My Friend, Dysentery is a darkly comedic, fantasy reimagining of The Oregon Trail that trades settlers for a ragtag adventuring party and buffalo hunting for turn-based dragon battles. Which answers the question: "How hard would fantasy travel be?" It's a "horribly realistic fantasy travel simulator," which challenges you to shepherd a group of adventurers to a faraway land to kill a big, fat, evil red dragon. You must trudge through a very brutal, procedurally generated world where your survival will heavily depend on how well you manage resources, handle difficult text-based choices, but also your luck with high-stakes dice rolls. You will face a relentless barrage of ailments, from hypothermia and starvation to cannibalism and, of course, dysentery. It very much leans into the chaos of a tabletop RPG with a maybe slightly too evil GM. The lesson: Adventuring is not a grand tale of heroic triumph, like seen in films and read in books. Rather, adventuring is cold. It's brutal. And it's often absurdly unforgiving.

Set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where the renmants of all races live within the last kingtom of Tala, the king of Talan invokes a grand exodus to Faerland; a prospective land far east in hopes to settle there. It is said that these lands are not only bountiful, but contain the last known species of dragons. One would think mention of dragons to be a terrifying notion, but in this world, magic's potency is found from the animal hides its etched into. Dragon-skin is the most sought after medium, and is scarce; almost non-existent. These lands promise more than homestead, but riches and magical innovation. Those who take up the venture are promised claim to free land and even a stipend as long as they can get there. Thus begins The Great Race as it's called, hundreds of hopeful adventurers, naïve, experienced, desperate and cunning; numerous races of men and brutes; scholars of magic and journeymen of the blade; all amass in the capital city of Talan. There we find our ragtag group of hopeful adventurers.

The original idea struck me as I was falling alseep, worrying about my finances & and failed game project. I had recently watched a documentary about Oregon Trail (the video game) by Gaming Historian, which interested me deeply, and I had been sitting on a idea for a manga I wanted to draw; the idea behind this manga was about about the struggles of travelling in a fantasy world. After discovering and becoming obessed with the manga Dungeon Meshi; all of these ideas intersected on that fateful night, half asleep, trying to come up with a game idea I could finish in a couple months to stay afloat. That idea I came up with was this game. The scope has balooned from my original plan, but it has more or less remained in line with my original vision; maybe more simulation heavy than I had originally intended!

Hi! RiskofRuins, the one writing this, wears all the hats: code, writing, art, ALL the hats. And he ultimately got the ball rolling. Why am I called "Risk of Ruin". Well I believe that game venture always has a risk of failure. I embrace this risk and jump head first into it.

My ultimate dream is to keep expanding this company into something HUGE. I want to walk into a OFFICE BUILDING, and walk past rows of office cubicles, with all my employees running around in a panic because the release date for My Friend Dysentery V (its now a triple A game) is in a week, and the build crashes in the tutorial for some reason. Well grand dreams aside, I just want to keep making cool games.

Whether that means Ludo Foundry becomes a huge company or remains just me hacking away. However it manifests, as long as I can keep making cool unique experiences, and just even one person cares? Thats the most I can ask for.