 | |
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Anders Westin (CEO) |
| Website | mightanddelight |
Might and Delight is a Swedish video game development studio and publisher based in Stockholm. The studio was established in 2010 and is best known for the Shelter series.
Might and Delight formed in 2010, comprising a team of 11, who had previously worked at Grin on Bionic Commando Rearmed . [1] The team's initial goal was to create simple games that provided "something fresh and accessible". [2] When the studio formed and began work on its first game, Pid, the development team was very enthusiastic to create a good game, and entered a long period of crunch, with some developers working 14–17 hours per day. Looking back at this period, CEO Anders Westin said "Ambition is dangerous, we shouldn't have let them do that". For the studio's next project, Shelter , the team ensured they didn't increase the scope of the game too far, and didn't encourage overtime. [3]
In 2015 the studio announced that it would also begin publishing games, focusing on games with distinctive art styles and strong themes. [4] [5]
| Title | Year | Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Pid | 2012 | Xbox Live Arcade, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X |
| Shelter | 2013 | Microsoft Windows, OS X |
| The Blue Flamingo | 2014 | Microsoft Windows |
| Shelter 2 | 2015 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Paws | 2016 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Meadow | 2016 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Tiny Echo | 2017 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Shelter 3 | 2021 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
| Book of Travels (early access) | 2021 | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux |
Shelter 2 and Paws were additionally released for the Nintendo Switch in a bundle titled Shelter Generations. [6] In 2015 Might and Delight announced Child of Cooper, a surreal exploration game - it was cancelled three months before its release the same year as a result of low interest in the game. [5] [7] For the early access multiplayer game Book of Travels , Might and Delight ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2019 to fund development. [8] [9] In 2021, following the disappointing early access launch of Book of Travels, the studio laid off around 25 staff, reducing their total headcount to 10. [10]
In addition to games developed by Might and Delight, the studio also published Pan-Pan, developed by Spelkraft, in 2016. [11]
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines, such as programmers, designers, artists, etc. Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support. Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games.
Arkane Studios SASU is a French video game developer based in Lyon. It was founded in 1999, and released its first game, Arx Fatalis, in 2002. Besides the Lyon studio, Arkane Lyon, Arkane Studios operates Arkane Studios LLC in Austin, Texas, since July 2006. The studio is most known for creating the Dishonored series.
Pathologic is a 2005 role-playing and survival game developed by Russian studio Ice-Pick Lodge. The game was released in Russia by Buka Entertainment in June 2005, followed by a localised English release from G2 Games and GMX Games in 2006. An updated version, Pathologic Classic HD, was developed by General Arcade, published by Good Shepard Entertainment, and released in October 2015. A remake was developed by Ice-Pick Lodge using the Unity game engine and released as Pathologic 2 in May 2019 by tinyBuild.
Garry's Mod is a 2006 sandbox game developed by Facepunch Studios and published by Valve. The base game mode of Garry's Mod has no set objectives and provides the player with a world in which to freely manipulate objects. Other game modes, notably Trouble in Terrorist Town and Prop Hunt, are created by other developers as mods and are installed separately, by means such as the Steam Workshop. Garry's Mod was created by Garry Newman as a mod for Valve's Source game engine and released in December 2004, before being expanded into a standalone release that was published by Valve in November 2006. Ports of the original Windows version for Mac OS X and Linux followed in September 2010 and June 2013, respectively. As of September 2021, Garry's Mod has sold more than 20 million copies.
Runic Games was an American computer game developer based in Seattle. It was formed by former Flagship Studios developers in August 2008. In 2009, the company released Torchlight, a single-player action role-playing game. It was acquired by Perfect World in May 2010. They released a sequel, Torchlight II, in 2012. It was at this time the developers revealed they were no longer pursuing plans to create an MMO in the Torchlight universe.
Rockstar Dundee Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Dundee. The studio is best known for developing Crackdown 2.
Europa Universalis IV is a 2013 grand strategy video game in the Europa Universalis series, developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as a sequel to Europa Universalis III (2007). The game was released on 13 August 2013. It is a strategy game where players can control a nation from the Late Middle Ages through the early modern period (1444–1821), conducting trade, administration, diplomacy, colonization, and warfare.
Bossa Studios Limited is a British video game developer based in London. It is known for its comedic, physics-based games Surgeon Simulator and I Am Bread.
Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues is a fantasy role-playing video game. Described as being a spiritual successor to the Ultima series, Shroud of the Avatar was developed by Austin, Texas-based developer Portalarium, with a team led by Richard Garriott as creative director, Starr Long as executive producer, Chris Spears as lead technical designer, and Tracy Hickman as lead story designer. It is currently maintained by Catnip Games.
Shelter is a survival video game developed by Might and Delight for Windows and Mac. It was released on 28 August 2013 after being accepted through Steam Greenlight. In the game players control a mother badger who must protect and feed her cubs while travelling from their burrow to a new one. During the journey the cubs must be fed and are in danger from threats such as birds of prey and wildfires.
Factorio is a construction and management simulation game developed and published by Czech studio Wube Software. The game was announced via an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign in 2013 and released for Windows, macOS, and Linux on 14 August 2020 following a four-year long early access phase to positive reviews. The game was released on Nintendo Switch on 28 October 2022.
Shelter 2 is an open world survival video game developed by Might and Delight for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game is a sequel to 2013's Shelter. It was released on March 9, 2015 and, like its predecessor, was made available on Steam as a digital download.
Amazon Games is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions.
Book of Travels is a role-playing video game currently under development by Might and Delight for Windows, Mac, and Linux through Steam. The early access version of the game was originally scheduled to be released in October 2020, but it was postponed four times. The early access version was ultimately released on October 11, 2021. Unlike massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), Book of Travels limits the number of players on each server to "make each meeting memorable when players cross paths" and "create a unique role-playing experience."
Dustnet is a 2019 asymmetrical, action, sandbox video game developed by Canadian studio SCRNPRNT. The game explores the theme of "dying" or disappearing multiplayer video games and their player bases, with the gameplay being set around a copy of the Dust II multiplayer map, originally created for Counter-Strike in 2001.
A Minecraft server is a player-owned or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2009 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft. In this context, the term "server" often colloquially refers to a network of connected servers, rather than a single machine. Players can start their own server either by setting one up on a computer using software provided by Mojang, or by using a hosting provider so they can have their server run on dedicated machines with guaranteed uptime. The largest and most popular server is widely accepted to be the well-known minigame server Hypixel.
Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter games developed and published by Valve, beginning with the original Half-Life, released for Windows in 1998. The earliest known canceled Half-Life game dates to 1999. Between Half-Life 2: Episode Two (2007) and Half-Life: Alyx (2020), Valve canceled at least five Half-Life games, including Half-Life 2: Episode Three, a version of Half-Life 3, and games by 2015, Inc., Junction Point Studios and Arkane Studios.
Kian Bashiri is a Swedish video game developer and programmer, best known for the IGF Innovation Award-nominated metagame You Have To Burn The Rope released in 2008. He started making Flash games in 1999 and continued to play around with the software for many years before deciding he wanted to be a professional games developer. Bashiri attended Stockholm University and the School of Future Entertainment where he studied computer game development. Beyond You Have To Burn The Rope, he developed and released other games independently, such as Metro: Rules of Conduct (2008) and Swarm (2008), the latter which won him a Swedish Game Award for Best Mobile Game. After graduating, however, he joined the small Stockholm studio Might and Delight as Lead Game Programmer for the game Pid. As of 2021, he was working as the Lead Animation Programmer at Ubisoft Stockholm.
In the video game industry, crunch is compulsory overtime during the development of a game. Crunch is common in the industry and can lead to work weeks of 65–80 hours for extended periods of time, often uncompensated beyond the normal working hours. It is often used as a way to cut the costs of game development, a labour-intensive endeavour. However, it leads to negative health impacts for game developers and a decrease in the quality of their work, as well as driving people out of the industry temporarily or permanently. Critics of crunch note how it has become normalized within the game-development industry, to deleterious effects for all involved. A lack of unionization on the part of game developers has often been suggested as the reason crunch exists, and organizations such as Game Workers Unite aim to fight against crunch by forcing studios to honour developers' labor rights.