Alongside this the visual aesthetics will be established, finalizing what's to be released in this prototype, the vertical slice of Horse Legacy.
A B O U T
Horse Legacy, a real-time 3D action-adventure horse game, is an artistic rendition of the silent language between horses and people! You can learn more here!
N E W S, U P D A T E S, & S O C I A L S
The state of the game, where in development, can be accessed here!
P R E S S K I T
If you want to help spread the word, Horse Legacy's Press Kit is available for the scroll!
