When Art Imitates (Horse) Life – Dev Talks with Tobiano

It seems like a given, but any specialized niche requires more than surface-level expertise to be accurately portrayed. This is especially true when the target audience of said portrayal are the experts themselves. Unfortunately, as we all know, that is not the case for horse games. While things are slowly changing, the industry is still somewhat reluctant to take actual equestrians on board. The reasons behind it are fascinating, but not the focus of this article. Instead, to celebrate Steam’s first Horse Fest, we’re going to take a look at how things can change for the better.

Today we’re sitting down with Ida Meyer, the sole developer behind upcoming equestrian simulation Tobiano. An equestrian through and through, Ida learned to ride in Indonesia, played polo for a while in Malaysia and later on completed her degree and apprenticeship in England before relocating to Norway, where she has worked for the last 10 years. Her wealth of equestrian experience led her to create her own horse game, starting from a criminally underused premise: what happens when real-life horse professionals tell their stories, not just to entertain—but to educate?

Hi Ida, and thank you for joining us on The Bridle Paths! To kick things off, can you tell us a little about yourself, and your history with horse games?

I’m a hobby developer, but my real job with is with horses. I began attending a riding school when I was 10 years old, and hold a Bachelor and Master’s degrees in horse behaviour. Currently, I’m working as an equestrian teacher and riding instructor at an agricultural school in Norway. Together with a colleague, we wrote three textbooks for the national vocational course for equine and animal apprenticeship, as well as coordinating the exam board in my area. As of now, I own two Icelandic horses and a Shetland (and backed all three myself, including teaching the pony to drive a cart!), but I also used to have warmbloods and hotbloods. I mainly ride dressage, but I’m a qualified jumping instructor as well!

Gaming-wise, I’ve always loved simulation titles: my favourites growing up were Zoo Tycoon and The Sims 3, but recently I have also enjoyed Planet Zoo and Red Dead Redemption 2. Elements of all these games can be found in Tobiano!

Although horses are present in games like Planet Zoo and Wildlife Park (shown above), 
their overall feel isn’t much different from any other zoo animal.
Wildlife Park 2: Horses © b-alive gmbh

Sounds like a second round of introductions is in order! What are the points you feel are the true focus of the experience, and make Tobiano different from other horse games? What parts are you personally more proud of, and why? And finally—why the name?

Tobiano is, above all, a sport horse simulator. After completing your apprenticeship with a dressage trainer, you can buy your first horse and get a cheap farm to build up little by little, caring for your animals and managing resources. As the herd grows, you can follow a questline to learn about different dressage movements, feeding and caring principles and so much more! There are plenty of games featuring horses, but not really ABOUT horses—the struggles and triumphs of real horse life are usually missing. Things like seeing a horse perform its first flying change, or treating the one that always seems to be injured.

What really sets Tobiano apart is that I want it to be educational, and convey a message about horse welfare. I have a long list of stories to add to the questline, some of them drawing from working full-time with horses for 15 years. A lot of people don’t have access to horses for different reasons, and my goal is to bring a bit of horse life to them.

If someone learned something from my game that can be used in real life with horses, that would be fantastic!

A tender moment between herdmates.
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

There are many things that I’m proud of about Tobiano. The coat system allows for billions of possible combinations, and my Beta testers often share pictures of their horses with coats I’ve never seen before—even though I drew every pixel by hand (with a mouse!). Then there is the breeding, riding and training systems, and the fact that horses live out in herds. Seeing them walk around doing horse things, instead of standing in a stable, makes my soul happy. The game is also ethically built, with no AI art anywhere: I’m paying a musician for the soundtrack, and I made all the assets, except for the sky and some ground textures. Finally, Tobiano has no plans for aggressive or sneaky monetization practices and ads.

 The name comes from my Shetland’s colour. I bought him 8 years ago, when he was a rescue yearling colt. I’ve always wanted a black and white spotted horse, and he’s been such an important presence in my life. He’s sassy and opinionated but holds a special place in my heart. His coat is actually one of the patterns in the game! Sabino would have worked better as a title, but I love tobiano.

Two possible coat variations, from Tobiano‘s official website.
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

What a nice tribute! Having a real-life professional drawing from her experiences is definitely something horse games could use more of. Can you tell us more about the steps that turned an idea into a fully playable game?

The whole thing started with an online programming course I took in 2020, during Covid. Coding was hard, but I practiced every day because the plan was always to make a horse game. It started out as an iOS app, but later I thought it was too limiting and picked up web programming instead. I finished the app, somewhat, but I was pretty secretive about it—I’m not sure how my students even found out about it. But they asked to try it, and I let them all sign up. They were playing it all the time, even during other teachers’ lessons! I was shocked when they began to find exploits, but I learned a lot from that unofficial Alpha.

Players can improve their stock by breeding or buying new horses at the market.
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

I started thinking seriously about making a 3D game when I discovered Unity. That was the beginning of a whole new learning curve. 3D was really hard. Unity was really hard. Firebase was really hard. I swear, every little thing required so much time—it took a month just to make the horses appear in the paddock! It was so much work, it’s hard to convey the sheer amount of time I spent on it. It was years before I got the basic game to work on 3D, but the possibilities are insane. Then I felt like I could make a website about Tobiano and share it publicly. It felt like there was a lot of work left to do, but it was pretty much done.

(Spoiler alert, it was not done.)

Offering a high level of detail was a key component in making horse management as realistic as possible.
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

A good reminder for anyone thinking about dipping their toes into game design! It seems like Tobiano enjoyed a strong reception from the start. Did you find more resources, help and support for the game by learning on the broader horse game community?

When I announced the game, I was on Year 5 of development. I dropped a few posts here and there, and quickly joined the GamesWithHorses Discord and began to lurk. People were talking about Tobiano within minutes, and said lots of nice things—I barely slept that night! As I started to post more on Instagram, I learned more about my audience and got lots of positive feedback, but also ideas and improvements I would have never though of! I have also grown more confident with game development, so it’s been progressively easier to implement more and more gargantuan changes to Tobiano.

The game actually looks and acts pretty different from the original, but its core principles of progressive training, farm management and breeding stayed the same. Adding a storyline and 3D paddocks to the open world, changing the UI and making the game work offline are some of the latest major changes.

Training horses is rarely a straightforward process, a feeling Ida set out to recapture in Tobiano.
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

The game also opened a couple of Beta testing periods. How was the overall turnout?

I am eternally grateful to the Beta crew, they are GIFTED bug hunters and find the littlest things! I’m also really happy when they bring suggestions and improvements to the game, like removing real-time game progression—I never would have thought about it, otherwise. As the Beta testers keep reporting, new versions keep coming—we’re currently on 0.2.33 today (16/02, at the writing of this article), and on average I update every other day. I have poured every minute of free time into the Early Access release, trying to make Tobiano as good as I possibly can. I want to keep working on it, maybe for years to come. On my website I have a long list of features that I want to add, which you can read here!

Tobiano © Ida Meyer

Now that the game is ready to launch, what can new players expect from Tobiano?

The plan was to finish the game for February. However, adding Offline mode set me back months—I had to completely redo the whole backend of the game. This is why I opted for Early Access instead of full launch, and I feel the delay is worth it. Offline mode is what my users have been asking for, and the customer is always right! Online (mobile) mode will come back into development after launch.

Looking back, are there things you would have done differently, or simply advice that you would have given to yourself?

I try to live my life not regretting the past. I had a lot more coat colours in the first browser game, but probably I shouldn’t have done that seeing I can’t use any of them in 3D. But in general, everything that happened with Tobiano since 2020 contributed to the game it is right now. I should have shared more on social media, but I chose to spend my time developing instead. With that said, I hope the product can speak for itself. But I am also a realist, and understand that if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears… Marketing is kind like that. That would be my biggest regret—not marketing better.

Players aren’t restricted to the arenas, but are free to practice their moves in the surrounding countryside as well!
Tobiano © Ida Meyer

We have reached the end of our interview! Do you have a message for players of Tobiano, both new and old?

I hope people stay along for the journey; this is just the start.  I have so much planned for the game!

Tobiano © Ida Meyer

Tobiano will release in Early Access on  Steam tomorrow, the 18th of February. Check out the official website to learn more about development and keep an eye out on the game’s official social media pages.

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