Ex-Lionhead developers announce Konfronto, a comedic ‘sci-fi auto battler’

Independent UK developer Flaming Fowl Studio has announced its next project, a comedy sci-fi game.

The developer, which was founded by former Lionhead staff who’d previously worked on the Fable series, has shed the first information on Konfronto, which it describes as “a sci-fi auto battler, pack-filled with more parodies and puns than an episode of Red Dwarf”.

Players will manage the running of an intergalactic carrier, and can upgrade it with an array of spaceships and “weird and wonderful technology designed to obliterate anyone foolish enough to oppose you in asynchronous multiplayer”.

By placing cargo items in certain positions players will trigger combinations which allow them to work together or create new tech. “Hire crew to uncover rewards hidden in derelict areas of your Carrier then put them to work flying your starships,” the description adds.

The game is available to wishlist now on Steam and will have a demo at the Steam NextFest in October.

In a statement about the planned demo, creative director Mike West said: “NextFest is a huge opportunity for devs that are self-publishing like ourselves, we really hope the community enjoys what we have made, or at the very least they pretend to enjoy it if they are streaming.”

CEO Craig Oman added: “Oh my God, why did I get into this industry? I should have listened to my mum and got a real job.”

Flaming Fowl, which was previously responsible for the critically acclaimed strategy title Gloomhaven, revealed earlier this year that it had been forced to announce and postpone one of its projects on the same day and lay off half its staff, due to the sharp downturn in investment in the games industry.

In April it announced deckbuilding strategy game Ironmarked and released a demo on Steam, but at the same time the studio said development had already been put on hold due to “the unusual financial situation currently affecting the video games industry”.

At the time, Oman told VGC the remaining team members had given themselves until the end of the year to release a new small, self-funded strategy title. It appears that Konfronto is that game.