Over the past decade, I’ve developed games professionally. Before that, I contributed to modding projects and open source games. I’ve been fortunate to build a career doing what I love, working on excellent projects alongside brilliant people.

Still, I’ve never released a game of my own design. I’ve built many prototypes over the years and learned something valuable from each one, but I often took on more than I could realistically achieve as a solo developer. In recent years, I’ve focused on smaller-scale designs, searching for a concept that felt creatively exciting and manageable in scope.

I found that idea in Persevere. For a while, I’d been exploring two separate concepts: a survival management game—like Banished or Frostpunk—built around travel rather than settlement, and a tower defense game with persistent progression that extends beyond simple tower unlocks. Late last year, those ideas clicked into place, and I’ve been developing the game ever since.

It started with a codename, Perseverance, a reminder of the mindset I’d need to see the project through. Over time, the name became more than that. It began to shape the tone of the game itself: a story about a crew who, like me, must persevere to reach their destination.

- Mark Aherne

Founder, Universe or Nothing

My day job is as Technical Director at NoesisGUI. We are the industry leader in UI middleware, providing best in class UI technology and production tools (Noesis Studio recently went into public beta, if you’re interested in UI check it out).

If you’d like to get in touch, you can contact me using the form below, or connect on LinkedIn.