Today, I wanted to share a little bit about the journey this game has taken, because it was a long winding road to get to this point. Fablelight didn’t start as a fighting game.
It started with a single character known as the barbarian.
He was loud, expressive, a little ridiculous, and for some reason… he could talk to slime. I made him for a game jam, but he stuck with me. I kept coming back to him, sketching new animations, imagining the world he lived in, thinking about who he would meet.
That eventually grew into something bigger.
Rumble Warriors
The idea became a full beat ’em up: a colorful, cartoon-inspired fantasy game with light RPG elements and a sense of humor about the genre itself. But, I felt like Krog was too dumb of a character to be the protagonist of a game, so he was joined by a karate fighter and an old woman with guns (Granny Boom). The goal was to make a funny beat 'em up.
At one point, it almost broke through.
I put together a full pitch and was selected to showcase the project as part of ID@Xbox during E3 2020. For a moment, it felt like everything was lining up—the project had momentum, direction, and a real opportunity to be seen alongside other indie games on a major stage.
And then the world stopped.
COVID hit. E3 was canceled. Plans fell apart almost overnight.
That version of the game never got its moment.
But the work didn’t disappear.
I still had all these animations and great characters and a world I wanted to explore...
Quick breakdown for anyone new:
Fablelight is NOT a platformer or a brawler.
It’s built on traditional 2D fighting game mechanics:
• Hold-back-to-block
• Motion inputs
• One-on-one fights
• Spacing and timing
But structured like a single-player RPG:
• Branching paths
• Character progression
• Skill trees
• Story-driven encounters
Think: fighting game combat inside a JRPG-style adventure.
Does that sound like something you’d play?