Introducing: Studio Sp1cy
My new project fusing game creation with content creation.
Hi, Sam here! I’ve been hard at work for a while now on a new project outside of (although vaguely adjacent to) the PLAAY Games umbrella. In case you didn’t catch it, it’s called Studio Sp1cy! I’ll do my best to concisely explain what’s going on here, but if you’d rather just check it out for yourself, sp1cy.com is the hub where you can find all the info. With that out of the way, I think the best way for me to do this is Q&A style, so let’s get right into it!
So what is Studio Sp1cy?
First and foremost, it’s a game brand. It’s a label for all of my game design work that doesn’t quite fit on PLAAY Games. Beyond that, it’s also a blog of sorts, a way for me to document my design process and share it with those who are interested. To that end, I’ve already begun streaming on my Twitch channel, and a number of those streams are also archived on YouTube as well. Going forward, my goal is to get on a regular streaming schedule and share the content I create there across numerous social media platforms: YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, the works. Finally, in an abstract way, you could even say that Studio Sp1cy is just me! I’ll be the one designing the games, I’ll be the one hosting the streams, and I’ll be the one steering the ship where I want it to go. That’s not to say that Keith won’t be involved—he definitely will. I think it’ll end up mirroring our roles here at PLAAY, where instead of me helping him run his game company, he’ll be helping me run mine. More to come on what that will look like in the future!
Will this eat into your PLAAY work?
Nope! We have a production schedule set for the rest of 2024, and we haven’t made any changes to it to accommodate this new project. So fret not! I’ll still be around, doing all the same work that I’ve been doing these past 5 years (has it really been that long??). In fact, you may even get a behind-the-scenes look at some of my PLAAY work during Studio Sp1cy streams!
Why “Sp1cy”?
It’s a funny story that starts about four years ago with me needing to get my license plate renewed. The DMV mailed my renewal form to an old address, so I had to go into the office to have them help me with it manually. While I was there the clerk asked if I wanted to get a vanity plate, and on a whim I asked if SPICY was available. I don’t remember why; it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. The clerk said no, but SP1CY was available, and for $60 I decided it would be worth a laugh or two.
Fast-forward a year or so. I had this idea to start a t-shirt business as a side-hustle using the same print-on-demand service we have in place for the PLAAY merch. After brainstorming URLs a bit I discovered that sp1cy.com was somehow available, and felt like it was too good to pass up. The t-shirt business idea fizzled out, but I had already claimed the URL, and now I was just sitting on it. So, when I started to set things in motion for my own game brand, I already had sp1cy.com on the backburner and just went with it. Like I said, it’s just too good to pass up! Anyways, all that to say, the reason it’s called Studio Sp1cy is really just because the URL was available!
So what’s next?
I’m glad you asked! In short, this is what’s next:
Meet Myth Mash! It’s the first Studio Sp1cy game, and one I’ve been working on for a long time—over 3 years now! It’s a 2-player card game with elements of trick-taking, deck-building, and TCG-style card battling, a mash-up of all my favorite genres! You can find more info on the website, but for now I’ll leave you with some card and gameplay images.
I’m in the middle of working out the production details right now, and the goal is to have these back from the factory later this year. That’s right, we’re going big and having it mass-produced! So if it seems like something you’d be interested in, you can get in the Studio Sp1cy loop by following me on the social links plastered all over my site.
Speaking of socials, that’s also a big part of what’s next. As I mentioned earlier, my goal is to get on a regular streaming schedule with my Twitch channel and start pushing content to, well, everywhere else. So again, be sure to follow on your platform of choice if any of that sounds interesting!
That’s about it for me today! I know this isn’t the kind of stuff you’d normally expect from PLAAY Games, and I won’t be posting about it here too often, but come on… it’s pretty cool, right?! Needless to say it’s not for everyone, but for those of you who are interested, go get plugged in at sp1cy.com, and I’ll see you around the studio!
Sam Avallone