Sonic Mania Team Forms Their Own Studio, Evening Star

If you can recall the far-distant year of 2017, Sega shocked the world with the very first objectively good Sonic the Hedgehog game in many years: Sonic Mania. The secret behind this shockingly well put-together game was the fact that most of it was outsourced to a group of passionate fans who were able to put a fresh spin on the source material while remaining loyal to all the elements that made them so noteworthy and popular in the first place.

It seems these fans, though, a collection of modders, programmers, artists and more, decided that it was so enjoyable making a game together that they’d like to keep at it: and now they’ve banded together and formed a new indie studio, called Evening Star, so they can keep the magic alive.

Evening Star is based in LA, but it has a presence in Melbourne and London thanks to the long-distance collaborative effort of their work. Sonic Mania’s executive producer Dave Padilla serves as CEO, Christian Whitehead is creative director and lead engine architect, Tom Fry is acting as the art director, Hunter Bridge is the technical and audio director, and who could forget Brad Flick, who’s the design director.

This is how they introduce themselves on their web page:

For Evening Star, being a “boutique” game studio has a specific meaning. Every member pursues a goal to make their own great games. By encouraging strong technical foundations in every discipline, members are given a voice and latitude to impact games in unique ways. By reinvigorating gaming history's more cunning techniques, the team boldly explores directions long since left behind. With that driving approach, and a proprietary engine and tool set, Evening Star has developed an innovative workflow which minimizes the barriers between ideas and execution.

It looks like a promising group. I think we’re all excited to see what they come up with.