Mini Motorways developer Dinosaur Polo Club has released details about a canceled project called Magic School, calling the release of the information a chance to "celebrate what we learned along the way and the incredible work from our team".
In a press release, Dinosaur Polo Club says that telling its fans about Magic School could serve as a chance to "transparently discuss learnings" from the project, which hasn't resulted in any changes to the studio's staff numbers (something that's becoming increasingly rare in the games industry).
As Dinosaur Polo Club tells it, Magic School would have been a chance to break out of the "minimalist simulation games" for which the studio is known and try something different.
Designer Zala Habib says the Dinosaur Polo Club team was "an absolutely incredible" and "driven" group of people, and that collaborating with the "talented" staff working on the game was a "joy".
Over time, Dinosaur Polo Club says that its work on Magic School made it clear that the vision for the game was leading the studio towards a project that required "a far larger team size than the studio could sustainably support".
The studio says that although its staff were excited by the "breadth of visual exploration and specific game systems", Magic School's complexity was "at odds with the intuitive, quick-to-learn gameplay" for which Dinosaur Polo Club has become known.
CEO Amie Wolken says that the studio "simply did not see a path forward for Magic School", but that studios shouldn't be "shy" about sharing information regarding projects that didn't end up working for whatever reason.
Instead of working on Magic School, Dinosaur Polo Club says it'll redirect the staff who were working on the game to a new project "within their celebrated Mini series".
Looks like if you're a fan of games like Mini Motorways or Mini Metro, then you're in luck. Stay tuned for more.
