Speed Brawl‘s video game animation was produced in Toon Boom Harmony!
Double Stallion Games is an independent video game developer and studio based in Montreal, Canada. Founded in 2013 with the support of incubator Execution Labs, it disrupts industry conventions by harmonizing stunning, stylized hand-drawn 2D animated aesthetics with action-packed, innovative player experiences. Its team currently includes eight full-time employees, including three artists — a rare distinction among game developers.
“I come from a traditional animation background and, as a co-founder, this was perhaps my main contribution to the studio’s identity. I have always loved 2D animation because it allows the viewer to really ‘feel’ the drawings and craftsmanship,” says Eric Angelillo, art director and co-founder of Double Stallion Games.
He continues, “When we launched, 2D games that weren’t pixel-art were nearly unheard of. That has since changed, but I think there is still a lot of room for innovation and development in the 2D hand-drawn game space.”
The studio’s acclaimed first title, Big Action Mega Fight!, was released in 2013 on IOS and Android, subsequently on PC and Mac. Double Stallion Games would go on to partner with Cartoon Network and OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes creator Ian Jones-Quartey to develop a game to launch a new flagship series property, OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo!, that was released in February 2016. It was immediately featured as a “Best Of” title on the Android and iTunes app stores.
Always aiming to improve on the previous release, the latest scrolling beat-em-up video game from Double Stallion Games, Speed Brawl, is its first title animated entirely in Toon Boom Harmony. Launched in September 2018, it is set in an alternate universe Victorian Era where the British Empire reached and conquered the Moon and enslaved its drone-like denizens, the Selenites. With no work left to do, humanity becomes bored, restless and delinquent.
In order to placate the masses, a blood sport —the eponymous ‘Speed Brawl’— was conceived, pitting the bravest, strongest humans in fights to the death against the Selenites. Gameplay is fast and furiously fun, brawling enemies while also trying to beat the clock. The resulting combat-racer is a mixture of Sonic the Hedgehog meets Streets of Rage.
Its character designs are decidedly exaggerated and referential of anime, classic arcade titles like Street Fighter and its 19th Century setting. The disruptive, dynamic result is timelessly cool and sets Speed Brawl apart from the largely 3D medieval and sci-fi-centred titles dominating the market, with its Double Stallion’s trademark 2D animation brought to life by innovating a unique Toon Boom Harmony/Unity pipeline.
