While we will only be able to judge the success of implementing that vision once the game is out, it’s already plain to see that Molly is doing a fantastic job of communicating the game’s appeal over social media: Equestrian has over thirty thousand followers on Instagram, and a smaller but no less active following on Facebook, where they share pictures and videos of their development process on a daily basis.

The tone in the comments they receive is one of excitement and impatience: many details about the game - including its release date - are still TBD, and every post is flooded with questions about features, platforms and when one will finally be able to play.

The development on Equestrian started back in Fall 2017, Molly tells me. At the time it was only a part-time hobby project. A year later, Kavalri managed to secure funding from Goodbye Kansas Game Invest, which allowed them to hire a full-time team in Winter 2018/2019.

“Since then, development is going way faster,” Molly says, although it is still too early to reveal a release date.

Riding Realism

On the game’s website, Equestrian promises to feature the “most realistic horse riding in a game, ever”. Certainly a big claim, and one that will have to remain vague for the moment: “I can’t tell you in detail how the riding controls will work,” Molly says. “But they come from the perspective of an equestrian which I think is quite rare for a horse riding game.”

This estimate that horse game mechanics are all too often made by people who have little to no experience with riding is one I’m unfortunately inclined to agree with, based on what several developers have told me.

“In many games the horse behaves kind of like a car,” Molly elaborates, “The controls are often totally disconnected from what actual riding is like.”

Although much of the material released so far focuses on Dressage, Equestrian will also feature Show Jumping and Trail Rides.