Factsheet

Developer:
Freehold Games, LLC
Based in South Bend, IN and Berkeley, CA

Founding date:
March 1, 2013

Website:
freeholdgames.com

Press / Business Contact:
questions@freeholdgames.com

Social:
Jason Grinblat (@ptychomancer)
Brian Bucklew (@unormal)
Jaana Heiska (@JaanaHeiska)
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr

Releases:
Caves Of Qud
Mad Ball
Sproggiwood

Address:
69080 Sycamore Road
Walkerton, IN 46574

Phone:
(574) 656-9031

Description

Freehold Games is a tiny indie studio founded by Brian Bucklew and Jason Grinblat. We make games built on two design pillars: 1) Bizarre, baroque, original settings. We share an eclectic love for the natural and humanistic worlds and it compels us to sculpt immersive settings out of their varied clays. 2) Generativity. Emergence is fascinating to us; we love to be surprised by what we make. So we build complex systems then let players collide them, and together we observe the results.

History

Caves of Qud

Caves of Qud is a project of epic proportions that began in 2007 and launched on Steam Early Access in 2015. We wanted to weave a rich, exotic, and well-researched culture around deeply simulated physical and political systems. The result is an open-world roguelike where the gameplay is unpredictable, the plants are sentient, and the development is ongoing.

Mad Ball

Mad Ball was developed in 30 days for the 2012 Something Awful GameDev Challenge. Brian Bucklew produced and programmed, Jason Grinblat designed and wrote, Jaana Heiska made art, and Melanie Ehrlich and Lucas Nguyen voice acted. It won both the Judges’ Choice and Players’ Choice awards.

Sproggiwood

After collaborating on Mad Ball, Brian Bucklew, Jason Grinblat, and Jaana Heiska teamed up again in 2012 to work on a story-driven roguelike adventure set in a world inspired by Finnish mythology. Sproggiwood was released for PC, Mac, and Linux in October 2014 and iOS and Android in May 2015.

Projects

Videos

Caves of Qud (Early Access) YouTube

Sproggiwood YouTube

Images

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sultan-shrine.png
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thief_forest_cave.png
town1.png
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warrior_hills.png
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WorldMap-sproggiwood.png
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There are far more images available for Freehold Games, LLC, but these are the ones we felt would be most useful to you. If you have specific requests, please do contact us!

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Awards & Recognition

    Selected Articles

    • "There’s a sense of magnificent history to dredge from its depths."
      - Chris Priestman, Kill Screen
    • "Caves of Qud has a particular kind of New Wave science fiction imagination that just can’t be beat."
      - Cameron Kunzelman, Paste Magazine
    • "Narratively, this is one of the most compelling game stories that I’ve seen in a long time."
      - Charlie Hall, Polygon
    • "It gets to the heart of one of the big strengths of the genre, the feeling of having to MacGyver an immediate solution from whatever you've got at hand. It's a rare title that can satisfy players of varying skill levels, but I think Sproggiwood fits the bill nicely."
      - Shaun Musgrave, Touch Arcade
    • "Sproggiwood is a bright, gorgeous looking game, and it handles brilliantly on mobile. It's never fiddly, and the twists it adds to the roguelike formula means it offers up a deep, engaging experience that fits in your pocket."
      - Harry Slater, Pocket Gamer

    Team & Repeating Collaborators

    Brian Bucklew
    Gameplay and Engine Programmer, Producer, Designer

    Jason Grinblat
    Designer, Writer, Gameplay Programmer, Producer

    Jaana Heiska
    Artist

    Contact

    Inquiries
    questions@freeholdgames.com

    Twitter
    twitter.com/freeholdgames

    Brian's Twitter
    twitter.com/unormal

    Jason's Twitter
    twitter.com/ptychomancer

    Facebook
    facebook.com/freeholdgames

    Web
    freeholdgames.com

    presskit() by Rami Ismail (Vlambeer) - also thanks to these fine folks