Game Announcement: Horse Racing Manager – A 2D Horse Racing Simulation Game

Horse Racing Manager is an upcoming management simulation game. Solo developer Jon Mäkinen describes his goals for the project as “if Football Manager and Starters Orders got a child”. Let’s take a closer look at what Horse Racing Manager will offer, who it is for, and who is making it. 

Like the games that inspire it, Horse Racing Manager is more about strategies and spreadsheets than about, say, action or cute horses. The Steam description advertises a journey from stablehand to horse racing mogul and emphasizes the importance of making decisions about how to train, feed and breed your horses: “Every choice counts, and every race tells a story.”

The game’s visuals are simple: horses, race tracks and staff character portraits come in pixel art optics, while the game’s main interfaces reminds more of a website or software. What might make Horse Racing Manager look a bit dry to some players, will tease in-depth simulation and management to others. 

Sports management games like the aforementioned Football Manager and its numerous copycats aren’t as mainstream as their more visually impressive cousins like FIFA & co., but they still make for a thriving niche. Similarly, Horse Racing Manager likely isn’t going to appeal to horse game fans who are looking for lifelike visuals or grand open worlds - but I definitely know at least a few people who are enthusiastic both about horses and about what we can affectionately call “spreadsheet games”. 
In Horse Racing Manager, you likely won’t find grooming minigames and petting needs: Instead, the player’s priorities are to plan your horse’s training routines and decide on its diet regimen, to hire and direct a variety of staff from jockeys to farriers, and to upgrade your facilities according to your needs and financial means.

Behind the Scenes

The game is being developed primarily by Finnish data analyst Jon Mäkinen, who’s recently incorporated as Sheep Meadow Road Games for the development and release of Horse Racing Manager. 

Jon creates simple pixel art by himself as a placeholder, then pays external artists for iteration. “I want the game to be the best that it can be,” he tells TMQ.  Most recently, he’s commissioned artist Imad Awan for the game’s new cover art (at the top of the article), after initially using an AI-generated image for the purpose.

The game’s looks are still being developed further, but the pixel art style is here to stay,” says Jon. “There will be improvements to the overall scene like a crowd and the actual stadium and scenery.” 

Horse Racing Manager is Jon’s debut project: “I started it more as a test project to learn the Godot game engine,” he explains. What motivated him into committing to developing HRM into a full game was when he created a function that generated a thousand random horse names. “They were kind of realistic - I was hooked. After this I put some more thought into the project, and the goal became to make the child of Starters Orders and Football Manager. Both games that I enjoy and a game that I had always wanted to play.”  

In his youth, Jon frequently attended harness races - that being the only popular and available type of horse race in his home country of Finland. With his best friend, Jon would visit the stable areas near the track, talk to trainers and jockeys and even help out with the horses sometimes. “I have always found horses fascinating, their movement mesmerising and data about horses interesting.”

Jon posts Dev Logs on Steam where he showcases new features and how they work. One such feature that he calls particular attention to for TMQ readers is that of horse breeding and “DNA”. Horses in HRM don’t currently get the realistic gene-set that determines coat colors in real life horses (Extension, Agouti, Cream, Dun etc.), but stats and abilities such as Speed, Agility or Stamina exist on two alleles that get passed on to that horse’s offspring. It’s gamified genetic logic that is inspired by real life inheritance. Applying the DNA to realistic coat colors is something Jon aspires to add for the final game.

The development of Horse Racing Manager only began a few months ago, in Fall 2023. Jon has been posting regular updates on Reddit during that time, including on TMQ’s own GamesWithHorses subreddit. The game’s release is still a while off, and expected to take place towards the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025. “But there is still a lot to do,” Jon adds, “so the timetable might change.” What he already knows is that the game will be a single purchase without microtransactions or subscriptions, likely in the price range of 24-29 USD. 

If Horse Racing Manager sounds like it’s up your alley, make sure to add the game to your Steam wishlist, as this helps games get visibility on launch. To keep tabs on the game’s development outside of Steam, follow Sheep Meadow Road on Twitter, or join /r/HorseRacingManager on Reddit.

Name an In-Game Horse!

Horse Racing Manager offers an opportunity to memorialize your (real life or fictional) horses in the game. Jon invites TMQ-readers to suggest horse names for his game: Simply leave a comment with the name, the horse’s sex (mare, stallion or gelding) and if you like, any special story or memory about the horse in question. 

Horse Racing Manager is coming to Steam for PC. It does not have a release date yet, but is expected to launch in late 2024 or early 2025.