Billy Basso

Billy Basso is a Chicago-based game developer and the sole creator of Animal Well, a dark, atmospheric pixel-art exploration game packed with layered secrets. Before going indie he worked in the games industry at studios including Phosphor Games, NetherRealm Studios and Level Ex, much of it on multiplayer and free-to-play projects. He has said that experience sharpened his technical skills while making him want to build a single-player game that respected the player's time.

Basso began Animal Well as a side project in 2017 and wrote it from scratch in C++ with his own engine rather than an off-the-shelf one. He worked on it alongside his day job for years before quitting in 2022 to finish it full-time. In 2021 he brought in industry veteran Dan Adelman to help with business and marketing under the Shared Memory label. After the game appeared at the 2022 Day of the Devs showcase, he partnered with Bigmode, the new publishing label founded by YouTuber videogamedunkey and Leah Gastrow, and Animal Well became Bigmode's first release, even though Basso had originally planned to self-publish.

Animal Well launched in May 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, with an Xbox version later that year. It was widely praised for its art, sound and deep puzzle layers, won Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction at the D.I.C.E. Awards, and was nominated at The Game Awards and BAFTA Games Awards. Basso estimated around 650,000 copies sold by August 2024. He chose not to add post-launch content, treating the game as finished, and an art book and soundtrack vinyl were later announced.