Dev Diary 1: Our Origin Story
Every journey starts with a story. Here is ours:
The development of Killsquad goes all the way back to 2016. Our studio was a Sony exclusive for 9 years, working on games for the PSP, PSVITA and PS3. We developed a saga called Invizimals, which was quite successful in Europe: we did 6 games, trading cards, even a TV Show you can still see on Netflix. For a long time, we got the benefit of working on a single brand from the cradle, and see it succeed. And focusing on that one brand for so long gave us two very unique advantages.
On one hand, it allowed us to build a thriving community. We did events in Moscow and Cannes. We did E3, GDC and many more. We had games, t-shirts, posters and merchandise. And all along those events, we met fans, the people who played and bought our games. And boy, that was cool. Nothing beats the feeling of working hard on something, then seeing your community grow, evolve and respond. There’s nothing like that. Nothing compares, and nothing will ever compare, to you guys. We’re here because you are there, simple as that.
The other precious advantage we had is time in our hands. Yes, we were doing Invizimals, but we Novaramans are night owls. At night, when the studio lights faded, we played Diablo. And Left4Dead. And Heroes of the Storm. And so many cool games we have all played, respected and enjoyed. And slowly our studio built “The List”. This was originally a Word document full of weird thoughts and sketchy game ideas. With time, it became a Google Drive file, where we put all our wishes for that game we would once build, if we ever had the opportunity to do so. Every new game we played, we learned something about what makes games fun, and that something was added “The List”.
The List had many items: we wanted something driven by the community. We wanted coop. We wanted a rich, evolving universe. We wanted lore. You know, we *do* love lore. In a nutshell, we wanted to build the perfect game. The one that would keep us and our friends awake at night and take over our lives completely. The dream all developers have of one day getting to build *The Game*.
The other thing we wanted to do was to self-publish the game. It’s hard enough to agree among ourselves at Novarama, so trying to sync up with a publisher? No way. Too many cooks spoil the dish. If we ever did our dream game, it would be an affair lead by us, and you guys. No one else we need to report to.
At that time, we were rather busy. We shipped games. We cancelled others. But every time someone had some free time, we took ideas from “The List”, and tested them out. We did paper prototypes. Concept art. You name it. And slowly, the list became a design. Words became features, features became prototypes, and we had our first demos. And from our hands and brains came monsters and myths and legends to explore. And we thought: hey, this plays kind of nice, we should keep going. Other things were thrown away. Nobody’s perfect, and some things didn’t quite work out.
Prototyping damage areas and collision boxes
With time, we managed to save up some money, and had the human resources available to work on The Game. We saw the opportunity, and we jumped at it: we began building a proper game. We chose to go with Unreal as the engine from the start because we wanted to focus on rapid iteration and gameplay. We didn’t want to build the car: we wanted to win the race.
And so Killsquad was born.
A lot of Killsquad feels very classic: enemy behaviours, bosses, spatial patterns: we didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, we wanted to pay tribute to so many good games out there. In fact, we consider ourselves just heirs to a long line of games, the A-RPG genre. Our bible is Gauntlet. Baldur’s Gate. Heroes of the Storm. Lost Ark. And there’s rules that were not meant to be broken and doors meant not to be crossed. A boss is a boss. And when you meet a Killsquad boss, and you feel the power and the audio kicking in blasting, all we hope is you will feel that thump in the chest, and feel: “yeah, this is exactly how this should feel like”.
Yet in other areas we felt we wanted to do our own thing. This is an ever changing industry, where each game needs to claim its own land. In our case, we wanted short, adrenaline pumping sessions. Maybe it’s because we’re getting older, or maybe ‘cos we love the feeling of winning a huge battle every night, but we wanted something where you can feel rewarded in one session. And just say bye to your mates with a “tomorrow, same place same time”.
Very early stage of our procedural map generator
We also wanted to put the community first. A game should be a place to meet your friends, old and new. A place of communion and shared experience. Our contract system is exactly that: us telling you guys: “This is your lair. You guys use it to build myths and legends”. Killsquad is not about the stories we tell you: it’s about the stories that emerge from the game, and you tell your friends.
And we have a ton more in store. New heroes. New worlds, New game modes. This will be a live development. Wanna chat to us? Go for it, we’re gonna be on Discord all the time. Wanna propose something? Go crazy, your ideas are as good as ours. We’re all gamers, we know these games and what makes them great.
Killsquad will become what you guys want it to become. We’re not here to preach: we’re here to listen. This is our origin story. Now, in the world of Killsquad, the time has come for you to start writing yours.
The development of Killsquad goes all the way back to 2016. Our studio was a Sony exclusive for 9 years, working on games for the PSP, PSVITA and PS3. We developed a saga called Invizimals, which was quite successful in Europe: we did 6 games, trading cards, even a TV Show you can still see on Netflix. For a long time, we got the benefit of working on a single brand from the cradle, and see it succeed. And focusing on that one brand for so long gave us two very unique advantages.
On one hand, it allowed us to build a thriving community. We did events in Moscow and Cannes. We did E3, GDC and many more. We had games, t-shirts, posters and merchandise. And all along those events, we met fans, the people who played and bought our games. And boy, that was cool. Nothing beats the feeling of working hard on something, then seeing your community grow, evolve and respond. There’s nothing like that. Nothing compares, and nothing will ever compare, to you guys. We’re here because you are there, simple as that.
The other precious advantage we had is time in our hands. Yes, we were doing Invizimals, but we Novaramans are night owls. At night, when the studio lights faded, we played Diablo. And Left4Dead. And Heroes of the Storm. And so many cool games we have all played, respected and enjoyed. And slowly our studio built “The List”. This was originally a Word document full of weird thoughts and sketchy game ideas. With time, it became a Google Drive file, where we put all our wishes for that game we would once build, if we ever had the opportunity to do so. Every new game we played, we learned something about what makes games fun, and that something was added “The List”.
The List had many items: we wanted something driven by the community. We wanted coop. We wanted a rich, evolving universe. We wanted lore. You know, we *do* love lore. In a nutshell, we wanted to build the perfect game. The one that would keep us and our friends awake at night and take over our lives completely. The dream all developers have of one day getting to build *The Game*.
The other thing we wanted to do was to self-publish the game. It’s hard enough to agree among ourselves at Novarama, so trying to sync up with a publisher? No way. Too many cooks spoil the dish. If we ever did our dream game, it would be an affair lead by us, and you guys. No one else we need to report to.
At that time, we were rather busy. We shipped games. We cancelled others. But every time someone had some free time, we took ideas from “The List”, and tested them out. We did paper prototypes. Concept art. You name it. And slowly, the list became a design. Words became features, features became prototypes, and we had our first demos. And from our hands and brains came monsters and myths and legends to explore. And we thought: hey, this plays kind of nice, we should keep going. Other things were thrown away. Nobody’s perfect, and some things didn’t quite work out.
Prototyping damage areas and collision boxesWith time, we managed to save up some money, and had the human resources available to work on The Game. We saw the opportunity, and we jumped at it: we began building a proper game. We chose to go with Unreal as the engine from the start because we wanted to focus on rapid iteration and gameplay. We didn’t want to build the car: we wanted to win the race.
And so Killsquad was born.
A lot of Killsquad feels very classic: enemy behaviours, bosses, spatial patterns: we didn’t want to re-invent the wheel, we wanted to pay tribute to so many good games out there. In fact, we consider ourselves just heirs to a long line of games, the A-RPG genre. Our bible is Gauntlet. Baldur’s Gate. Heroes of the Storm. Lost Ark. And there’s rules that were not meant to be broken and doors meant not to be crossed. A boss is a boss. And when you meet a Killsquad boss, and you feel the power and the audio kicking in blasting, all we hope is you will feel that thump in the chest, and feel: “yeah, this is exactly how this should feel like”.
Yet in other areas we felt we wanted to do our own thing. This is an ever changing industry, where each game needs to claim its own land. In our case, we wanted short, adrenaline pumping sessions. Maybe it’s because we’re getting older, or maybe ‘cos we love the feeling of winning a huge battle every night, but we wanted something where you can feel rewarded in one session. And just say bye to your mates with a “tomorrow, same place same time”.
Very early stage of our procedural map generatorWe also wanted to put the community first. A game should be a place to meet your friends, old and new. A place of communion and shared experience. Our contract system is exactly that: us telling you guys: “This is your lair. You guys use it to build myths and legends”. Killsquad is not about the stories we tell you: it’s about the stories that emerge from the game, and you tell your friends.
And we have a ton more in store. New heroes. New worlds, New game modes. This will be a live development. Wanna chat to us? Go for it, we’re gonna be on Discord all the time. Wanna propose something? Go crazy, your ideas are as good as ours. We’re all gamers, we know these games and what makes them great.
Killsquad will become what you guys want it to become. We’re not here to preach: we’re here to listen. This is our origin story. Now, in the world of Killsquad, the time has come for you to start writing yours.
Welcome home, Bounty Hunter. Adventure awaits.