When you think of video game companies, even the indie studios, you think of twenty-somethings sitting around computers coding furiously. Battle Princess Madelyn takes that assumption and flips it on its head. The game’s creator, Christopher Obritsch of indie studio Causal Bit Games, has a seven-year-old for a boss. His daughter, Madelyn Obritsch became interested in the classic Ghouls ‘N Ghosts while her father played. She wanted to be in the game so much that her father, along with the help of his studio, decided to put her in her own game.
After a successful Kickstarter campaign back in 2017, the game is finally ready for release on December 6. Christopher took almost all of the creative design elements for the game from his daughter, who would come up with ideas for the game, draw them on paper and explain them to her father. “She’ll draw stuff for the game wherever she is, and she came home from her friends house that day and was like: ‘Daddy, I made monster for the game,'” Obritsch said in an interview with PC Gamer. He attributes the Kickstarter success to the father/daughter bonding that arose from the development and commented, “Working with Maddi on something like this is incredible. Her input is just amazing, how excited she gets when we show her something new that we’ve done, that’s always going to be the highlight of this because it’s about her, it’s for her.”
Battle Princess Madelyn is a pixel-art platformer, akin to the game that it draws heavy influence from, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. The game features similar boss battles and a comparable feel, but with a princess as the main character, inspired by none-other-than Maddi herself. It just goes to show, it’s not always a damsel in distress, it’s a badass princess saving the day with her trusty ghost dog. Battle Princess Madelyn will be available on Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Wii U, and PS Vita on December 6. Check out the gameplay trailer below.