CHAPTER 1: 2020

TheSilentHouse Studio was founded in Summer July 1 2020 by me, Orpheus, who to date i am the Lead Developer here. The small crew studio started with bunch of friends around 3 to 6 after i showed them a pre-pre-pre demo build of "ex-drones". Who would've known this little build would change my, our lives. Everyone shared their ideas about future stuff to be added (i should mention that i was working alone in 2020 and i was gathering ideas from my friends for ex-drones). I proceeded releasing versions and versions of the game and it received very positive feedback and there was a very healthy environment surrounding it. Each version was a small update and each day i was learning something new! Small things such, adding a quit button, new enemies and objectives, and music too! It was really fun. Ex-drones quickly became a beloved underground gem on itch.io (kinda) and i was proud with each update and i was just getting started. I was in climax. Little me was getting into the comfort zone and people played our game! ex-drones beta, beta 2, beta 3, demo 1.0, demo 2.0, pre-Early Access were released in just 2 months (1st July, 13th August)! After all the praise i've earnt i started making small "dlc" stories for ex-drones, some of you cult classic kids may remember the now lost, "ex-drones: the glitched dimension". Yup, i'm old. This dlc was truly a new short experience and people probably gave more excitment to it, being completely different, it was a freshly new experience to participate in. The Glitched Dimension was taken down from itch.io eventually (i can't really remember why, but it was probably because we had plans on bringing it to the complete full ex-drones game). The Glitched Dimension was available as a preview and wasn't downloadable in RoastMyGame. People still gave feedback there too heh! Unfortunately, as of now by the time i am writting this in January 10th, RoastMyGame is taken down due to expired domain name. Sad. But i was seeing it coming because the site was buggy and filled with suggestive game content and the dev wasn't working on it anymore. I would've shared a screenshot of ex-drones: the glitched dimensions' cover but it's not in my files anymore. Apart from The Glitched Dimension, i released a DOOM inspired dlc for ex-drones, ex-drones: CHAOS! The dlc is still available to play today by buying EX-DRONES: EX-EDITION which also comes with CHAOS II! You see, it was so great to me that i even made a sequel. The Glitched Dimension Remake, when?

In August 2020, i started working on a small project called "The Cult of the Dead Bunnies:FUNTIME"..yeah i don't know what i was thinking but the game was pretty gory. I was working with Unity's particles system and voila! What's more crazy? People made videos about it. Watch them here! (unfortunately one of the youtubers who played it, terminated their youtube channel).

Gameplay by CorpseBombKeef:

delisted the game due to the lack of community after months of relase and i had bigger projects on the way.

After the big success of ex-drones and The Cult of the Dead Bunnies: FUNTIME, still on my own, i wanted to make a "true" horror game experience. Back then, as a fan of Stephen King's "Pet Semetary" i created, "Where The Pets, Are Buried". The game was planned to be released in Chapters (six to be specific). Chapter One was the prototype chapter but it costed 1.20€ and that's because whoever bought it, would earn Chapter 2 for free! Crazy fact: People played and made videos about it too! (i know, kinda weird seeing my own game in a video but hey!). I've been watching the video again and i have to say that WTPAB was so buggy and badly executed. You can watch the WTPAB gameplays made by Vlad here:

WTPAB Chapter 1 alpha gameplay.

WTPAB Chapter 2 alpha gameplay.

Around in June 2023 i took the decision to launch the project as Alpha build and make it free-to-play because 1. It looked and played bad & 2. I had high hopes for WTPAB full game and i wanted everyone to get atleast the meaning of the game which is the story of how 2 brothers were driven into their own doom, pretty psychological.

CHAPTER 2: 2021

Phew, 2021 here we are. Very exhausting year i'd say but surprises where coming. Remember the friends i mentioned before? They joined in and they founded "Cookie Studio" and we started the development for the next big EX-DRONES! During this time we were also working on EX-DRONES: The Regen..basically ex-drones but if you had RTX On! Cool huh? You can still play The Regen if you buy the EX-EDITION! 2021, would've been the year EX-Drones would made its first appearence but we had some miscommunication and troubles up ahead for us..

The original release date for EX-Drones was in 20th of December. It was delayed to January 24th and with global launch in January 25th in 2022.

CHAPTER 3: 2022

There were a lot of things happening in 2022, with the release of EX-Drones Full Game (early access still) we were constantly updating it because of the development the game went through. The development of EX-Drones was a living hell. Working with many people is something that i wasn't used to back then and we were miscommunicating and we rushed the project and it was launched with only 3 gamemodes..and just 3 days later we released a whole brand new DLC "Jailbreak"..i was inspired by AC/DC's single "Jailbreak". We also added new weapons and people loved the Major Update! Not only that but also in 16th of March 2022, as a gift for me, Had Funk released the album "EX-POWER"..you guessed it, an album for EX-Drones' soundtrack. Listen to it here!:

Thankfully, in late 2022 we released a simple Cookie Clicking game and it was also our first mobile ported game! Somehow the game sold over 31 copies and made 51€ as of today January 10th 2025, now that's something i've never seen. The following weeks were constant updates for it with the support from the community. Ah such a big year for EX-Drones. Funny but true story follows like this. I was sitting in my room and i wanted to play EX-Drones just to relieve the memories of what we went through making it. While doing so, i realized that the Main Menu was glitchy and kinda..off. Such optimization issues and overall not much of a gameplay. Then i sat down with the team and we started planning the new generation of "EX-DRONES: NEXT-GEN".

p.s. The exact next year (16th of March 2023) they released the Anniversary Edition of EX-POWER with new tracks! Now added in the latest EX-DRONES. Check it out too :>

2022, would also have been the Where The Pets, Are Buried pre-production year. It was but no progress was made to it since then..

CHAPTER 4: 2023

2023 was such a busy year as we were working on EX-DRONES: NEXT GEN and we were very quiet from the world of the internet. Late 2023 we also released Cookie Clicker Anniversary Edition and it sold more copies!

CHAPTER 5: 2024

2024 was THE year. In February we released the first trailer for EX-DRONES: NEXT GEN and it was pretty huge. Staring me, Orpheus i played the villain in EX-DRONES' Main Campaign "Mr.Johnathan" and i was in the trailer! Look Ma, That's me!

Fun fact: By the time the trailer was released we were still working on finishing the Campaign but we were so excited to show you what progress we made through. We really felt like we had everything in our hands. When EX-DRONES released, everything was relieved, every pain, blood spitted, sweats, stress, all gone. It was finally time. The score it received by the community was overall 4.2/5 on itch.io. Every single one of them compared it to the old EX-Drones "full game" and they all agreed on something. This was EX-DRONES. The EX-PERIENCE. Personally i really liked the story of the game as i played huge part on writing it. A story with my humor, my fantasy and my fun. A beautiful shoot em up adventure. There are so many things in the game that i really don't know where to start. Check it out on your own! Boss Battles, Secret Weapons, Easter Eggs, Lore, Voice Acting, Fanart, and Characters with personality. It's all in there in the most stupidest way possible. After the release of EX-DRONES: The Next-Generation we released 5 updates most of them patches on optimizing the game and fixing TONS of bugs but also implementing more and more lore to the game. Also in April 2024 i was watching the new Fallout TV Show and i was playing Fallout New Vegas and i giggled "imagine if EX-DRONES was in the Fallout Universe" ....that was it. I started working on it in June and made a solid progress on designing a huge map and so it began. That was, EX-DRONES: THE WASTED. Here's a preview recorded in July 1st 2024 for EX-Buddy :) (EX-DRONE's pip-boy).

little progress was made to this DLC addon after some weeks because we realized how big of a thing it actually was, surpassing our own knowledge in programming so we left it on pause.

Before The Wasted, i had ideas and blueprints for another Campaign for Stewart (oh right, let me introduce you to our EX-DRONES heroes. Ahem, the main character from every EX-DRONES universe, EX-Guy. This guy was always the...well, EX-Guy? The Next Gen brought 2 more heroes though! With their own lore and their own abilities!! David 'Angel' Stewart..pretty long name huh? I call him just Stewart. A mechanic expert and likes to fly around with military planes and that's where 'Angel' comes from. Then we have, Kyle, a cocky young dude who enjoys pretty much the not-so chilla lifestyle, we talking about drug dealing, alcohol and sex...did we mention booze? (i made the same joke in the game). You can check out a little more details in EX-DRONE's official website OR learn their entire existence in the Game!

Where were we? Oh right, Stewart. I had planned a Campaign DLC for him on his journey on searching for his lost sister..you see, after the war of 2048 things weren't so nice. I'm not gonna spoil the whole thing, try the game..it's pretty cool. So i had this idea in my head but i didn't know how to execute it and i couldn't imagine myself going to the team and say "i want a new campaign for a dude that searches for his lost sister" BINGO!

October 2024, Silent Hill 2 Remake releases. Holy smokes am i thankful for that game? Hell yes i am, personal favorite PLUS it finally made me understand it all now! Is it coincidence that SH2 was about James searching for his Wife and Stewart his lost sister? That was my thought and again, BINGO! EVRIKA! The team then was really into that idea and we did it. Behind the Scenes we had plans for WTPAB (Where The Pets, Are Buried in case you forgot) staring the development AGAIN in December 1st. So the thing was...will we make it in the timespan of 1 month? The development of EX-DRONES: THE MILE begun in November 1st 2024 and was finished in 28th of November and EX-DRONES 2.4.0 was released just a day later in November 29th. Yup. A miracle? Dedication? Yes. Dedication and lots of efforts. It was actually insane.

The following message is very personal. During this time in November i was starting to feel weird, we wall went through darkness but for me, this was the worst i've felt since. I was programming The Mile mostly on my own for 6 hours straight with little breaks. It actually made me sick and the whole month i went it through with full headaches. I felt like giving up but i was so dedicated to it with high hopes and till today this is the best Map and Level design in my now, 5 years of experience! For The Mile, i had given the opportunity and asked some friends of mine to participate in the Voice Acting For the campaign and they all agreed and they did an amazing job and i'm really proud of the outcome. Unfortunately, when The Mile came out we were all burnt up and we were so sure there will be no problems with the launch..we were wrong, so wrong. It got so bad that all the team just left because they wanted to take a break and there it was just me. There were so many game breaking bugs, not just simple bugs. The Mile was about the ambience, on launch it lacked a big part of it..the fog. Somehow in Unity Engine, the fog was there but on build it wasn't. I was fed up. It was December, we were supposed to start the development of WTPAB, now this? I thought to myself. Nah, i won't overwork myself. I'm taking a break. Christmas Holidays came in and i had this thought still in the back of my head. (i should mention that before the holidays i had worked on fixing all the bugs for 2.4.1...all i was missing was the fog). It was so exhausting we asked our twitter for help but still nothing. Forums nothing.

CHAPTER 6: 2025 (FINALE?)

Now, after the holidays i was probably in a better condition, right? Nope. I was still in a bad shape and i still probably am but i at least managed to make my own Fog in Unity and that's progress! Expect 2.4.1 to release soon. Everyone will be stepping away and what should i do? Me? I will take a break from game development, i think i need it or even deserve it. The Mile was worth it because you can feel the ambience and how dark times were back then. Noneless it's my favorite piece of digital media i've ever developed. So many secrets, so many chills and feels. Will definitely be playing this on my break. As much as it hurts, EX-DRONES in terms of marketing is an utter and tragic failure. In terms of fun? It keeps its promise. In my terms of fun developing and experience, i really enjoyed it. I learnt stuff just like all the previous projects. Now, i don't know what's gonna happen to WTPAB because i am thinking of not going for big projects again. They take time and you don't even know if the succeed. If WTPAB will happen then it will be a small project. Again, i don't know the future of it. It's early to say. I'd love to work on short indie horror games, the silly ones you see in itch.io. They earn popularity. I'd also like to make a psychological horror like Mouthwashing too. I'm also thinking of just proceeding on my own, just TheSilentHouse_Studio. Too many thoughts always leading to overthinking.

Anyways this was the entire story of The TheSilentHouse_Studio & Cookie Studio from 2020, to now.