Ovis Mollis

Rose: For someone who has never heard of your game, how would you describe it without using standard genre labels?

Ovis Mollis is a game somewhat similar to Stardew Valley, but without the endless walking that personally exhausts me. It’s designed to work as a desktop companion in a mode where you can leave it running in the background, periodically shearing sheep and running a small wool-selling business. You play as someone tired of the city hustle, deciding to move to the countryside for a new life and a change of pace. The townsfolk welcome you warmly, amazed that anyone would voluntarily choose to move there. You decide to help improve your new town and even run for mayor. Along the way, you spend your funds on improving both your own life and the lives of your neighbors.

Rose: Where did the idea for this game come from?

The idea came to me while my friend and I were browsing the Steam demo festival page, also known as Steam Next Fest. We saw a game there where your garden grows just from clicking the keyboard. It immediately sparked the thought that we could make a similar game with sheep, where clicking would grow grass for the sheep to eat, and then you'd sell the wool and level up. We literally started building a prototype right away. I even noted down the date: February 21, 2026.

Rose: How does your game differ from others in the same genre?

To be honest, I don't know of any other games in this exact segment. It ends up being a big mix of genres, much like our first game on Steam, The Devilry Reservation.
Ovis Mollis borrows elements from various genres: incremental games, farming sims, life simulators, and relaxing cozy games. But there's definitely a distinction. Even though it's a cozy game, it touches on realistic aspects of life that are often overlooked in other games. In our game, you truly live like an ordinary person trying to become a successful businessman. You can even make bank deposits and buy stocks for passive dividend income, and fully automate your farm using robots. Plus, all the cosmetics in the game drop directly into your Steam inventory. You can sell or trade them with friends. A lot went into it, but I wasn't trying to stand out in any particular way. I just want people to enjoy playing it.
Have you had to cut anything that you secretly still wish you could bring back?
So far, I've cut illegal gold mining, but I'll definitely bring it back. It's hard to talk about cut content for a game that hasn't even been released yet. Ideally, I'd love to launch the game in Early Access and develop it over a long period to essentially turn it into SimCity. But I'm very hesitant about that decision because, to put it mildly, the game's metrics aren't great, and Early Access requires attracting a lot of players before release so there's a community to help us develop it together.

Rose: Is there anything in the game that probably took a massive amount of effort to create, but players won't even realize it?

I'd say it's the wool texture deformation, so the sheep's movement doesn't look flat. And the drop and crafting system for cosmetic items. That turned out to be a complex task, even though there are official guides on how it works, but it still took a lot of work to figure it all out.

Rose: What's the strangest bug you've encountered—one that you almost wanted to keep in the game?

The way a sheep sleeps vertically right now was originally a bug. But I found it funny, so I decided to just leave it in.

Rose: Was there a specific emotion you wanted to evoke in players upon completing the game?

I haven't really thought about that. Rather, I just want players to be able to immerse themselves in the game, relax, and find it aesthetically pleasing on screen. That encompasses a multitude of feelings that aren't easy to list. Our tester has already logged over 200 hours in the game. All that time he spent fishing, shearing sheep, making money, and just having fun. I want to build a little hub where there's always something to do in your free time, featuring lots of mini-games embedded within the setting of a town obsessed with sheep.

Rose: What advice do you wish you had received before starting?

Honestly, I still haven't figured it all out. That's why I can't really give any advice. I know how to make the game, but I'm a terrible marketer, so I can't keep up with the fierce competition we have now. If I knew for sure that success was guaranteed at launch, I'd probably be able to draw some conclusions, but right now I only have 334 wishlists. Many developer friends would already tell me I've failed. I hope they're wrong. Indie development without sponsors or a publisher is a massive, desperate grind that not everyone can handle. Right now, I'm the one who needs advice rather than having anything useful to say.

Rose: What do you think people will remember about this game in five years?

I think in five years, people will just be generating their own games with a single prompt to a neural network and playing them. And our work won't be needed by anyone.

Rose: Why should someone reading or watching this play your game today?

You can't actually play Ovis Mollis today. It hasn't been released yet. But I'm trying to finish the demo on time. For now, you could just add the game to your wishlist.

Rose: And finally, a question we ask every developer: after everything you've told us, can you officially confirm that your game is, in fact, actually a game? Why should we believe you?

It's not exactly a game. It's your desktop companion, which we envision becoming more than just a game for you—a very warm, personal memory where you'll grow attached to every single one of your sheep and the quirky characters.