The story behind Killer Queen Black and why it deserves more buzz

Skies · Jun 20, 2018

On the surface, Killer Queen Black just seems like another Indie announcement among hundreds at E3. But I truly believe that the full revealing last week at Nintendo's Direct was one of the best feel-good moments of E3 2018. Below I have spotlighted why.

For those of you that aren't aware, Killer Queen is a product that has been in development for 8 years, and originated as a field game before becoming a team-based arcade experience.

Note: Eric Blattberg wrote a great article for Polygon in 2013 about the creation of Killer Queen, which I have taken a number of quotes and an image from below to summarize the origin of Killer Queen. If you have the time, it is a fascinating read and can be found here!

In 2011, two video game designers (Josh DeBonis and Nikita Mikros) presented their original field play experience Killer Queen at the Come Out & Play New York Festival.

Polygon said:
"In the beginning, Killer Queen [the field game] was inspired by ants," recalls DeBonis. "The initial idea was that you'd create scent trails by leaving these trails of string as you moved. Unsurprisingly, the string didn't work. The moment we started playing, everyone just dropped their string and completely ignored it."

DeBonis and Mikros quickly abandoned the ants concept, but kept the parts that worked: the caste system (workers, soldiers, queen) and the other props.

"If you give somebody a foam sword, they just have fun playing with it, even if they're not playing the game," continues DeBonis. "Props are just inherently playful, and people immediately know what to do with them and want to run around with them."

The original Killer Queen closely resembles the later arcade version. Like the video game, there are three ways to win: return a certain number of food pellets to your base, kill the opposing queen three times or bomb the other team's base (instead of riding a gastropod to your side, the third victory condition in the digital game).

Come Out & Play attendees loved it — and so did the festival's judges, who doled out "Most Strategic" and "Best in Fest" awards to Killer Queen.

Footage of Killer Queen being played in the field at IndieCade 2012

Killer Queen's field play popularity motivated DeBonis and Mikros to develop a digital version of Killer Queen. But what originally was imagined to be a mobile and PC experience, ultimately turned into a 5v5 two-cabinet team play arcade experience.

Polygon said:
"But as we started developing it, we realized that actually you do need to come to a physical location, and you need 10 people to play it. We playtested it right away and knew it wasn't going to be a conventional video game."

By working on the two versions simultaneously, Mikros and DeBonis can take what they learn testing the field game and implement it in the digital game, which they view as Killer Queen's "flagship product."

"The way that we really playtest [the video game] is by playing the field game, because the iterations are just easier to implement," says Mikros. "We just change it, no coding involved."

Debonis and MIkros in front of their homemade (!) cabinet.

Killer Queen Arcade debuted at NYU's No Quarter Exhibition in 2013.

Polygon said:
The NYU Game Center provided DeBonis and Mikros with a commission to help cover the cost of the cabinet. In return, the duo agreed to premiere it at NYU's fourth annual No Quarter exhibition, a showing of experimental multiplayer games from indie game developers in New York.

No Quarter games are all about facilitating social interaction. Curator Charles Pratt refers to them as "New Arcade" games, built expressly to "explore the creative potential of public play."

"We try to find people who are doing weird, interesting stuff, like a five-on-five platformer," says Pratt.

Killer Queen was a hit with No Quarter attendees, drawing a massive crowd all evening. It generated the most noise in the room, with eager players bellowing non-stop cheers and chants.

Since the successful revealing of Killer Queen Arcade, the 5v5 arcade experience has over 100 arcade cabinets (thanks to crowdfunding efforts) that are spread across 40 locations in the United States, and has developed quite the cult following. KillerQueenArcade website and links to communities can be accessed here.

Now fast froward to 2018.

BumbleBear (a team of less than 10 members) had recently been approached by LiquidBits (a team of three) with an online prototype for Killer Queen. Being impressed by the work done by LiquidBits, BumbleBear decided to give the go ahead with continued development on the Killer Queen online experience. In March, Bumblebears and LiquidBits decided to approach Nintendo with their project. Kirk Scott (Planning and Development Manager of Live Services at Nintendo of America) saw the project at GDC, and immediately wanted to bring the game to Switch, with a full reveal at E3. At this point Bumblebear and LiquidBits didn't even have Switch devkits, but Nintendo rectified that within three days. With Devkits now in hand, LiquidBit got a rudimentary version of the game up and running within 4 hours! It took only a week and a half to have Killer Queen Black polished enough on Switch for an E3 showing! so what was once just an idea for a field game in 2011 is currently being developed for the Switch (plus PC) and has now just been showcased by Nintendo in both their E3 Direct and Treehouse stream!

In-depth gameplay demonstration via Treehouse.

Killer Queen Black Details:

Now a 4v4 experience
Three different ways to win a match

NewsWeek said:
The first path to victory in Killer Queen is collecting berries. The worker units are capable of carrying one berry at a time, and if a team collects a set amount of berries in their home base, that team wins. The second path is more simple: kill the enemy team's queen three times.

The final way to win Killer Queen is a bit more odd. There is a giant snail at the bottom of the screen, and if a team manages to ride the snail into that team's basket, the game is over.

Worker units are responsible for carrying around berries and riding the snail. These units can upgrade into warrior units at select locations on the map, and gain a sword to kill enemies, but lose the ability to carry berries and ride the snail. Players controlling these units have unlimited lives, and will constantly revive at the team's base once killed.

Built from the ground up for Switch, with new mechanics (EX: multiple moves for the queen, worker bees can now throw berries)
Four Game Modes: Quick match, Ranked, Custom, and Arena (which requires a special ticket to enter?)
Local ad-hoc multiplayer (4 players on two switches)
The most dominate online team will eventually become the black team. The black team will be streamed 24/7 on Twitch. Beating the black team rewards your team with black team status. There is only one black team at all times.
Killer Queen Black will be hitting Switch this Winter.

Killer Queen Black slipped under the E3 radar, but this is a very unique gaming experience with highly regarded multiplayer play in the arcade scene that deserves your attention. After eight years Killer Queen is finally coming to consoles with online play! I just want to say congrats to the teams at Bumblebear and LiquidBits for accomplishing their dreams, and I can't wait to battle with you guys/gals for the right to become team black!

Sources:

SoH · Jun 20, 2018

I'm with you OP. Never been able to play due to understandably limited availability of the cab. This was easily one of the biggest low key announcements for me.

Funny Face · Jun 20, 2018

Great writeup! Coincidentally, I watched the Treehouse segment earlier today and thought the game looked like great fun. In particular, the idea that you can be concentrating on one path to victory, develop tunnel vision, and end up losing when the opposing team completes a different path to victory that you weren't paying attention to.

Zubz · Jun 20, 2018

The game looked cool, but I didn't know it had all this history! I'll have to pick it up when it hits the Switch!

srtrestre · Jun 20, 2018

Concept seems cool. Can't wait to try it out.

Crayon · Jun 20, 2018

Reminds me of joust. Which is good.

Keyouta · Jun 20, 2018

Looking forward to this. I don't have any arcades in my town, so this would be a great get. Haven't heard of it before the E3 leak.

LinkSlayer64 · Jun 20, 2018

Because I knew the name from the leak, but didn't look it up, I was hoping it would have a little more oomph, but it still looked fun,. Looked like Joust, and I like Joust!

Skies · Jun 20, 2018

Funny Face said:
Great writeup! Coincidentally, I watched the Treehouse segment earlier today and thought the game looked like great fun. In particular, the idea that you can be concentrating on one path to victory, develop tunnel vision, and end up losing when the opposing team completes a different path to victory that you weren't paying attention to.

Yeah I love that aspect. That said, good Killer Queen play is going to require team communication, and that is my one concern with the game being on Switch. Will the game support the phone app, or will LiquidBit and Bumblebear create their own voice chat solution like Epic did with Fortnite? That seems to be asking a lot of two teams that consist on maybe ten members, though I don't have a video game development background so I am just guessing.

If voice chat is not an option, local player teams will have a huge advantage over teams made up of players pairing online.

ASaiyan · Jun 20, 2018

A game that was prototyped as a real-life field game. Now I've heard everything.

Grats to the devs on taking it this far! I'm sure they'll be reaping that Switch sales success soon enough.

Watershed · Jun 20, 2018

I think Nintendo did a pretty good job giving the game a lot of exposure and trying to communicate what makes the game special. I look forward to trying it out.

Skel1ingt0n · Jun 20, 2018

Thanks for this write-up. We have a cab at a local barcade here in KC... but the clientele aren't really my speed, and getting 4 other folks to play with you against another 5 that take it seriously has never presented itself.

I love the concept of this game, and will absolutely be picking it up on Switch. I think it will live and die on its netcode and voice communication, though.

It's kind of got a "co-op Smash Bros" feel to it.

chainlinkspiral · Jun 20, 2018

Yeah, it's a total barcade/pub title, and it'd be fun to get a team/league going. Curious how it rolls out this fall.

Deleted member 7462 · Jun 20, 2018

I've played this in Portland, OR. It's a quality multiplayer game! I'll probably buy the home version. I'm interested to see what changes they made for home play.

MysticGon · Jun 20, 2018

Came here hoping this was a JoJo reference :(

1upsuper · Jun 20, 2018

I'm very interested in this release. Apparently there's a cabinet of the original nearby that I want to check out now.

Askherserenity · Jun 20, 2018

Dude, yes.

Glad you made this thread. I've always been dying to play this game and now I'll finally be able to (although it is a bit different).

CthulhuSars · Jun 20, 2018

We have this game in a local barcade in Phoenix. Finding players is rough but when a good game gets going it is epic. I cannot wait to play this on Switch.

Deleted member 37917 · Jun 20, 2018

I here day one. I didn;t know what this game was just days ago, but now I'm really interested. Great post.

Deleted member 36578 · Jun 20, 2018

I never heard about Killer Queen until the leak prior to E3. After seeing it I was automatically interested. Getting the Switch version the moment its available.

brownmagic · Jun 20, 2018

A couple places in San Francisco have this, it's super fun playing with strangers!

Deleted member 11370 · Jun 20, 2018

"Buzz". Well done, OP.

AndreGX · Jun 20, 2018

This thread deserves more love dammit!

Killer Queen is an amazing game & social experience and having it come to Switch is huge, particularly as it's platform best suited for it.

The E3 demo was a blast. It's just too bad technical issues prevent a full 5 on 5, but the new mechanics mostly make up for it.

Now I want to head back to the Brewcade here and get some games in...

Jazzem · Jun 20, 2018

Great work on the opening post :D Hopefully gets a few fokls curious in the game

The treehouse segment got me interested, I thought I misheard the Nintendo rep when he said it was an arcade game ha

Wolfgunblood · Jun 20, 2018

I've never heard of anything like this before, what a cool story.

ghostcrew · Jun 20, 2018

I can't wait for this. I was in Portland for about 8 hours last October (not enough time when you're a Brit who doesn't get to see the West Coast very often!) and stumbled into an arcade and saw, the Holy Grail, Killer Queen. It was about 3pm in the afternoon and, of course, nobody was playing it so I didn't get to experience it properly. I asked and they said they ran regular game nights for it though. It was fucking cool to see it in the flesh after hearing so much about it.

Ismailman · Jun 20, 2018

Living in San Francisco I've had the pleasure to play Killer Queen a bunch. It's good, and will do very well on the Switch.

MrFarenheit · Jun 20, 2018

It's a day one for me...now just need people to play with lol

Tebunker · Jun 20, 2018

Great OP. Definitely hyped to give this one a go.

MaitreWakou · Jun 20, 2018

Wow, that's a good thread. Can't wait for the game.

ScreamingMadden · Jun 20, 2018

Great thread! When I saw the leak for all those games at Nintendo's kiosks, I researched Killer Queen. The more I learned about this game, the more I wanted to see this game's reveal at Nintendo's E3 direct! Can't wait to play it in the Winter! Looks like an awesome blend of Joust platforming and RTS elements!

AndreGX · Jun 20, 2018

Ismailman said:
Living in San Francisco I've had the pleasure to play Killer Queen a bunch. It's good, and will do very well on the Switch.

It's pretty great how practically every barcade here has it now. Although Coin-Op's $2 per play is kind of bullshit, especially with their broken-ass buttons...

IAMtheFMan · Jun 20, 2018

This game strangely was the most intriguing game of any platform I saw this E3.

catswaller · Jun 20, 2018

I've played arcade killer queen once, it's super interesting and unique. very excited more people will get to experience it, but I wonder if losing the physical cabinet framing will hurt the experience.

cakely · Jun 20, 2018

We have a local Killer Queen machine at the best arcade in Chicago: Logan Hardware.

I have yet to play it, myself, but there is a weekly league night for it.

Waffle-Stomper · Jun 20, 2018

I've gotten to play it a handful of times (chicago native) and I was blown away that even the leak announcement was focused on fortnite getting a switch release.
even people I work with in the loop were talking about fortnite on switch and I was the lameo saying, "the bigger surprise is killer queen!"

OnanieBomb · Jun 20, 2018

I just wonder how it'll work with a bunch of randos.

Deleted member 12009 · Jun 20, 2018

I agree OP. Game is a blast to play in person, shoulder to shoulder with your teammates. If the cab had wider distribution people would be excited.

AndreGX · Jun 20, 2018

wild wild rice said:
I just wonder how it'll work with a bunch of randos.

That's often how it already works at bars!

OnanieBomb · Jun 20, 2018

AndreGX said:
That's often how it already works at bars!

Ha, which sounds like a great time! But I mean internet randos. I imagine voice chat and having a decent team is pretty critical to being able to get the most enjoyment out of this.

Funny Face · Jun 20, 2018

Skies said:
Yeah I love that aspect. That said, good Killer Queen play is going to require team communication, and that is my one concern with the game being on Switch. Will the game support the phone app, or will LiquidBit and Bumblebear create their own voice chat solution like Epic did with Fortnite? That seems to be asking a lot of two teams that consist on maybe ten members, though I don't have a video game development background so I am just guessing.

If voice chat is not an option, local player teams will have a huge advantage over teams made up of players pairing online.

This is another very interesting part. As you mentioned above, there's going to be a Team Black that always has to be around to defend its title. How likely is it that this team is going to be in the same room at the same time at all different hours of the day? Not likely. Which means the online/communication support is going to HAVE to be adequate to great. Could be wrong, but hopeful based on that logic.

mutantmagnet · Jun 20, 2018

I knew about THE NYU roots but I didn't know about the physical sports game origin.

That's very neat and Come Out and Play continues to produce at least 1 game that could be expanded on each year.

Ideally the Dev team implemented a very advanced firm of lobbies because they really need to change online interaction to be much closer to real life.

Playing with randos irl is totally more fun than the toxic way we interact online even when it is 2 males talking to each other.

I don't want people feeling alienated by the neckbeards and maladjusted teenagers that forget their social etiquette online.

cakely · Jun 20, 2018

Heh, I just now got the joke in the thread title.

Defect · Jun 20, 2018

I played it at E3 and it was really fun!

AHK-Hero · Jun 20, 2018

Great OP. Reading the road to the upcoming switch release was interesting.

I mistook this for strictly an arena combat game like Towerfall when I saw the trailer/screenshots but the multiple victory path angle is pretty intriguing.

Everlasting_Cyclone · Jun 20, 2018

Really excited to play!

SinCityAssassin · Jun 20, 2018

I feel like this is gonna get a lot more bar use now that it's on switch and PC.

CopperPuppy · Jun 20, 2018

OPs like this are what makes Era so great.

I will be checking this out thanks to you.

HotHamBoy · Jun 20, 2018

Funny Face said:
Great writeup! Coincidentally, I watched the Treehouse segment earlier today and thought the game looked like great fun. In particular, the idea that you can be concentrating on one path to victory, develop tunnel vision, and end up losing when the opposing team completes a different path to victory that you weren't paying attention to.

It's like Catan!

B00T · Jun 20, 2018

Yeah, this game looks dope. Almost felt like I was missing out just finding out about it at E3, will be there day one.

The story behind Killer Queen Black and why it deserves more buzz

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