# 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](https://jfcampos.dev/expertise/audio-speech.md) ![Twisted Christmas](https://jfcampos.dev/images/projects/twisted-christmas-1.jpg) > _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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmtRhjESQO4) 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](https://jfcampos.dev/projects/spirit-fencer-arena.md), 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. --- Web page: