Shadow Factory is a full-service production company specializing in content development, post-production, immersive media, and digital strategy. While developing consumer games isn’t necessarily our bread and butter, it’s become a very important part of what we do. After all, most of our team are passionate gamers, as are our co-founders. It was only natural for us to start developing and publishing VR games!
So, how did the concept for Stupid Cupid come about? With the game’s Steam Early Access release coming up in less than two weeks, we look back and trace its origin story in this blog post.
The initial concept, in fact, came from a B2B pitch for event activation. We pitched a game called Laser Archer to our client, where players must defend the “Kinetic Fortress” which is under siege, using their trusty “Energy Bow” and an arsenal of powerful “Beam Arrows”.
While the client pitch pivoted, the idea of a VR archery game stayed in our minds. Several months later, we decided to revive the concept and develop a consumer game to be released on platforms like Steam. As we were already developing another cyberpunk-esque game, the VR archery game went in another direction. Drawing inspiration from Happy Tree Friends, we decided to create a game with silly, cute animals juxtaposed with off-beat humor and mild violence.
The name Stupid Cupid and the story of a cupid who has to fix his mistakes came very early on, and has not changed since. The game itself, however, transformed quite drastically.
Stupid Cupid started off as a wave-based game where the animals come in hordes, so the player had to match animals with Cupid’s bow and arrow to distract them. But the team found it challenging to create levels, objectives, and a narrative with this endless mode—it just didn’t feel like a complete game.
Another idea involved matching different kinds of animals that would have interspecies offspring, which was also dropped.
Determined to make this quirky game work, the team settled on the open-space and puzzle matching concept. Playtesters enjoyed the new direction, and we were able to develop different objectives and eventually a full storyline with characters other than the animals, bringing us to where we are today.
We’re so excited for you to try Stupid Cupid and hear your feedback on the Steam Early Access version. Available March 14!