Relive a virtual lifetime

There's an incredibly heartfelt indie on its way and I asked Jolan Reynaud from Falling Leaves Studio all about it. Here's the lovely MyDear.Exe!

A.J. has been obsessively gaming since the late '80s and is just as passionate about video games in 2026. 🐻

Did you remember your password, chum?

A.J. ▸ The concept of MyDear.Exe being an operating system that's actually a puzzle game which tells a heartfelt story is very clever. How did this idea originate and develop over time? v1d30chumz tzyzvvyztxyzvw

Jolan ▸ The idea formed in 2 times: First, Clémentine, our freelance dev was tinkering with an asset pack from Kenney. Just cursors, nothing much. But she designed a little top down shooter with it. We played it, discussed with her, and all agreed that it could be our first game: A game in a fake computer, though it was really different hahaha.

Second, we talked narration. I came up with several ideas but they were all heavy socialist and anti-capitalistic stuff or 1984 dystopian kind of thing. We like these stories and political games, but... there are plenty and the state of the world is depressing enough already. We all agreed that something lighter would be better. Something cozy, cute and warm. So we brainstormed and came up with the grandparents theme. We refined it and eventually reached the current story of Lucien's and Ellie's long love story. (Dropping the initial shooter gameplay on the way but keeping the fake OS hahaha). 😆

Most relationships have humble beginnings

A.J. ▸ Gradually unveiling the lives of Eli and Lucien makes for quite an impactful reward so what elements of their story are you hoping will resonate with players most and are there any fun details that you'd like to share?

Jolan ▸ Hum. I don't want to spoil anything so I'll be careful hehe. Hoshi-san's "story arc" resonates particularly with the whole team and we think it will with the players too. Apart from that, it's not really just "one thing" but more their relationship. How they walked through life together even in tougher times. I hope it can warm some hearts and help get through these difficult times we are in.

I wouldn't want to mess with this cat!

A.J. ▸ When it comes to unlocking more parts of the operating system, how did you ensure players remain engaged while allowing everyone to eventually solve the puzzles within it?

Jolan ▸ LOTS of iterations hahaha. We are a bit lucky as the setup itself is quite universal. Lots of people are used to computers, even just a bit, which makes it kinda genuine to appreciate. But we still had to iterate a lot on the puzzles to make sure they are understood while not driving players by the hand. We tried to make each puzzle a bit different, using different mechanism, and increasing difficulty layer by layer. And even now, we are trying to arrange stuff 2 weeks before the release, while seeing people playing the game and trying stuff during Heroes World last weekend. 😊

If I saw a paperboy jump that high, I'd be super-impressed

A.J. ▸ There are some very interesting mini-games packed in so which ones were the most enjoyable or nostalgic to develop and were there any surprises as the team tried to emulate the classic formulas?

Jolan ▸ I think Paper Boy was the easiest and Paw Claw the toughest we had to do but for different aspects. Paper Boy was our second mini-game and the design being very simple it was a great step to improve our workflow. For Paw Claw, which was the first one, we struggled to find the right tone especially in the story side. Clochette was a lonesome ronin at first, fighting gangs of baddies hahaha.

But I think the one we prefer is the 3rd one, with Hoshi. It's a mix of old Pokemon games on Game Boy and Undertale. It was a tough one to design and we struggled with the UI, revamping it completely. It also required quite the tech behind.

There's always time for adorable cat photos

A.J. ▸ Are there any easter eggs hidden in MyDear.Exe and if so, can you give players a hint for something they can look out for?

Jolan ▸ Hum. There are some yeah. Some hidden in files, for more "dev jokes". Others can be political hehehe. But we didn't put that much to be honest, now that I think about it. I don't know if that can be considered an easter egg, but in Paw Claw, one of the background displays a restaurant called "Musubi". It's basically our favorite restaurant in Bordeaux with Lucie. We used to go there every Wednesday while working on The Rogue Prince of Persia, and we still go there regularly. It's a Japanese "bento" restaurant hold by Ayako and Marie-Pierre, two lovely woman with hearts of gold. If you're around there, don't hesitate! 🍱

A lot goes on in the animal kingdom, doesn't it?

A.J. ▸ Finally, the silly question of the day: if you were to make a sequel that's about your time developing MyDear.Exe, which mini-game would you create that would reflect your memories most?

Jolan ▸ Oh wow! That's a tough question hahaha. Hum. I think one of the mini-games that could help a lot to bring the emotions we had during the development would be a mini "Florence style" visual novel. A sequence of little interactions easily understood at first sight, little and simple characters getting back to the love of making games by doing it. Lucie loves to say that developing MyDear.Exe was her "holiday work". It kinda healed us. We really needed that project to be able to get forward with our future projects. 🙂

Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it! Demo Trailer for MyDear.Exe 1:01

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