How this young studio is climbing from a little Indonesian town to international acclaim

“We were colleagues in a game studio before all of us quit, but everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked,” says Steven Aang. Then he adds: “just kidding.”

23-year-old Aang isn’t the Avatar. Rather, he’s part of the four-man Firebeast Studio based in Medan, Indonesia. Firebeast Studio, co-founded by Steven Aang, Bob Chou, Hartono Peng, and Hanrianto, is best known for browser games like Mighty Knight and Zombo Buster Rising, and has slowly been shifting its focus from browser games to mobile apps.

The privately-funded team took shape when Aang and his three other co-founders spoke one day about making a living from developing games without interference from superiors at work. They were all colleagues at a local game studio called Origaming.

“The four of us knew the risk of going indie instead of sticking with an established studio but we were so eager and ready to take the risk,” Aang says. The young team, aged between 22 and 25, took the plunge – but they didn’t tell their parents until they started making money.

All things considered, that moment came pretty quickly. Their first game for the browser, Marco’s Panic, received sponsorship from distributor FGL.com, enough to cover development costs. And just days later, Firebeast Studio was formed.

Developing talent

Aang says Firebeast started with browser games as the team was only experienced with Flash at that time. “We’re self-funded and to learn mobile development means months of no revenue for us, and this is dangerous for indies. We decided to only learn mobile development when we have enough funds to cover our ‘break’ from working on our existing games.”

All of Firebeast’s games have been for the browser so far, yet they’re far from being simple in spite of being on a more established – and now often forgotten – platform. Mighty Knight has garnered more than 2.5 million plays at Armor Games and was in the running for the site’s game of the year award for 2014. It ended up in a modest second place.

Zombo Buster was nominated at Casual Connect Asia 2014 for the Indie Prize’s best PC game, while Evilgeddon Spooky Max was featured in TV show ESPN Game and nominated for best shooting game in Armor Games’ game of the year award in 2012. Firebeast’s games generally come with depth, and include character levels, upgrades, and tons of stages.

They are also published with sponsorship terms, which typically means getting paid a lump sum by platforms or distributors in exchange for being able to host the game. Sponsorship terms typically disallow in-app purchases and advertisements. Still, Firebeast has become a self-sustaining studio. Aang calls it a “long and tough process.”

The team managed to reach self-sustainability by creating a “save box” from which they dipped into for expenses like internet connectivity, electricity bills, and more. The box is funded by everyone putting in a share of his income. “We are still running this way even now because we are self-funded,” Aang adds.