Dutch game developer Lente revealed that she paused her studies in 2022 to try her hand at a career in game development. While living on a 90-year-old boat, she created a short game called Spilled!, where a very similar ship cleans up water bodies from pollution. The project has Ukrainian localization and has already collected over 1,000 positive reviews on Steam.
Dutch game developer Lente revealed that she paused her studies in 2022 to try her hand at a career in game development. While living on a 90-year-old boat, she created a short game called Spilled!, where a very similar ship cleans up water bodies from pollution. The project has Ukrainian localization and has already collected over 1,000 positive reviews on Steam.
«My name is Lente, which means „spring“ in Dutch. I am 23 years old, and I live in the Netherlands. I grew up here, on a ship that my parents bought in 1995», — the girl says about herself.
It was her family’s place, she said, «in the middle of nature.» The boat was powered by a generator located nearby on the shore, which was turned on when needed. The Lente family got their drinking water from a pier on the opposite bank of the river. For technical water and showers, the boat had a filtration system to take water from the river.
«At those times, my brother and I could play on the laptop. We played games from CDs or flash games… As a child, I had a great time here. I played a lot outside», — says the developer.
She noted that due to the city government’s decision, the family was forced to leave the place, but her parents initiated an expensive legal process that ended in victory after 5 years.
«It wasn’t easy for them financially. Luckily, I didn’t notice it as a child. Although I still miss that old place in nature,
The municipality was forced to give us a new place in another location, and things have gotten better since then», — Lente said.
According to her, it was on the boat that she became interested in game development at the age of 15. Lente started by creating small clicker games in Python, and later in HTML and JavaScript.
In 2016, she and her brother made a 2D game in Unity about a teddy bear named Bert, whom they found in a rented house in Belgium. Lente’s brother did the art for the game, and she did the programming.
In 2017, she created a larger project, a mobile clicker. «I released this game on the Google Play Store, and I managed to get about $60 in advertising! It was really cool», — says the developer.
She said she tried to get into a game development college several times, but it «didn’t work out» for her, and she decided to start her own game development business.
Hey Content Creators! My name is Lente and I live on a boat.
— Lente ⛵ dev on a boat (@LenteGameDev) June 26, 2024
After 1.5 years of working on my game and a successful Kickstarter, I was able to get a Tech Artist onboard! (@starbi_dev)
He totally re-did the graphics of the game!
Message me for a key to the full game :) pic.twitter.com/wYZqjkoZVm
«I got my own boat around that time! It took a lot of work, but it has a really solid foundation (it’s 90 years old). My mom and I have been working on it on weekends ever since», — Lente said. She says her goal is «to eventually travel by boat and make games from anywhere».
Lente describes Spilled! as «a laid-back game about cleaning up oil spills using a boat.» In 2022, she started talking about the project on X (Twitter) and quickly gained an audience.
When she started to run out of money, the developer launched a Kickstarter campaign that raised €31,600, more than triple the goal. This allowed Lente to continue creating the game and recruit other developers to work on the project.
Spilled! is a short project with cute pixel graphics that lasts about an hour, where «there are no wrong ways to play.» Players need to clean up reservoirs in different biomes from spilled oil and debris, improve their boat, and rescue animals.
In the Ukrainian region of Steam, the project costs 150 UAH, every 10 cents from the sale goes to a charitable foundation that saves whales and dolphins. The game has Ukrainian localization.
At the time of its release on Steam, Spilled! received nearly 100,000 wishlist additions.
«My game Spilled!, which I released last Wednesday, has already collected over 1,000 reviews!!! It’s hard to understand, but I’m so glad that everyone is enjoying the game», — the developer noted.
Her game currently has «overwhelmingly favorable» reviews (95% positive) based on 1,048 player reviews.
