Coffee Stain Partners with She Was Such a Good Horse and Ernst & Borg Studio to Launch Midnight Ghost Hunt
Coffee Stain Publishing and Vaulted Sky Games have joined forces with two swedish studios made up of veterans from Paradox Interactive, Ubisoft Massive, IO Interactive, and more to bring their multiplayer prop hunt spookfest to market
SKÖVDE, Sweden - February 8th, 2021 - Coffee Stain Publishing, the team behind Satisfactory, Deep Rock Galactic, and Valheim, and Vaulted Sky Games are pleased to reveal they’re partnering with two studios to launch Midnight Ghost Hunt. Ernst & Borg Studio joins the project as environment artists, with a wealth of experience as real-life architects to bring the world of Midnight Ghost Hunt to life. She Was Such a Good Horse, a new studio made up of veteran developers from Avalanche Studios, Paradox Interactive, Ubisoft Massive, King, and more, have come on board to assist across every aspect of the development process.
Coffee Stain Publishing revealed its partnership with Midnight Ghost Hunt developer, California-based studio Vaulted Sky Games, at the PC Gaming Show at E3 in June 2019. The project has been in development for three years, and offers players a new take on the prop hunt genre that sees the props fight back. The spooky 4v4 multiplayer title first went viral in 2018 when Vaulted Sky shared a work-in-progress preview clip on reddit, and new partners She Was Such a Good Horse and Ernst & Borg Studio have been brought on board to help launch the much-anticipated game soon.
She Was Such a Good Horse, a new studio made up of veteran developers from the likes of Avalanche Studios, Paradox Interactive, Ubisoft Massive and King, have come on board to offer holistic support across all aspects of development, including the production of art assets, animations, code, and design decisions.
Based in Malmö, Sweden, Ernst & Borg Studio brings eleven years of invaluable experience of traditional architecture as Ernst & Borg Arkitektur to the environmental design of Midnight Ghost Hunt. The game’s haunted mansion will benefit from the team’s niche expertise in creating environments that are believable and authentic, having worked on AAA titles including Tom Clancy's The Division 2.
Sam Malone, Game Director at Vaulted Sky Games said: “Both teams have incredibly impressive backgrounds, coming from some of the biggest studios and games in the world. Originally, the development team was just me, but Midnight Ghost Hunt has evolved into a very ambitious project, and with even more talented Swedish folks by my side, I’m confident we can deliver the truly spectacular game I’ve always envisioned.”
Sebastian Badylak, Executive Producer, Coffee Stain Publishing, continued: “Midnight Ghost Hunt is a special game, and whilst Sam has done an incredible job thus far, it became clear we needed to bring in the big guns to help meet his, and our, expectations for the project. With Ernst & Borg’s unique set of skills, and She Was Such A Good Horse’s experience, we feel we’ve built the best possible team to make this game.”
Johan Ernstsson, CEO & Studio Director at Ernst & Borg Studio said “For a game like Midnight Ghost Hunt, where atmosphere and strategically built tension are key to the experience, strong environmental storytelling is essential. We believe architecture and game development are perfect bedfellows and we’re pleased to bring our real-world architecture experience to propel Midnight Ghost Hunt players into a living and breathing world that will spook and delight them in equal measure.”
Mårten Stockhaus, Co-Founder, She Was Such A Good Horse, continued: “We’re very excited to be on board to help develop Midnight Ghost Hunt. The hype for the game speaks for itself, and we have so many ideas and plans we’re implementing to help take the experience to the next level.”
Midnight Ghost Hunt will have an alpha test this Valentine's Day weekend from February 12-14th, and players can register now for a chance to take part at www.midnightghosthunt.com.
Watch the Midnight Ghost Hunt E3 reveal trailer here.
For updates on the development of Midnight Ghost Hunt, follow the game on Twitter, Facebook, and join the Discord.
About Coffee Stain:
Coffee Stain is a game development studio, publisher and investor with offices in Skövde, Stockholm, and Gothenburg. Founded in 2010, Coffee Stain Studios is responsible for ridiculous global sensation Goat Simulator, the Sanctum Games, and the otherworldly factory builder Satisfactory, currently in Early Access.
Coffee Stain Publishing was founded in 2017 to find talented developers and give them the tools and time to make their dream games. Since launch, the publishing arm has handpicked a select number of projects to partner with including Deep Rock Galactic, critically acclaimed retro arcade platformer Huntdown, and new indie triumph Valheim, currently in Early Access on Steam.
In 2018 Coffee Stain launched Leveling the Playing Field (LTPF) to support gender equality in the games industry, which offers funding to smaller and start-up development teams where at least half of employees are women. In 2020, LTPF expanded by broadening its criteria to include underrepresented races and ethnicities. Read more at https://www.ltpfgroup.com/.
To find out more about partnerships and opportunities with Coffee Stain, visit:
Website: www.coffeestain.se/games/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Coffee_Stain
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeStainStudios/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coffee_stain_studios/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CoffeeStainStudios
About Vaulted Sky Games:
Vaulted Sky Games is a new indie game studio with a love for multiplayer!
Founded by former visual effects artist Samuel Malone in 2018, Vaulted Sky strives to create fun experiences you can share with others. We think the very best gaming experiences can be derived from engaging with others all around the world, connecting and sharing in our favorite form of escapism.
Vaulted Sky intends to prove that compelling games can be created by a small team that can quickly adapt and incorporate new ideas as they arrive.
Vaulted Sky Social Links:
Website: www.vaultedskygames.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/VaultedSkyGames
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VaultedSkyGames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/VaultedSkyGames
About She Was Such A Good Horse
She Was Such A Good Horse was summoned in 2021 and is formed of 5 murderously creative veterans from all over the Malmö game scene.
The ambition and drive of She Was Such A Good Horse is to create the very best player experiences possible in whatever genre or project they enter.
A bunch of like-minded developers that stalk their design docs for innovative ideas and strike with brutal force on the keyboard to create killer gameplay experiences!
She Was Such A Good Horse Social Links:
Website: www.SheWasSuchAGoodHorse.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheWasSuchaGoodHorse/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SuchAGoodHorse
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuchAGoodHorse
About Ernst & Borg Studio
We combine our skills in game development with eleven years’ experience working with real-life architecture. The result is a niched expertise in creating environments that are believable, authentic, atmospheric and engaging.
With our strong background in design, working on real buildings & environments we use our toolset to merge the real world with the virtual. This creates a unique experience, improved visuals and a more believable world.
Ernst & Borg Studio is on a mission to harmonise design and function with storytelling and gameplay.
Ernst & Borg Studio Social links:
Website: ernstborg-studio.com