Party Hard’s publishing contract was signed on a napkin

With the seemingly infinite possibilities for games developers available nowadays, there are many usual tales of success – and the story of Party Hard is a prime example.

The contract agreeing to publish the indie game, in which players murder their way through large social gatherings, was drafted on a napkin. By a team who was drunk.

In a lengthy (but entertaining) post-mortem written for Develop, TinyBuild CEO and Party Hard producer Alex Nichiporchik tells the tale of how he and his team first discovered the title – as well as how six months of crunch led to them burning the original game design document and building Party Hard around players’ test sessions instead. 

“To our surprise, Party Hard was a very interesting ‘spectator’ game,” Nichiporchik writes. “You could come up and just enjoy watching someone trying to figure out all the traps and little ways to stay hidden while going stabby stabby through the party. 

“After chatting with the game designer for a few hours, and discussing what they’d need to make this into a full game – and more importantly, how it’d work as a full game – we got more drunk.

“By the end of the day I drafted out a contract on a napkin, signed it, and went over to the Party Hard guys again. I’m pretty sure everyone thought it was a joke, but nope. Dead serious. Party Hard was signed on a napkin.”

Be sure to read the full post-mortem.