An indie delight offering puzzles and playful chaos

A Little to the Left brings its charming household puzzle experience to mobile, as the game’s now available on the iOS platform, with an Android release later this year. A look into the game is something we all prefer as players before diving into any title, and with A Little to the Left, I’ve done the same while also sharing the developers’ thoughts. Let’s dive right in!

GamingonPhone’s Indie Spotlight shines a light on budding small studios and developers, offering recognition and visibility within the indie space. In this segment, we provide essential overviews along with insights and thoughts from developers. If you’re an indie studio, feel free to reach out with your queries at editor@gamingonphone.com.

Overview: A tidy adventure awaits

Delve into the cute little world of A Little to the Left, where every misplaced item becomes the opportunity for a puzzle. This relaxing game challenges you to sort, stack, and organize everyday household objects while a mischievous cat lurks about to mess up your hard work. Sounds interesting right? Wait, there’s more.

With over 100 puzzles and a Daily Tidy Delivery, every day, you will experience a new challenge. Ranging from rotating cans to arranging framed pictures to cleaning up a messy drawer, all may find that their fix is a pleasurable and satisfying task. The game had launched for PC, MAC, and Nintendo Switch before making its debut for mobile.

The mobile version is optimized for smaller screens, featuring pinch-zoom and panning functions. It’s a premium app with no ads, offering a free trial for everyone. A one-time in-app purchase unlocks the full game, and DLC packs will be available as additional in-app purchases with the Android release.

Why you should play A Little to the Left

• Perfect for those who love a cosy, stress-free gaming experience.
• Puzzles are fun and engaging, encouraging you to find multiple solutions.
• The Let It Be option ensures no puzzle ever becomes frustrating, you decide when to move on.
• A playful yet mischievous cat pops in with lighthearted interruptions, adding humor to the game, even while stirring up trouble as the antagonist.
• A soothing background score that hums gently to give you a relaxing touch.

From concept to creation: Developer Insights

Annie Macmillan, who is the co-founder of Max Inferno Studio and currently oversees the Art direction of the game was able to give us some detailed insights regarding the development of the title.

About Max Inferno Studio and Annie’s Role

Max Inferno Studio was co-founded by Annie Macmillan and Lukas Steinman in 2021 when they decided to pursue A Little to the Left full-time. They are based in K’jipuktuk/Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Annie reflects, “Lukas and I met at art school over 18 years ago, and we’ve always loved making things together. The studio name comes from a corner we used to meet at on our way to school.”

Both co-founders entered the gaming industry from different creative backgrounds. Annie explains, “Before Max Inferno, I had a contemporary art practice, and I was freelancing as a motion designer and illustrator, Lukas was doing web development.” Together, they conceptualized and designed the game, with Annie focusing on art and Lukas on programming.

They also roped in their friends Justin Karas for the soundtrack and Paul G. Hammond for key art, both of whom went to art school with them. “In 2023, our team grew to three as Daniel Crane joined us as Technical Lead, helping bring ALTTL to new platforms,” Annie shares. She emphasizes: “We work out of our home, which was a big inspiration for our debut game.”

The inspiration behind A Little to the Left

The concept came to life during the 48-hour GMTK Game Jam in 2020. Lukas joined the event, and Annie decided to assist with the art. She recalls, “The theme was ‘Out of Control,’ and we thought of someone trying to cope with the feeling of being out of control by seeking control of their environment by neatly organizing the items in their home.” This idea was very personal to both of them. “This is a behavior we are familiar with ourselves, and it was an especially poignant concept considering much of the world was under quarantine at the time,” Annie notes.

During the jam, they built a 10-level demo with simple interactions. “We had things like fix the tilted angle of a picture frame, rotate soup cans so that all the labels are front facing, and stack up a pile of papers that neatly descend in scale,” Annie shares. Working on the game excited them, and Annie fondly recalls, “I remember being so excited laying in bed that first night. I couldn’t sleep at all! I was full of ideas that energized me.” They thought of the name, A Little to the Left while lying in bed. “It made us giddy with excitement,” Annie adds.

Their game jam demo received a lot of positive feedback, and Lukas kept refining the game in his free time. Encouraged by this, they submitted it to the Wholesome Direct showcase. “The attention we got inspired us to quit our jobs and go full-time with the project,” Annie explains.

With publisher support, they were able to give it their all. “It felt life-changing, though the next couple of years were the hardest either of us ever worked,” she reflects, adding, “We are so lucky and thankful, it’s extremely validating that many people like our game.” Their development process involved drawing inspiration from objects in their home. “We had fun imagining how someone might interact with these things,” Annie explains. They also introduced playful elements, like the mischievous cat that messes up neatly arranged items.

“I got a bit anxious about the game feeling too strict or didactic, so that’s why we introduced things like multiple solutions and the cat antagonist who shows up occasionally as a swishing tail or batting paw to mess up your tidily arranged items; it was about bringing in a bit of comedic relief and disrupting a singular way of thinking,” she says. They even added a Let it Be option in the menu to allow players to skip puzzles with no penalty, giving them flexibility. “It was all about making it fun and accessible,” Annie notes.

Ensuring variety across 100+ Puzzles and Annie’s favorite picks

To keep things interesting, the team focused on exploring new concepts for each puzzle. Annie explains, “Each level was inspired by either objects or interactions, like rotating, panning, or sorting, for which we would find a good object to pair with.” This led to puzzles like a spider web level and a clock level.

They also avoided reusing mechanics unless they were thematically relevant. “Objects like an old clock from my dad or an eccentric lamp from Lukas’ grandmother inspired levels,” Annie shares. They examined details such as patterns, shapes, and colors to build fresh puzzle concepts. “We had fun combining these ideas to push them further,” she says.

One type of puzzle that players particularly enjoy is the “junk drawer” puzzle. Annie describes it as “which is a unique take on a jigsaw puzzle, where each puzzle piece is the shape of a real-world object and they are designed so they fit together in a space like a drawer or a tray quite perfectly.” She adds, “They are super satisfying puzzles to solve, and they are fun to make, but they do take a lot of crafting!” They appear throughout the main game and in both the Cupboards & Drawers and Seeing Stars DLCs.

Annie has several favorite puzzles. From the main game, Annie explains, “My favorite level from the main game is probably the Bread Tags level. I just love how simple, colorful, and elegant that one feels. I love how mundane these objects are, but how surprising and special it would be to discover that they fit together in this way in real life.”

From the DLCs, Annie mentions, “In Cupboards & Drawers, I love the ‘Craft Supplies’ and ‘Fishing Tackle Box’ puzzles. In Seeing Stars, my favorite level might be the ‘First Aid Kit’ or the very first puzzle, the ‘Canapes’ puzzle.” She adds, “The Seeing Stars junk drawer puzzle is also fun for its multiple solutions that see the objects transform in their shape to allow for two different solve states.” She dearly loves them all, as she ends this question with: ”It’s hard to choose just one, I love them all for different reasons!”

Development challenges and the importance of player feedback

Like many indie developers, the Max Inferno team faced their share of challenges. Annie admits, “We probably should have scheduled more time for the base game, we didn’t realize how long development could take.” They ended up working late nights and weekends to meet their release goals. Fortunately, the lessons they learned made the DLC development process smoother.

After releasing the base game and each DLC, they continued refining gameplay and adding features such as cursor assist, disabled wiggle effect, the Archive, and more Daily Tidy content. etc. Some initial achievements required too much time commitment, so they tweaked those to make them more manageable.

Annie emphasizes how much they value player feedback: “We’ve worked hard to polish areas of the game to make the solutions less finicky and to be more forgiving.” Features like the Archive and additional Daily Tidy content were added post-launch based on community input. “We want the game to be better, and we’re continually learning,“ Annie concluded.

Final Verdict from the Editor

A Little to the Left hits that sweet spot between entertaining and laid-back, excellent for anyone who enjoys low-pressure puzzles with satisfying solutions. Great object-based puzzles with creative designs offer a peaceful and enjoyable experience for all ages.

The developers know what they love, and they’ve poured that passion into every part of the game. When a game is made with this much care, it’s bound to deliver a fantastic experience. I have no doubt players will fall in love with A Little to the Left. And hey, just a little to the ’right’ of this text, you can check their official website for more info!

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