First Game Published by Influencer Marketing Agency Instinct3

After Instinct3 co-founder and influencer Maximilian Knabe (HandOfBlood) announced his intention to become an indie publisher, the first pilot project is ready to go. Together with Stray Fawn and Bitfall Studios, the Spandau-based influencer marketing agency will release the full version of TerraScape today. Instinct3 is mainly responsible for the marketing of GSA.

Since April 2023, TerraScape from the Berlin-based dev studio Bitfall Studios and publisher Stray Fawn from Switzerland has been available in Early Access. The mix of city builder and puzzle game is popular, even with some influencers from the portfolio of the influencer marketing agency Instinct3, such as creator Maxim Markow and HandOfBlood. Now the creators are also part of the launch campaign for the full version, which will be released on Steam and GOG later today. Publisher Toplitz Productions, with whom Bitfall Studios worked on this game project in 2023 (in German), is no longer on board.

"Our initial discussions with Melvin (Frank) from Instinct3 started at gamescom 2023, four months before Max announced his plans on YouTube," says Nico Pattmann from Bitfall Studios. "After we had already implemented a test project around Maxim and his videos on TerraScape during the early access phase in spring, we were sure on both sides that the parties involved would fit together in terms of their philosophy - so nothing stood in the way of an even broader collaboration around the release of the full version."

In December 2023, Maximilian Knabe (HandOfBlood) announced on his second channel "HandOfUncut" that he wanted to become an indie publisher (in German) and that interested developers should get in touch (publishing@instinct3.de). He often discovers and streams indie games himself, which makes them known to a wider audience. Within a short time, the influencer marketing agency behind HandOfBlood received 300 requests. The way in which Instinct3 is working with Stray Fawn and Bitfall Studios for the first co-publishing project is a pilot for HandOfBlood's plans. Stray Fawn will focus on international PR, platform curation and developer consulting, while Instinct3 will focus on marketing in the GSA region.

"The first step is to start a test run with the Instinct3 brand and the combined strength of various creators from the agency's portfolio," says Melvin Frank, who is primarily responsible for the new publishing arm at Instinct3. "Insights from the process will then be incorporated into various publishing labels in the future, including a dedicated publishing brand centred on HandOfBlood and his personal preferences and expertise."

Bitfall Studios is an indie studio based in Petersberg and Berlin. It was founded in Potsdam in 2022 by Nico Pattmann, Lara Klimm, Nico Wegner and Felix Günther. TerraScape is their first game, which is about building a flourishing empire from a small settlement. Unlike classic building games, game cards are strategically placed on a procedurally generated world map to build up the player's score. Each building corresponds to a card that is part of a themed deck. The full version will add five new biomes and three new decks to the game, along with 13 new buildings and three fusion-based structures. In addition, the user interface and various terrains have been reworked.

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