Killer Queen Black

The Queen is the most powerful unit in the game, and can lead teams to victory or defeat. All other players start off as a drone, a non-attacking unit that can pick up berries found in the arena and take them to Transformation Gates or the team’s hive. Drones can transform either into a Speed Drone, who can move around faster, or a Warrior, which loses the Drone’s abilities to instead wield a sword and kill the enemy’s Drones, Warriors or Queen. Transformation Gates start off unclaimed, but can be turned to one team’s color by a Queen of that color. Several Gates are found throughout the different arenas, a drone transforms to either a Warrior or Speed Drone by bringing a berry to an activated Gate corresponding to that character. If a Warrior is killed, the player respawns as a Drone and must get to another Warrior gate to gain Warrior powers again. Queens have three lives, represented by three eggs in their hive, and a team loses the game once the third hatched Queen has died. Economic Victory is attained by filling a team’s honeycomb hive with berries. Snail Victory is achieved by riding the slow-moving Snail at the bottom of the arena to one side in a tug-of-war-like back and forth battle. The community of players inspired by this game has developed a long list of tactics and strategies for victory, lending to the competitiveness of the game. Killer Queen went through several iterations on its journey to the arcade, starting off as a college rec league-like outdoor field game inspired by the scent trails of ants. DeBonis and Mikros premiered the field game at New York University’s Come Out & Play festival, where it won awards for “Most Strategic” and “Best in Fest.” After the success of the field game, the game grew into more of a passion project. Mikros and DeBonis - under the independent game studios Sortasoft and Smashworx - started developing the digital game alongside the field game in 2011.