Against All Odds: The Making of Tukoni: Forest Keepers

What started as a small interactive project for the Book Arsenal in 2018 eventually became a full-fledged indie game released in 2026. Along the way, Tukoni went through prototypes, a free Prologue, funding challenges, production setbacks, team changes, marketing struggles, festivals, publisher pitches, and more unexpected turns than we could have imagined.

In this talk, we’ll look back at the eight-year journey of Tukoni: Forest Keepers — how the project evolved, what kept us going through the difficult years, the mistakes and lessons we learned, and how a tiny Ukrainian indie team managed to finally bring the game to release.

It’s a story about persistence, uncertainty, and finding a way forward when the path rarely goes as planned — with, thankfully, a happy ending.