The Long and Windy (Horse) Road — Dev Talks with Giddy Up

As I mentioned in my Horses of Hoofprint Bay demo review, nostalgia is a powerful driving force for a new generation of equestrian-oriented developers. From our youth spent tracking down every possible avenue of horse-themed entertainment, many emerged on the other side with the wish to improve on the source material, in any way possible. And, if the current Horse Fest event on Steam is any indication, I would say the ‘mane’ quest is reaping great success at all levels of the indie scene.

Today we’re sitting down with one of these developers. I first got in touch with Daniëlle in March of 2025, when she informed me of her development plans—and honoured me with its first official Press Kit. As a long-time fan of Secrets of the Ranch, my curiosity was immediately piqued, and I didn’t hesitate to publish a news article detailing my findings. Finally, almost a year later, me and Daniëlle finally sat down together to take readers of The Bridle Paths on a stroll through the winding roads of horse game development for Giddy Up: The Game.

Hi Daniëlle and thank you for joining us today! Before we launch into the ‘mane event’, do you want to tell us a little about yourself, as well as your history with horse games?

Hi, and thank you for having me! I am so honored to be interviewed by The Bridle Paths! I am 33 years old, married, and a mother of 2 kids. Of course, my greatest hobby is horses! As a kid, I spent most of my time at the local riding school, where I began taking lessons at 9 on a sweet old pony that I absolutely adored. My first lease pony came four years later—she belonged to a farmer, and I rode her until I was 17. I had to stop riding due to having children, but the heart wants what it wants. So, I started doing volunteer work at a small equestrian therapy center, which included caring for the horses and having a buddy to cuddle and ride. Unfortunately, I never had the luck of owning my own horse, but I still hope to achieve it one day!

Games are another hobby of mine, although I don’t have much time for it anymore! I like RPGs like The Witcher and Tomb Rider, and I’m also a great fan of Hogwarts Legacy and everything about the Wizarding World! I’ve also played a lot of simulation games, like Planet Zoo and The Sims, as well as several old-school equestrian games. No joke, I spent hours on My Horse Farm and Equestrian Challenge! However, one of my favourite games was the Pippa Funnell series. You might find some inspiration from those games in Giddy Up, since I love the questline and the villages the most. That’s why I really wanted to have a village in my own game, so that you have a place to also relax and unwind.

Golden hour just hits differently when you are at the stables.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

Great selection! Curious, did you have some programming experience before diving into creating Giddy Up?

Career-wise, I studied Communication Management before switching to IT. However, I have always dreamt of creating my own equestrian game, so as a child I began playing around on programs like GameMaker. However, it was only in 2018 that I decided to finally go for it—no more dreaming! It all started with learning Blender, to create the 3D game models. It took me quite some time to become proficient, but now I use it on a daily basis. Then I learned to write code in C# with Unity— already knew a little about writing web-based code, but that was also challenging since it is object-oriented scripting.

Eventually, I decided that Unity was not going to fulfill my wishes, so I switched to Unreal Engine… and had to learn scripting all over again, since this is C++ language-based visual coding! Also, I had to learn a lot of other programs to improve workflow and create my own assets, textures, artwork and so much more. And I am still learning everyday!

 © Giddy Up: The Game

Speaking as a wannabe horse game developer, I tip my hat to you for the dedication! If you don’t mind, Iet’s delve more into that. Everybody has an idea as to what makes the perfect equestrian experience—but what is is that makes Giddy Up ‘your’ horse game?

Giddy Up will be a simulation game focused on managing your horses. There will be a storyline for you to follow but, apart from that, it’s up to you to run your estate. What is most important for me is giving the player creative freedom to manage their in-game days. The wellbeing of your horses matters the most, of course, but who am I to tell you how to do it proficiently? For me, it’s important that the game won’t become repetitive. Sometimes you are simply not in the mood for doing quests, or maybe you just have other plans that day! Still, what matters is that you have the freedom to play how you like it and manage your day in a way that suits your mood.

ALL ABOUT THAT STABLE LIFE

Since management will be very important, the game is aimed towards a more mature player base. Competitions should not be too easy, and keeping your horses happy and healthy takes strategy. To keep things interesting, Giddy Up also offers quests that will unfold the storyline. Said quests will unlock new options and items, but it’s up to you to decide if and when to attend to them. There will also be daily tasks and smaller requests from locals that will help you gain money and experience. However, they are always optional and postponable!

The game also has three different estate styles to choose from. A modern estate style that has a high-quality feeling but still gives you modern architecture. The rustic estate style is based on more natural elements that are more timeless. And lastly, the luxury estate style that offers grandeur and elegance. I also intend to create the gameplay in a way that you can always decide how extensive you want a task to be. Are you going for a quick solution, or do you want to relax into it and do the extensive task? Your decisions matter, as both are fine, although one can ask for more maintenance in the long run, while other more extended options can even give you benefits and bonuses!

An overview of the three different stable styles, as well as the indoor riding arena.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

The intricacies of running a horse training business are admittedly fairly underutilized in the genre. Say, can you give us some examples of what a ‘typical’ day in Giddy Up might look like?

Your day starts early, as you prepare for feeding time. The snow has melted, and spring is coming soon—your horses can spend more time outside, and you can train outdoors again. As you check your supplies, you realize they’re running low; however, if you don’t have time for a shopping trip, you can always order them online! While you’re mucking the stalls, you receive a message from a local who needs your help. If there’s some time left , you might be able to see what she needs. At the same time, you notice that one of your horses is not feeling well. It may be wise to give him medicine and let him rest…

When checking out your calendar, you notice there’s a competition coming up. With proper training over the next few days, your horse may be ready for it, so you begin to make up a schedule in your head. Winning also earns you prize money, which is helpful since you have plans to expand the estate. At the end of the day, you make sure all chores are done and the horses are happy and healthy. And the local? Well… she might just have to wait until you truly have the time, maybe after the competition. When it gets dark and rain starts falling, you call it a day. You head to bed, ready to do it all over again tomorrow. With horses, you never know what the next day will bring!

 © Giddy Up: The Game

Wow, talk about a throwback to my working student days! It seems like we are already getting a good handle on the main game systems—would you say that Giddy Up leans more towards realism, or is down to make compromises for the sake of player’s enjoyment?

At this time in development, riding is very basic and static. In the future, we want the horse to feel more alive, with a personality of its own—this will come across through different traits, which influence behaviours and, in turn, the way you ride. At release, we plan to have three disciplines: Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross-Country.

Caring for your horses is also particularly important, as it will determine how happy and healthy they will be. Putting the horse in their stall or in the pasture when they need rest will influence its statistics, and the same goes for taking care of them. Cleaning them fast takes less time, but being thorough could mean getting a boost, influencing the speed at which your horse gets dirty again. The same goes for feeding. There will be multiple food categories that you need to assign to your horses, like forage, pellets, muesli and supplements, and it’s up to the player to solve this puzzle. Once again, the cheapest food will do the trick—but maybe spending more money will improve its statistics!

A sunny morning in the charming village of West-Kingsley.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

A QUEST FOR REALISM

All of these gameplay choices are meant to add realism, but not too much. For example, having to clean the hooves of all your horses over and over again might get boring—that’s why you can clean one horse and streamline the process by auto-completing the others. Also, you can complete tasks for a fee, if you really don’t feel like it! Finally, we spent a lot of time and effort in making the game look realistic. The stables are designed to look just like the ones in real life, and so is the surrounding world. That goes for both landscaping and giving the land a certain aesthetic, so that it becomes a nice and comfortable place to spend your time in.

While this is mainly an equestrian game, the world is designed to help you slow down and relax.

If you don’t have some sprawling wilderness at your doorstep, can you even call yourself a horse game?
 © Giddy Up: The Game

A question for my own shameless benefit! The background of Giddy Up always striked me as more than just narrative dressing—something I’ve been chasing after since Secrets of the Ranch. Can you tell us more about Kingsley, its inhabitants, and the story you are planning for this charming little town? Has it been inspired by a book or movie that holds particular significance to you?

Fun fact! As I mentioned before, I am a great fan of the Pippa Funnell games myself, with Secrets of the Ranch being my favorite! This has also been an inspiration for my own game, with a more modern touch though! The older games hold a special place in my heart, and I want to honour that nostalgic atmosphere but shape it into something new, something that truly belongs to Giddy Up. And while it will be something entirely different, you might see the influence of my favorite equestrian games in, for example, the village of West-Kingsley. You might also feel a bit of the Wizarding World vibes, and there certainly are some easter eggs in the storyline and game!

The inhabitants of West-Kingsley each have their own story and role to play. West-Kingsley is built with the United Kingdom in mind, since its mysteries and old villages have always interested me. I can’t tell you much about the story, but the fun fact is that the storyline of Giddy Up is actually built upon an old story that was once told to me when I visited a castle with my parents and my brother when we were kids, and this story kept us awake and we didn’t dare to go to sleep afterwards! Now, the story of Giddy Up is written to be its own story, and I wrote it first as if it were a book. Then I adjusted the story to fit the game. It will all unfold once Giddy Up releases and you get to play it, but there is certainly more than meets the eye!

The village of Béléou, with its rustic country charm, it’s still a beloved homebase for many Horse Girls. 
Pippa Funnell: Secrets of the Ranch © Ubisoft

More than meets the eye, you say? Before I get completely off the topic, let’s take a look behind the curtains. Tackling a project of this scale is quite the task for a solo dev—can you give us more insight as to your development process?

When I started my game development journey, I did not have much experience in game development. I have played a fair share of games, but I had no idea what it would take to actually build one, although I was always interested in knowing how to do it. Nowadays, I can’t enjoy a game without going into development mode! I also had to learn everything from scratch on my own—there is a lot of information out there on how to build your own game, but nothing about equestrian titles and their challenges! I followed my fair share of tutorials and courses and built several smaller games. However, I never intended to release any of them, since my focus was always on building my own equestrian title.

SUNSETS AND SETBACKS

One of the worst parts was building with Unity first—I ran into so many limits that I decided to start all over again in Unreal. It took me a long time to learn a completely new game engine, but I don’t regret it, and it was the right choice in the end! Another major setback was building the village in Blender without proper experience (I spent so much time importing it into Unity back then). However, I was sloppy and inexperienced, and broke the project because I didn’t respect vertex count, proper texture setup and more. So I rebuilt the whole village from scratch and I am super happy with the outcome!

The final downside was being alone. It would be a dream to hire people to help me build this game, but that’s expensive and we don’t have the funds for that at the moment, so I have to do everything myself. Creating a game is a tremendous amount of work, that most people underestimate or don’t understand. Also, coding is not a linear process, but of trial and error. And most of all, things break—and you have to investigate why and come up with a solution when there isn’t much help available. I am lucky to have a partner with development skills (albeit in other areas) who can help me out every now and then. But I daresay this is the most challenging part for me.

Great care went into making the world feel grounded and realistic.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

I can understand why! Horse games also tend to have an issue with scope creep, which can lead to promising titles being abandoned mid-production. What is your ‘game plan’, so to speak, to avoid losing steam on development?

I am fully aware of how ambitious Giddy Up is for a solo developer. The issue with equestrian games is that there are so many ideas, but so little time to realistically build them all. That’s especially true when you develop something on your own. There is no one there to say “Hey, this doesn’t fit the scope of the project”—you have to be both the developer and the project manager, and those two roles usually conflict with each other. To keep things clean and straightforward, I have written a Game Design Document that holds all the basics of Giddy Up. Those are my guidelines, as I already made all the decisions about what will or won’t be in the game at launch.

This also means making unpopular choices, such as the one breed limit. Of course, I would love to add more, but it would add so much work at this stage that it would heavily impact the release window. There are more requests and ideas, of course, but I stick to what I have in my document and save the rest for after the release.

Visuals of a cross-country track, complete with a pond and drop-down jumps.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

Talking about release, do you have a release window in mind, even a tentative one?

It’s important to know that Giddy Up will not go into Early Access. That is because I want players to experience the game fully. Personally, I think EA can be tricky, as it can kill your reputation before the game even release, although it’s a good way to get the bugs out beforehand. However, we will open applications for playtests once we’re ready, but it’s really too soon to mention anything at this stage. We’re currently working on the character creator, but we have many more gameplay functions that need to be added, like horse caring, riding and more. I frequently get questions about a release window, but I don’t want to disappoint people with a date that I can’t live up to.

Seems fair enough! In this case, how can people interested in your game follow along on your development progress?

To keep people up to date, I post regularly on social media. I use Patreon to talk more extensively about the more noticeable progress, Discord for Friday recaps of what has been done that week and visuals about the game’s current status on Instagram. From time to time, I also write some blog posts on Giddy Up‘s website, which are more of a summary of progress—although sometimes they have a more personal touch. I believe it’s important to keep people informed at this stage of development, since I would love to build a community around the game. Plus, I think it’s very important to be transparent and open, so people know what I’m up to, what I’m struggling with and, more importantly, what I have achieved.

This is also why I set up Patreon. While I intend to keep most information free and open, I want to reward people who contribute to the game’s development. That’s why all the basic information is free and only the not-so-necessary but fun information about the world is for paying patrons. I don’t want anyone to feel like they need to pay to see content. However, I do want everyone who wants to support the game financially to have the option to do so. With this money, I can pay for the necessary licenses, products, assets, and hopefully someday hire people to improve the speed of development.

 © Giddy Up: The Game

Getting interaction is so important, especially now that Horse Fest is shining a spotlight on a genre that still struggles to be taken seriously, despite its dedicated fanbase. How would you describe the involvement of the broader horse game community in regards to Giddy Up?

To build a community already, I put Giddy Up on Steam. I was a bit overwhelmed when people started to share the game, but also had a lot of positive responses, which really motivated me to work harder and live up to their expectations. There was also some skepticism—people that didn’t believe that the game was even real, or that it was a scam. I can understand that, with so many releases built to be an easy money-grab without love or care for the genre—and with the rise of AI, it’s even harder to tell! At some point, I considered it a compliment when I was told the game was too good to be true, but at the same time I wish I could convince them it’s being developed by someone who really cares.

And I understand that there are many developers with the same goals, but who end up abandoning the project because it gets hard! It’s a tremendous and difficult job, and not everyone succeeds. And I can’t promise I will, but all I can do at this stage is show what I am working on, what progress I am making, and honestly show where we are. And I can tell you I am devoted and I would love to see this game release just as much as anyone else, and I am working hard on making that come true. Having a team would improve the chances, which is why any financial support is so helpful. Either way, I will go on and keep building Giddy Up!

A lazy afternoon in the pasture, after all the chores are done.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

Daniëlle, it’s been a pleasure having you. Now that we have reached the end of our interview, do you have any advice for people wanting to develop their own horse game?

Don’t dream it, do it! And start small! I went at it head-first and I kept at it, but getting the proper experience first will help you massively! Also, I once got some great advice that I would love to share. You might not want to hear it, but split your project and ideas in half, and then do it again! This will help with scope creep and setting more realistic goals. And believe it or not, even with the size I am aiming for, this is exactly what I did! Instead of having 10 breeds from the beginning, start with just one. I wanted to work with 4 careers, but eventually settled on one—managing your estate and becoming successful. Who knows what the future might hold but start small!

Finally, I would like to say that Giddy Up is still under development. Things might differ from the pictures, and gameplay is subject to change. I promise it is all for the best, though!

Every day is an adventure, when you have horses by your side.
 © Giddy Up: The Game

You can support the development of Giddy Up by wishlisting the game on Steam, as well as following the game’s official Patreon, Instagram and Discord channels. All the links are also available on the official website.

Thank you all for joining me and Daniëlle on The Bridle Paths today, and happy trails!