Mune Studio announces ID@Xbox deal, launching 2025
- laurenksaker
- Mar 25
- 5 min read
Ōtepoti Dunedin-based indie developers, Mune Studio, announce they will be shipping with support from Microsoft, launching their game Brews & Bastards on ID@Xbox this year.
Some of CODE's earliest supported teams from the original regional development fund have succeeded in reaching market, despite the challenging conditions in the publishing industry - Usual Suspects Studios who launched It’s Only Money, Hyporeal with Blackheart, and of course Abiotic Factor from Deep Field Games, to name just a few.
Dunedin's Mune Studio lead by co-Founders, Erekose Watson and Hamish Fechney are no exception, and this month announced a Microsoft deal that will launch their game Brews & Bastards on ID@Xbox in 2025.
CODE caught up with the developer duo to hear about their journey so far -
Firstly congratulations on the ID@Xbox deal with Microsoft - Brews & Bastards is Mune's first commercial game - what has the journey been like so far?
Thank you! It's been a very exciting time for us! Actually I think we'd describe it as chaotic and thrilling. Although we've both worked on other games before (and during!) this development, putting all that knowledge into a single project has been a huge learning process. Outside of development, getting acclimated with communication, publisher/funding conversations and demo-ing the game to the public have all been brand new experiences. There is a lot to get to grips with, but every day is something new and interesting.
What was the original inspiration for Brews & Bastards?
In terms of video game inspiration, it was the original Diablo (specifically the PlayStation 1 version) and Enter the Gungeon. That over the top theme of Gungeon mixed with Diablo's big single dungeon that became more difficult as you descended was the core idea for Brews & Bastards.
The theme of the game itself came from a morning car ride with my father to work in 2015. He had this idea of Diablo but instead of potions, you had alcoholic beverages. I think the original thought was having "Home Brew" instead of town portals, the ideas just kept flowing and I eventually told Hamish about the idea and he liked it. Five years later, when the CODE funding began, we were recently out of a job and thought we'd pitch the game!
How did Mune Studio come together as a team?
Hamish and I have been friends since we were five years old, meeting at school in 2000. We've been messing around with ideas ever since. Hamish was an early adopter of Blender 3D and worked on and off with 3D art and animation for most of his life. I was more of a "director" I guess, coming up with ideas for things like AMVs and animations that he would make.
I don't think we ever thought we could live off making games together. After we both got a job at Rocketwerkz Dunedin in 2019/2020, we realised that the skills we had developed could work towards making indie games. Since receiving CODE funding, we've also been able to hire Hina Macmaster as an art generalist. I think after she joined, Mune actually became a fully functioning indie studio.
Pictured L-R: Erekose Watson watches as Head of Playstation, Shuhei Yoshida plays Brews & Bastards at BitSummit 2024 in Kyoto, Japan; Hamish & Erekose showcase Brews & Bastards at PAX AUS 2023 CODE campaign; Brews & Bastards will be launching in 2025.
How have you benefited from CODE's support?
I don't think this studio or game would exist at all without CODE support. The kickstart it gave us with funding and invaluable knowledge from CODE members have made all of this possible. That initial push to get us started and on the right track led the studio to additional funding and eventually this new deal with ID@Xbox and Microsoft. I believe it was an email from CODE member, Vee, about a connection at Xbox that started our whole application process. Not to mention all of the events we've been able to attend, important people in the community we've been introduced to and adventures we've had because of CODE's funding. So yeah, very indebted to CODE for helping take us from screwing around with games to making it a full time job!
What lessons did you learn from making this game?
There are too many to list! haha. I think the most important ones to me are communication and knowing what to cut. Learning about talking and pitching your project was a big wake up call. There are so many things I hadn't considered and it really helped me personally, but it also helped the game develop. I would seriously recommend pitching your game to a friend or advisor, it will make you consider all your ideas and reasonings for why your project should exist.
Figuring out what to cut during development was also a crucial lesson. I think it's really hard for some people (us included) to come to terms with cutting content, but if something isn't fun or it's not working or it's taking too long, you have to learn to cut it. We spent a lot of time trying to make mechanics or content fun and it cost us a lot of cash and development time! Sometimes you have to figure this one out the hard way, but it should hopefully highlight early red flags in future development. Now we love cutting stuff, it rules haha! It takes a lot of stress and bloat out of the game.
Who is going to enjoy Brews & Bastards?
People who want something bombastic and chaotic and fun. The game is really easy to get into and doesn't take itself too seriously, you can play it alone or with friends in couch co-op. I think if you enjoy fast paced dungeon crawlers like Enter the Gungeon, Hades or Torchlight, you'll dig Brews & Bastards. Do you want to spend an hour or so blowing up goblins with booze themed characters and items, then it's the right game for you!
Where can we watch a demo gameplay?
You can have this tasty gameplay trailer from our recent Xbox announcement video!
Do you have a release date set?
We have an internal date set, but nothing to publicly announce just yet. This year for sure! and soon™. You can add Brews & Bastards to your wishlist, here.
Where do you see Mune Studio in five years?
This project has taken over four years to complete, which I'm okay with since we had so much to learn, but I never want to do a four year dev cycle again, haha. It's just way too much time for us creatively. In five years I hope we've got out another two games at least! We want to make things that are still super fun and cooperative but much more refined and focused.
CODE Funding and Travel Grants
Mune Studio was founded in 2021 by Erekose Watson and Hamish Fechney in Ōtepoti Dunedin. The studio is supported by two successful development grants - KickStart and StartUp - from NZ CODE.
Further details about CODE funding and Travel Grants, grant guidelines and Expressions of Interest forms, can be found here.
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