Happy holidays, spider hunters!

The year is almost over and I think we’re all ready to put this one behind us. The trials and tribulations of 2020 aside, I’m excited that I was able to share Kill It With Fire with the world this year - and I hope you were excited to play it! If you haven't picked it up yet, now is a great time - the game is 40% off!

As you know, the holiday season is upon us and a big Holiday Update has come to Kill It With Fire! Even if you’ve been bad (nuke any towns lately?) you’re getting NINE gifts this year. But it ain’t gonna be as simple as ripping off the wrapping paper. Each mission now features a Christmas tree, but there’s one problem...no ornaments! To receive each gift, you’ll need to hunt down the decorations and place them on the tree.

Before we talk about what Santa brought you, allow me to provide a few holiday tips and tricks. First, the Secret Sniffer upgrade for the Spider Tracker DOES work on ornaments. Second, to avoid extra trips back to the tree you can suck up ornaments using the vacuum, then spit them back out later. Finally, if you’re having trouble finding an ornament don’t despair...try looking up!








Now, let’s get down to the real Holiday business: GIFTS. There’s nine in total and it doesn’t matter in what order you decorate the trees, you’ll always earn the gifts in the same order. There’s two new pieces of equipment, three new upgrades, a new tracker upgrade, a new flavor, and two sets of bonus upgrade points (one regular and one for the tracker). Let’s get into the details:

• Laser Sword: An elegant weapon for more civilized spider hunters. Burns on impact.
  
• Spider Noir: Lets you play in black and white
  
• Lucky Dice: They don’t do anything, but they look cool!
  
• Low Gravity: Reduces gravity for you, the spiders, and all physics objects!
  
• Radioactive Wasabi: Cheese Puff flavor that can transform spiders into Radioactive Spiders.
  
• Laser Gun: Fires projectiles that ricochet several times, potentially igniting whatever they hit.
  
• Gene Splicer: Randomizes which spiders appear in the mission, meaning potentially any spider can appear in any mission.

That wraps it up! Have fun finding the ornaments and playing with the new toys. If you have trouble finding them, I recommend hitting the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.Good luck and happy holidays!!!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hey exterminators!

I’ve got something completely different to share with you today. A few weeks ago I spent some time working on a Game Jam with some friends, including KIWF composer Trevor Black. A game jam is basically where you try to make a game really fast, usually according to a specific theme. I was very pleased with what we made, so I spent a little extra time cleaning it up and now...

Ruff Night At The Gallery is now available on Steam for the low, low price of FREE! It’s a short-form puzzle/horror/cute game about navigating an art museum full of haunted paintings of dogs. And I do mean short - if you’re good, you can probably beat it in under 20 minutes but don’t worry: there’s a much harder New Game+ for you masochists out there.

And don't worry - I'm still working on new updates to Kill It With Fire! Stay tuned for some futuristic spider-killing action in the near future!



https://store.steampowered.com/app/1463470/Ruff_Night_At_The_Gallery/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

What's up, exterminators??

I've got a humble request for all you spider hunters out there: if you've been enjoying Kill It With Fire, please consider nominating it for a Steam Award! My suggestion is the "Sit Back And Relax" award as I've heard from many of you about how cathartic it is to squish those spiders. But, if you feel like another award is more appropriate I won't stand in your way!

To nominate Kill It With Fire, just click the little thingy at the top of this post.

Also - happy Thanksgiving! If you've been playing Kill It With Fire recently, maybe let someone else handle the turkey this year. On a personal note, I'd like to thank YOU for playing my silly spider-hunting game. I hope it's a bright spot for you in these dark, uncertain times.

Speaking of holidays, Christmas is on the way and Santa is checking his clipboard twice. If you've been good, watch out for some new weapons, upgrades, and more in December. Happy holidays!



Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hello spider hunters!

Kill It With Fire 1.1 is now available and with it comes some pretty big changes to your favorite spider hunting simulator: new equipment, a new spider variant, special settings for arachnophobes, overhauled gamepad support, multiple save slots, and (of course!) the Omega Files! Let’s break it down:


If you’ve already played KIWF you may have discovered some random manilla folders featuring the omega symbol, the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Well, I hope you remember where you found them because now you can collect and read them to discover the answers to some of the game’s many mysteries. For instance: why are there so many spiders? Where are all the people? And what’s the deal with the cheese puffs?




Next, let’s talk equipment. There are two new weapons added in the update. The first is the vacuum. You can use the vacuum to “suck up” just about anything laying around, including spiders. Then you can switch the vacuums direction and shoot it all back out. You can find the vacuum in “Domestic Duties”, appropriately enough.




The second new weapon is a remote-controlled drone with a bomb strapped to it. While you’re flying the drone, use its thermal vision camera to locate spiders, then swoop in and self-destruct. The drone is available in “Consequences”.




Are you terrified of spiders? If so, I have good news. Kill It With Fire now features special options for people with arachnophobia. Simply open the settings menu (from the main menu or in-game) and customize the options to your liking. You can disable “scary spiders” to make them look more blobby and less spider-like as well as disable their SFX, the jumpscare sounds, and creepy music. Please let me know whether or not these settings helped you to enjoy the game! Are there any other settings you’d like to see? Accessibility is always an ongoing conversation and this is just a first step!




Next up is a new type of spider I like to call the “supplyder”. It’s basically a spider with a supply crate strapped to its back. When you damage the spider, the crate breaks open and ammo pops out. Neat, huh? You’ll start encountering supplyders in “Domestic Duties”, so keep your eyes peeled!


Do you have a friend or family member who wants to play the game, but can’t because you don’t want to erase your save file? You’re in luck as KIWF now features three save slots! Your original save automatically takes up the first slot. To erase a slot, simply select it and choose Erase Save game from Settings -> General.

The last major new item in v1.1 is improved gamepad support. Kill It With Fire now features enhanced aim acceleration while using the gamepad. Also, spider hitbox size has been increased while using the gamepad to make using weapons like the revolver, silenced pistol, and throwing stars much more feasible.



Still reading? Wow, you’re really dedicated to fighting the spider menace. Here’s a handy bulleted list of the changes:

• Omega Files: Your chance to unravel the twisted storyline is officially here. Collect the eight dossiers hidden throughout the game to discover info about the spiders’ origins.
  
• New Equipment: Vacuum, suck anything up, then spit it back out!
  
• New Equipment: Drone, remote controlled flying robot that can self destruct
  
• New Spider: Supplyder - carries an ammo crate; bust it open and reload!
  
• Arachnophobia Settings
  
• Save Slots
  
• Enhanced Gamepad Support

• Resolved an issue where equipment could be double-assigned by equipping/unequipping the Cargo Shorts upgrade.
  
• Resolved an issue where equipment could get stuck in an odd position by swapping while a melee weapon was being held back.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Yes/No buttons on the Refund Upgrade Points confirmation popup would never appear.
  
• Fixed an issue where hitting back/escape during the end of level confirmation popup would result in odd behavior.
  
• Resolved an issue where spiders would spawn in inaccessible locations (usually in the hedge maze) during levels 4 and 6.

Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hello spider hunters!

We're slightly more than a week out from launch and the game is going strong! We're currently sitting on a 95% user review score with more than 180 reviews. That's a very solid score! It makes me so happy that so many of you love the game.

Aside from patching the game a couple times, I've been laying low the last week. I spent the last few months of development working more than perhaps is healthy. During my time time off, I've been thinking a lot about the project - what went right, what went wrong, and what to do next. Expect more info on all three in the near future!

In the meantime, I'm throwing a party! Unfortunately, it won't be an IRL party (thanks, COVID) - BUT - since it's online that means that I can invite all of you! Please join us tonight at 7 - 8pm CST for Kill It With Fire "Virtual Launch Party". We'll have a group video call where we'll discuss the game, spiders, fire, and everything else!

The Kill It With Fire Virtual Launch Party will be streamed to the game's Steam page and to TinyBuild's Twitch channel from 7-8pm CST tonight, Friday 8/21/20!


Do you like cards? Do you like badges? OF COURSE YOU DO.

Announcing Trading Cards for Kill It With Fire! Play the game and collect ten unique cards, six emoticons, three profile backgrounds, and of course work your way up to the coveted radioactive spider badge. Neat! Make sure you grab the rare "Shattered Memories" profile background - it has my face on it!

Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hey guys,

Patch #2 is now live. Again, nothing major - just two small issues that were brought forward by community members. The version number for this patch is v1.0.18

First, completing the final Arachno-Gauntlet (in the Consequences mission) wasn't displaying as completed on the level select screen. It didn't hurt anything, but I'm sure it was very frustrating to see!
That is now fixed, although you'll need to complete the gauntlet one more time to see it update.

Second, and a bit more significant, was the cursor sometimes leaving the game window when quickly clicking and dragging (like when rotating objects). This issue was most common for users with multi-monitor setups, frequently switching tabs, or having certain other other programs open in the background that would "eat" your input. It also only occurred in the "Borderless" windowed mode. "The game now "secretly" locks the cursor to a fixed location, but only when the cursor is not being shown - problem solved!

Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hello exterminators!

We're one day out from launch and it seems like most of you are having a great time with Kill It With Fire! I haven't heard about any show-stopping issues so far (knock on wood!), but I did hear about one bug that I wanted to quickly address in a patch. If you see v1.0.16 in the bottom left corner of your screen, you'll know you've got it!

For the curious, here's what was going on. On the second level (Close Encounters), if you picked up all five batteries before collecting the S.P.I.D.A.R. tracker upgrade, you would complete the "Power Up" objective without having first discovered it. That by itself is fine - it happens even more in other places (such as the "Fight Spider With Spider" objective in Major Inconvenience) so I've got code that automatically deletes the objective discovery pickup upon completion of that objective. That's good, because it means you won't later discover a random, glowing sheet of paper that doesn't do anything.

Maybe you see where this is going - the S.P.I.D.A.R. upgrade is both an objective discovery pickup AND an upgrade, so when you picked up the 5th battery the game deleted the upgrade! And, to make matters worse the whole thing was happening again when you reloaded the level, since we want to get rid of the objective discovery pickups you've already found.

I've only heard from one player that actually encountered the issue but it's possible there are more who just haven't said anything, so it seemed best to fix it ASAP! Another issue that I discovered along the way (and I seriously doubt this has been discovered by ANYONE, but you never know!) is that if you never pick up the hairspray in First Contact but you do pick some up in a later level, you'll be unable to complete the "Find More Firepower" objective, since it was only listening for the player to discover new equipment, not find more ammo. Of course, the game is called KILL IT WITH FIRE, so who in their right mind would skip grabbing the hairspray in the first level?!?!

That's all for today! I'll just leave you guys with these awesome articles about the game. They really made my day!

Fan Byte - Danielle Riendeau

Buried Treasure - John Walker

Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Calling all spider hunters,

Our time has finally arrived: Kill It With Fire is now available on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/

It has been a blast building Kill It With Fire and I'm thrilled to be able to share it with the world. If you enjoyed the demos, I suspect you'll love the full game. It has tons more levels, weapons, upgrades, challenges, and most importantly - MORE SPIDERS!

Creating Kill It With Fire was an enormous undertaking for me. Since I left my job at Rooster Teeth nearly a year ago I've been working on this game full-time while living off of my savings - including hiring a few key contractors out of my own pocket. The result is a wild, wacky game that was a huge personal and creative risk, but also clearly a labor of love.

Is Kill It With Fire for everyone? If you're TRULY arachnaphobic, this might be a little too much for you. BUT, if you're looking for several hours jam-packed with insane, slightly terrifying, collateral damage-causing MAYHEM you could hardly choose a better game than Kill It With Fire. If you're also interested in supporting independent game development, grabbing this game is a no-brainer!

Of course, there's no way most of you would even be reading this without the amazing people at TinyBuild! From creating incredible trailers, to boring (but important!) stuff like localization and QA, this game would not be where it is today without their support. Thanks, TinyBuild!



So what's next for Kill It With Fire? If you make it all the way to the game's secret ending, you might have some idea of where the game might be going next. But...I'm not against going in another direction first. So, what do you think? More levels? New Game+ where the spiders can actually kill you? Replace the spiders with something else? Randomly generated levels? VR? Multiplayer? A level editor? I'm not going anywhere, so please let me know in the comments below!

Want to meet a community of like-minded spider exterminating enthusiasts? Be sure to join the Kill It With Fire Discord. And, as always be sure to follow the game on Twitter or Facebook. Last but certainly not least - what are you waiting for?! Go buy the game!

Sincerely,



Casey Donnellan
Twitter: @caseydonnellan

Hello fellow exterminators! Alex from tinyBuild here.

It's less than 24 hours before Kill It With Fire finally launches. I can't stop relating to this game as every morning a whole colony of spiders decides to make webs that I go through with my face while drinking coffee. Unfortunately Elon didn't send me a non-flamethrower to deal with this issue.

I do have some news leading up to launch. Between IGNITION and HEATWAVE - the two demos / playable teasers we released for the game, there have been over 300k people who played them! That's insane. Check out the reviews for IGNITION:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1291500/Kill_It_With_Fire_Ignition/

Both pages have a 90%+ Steam Reviews score. This is insane, and on behalf of Casey and the whole team here at tinyBuild - a huge thank you!

The launch trailer is ready to go live and will do so here:



You can smash that "set reminder" button to get a notification when the game and its trailer go live.

Casey will be posting a launch announcement alongside the game going live as well.

Get your machine guns, c4, time-slowing energy drinks ready - we're hunting spiders tomorrow!

Hello spider hunters!

The reckoning approaches - KIWF comes out next Thursday, August 13th. It's been a wild ride making this game. Although I'm the only person working on Kill It With Fire full-time, the game would not be what it is without the help of some very talented friends/accomplices. I thought now might be a great time to look back on everything and call out some of the people who helped along the way. All of these folks have been immortalized into Kill It With Fire as in-game portraits. There, thousands of spiders will crawl over their faces for all eternity. Thanks guys, you're the best!



First, let's talk about that music! Kill It With Fire's soundtrack was composed by the incredible Trevor Whitaker Black. The game would NOT be the same without his music. Honestly, I think a lot of people are surprised by how good it is. You're just expecting a silly game about killing spiders, but the sound really sucks you in.

BTW - Trevor also has worked on the soundtrack for a few movies, including Kingsmen! You should follow him on Twitter: @TrevorWBlack




Cara Curley did all of the game's excellent graphic design. That includes the equipment icons, the amazing portraits, the achievement icons, and a few other odds and ends. She insisted that her cat, Moose, be included in her portrait. Who am I to say otherwise? Here's to you, Cara! Make sure you follow her on Twitter: @IDrawCaraLines




Next up is Abe Robertson. Me and Abe go waaay back. We've worked on several games together and when I needed some extra help making the game look pretty, he was the first and only person I called. Abe did a little bit of everything on KIWF - he worked on lighting, visual effects, the skyboxes, special materials, and more. His biggest contribution, however, is the cinematic that plays when you beat the game...but you'll need to wait until August 13th to see that.

I don't think Abe really uses Twitter but follow him anyway! @RobertsonAbe




I did most of the SFX for Kill It With Fire myself, but I knew there was one area where it would be wise to call in the professionals: the spiders. I hired Kat Wenske and Zachary Woomer from Team Audio to create spider sounds that are guaranteed to stick with you long after finish playing the game. Each type of spider has a unique set of sounds, kinda like the special infected in L4D. Learn what they sound like and you'll never be surprised when one jumps at your face! Follow Kat on Twitter: @jelfish67.




Perhaps you've heard of a small publishing company called TinyBuild? Kill It With Fire got picked up by them back in February (before the dark times...) and the game wouldn't be where it is today without them! Represented here by their CEO, Alex Nichiporchik, they've been instrumental in promoting the game, localization, quality assurance, and tons of other stuff. Plus, they're just all around good people. Big thanks to Artem, Yulia, Andrei, Sunny, and the whole QA department. I wish I had portraits for all of you!

I would say follow them on Twitter but honestly, they have enough followers already. Follow the game instead: @kiwf_game




Thanks to everyone else who helped and supported me along the way. Bryan Lian created the model for the tracker and did a few of the portraits and Josh Guglielmo created the original logo and key art. Also, thanks to my beautiful wife Kathryn, our families, and my Little (through BBBS), Juan, who provided the shark art.




That leaves yours truly. I haven't really talked about myself much during these updates, but that's me, Casey Donnellan. This game was my vision and I've spent nearly every day for the past 10 months making it come to life. I've been making games professionally for 8 years, mostly working for larger companies (Certain Affinity, Rooster Teeth), but this is my first, big, solo project. Despite all the trouble in the world these days, it has been an amazing experience and I hope that Kill It With Fire does well enough to allow me to continue making games independently. If you'd like to keep in touch, follow me on Twitter: @caseydonnellan


For all the latest on Kill It With Fire, join the Discord, or follow the game on Twitter/ Facebook. As always, make sure you wishlist the game, or if you really hate spiders you can pre-order it and save 10%!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1179210/Kill_It_With_Fire/