STUFFED – The streaming community side by side with game development

The FPS game genre is one of the most popular in the gaming industry, if not the most popular, and standing out in this true universe of titles in the genre can be a difficult task. Bringing different elements to the “first-person shooter” gameplay is important to attract gamers’ attention. And this is where STUFFED comes in.

Developed by Waving Bear, STUFFED arrived on Xbox in December 2023, although not in its entirety, as multiplayer mode is not yet available on the platform, only in the PC version.

>> Read our STUFFED review

Even so, anyone who gives STUFFED a chance may notice that the game tries to differentiate itself from other FPS in its plot and visuals, as you control a stuffed animal and use weapons created with items that can be found in any child’s room.

“Who didn’t have a stuffed friend growing up?”, said Matt Busuttil, director of STUFFED. “We really wanted to revisit the imaginations of our childhood and explore a dreamlike world where anything was possible.”

“We specifically used this approach when designing our weapons. Our team delved deep into childhood nostalgia, and we worked hard to make sure the internal workings of the weapons made sense regardless of how whacky the designs were – resulting in many debates within the team while gathered around a whiteboard with insane doodles.”

The mission is to protect a child named Ellie from her nightmares. It looks simple, but it has a dark tone that contrasts with the colorful look of the game’s scenarios and weapons.

“We love the FPS genre, and wanted to make a title that incorporated all the mechanics we enjoy while introducing an alternative art direction to the genre’s current offerings,” added Matt.

Game development with help from the Streaming Community

“The live streaming community is such a large and crucial pillar in the wider gaming community, and there’s no denying the impact it can have on a game’s success, especially within the indie space,” said Matt.

The strength of the streaming community in the gaming industry today is huge and undeniable. I myself have seen somewhat unknown games gain popularity thanks to a famous streamer in some country.

And this could indeed affect game development today. With STUFFED, of course, this was taken into account.

“We love the live streaming community, and during our early betas and early access Steam launch we spent many hours watching streamers engage with STUFFED to see how we could tailor our development plan to make it more appealing.”

“Of course, it’s still something we’re learning and we’re always open to feedback from streamers on what we could do to make their lives easier and their content more appealing”, said Matt.

The future of STUFFED

Currently only available for PC, via Steam, and Xbox, the arrival of STUFFED on other platforms is not impossible, but at the moment it will depend on the feedback received by Waving Bear about the game.

“We’d love STUFFED to be available on every platform – the entire team poured their hearts into Stuffed, and we’d love every gamer to be able to enjoy playing it, regardless of platform!”, said Matt enthusiastically.

Furthermore, the developers at Waving Bear already have an update schedule for the game, which includes the arrival of multiplayer for the Xbox version.

This schedule, according to the director of STUFFED, can be modified after the team receives feedback from the community, especially players of the Xbox version of the game.

The updates, according to Matt, will be made available for both platforms.

Are you a streamer or content creator and interested in STUFFED? You can get the game from Keymailer.

Gamohol