Seeing so many people across the years respond to our post, jumping back into the comments and the Guns Discord, with many little stories and moments shared, we felt really moved and nostalgic, so we wanted to gather some of these stories together for everyone.

If you have a fond memory, a funny story, or met a group of people that have been a part of your life while playing our games, we would love to hear them!

Drop them in the comments here or post them in the General chat in the Guns Discord. We'll collect them all and share them with everyone.


Releasing a game that we’ve worked on for over 2 years should be a cause for joy and celebration. For us, it turned out to be the biggest crisis we’ve ever faced. Leading up to release, positive and supportive articles, previews, and videos by journalists and casters gave the game some momentum. Our Kickstarter backers and alpha/beta players were also incredible at helping us test, fix issues, and get the word out. Later in beta (when people could pre-order) and when the game went live, it reached #2 in Indie and #7 overall on Steam. I took a screenshot and savored for a brief moment. Then disaster struck, literally. Survival was once again on the line.



We had known that Hurricane Sandy was building, but we had no idea how devastating it would end up being. On the eve of the game’s launch, we found that out for ourselves first hand. As the game went live, most of NYC, NJ, and Connecticut’s power and internet were being knocked out, and there was severe flooding and debris falling everywhere. New York was not (and still isn’t) equipped to handle a hurricane, and the city was battered to a halt. There were no subway lines running, no buses or cars on the street. The wind shook buildings, and windows panes were falling away and shattering on the pavements. Cranes on buildings under construction were torn and dangling precariously. Trees fell, houses flooded and uprooted near the shores.

The area around our building was flooded, and we would end up having no power and internet in our space for almost a month. A month later, after the storm had passed, I went out to the Rockaways to volunteer. For miles, there would be nothing open, no electricity, and almost no activities of daily life. At a gas station, people would line up over 10 blocks or what seemed like a mile to get gas under army surveillance. At the volunteer station, we went through huge piles of various items of necessity, and it wasn’t enough. All this hit on the night we released the game.



Around release, we had a lot of players in-game, and a lot of them had very rough experiences. Servers were teetering and going down as the storm slammed our hosting company’s facilities. Steam’s servers that we used for authentication and voice were very unstable as well. Disconnections, match slowdowns, server overloading and hangups abounded. We had slow to no access to Steam’s dev portal as well as our site, so had a desperate time supporting players or even updating our Steam page info. We also had player reported issues with disconnections, crashes, frame drops, etc., that were new to us. The game released, and it was at or near the top of Steam’s charts. Yet, we had no time to do anything else but to buckle down and get to work. I was stressed out and wanted to freak out, but players were waiting and everything that could have gone wrong was going wrong, so there was really no time for that.

For the first week, because most of us had no internet or power for long stretches, we had to divide up the support roles. A couple of us who had internet were on player support, updating players on Steam forum, our forum, and in game for pretty much all our waking hours. The programmers were debugging and trying to divert traffic to server regions that were unaffected by the hurricane. One problem we had was that the build machine we were using to deploy builds was in our studio room, and the building was closed off by the NYPD, and submerged in one story of water. We had quite a few fixes that we urgently needed to commit and deploy. We mulled over our options, trying to figure out if we could deploy without the machine. If we couldn't, who should go in to retrieve it, and where could we relocate and set the machine up. One of our programmers decided to go because he knew what to get and knew the deploy code the best. He biked in, but our building was closed off. He was standing by while we haggled with the building security trying to talk our way in. Finally, he made it in, grabbed what we needed, ditched his bike (which was actually still there a day later), and rode an absolutely cramped bus to my apartment where I had power and internet working. For the rest of the day and night, he set up the build machine while I updated our status and supported players. The programmers made fixes and deployed while the rest of us then jumped on support. And while the servers were being overloaded, we were manually starting matches for people and in game helping people pretty much non-stop.

We probably had one of the most harrowing, stressful, and sleepless launch weeks ever, but we stuck together and fought through it. With conditions being as rough as it was, we lost players for certain. Some people had a rough time in the game and quit the game forever. But to see how supportive a lot of the players were was also very uplifting. We got a lot of nice posts on Steam like this one below:

First off I would like to congratulate you on releasing a great game; the gameplay, art, and music compliment each other incredibly well. Second off, wishing everybody is all right in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and hopefully the team is back at full force soon.

And they definitely motivated us to work hard for the players and to keep the game alive. Over the next few weeks, we would roll in patch after patch. Desperate times called for desperate measures. At least the players knew we were trying everything we could. We identified many issues to fix and things to improve on over the coming weeks and months, but our initial bond with our players was forged through a hurricane. Because of the support of our players and our community, we accomplished the most important thing in the early days of the game - not dying.


Thanks so much everyone!

- Howard for Team Muse

Greetings, captains and crews of the skies,

It’s been a long while since we’ve spoken to you here, and it’s about time we caught up. We, Muse Games, have grown up as a team. We’ve worked on and released multiple titles, and we are independent. So, what are we here to talk about? First of all, you.

The Guns of Icarus community have been with us for over a decade now. That’s incredibly humbling, and heartwarming for the entire team. To see you all still out there, flying in the skies we first created in Flight of the Icarus back in 2010 is amazing. So, firstly, we wanted to say, thank you.

Thank you for investing in our world, and thank you for helping shape and share the story we’ve all made together. Not many studios are as lucky to have a community as strong as the Guns of Icarus community, and we do not take that for granted.

We wanted to let you know that we’ve been working on something. Something we think you’re going to like. A lot. We’re going back to our roots. While we can’t tell you too much more at the moment, let’s just say that the sky is no longer the limit.

You’re going to be hearing a lot more from us in the coming weeks and months, so be sure to stick around and join us on Discord.

See you in the skies, and beyond…

Howard for Team Muse

This year we're celebrating our 10th birthday! 10 years of airships, rams, explosions, and friends.



To all the privateers, captains, and crew that have ever braved the skies over the wastelands, we want to thank you from the bottom of our souls for supporting us over the last decade.

A decade! Before we set out, we had a dream of making something that people hadn’t quite experienced before, but we certainly didn’t imagine that 10 years later, people would still be playing and supporting the game. Thank you for making our dream come true.

When we started, we had just been digging out a predatory publisher relationship, and we released Guns on the day of a category 3 hurricane. We honestly weren’t sure if we were going to make it or even be able to support the game. Many times I have had those life flashing before my eyes moments - servers blown up, DDoS’ed, hurricane, studio space burnt down, etc. Each time, we found strength and comfort in everyone’s support. All the interactions on forums and at conventions, all the late nights we spent with you in game, chit-chatting about life in the lobbies of Icarus, they mattered, and they kept us going.

When matches did start, it was amazing to see how much creativity and teamwork were possible, way beyond our imaginations and machinations. The thousands of feedback we worked on with you turned into close to 6.5M matches played, 24M ships destroyed, and 8.8B shots fired in the skies. These stats still look surreal to us.

In the last few years, we’ve had to shift our focus to create new game experiences such as Hamsterdam, Embr, and now Wildmender, in order to survive as a team and studio. We’ve handed the reins of game management to our interns, moderators, CAs, and dedicated players. We wanted to take a moment to thank them for all their support - Richard LeMoon, Portable Grump, Lysanya, Kajros, Loosepolygon, Alpha Sierra, Infinity Omelette, Delorum, Josie. Nerdhector, -Genesis, D.Strought, Zetnus, MaddBoi, Abby, Mr Trickery, Nedsvart, Sandy Hawkins, Tindwunnel, Frostbound, Teaco, Psi Crow, Saldarim, Bookkeepper, Krybon, Captainjan, Sprinkler, Ortagon, Chickenrun, Ambiorix, Coldcurse, FrozenHotSauce, Guras, Huskyneer, Mr.Moonwalker, Zyem, and others. We would not have gotten this far without you. Thank you for everything!

We made this game for you, and we’re so thankful that 10 years after release, we get to write this note. To more years in the skies!



To celebrate this improbably and special milestone, we're giving away a big pack of goodies, including:

• An exclusive new title
  
• A fancy dye + outfit bundle
  
• A crew loadout slot
  
• A ship loadout slot

Additionally, we are asking for your help to Wishlist our new project called Wildmender. For your support, we would like to offer an exclusive new themed outfit based on our new game, Wildmender. You’ll also receive a code to unlock a pair of exclusive hats in Wildmender once they’re ready!



Wildmender is our new project in development. It is an open world survival experience set in an arid world. You get to explore the land, cultivate an oasis, and bring the world slowly back to life.

On top of that, we’ll also enter you into a giveaway for one of these wonderful faction banners! These are one of a kind, so please tell us which one you’d like if you win. 4 banners, 4 lucky winners!

• Anglean Republic
  
• Mercantile Guild
  
• Fjord Baronies
  
• Order of Chaladon

Here’s the Steam page to wishlist:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1599330/Wildmender/

If you email us a screenshot of your Wildmender wishlist to feedback@musegames.com, we’ll send you a code for all of the items! This giveaway will end November 14th, 2022 at 12pm UTC
Happy Anniversary and happy Halloween!

The 10th Birthday Tournament is a semi-competitive tournament with single ship sign-ups. The matches will include Crazy King, King of the Hill, and Deathmatch.

The matches will be streamed starting at 7pm UTC on Sunday, October 30th.
The matches will be streamed by Fredrik Knudsen on our Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/musegamesnyc

- Team Muse

Game servers will be down from August 16th @10pm EDT until August 17th @10pm EDT.

See you in the skies when the servers are back up!

Build 2.0.20 (695) is live, it fixes several sound and video assets accidentally broken by our new build environment, including:

• Music
  
• Voice commands
  
• Intro videos
  
• VFX for several skills that relied on video data (such as the Salvo Neutralizer)

Big thanks to everyone who reported these bugs, and thanks for your patience while we fixed them!

It’s time to celebrate our 8th Anniversary! Update 2.0.20 features new customizables such as, hats, goggles, profile pictures, titles, and decals.

In celebration of this exciting milestone we’re holding an 8th Birthday Tournament! In preparation we have added lots of prizes for all the participants.
Catch the action on Saturday, October 24th at 6pm UTC over on http://twitch.tv/MuseGamesNYC.

• 8th Birthday Tournament Hat
  
  Given to all party guests from the 8th Birthday Tournament.
  
  
• 8th Birthday Decal
  
  Given to all party guests from the 8th Birthday Tournament.
  
  
• Birthday Boy & Birthday Girl titles
  
  • Awarded to the winners of the 8th Birthday Tournament.
• Party Goer title
  
  • Awarded to all participants of the 8th Birthday Tournament.

• Sir and Lady Pumpkinhead “goggles.”
  
  • Will be available during spooky Halloween missions.
    
  • Coming to the store in the future.
    
  • Probably cursed.
  
  It is a pumpkin and you put it on your head. Put a snazzy hat on top and hit the town.
  
  
• Mechanical Frontier Hat
  
  • Available in the store
  
  Nobody is quite sure how it works, or what it even does -- only that it brings good luck to those who venture into the wastelands wearing it, and that it is the most fuel-efficient hat out there.
  
  
• Roman Centurion Helmet
  
  • Available in the store.
  
  A helmet worn by Roman Centurions -- Roman military officers who held command of 100 Roman Legionaries. Many, many years and a few apocalyptic events later, some airship captains and crew wear these as a tribute to those ancient warriors. They’re also pretty practical as head protection in airship battles, too.

• SCS 300 1st place
  
  Awarded to the first place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 2nd place
  
  Awarded to the second place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 3rd place
  
  Awarded to the third place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Participant
  
  Awarded to the participants of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Staff
  
  Awarded to the staff team behind SCS 300.
  
  
• The Fellowship of Steel
  
  Decal for The Steel Forge of Friendship
  
  
• The Overseer’s Eye
  
  Decal for The Steel Forge of Friendship

• 8 Ball
  
  An ancient device said to predict the future, bringing both good and bad fortune. Also good for 8th anniversaries.
  
  
• Birthday Gears
  
  Is it gears or a cake? No one knows. Submitted by Zetnus.
  
  
• Eight Shot
  
  8 shots for 8 years!

• Chaos D20
  
  From the Chaos Skirmish
  
  
• SCS 300 Gold
  
  Awarded to 1st place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Silver
  
  Awarded to 2nd place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Bronze
  
  Awarded to 3rd place winners of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Ruby
  
  Awarded to Participants of SCS 300.
  
  
• SCS 300 Emerald
  
  Awarded to staff of SCS 300

• The Undaunted Admiral
  
• Inspiring Starbolin

• Boss Cluster Hades
  
  • Reduced cluster shot count to 6 (from 8)
    
  • Reduced velocity to 300 (from 400)
• Seraph Tempest Missiles [Mk. S]
  
  • Corrected typo and added submissile count in the description.

With our 8th birthday just around the corner, now is a great time to upgrade to Guns of Icarus Alliance!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/608800/Guns_of_Icarus_Alliance/
Whether you're looking for a place to play solo, or just looking to try out PvE, Guns of Icarus Alliance has you covered!

Sale ends September 27th.

Cosmetics:
Crusader armor is now paintable instead of its balloon. Paint responsibly.


Dyes
Spring is in the air! And with it, some lovely Pastel colors that will be given out via events and quests.


Decals
Many new workshop decals. 12 new decals from Broken Hammer Games, 6 of which are full color.


Badges
New badges for Sunday Community Skirmish for their 300th event! Two badges for Chaos (distribution to be determined by Chaos staff)! One badge for Crewcible!



Figurehead
New Iron Skull figurehead! Terrify your enemies or keep your crew in line.


Profile Pictures
One new Profile Picture: Gem in the Rough. A lovely emerald Junker. Player submitted. Want to see more? Submit your own!


New Voicepack
Kestril’s over the top classic stereotype Pirate voice added! Be a scourge of the skies, matey!

New Map
Sunken Reach Rumpus is a new 4v4/Brawl map!. Tear up the pipes and landscape on this 2 and 4 team PvP adaptation of Sunken Reach.

And More!

• Most costumes can now be used by any class. They must still be earned through class progression.
  
• The Workshop is now accepting colored decals.

• Wall Rose
  An alternate armed version of Wall Maria that dislikes anyone being near it. Two large force guns will hammer any ship that gets too close. First use will be on the modified Scars of Lutessa map (see below). Image shows the new, more hefty wall model.
  
  
• Wall Maria - added end caps and more bracing, adjusted collision hitboxes, and added an internal device to discourage trying to ram through the wall. Damage taken reduced. Walls will be harder to kill now
  
• AI Emplacement tool adjusted. This is the tool used exclusively by AA turrets and walls. It will now put out fires and repair at a rate similar to the failsafe
  
• Boss Hades changed from chain to cluster Hades. Less dangerous mid to long range, more dangerous close range
  
• AI enemy extinguisher changed to prevent fire locking
  
• Adjusted Anglean Frigate mass and movement.
  
• Small adjustment to Anglean Corvette hitboxes.
  
• Duel at Dawn expanded 500 meters to a 4x4 grid from a 3x3 grid and new map image added. Wind removed and spawns moved further away from each other
  
• Crew AI have increased accuracy on guns
  
• Scars of Lutessa changed from Intercept to Assault with some trial changes. Players now start in the opposite corner and travel to the dam. This Assault will have AA turrets and Walls that block the path to the next base. This is a very challenging map. We will tune this map with live feedback.
  
• Shrike hitboxes changed to better fit the model
  
• PvE: Armor kit lasts until destroyed. Does not degrade noticeably over time

• Clarified Tempest missile description
  
• 3v3 added to Misty Mutiny
• 3v3 added to Misty Mutiny
  
• Adjusted Squid decal position, size, and rotation for better viewability
  
• Loading image and map for Batcave Returns cave map concept testbed
  
• Fixed misplaced flag on Valentine Crusader theme
  
• Fixed Embr theme axe misplacement on Spire and Pyramidion
  
• Fixed overlapping/misplaced lanterns/banners on Royal theme on several ships
  
• Adjusted ladders on all ships with reported consistent problems

Want to contribute? We have a few ways to make that happen!

• Submit images for profile pictures. This can be done via Discord, forum, or email.
  
• Try out the workshop. Submit decals, hats, goggles, and voicepacks for vetting.
  
• Check out Discord to contribute to two new community projects, a ship theme and a new map.

We're so excited to announce that frantic, frenetic, firefighting multiplayer Embr launches on Early Access for Steam today!

With Embr, we set out to shine a satirical light on the gig-economy - not in terms of the people making those deliveries and driving those taxis, but rather the companies at the top powering this particular brand of venture capitalism and deregulation.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062830/Embr/

On a gameplay basis, we also wanted to see just what mayhem would occur if the untrained masses headed out with a hose and tried to put out fires in the same way people deliver take-out or drive people around in makeshift taxis. The end result is fun, frenetic, and just as barmy as we thought it would be. It just makes you appreciate what a difficult and almost impossible job real-life firefighters do.



Embr launches on Steam Early Access today for $19.99/€19.99/£17.99 with a 20% discount in launch week. You can expect multiple free major content drops in the months after launch significantly expanding the game. We'll also continue to diligently work with the community to further shape the Embr experience based on feedback and suggestions. Having trouble? Get in touch!

It's amazing to finally get Embr into your hands during Early Access. Let us know what you think!

We’re happy to announce that Guns of Icarus Alliance is a part of the Indie MEGABOOTH Going Away (for now) sale!

Guns of Icarus Alliance will be on sale for ONE WEEK from May 5th - May 12th at 85%

We're also running a sale on in-game items for this week only! Get a new look for half the price!
(Sale does not apply to Steam Workshop items)

If you’ve been looking to upgrade your steampunk experience or add some friends to your crew, there’s never been a better time!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/608800/Guns_of_Icarus_Alliance/

And with bonus missions live this week only, there’s never been a better time to grab your friends and sail the skies!



For a limited time you can get the FREE Embr Respondr Bundle in Guns of Icarus!

This free bundle includes:

• Embr Flame Decal
  
• Embr Theme
  
• Embr Fire Helmet
  
• 5x Embr Red Dye

PLUS:

• Exclusive Flint profile picture
  
• Embr Respondr title

Here’s how to get your Embr Respondr Bundle in Guns of Icarus:

1. Wishlist Embr on steam
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1062830/Embr/
2. Join the Embr Respondrs Group on Steam
3. Launch Guns of Icarus and Receive your FREE Embr Respondr Bundle
4. Go fight some fires!

For more information, check the announcement on the Guns of Icarus Discord!



There are over 150 games participating in the Indie MEGABOOTH Going Away (for now) sale! You can find the full list of participating games here: https://indiemegabooth.com/imb-going-away-for-now-sale-game-list/

Stay inside, play great games, and stay safe,

See you in the skies.