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ex-Riot devs’ new studio Friendly Pixel releases social deduction mission game Trust No Bunny into alpha
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Inspired by titles like Avalon, Werewolf, and Among Us, Trust No Bunny combines classic tabletop design and online game elements, with unique twists on both
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June 15 to June 19 is an Open House event to introduce the game to new players, featuring a variety of streamers and cosmetic drops
LOS ANGELES, CA June 15, 2022 – Friendly Pixel, a team of former Riot Games devs & board game designers, is releasing their first game Trust No Bunny into open alpha this week. The newly formed studio consists of seven developers with experience across massive multiplayer AAA titles (League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics), handcrafted games for educational environments (Tanuki Games), and classic board game design (Mechs vs Minions), all of which has played a factor in the development – and ambitions – of Trust No Bunny.
“Live service online board games is a pretty wild proposition,” says Christian Yoder, who leads the studio’s operations. “But that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.”
The first of these is Trust No Bunny, a 5 to 8 player social deduction mission game for fans of Avalon, Town of Salem, Among Us, or Werewolf. It’s a game for thinkers, schemers, and downright liars, where guessing the traitor is only half the battle.
[Announcement trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyH_upkrSz0]
“I love games like Shadows Over Camelot and Avalon, where you’re just as focused on playing the player, so to speak, as you are on playing the game” says Chris Cantrell, one of the two game designers at Friendly Pixel. His previous projects include leading the design & development of Mechs vs Minions, one of BoardGameGeek’s top 60 ranked games since its release.
“Then after two years playing social deduction games almost entirely online, I was convinced there was still a ton of design space for the genre – so we started making a game of our own.”
In Trust No Bunny, there are roles with different powers, quirks that encourage you to change up your playstyle game-to-game, and a whole economy of “points” to spend in defending – or damaging – the town. And the social deduction goes both ways: while townies are trying to suss out the werebunny traitors, the werebunnies are on the hunt, trying to sniff out the townie’s quirks in order to sabotage them.
“It creates a really interesting symmetry, regardless of which team you’re on,” says Cantrell. “Everyone has something to hide, and something they’re trying to figure out.”
[Trust No Bunny rules: https://friendlypixel.com/tnb_rules.html]
While the core gameplay is reminiscent of tabletop classics like Avalon and Werewolf, Trust No Bunny is definitively a digital experience. Built-in video and voice in addition to standard text chat allow for multiple ways to communicate – and a brand new method for more clandestine coordination.
“It lets us put players into different audio channels, as if they really did split up for the night,” explains Cantrell. “You might say one thing to the whole town, but something totally different once you’re alone with a smaller group you trust.”
“It’s still a board game at heart, but with some cool improvements that you can really only get as a video game,” says Yoder. “But because it also has those roots in tabletop social deduction, it leans more into the strategy than the random stabbing.”
Players can see the differences first-hand during this week’s Open House event, which runs from June 15 to June 19. Friendly Pixel and a host of creators will be streaming the game throughout the week, each dropping their own unique cosmetic that players can use to customize their in-game critter avatar, while those in the community Discord can participate in a costume design contest and share their wishlist of features for the next update to the game.
[Open House event schedule: https://friendlypixel.com/articles/openhouse.html]
“That’s what the live service approach allows us to do,” says Yoder. “We’re not releasing a game and then updating it every six to twelve months. We’re patching biweekly, adding more roles and powers, just constantly iterating and improving the game over time.”
“The Open House is just the start,” he adds. “We can’t wait to hear what the community wants to see next. We’re ready to deliver.”
Trust No Bunny is currently in alpha and available to play on browser at https://play.friendlypixel.com/
Early access on Steam and app stores is planned for early Q3.
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About Friendly Pixel
Friendly Pixel is a team of seven developers with experience across massive multiplayer AAA titles (League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics), handcrafted games for educational environments (Tanuki Games), and classic board game design (Mechs vs Minions). In addition to Trust No Bunny, the team is working on a variety of accessible, innovative, and strategic online board games inspired by the tabletop experience they know and love.
More info about the studio & its upcoming projects can be found here: https://friendlypixel.com/articles/thegameplan.html
A media kit can be found at https://friendlypixel.com/mediakit.html and requests for more information can be sent to contact@friendlypixel.com, including requests for quotes & interviews with the designers of Trust No Bunny!
Contact
Dylan Buck, Community Manager & Marketing Director