Way To The Woods: Team17 to publish 16-year-old's viral indie game

Way To The Woods, the beautiful indie game being worked on by a 16-year-old amateur game developer, is to be published by British company Team17. The game found fame in December 2015 after screenshots went viral online.

The game sees players take control of a doe and her young fawn. It is being developed by Australian Anthony Tan, who shared images from the game on Reddit where they caught the attention of Sean Murray – director of upcoming sci-fi game No Man's Sky. From there they went viral.

Debbie Bestwick, CEO of Team17, said: "Way to the Woods is an absolutely beautiful, unique-looking game and upon speaking with Anthony, we could not have been more impressed.

"He's an incredibly mature person for his age with a very bright future ahead of him and it's mind-blowing what he's achieved thus far. Team17 is helping nurture a number of studios around the world and I personally can't wait to help Anthony achieve his goals. We're extremely excited to be here to share this journey with him."

Tan, who has now founded Studio Happy Bee, said: "To join a label that is responsible for helping teams such as Playtonic, Lilith, Mouldy Toof and many more is like a dream come true! I'm so excited to be working with an experienced label like Team17 and I'm confident that it's the right positive step for Way to the Woods."

The game will feature a soundtrack by London-based composer Jeremy Warmsley. Tan is working on the game with a small group of friends and helpers.

Speaking to IBTimes UK in December, Tan said: "The game is inspired by animations such as Spirited Away [and] Princess Mononoke. It's also influenced a lot by my love of The Last Of Us, which is the greatest game of all time. I will fight anyone who says otherwise!"

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