Our latest game Serious Sam: Kamikaze Attack! is coming to iOS and Android devices this Thursday, September 15th, AKA 2 days from now. We’ve been getting ready by grabbing screenshots, sending builds out to press, and taking a week off to go to Burning Man (totally worth it).

The development of this game has been a longer road than expected. Here’s a numbered list for how the project went down:

  1. Signed a contract saying we’ll make a game using the Serious Sam license
  2. Slapped some new graphics onto Lame Castle and called it a new game
  3. We thought #2 was a #2 idea so we added some features like boss battles against Sam, and several different bonus objectives (missiles, bombs)
  4. We really like RPG elements in games so we figured adding them to our game would make it 50x better
  5. Implemented RPG elements so you could upgrade your character
  6. Playtested the game and found out RPG elements added nothing beneficial to the experience and it added a ton of unnecessary and confusing data
  7. Ripped out the RPG elements
  8. Realized the way we were dealing with bonus objectives wasn’t very fun so we reverted to the way we had them set up in Lame Castle
  9. “Finished” the game thinking we were ready to submit and release
  10. Waited a couple months for the publisher’s Apple developer account to get approved (During this time we updated Lame Castle and released an HD version, and went on several fishing trips)
  11. Immediately after our publisher’s Apple developer account was approved I decided to spice up the end screen, add some IAP, and fix a bunch of bugs
  12. We decide to make the iOS version universal so we only have to deal with 1 submission
  13. We submitted the game
  14. *We drink lots of expensive champagne

*This will only happen once we make millions

What originally was planned as a 2 month project turned into a 6+ month endeavor. I’m not stoked about how much time it took to get this project out the door, but I’m super excited about the release this Thursday and what the future holds for Be-Rad. The publisher, Devolver Digital, has been super great to work with on this project and they’ve done a great job of marketing the Serious Sam indie series so far. I can’t wait to show you the launch video they made for Kamikaze Attack. It’s awesome, made me LOL, and it even has live actors in it.

Once the dust settles I’ll share some actual download numbers for Lame Castle. I’m also going to set Lame Castle to free when Kamikaze Attack goes live. Hoping this will help drive exposure and get some extra sales.

I also need to start writing out goals and setting harder milestones because I can’t continue to work on 6 month projects that were meant to take 1/3 the time.