Fanzine, Co-ops, Dev Round-up, and More!
Hey, y’all!
Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed this is a KO_OP Mode Bulletin, not Volcano High...and that's because we're expanding our newsletter! We're also using a brand new newsletter provider, Buttondown, so expect a cleaner, more text-focused approach.
We'll be talking about what's going on in the studio, what us devs get up to in our free time, games we're playing, and updates on the extended KO_OP video game universe! You can check out more deets in our previous newsletter. And if there’s anything you’re interested in hearing about from us, feel free let us know!
Fan(g)Zine
A bevy of mega-talented dinos crafted an amazing celebration of Goodbye Volcano High with a fan(g)zine! Get your free copy right here on itch. ✨
We’re over the moon about the fanzine—it’s so incredible to see the community that’s developed and get to read people’s feedback about what it all means to them—and we want to print a limited run! More details to come soon.
Fan Art We Love
🧡 WolfStarArt put together the cover for GVH 2.
🧡 catShounen captured Sage in his element.
🧡 bugflower99 drew everybody’s favorite aquilops.
🧡 mazimoshi showcased the tarot twins.
Co-Op Corner
We want to start sharing more details about our unique studio structure—we’re one the of the very few democratically operated game studios who’ve shipped multiple games in the entire world. There are tons of misconceptions around co-operative structures—like how much people are paid, what project hierarchy looks like, and plenty others—and there’s no one single way to operate as one.
All a co-operative structure means is that the workers together and democratically decide how to operate their workplace, and that they all share equally in ownership and profits.
If you’d like to learn more about co-ops, please respond to this email with your questions! We'll flesh out this section every newsletter with a particular subject. For now, we'll leave you with Saleem's slides from a micro-talk they gave about our two-tier structure (top-down production and bottom-up company administration). Check it out here.
Dev Roundup
Cool things we’re working on:
🎃 Three of Hope’s pumpkins made it to the end of the season.
🌿 Marty’s taking an herbal medicines class, learning the scientific process for making herbal tinctures.
🎤 Max has been animating some lyric videos for the singer dodie.
🤫 Noé spilled company secrets with an asset for our upcoming game.
Cool stuff we’re into:
🗺️ Charlit’s playing Avery Alder’s tabletop game, The Quiet Year.
🤖 Daniel’s reading Hitoshi Ashinano’s Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou, a manga series about a robot woman living through ecological disaster. Nothing that would be appealing to GVH fans…surely.😉
🏎️ Ellen’s putting the pedal to the metal with Sonic Racing: Crossworlds.
📕 Emma’s reading Keezy Young’s queer horror graphic novel, Hello Sunshine.
🎮 Graeme’s keeping busy with Strange Antiquities, Clues By Sam, and reading about the localization for Final Fantasy.
🎧 Jakey’s vibing to Ezra Furman’s All Of Us Flames.
🕹️ Jon’s watching Amabel Holland’s game design videos, mentioning this one as his favo(u)rite.
🏡 Nick’s enjoying the pleasant wonders of There’s a House in the Sky.
🍌 Patricia’s playing DK Bananza, which features the delightful DK 64 “Oh, banana!” line.
That’s all for now, friends. Have a wonderful October! Feel free to respond, leave a comment, or join our Discord and chat with us!
🫶 KO_OP
PS. Next month we’re making a major announcement…stay tuned!