Heart Shaped Games
- Open roles
- 0
- Founded
- 2010
- Employees
- 1-10
- Offices
- 1
About Heart Shaped Games
Heart Shaped Games is an independent video game development and publishing studio founded in October 2010 by Scott Brodie and Kate Brodie. Based in Michigan, the studio develops original games built around strategy, interconnected systems and distinctive rules. Its catalog spans turn-based strategy, roguelikes, squad-management RPGs and digital card games across PC, console, mobile and web platforms.
The studio's design approach emphasizes original gameplay and a “fun first” philosophy. Its games explore how relatively simple decisions can interact with larger progression systems, from managing a character's limited lifespan to building squads and navigating card-based challenges. Heart Shaped Games handles original game design and development, independent digital publishing, and post-launch balancing and updates.
Games and design
Hero Generations, released in 2015, combines turn-based 4X strategy with roguelike progression. Each turn represents a year of life, making time a central resource in the player's decisions. The expanded remake, Hero Generations: ReGen, followed in 2016 and brought the concept to PC and mobile platforms.
The studio's card-game work includes Highgrounds, a free-to-play web-based collectible card game released in 2012, and Brave Hand, a single-player card game released in 2017. These projects sit alongside its larger strategy and role-playing productions.
We Are The Caretakers is an Afrofuturist science-fiction squad-management RPG centered on wildlife conservation. It entered Early Access in 2021 before its full PC and Xbox release in January 2023, extending the studio's systems-focused approach into a conservation-themed setting.
Continuing catalog support
Following the completion of We Are The Caretakers, Scott Brodie announced in February 2023 that he was stepping back from directing new productions to become Design Director at ProbablyMonsters. Heart Shaped Games continues to support and maintain its released games and player communities.
More about Heart Shaped Games
People and background
- The report identifies Kate Brodie as co-founder and Studio Manager, and Scott Brodie as founder and Creative Director / Lead Designer. Scott's February 2023 announcement provides the later context for his move away from directing new studio productions.
- Before founding the studio, Scott worked as an Xbox LIVE Arcade Producer at Microsoft Game Studios, managing development partnerships on Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Scrap Metal and Aegis Wing.
Production collaborations and conservation
- We Are The Caretakers was created in collaboration with artist Anthony Jones and narrative designer Xalavier Nelson Jr.
- The studio pledged 10% of the game's net proceeds to the Wildlife Conservation Network's Rhino Recovery Fund.
Recognition
- Brave Hand was named a finalist at IndieCade and the Google Play Indie Games Festival.
Notable credits
5 creditsOffices
Where Heart Shaped Games is based
- Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Ann Arbor office
HeadquartersAbout this office
Company headquarters and administrative base in the Ann Arbor/Chelsea area of Washtenaw County, coordinating a distributed team. The report identifies both city designations as the same operating hub.
Open roles
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