May 5, 2022

#71: Patrick M. Howard and Ben Kanelos (RustBit Studios)

Patrick M. Howard and Ben Kanelos — founding team of RustBit Studios and creators of the Grip of Madness game — on video games, game design, bringing games to market, and building a gaming studio.

Our conversation today is with Patrick M. Howard and Ben Kanelos, of RustBit Studio and creators of the Grip of Madness!

Patrick is the CEO and a game developer of RustBit Studio — He is an entrepreneur passionate about building memorable experiences that keep players coming back.


Ben is an architect by day and a game designer by night. He comes to the table with a decade of experience designing board games and now video games where he is the lead game designer at RustBit Studio.


RustBit itself is a software accelerator client out of the Bounce Innovation Hub in Akron born out of another gaming startup called Strife AI and is currently in the process of releasing The Grip of Madness — the studio's debut game which we cover in-depth through our conversation. The Grip of Madness is a cooperative FPS (first-person shooter) where your teammates can betray you at any time shooting your way through hordes of monsters, gather clues, and complete the ritual to stop their invasion.


Really enjoyed getting into the weeds here on game design and mechanics and what the process looks like for bringing a game to market — please enjoy my conversation with Patrick Howard and Ben Kanelos


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Follow RustBit Studio on Twitter @rustbitstudio
Learn more about RustBit Studio
Learn more about The Grip of Madness
Wishlist The Grip of Madness on Steam
Connect with Ben Kanelos on LinkedIn
Connect with Patrick Howard on LinkedIn

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