It’s been exactly one year since Arctic Eggs the game has been thoroughly cooked and served on Steam. And every day of that year has been incredible. Filled with support and joy from watching so many people play.

Not too much has been planned to mark the occasion, and I’ve already talked about the early history of Arctic Eggs’ development in previous posts, so If you’re curious— definitely those a read. But I am happy to announce that after a full year, I finally decided it was time to add apostrophes to the game! You win.

To celebrate, if you haven’t yet stepped into the snow-plowing boots of the Poultry Peddler, the game’s currently on sale—40% off! Probably a more accessible way to flip some eggs than buying a hundred of them and trying it in real life.

Is there more in store for Arctic Eggs? Does it matter if you can fry an egg on top of Mount Everest? That’s a tough one to crack, but I’d like to think so. What really matters is that Arctic Eggs became something special for myself/so many of you and it has enabled me to keep creating.

Hey! Did not expect the Egg Vinyl to sell out so quickly haha

Luckily we have a simpler frying pan themed variant still available at either https://stumpyfrog.com/ or https://www.lostincult.co.uk/shop/p/arcticeggs-5fxxm so if you are still itching to have a physical copy of the soundtrack there is still a chance!

I'm not sure if the vinyls will restock again (though based on the reception so far, I really hope they do). But even if you aren’t able to get one, just know that we truly appreciate your continued support for this small game. Your support is what gave us this crazy opportunity to create something physical and real, and that means the world.

I am beyond excited to announce that Arctic Eggs is getting a vinyl release, featuring the full soundtrack composed by the beautiful Cameron Ginex!

Stumpy Frog Records[stumpyfrog.com] & Lost In Cult Records[www.lostincult.co.uk] have collaborated to put these tunes to wax with art by codex noirmatic. Limited to 300 copies and sold jointly through SFR & LIC, buy them at either store front!

I don’t feel like it’s a stretch to say that Cameron's music isn’t just part of Arctic Eggs—it is Arctic Eggs. His soundtrack gave the game its identity, transforming what could have easily just been a bleak and oppressive experience into something far more complex, interesting, and even unexpectedly comforting (at times). As a close friend of his for many years, I view this as a celebration of everything he has poured into his craft, and I couldn’t be happier that his work gets to live on like this.

Thank you again for the continued support!

It’s been a year since the initial Jam version of Arctic Eggs was released, and I just wanted to take a moment and reflect on it as the jam version is a really interesting piece of the games history, and obviously the thing that got the whole ball rolling.

For those unfamiliar, a game jam is a contest where developers sign up to create a complete game within a set time frame. Arctic Eggs was made during The Big Mode Game Jam, a two-week-long event hosted by YouTuber Dunkey.

Looking back, I’m still amazed by the support Arctic Eggs received during the jam. I vividly remember the week after the game dropped — all my free time was spent just watching every new play through I could find. While the gameplay kept people engaged, what surprised me most was how much the small bits of writing resonated with players. Seeing how people connected with this little slice of a world was incredibly inspiring, and watching so many playthroughs gave me valuable insight into what worked and what could be improved.


So probably the first change that got made was I removed was the ability to use WASD to slightly adjust the pan's position. In fact I removed it while watching Dunkey play the game on his stream. If you're curious why, just watch.

Obviously seeing him struggle with the game like this was incredibly disheartening at the time. I initially thought the feature was a helpful way to ease the difficulty by allowing players to correct imperfect flips. However, I quickly realized it muddied the game’s core mechanics. The game is designed around flipping and tilting the pan as the primary tools, and adding WASD control diluted that focus. In a game with an unconventional control scheme, most players instinctively gravitated toward the simpler WASD inputs, and ignore the tilting mechanics entirely leading to more frustration than necessary.


All the way back in the jam version it is implied that the previous Poultry Peddler didn't last long, and you are just another in a long line of Poultry Peddlers. Because of this it made sense to me that the final version of the game wasn't just an expanded/polished version of the Jam version, but more of a continuation of this cycle of Poultry Peddlers coming and going. You can see this throughout the first area of the game (since that is all the jam version was) where conversations occasionally call back to conversations these same characters had not too long ago with the previous Poultry Peddler of the Jam version. Here are just a few examples:

Curtain Guy
This solider believes the last poultry peddler was jealous of the curtains he mentioned in the jam version, which drove him to run away.
Demoted Guy
This guy was originally the person who gave you the egg tutorial in the beginning, but he was demoted because the last Poultry Peddler escaped
The Pilot
The Pilot was the original way you ended the game in the jam version, once you fed all the people on the rooftops, you would have enough money to pay him for a ride out. Since you and him escaped in the jam version, he is no where to be found in the final. I didn't have the heart to take away his spot though so all that is left is just a nice view of the roofs.
In the jam version there was only the rooftops, so the only ingredients in game were the Eggs, Bacon, Sardines, Sausages, and Cigarettes. All of them received small tweaks, mainly related to their cook times. For example I think in the final version eggs take about 6-8 seconds to cook, whereas in the jam version it was maybe 10-12 seconds. The biggest change however came with the sardines. I was never super happy with them in the jam version, they were very static and didn't really read as fish, just cubes with a fish model slapped on them, so they almost got scrapped. But after giving them some rag doll physics I quickly fell in love with them again. The extra flop really helps give the impression they are organic and consumable. I love watching them.
Fun fact in the bar in the game there is a sardine + beer challenge where the sardines actually are alive and able to jump around on there own, the only instance of this in the game. My thinking behind this was the beer brought them back to life.

So visually the game did not change too much since the jam version, In all honesty I was very scared when touching anything in regards to layout/visuals, since I didn't want to fix what wasn't broken. The main thing I updated was the lighting. Since I had so much time In comparison to the jam version I could really make sure each challenge was well lit. I also added a dithering filter to everything, but that was just because I played Buckshot Roulette and thought it looked cool.
So the game is hard but it used to be worse. The frying pan in the original jam version had a much lower rim, basically nothing at all. It closely resembles the hard mode pan in the final game.
This actually did not get changed until probably 2 or 3 weeks before the launch of the final game. You can actually see in most of the screenshots for the store page that it uses the old frying pan model. Looking back on it this was a very risky change to make so late in development, especially since the shape of the frying pan is so fundamental to the difficulty of the game and at that point we already did all our play tests.

The reason I think I was willing to take the risk of easing the game’s difficulty by raising the rim so late in development is because I realized I really wanted people to finish the game and experience its world—not just wrestle with its mechanics.

I don’t define Arctic Eggs as a “rage game” like a lot of people seem to. Classic rage games like Getting Over It or Only Up feel more like tests of will than stories. The worlds are designed to service a mechanic and usually nothing further. They are designed so that finishing isn’t necessary to understand the experience—the struggle is the point, exploring frustration, persistence, and acceptance of failure.

With Arctic Eggs, the struggle was never the point—you can never lose progress and it was designed so if a challenge is too much, you can just skip it. The difficulty was an unintended result of a weird journey through a world I hoped players could explore, connect with, and find meaning in. I am glad so many of you did.

It was always my thinking that the final challenge of the game would be frying one singular egg for full circle/look how far you come blah blah reasons and with the final releases addition of the Saint Of Six Stomachs this "final egg" moment worked really well in that context, especially since just before that you were frying more eggs than realistically fit in your pan. But in the jam version there was no Saint so the only place that made sense to have this final egg challenge was on Mount Everest.
I remember not being entirely satisfied with that ending, as the logic behind the question was never the point and having the player test it out verbatim kinda simplifies the whole experience in my mind. But still, if you really want to know if you can fry an egg on top of Mount Everest, the answer is in the jam version.



There was a lot of smaller things that got tweaked, like group conversations, camera movements, etc. But I think these were the main ones. If you enjoyed the game, I hope this look back has been interesting. I’m incredibly grateful for all the support Arctic Eggs has received since the very beginning. This journey has solidified my love for making games and, I think, changed the trajectory of my life. I hope you stick around for whatever game comes next.

Sunny side up, chefs!

The year is almost over, huh? Well, thanks to your support, it was a pretty filling year! Honestly, I couldn’t imagine myself that a game about frying eggs in the Arctic would resonate with so many of you. I mean, it’s also an exercise in philosophy, but you do fry a bunch of eggs.

And frying eggs was especially cool with Steam Deck’s gyro controls! Maybe some of you can even do pan tricks IRL. And if you found this feature as entertaining as I did, while developing it — consider nominating Arctic Eggs for “Best on Steam Deck Award”.

Oh, yeah, you should probably nominate other “niche indie horrors with weird story\gameplay” as well. And if you’d like to get some good candidates, here are other games released by Critical Reflex this year:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2475490/Mouthwashing/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2763670/Arctic_Eggs/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2580020/THRESHOLD/

Cheers!
[discord.gg]

Eggs of course! And we've cooked something special Today — Steam Trading Cards!

Finally, you can have extra motivation to push through the dreaded pufferfish and devilish dancing roaches. Cook your best 'Mille sigarette al dente' dish. See everything the game has to offer. Get the badge and then flex, flex, flex!

Trust me: the emojis alone are worth it

If you haven't tried the best Arctic cuisine has to offer — now you might have some extra stuff to do! On that note, Arctic Eggs is also on 20% discount until November 18th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2763670/Arctic_Eggs/

And if the story of the Poultry Peddler resonated with you, consider checking out THRESHOLD as well. It has all the staples: moody atmosphere, toxic environment (literally), work alienation and bigger reaching themes that you're invited to find yourself. THRESHOLD releases on November 19th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2580020/THRESHOLD/


[discord.gg]

Today I have a story about Arctic Eggs’ conception. In this devlog we’re going to talk about its inspirations and show how the game and its vision changed during the beginning of its development. Without further ado, let’s start with the center element of the game and your most trusty companion – the pan!

This is its very first version, from a game called “Fast Food For Antarctica” that was never finished, but gave the initial idea – cooking. It was set in a fast food kitchen and supposed to feature tons of cooking activities, but frying was so fun, I decided to make it the core of the game.

I really didn't believe I could make a game purely centered around the frying pan so I shelved the idea. Almost a year later however I had recently played “Tales From Off-Peak City” – an indie game that centered around just walking, talking and cooking. I fell in love with that game immediately and realized my frying pan could slip into that same gameplay loop beautifully.

Here you can see an early test of this gameplay loop – talking to a character and starting a meal.

One of the most captivating things about Tales from Off-Peak City is exploring the world of the game, meeting interesting characters in various situations. I wanted to capture it as well, and tried different premises. Initially the game took place in an airport and the goal was to raise enough money to buy a ticket to Antarctica (you can already see some similarities). And at one point there was a segment when you get on the rooftop to have a short bliss of serenity to contrast with all the hustle and bustle of the crowded airport.

I liked this moment so much I just scrapped the airport idea entirely and decided to make it centered around this calm atmosphere and, naturally, take place on the city rooftops.

And here is an early design of the rooftops. There was an idea that there was a party taking place here, and you should go around in three interconnected buildings to feed all the hungry guests.

When bringing CDbunker on the team to help with the modeling, he misunderstood and thought the game was taking place IN Antarctica. I liked this new idea so much that I just never bothered to correct him.

Because of this I initially gave the rooftops a dark blue color and cold atmosphere. And for me it just felt too basic and obvious to have this bluish tone for a game happening in Antarctica.

But then CDbunker showed me this photo of a city covered in this bright-pink hue. I decided to pick this atmosphere instead. It’s far more interesting and somewhat less hostile.

And the rooftops acquired this warm glow - moody and mysterious, yet welcoming.

As you might know, Arctic Eggs as a defined game began its story in the Big Mode Game Jam. And, surprisingly enough, the game’s intro was made the last.

The intro must set the tone for the sci-fi world the game inhabits and I spent a very long time trying to come up with something fitting, but nothing really worked. Then Cameron Ginex, the composer for the game, showed me his track called “Blizzard” – an incredibly ominous, slow and almost somber song. It reminded me of a sketch I did back in college, those sad little chickens in cages, and decided to put it in the game. As the game was centered around eggs, it fits the atmosphere well.

I liked this image so much I put these chickens everywhere, practically in every corner. To me this implied that chickens were outlawed at some point, to justify them being imprisoned and heavily guarded in game. And thus we had the intro that doubles as a main menu - caged chickens with “Blizzard” playing in the background.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2763670/Arctic_Eggs/

And that’s all for today! I hope you find this story interesting. There is some more “behind the scenes” stuff and maybe we’ll talk about it in future devlogs. In the meantime…

If the chilly Arctic and Mount Everest interest you, how about another extreme trip? It sure is cool to fry eggs on the highest mountain, but how about working there?
Did you know you can’t breathe with air so thin?
Did you know that the only way to survive there is to break glass with your teeth?
Did you know that by coping with this you are saving your country?
Do you know what’s in this train?
Sacrifice your health to learn the unsettling truth, go beyond the THRESHOLD.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2580020/THRESHOLD/


[discord.gg]

As another part of our Advent Calendar we bring another eggsquisite dish for you to enjoy — a mini concert consisting of unreleased tracks by Mike Klubnika himself, and the composer behind Arctic Eggs — Cameron Ginex!

Listen to Bump 9 on repeat or push through a tough task with Exhaust. And then take a sip of eggnog to the tunes of Ancient Humans and chat with your friends, while listening to Whale’s Domain. This mini concert has only the best of what you’ve yet to hear!

But wait, there are more tracks available in these albums over at Bandcamp. So definitely check them out if this is your vibe:

And if your blood got pumping from Mike Klubnika’s music — we’re happy to let you know that CR Channel Multiplayer Beta for Buckshot Roulette starts on October 28th, so mark the date! Yes, it’s gonna be open beta, because after taking a look at the enormous list of applications for the closed beta, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to not grant everyone the access — which will be provided on our Discord server, so don’t forget to join it!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2835570/Buckshot_Roulette/

P.S. Still working on that juicy devlog we’ve promised, but it’s coming soon.


[discord.com]

As a part of CR Channel Advent Calendar, we prepared a delicious sale for those who haven’t yet experienced the wisdom of rooftops and the hermeneutics of a cooked egg.

You might ask, what an Advent Calendar is. It’s a series of various rewards on each day of October to celebrate the anniversary of CR Channel. It also features giveaways at the end if you manage to complete community goals. You can learn more about it and follow along with other Poultry Peddlers by joining our Discord server.

[discord.gg]
So grab a copy and immerse yourself in the art of Poultry Prepping. The cold rooftops and moody alleys of the Arctic await.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2763670/Arctic_Eggs/

If you’re intrigued by the premise of Advent Calendar or eager to participate in the giveaways (which is completely understandable) – join the CR Channel Discord. Most of the stuff happens there!

The next post is going to be a big one. Brace yourselves for a devlog.