Peak started as a game jam, but became a smash hit.
Red Dead Redemption 2 has some of the most precisely represented horses in the videogame industry. They have multiple distinct gaits, a realistic sense of weight, and miraculously, their little Arthur Morgans shrink in the cold. It’s an admirably attentive but kind of stupid detail touted as much by the game’s fans as its detractors, and it says something about triple-A game development that real man hours were poured into horse testicle simulation in a game as massive as Red Dead.
Peak is somewhere near the opposite end of the spectrum. It’s a small, focused idea, and originated as a four-week game jam project the team was hoping to push out and immediately move on from.
