Gubbins, the psychedelic word game from Melbourne’s Studio Folly, is officially launching worldwide on 14 November 2023, after a brief period in early access. While iOS players in Australia and New Zealand have had access to the game for several months, everyone will now be invited to experience its quirky and colourful charms.
In its announcement, Studio Folly also revealed a range of new initiatives for Gubbins. Notably, the game is now being supported by author, podcaster, and YouTuber Hank Green, who discovered the game on TikTok and reportedly “loved it so much that he hunted the devs down to throw money at them”.
With Green’s support, Studio Folly has been able to set up a charity initiative – with 10% of all Gubbins proceeds going towards a non-profit charity working to reduce maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone. This initiative is also supported by funding from Witch Beam (the studio behind Unpacking), as well as funds from VicScreen, and Screen Australia.
Read: What video game funding really means for local Australian developers
In Gubbins, you’re essentially laying tiles to form words in Scrabble-like fashion, with these words then deployable to create special postcards with endearing (or occasionally rude) messages. Along the way, your word journey is aided (or disrupted) by special little Gubbins – beings with magical word-based abilities.
When the game first launched, it was microtransaction-free, but it sounds like the worldwide launch will shake this up slightly. At this stage, the nature of the game’s monetisation has not been detailed, but we’ll likely learn more in the coming weeks.
Keep an eye on the Studio Folly website and Twitter page for updates as the game heads towards launch on iOS and Android mobile devices on 14 November 2023.
