MinnMax

MinnMax Spotlight - Valencia And A Sledgehammer (Patreon)

Published:

2026-05-04 16:15:02

Imported:

2026-05

Tags:

spotlight

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Content

MinnMax Spotlight is back! As you likely heard us reference on The MinnMax Show or on today's episode of Bonus Pod, Jacob Geller and Ben Hanson just returned from a fun and insightful trip to Valencia, Spain to learn about the development of Virtue and a Sledgehammer. You can think of the MinnMax Spotlight format as a travelogue that offers a mountain of insight on game development. This was our first time in Spain, we hosted the first European MinnMax community meetup, and we recorded as much as possible to let you all share the experience! Virtue and a Sledgehammer is published by Devolver Digital and will be releasing later in 2026, it's from the same creators (Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour) as Many Nights A Whisper, which we raved about earlier this year on The MinnMax Show.

Feel free to wishlist Virtue and a Sledgehammer on Steam as a thank you for the developers spending two days with MinnMax! This is not a sponsored video, BUT if the team sees a big uptick in wishilsts from this video then that's great data for us to line up even more MinnMax Spotlights in the future. https://store.steampowered.com/app/3743260/Virtue_and_a_Sledgehammer

If you appreciate this raw and honest look at game devlopment, please help share the MinnMax Spotlight online - https://youtu.be/oWntPAOyH8g

The MinnMax Spotlight is under an hour, BUT we filmed for 11 hours and you can watch it all in the extended version available to everybody at the Backstage Pass tier here on Patreon. There is sooooo much insight on game development in the extended version (including cancelled games and their best game ideas for the future) and there's also a lot more of Jacob Geller and Ben Hanson exploring/falling in love with Spain. Also, we have our biggest game code giveaway ever happening right now. If you upgrade to the Backstage Pass tier before Monday, May 11th, we'll DM you on Patreon with Steam codes for EVERY game from Deconstructeam. So that is Gods Will Be Watching, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood (which Sarah Podzorski loves), Essays On Empathy, The Red Strings Club, and Many Nights A Whisper. It's unbelievably generous of them to offer so many codes, so again... please help them out by wishlisting Virue and a Sledgehammer. We'll update the video description/pinned comment if we run out of codes.

A huge thank you to everybody who came out to the MinnMax Community Meetup in Valencia, Spain! It was a blast. We hope to get back to Europe soon, but the next MinnMax Spotlight is sending Sarah Podzorski and Haley MacLean to Kyoto... more on that soon! Thank you for making all of this possible with your support here on Patreon!

Catch up on other MinnMax Spotlights below...

Panic, Portland, and the Playdate - https://youtu.be/ZSZcJH0ewKw

Keeping EverQuest Alive, 25 Years Later - https://youtu.be/_18ZFndAzWU

Files

MinnMax Spotlight - Valencia and a Sledgehammer

https://www.patreon.com/minnmax - Unlock the 11-hour version of this video or support MinnMax at the $5 tier on Patreon and we'll DM you Steam codes for EVERY Deconstructeam game. Offer ends 5/11/26. We'll update this description if we run out of codes. Feel free to wishlist Virtue and a Sledgehammer on Steam as a thank you for spending two days with MinnMax! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3743260/Virtue_and_a_Sledgehammer In this MinnMax Spotlight, Ben Hanson and Jacob Geller travel to Valencia, Spain to meet the indie studios Deconstructeam and Selkie Harbour to learn more about the development of their new game published by Devolver Digital called Virtue and a Sledgehammer. Get to know Virtue and a Sledgehammer's creative director Jordi de Paco, art director Marina González, composer/level designer Paula Ruiz (fingerspit), programmer/designer Guillermo Ferrando Monzón, and 3D animator/VFX director Manon Gevers. Learn the history of Deconstructeam's earlier games like Gods Will Be Watching, Red Strings Club, The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, and their most recent collaboration with Selkie Harbour called Many Nights A Whisper. Yes, this video contains sledgehammers and paella. If you enjoy this raw and honest look at game development, please subscribe to MinnMax's channel and help share it with a friend. Disclosure: This is not a sponsored video, MinnMax reached out about the project as fans of the studio. Tinsley PR paid for the flight and hotel. If you have any questions about future MinnMax Spotlights, feel free to reach out to hanson@minnmax.com To jump to a particular segment, check out the timestamps below... 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:38 - Meeting Deconstructeam 00:03:28 - Exploring the Deconstructeam working space 00:05:36 - Playing Virtue and a Sledgehammer/Studio history 00:11:08 - Behind the scenes of Virtue and a Sledgehammer in Unreal 00:18:45 - Unlock the 11-hour version, get Steam codes 00:19:49 - The origins of Deconstructeam 00:22:44 - Fireworks in Valencia 00:24:00 - The business of Deconstructeam 00:25:30 - How Paula/fingerspit makes music 00:30:23 - Mediterranean Sea 00:30:58 - Introducing Selkie Harbour 00:34:17 - Selkie Harbour and programming destruction 00:36:56 - Animating Virtue and a Sledgehammer 00:40:44 - Sledgehammers 00:42:43 - Big group Paella at Alquería Patach 00:48:17 - MinnMax community meetup 00:49:23 - A historical conclusion Support us on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/minnmax Support MinnMax directly on YouTube - https://youtube.com/minnmax/join Follow us on Twitch - https://www.twitch.tv/minnmaxshow Subscribe to our YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/minnmax Subscribe to our solo stream channel - https://www.youtube.com/@minnmaxstreamarchives Buy MinnMax merch here - https://minnmax.com/merch Follow us on Bluesky - https://bsky.app/profile/minnmax.com Go behind the scenes on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/minnmaxshow #minnmax #minnmaxshow #gameinformer