I didn’t have a grand blueprint when I started making Atomic Owl.

I thought, "It’s a platformer. How hard could it be? Maybe a year of work?"

Oh, how wrong I was.

"Okay, but I want Samurai and Ninja Bird warriors. Let's make THAT happen."

And...we did!

The journey to this point has been anything but straightforward. When I began, my game development experience was minimal. I’d interned as a playtester at Gearbox for Borderlands 3 and spent a year as a producer at PeopleFun, a Dallas-based mobile game studio. There, I led teams building word games—not the same as crafting a side-scrolling platformer.

But I had a vision. I wanted to create something that prayed at the church of Katana Zero.

At the time, I didn’t know how to code, animate, design UX, or make pixel art, but I did have my North Star. I felt, and still feel, that indie games were missing that nostalgic Saturday morning cartoon vibe. Think Sewer Shark, Gargoyles, or Ronin Warriors. I wanted to capture that magic. Games like Shovel Knight and Katana Zero, which channeled the spirit of Mega Man X, were my inspirations—and I wanted to add to that pantheon.

Atomic Owl was born.

The development process wasn’t perfect. I skipped prototyping entirely, assembling the game’s “muscle, sinew, and string cheese” before its skeleton. My team and I had to work backward, but here we are today, with a game on the verge of completion.

We’re aiming to go gold by June, tighten a few screws, and press that mythical "Launch" button. So far, the public has seen only 15–20% of what’s in store. We’ve hidden narrative twists, gameplay innovations, and new characters and enemies that we can’t wait to reveal.

To OTK, thank you for letting us unveil our release date at the Winter Games Expo. To everyone who supported our Kickstarter earlier this year: thank you. To our amazing Monster Theater Discord community for spreading joy, memes, and feedback: thank you. And to the Monster Theater team: your work has made this milestone possible.

I can’t wait for you all to experience Atomic Owl next summer.

With gratitude,
Eldar,
Your friend in Bladewing City

"What's happened to Hidalgo? He seems very...askew"

In celebration of our new release date trailer being showcased at the OTKGamesExpo, here's something else for our loyal Bladewings, a first look at the Crowfeather skin in Atomic Owl!

During our Kickstarter, we teased the inclusion of a DLC skin called "The Crowfeather", which is a play on the plague doctor look recently popularized most by Bloodborne. We wanted to have a skin that represented not only our love for Bloodborne but an homage to that Eldritch/Lovecraftian feel.

The Crowfeather skin will be a FREE skin included in the base game on launch, players will be able to select the skin from the game's campfire hub.