Story 7: How a six-month filler exploded into a four-year hit with Team17 and VLDL

What happens when a six‑month filler refuses to stay small—and
becomes your studio’s defining bet? For Konrad Kunze of
FusionPlay, it began with a gap on the calendar, a “let’s mash
RPG and fishing” experiment, and a cold DM to Viva La Dirt League
that turned into a full creative partnership—then a publisher
deal with Team17.


In this episode, Konrad traces the unlikely arc from a stopgap
prototype to Nice Day for Fishing: the one decision that tipped a
side project into a four‑year production, the brand
non‑negotiables that kept VLDL’s humor and character DNA honest,
and the approval pipeline that protected momentum across
creators, devs, and publisher. He opens the black box on the
riskiest week of development, the feature they almost cut that
became the game’s heart, and the trade‑offs required to scale
without losing the spark.


You will learn:


How a cold outreach to VLDL evolved into a working model for
creator‑developer collaboration

How Team17’s milestones, QA, and positioning sharpened the
final product without dulling its voice

How community expectations from VLDL’s audience shaped
quests, tone, and onboarding

How to design approval workflows that keep authenticity high
and iteration fast

Why betting on a “tiny” idea—at the right moment—can reset a
studio’s trajector






Subscribe for the full, uncut and ad-free episodes!


Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/behind_the_scenes_show


Steady: https://steady.page/behindthescenes


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.