We set out on a mission to find cool, fun, unusual games that might need some help (funding) and support (still funding but also unsolicited advice and mentoring). We wanted to focus on developers in a similar time zone to help with communication, games that feel sort of like SUPERHOT (puzzles, shooters), and with a corresponding artstyle.
With that in mind, we’ve signed two games from Australia (really the worst time zone for us), neither of which are anything like SUPERHOT, and both with a unique-artstyle that doesn’t relate to anything we’ve ever done.
Please now give your undivided attention and love to the Frog Detective series by Grace Bruxner’s new studio “Worm Club”, and Knuckle Sandwich by Andrew Brophy.
THE FROG DETECTIVE SERIES
Wherein the frog solves mysteries, by Grace Bruxner's "Worm Club"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzHDU47MeRk
SUPERHOT supporting Frog Detective is the crossover no one asked for. The series is about a frog detective solving a mystery. It’s simple. It’s perfect. We love how wholesome and warm and funny it is, we enjoy the game, we like the team, so we offered to help.
You’ll be able to play the newest game at PAX West (go buy a plushie from Grace at their stand!). Props to Grace for being the first person brave enough to sign with SUPERHOT PRESENTS. She will forever remain in our hearts as someone to be afraid of.
A word from Grace Bruxner
“Here’s the real story of how this happened. SUPERHOT noticed my cool frog game and were like “hmmm,,, what if,,,,, money?????” and I was like “…ok fine but I will only agree if you send me lots of superhot t-shirts because I need clothes to wear around the house when I make the game” and they said “weird request but ok” and sent me a big box of shirts. And that’s all I wear now. Also my dog Noddy wears them too. That’s how business deals work in this industry baby!! Get used to it!! Anyway, Frog Detective is very good (I know this because I made it) and I think you’ll enjoy it even though it’s not even a little bit like SUPERHOT. There will be no slow motion murdering!!! See ya.”
The Haunted Island, a Frog Detective Game, is a game about a sloth. To be specific, it’s about a small sloth that has been haunted for weeks by a mysterious ghost (WooOOooOO). There’s a mystery afoot! The only one who can solve it is the renowned investigator known as The Detective! That’s the frog, by the way. Find clues, question suspects, look at things through your frog-sized magnifying glass.
Then...
Go wishlist Frog Detective 2
But this time there’s an invisible wizard! Wow!
KNUCKLE SANDWICH
weird, wonderful, and by Andrew Brophy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjtvusfoUVk
Knuckle Sandwich is a game that asks you for your name but doesn’t really care. It’s an RPG about a boy looking for work in a new city. It’s weird. It’s wonderful. It’s dripping with style. It’s got a free demo on itch here that you should check out right now. The demo is a little old but that’s fine. We talked to Andrew for the first time about a week before we sent a contract. It was easy peasy for us to get excited by working with him. Also he forced us. Please help.
A word from Andrew Brophy:
“I am very excited for this opportunity to work with SUPERHOT as I approach the final stages of Knuckle Sandwich’s development. With their support, I can confidently make my game the best version of itself and bring it to as many people as possible. That’s really cool! Thanks! xo”
8 chapters, painfully hip soundtrack, SEVERAL party members to play as, and another mystery (ooOoOOOoo). The game will reward you for exploring, but won’t make you feel bad if you don’t have the time to look at everything in the game. You should feel bad though, the game is pretty.
Whishilst Knuckle Sandwich here immediately
TO ALL OTHER AMAZING INDIES
and those of you who really like long blocks of text
We’d like to work with developers that don’t need or want a publisher, but just need some finishing (or starting) funds. We’ll serve those funds with a healthy side of mentoring and advice, but ultimately we’re not going to do everything a publisher would do for the games… there are publishers for that, they’re excellent.
We want to help enable a few more properly independent studios exist in the world. Weird but smart money to weird but smart developers.
We don’t blame you if you’re wondering what on earth SUPERHOT has to offer other indies. We use things like “data” and “knowledge” and “gut feelings” to make decisions as a company., We’re doing pretty well by it – we have no less than 4(!) businessy-type people at SUPERHOT., They help make sure SUPERHOT stays alive and thrives so our developers can keep developing. It’s going great, honestly, and we feel we can use their brains for more than just SUPERHOT.
We absolutely copied the name from Double Fine. We like the name. We like Double Fine. They said it was OK but there are no takesies backsies. We hope they don’t sue though. SUPERHOT PRESENTS was a placeholder, but as I’m sure you’ve guessed, since our company and our games are all called SUPERHOT, we’re not very good at naming things. We asked Twitter and there were some excellent suggestions: “PlayPal”, “Insert Credit”, “The Grace Bruxner Fund For Games That Callum likes”, and others. We’ve ignored them all.
So what does this mean for SUPERHOT company:
Mostly, nothing. The teams working on games will still work on games. We’ve added people to the company over the past couple of years (those businessy-types), and these are the people who are doing these fun side-projects. We’re becoming a little more distributed, with 4 employees in the UK, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Australia (that timezone thing again), and some other Polish locations. We’re still a game development company, we’re working hard on our own games, we just think putting some money back into the industry so more cool things can be made is a nice idea.
“This is one of the worst ideas I’ve ever heard of”
Devolver
Fork Parker
“It’s the most innovative games fund we’ve seen in years”
Double Fine
“I’m 8 years old, I don’t think I’m legally allowed to sign contracts.”
Grace Bruxner
“Again, this is V O L V O. If you’re not going to buy the XC90,
then I’m going to have to ask you to leave”
Valve
Matt
“Don’t fuck this up.”
Raw Fury
“We wish SUPERHOT invested in us instead because we love money in general”
11 Bit Studios
"We would have provided a quote but they didn't ask us"
Kowloon Nights
We think the success of SUPERHOT is somewhat down to it being a slightly unique, slightly weird game made by weird people – but with a focus on polish and attention to detail, hopefully we can find that in other games too. We’re already in discussions with other developers that we think you’ll love.
Hugs and kisses,
SUPERHOT Team