Great news everybody! Killbot Studio is back on track - Mostly. You may have noticed that the release date for Lame & Cheesy has been pushed back to May 15th, 2019. Or perhaps, maybe you didn’t. Look people, it turns out that life can be tough sometimes - who knew? Adulting is hard and keeping up with the speed in which this small studio’s life has been changing has proven to be more difficult than imagined.
We are a small studio with the four of us working full-time jobs in our spare time. Although we hope to turn Killbot Studio into a household name in the future, right now, we are still subject to a variety of distractions and hang ups that can cause big problems for us.
We’ve had some sicknesses decide to attack our lead programmer, for example. However, within every gripe, moan, or groan lives a silver lining. Since MomoCon this year, two of our owners have had babies. As it turns out, babies have a knack for limiting gaming time, let alone developing them. So, although we have been delayed it hasn’t been for nothing. We’ve also recently learned that you can’t keep a 65 hour work week without tuckering out before too long.
So we’ve had some problems - so what? We’re only human. We would also like to ask you for your understanding and forgiveness. Once this game is released it’s going to be amazing. We’ve got a long journey ahead but perseverance will pull us through. Thank you to all the people who have lobbied up their faith and support - all three of you. We’ll be in touch.
Getting Ready for MomoCon - What It Takes to Build a Presentation
Step 1: Planning As it is said, “poor planning leads to poor performance.” Therefore, we had to come up with a way for making our gaming booth look magical enough to attract people. We started with the basics. Of course you have the staples for any presentation of a game: table, something to make people comfortable, monitors, controllers, some provisions and marketing materials.
Step 2: Chaos Ensues We started with the plan (see above). Now we had to figure out how to actually make our drawing come to life. But we are developers and seemingly smart people, we can figure this out - right? There’s that cord for the mouse, the one for the monitor, then there’s that cord that other cords plug into. Long story short, we needed lots of cords.
Next came inventory. We started by looking at our own systems and seeing what we could cannibalize from them to take to the convention. Once we found out what we had, we had to determine what we still needed...so we made a list. We also wanted people to be able to see Lame & Cheesy really well, so that puny monitor just wasn’t going to cut it.
Step 3: Order Stuff
The next thing to do was order everything on said list. We aren’t really gamers, so we had to order some controllers… We needed polos and lab coats so we could cosplay with the rest of the attendees. We needed to rep our studio so we also designed these super sweet iron on prints to paste on our gear. Just to make extra sure everyone knew who we were, we designed and ordered these vibrant, in-your-face banners. Pretty cuwl huh?
Step 4: Soft Setup
Now that we had everything we needed it was time to do a muck-up - I mean, a mock-up of the booth. As the picture to the left clearly shows, it looks just like the picture from step 1… Everything is going according to plan.
Now, all we need is a Kyle and vwa-lah! We have a preliminary game plan for MomoCon.
Step 5: Make It Professional-ish
The last step was to do it IRL.
Of course, there is the loading up of vehicles and driving to the Georgia World Congress Center, but who wants to hear about that?
Honestly, there’s way more detail involved with planning for MomoCon. However, that article would be entirely too long to read, and let’s face it, you’d probably lose interest. Therefore, I will stop with this. We had an amazing time planning, preparing and going to MomoCon. All joking aside, it was an invaluable experience worth every bit of money and hardship paid. Thank you to everyone that came to check us out. The people we met had a lot of positive and constructive feedback to offer and their facial expressions told us a lot of what we wanted to hear. You will hear more about our experience at MomoCon in a couple of weeks, so be on the lookout for that post. Until then, thanks for reading.
Announcing The First Game to Be Released - Why Lame & Cheesy
It’s been decided - Lame & Cheesy will be the first game ever officially showcased, and eventually released, by our studio. More specifically, it’s the game that we have chosen to take to MomoCon 2018. We’ve been looking for the game with the right flavor, flair and fan-fair. There are a number of projects that we’ve been humming and hawing about, but ultimately, Lame & Cheesy beat out the other projects to be the victor.
We’re sure you’re all wondering why we choose Lame & Cheesy over all the other options? You’re not? Well we’ll tell you anyway. Here’s a fun fact: our lead programmer has always had a hankering for puzzle games. As an homage to him, the first game to make the cut is the one that displays his puzzle and problem solving prowess.
Also, as you may know by now, we are a small studio. We have very limited time, resources, and brain power. We have many large scale projects that might (maybe) take us to AAA label status, but that level of commitment isn’t possible with our current positioning. Lame & Cheesy is a game that offers a lot more for a little less. It’s a game we can make well, in a short amount of time and with the resources we have available to us. In business, it’s important to know when to stretch yourself and when you limits have been reached. As the old adage goes, Lame & Cheesy “fits just right.”
Lame & Cheesy is a dynamic game driven by the desire to escape one's prison. Two mice must work together to solve various obstacles in order to obtain their freedom. The game is innovative in the sense that one player can play with a friend and two mice or control both mice simultaneously. The game offers enough complexity and modularity to keep the game interesting and expanding for as long as the demand for the product is high.
We took the game to Siege in October 2017, and the game was a major hit with the players there. To date, no one has been able to beat the 5 level demo pack within the timeframe offered. Will you all be the first? We’ll see you there.
MomoCon is a yearly anime convention that, in recent years, has begun hosting an Indie Game Developers showcase. It allows anyone with a presentable game to register for a booth and showcase their life’s work for all to see and judge.
The reality of the matter is that it’s a great opportunity for new and old developers to reach out and connect with the community and to find out if what they’re working on is what people are expecting of it. The general populous can find new titles to get hyped for and, assuming the developers are willing to listen, can give feedback on them while the features are still able to be changed.
To us, this is an invaluable experience. We are not only presenting a new game, we are presenting Killbot as a whole and the haphazard, makeshift group of misfits that we call a team. If you are planning to attend MomoCon, come see us at booth 1000. Worry not, you don’t have to sift through 999 other booths to find us - just all of these other groups.
Catch us at the booth or catch us walking around. Much like you, we’ll be checking out the other devs and working the room; kissing hands and shaking babies… Wait, that’s not right. Anyway, we’ve sworn off working a 8 to 5 job so we’ll be at our booth from 8 to meh all four days. Come see us and bring your friends and thinking caps - we might just give you the biggest challenge of the weekend.
Killbot Studio is a game design company assembled in the backwoods of Georgia, USA. We’ve been designed with one mission. We must make games that we want to play in such a way that everyone else wants to play them too. The hand picked team that operates Killbot Studio is of a quality here-to unseen. In short, no one’s seen them operate so we don’t fully understand if they have any qualities. Above all, though, we must retain a sense of playfulness even under the most professional of settings.
It is a strong statement to say that we aim to ensure everyone can enjoy the same games we wish to exist. The market is big and scary while we’re small and neutral, yet we shall persist until either it works or we run out of side jobs. That said, we’ve studied the market and seen not only what’s there but also what’s raking in the cash-money. Worry not, however, we promise to stay away from 2D, side-scrolling platformers for as long as possible. That said, we pour every ounce of our ability into crafting an experience for you, the player, to enjoy. So shout at us if we muck it all up.
The founding team behind Killbot studio is a group of people who occasionally call themselves friends. The two brothers, Matt and Kyle, grew up designing and developing games in various engines. They also modded everything they possibly could until it broke, usually happening after the first mod. Ryan, the audio guy, does audio guy things. He sits there, wearing headphones, presumably hand sculpting each waveform. One day he emerged from his lair with some kind of magical entity called an ‘ogg’. We also have a marketing guy, Richard. He does markets good. In fact, you are currently perusing through his amazingly average website design and build as we speak.
There are a few values uncompromisable to the Killbot name. Firstly (close cousin to bigly), we must only create games we would want to play ourselves. We must always thoroughly enjoy the games that we create and the journey that they take us on. We must, also, take things only just as seriously as they need to be taken and no more. The team must always be candid. The team has no problem telling each other when something we’ve done needs the axe. Lastly, showmanship is just as important as professionalism. No matter what, we must retain a sense of playfulness even under the most professional of settings.
Killbot Studio here with your friendly public service announcement. We need your help. No one is perfect and heaven knows we are no exception. But with your help, we can inch ever closer to creating the perfect game for you.
Rumor has it that people are getting stuck on some of the puzzles. If that is true, let us hear about it. If there are bugs you need squashed, we've got a swatter - tell us where to aim it (report bugs). There are million and one things that can happen with a new game. The more we hear about them, the faster we can improve the game and inch closer to "perfection." Don't be shy, come on - do it!
