Gordon Van Dyke, who co-founded successful Swedish indie publisher Raw Fury, has announced the resurrection of developer Stumpysquid, the original developer of the hit strategy game Kingdom: Two Crowns. The studio was previously acquired by Raw Fury, which published the game, but Van Dyke retained ownership of Stumpysquid when Raw Fury was itself acquired by Altor. He left the publisher in March.
Stumpysquid is now seeking partners and investors to support the development of a new title, which it described in a press release as “micro-strategy survival game” which “builds on the same design fundamentals that shaped Kingdom Two Crowns, while exploring new mechanics, themes, and systems to deliver a distinct and contemporary experience.”
“Fans of Kingdom Two Crowns can expect a game that feels immediately intuitive, grounded in familiar design principles, and confidently its own.”
Van Dyke shared more detail with GamesIndustry.biz. “The core idea for the game’s setting actually dates back to 2013, after watching season three of The Walking Dead,” he said. “I was fascinated by the idea of transforming a prison into somewhere you would want to live in this fictional world, despite it being a place you would never want to be in real life. That concept stuck with me, and now felt like the right time to revisit it. There’s a small clue there about the new game. I can promise it doesn’t have zombies, but you will be building bases to survive in some very cool places.”
The studio currently has four staff, and Van Dyke expects to add “two or three more” when investment is secured, but is “intentionally keeping the team small”. It does not include the creator of the Kingdom series Thomas van den Berg, although Van Dyke said he was “still good friends” with the developer. “I’ve shared the new game and its design ideas with him, and as always, his feedback was incredibly thoughtful, and I immediately incorporated them to strengthen the game’s core features.”
The team aims to self-publish, and is seeking approximately €1.8 million in funding to cover both development and publishing. “We have several strong conversations underway that started as paper pitches and have since moved into more formal discussions,” says Van Dyke. “I’m aware I have some privilege in getting those initial meetings, but you still need a really good pitch regardless of who you are.”
“So far, the concept itself has received very positive feedback. The harder part has been moving from interest to commitment; all partners wanted to see a playable build. In response, we put together a prototype in just three weeks that we’re polishing now, which has helped significantly and moved several conversations forward. Without it, I don’t think we’d get funding or be in more serious conversations.”
He said that he’s not working with Raw Fury “beyond cheering them on from the sidelines.”
“I’m a creative at heart, and I wanted to go back to making games,” he said. “This time, that meant building my own IP and running a fully independent studio with close friends, while continuing to build on the micro-strategy design pillars and philosophy I helped define with the Kingdom series.”
The other founder of Raw Fury, Jonas Antonsson announced his departure from the publisher last month, leaving it in the hands of CEO Pim Holfve. COO Iris Andresdottir left the company alongside Van Dyke in March. The company had a major hit with Blue Prince in February, which accumulated two million players by September. The game sold nearly 600,000 copies on Steam, according to GameDiscoverCo data.
