Join us to talk about the game and play through the first levels.

Greetings,

If you missed January’s update we sat down for an interview with both Chris Bergman, RA RA BOOM Creator, and Gray Shuko, who created the character concepts, to discuss how they met, their influences, and to talk about Aris and Ren a little more!

Now on to February, it is a busy month for the team. We will be participating and streaming RA RA BOOM in two separate events here on Steam!

Remote Play Together Fest runs from February 12th - 19th starting at 12PM Central. This event is all about Remote Play Together, a big feature for couch co-op games like ours. Remote Play Together works where one player owns and runs the game, then up to four players can join in the fun. The Gylee team will be playing together and will talk about the game’s development so far.

Dinos vs. Robots Fest runs from February 26th - March 4th starting at 12PM Central. We obviously have a lot of Robots in RA RA BOOM, but there might also be a few Dinos to find if you look in the right spot! Join us for some streams from friends then too.

We invite you to tune in and please consider joining the Midwest Games Discord[discord.gg] to ask any questions about RA RA BOOM and chat with the team!

- Gylee Games and Midwest Games Team

Hello all,

We hope everyone had a great holiday season and start to the New Year. The team here is back at it and we are excited to begin sharing more about the world of RA RA BOOM!

If you missed our December update, check that out for an interview with Chris Bergman, the creator of RA RA BOOM! In that, he shared some of his background and inspiration on the characters. We thought we would expand on that and show some of the early concept art and designs for the game. We sat down for an interview with both Chris and Gray Shuko, who created the concepts, to discuss how they met, their influences, and to talk about Aris and Ren a little more!

Interview:

How did the two of you meet?
Chris: It was definitely one of those magical moments. I had a good idea of who the characters were, and the type of visual identity I was going for. So, I went onto Artstation and searched "Ninja Cheerleaders" and Gray's art was some of the first to show up in the search. After digging through his portfolio more, it was clear he was the perfect artist to bring these characters to life. Gray had left his contact info in his bio and I reached out completely cold. Luckily enough, he responded saying he had the time and energy to collaborate and we were off and running! I remember when I got his initial reply. I had an emotional moment where I was like "Oh. I think we can actually get to the creative vision I had in mind."

Speaking of your creative visions when you two started designing the characters, what or who did you look at for inspiration?
Chris: The identity of the characters, their essence, are all based off of real humans I've known and admired in my life.

Gray: I got lucky to work on something that was right up my alley in terms of style and theme, so I guess it's a sum of a lot of things I like, from manga to comics. Although I would say that Ren, in particular, reminds me directly of Ayame, from Tenchu, a character that I always liked.

Chris: Yeah Gray's style definitely led the initial visual concepting. His instincts were right in line with what I had hoped to see in game.

Was it hard to design for 4 characters that are all different in personality and ethnicities, but share a common goal? How were those taken into account when designing them?
Gray: No, I think it's easier to design a crew of different people. If they were too similar, I guess we would need to differentiate them through outfit details, which give us less range to differentiate and modify them, if need be. For example, during development, we could change Vee's outfit color from yellow to red, and it would still be Vee.

Chris: We knew early on that we wanted them all to have different silhouettes, so that was an early challenge. But Gray was clearly up to the task.

With Aris, her initial design has some cyberpunk vibes, (maybe?) her final one is a bit more in line with the ninja cheerleaders. What does that iteration process look like and how long/many attempts before you settled on what she looks like now?
Gray: Right, I spend a lot more time sketching for Aris, than for the other characters, I think for 2 reasons:
1. The pitch was already "ninja cheerleader" at the time, but I used this character to explore around a bit. I tried more military, more cartoonish, etc; so once we found a good design for her, it would lock some of the directions and ease the process for the 3 other characters.
2. She is the team leader, and represents the group in some aspect, and maybe even a part of the game's whole vibe, so her design was critical. I think it took roughly 20 different attempts for her, whereas just around 5 for each of the others.

Chris: We definitely took our time in pre-production to get the characters right. It was very early, and literally just Gray and I going back and forth. We had no team. I had no funding. It really was a great time to explore and nail the look and feel. No one was waiting on us to make a decision then. There were no blockers. Complete creative freedom.

Ren is definitely a fan favorite so far, was it difficult balancing her bubbly personality with her more serious appearance?
Gray: That's funny because when I sketched her, I assumed she was just a cold-blooded killer, more in line with real ninjas. So I guess, through development, she got a personality that contrasts more with her appearance, making her maybe less cliche and more interesting which fits quite well.

Chris: Totally, I love that dichotomy of Ren. She dresses to be taken more seriously, and is frustrated when people don't. However, she just can't help who she is. So, to me, her outfit choices are a bit of her overcompensating to try and be heard. I'm sure many of us feel like that sometimes.

Thanks to both Chris and Gray for sitting down to talk about some of the early days of RA RA BOOM and how the wonderful cast of characters came about.

That’s all for this one, stay tuned to future developer updates and for more information on RA RA BOOM. We will be participating in Steam's Remote Play Together Fest on February 12th through the 19th, we'll be streaming and discussing RRB right here on Steam, so be sure to tune in!

- Gylee Games and Midwest Games Teams

Hello all,

As we wrap up the year, we’re thankful for the amazing ways RA RA BOOM has developed and for the support from our community. Earlier this year, we announced that Gylee Games will be partnering with Midwest Games as the publisher of RA RA BOOM. This brings positive impacts on the game including additional funding, QA review, marketing support, and more.

Our team continues to work diligently on the game, adding in so much cool stuff that we can’t wait to share soon! For now, we wanted to share a Q&A with Chris Bergman, Founder and CEO of Gylee Games, where we discuss his background, inspiration, and motivations in creating RA RA BOOM!

Q - Hey Chris, thanks for taking time to chat. So, this is the first video game you've made, right? What was your background like before starting Gylee and what made you want to start a studio?
A - Yep. RA RA BOOM is our first game. I’ve been a serial entrepreneur my whole life. My last company, Choremonster, was an app that gamified chores for kids and parents, so it was game-ish. I really enjoyed the creative aspect of that app: creating over 100 different interactive monsters. After exiting that company, I knew I wanted to start a studio with an initial focus on hand animated 2d characters. I also love starting from zero. Building something from the ground up. Putting together a team of talented people and installing a culture of transparency and collaboration.

Q - I think that vision shows in the main protagonists in RA RA BOOM, they are otherworldly, yet also pretty relatable. Could you share some of the direct inspiration behind the characters?
A - The characters are an amalgamation of many different things. They’re all based on real people that have been in my life. There’s also a lot of myself in there. A lot of my own mental health struggles. That said, video games need more badass women and so that is definitely core to these characters. They’re on their own for the first time in a world they’ve heard about but have never seen. Watching them make discoveries about this world as well as their friendship is key to the story.

Q - RA RA BOOM features completely hand drawn animations which is becoming more rare in video games. Was that your original intent before making the game or did that direction come later?
A - Absolutely our original intent from day one. I grew up on Saturday morning cartoons and have always loved games that have that look. My time at Disney also gave me a renewed love for 2d and animation. We knew it was going to be difficult. In fact, we scrapped all of our original animation 1.5 years in because we knew it just wasn’t up to the bar that we had set for ourselves. Now, as we continue to playtest regularly, the number one compliment we get is always about the animation.

Q - That's a huge undertaking, besides upping the art quality, how else has the studio grown or evolved this year as you get deeper into RA RA BOOM? Anything you are particularly proud of?
A -We signed with Midwest Games! It’s truly a wonderful feeling to have a whole new group of people getting excited about making Ra Ra. New feedback, new opinions, and most importantly new support. That has really injected a lot of energy into the team. We also signed with UTA, and they have been a huge help for the studio as a whole. Again, more moral support. Making games can be a draining, lengthy process. Oftentimes, it can be frustrating trying to get a level just right. Having others that aren’t in the office every day offering outside perspectives is hugely helpful.

Q - Anything else you want to add or say before we wrap up the year that is/was 2023?
A - We have SO MUCH MORE to talk about in 2024! I can’t wait to share it all. And I definitely cannot wait for everyone to play RA RA BOOM!

Thank you Chris for the interview and taking time to highlight some of the background of Gylee and RA RA BOOM.

Finally a big thank you to you all for your encouragement and support and we look forward to sharing more on RA RA BOOM in the new year! In the meantime, you can follow Gylee Games on Twitter and Instagram[www.instagram.com] to keep up to date. You can also join us on Discord[discord.gg] to keep chatting.

Happy Holidays!

-Gylee Games and Midwest Games Team