Blade Kitten Coming to PSN this Spring

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Hi I’m Steve Stamatiadis; you may know me as Creative Director and the guy behind some of our biggest titles like TY the Tasmanian Tiger series and the PS2 and PSP versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. I’m also the creator and director of Krome Studios’ new game, Blade Kitten, a brand new hi-def, high-action PS3 game coming to the PlayStation Network in the Spring.

Blade Kitten Screen 1

I’m sure all of you often get asked “WTF is a Blade Kitten?” I know I do all the time.

No?

Then I guess I should tell you the tale of a catgirl, her sword and a blobby alien critter thing.

A sordid past.

Sometime in the latter part of the 20th Century I was working on a bunch of ideas for comics and games. I’d start reusing elements that I thought were really cool, like alien species, characters, mecha, weapons, until eventually realizing I was creating a universe that they all shared. Then around 2001 – not long after we had started work on TY the Tasmanian Tiger — I found I had three different ideas that each had elements I liked but none had ALL the elements I wanted. One was too cartoony (a super powered anime schoolgirl), the other was too serious (Space Gladiators with guns) and the third was an aborted game project (a 60s stealth thief). What to do? Take all the best bits out and mix them all together into a series that I could have fun working on. Problem solved.

So project “Kit-10” was born. It was a story about a female bounty hunter that had 10 different robot sidekicks to help her. One of the robots was a blade, the rest were just a bunch of dumb gimmicks that quickly fell by the wayside. But the cute girl with the big sword stuck and the title “Blade Kitten” came soon after. I was after something that was descriptive and rolled off the tongue like “Gun Ballet” but minus the gun… and the dancing. For me it harkens back to the era of comics, movies and games from when I was a kid; “Star Wars”, “Spider Man”, “Speed Racer”, “Space Invaders” – you have a fair idea what you’re in for. The “sounds-dumb-the-first-time-you-hear-them” kind of names that get stuck in your head. It was almost called “Blade Kitty” instead but that just sounded way too cutesy.

Why is she a Kitty?

Kit Ballard – I really wanted to make sure the stories screamed fantasy science fiction the first time you see them. The main character had to be some sort of alien, but not the bumpy forehead kind or the too weird to relate to kind. That’s why I decided on a cat girl (or Felion, as they’re known in the comic’s universe) because they’re still relatively normal looking, but you get odd ears on their head, right where everyone notices and you also get a cool tail bonus! Her hair is bright pink so that it stands out and echoes her vivacious attitude. We don’t get enough of that in games – things are usually “too beige” and grim. Most importantly, she’s a woman because its way, way cooler to see a girl beating up giant robots than it is to see a bald space marine beating up on robots. And so Kit Ballard, the Blade Kitten was born.



As to her “pet” Skiffy – I wanted to give Kit some kind of cute mascot sidekick so that there’s always someone for her to interact with. Space is a big place and if you’ve ever done any travelling, you know it’s always more fun to have someone with you to talk about your shared experiences. Again to emphasize the science fiction aspect, the mascot had to be some kind of alien, also something that looked cute and cuddly when you glance at it, but when you get up close, it’s actually kind of icky. So Skiffy is a bunch of nice comforting shapes with odd proportions, like a giant head with far-apart eyes.

The Blade – As they say on the internets: “Big sword is big.” It also free floats and has enough AI to be about as smart and aggressive as a pit bull. It’s there to be the tough edge to Kit’s character, the bite to her bark – wait, that’s a dog metaphor. Oops! Why does it float? Why not? We’ve had over 30 years of “laser swords,” so we felt it was time to bring on the free floating smart blades!

The game that was a comic that was going to be a game.

I always knew that I wanted to make a game out of the Blade Kitten stories when I started, but as we’d just found out, it’s really hard to launch a new game series. My cunning plan was to have something to back it up. I figured that comics would be a good way to build up the universe and show off the key features to potential game publishers later on. A webcomic turned out to be the path of least resistance to getting the story in front of people. And so I started the weekly job of writing and drawing a webcomic to sell a game. You can view it here.

Blade Kitten Screen 2

The comic was well received and ended up giving me a hundred-plus pages of comics, which meant hundreds of designs for world building when it came time to start the game. Ironically, I ended up telling a brand new part of the story for the game – one that adds to the mythos and fills in extra details in the comic storyline. That way you get some big surprises.

Over the years, we’ve tried to start a Blade Kitten game project at Krome a few times, but as fate would have it, we were victims of our own success when bigger projects kept popping up. First in 2002, when TY the Tasmanian Tiger did well enough to spawn a sequel, then another. The second time we stopped because we had the opportunity to work on a cool Star Wars project. With that successfully completed, we decided to return to original game creation and to develop and publish Blade Kitten ourselves. Something big and bright like the comic and also really fun and accessible – so we took the path of a classic action side-scroller with the addition of all the cool HD bells and whistles we could add. It’s been a really amazing ride working with a cool team to bring at all together and finally see years of imagination and effort finally become a real game.

It has also been an amazing amount of hard work on the part of the whole team. But that’s a whole different story, one I’ll share with you guys in my next post. In the meantime, please enjoy these screens we’ve captured just for the awesome community here on the PlayStation.Blog, and take a look at our trailer. Blade Kitten will be hitting PSN in the spring, which is just right around the corner!

Blade Kitten Screen 3

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104 Comments

4 Author Replies

  • Now this is the kind of PSN PS3 titles I have always wanted titles that can stand up to most of the PS3 exclusive graphicly, and on top of that are cool too look at and fun to play.

    Now if only we can get a hardcore puzzle shooter like Shadow Complex I would be vary happy! This game looks sweet so far.

    Also: You should release this in Japan! They love Cat girls, big Swards, and Space Marines!

    I hope you guys make it big! PSN needs less nitch titles and more big sellers on PSN!

  • Is it strategy or RPG type of game? Looking forward to it

  • You know, the first time i’ve seen the trailer i thought that big sword would be used by the PS3 motion controller :)

  • Jak, Daxter and every manga fanboy’s notebook called wanting their art assets back. :)
    Just kidding…looks like a cool niche title for a niche that (as far as I know) isn’t explored much on PSN.
    In the future, everyone wears goggles on their head. ;)

  • looks pretty cool, definitely interested in hearing more about the features and final pricing.

  • Those red guys in the pic look like spartans from Halo.

  • @38
    If this game happens to have enough content to drive a 15 dollar tag I’ll buy it. So if it keeps me busy for more than just a week or two I’m all over it. This doesn’t look like your common cheesy download affair where the gameplay is weak and the story practically nonexistent.

    Personally believe some games are worth more than others so pricing on a level is not cool. Means larger profit margins for shotty games. This game looks like it has some assets behind it justifying a 15 dollar tag.

  • I laughed when I repeated the name out loud, its sounds so ridiculous, all I can think of is s small kitten with huge razor sharp fur – like a pocupine!

  • Sega, you need to do a next-gen Strider now….

  • I guess I’ll reserve judgement… but I’m getting X-Blades vibes… and that AIN’T kewl.

  • Game looks bloody awesome :) Will definitely be buying this one.

  • @57 hush404
    That was my first thought aswell.

    I’ll wait till theres more info and a demo, as long as its priced within reason I will pick it up.

  • LBP and Heavenly Sword made a baby! Then sony threw some Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank spice on it. Hehe

  • This game looks PUUUUURFECT!!! See what I did there?

  • This looks really good, i’ll buy it

  • I was kinda skeptic. I thought this was just another low budget 3d action game. Then I saw the trailer (change a lot). Good idea on makin this 2D or 2.5D. It looks smooth, clean and intense. Now if yah add in rpg elements (ie leveling up, new gear thats visible, customizable weapons) then it will make this game really deep. Also, since it was a comic, you have a whole deep story line to dive into.

  • Reminds me of those japanese anime bunny ear big eyed pink haired cartoons and comics >.>

  • This looks like a very intriguing game! I may just purchase it on the day of it’s arrival to PSN!

  • With a name like Blade Kitten I was expecting straight up crap on the level of X-Blades, the trailer sure made me think otherwise.

    I love platformers (especially 2D) and action games. Not to mention I’m more of a niche guy than mainstream.

    Consider my eyes on this game.

  • Funny how the guy justifies and overintellectualizes all the clicheés (eastern and western) in the game.

  • It looks like a blend of Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Final Fantasy and Sonic The Hedgehog.

    Το περιμένω πως και πως!

  • AWESOME!!! Love the concept and character. I’d like to see it on both PS3 AND Xbox 360 though, please! I have both! Might buy it on both if its good!!!

  • I saw this on GTTV, doesn’t interest me -_-

  • I loved the first Ty: The Tasmanian Tiger game! And we need more good artsy 2D games, that are actually fun side scrollers, and Blade Kitten is shaping up to be just that! Probably a day 1 buy for me..

  • Like the art direction and side-scrolling. Blade v. Space Men with hints of Robo action, Sahweeet.

  • Win if have more then 12 trohpies :). Better have lots levels.

  • I hope it’s $10, I would hesitate if it were $15, and it’s really a “I’m not buying this” at $20.

  • Looks nice, how much?!!

  • Will be buying.

  • @51: That’s what I wanted to ask Krome Studio. IS this game getting a Japanese release? The character is drawn in anime, right. They use Cat-girl, right. This is going to appeal the Japanese. Oh, I got a suggestion.
    -Get a Japanese anime studio to do the anime opening.
    -if you’re planning a Japanese voice acting for this one, put it in the US version. I like hearing a Western game with Japanese voice.
    -Also, why not give Blade Kitten a anime adaptaion/anthology. If Dante’s Inferno and Halo Legends can get it, why not Blade Kitten?

    • A Japanese release would be cool but there aren\’t plans for it yet. I have to admit I\’d love to see a cool 2D animated intro but we\’ll just have to wait and see how well the game does.

  • You wrote “Hi I’m Steve Stamatiadis” don’t you mean Space Captain Steve.And is there any chance for a psp version?

  • looks like a PS2 game remix in high definition, I think there is place for improvements in graphics such for the explosions and high effects like monsters doing RAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW and the **** coming out of his mouth, for example, but anyway, it looks really good, regardless of these few things.

  • also for the lightning effects (a bit)

  • Haha, I remember seeing info about this game years ago on the Krome site. I didn’t think it’d actually happen!

  • After looking at some piece of webcomic. Does anybody think Blade Kitten should have anime adaptation? hey, if Batman, Halo, Dante’s Inferno, Wolverine, and Iron Man can get anime, why not Blade Kitten. All the package is there for both American and Japanese audience. What’s there not to like at Blade Kitten anime?

  • Awesome. For $10, it’s a day 1 purchase for me.

    To the people reading this, he didn’t say a price. just figured i’d assume it’s a $10 game. :/

  • its Tokyo mew mew

  • @86

    I agree. An anime sounds like a good move to make, especially if the game is a success.

  • Game looks good. Just have to ask….why is there a sword floating behind her the ???????

  • What sony should be working on is adding the feature of change your online Id i mean all these new and cool games feels like it so advance jet so soneage cause you just can’t change yuor ID their excuse to not get their hand on it it’s to complocated,crap the new dinatiwarriors had the option of changing your displaid Id and so it’s not hard or impossible sony just dosen’t feel like it and we are payng for all the games and crap on ps3 store and the just cant reply by adding these feature cause the just don’t feel like it sound like JAIL TO ME>>>>>>>>

  • ADD CHANGE YOUR ID OPTION NOW!!!!!!!!!

  • Oh my god, that trailer was amazing, you guys! As I read the article I was already considering buying for the story, the backstory, and the pink-haired protagonist…but the action and gameplay look great! I’ve gotta get this! I too am curious on what kind of price point we can expect. $9.99? $14.99?

    P.S.- I SOOOOO want a plushie of that cute little bundle of sugar and rainbows that was licking Kit in the end!!! :-D

    P.P.S.- Yeah, I’m a guy, but this game just totally softened me up, haha. Too adorable, and bad-ass, at the same time!

  • @92 I don’t think changing a display name in a game and an account name on a broadband server are quite the same. It’s like the difference between me changing my phone number and my social security number. one is just attached to WAy more info than the other…in which case “because we don’t feel like it” sounds like a pretty fair reason to me. Like a tattoo, you get to choose what you want your account name to be so just make sure you are in love with your name before you lock it in. Because once you do, you’re likely married to it.

  • Looks amazing! I am so buying this :)

  • the art direction and style is amazing. ill totally be keeping this on my radar and reading the comics up to date prior to the drop of the game. looks great so far. looking forward to it.

  • Looks very camp. I like that. :3
    Still, it’s going to be a little weird playing a game who’s main character has the same first name as, uhm… I do.

    Also, someone should cosplay Kit Billiard. Just throwing that out there. X3

  • Looks pretty fun. Maybe you could expand into a comic book for the PSN as well.

  • I’m not one for platform games … but this is a “must have” =)

  • looks interesting, whats the file size and will there be a platinum? (seems like there should be)

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