BLADE BLITZ
I first noticed Blade Blitz when I saw a group of four very passionate players sitting in front of a large screen. I looked at what they were playing and noticed a familiar tug-of-war gameplay with adorable animal characters wielding swords. At that moment, I knew I had to get in on the action.
At the time of writing, the current build I participated in offered 2 v 2 local co-op gameplay that allowed me to experience pure enjoyment and competitiveness. The premise of Blade Blitz is that two teams combat in this top-down, sword-wielding tug-of-war where each team has to make it through phases of the map and make it to the finish line. Be careful not to get pushed back too far because the further the opposing team gets, the further you have to make up for.
Photo by Sam Hipp
The gameplay was very friendly to players of all skill levels as the developer wanted to avoid complex controls and only utilize a single thumb stick for character movement and two buttons to swing your sword in either direction. As I was playing, I noticed the developer put a lot of thought and effort into balancing the game where either team was subjected to advantages and disadvantages equally.
The visuals of Blade Blitz had a vibrant and bubbly look to it. Each animal character had their own unique design with their own special outfit. While I only got the chance to play one map, I was excited to discover that each phase of the map had its own visual quirks that truly matched the aesthetic of the game. The grass, the water, and the bricks all tied everything up in a bow that made the game feel easy on the eyes.
I would absolutely recommend Blade Blitz to any player who enjoys gaming with their friends in this amazing couch co-op experience. As a bonus, Blade Blitz is also single-player friendly. So, if you’re looking to get a couple of warm-up rounds in before your friends come over, you can challenge the game’s AI in the same game modes you’d experience with friends.
Something that really caught my curiosity as I was talking to Randy was that he mentioned the inspirations he’s pulled from to create Blade Blitz. We talked about how, as a solo developer, he also had to create the trailer. Instead of only including gameplay, he animated a quick cinematic intro that he wanted to then pivot into gameplay. This was inspired by a game called Boomerang-Fu and Nidhogg that did something similar that Randy thought was unique and enjoyable.
There is no current public demo for Blade Blitz. You can currently wishlist Blade Blitz on Steam, and you can look forward to a Q2 2025 release.
Taz: Alright, this is Taz at Emerald City Comic Con, 2025 here with Randy: from Hella Studios. Randy, how are you doing today? Good. Now you are here with what game?
Randy: Blade Blitz.
Taz: Blade Blitz. So what originally got you into indies, and are you a solo developer?
Randy: Yeah, I'm a solo developer, and I've been making some indie games. No, not obviously, like large ones. I've been participating in, like, game jams for like, about four years-ish, and just wanted to make something a bit larger rather than something for just a game jam, and just been working on this for the past year and a half to make something that's a larger project
Taz: For sure, for sure. And what are you most excited about of this project?
Randy: Just creating a good experience for players, generally, something kind of novel that hasn't really existed yet, and hoping people like it.
Taz: And I was here when there was a group of people playing, I played it myself. What were some gaming inspirations? Because I've heard Nidhogg be thrown around in there, Boomerang Fu, things like that. What can you tell me about those inspirations?
Randy: Yeah, I think Boomerang Foo was kind of the artistic north star that I wanted to aim for, really easy to read from, like a top-down perspective, kind of a within my, like, artistic capabilities to manage to create, just utilizing like tools like blend. Blender was something that I had in mind was like, "How can, can I keep this within my wheelhouse and that I'm capable of creating?" And then for Nidhogg, yeah, knit hog was basically the foundation of inspiration for this game, namely, I just wanted to create an experience that was like Nidhogg, but a little different, and also add a lot more features, like making it up to 3v3, adding power-ups that kind of amplify the foundational like tug of war experience that Nidhogg established, adding power-ups that try to equalize the experience throughout the whole match, and also just designing the level in a way that kind of led to that as well.
Taz: And we talked a little bit before, but you mentioned this is your first convention that you brought this to. Can you tell me about your experience so far? This is day four. This is the last day. How many days were you in this space, and what has been the feedback so far?
Randy: Yeah, so this is a second day I've been here. I just started on Saturday and did today as well. Generally, the reception has been great. I think I did have pretty little expectations of like the reception. I didn't really have any expectations, really, I was hoping people would play it in general and have fun. And I think just having so many people come up and play it and not really having that much downtime has been really exciting to see.
Taz: Gotcha.
Randy: ...and the reception. And I guess as long people are not aren't bored, I'm like, That's great.
Taz: Yeah, no, for sure, it's good to see people have, you know, genuine reactions and get excited for a nice, competitive, local co-op, things like that, something that we've seen a little bit more of, especially now that kind of we're done with COVID and like online co-ops are kind of so semi phasing out, bringing back the local co-op, same screen, split screen, things like that. Speaking of feedback, I was doing a little research, diving into the game. I've noticed you were very active on Reddit, trying to getting also looking for feedback for different subreddits, different groups. What has your experience been like as a solo developer, gathering from those kinds of outside sources?
Randy: I think it's been generally hard to like, I guess being one, I don't really have a playable demo up for people to really experience it. So generally, the feedback has been from people watching the trailer and kind of gauging what they think the experience would be like, which is still really helpful, but I guess not as helpful as me getting in the hands of themselves, like, and that's my hope in the next month, to get that demo out and like, I think I have a really good build right here, but I just really want to polish it up before really getting in the hands of people, like reviewers or like just content creators and stuff like that.
Taz: Has there been anything, whether it be in person or online feedback, that you're like, "Yes, I totally agree with that", and then you started making that happen?
Randy: Yeah, I think, I think a lot of aesthetics. Like, I did a lot of screen-like, I think one thing I really wanted to do was, like, add a lot of game juice. Namely, that's like, flashing the screen on hit, shaking the screen on hit, freezing for like, even, like, a split second. I think I was like a quarter of a second still in there to like, on hit, to like, make that hit feel a lot more impactful. Just from the trailer alone, I posted on Reddit I got a lot of feedback saying, like, way too much screen shake out of there.
Taz: Sure, sure.
Randy: So I think, like getting a third, just an eye on it from like, outside perspectives, I decrease all of that in a by a lot just like make it a lot more reachable and less nausea inducing for other people.
Taz: Now you mentioned that this is your best, your biggest project so far. You worked on some game jams, things like that. This is the first, this is the big one, right for you. What are your expectations once you kind of release the playable demo? Once you throw this on Steam, what are your, like, what are you wanting or hoping the feedback would be after you finally kind of put it out there?
Randy: I'm hoping just like, like, just like, with this convention, just to get affirmation that like, the foundation of the game is the right direction, and I don't have to pivot really hard. So getting confirmation that it's going in the right direction would be a lot of value. And then I can just, like, sink my time into afterward, building more levels, adding more power-ups, and just focus on that and just feel that like the foundation is set and I don't have to touch it again.
Taz: For sure.
Randy: It is on Steam already. I am just trying to gather wish list for now, even though it's probably going to be sometime this year to release, but I can't really say for sure. The demo for sure, probably in a month, but try to get that out before admissions to PAX and likely Steam Next Fest. I think it's end of April, so I want to get it done for that.
Taz: Gotcha. What has been your biggest challenge as a solo dev to create something like this?
Randy: I think, just like the amount of different hats you have to wear, like three, like, if you three model, you have to rig, you have to learn how to do UV unwrapping and then texture painting. And on top of, just like learning how to code and then doing, yeah, music. Music, I kind of just found third-party sites for royalty-free music for now, but I know there's other people that do that as well, but just the number of hats you have to wear. Marketing! Marketing is something I did not really think about. And then for the last since I got my Steam page up, that was a that's like a full-time job on itself, just like maintaining social media presence and posting on Reddit and stuff, and just like the time you have to, like, put together the trailer editing, that's also a lot of work.
Taz: No, for sure, and I do want to give major props, because when I was doing my research on Reddit, and like, did see, like, an actual, like, little bit of a cinematic trailer portion of it, and you as a solo Dev, like, you're like, you mentioned social media presence, things like that. Like, I see a lot of indie developers, not that it's a negative thing, but a lot of in developers just kind of screen grab gameplay, and then that's their trailer. But you, you completely, you made something, you build something as a cinematic intro to the gameplay trailer. Can you tell me a little bit about that process? Because that is something I feel like is unique in the indie dev community.
Randy: Yeah, I think I already had the experience of like, I also do like, there was like, there's like an every February and August, there's like a 3d mod, three animation challenge that I... one of the guys at Corridor Digital does, like, a month-long challenge, and I also participate in that just to, like, up my 3d abilities. So I knew I could do something like that, and I wanted to push myself to stand out in terms of a trailer. And also looked at Boomerang Foo, like, if you look at I was like, I was like, "Oh, they start out with a 3d animation and then pivot into gameplay". So I kind of copied that.
Taz: Yeah, love that.
Randy: Yeah.
Taz: Awesome. All right, I have one more question, Randy. You have four characters available right now. Who is your favorite character and why?
Randy: I think the first one that I ever made was Birdie, even, like the very first prototypes I kind of already had, like, "I wanted this character in there", so it's always gonna be like my favorite. The other ones I really just needed the characters in there. And I kind of was kind of rushing them. But I also like the seal. My wife likes the seal the most, but probably the bird one the most. I put in the most time in that one, I think so.
Taz: I lied, part two question: Will you be introducing more characters as more of a larger selection, or are you good with the four?
Randy: I think I'm gonna do at least six, because the plan is to do a 3v3 at minimum. So I'll need at least two more characters to make that happen. So at least six, is all I can really say.
Taz: Right on, perfect. Well, Randy, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. This is your time to shine. Plug yourself, plug your stuff. Shout out to Blade Blitz. Give me all that stuff. This is your time.
Randy: Yeah I think it's Blade Blitz Game, basically, on every social media platform, there is so kind of easy to find, I guess. Yeah, YouTube, Tiktok, Bluesky, Twitter and Instagram. Yeah.
Taz: Awesome. Randy, thank you so much. Have a wonderful rest of your con and I'll see you soon.
