Life on the Water: How a Game Designer Turned Her Passion into a Success Story

A 50-foot blue-and-white boat named Zusje V is home to Lente Cuenen, a 25-year-old game designer.

A Snug Life on the Water

• Bed
• Couch
• Small TV
• Toilet cubicle
• Kitchen
• Workstation

Her workstation is a treasure trove of curios:

• A lime green Nintendo DS Lite with its wire-guts spilling out
• A 12-volt battery
• A stack of video game cases

A Life on the Water

Cuenen grew up on an old barge east of Amsterdam. She loves her boat and considers it her whole life. She made a game about a boat while living on a boat, which is quite interesting.

The Challenge of Independent Game Development

• Almost 19,000 games released on Steam last year
• Small developers with no marketing budget can easily get lost in the crowd

Spilled! A Success Story

Cuenen managed to attract attention to her game, Spilled!, by sharing her personal story online.

• Nearly 100,000 copies sold on Steam since March
• Well beyond $425,000 earned after Steam's 30 percent cut
• Freedom is valued more than money

An Eco-Conscious Lifestyle

• Secondhand goods fill her home
• 10 cents from every copy of Spilled! donated to a conservation fund for cetaceans
• Avoids buying new stuff and uses hand-me-downs whenever possible

A Love for Boats

• Her father was crazy about boats
• In 1995, her parents purchased the Twee Gezusters (Two Sisters), a barge built in 1920
• Family home for nearly two decades

Overcoming Depression

• High school years were marred with depression
• With the support of her parents, she dragged herself out of the slump and completed her diploma

The Idea for Spilled!

• Germinated in college, where she had been messing around with a game in which the player controlled a boat
• Incorporated a collection mechanic, where players collect oil instead of coins or rings
• Primary gameplay loop: clean up rivers and streams by hoovering up oil spills before upgrading your boat to take on even bigger spills

The Road to Success

• Started posting about her seafaring life on Twitter in 2022
• A 26-year-old computer scientist from Germany offered to help overhaul the game's graphics
• Success enabled her to pay back the $10,000 loan from her mother in May
• Now owns the boat