LogInGame development studio Hack The Publisher told us about its Oldboy-inspired old-school beat-'em-up Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint, explained how Xsolla's Accelerator program helped them successfully launch the game, and shared how it pitches ideas to investors and publishers.
Are you ready to Hack The Publisher? If not, hopefully, this article will help get to know the team and maybe even take the necessary steps toward your game development dream.
Hack The Publisher is an indie team that released its old-school Korean-style beat-'em-up Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint not so long ago. They told us about their games and how they pitch them, the lessons learned, and how Xsolla's Accelerator program helped with delivering Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint to its audience.
"Our indie game studio is pushing the boundaries of creativity with a range of games that span multiple genres, from humorous and light to dark and horrifying. At our studio, we're constantly exploring new ideas, building prototypes, and testing them with our audience. We know that the key to success is staying ahead of the curve, and that's why we keep in constant contact with our publishers, offering them fresh ideas and innovative concepts that are sure to captivate the gaming community.
"And our big hit? It's coming soon! So whether you're a gamer looking for your next adrenaline rush or a publisher searching for the next big thing, join us in our mission to Hack The Publisher and revolutionize the world of indie gaming."
With Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint (VOMP), Hack The Publisher wanted to achieve high quality for all fighting sequences where each hit is supposed to land at exactly the right spot. The main challenge for both creating art and game design was to do it within pixel art constraints. The team had to work hard and "take some trade-offs to make fun gameplay while keeping superb animation quality."
"The graphics for VOMP were a real headache. The art team had to make so many animations for each character that they were completely dead.
"We had a tough time developing the battle system. We changed it a lot of times trying to find a sweet spot between fun and difficulty."
The game might remind you of Oldboy, a famous Korean thriller. Hack The Publisher was inspired by Asian movies, which are "bolder and much more unique" than most mainstream Hollywood films. Eventually, this inspiration was poured into pixel art – another favorite within the team: "We love pixel art for making traditional animations. It's just so much easier to work with limited dimensions. Since we're pretty good at it, we didn't even think about other options."
It's not easy to release a game, especially if you don't have any help from experienced market players. Hack The Publisher needed investors and a publisher, and they used a unique approach for every project: "a combination of a tailored pitch, a publisher's build, and outreach to all relevant publishers, using all the resources and networking we have."
The team shared that as a publisher is usually also an investor, this creates a lot of shared risk and involves the publisher as much as possible. At the same time, they found two of the equity investors through networking channels, so their advice on this part is to "go to conferences and meet people." Using a combination of these approaches, Hack The Publisher found 3 publishers and 2 equity investors so far.
Investors and publishers are interested in your product, so you need to be careful with how you pitch ideas. Hack The Publisher has a couple of recommendations for developers. You should pitch early and have a vertical slice ready to appeal to partners. Also, try to build as many prototypes as you can and keep their costs low. Moreover, use best practices from other companies and seek advice from those who succeeded. Hack The Publisher offers a consulting service, so you can ask them for help with building a pitch and finding a publisher.
Speaking of its outsourcing services, the studio provides them in business development and game co-development. With the first, they offer consulting, pitch-creating services, publisher outreach, negotiation counseling, and legal help. As for co-development, the company offers pixel art artists, Unity and Godot developers, and game designers for hire.
"We can fit in wherever you need us most: from idea planning to the release date."
Its pixel art outsourcing services are especially notable. Hack The Publisher says it provides a "top-notch quality level compared to the art in the best pixel art titles on the market" as well as competitive prices. Furthermore, they like to be more engaged in projects to deliver faster and better: "We don't have to prove quality, just look at the art in our games."
To make this beautiful art reach players, the company applied for Xsolla's Accelerator program, which helps indie studios release games offering industry insight and developmental guidance.
Hack The Publisher greatly leveled up its financial planning skills thanks to the program: "Getting additional feedback on our ideas, prototypes and pitches from industry experts is a great help."
"Dealing with the legal side of game development is tough and getting proper review and advice on contracts we sign with publishers is priceless.
"Our mentors provided us with important insight into the budget and financial expectations of publishers in today's game market. Since the Accelerator works with many game studios and games of similar scope this is important and the most up-to-date information we could get access to."
During development, Hack The Publisher faced multiple challenges but emerged wiser than ever. They recommend choosing a realistic scope of the game when you begin development instead of overestimating how much you can make and ending up cutting half of it.
Also, you should take care of your team: "People you work with are not robots and their capacity to produce something great is not unlimited. It’s important to plan the development pipeline in a way where all responsibility isn’t laid on one single person."
"It’s important to know the business model of publishers you plan to work with. Are they releasing 3 games a year or 30 games a year? Make sure to ask and have realistic expectations of what publishers can provide outside of funding.
"Planning for your game release window is very important. If you tried to reach publishers with your game and got rejected it it’s not always mean the game is bad. Sometimes their pool of releases is just full for this or next year."
Now that Vengeance of Mr. Peppermint is out, the team is working on new projects:
Centum
Look around, make your choices to uncover everything hidden, and retell the events full of odd characters and phenomena your way. Retry.
The story is flawed. The narrator is unreliable. Beware of his hints. You won't be able to understand Centum. Shaping the reality to match your perception is the best you can do.
Centum is not a point-and-click adventure. It's not a retro game. It's probably not a game at all.
It is the first multi-platform release for the studio. It will be out on PC and consoles.
Ironark
It's a 4X-like strategy that generates stories like Paradox Interactive games disguised as an adventure where you take the role of a king on the brink of mental breakdown.
Stress ever increases. Petitioners are unhappy. The kingdom is on fire. Peasants ready to rebel. Unknown assassins sent you death threats. What will you reply to the General?
Psychomachia
Psychomachia is a turn-based tactical rogue-lite without action points, where your every attack backfires. Fight your way back to sanity utilizing a wide array of destructive disorders and psychic abilities.
You play as the Patient and must not let her succumb to madness. She cannot move or attack and can only place shields. You have to use Disorders and their subunits to overcome your enemy. Each of their abilities will trigger attacks against both the target and your character. As a result, you have to manage your defenses for an effective offense.
The main narrative focus of Psychomachia is mental health. The story follows The Patient's path to healing through repetitive sessions with the Psychiatrist, exploring the topics of psychological issues and breakdowns.
In conclusion, Hack The Publisher has some advice for other creators. They believe difficulties make life especially beautiful, and the biggest joy in life is doing what you can do well and enjoy doing.
While building a business is fun, building a business in the game development sector is the most fun for the team, and people around you might help you get the most out of it. There are a lot of incredible people who are happy to help, and they're not limited to your co-founders or teammates, they are everywhere, you just have to find them.
To guide developers toward publishing their games, Xsolla Accelerator provides them with the knowledge and insights essential for success in today's competitive gaming industry. Its resources are designed to empower them across various game genres, platforms, and monetization strategies, ensuring support at every stage of development.