Strange Scaffold

A new kind of game studio. Creators of El Paso, Elsewhere / I Am Your Beast / and more.

[strangescaffold]

our absurd lil co-op horror game about being a medieval monk is LIVE!

hello folks and friends. it's time to grab your torches and start stocking up on salt: Co-op Kaiju Horror Cooking is now live and you can currently pick up the game on sale for $4.79 USD! to celebrate, some of us may have gotten a bit into character with our monks. a.. monksona if you will. or even if you won't, really.

mine happens to be Peter the Potatoless, Friend of Rats. he is accompanied by his rat-friend Ewan, who is not dead, but pretends to be so they can both take on enemies defensively with whimsy and abandon. it's a bit of "oops didn't see you there" energy.

HE'S JUST HAPPY TO BE HERE

as for the game itself, well, it's our first ever multiplayer game and we're really excited to continue updating it over the next few months! we've got so many cool ideas in store to share with you and we'll be posting patch notes routinely as we update, so I encourage you to follow along whether it's on Steam, in the Discord, or wherever you get these lil notifications.

now let's get cooking! 🌻 Christa @ Strange Scaffold

[strangescaffold]

Time to kick some shell.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown is a fast-paced turn-based beat-em-up and you can play it on Steam right now!

This is a labour of love from us to you. It's also a HUGE moment as getting to make our mark on the world of the TMNT is a big one for the whole team. We've all grown up with different versions of the Turtles so releasing this game is a privilege and incredibly exciting.

We hope you enjoy it! Oh, and it's got a cheeky 10% launch discount so go grab it and tell your friends! 🐢 → Available on Steam NOW ← 🐢

Save me a slice of the cheese 'za. - Chris @ Strange Scaffold

[strangescaffold]

The Foot Clan’s back. Shredder’s gone. Karai’s calling the shots.

The Turtles? Older, and missing Master Splinter.

Time to bring the bros back together.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown drops NEXT WEEK! 🐢💥

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown will launch on Steam 5/22 and be priced at $19.99!

Til then, you can come hang out in the Discord and talk pizza toppings with us.

(thanks for taking a look - we're excited about this one)

[strangescaffold]

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has played and left a review for Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3! Reviews in launch week make such a big difference so if you haven't yet, it would mean the world to us.

I asked some of the team to describe the game in three words. Colin, our project Co-Lead, Designer and Writer said...

J.J Kisses Dinosaurs

And then added a real answer...

Earnest Comedy Puzzler.

Writer and Content Designer, Nathan, said...

Three words is not enough Meta surreal sincere

Finally, Studio Head Xalavier said...

Sincere Match-3 Possibilities

This game has been a work of passion, effort and joy for all of us here at Strange Scaffold so we are incredibly glad to see it connect with people. If you have the time and have played it, please do consider leaving us a review. It's wild how much of a huge difference this can make on Steam and for a small team like ours. And again, one more time, THANK YOU! We can't wait to see where this game goes...

See you on the internet,

Chris @ Strange Scaffold.

[strangescaffold]

celebrating the launch of Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 a.k.a. my contribution to Clown Alley

hi Tumblr, I wanted to make one of my first contributions to this blog something sincere while still capturing the genuine feral energy that occurred. so I’m going to tell you a brief story about one of my contributions to the game we’re launching today. to preface: we’re really hoping to share more in-depth, goofy little blogs like this one to give you insights into our development structure. hopefully that’s something you’re interested in, but if not, hang out because we also might post other stuff. you gotta give us that chance!! so to paint the picture - today, April 22nd, 2025, we launched Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 over at Strange Scaffold. it’s live on Steam, and (we hope) many people are going to play it over the next few weeks. maybe months. maybe it’ll sit on your wishlist for a bit until one of your friends is frantically checking Steam wishlists on December 24th and it shows up in your notifications!!

Anyway, I get tasked to make art assets for the studio sometimes! it's a lot of fun. they let me get my hands all over the podcast logo. they let me do the studio's launch logo for Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3. they let me do whatever this was for Valentine's Day:

just so you know what we're working with here. so jump back to January. the team's working on different environments for the game. I'm lurking in the text channels for real-time updates, as one does when they're collecting programmer crumbs for content like a small Victorian child. I watched the following conversation unveil in what I'll present to you as an abridged version:

and like a golden retriever locked onto a squirrel passing me by as I sat leashed outside the Whole Foods waiting for my owner, I could only watch as I anticipated -

I was around.

I had no visual in my head for this. I truly let the spirits guide me. in the past, friends had critiqued my Photoshop shitposts for still "looking too good." That wasn't going to happen today. after falling down a hole for an hour -

the spirits had finished. I exported my canvas. I surveyed my delivered PNG and within it found no hubris to behold, merely a newfound sense of peace and acceptance.

and as I watched the resulting feedback trickle in -

"Suddenly, you can understand the full deal behind that hallway with stock images of clowns with added context."

— Charlie Kelly, checkpointgaming.net

I couldn't help but wonder if anyone would observe the finer details.

I like to think they will! happy matching :) — Christa @ Strange Scaffold

[strangescaffold]

Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 Is OUT NOW! + FAQ

Firstly, our match-3 survival horror comedy RPG metroidvania you didn't know you needed is OUT NOW! Here's the launch trailer!

Now, the 3 in the title may need a little explanation so we put together this handy FAQ. FAQ: WHAT IS CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 3?

WHAT IS CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 3?

It’s a video game!

Also, we’re calling it the match-3 survival horror comedy RPG metroidvania you didn't know you needed. A “matchroidvania”, if you will. And you should, because that’s what we’re calling it.

DO I NEED TO PLAY CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION OR CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 2 TO UNDERSTAND?

So, there is no Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 or 2. This game was originally intended as a sequel to two games that didn’t exist, because we thought it would be funny.

Then the game industry took a nosedive, and this game got cancelled, un-cancelled, and cancelled again.

When we started on CRDM3 for the third and final time, we saw an opportunity to use this sequel to a series that doesn’t exist to actually say something about the game industry, and the process of making a game in 2025. You’ll probably appreciate a lot of the jokes if you’re a game developer, but if you aren’t, we hope the game is both understandable and a good introduction to that secret world of knowledge and context you usually only get from being prematurely aged by this hellfire of an industry first.

DID THE TEAM CHANGE DURING ALL THOSE CANCELLATIONS? HOW DOES THAT IMPACT DEVELOPMENT?

Our team composition naturally changed over time as we ran into lulls or developers moved on to other projects. The result is a game that doesn't just have a false history--but a real one. Everyone who has ever worked on CRDM3 is somewhere in the project, with a joke, a piece of art, or just an idea crafted with genuine care. We hope the game finally getting the chance to launch honors their contributions.

THIS LOOKS LIKE A MOBILE GAME! WHY DOES IT USE MATCH-3 MECHANICS?

We were inspired by Puzzle Quest and Puzzle & Dragons, games that use these mechanics in a similar way, but mostly focus on combat. It seemed to us that there was wiggle room to explore conflict and characters through these mechanics, so we built a really robust Match-3 system with things like character traits, consumable items, stress meters, and more!

It means that using the same grid of simple symbols, everything from crafting a cursed hunting rifle, to hacking a mainframe, to trying to out-cowboy a plesiosaur, can be done with the same core mechanics--massively expanding the range of things you can do in the typical RPG.

WILL WE EVER GET A CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 1 OR 2?

If there’s interest in more, we’ll be listening! For now, we hope you enjoy what we’ve made and the place that it comes from.

WILL WE EVER GET A CREEPY REDNECK DINOSAUR MANSION 4?

No.

----------- We hope you enjoy our weird-ass game with Dinosaurs and match-3 and a not subtle commentary on the games industry. Also, fun fact, on the steam page right now you can watch me playing the game! I do voices and everything! See you on the internet, - Chris @ Strange Scaffold.

[strangescaffold]

Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion is out TOMORROW! It's, we think, one of the worlds first Matchroidvania, so we wanted to explain what that means in practical terms. We figured who better to ask than the devs themselves! For real, if you didn't get to play the demo (which was available to folks after it left Steam for a very specific reason) we've got a TREAT in store for you! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2116510/Creepy_Redneck_Dinosaur_Mansion_3/

[strangescaffold]

The Strange Scaffold Newsletter #4

Come on in! Sit where you like, I'll get you a cup of coffee. 

Well, look who it is! It’s me, Chris Slight, the Head of Social Content here at Strange Scaffold. 

It has been a MONTH here at the Scaffold, one in which it turns out we really enjoy the number 22! We’ve got the release dates of two upcoming titles (one is only two weeks from launching), an upcoming title gets its name and some stunning artwork, and Xalavier took a bunch of tiny glow in the dark turtles to GDC. I should probably stress that they were made of plastic and had no sentience that we could verify, and trust us, we checked THOROUGHLY. 

Within this newsletter, you'll also find all the usual soundtrack and game recommendations and the latest episode of The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club. But I like to think this is a dialogue between you and me, dear reader. So, you alright? Nice, nice. Been up to much? Nah, me either. Well, that was great, wasn't it? Onwards!­* *I will pause briefly, however, to recognise that we are now on Tumblr! Hello! These newsletters normally go out in e-mail form but we wanted to put them somewhere people could read them later. So, here we are! We will be sure to add more back issues as time goes on!

Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 launches April 22nd

Our match-3 survival horror comedy RPG matchroidvania, launches on April 22nd!­ You can Wishlist on Steam right now as well! Fun!

Now, you can't play the demo anymore, but there is a whole procedure to access it. You can find out all about that right here.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown Launches May 22nd

See, I told you up top, we are really into the number 22 this month!  You’ll be able to jump back into New York to fight the Foot Clan in our take on the TMNT world the following month! You can ­wishlist it on Steam­ as well!

You've Seen It On The Internet, Now Learn The True Name.

Introducing Co-Op Kaiju Horror Cooking! Here’s a first look at the main artwork for the game by Emo Sludge. We will have a lot more news about this one soon. 

I can't tell you too much, but you may be able to infer what happens in this game based on its title. I did, however, ask the game's producer, Candace, to explain the game without spoiling anything...

The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club

The Strange Scaffold Cool Things Club is our podcast, and every month, we talk about Cool Things we like. Each month, Xalavier, Candace, and I are joined by another wonderful person from the Scaffold who brings their own cool thing with them. This month, Manda, the Executive Producer for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown joins us. 

This month's Cool Things are Dragons Dogma 2, Slow Crafts, the films of Jaques Tati, and The Department of Truth.

We also get a question from Discord, which has us discussing what IP we would wanna make a game about.

A Word From The Desk Of Xalavier

"Right now I'm obsessed with Proverbs, a giant, "open-world" fusion of Picross and Minesweeper where you restore a gorgeous pixelized rendition of a classic painting by seamlessly weaving across hundreds of smaller localized puzzles. It's become a nightly ritual and I can't stop thinking about it.” -Xalavier

A Game You Might Like That We Didn’t Make

I like to ask folks from the Strange Scaffold Team to recommend games they love because these folks have impeccable taste. I am currently looking down at a Jar Jar Binks figurine that lives in front of my keyboard, so you see why I might need guidance. This month, Aubrey, a Level Designer here at the Scaffold, is in the curation station.  Dungeons of Hinterberg

“What if a hiking trip to a tourist town in the mountains also had zelda-like dungeons to explore and a persona-like calendar system to enjoy? Dungeons of Hinterberg makes every day feel like a new adventure, and uses every part of the buffalo when it comes to blending puzzle, combat and social gameplay.” - Aubrey

The Single Track Mixtape

­This is one of my personal favourites by rj lake, from the OST for Witch Strandings. Put it on and relax. 

Sweet Dreams

And here we are, at the end. Joined together as friends and reflecting on the whole butt plug thing. That might not make sense if you didn’t click the link in the Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 section. Well, I don’t know if I just convinced you not to or SUPER convinced you to check. It’s important to have that distance between us, but if I know our audience like I think I do, you are now scrolling back up. 

While I’m reflecting, I also wanted to say thank you. The support, love and game purchases of all of you keep this precious place running. I don’t know many studios that get to have an official TMNT game and a match-3 called Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 both coming out within a month of each other. THANK YOU. You make this work, and we love you for it.

Let’s all meet up in the loading screens of our favourite video games and make coffee.

See you on the internet, 

- Chris @ Strange Scaffold