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Chaos Manufacturing - Version 13 vs Version 14
Aug 18, 2026, 03:24 AM
Reattributed the kinetic-weapons rationale to the CEO and reframed it as outlawed and regulated rather than largely absent, dropped the over-rockets claim from the space-elevator line, widened the founding estimate to two to three years, corrected Vasco Mariano's title to Concept Artist, removed the duplicated 17-name roster sentence, unlinked a repeated in-body link, and lowercased the small word in the Funding and Independence heading
Aug 26, 2026, 04:23 AM
Added Rohan Karnik as Lead Combat Designer to the leadership table and raised the public roster count from seventeen to eighteen, dropped the unverified founder trio from the page description, and replaced the film post-production claim with the film and television experience the studio itself documents
1-Chaos Manufacturing is the independent studio developing and self-publishing SOL Shogunate, which is the studio's debut project. Founded by veterans of major action and RPG productions and complemented by film post-production talent, the studio operates as both developer and publisher, so design, engineering, and storefront decisions all originate in-house rather than at an external label.1+Chaos Manufacturing is the independent studio developing and self-publishing SOL Shogunate, which is the studio's debut project. Founded by veterans of major action and RPG productions, with several members coming in from film and television, the studio operates as both developer and publisher, so design, engineering, and storefront decisions all originate in-house rather than at an external label.22Studio Profile44FieldDetailStudio StatusIndependentRoles on SOL ShogunateDeveloper and publisher (self-published)Debut ProjectSOL ShogunateProject StatusIn active development, targeting a 2027 releaseMissionCombine combat, story, and music in harmonyFoundedEarly development reportedly underway around 2023 (approximate, see Unconfirmed Details)EngineUnreal Engine 566Leadership77A small core of named leaders sits at the head of the studio, mixing the two co-founders with senior leads who front the public dev-diary appearances. Each brings a different slice of the AAA action and RPG world into Chaos Manufacturing.99NameRoleBackgroundGuy CostantiniCEO and General ManagerCareer in publishing, marketing, and community building. Shaped early community strategy for a major competitive online game at Riot Games, supported a Marvel mobile fighting title at Kabam, worked on branding for The Witcher 3's final expansion and early Cyberpunk 2077 initiatives at CD Projekt, and served on the greenlight team at Skydance Interactive across the Terminator and The Walking Dead licences. Also sits on the board of PlaySide Studios.Nate EckmanCo-FounderFounding partner working alongside Costantini on company direction and the SOL Shogunate vision.Leszek SzczepanskiGame DirectorMore than twenty shipped titles across programming, systems design, and gameplay direction. Began at Playsoft with credits on series including Metal Gear, The Sims, and Sonic the Hedgehog, then joined Guerrilla Games as a principal gameplay programmer and systems designer on Killzone, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Horizon Forbidden West. Also credited on Castlevania and Mortal Kombat projects. His work has twice been recognised at the BAFTA awards, and he was named one of 2023's top 25 game developers in an industry ranking. At Chaos Manufacturing he doubles as the studio's principal gameplay programmer and systems designer. He is based in Amsterdam, and is an avid Japanese rock fan and a musician himself, which the studio credits for how tightly music is woven into the design.Cindi KnaptonNarrative DirectorNarrative lead on SOL Shogunate, fronting the studio's public dev-diary appearances alongside the game director and shaping the world and story across the writing, art, and design departments. She has described her own background as coming from film.Lily GunawanDirector of ProductionProduction lead on SOL Shogunate. Fielded design, scope, and influence questions in the studio's first public developer Q&A in April 2026.Daniel JulianTechnical ProducerTechnical production lead on SOL Shogunate.Andrea BellucciAudio DirectorAudio lead on SOL Shogunate, the discipline carrying the studio's music-as-a-pillar commitment.Faye VHead of CommunityRuns the studio's community channels and hosted the April 2026 developer Q&A.10+NameRoleBackgroundGuy CostantiniCEO and General ManagerCareer in publishing, marketing, and community building. Shaped early community strategy for a major competitive online game at Riot Games, supported a Marvel mobile fighting title at Kabam, worked on branding for The Witcher 3's final expansion and early Cyberpunk 2077 initiatives at CD Projekt, and served on the greenlight team at Skydance Interactive across the Terminator and The Walking Dead licences. Also sits on the board of PlaySide Studios.Nate EckmanCo-FounderFounding partner working alongside Costantini on company direction and the SOL Shogunate vision.Leszek SzczepanskiGame DirectorMore than twenty shipped titles across programming, systems design, and gameplay direction. Began at Playsoft with credits on series including Metal Gear, The Sims, and Sonic the Hedgehog, then joined Guerrilla Games as a principal gameplay programmer and systems designer on Killzone, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Horizon Forbidden West. Also credited on Castlevania and Mortal Kombat projects. His work has twice been recognised at the BAFTA awards, and he was named one of 2023's top 25 game developers in an industry ranking. At Chaos Manufacturing he doubles as the studio's principal gameplay programmer and systems designer. He is based in Amsterdam, and is an avid Japanese rock fan and a musician himself, which the studio credits for how tightly music is woven into the design.Cindi KnaptonNarrative DirectorNarrative lead on SOL Shogunate, fronting the studio's public dev-diary appearances alongside the game director and shaping the world and story across the writing, art, and design departments. She has described her own background as coming from film.Rohan KarnikLead Combat DesignerCombat design lead on SOL Shogunate. Added to the studio's public team page in August 2026. No prior credits or background have been published.Lily GunawanDirector of ProductionProduction lead on SOL Shogunate. Fielded design, scope, and influence questions in the studio's first public developer Q&A in April 2026.Daniel JulianTechnical ProducerTechnical production lead on SOL Shogunate.Andrea BellucciAudio DirectorAudio lead on SOL Shogunate, the discipline carrying the studio's music-as-a-pillar commitment.Faye VHead of CommunityRuns the studio's community channels and hosted the April 2026 developer Q&A.1111Chaos Agents1212Chaos Manufacturing calls its own people Chaos Agents. The term is not a nickname bolted on after the fact: it is the job title the studio uses in its own published staff biographies, where the CEO is introduced as "Chaos Agent (CEO)" and the game director as "Chaos Agent (Game Director)". The studio extends the same label outward to players, inviting people who sign up for future playtests to "become a Chaos Agent" too, which folds the tester programme into the same identity as the development team.1414The Wider Team1616Beyond the leadership group, the studio's public team page names the artists, animators, and marketing staff working on SOL Shogunate. Several of them have since introduced themselves on camera through the studio's short-form Meet the Devs series, which has been running roughly every one to two weeks since February 2026 and doubles as the studio's answer channel for community questions.1818NameRoleNoted ContributionAlvaro GarciaVFX ArtistVisual effects work across combat and environment.Can Jilmaz3D AnimatorCharacter and creature animation.Aaron NakaharaConcept ArtistDramatic environment portraits, character concepts, and action-sequence art that feed worldbuilding, character design, and narrative design. The studio traces the project's founding image to one of his pieces.Vasco MarianoConcept ArtistTook Yuzuki from first concept through to her current design, and shaped the personalities of the cast.Daniel LiangConcept ArtistConcept art across the game's world and characters.Jeremy DiederichEnvironment ArtistBuilds the desolate lunar surface and the dense cities of Shin-Edo and Tenkyo. See the Moon.Joe ProvenzanoDirector of PhotographyFilm and television background; the studio credits him with the look of the reveal trailer and the anime-music-video framing of its gameplay presentation.Sean WoodArt Director, MarketingMarketing art direction.Dick DurdenMarketingMarketing.20-With the eight leaders listed above, that brings the public roster to seventeen named people. The studio has said the count has grown over the life of the project rather than staying fixed, and it does not publish a total headcount including unannounced contributors.20+With the nine leaders listed above, that brings the public roster to eighteen named people. The studio has said the count has grown over the life of the project rather than staying fixed, and it does not publish a total headcount including unannounced contributors.2121Veteran Pedigree2323Beyond the founders, the studio recruits across two distinct talent pools. Game development veterans on the team have shipped projects at Riot, Blizzard, CD Projekt Red, Guerrilla, Respawn, Treyarch, and ZeniMax, a pool that covers competitive online design, large-scale RPGs, narrative-led action RPGs, first-person shooters, and engine-heavy AAA development.2525The studio's core has been up to five people full-time, a number that fluctuates depending on where the project is in its go-to-market cycle. Around that core sits a constellation of fractional contributors across production, art, audio, narrative, marketing, and community. Public-facing leadership on SOL Shogunate has been led by Game Director Leszek Szczepanski and Narrative Director Cindi Knapton, who together fronted the first dev diary in April 2026 and have been the studio's main on-camera voices for setting and story. The founders have surfaced more often in trade interviews than in the dev-diary video itself.2727Origin Story2929The studio CEO has placed the origin of SOL Shogunate on a single piece of concept art by Aaron Nakahara, a stylized image of a samurai warrior with a burning light at the center of the face. That image gave the project its visual north star: a future samurai with an intentional aesthetic rooted in a specific reason, rather than a generic ninja-and-neon coat of paint over a sci-fi soldier. From there, the studio built out the alt-future setting, the lunar shogunate, and the gene-spliced protagonist around that founding image.3131Chaos Manufacturing was founded roughly two to three years before the December 2025 reveal, with Game Director Leszek Szczepanski and CEO Guy Costantini meeting and deciding to start the studio together. The team built the company on the premise that it would punch above its weight by being small, autonomous, and remote-by-default rather than tied to a single office.3333Five Studio Principles3535PrincipleWhat It Means in PracticeOriginal Stories FirstThe studio is built to develop new IP rather than licensed work or franchise sequels. SOL Shogunate is itself an original property.Flexible and TransparentNon-exclusive working arrangements and radical transparency with the team, letting collaborators balance project work with outside commitments.Bias Towards TrustInternal decision-making leans on giving team members the benefit of the doubt rather than heavy oversight gates.Always LearningContinuous learning is treated as a core habit rather than a perk, expected at every level including leadership.Play the Long GameThe studio frames itself for sustained output across multiple years, prioritizing reputation and craft over short-term release pressure.3737Mission3838The studio's headline mission for SOL Shogunate is to combine combat, story, and music in harmony. In practice, that shapes three decisions: combat is tuned for fluid, fast-paced exchanges rather than slow attrition; story sequences a personal revenge arc that opens onto a wider conspiracy; and the soundtrack scales with battle stakes, framing boss fights as interactive music videos rather than background score.4040Funding and Independence4242Chaos Manufacturing is self-funded through angel investors, with additional financing partners coming on board through 2026. The studio retains full creative control over SOL Shogunate and operates as both developer and publisher today, though the CEO has stated the studio is open to a publishing partner that retains the studio's creative control and brings something to the table the studio cannot do in-house.4444The funding model is structured so that the studio only grows as much as it needs to, with equity for everyone on the team in the early phase and profit sharing planned once equity stops mattering. The stated intent is to avoid the kind of forced growth that has hit larger studios when external money pressured a scale-up the project did not need.4646Science Consulting4848Aerospace engineer Taylore McClurg consults on the science layer, working with the team since early development. Her brief is to keep the lunar setting plausible where it can be: low gravity behaviour, the rationale for space elevators at the Moon, and the long-term health cost of low-gravity life together with the way the elite offset it by treating exercise as a privilege. The in-world reason the sword carries the combat load comes from elsewhere in the studio: the CEO has framed kinetic weapons as something the society in charge would move to outlaw, so their use is limited and regulated rather than scarce by accident, and traditional fighting styles become the sanctioned way to settle a conflict.5050Production Approach5252The game's art is handcrafted. The studio's principal concept artist traveled across Japan taking reference photos to build the lunar cities and surface biomes on top of real-world inspiration, and Chaos Manufacturing's stated philosophy is to let artists choose the tools they work with rather than mandating a top-down toolchain. The CEO has framed this as a quality-of-craft decision and has left room for the toolchain to change later if new tools materially help the work.5454The development team is remote-by-default. The studio has stated it does not require contributors to move across the ocean for the role and tries to adapt the company's working pattern around the people on the team rather than the other way around. As of early 2026 the project was nearing the end of pre-production, with production estimated to run for about another one to two years toward the 2027 target window.5656The remote setup is asynchronous by design rather than just distributed. The studio leans on written documentation and recorded meetings so contributors in different time zones can pick work up without a fixed synchronous schedule, and keeps standing meetings to a minimum.5858Asked directly whether AI is used in development, the game director's answer was an unambiguous no. That sits alongside the handcrafted-art position above and the studio's stated preference for letting artists pick their own tools rather than automating the pipeline.6060As of August 2026 the studio's own careers listing is still open for the same two senior roles, a Senior Gameplay Designer and a Senior Gameplay Programmer. That is consistent with the stated model of growing only where the project needs it rather than scaling headcount ahead of the work. Both published job descriptions also confirm the technical stack from the studio's side rather than from coverage: the designer role asks for hands-on Unreal Engine 5 experience and familiarity with scripting and Unreal Blueprints, while the programmer role asks for a strong command of C++ and at least one shipped single-player title. The programmer posting frames the work around "game feel", naming character movement, camera behaviour, combat, and player interactions as the systems it owns.6262Unconfirmed Details6464TopicPublic StatusStudio HeadquartersNot publicly disclosed. No confirmed city or country.Exact Founding YearNot officially announced. The around-2023 figure is a single-source estimate and should be treated as approximate.Full Team Headcount17 names appear on the public team page. Total headcount including unannounced contributors is not confirmed.FinancingInvestor backing, publishing partnerships, and external funding arrangements have not been disclosed.Future ProjectsNone announced. SOL Shogunate is the only confirmed project on the studio's roadmap.65+TopicPublic StatusStudio HeadquartersNot publicly disclosed. No confirmed city or country.Exact Founding YearNot officially announced. The around-2023 figure is a single-source estimate and should be treated as approximate.Full Team Headcount18 names appear on the public team page. Total headcount including unannounced contributors is not confirmed.FinancingInvestor backing, publishing partnerships, and external funding arrangements have not been disclosed.Future ProjectsNone announced. SOL Shogunate is the only confirmed project on the studio's roadmap.6666This page will be updated as Chaos Manufacturing publicly confirms additional studio details, team members, and any work beyond SOL Shogunate.
