“We wanted to make sure the shape mattered” — Double Fine explains how KILN’s sculpted art defines its combat and characters

Whimsical animated characters that look like colorful pottery with faces run joyfully along a path at night. The word "Kiln" appears above them.

In a new developer interview from GameDeveloper.com and conducted by Samuel Tolbert with Double Fine Productions, we get an interesting look at how the studio shaped Kiln, their latest release launching tomorrow, April 23, 2026, for Xbox, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Game Pass.

For those unfamiliar, Kiln is a pottery-based multiplayer brawler. If Double Fine has shown anything over the years, it is a knack for fun and unusual ideas. The game features 4v4 modes, where players sculpt their own creations to transport water and destroy the opposing team’s kiln.

With that out of the way, let’s dive into what lead designer Lauren Scott and lead character artist Jared Mill shared in their interview with GameDeveloper.com.

Thanks to this insight, the team explains how Kiln first came to life during Amnesia Fortnight 2017, where it was barely functional according to the developers.

Given the timeframe from 2017 to now, the games had quite a long development, too, and the team faced several challenges. One of the biggest was making player-created shapes feel readable and fair during gameplay.

Initially, the game used the exact collision of whatever the player created. While this was more realistic, it did not feel fun to play, according to the developers.

Because of that, the team moved to a different collision system. This approach uses the widest and tallest points of a pot to define its hitbox, helping keep gameplay consistent while still reflecting the shape players make.

I’ve only touched briefly on one part of the interview here, but I highly recommend checking out the full piece by Samuel. It’s a great read, and if you’re like me and enjoy getting to know the ins and outs of game development, you’ll likely enjoy it too.

With that said, I’d also love to know how you’re feeling about Kiln. I’ve not seen much buzz around it online, but it does look like it could be a fun one to jump into with friends.

The studio has also recently revealed the game’s spring roadmap, so there’s clearly more to come. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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