Trinket Studios is a independent developer that, since 2012, has made two of the most interesting, colorful mobile games we’ve seen (Color Sheep and Orion’s Forge—check them out now!). Now they’re diving into PC and console games with the upcoming Battle Chef Brigade—a magical cooking game with a dose of monster-slaying and Iron Chef-style competition.
It is slated for release in 2014, and we’ve already written about how excited we are. The studio itself has a superhero-worthy origin story; Tom Eastman, Eric Huang, and Ben Perez took a risk to found Trinket and make the kind of games they wanted to play.
So we reached out and asked Trinket to answer a few questions to shed some light on the studio, and what motivates them. Trinket Studios President Tom Eastman obliged.
1) Your games are really visually appealing—I think for both kids and adults. Do you try to appeal to any particular group with your art design?
Thanks! Eric Huang, our artist, is very talented. Generally, our philosophy is to be as inclusive as possible. It’s hard enough marketing games without a budget, so we don’t want to make it even harder for ourselves!
2) What is your favorite game of this month?
Without a doubt, Octodad! Not only are the Young Horses (creators of Octodad) in Chicago, but we get lunch with them regularly. We’ve been playing Octodad development builds for years and can’t wait to see the world’s reaction to such a charming and hilarious game.
3) The main character of Battle Chef Brigade is an awesome lady named Mina. How did you decide to make a superpowered female battle chef?
We’ve wanted to have a female lead for a while, so we spent extra time trying to bring Mina’s personality and style to life. Eric made a ton of great fantasy character concepts and Mina really stuck with us. She’s agile and fast, which are perfect qualities for a knife-wielding rogue. Knives in particular are really fun since they’re great for fighting and chopping!
4) What video game character is your personal hero?
That’s a tough question! I’m a big Halo fan, but I’ll go with the unusual choice of Carol Rawley (aka Foe Hammer), the indispensable pilot in the first game. She’s always on time and always calm.
5) What game inspires you to keep going?
I’m regularly inspired by the indie community. Ridiculous Fishing and Faster Than Light have been recent games that highlight the importance of focused, solid mechanics.
6) How do you share your love of games with your family (however you define family)?
My fiancée is not a gamer, but we’ve found places where our interests intersect and exploit those. She’s a big college football fan, so we play football games together. She’s also extremely good at Color Sheep, which made the game’s development really fun as we competed for high scores.
