Johnathan Skinner
Solo indie game developer based in London, UK
April 24, 2023
Steam (Windows, Mac)
Google Play (Android)
App Store (iOS)
facebook.com/steermadness
instagram.com/steermadness
twitter.com/steermadness
youtube.com/@steermadness
Steer Madness is an adventure game where the player takes on the role of Bryce, a walking talking cow, who was recently rescued from the slaughterhouse and is now on a mission to save all his fellow animals. It takes place in the fictional city of Fairview, where the player is free to explore, interact with other characters, and join in various missions including undercover investigations and animal rescues.
Created by solo indie game developer Johnathan Skinner, Steer Madness was originally released for PC in 2004. It was well received and won two awards: Best Animal-Friendly Video Game from the 2004 PETA Proggy Awards, and Innovation in Audio from the 2005 Independent Games Festival. The game was popular among vegans, but the number of vegans around in 2004 was fairly low so it had a fairly limited audience.
With the significant rise in veganism over the past several years, and the growth in casual gaming on mobile, Johnathan saw a new opportunity for Steer Madness. But the original version of the game didn't age well — the graphics quality was poor compared to modern PC games, and the gameplay style did not play well on mobile. So it was decided to do a complete remake, with a focus on mobile friendly gameplay while retaining much of the original look and feel.