SoulStealer
Robo Designs is an Edinburgh-based indie game studio founded by fighting game enthusiasts. With most recent releases in the fighting genre being grounded, traditional fighters, our team came together to revive the air-dasher subgenre that defined 2010s anime fighting games. Drawing on our experience both competing in and organising fighting game events, we’re building a game that rewards competitive mastery while staying approachable for casual players.
With support from the Starter Fund, we’re expanding our team with dedicated VFX and 3D stage artists to produce a demo that captures our design vision. The demo will feature three playable characters, one stage, and core netcode; a vertical slice publishers can pick up and play. It will anchor our publisher pitches as we secure funding to develop the full game.
Key features
- SoulStealer is a 1vs1 anime-inspired fighting game and debut title for Robo Designs Ltd.
- The game’s signature twist is a resource that builds when taking damage (“Soul”), and can be spent in several ways: retreat to heal, spend it defensively to push your opponent away or offensively to fuel character-specific abilities.
- Players can battle against AI-controlled opponents in Arcade Mode, or take the fight Online in Ranked and Unranked matches against other players. Training modes and combo challenges allow both beginners and veterans to hone their skills.
- With an expressive roster, Soul system, and learning tools, SoulStealer delivers the fast, stylish combat of the anime fighter genre in a package that welcomes newcomers and rewards mastery.
- We are targeting PC launch initially, followed by later console ports. Our target audience is a teens interested in stylish visuals, social players and genre enthusiasts.
Quote
Having been self-funded for an extended period of time, the Starter Fund is a great opportunity for us. In my eyes, it’s been a great impulse towards formalising our studio structure, roles and processes. The financial support has allows us to bring in new specialist contractors, and given us an idea of what managing a successful games studio could be like with full financial backing in the future.
With our studio goals of building relationships with publishers, the Starter Fund is also a chance to see what that relationship could be like. As we look to scale up in the future, we believe this funded period will give us the insight and knowledge to find stability within the UK Games Industry.