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DoubleBear Productions
Company typePrivate
Founded2009
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington, U.S.
Key people
Brian Mitsoda, Creative Director
Annie Mitsoda, game designer/writer
Websitehttp://www.doublebearproductions.com

DoubleBear Productions is an indie game studio founded in June 2009[1][2] by writer and game designer Brian Mitsoda.

Founding

In both the Making of Dead State book and various interviews, Brian Mitsoda stated that his primary motive for founding DoubleBear was to make the games that he wanted to create, and not have to worry about the heartbreak of a publisher changing their mind and killing the project:

The thing you really take away from it is that unless you are in charge of the project 100%, it’s completely out of your hands whether the project gets torpedoed. The team could think it’s the best game they’ve ever created, but the business side of things changes all the time and it’s one bad quarter or new CEO away from being sunk. The money is good (sometimes) in triple-A development to make up for the inherent unpredictability, but I (and others) can’t really live with years of good work never seeing the light of day.[3]

Regarding the studio's peculiar name, Mitsoda said:

Annie and I were looking at a list of silly D&D monsters when I suggested the “DoubleBear” as the ultimate monster, pointing out that since it was two bears acting as one, there was no way to sneak up on it or attack it from the back. A picture was drawn and photos were taken. When it was time to name the company, it won the second it was suggested.[4]

Projects

Dead State

DoubleBear's first project was Dead State, a turn-based PC RPG set in a zombie apocalypse scenario.[5][6][7] The studio worked with Iron Tower Studio on the project, and the game utilized The Age of Decadence's game engine.[8] Information regarding the theme and setting was divulged in a Rock, Paper, Shotgun article, including a quote from Mitsoda that reveals that one of the goals of the game is a "serious examination of a national crisis or natural disaster,"[9] and that the game draws inspiration from Mitsoda's own experiences living in Miami, Florida during Hurricane Andrew.[10]

Dead State launched a successful Kickstarter campaign in summer 2012,[11] released on Steam Early Access on February 2014,[12] and had a final release on Steam and GoG.com on December 4, 2014.[13] The game was supported with multiple free updates afterwards, culminating in the final Reanimated update, meant to act as a definitive edition of the game.[14]

PANIC series

For a while after the release of Dead State: Reanimated, the team made various references to a second game on their Twitch streams,[15] and mentioned that they had "pretty exciting (and very fun) projects in the works" in their Dead State postmortem on Gamasutra.[16]

On August 16, 2016, a surprise announcement in a story[17] from PC Gamer revealed that DoubleBear was about to release one game - PANIC at Multiverse High! - and was announcing another - PANIC in the Multiverse!

PANIC at Multiverse High!

PANIC at Multiverse High![18] is a parody visual novel/otome game in the vein of Hatoful Boyfriend: the main character wakes up unexpectedly with no memory of their past, nearly late for high school. Once there, they find that a cruel tentacled monster in a letterman jacket - Chad - has declared himself their rival, and they need to enhance their attributes (Cool, Nice, Tough) to make friends and defeat Chad at Prom.[19]

According to the PC Gamer article, PANIC at Multiverse High! was initially conceived as an internal joke, but became a real title when the initial project changed direction. The game was meant to act as a fundraiser for PANIC in the Multiverse!, saying that "We decided to take this route instead of Kickstarter so that no matter what, people would have a game to play, and get to know the characters and setting more directly."[20]

PANIC in the Multiverse!

PANIC in the Multiverse![21] is the follow-up title, and is described as being a JRPG-style base-defense game, involving gathering a team of heroes to push forward to an enemy base and destroying it before the enemy could do the same to yours. According to the website, the gameplay involves collecting heroes from all over the Multiverse in order to and bring the fight to the main enemy, "the self-proclaimed overlord of the Multiverse, King Sha’art."

References

  1. ^ "DoubleBear Productions". Blue's News. August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  2. ^ "Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines Writer Founds DoubleBear Productions". Cinemablend. August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-06.
  3. ^ "Brian Mitsoda – DoubleBear". MemoryLeak. September 10, 2012. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  4. ^ Evans, Chris (August 10, 2009). "DoubleBear Productions on ZRPG and the Bears". The Reticule. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
  5. ^ Kieron Gillen (August 25, 2010). "A Blood Red State: Dead State Revealed". Rock, Paper, Shotgun.
  6. ^ "ZRPG". Iron Tower Studio. August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  7. ^ "Brian Mitsoda Announces DoubleBear Productions". GameBanshee. August 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  8. ^ "This Is Like That Thing Annie Carlson Is Working On". RPG Codex. August 5, 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
  9. ^ Kieron Gillen (August 7, 2009). "Obsidian Veterans to Make Zombie RPG". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
  10. ^ Ng, Keane (August 11, 2009). "Designing a "Serious" Zombie RPG". The Escapist. Retrieved 2009-08-11.
  11. ^ DoubleBear Productions. "Dead State: The Zombie Survival RPG". Kickstarter. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  12. ^ "Dead State Early Access on Steam – First looks". Apocalypsezone.com. Apocalypsezone. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
  13. ^ Corgipede (December 4, 2014). "IT'S HERE - Dead State's Official Release!". Steam. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  14. ^ Corgipede (May 13, 2015). "Dead State: Reanimated is here!". Steam. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  15. ^ "DoubleBear Twitch Stream". Twitch. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  16. ^ Brian Mitsoda (March 11, 2015). "Postmortem: DoubleBear's Dead State - Controlling scope in an RPG". gamasutra.com. Gamasutra. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  17. ^ Shaun Prescott (August 16, 2016). "PANIC at Multiverse High! may be the most ridiculous visual novel yet". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  18. ^ "PANIC at Multiverse High!". DoubleBear Productions. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  19. ^ "PANIC at Multiverse High! - Steam page". DoubleBear Productions. August 17, 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  20. ^ Shaun Prescott (August 16, 2016). "PANIC at Multiverse High! may be the most ridiculous visual novel yet". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
  21. ^ "PANIC in the Multiverse!". DoubleBear Productions. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
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