Old Ray
THE WISE HEART · SUPPORT
Ability: Encore. One guitar chord revives a knocked-out teammate. Once per level, the whole party gets a second wind and a story about the old days. Nobody skips his cutscenes.
🕹️ Studio World
What if the Studio ran like a video game? The whole crew, Nintendoized: eighteen fighters from the Characters page, seven game-originals, and nine worlds, all in 16-bit. This page is an exploration, the first sketch of what a Studio video game could feel like.
Exploratory · Oct 3, expanded Oct 4Everybody runs
The major characters, two frames each, full speed.
Mike
Chadwick Blaze
Sally
Dinesh
Dave
Haddie
The roster
Every character from the Characters page, Nintendoized. Eighteen fighters, eighteen abilities, zero filler.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Sally
THE SINGER · MUSIC POWER-UP
Ability: Song Shield. Her songs heal the whole party and stun nearby enemies. Collect her tracks across the Radio Tower stage to unlock new verses, each one a stronger shield. The heart of the soundtrack, literally.
Dave
THE SONGWRITER · STAGE FORM
Ability: Stage Presence. Dave’s powered-up alter ego. When the spotlight hits, all stats double and the crowd goes wild. Unlock: play 50 songs in public.
Chadwick Blaze
YOUTH PASTOR · HYPE MAN
Ability: Hype Wave. Revs the whole party’s attack power with pure enthusiasm. His BELIEVE shirt grants immunity to doubt debuffs. Not to be confused with Chadwick the robot. They have met. It was awkward.
Haddie
GOSPEL COOK · HEALER
Ability: Comfort Food. Throws soul-food plates that heal the party. Enemies smell it and get homesick, which slows them down considerably.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Marty
CLASS CLOWN · PLAYFUL TRICKSTER
Ability: Prank Portal. Drops whoopee-cushion portals that shortcut through walls and skip boring corridors. Her bunny plush is the save point: hug it to bank your progress. Fastest character on the Short Bus rally track.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Dinesh
DATA SCIENTIST · NUMBERS CHARACTER
Ability: Number Sight. His HUD visor reveals hidden stats, coin odds, and enemy weak points. In the Scoreboard Spire, he reads the boss's health bar before the fight even starts. Knowledge is the power-up.
Jalen
THE QUIET KID · STEALTH
Ability: Ghost Mode. Goes completely unnoticed by enemies for 20 seconds. Backstabs deal double damage. Has never once raised his voice, in game or out.
Echo
THE SHY CAMPER · RANGER
Ability: Headphone Focus. Tunes out every distraction on the battlefield. His beat-arrows never miss while the music plays. Quietest aim in the game.
Tex
COUNTRY SINGER · DUELIST
Ability: High Noon. A quick-draw guitar lick that stuns every enemy at noon game-time. Crits at sunset. Tips his hat after every victory.
Biscuit
CAMP DOG · SCOUT
Ability: Sniff Out. Finds hidden coins, secret paths, and buried power-ups. Digs up one free item per level. Fastest nose on the map, zero respect for locked doors.
Gloria
KITCHEN HARMONY · BARD
Ability: Gospel Wave. Her voice clears every debuff on the party and stuns nearby enemies, who simply stop to listen. Stacks beautifully with Sally's Song Shield for a full-choir ultimate.
Mateo
KITCHEN HELPER · SPEEDSTER
Ability: Plaza Dash. Zips between cover faster than anyone. Delivers power-ups to teammates mid-fight and never spills a drop.
Jah Vibez
ISLAND GUITARIST · CHILL MAGE
Ability: Island Time. Slows all enemies to a relaxed groove while the party’s groove meter refills. Bosses hate it. Everyone else loves it.
Jaylen Bass
THE BUS DRIVER · TANK
Ability: Bus Shield. Parks the Short Bus sideways as full-party cover. Nothing gets past the driver. The bass solos are just a bonus.
Leo
THE LEMONADE KID · MERCHANT
Ability: Lemonade Stand. Sets up shop mid-level and sells buffs to the party. Prices rise when you’re desperate. He knows. He always knows.
Henri Hue
THE DESIGNER · STYLE CLASS
Ability: Pixel Perfect. Redraws any ugly tile into a beautiful one. His pencil-sword cuts through visual clutter, and white space is his shield. Refuses to enter a zone with bad kerning.
Harsh
THE HARDEST WORKER · GRINDER
Ability: Overtime. Works straight through any stun or slow. Damage scales with hours logged, and his hours are always logged.
Game originals
Born in the sprite lab, not on the Characters page. The crew behind the crew.
Young Dave
THE CHAIRMAN HERO · ORIGIN SKIN
Unlock: start a new game. Dave fifteen years earlier, dark hair, same denim jacket, not a single gray hair. Same Vision Blast, twice the stamina. Every hero has an origin skin, and this one still remembers dial-up.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Dave
THE CHAIRMAN HERO · MAIN CHARACTER
Ability: Vision Blast. Clears the fog of war over any new zone and reveals the path forward. The only character who can enter Chairman's Peak, the hub castle at the center of the map. Everything starts with him pressing start.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Mike
CEO TRAINEE · LOYAL SIDEKICK
Ability: Task Sweep. Auto-completes fetch quests in the Queue Halls, vacuuming up small jobs so the party can focus on bosses. Player two in co-op mode: joins mid-level whenever things pile up.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Chadwick
WEB DESIGNER BOT · BUILDER
Ability: Patch Hammer. Repairs cracked platforms and broken bridges in the Broken Link Badlands. Every fixed business website becomes a new walkable tile. Nobody crosses a gap without him.
Hank
PARTNERSHIPS DIRECTOR · EXPLORER
Ability: Trail Blaze. Unlocks locked gates and reveals hidden zones on the Partnership Peaks. The only character who can recruit NPC allies, and every ally opens a new side quest.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Muse
STUDIO ROBOT · COMPANION
Ability: Idea Spark. Generates one random power-up per level from the Dream Lab, tuned to whatever the party needs most. The gold note by its ear hums louder when a good idea is close.
Run cycle: two frames, full speed.
Finance Bot
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING · COIN COLLECTOR
Ability: Coin Magnet. Pulls in every coin on screen and never drops one. Guards the Vault, the endgame money level, where collected coins convert into real Studio upgrades. The richest runs always bring him along.
The worlds
One overworld, eight zones. Pick your starting region.
Studio World
THE OVERWORLD MAP
One map, every zone. The music studio and its radio tower, the Short Bus on its rally road, the coin fields, and the dashboard castle on the hill. Paths connect them all: this is the world they all share, and the board every future mini-game plays on.
Broken Link Badlands
DESERT ZONE · CHADWICK'S TURF
Repair or perish. Cracked platforms, shattered browser windows, dead links half-buried in the sand. Only Chadwick's Patch Hammer can rebuild the bridges. Every fixed website becomes a walkable tile.
Partnership Peaks
MOUNTAIN ZONE · HANK'S TURF
Every gate is a handshake. Locked golden gates between snowy summits, rope bridges, trail markers. Hank's Trail Blaze opens what nobody else can, and every NPC ally he recruits unlocks a new side quest.
Scoreboard Spire
SKY ZONE · DINESH'S TURF
Knowledge is the power-up. A crystal tower of glowing charts rising into the stars. Dinesh's Number Sight reads every boss's health bar before the fight starts. Climb fast, count everything.
Short Bus Rally Road
RACE TRACK · MARTY'S TURF
Floor it. A desert rally circuit built for one yellow school bus and zero brakes. Marty's Prank Portals turn the track into a shortcut maze. Fastest lap gets the bunny plush trophy.
Earth 2
MIRROR WORLD · UNLOCKABLE
Everything is slightly off. The bus is blue, the coins are square, Dave has dark hair. Henri refuses to visit on principle: the kerning is terrible.
The Real World
DENVER, COLORADO · DOCUMENTARY ZONE
Where the game meets real life. 16-bit Denver: the apartment, the venues, the mountains out west. No power-ups here, just the actual story. Bring a jacket.
Chairman's Peak
HUB CASTLE · DAVES ONLY
The castle at the center of the map. Save points, the quest board, the trophy room. Only Dave’s Vision Blast can open the front gate. Everyone else waits outside and waves.
The Vault
ENDGAME MONEY LEVEL · FINANCE BOT’S DOMAIN
Mountains of golden coins. The Finance Bot guards the vault door. Coins collected here convert into real Studio upgrades. The richest runs always end here.
Pick your mode
Three ways to play. Same universe, different game.
- Story Mode: The Chairman's Campaign. Play the zones in order, from the Badlands to Chairman's Peak. Dave's Vision Blast clears the fog of war as you go, and the finale unlocks only when the whole party stands together.
- Co-op Chaos. Player two drops in mid-level whenever things pile up. Mike's Task Sweep vacuums up the small jobs while player one fights the boss. Built for the couch, best with snacks.
- The Arcade Cabinet. Quick mini-games, high scores, no story required: Chadwick's broken-link fixer-upper, Sally's rhythm game scored to real Studio songs, Marty's bus rally racer, and Dinesh's number-cruncher time attack.
The goods
Every great game ships with stuff. The cartridge, the fantasy, and the sprite shelf.
The Cartridge
PHYSICAL MEDIA · COLLECTOR'S ITEM
Studio Universe, gold edition. Blow on it before inserting, like nature intended. The label art is the dashboard castle at sunset. Save data: one Chairman's Peak, twenty-five heroes, infinite coins.
Now Playing
THE FANTASY · SOME KID'S BEDROOM
Somewhere, a kid is already speedrunning us. CRT glow, cross-legged on the carpet, three coins from a new record. This is the whole point: the Studio as a game worth finishing.
Power-ups and baddies
Fresh from the sprite lab. All original, all extremely collectible.
Coin
A golden music-note coin. Collect 100, get a 1-up. The Finance Bot is already hoarding them.
Mic Wings
Grab it and Sally's Song Shield doubles for 30 seconds. Flying optional but encouraged.
Broken Link
The classic baddie: a busted website that wobbles toward you. Chadwick's Patch Hammer is its only weakness.
Star
Ten seconds of invincibility and a big goofy grin. Bosses hate this one trick.
Heart
A 1-up heart with a guitar pick inside. Heals the whole party and the setlist.
? Block
Hit it from below. Could be a coin, could be a power-up, could be a meeting that could have been an email.
Dinesh
The engineer. 2D cartoon, glasses, </> shirt. Currently rebuilding Llama Chat.
Ramen Bowl
Mike's signature heal. One bowl restores the whole party and adds +2 hustle for a full level.
Golden Hammer
Chadwick's ultimate upgrade. Fixes any broken tile instantly, no questions asked. Unlock: close your first real web-design client.
404 Ghost
Haunts dead pages and wails when clicked. Immune to everything except a proper redirect.
Spam Bot
Shoots junk mail in every direction. Drops coins when defeated, because even spam pays eventually.
Boss fights
The big bads at the end of the road. Bring friends.
Scope Creep
FINAL BOSS · THE NEVER-ENDING PROJECT
Ability: Just One More Thing. Adds brand-new attack phases mid-fight. The health bar keeps getting longer. The only winning move is shipping anyway.
The Algorithm
SECRET BOSS · THE FEED ITSELF
Ability: Shadowban. Randomly hides your power-ups mid-fight. Only beatable by going viral: keep the combo meter maxed and never, ever stop posting.
Where this could go
- Playable mini-games. Chadwick's broken-link fixer as an arcade fixer-upper, a Sally rhythm game scored to real Studio songs, Marty's bus rally racer.
- Character unlocks tied to real milestones. Ship 10 songs, unlock a Sally skin. Close the first web-design client, unlock Chadwick's golden hammer.
- A quest board tied to the real Studio queue. Finish a real task on the dashboard, earn XP in the game. The Studio's actual work becomes the game's campaign.
- Two-frame everything. Every character already runs on two frames. Next: jump, crouch, and the legendary Marty mop spin.
- Printable cartridge labels. Stick the Studio Universe label on anything. Instant collector's item.
Exploration, Oct 3, 2026 · expanded Oct 4, 2026 · The Studio