How Whimpact! survived cancellation to find new life as an indie | interview

Whimpact! has one of those development stories that feels increasingly rare in today’s games industry.

What began as an internally incubated project at Wizards of the Coast has since found new life as an independent title under Level Headed Games, carrying forward its original optimism while reshaping itself for a very different production reality.

The result is a cooperative arena experience built around care, collaboration, and humor, rather than competition or combat-first design.

At its core, Whimpact! positions itself as a co-op arena game centered on what the team calls the world’s most extreme Easter egg hunt. Players team up with friends and a cast of collectible creatures known as Whims to navigate obstacle-filled arenas, uncover rewards, and grow stronger together. Unlike traditional creature-collection games, Whimpact! flips familiar genre expectations, emphasizing symbiotic relationships and shared success instead of pitting companions against enemies.

That philosophy did not emerge by accident. According to Level Headed Games studio head Leah Hoyer, the idea that “caring is a superpower” has been part of Whimpact!’s DNA since its earliest days. Influenced by the team’s prior experience on large-scale live service games like Guild Wars 2, the design intentionally rewards cooperation, generosity, and positive player interactions.

Seeing another player in Whimpact! is meant to feel like an advantage, not a threat.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4NWrbMVN84E?feature=oembed In this email Q&A interview with GamesBeat, Hoyer walks through Whimpact!’s unusual journey from a canceled internal project to an independently owned game, the challenges of transitioning away from a major publisher’s infrastructure, and the creative recalibration required to find “big fun in a smaller corner” of the game’s universe.

She also discusses how Level Headed Games approaches the emerging “Triple I” space, why Whimpact!’s tone feels particularly timely, and what kind of player feedback the team is most eager to hear as the game continues to evolve.

Below is a lightly edited transcript of the email Q&A interview.

Leah Hoyer, Head of Studio at Level Headed Games In your own words, can you just give me the elevator pitch for this game?

Leah Hoyer, studio head at Level Headed Games: Whimpact! is a co-op arena game featuring the world’s most extreme easter egg hunt. By working with your friends and your Whims—the creatures you’ve tended to—you are able to navigate harder obstacles, gather more items, and earn better rewards.

What was the original creative spark behind the project, and how early did the “caring is a superpower” philosophy take shape?

Hoyer: The project started at Wizards of the Coast with a goal of creating a new IP to reach a younger, broader audience that could expand across the Wizards/Hasbro ecosystem. Because we were at Wizards, it felt natural to focus on games as a service—something that could grow and evolve with players like D&D and Magic.

But we wanted to step away from the dungeon some and embrace bright colors, more comedy, and an optimistic teamwork vibe. The game we developed there was doing all of that. And while we were creating a new world with an original story and characters, we were designing a game that could be the future home of the Hasbro Multiverse…it allowed for creatures and characters from various IP to come together in one place.

Pre-production was going very well, early concept testing was excellent, and the team was excited. But unfortunately, the economy wasn’t on our side. Hasbro had to make some cuts, and we were part of that.

When some of the team decided to keep it going, we knew we couldn’t make the same game we were going to make with backing from WotC, but we wanted to hold onto the optimistic, cooperative nature of the game. We love that the Whims (our collectible creatures) need your help, but that the relationship is symbiotic—you help them get stronger, and they return the favor by imbuing you with superpowers when you take them as companions. You don’t send them into battle; you take on challenges together.

And that cooperative idea extends to your friends. Both the arena and the non-timed areas of the game can be played by up to eight people, and while you can play solo, it is both more fun and more effective to play together.

I know we were influenced by the fact that a few of us had worked on Guild Wars 2 together, and loved that one of the tenets of that game was that it should always be a good thing to see another player in-game. In Whimpact!, you share all loot drops and earn better rewards from the arena when you work together.

So it really helps to be cooperative and encouraging of other players. I was at DICE chatting with some industry friends last year when I first said out loud that in our game, “the more you care, the better you play.” They instantly said they loved that, and it should be our tagline. But the idea had been baked in from the start. The more you care for your Whims, and the more you support your friends, the faster you all improve and the better you all do.

Whimpact! by Level Headed Games Whimpact! has a rare development story, beginning at Wizards of the Coast before you brokered a deal to take ownership and continue development independently. What was the most challenging part of navigating that transition?

Hoyer: The folks at Wizards were very supportive, and I think it is pretty rare to have that opportunity. I greatly appreciate them for enabling that transition. The deal itself was slow, but largely because, while the deal was everything to Level Headed, it was a very small asset to such a big company. So we just had to be patient, but kept working, knowing that it was going to happen.

The harder part is that you no longer have the machine of a big company supporting you. I was very used to having entire departments to handle things like IT, Marketing, Legal, HR, and Operations. Now, every one of those departments was on us, and most were specifically on me. I love teamwork. I appreciate it when other folks who really know what they are doing in various areas come together for the greater good. The team just gets so much smaller in an indie studio, and that adds a lot of stress.

Fortunately, I have a great network of trusted people who have been there to help. Some become part of the team as paid members. But with limited resources, that isn’t usually possible. Most have just offered advice and support because that’s what this industry has been about the last couple of years. I’m eternally grateful for their generosity.

What did it mean to you personally and professionally to ensure Whimpact! didn’t disappear?

Hoyer: On a professional level, I’ve always been pretty entrepreneurial. My background has always been at the intersection of business and creativity, and I have a high tolerance for change and uncertainty. I had always seen myself starting a studio. Having our internal studio closed down and having the opportunity to acquire the project felt like the world saying that now is the time to go for it.

On a personal level, I really love the message and overall vibe of the game. It was taking risks by being different, but those differences really feel right for the time that we are in right now. We could all use more positivity, teamwork, and laughter. When the economy tightens, folks who make decisions often tend to lean into what they feel are “safe bets.”

Those tend to be games that look like a lot of other games that are out there. But I think there are no safe bets right now. The only things that stand out are ones that have a fresh point of view. I feel our world needs a game like this. You can never count on success in our industry. But whether it is wildly successful or not, I can at least put it out there for those looking for something like this.

Whimpact! by Level Headed Games How did bringing the project to Level Headed Games change the scope, direction, or creative freedom of the game?

Hoyer: We had to change a lot of things about the game. Nobody was going to fund a non-AI games studio for the amount we were going to spend under the Wizards umbrella. So about half a year after rolling out of WotC, we did a major reevaluation. We spent several weeks brainstorming and discussing, with the goal of “finding big fun in a smaller corner of our universe.” We kept the art, general story, and much of the foundational technology of the project, but leaned into more repeatable loops and less one-off content moments.

The arena is literally a giant egg hunt. That didn’t exist before. But we knew it was a fun activity that we could blow up to be a fun co-op challenge. And the Whims took on a different role. They became companion creatures who imbue you with superpowers. So the rescuing of them and tending to them became even more important as well. You now have a persistent piece of land that becomes their home. You decorate it and personalize it and make space for all your Whims.

We love the way it has come together, but it was a fairly significant reimagining of the pieces present in the original idea.

One of Whimpact!’s most unique ideas is flipping the creature-collector formula so that Whims empower the player instead of fighting alongside them. What inspired that design inversion?

Hoyer: I love this question! There are a lot of games out there that treat your collectible creatures as weapons, and we wanted to do it differently. I love my dog and would never think of sending him into a situation to battle other dogs or people. Instead, my dog gives me confidence when I might be walking down a dark street, he makes me fitter because I take him running or hiking, and we play fetch together—it’s a back-and-forth that needs us both to be there.

We certainly aren’t making a dog sim (though I would play one), but I think that sense of care and respect for the relationship with creatures translates. Many players have told us they like this take better than the more common trope of creatures as weapons…it feels like a nice way to update the player/familiar relationship.

Level Headed Games positions itself as part of the “Triple I” space, targeting Gen Z and cross-generational audiences. How did that philosophy influence Whimpact!’s design decisions?

Hoyer: Our founding leadership had decades of combined AAA games experience when we went indie. I think that has allowed us to learn from many past mistakes, benefit from extensive networks, and bring a level of maturity to our studio that has all been very positive. Those are the essential elements of the Triple I movement, I believe.

But the challenge that brings is a constant instinct to compare ourselves with other games we’ve made before, or that are coming out of much larger studios. Of course, we want to make a quality product. But we simply can’t make the same game that AAA studios are making. So we have to think a lot about scope and leaning into the elements that make us stand out.

Whimpact! by Level Headed Games What kind of feedback are you most eager to receive from players during Early Access?

Hoyer: We’ve been playtesting our game with a group of about 200 players for over a year now. Of course, it has grown and evolved a lot during that time. But every time we add a new feature, we want to see how players use it, and if it truly adds value.

As we bring more players into the game, we are eager to see how we can best facilitate connections between them in a fun and comfortable way. And right now, we are diving deep into the tutorialization of game features. We obviously know how things are supposed to work, and our long-standing players do too. So I love when newer players reveal moments of confusion or learning that players didn’t even know a feature existed. We can fix that, and we will with good feedback.

Also, we’ve been asking our community for fun ideas for new cosmetics and decorators. They come up with the best concepts! Anyone looking to be part of that conversation can follow us on socials, join our Discord, and/or wishlist us on Steam.

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