Twisted Christmas
Melee Studios
2013 · Game Director · shipped
A 2.5D Flash beat 'em up where Santa fights his own elves, now turned into zombies. Made by a team of seven at Melee Studios in 2013. It missed its Christmas release window and was self-published afterwards.
Technologies: Flash
Related expertise: Audio & speech
It's Christmas, and like every year, Santa... wait! Elves are turning into zombies? Well, this year Santa is going to deliver presents... the hard way.
Overview
Twisted Christmas is a 2.5D beat 'em up with fast combat. Weapons and add-ons drop during the fight, so no two fights play out the same.
Video: Twisted Christmas — trailer
It was made in Flash by a team of seven at Melee Studios in 2013, as our own IP. The game is no longer online.
What went wrong
We were making it at the same time as Spirit Fencer Arena, our biggest project, with a bigger budget and a publisher already signed. The two projects split our attention and resources, and the coordination problems delayed Twisted Christmas until it missed its Christmas release window. We self-published it afterwards, and it didn't get much reach.
It taught me a lot about managing a team and communicating clearly, and that a bigger team doesn't mean proportionally more output.
My involvement
- Directed the team through production.