Among the dozens of games revealed during Gamescom 2022 Opening Game Live presentation, there was one that really surprised us. An almost forgotten tune took us back to the late 1980s, when killer clowns from outer space invaded the town of Crescent Cove to turn its inhabitants into cotton candy. We are talking, of course, about Killer Klowns of Outer Space: The Game and the surprise was even greater when we discovered that this title was being developed right here in Colombia by the Bogota studio Teravision Games.
We recently had the opportunity to contact Enrique Fuentes, CEO of the studio, to answer some questions about this peculiar and unexpected project. This was what we learned.
PS5: Why did you choose to work on a cult movie game with a niche as specific as Killer Klowns of Outer Space?
Enrique Fuentes: It is in the essence of our studio not to do “obvious” things and always try to surprise our players with what we do. Definitely make something of Star Wars, Lord of the Rings o Marvel would be very exciting, but it would be basically just another game of those properties.
When Randy Greenback presented us with the idea of making a game about Killer Klowns From Outer Space, we saw it as a great opportunity to do something unexpected. Nothing has been done with this property since the movie came out in 1988 and yet the Killer Klowns continue to have a huge presence in popular culture. But most of all we feel a great connection to the property, not only because we at the studio are big fans of the film and the Chiodo brothers, but because we share the film’s ‘punk’ essence of not doing obvious things and not taking ourselves too seriously. I laughed.
PS5: Will the clown designs be limited to those seen in the movie or will you add more? Will players be allowed to create their own clowns?
Enrique Fuentes: We’re staying true and true to the movie clowns that have become fan favorites like Jumbo, Spikey and Rudy. We do plan to expand the universe, but we will give more details about this in the future.
PS5: The movie doesn’t explain much about the background of the clowns beyond a character theory. Will the game further develop the “lore” behind them?
Enrique Fuentes: One great thing about collaborating with the Chiodo brothers, creators of the film, is that everything we’re putting into the game has been discussed with them and we’ve kept them very involved in the process. That makes everything that appears in the game basically “canon.” This has allowed us to include elements that extend the lore of the game beyond the movie, which we are sure fans will really enjoy.
PS5: Right now the undisputed king of this subgenre is Dead by Daylight. What will they offer to differentiate themselves from this title?
Enrique Fuentes: the intention of Teravision Games with the game of Killer Klowns From Outer Space is to show that the genre is in very good shape and that there is still much to explore. We would like to redefine it with a unique multiplayer experience, authentic to the style and year of the movie. We also want to expand it through different seasons with new mechanics and content.
As for specific things that set it apart from other asymmetric multiplayer horror games is the distribution of players: three playing as killer clowns and seven as human survivors. In other games where there is only one assassin, that player’s responsibility for the gaming experience is very great. How competent the assassin is will determine the atmosphere and pace of the game for the others. By putting three assassins, we want to change this. If a player is not very competent, he can lean on his colleagues. The assassins are now a group with the same objective, making the game more entertaining and collaborative for the clowns.
Another difference is the objectives. In the case of humans, for example, there is no set of specific goals that they have to follow. Each one can decide how he wants to play: hide, escape, help other humans or join forces to infiltrate the ship and thwart the invasion. If a human dies, he can return to the game by taking possession of any of the NPCs. We want players to be able to play all the time and not have to settle for being spectators.
PS5: Will we see clown “tools” like the balloon dog, invisible motorcycle, cakes, or boxing gloves?
Enrique Fuentes– The film is almost a “game design document” in itself and features mechanics that scream “I want to be a game!”. The balloon dog and the invisible car are Tracker abilities in the game. The dog points to the direction of the nearest victim. Regarding the car, our team created a chassis inspired by the eighties, with an internal mechanism and an engine with all its parts. But since the car is invisible, they won’t be able to see it. If the balloon dog is next to you, he gets on the car and sticks his head out the invisible window.
And well, this is just an example. Everything else you will be able to see later. There are many surprises prepared for later.
PS5: What was the process like for Teravision Games to start making a video game? Killer Klowns From Outer Space? Did you look for the Chiodo?
Enrique Fuentes: The property today does not belong to the Chiodo brothers, but to MGM. When we first started working on the idea of making a game based on the film, we pitched it to publisher Good Shepherd and they licensed the property to MGM. We then contacted the Chiodo brothers, who started out as consultants and are now executive producers.
PS5: Colombia is not a country well known for the development of video games, but things have started to change thanks to the popularity of Crystals. Do you see growth potential for the industry in this country?
Enrique Fuentes: I think that 10 years ago we could talk about potential, but today we can already talk about realities and results. The video game industry in Colombia began more than 15 years ago and in the last 5 years a lot of experience has been accumulated in different areas such as engineering, conceptual art, animation and visual effects.
I am sure that in the next few years it will be more evident that the level is already there. We will start to see more “overnight hits that took 15 years”. Crystals It was one of those cases that took years, Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is another and just weeks ago nobody knew that it was being developed in Colombia, we are very good at keeping secrets!
PS5: the Chiodos have tried to make a sequel to Killer Klowns for years and we know that there have been several scripts rotating through Hollywood. Did you take ideas from these unproduced scripts for the game?
Enrique Fuentes: The Chiodo brothers shared decades of scripts, notes, ideas, projects, and artwork with us. Not only do we take all that universe of content into account, but also part of what is created by the ‘fandom’. For example, the names of the clowns—such as Shorty, Chubby, and Jumbo—were created by fans and used in the game.
There is a lot of passion for Killer Klowns and that’s why everything flows very well between Teravision Games, MGM, the Chiodo brothers and Good Shepherd. We’ve had very interesting and productive creative sessions with the Chiodo brothers and their ideas have certainly permeated the game.
PS5: what is the history of Teravision? What other games have they worked on?
Enrique Fuentes: We started with Teravision Games in Venezuela in 2006. In 2010 we opened operations in Colombia, and since then we have been centralized here.
By 2016 we had developed more than 80 video games for companies like Disney, Namco, Atari and Nickelodeon, mainly mobile and web. We were honestly a bit bored working on these kinds of projects, so we kind of had an identity crisis. We decided to take a major turn and focus on bigger PC and console games. We started by helping Gun Media, creators of Friday 13: The Gamewith his next game Texas Chainsaw Massacre y a InXile con Bard’s Tale 4 and another unannounced AAA game. But always with an eye on making our own game.
In 2020, in the midst of a pandemic, our greatest opportunity came disguised as a crisis. Gun Interactive put the game we were working on on hiatus and we ran out of projects with a team of over 30 people.
One of our values is “Study > Product”: our studio and people will always be above any product. We decided to keep the team intact and, although it was not easy at all, we saw it as an opportunity to bet big on this idea that we had been exploring for years. It was time to bet on the killer clowns by taking a big risk, but you don’t get very far in this industry if you don’t take big risks and believe in what you’re doing. Fortunately, betting on talent from Colombia and Teravision Games worked. Today we’re living the dream, creating a work based on a cult property, between popcorn, pink cotton candy and killer clowns from outer space.
The game of Killer Klowns From Outer Spacefrom the Colombian studio Teravision Games, will arrive on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Series X|S in 2023. You can register to participate in the beta from the game’s official website.
