Tim Schafer bust into the Developer Direct stream to show off a bit of pottery-making, and talk about their latest Amnesia Fortnight project, turned into a full and broader project. Kiln is all about creating stuff, and then using that stuff to smash your enemies.
Kiln is coming to Xbox Series X|S, PS5, PC and Xbox Game Pass this spring.
Kiln is all in on the top-down 3D brawler aesthetic for its battling, but it starts with creating a pot to anthropomorphise and then send into the fray. You create the shapes, whether with a pottery wheel or just a ball of clay, attack handles, spouts and more, and then transform that into a create or sorts, as your spirit inhabits it. There’s sponges, shapers and straight edge tools, and even just your hands. Each pot needs to be able to roll, punch, jump, and more, and the game has to dynamically figure out how the moves will work. There’s then special attacks like cups sprouting popcorn, plates flinging pies.
Quench is the main game mode, a 4v4 battle mode, where you team needs to carry water into enemy territory and quench their rival furnace. Larger pots will have greater carrying capacity, but be slower to move, so you need to balance your team.
Success earns you XP and chips to spend back in the hub area, where you can spend them on more creative options.
What’s curious is that this is actualy a fairly old game idea for Double Fine. Yes, it came out of an Amnesia Fortnight project, but it was all the way back in 2017! Check that game out:
Really interesting to see Double Fine bring an idea like this back and develop it further.
