CORE SPECIAL: Crashlands 2 and Seth Coster interview

·43 min·4 clips

Scott Johnson interviews Seth Coster about Crashlands 2, revealing how a cancer diagnosis sparked the game's creation.

This episode of The Core Podcast features an interview with Seth Coster, co-founder of Butterscotch Shenanigans, focusing on Crashlands 2. Host Scott Johnson introduces Coster, noting his long-time admiration for the studio's games. Coster explains that Crashlands 2 had a smooth launch compared to the original, which faced 2,200 bug reports from 40 testers. The origin of Crashlands is tied to Coster's brother Sam's cancer diagnosis at age 23, which motivated them to create a more ambitious game. Crashlands 1 was developed over two years, with cross-save functionality introduced to solve the problem of developers lacking ways to contact players across platforms. The game removes typical survival mechanics like hunger and limited inventory, positioning itself as a crafting-driven action RPG. Coster discusses the crowded survival game market and how Crashlands pivoted to include narrative and questing. He contrasts this with Levelhead, their previous game that struggled against Mario Maker 2's release. Crashlands 2 underwent a five-year development cycle, with visual and systemic overhauls while maintaining the series' soul. The studio plans a 1.1 patch to add early-game items and a compendium based on player feedback. Coster highlights the game's humor, achieved through item descriptions and a dedicated writer for emotional depth. The studio's podcast, with over 500 episodes, helps connect with players and archive their journey. Crashlands 2 is available on Steam, iOS, and Android, with limited-run Flux plushies promoted.

As heard by us

A clear design conversation about making favorite Crashlands 2 tools last beyond maintenance loops.

Crashlands 2 comes through as a design-minded conversation between Scott Johnson and Seth Koster, co-founder of Butterscotch Shenanigans. Koster explains the choice to strip out maintenance mechanics so players can keep moving, hold onto the items they have earned, and stick…

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Want to know why an early flamethrower can stay useful for the whole game?

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