Tim Keenan just launched Below the Crown into Early Access on November 10, and to celebrate, he’s hosting an Ask Me Anything on Reddit where he’s spilling details about his unconventionally diverse career. Most developers have straightforward paths, working at a few studios before maybe going indie. Keenan’s resume reads like he’s been playing career roulette, bouncing between animated films at DreamWorks, AAA console games at Rainbow Studios, collaborations with Brandon Sanderson and JJ Abrams, and creating critically acclaimed indie titles like Duskers that earned cult followings despite modest sales.
Below the Crown is his latest project, a chess-meets-roguelike-meets-dungeon-crawler hybrid that sounds absolutely wild on paper. You start as a wizard piece on a chess-like board, recruit other pieces with unique abilities, and explore procedurally generated dungeons where chess movement rules dictate combat. It’s the kind of high-concept indie game that either clicks immediately or confuses the hell out of people, and based on the AMA responses, Keenan has been iterating on this idea for years.
The DreamWorks to Indie Pipeline Nobody Talks About
One of the most interesting aspects of Keenan’s career is how he moved from big-budget animation into indie games. He spent years at DreamWorks Animation as an FX Developer and Technical Director, working on films like Shrek 2, Madagascar, and How to Train Your Dragon. That’s not a typical background for game developers, who usually come up through traditional game industry channels.
The skills translate more than you’d think. Creating visual effects for animated films requires programming, artistic sensibility, and problem-solving under tight deadlines with massive budgets on the line. Those same skills apply to game development, especially for indie creators who need to wear multiple hats. Keenan’s ability to balance technical implementation with artistic vision clearly influenced games like Duskers, which created incredible atmosphere with minimal visual assets.
Before DreamWorks, Keenan worked at Rainbow Studios on PS2 and Xbox titles including Splashdown and ATV Offroad Fury 2. That AAA console experience gave him foundations in game systems and mechanics that informed his indie work later. It’s the kind of diverse background that creates unique perspectives on game design.
Duskers and the Cult Hit Problem
If you haven’t played Duskers, it’s a sci-fi survival game where you pilot drones through derelict spaceships using a command-line interface. Everything is shown through lo-fi drone cameras with motion sensors telling you something’s out there without revealing what. It’s atmospheric, tense, and completely unique in how it creates dread through limited information and interface constraints.
The game earned critical acclaim and developed a passionate fanbase. It also didn’t sell particularly well by commercial standards. According to data Keenan shared in a 2021 AMA, Duskers sold roughly 90% on Windows, 7% on Mac, and 3.5% on Linux over its first five years. While exact numbers weren’t disclosed, the context suggests modest sales that couldn’t sustain a studio long-term.
This is the reality for many cult indie games. Critical success and passionate fanbases don’t automatically translate to financial sustainability. Keenan has been transparent about the challenges of indie development and funding throughout his career, even writing blog posts about securing investment and navigating the business side of game creation.
The Bad Robot and Brandon Sanderson Detours
After Duskers, Keenan didn’t immediately return to indie development. He spent a year at Brace Yourself Games, best known for Crypt of the NecroDancer, before joining Bad Robot Games as Creative Director. For those unfamiliar, Bad Robot is JJ Abrams’ production company, which launched a games division to explore interactive storytelling.
During his time with Bad Robot and later at other studios, Keenan worked on Moonbreaker with Brandon Sanderson, the bestselling fantasy author. That project aimed to combine miniature-based tactics with Sanderson’s world-building, creating a digital board game with narrative depth. It was ambitious but ultimately struggled to find an audience after its Early Access launch.
These experiences working with major creative talents on high-profile projects gave Keenan perspectives that most indie developers never get. He’s seen what massive budgets and famous collaborators can accomplish, and he’s also seen how those advantages don’t guarantee success. That knowledge presumably influences how he approaches indie development now.
What Makes Below the Crown Different
According to the AMA, Below the Crown emerged from Keenan’s long-standing fascination with making multiplayer chess-based combat. The original prototype existed years ago, but concerns about empty lobbies and matchmaking killed that direction. When he returned to indie development, he kept the chess mechanics but reimagined them within a roguelike framework.
The game takes chess movement and makes it accessible for newcomers while remaining compelling for chess veterans. You start with one wizard piece instead of a full 16-piece board, eliminating the intimidation factor of memorized openings and drawn-out endgames. As you explore dungeons, you recruit additional pieces like Rooks and Archers, each with unique abilities beyond standard chess moves.
Abilities like Vision provide placement flexibility, while Shadow Protection grants shields when standing on dark tiles. You collect spell cards and skills throughout runs, creating RPG-style progression within chess-based combat. It’s a genre mashup that sounds confusing in description but apparently works in practice based on early reactions.
The game also features mysterious psychological elements. Random evaluations appear after screen glitches, asking questions that hint at deeper narrative layers beneath the retro aesthetic. For players who loved Duskers’ atmospheric storytelling through environmental details and limited information, this approach should feel familiar.
Community Features and Asynchronous Competition
One smart design decision is the community integration. Players can create and share custom boards, compete in asynchronous challenges, and watch replays showing how others achieved high scores. This creates social engagement without requiring live multiplayer matchmaking, solving the empty lobby problem that killed the original prototype.
The replay system in particular seems clever for a game about strategic decision-making. Watching how someone else approached a board you struggled with provides learning opportunities while showcasing impressive plays. It’s the same appeal as watching speedruns or challenge completions, translated into a chess-roguelike context.
The Funding Reality
Keenan has been surprisingly open about funding challenges throughout the AMA and in previous interviews. Below the Crown received prototype funding from Elbow Grease Games, then secured publishing partnership with Shochiku, a Japanese company better known for over a century of film production than gaming.
He explicitly mentions how fortunate they were to find not just funding but a partner offering fair deals in the current environment. That’s indie development in 2025, where securing any funding at all requires luck, connections, and probably sacrifices that don’t make it into public statements.
The acknowledgment of angel investors like Ben Newhouse, Jeffrey Rosen, and Dan Bunting shows the reality of indie game creation. You need multiple funding sources, support networks, and probably years of relationship-building before you can make the game you actually want to create.
Team Collaboration
The AMA also features potential appearances from Brendan Mauro, the artist for both Below the Crown and Duskers, and Benni Hill, the writer for both games. That continuity suggests Keenan has built lasting creative partnerships that survive across projects and career changes.
For indie developers, finding collaborators you work well with and maintaining those relationships through industry ups and downs is crucial. The fact that the same core team tackled both Duskers and Below the Crown despite years between projects speaks to successful creative chemistry.
FAQs
What is Below the Crown?
Below the Crown is a chess-inspired roguelike dungeon crawler where you start as a wizard piece, recruit other chess pieces with unique abilities, and explore procedurally generated dungeons with strategic combat based on chess movement rules.
When did Below the Crown launch?
Below the Crown entered Early Access on Steam on November 10, 2025. A free demo is also available for players who want to try before committing to the Early Access purchase.
Who is Tim Keenan?
Tim Keenan is an independent game developer and founder of Misfits Attic. He created Duskers and A Virus Named TOM, worked at DreamWorks Animation on films like Shrek 2 and How to Train Your Dragon, and served as Creative Director at Bad Robot Games.
What is Duskers?
Duskers is a sci-fi drone piloting game where you explore derelict spaceships using command-line interfaces and limited visual information. The game creates atmospheric tension through lo-fi presentation and strategic drone management.
Did Tim Keenan work with Brandon Sanderson?
Yes, Keenan collaborated with bestselling fantasy author Brandon Sanderson on Moonbreaker, a digital board game combining miniature tactics with narrative world-building.
Where can I play Below the Crown?
Below the Crown is available in Early Access on Steam. There’s also a free demo available that includes a couple hours of content across multiple levels.
What other games has Misfits Attic made?
Besides Below the Crown and Duskers, Misfits Attic created A Virus Named TOM, an action-puzzle game released in 2012.
Conclusion
Tim Keenan’s AMA reveals a developer with one of the more interesting career trajectories in indie gaming. From big-budget animation to AAA console development to high-profile collaborations to scrappy indie projects, he’s experienced multiple sides of the entertainment industry. That perspective comes through in his willingness to discuss funding challenges, design iteration, and the realities of making cult hits that don’t necessarily translate to financial success.
Below the Crown represents years of refining an idea that started as a multiplayer prototype, evolved through concerns about empty lobbies, and ultimately found its form as a single-player roguelike with community features. Whether it succeeds commercially or becomes another critically praised cult hit remains to be seen, but the fact that it exists at all demonstrates the persistence required for indie development.
For anyone interested in game design, the creative process, or what it actually takes to survive as an independent developer, Keenan’s AMA is worth reading. He’s refreshingly honest about challenges, grateful for the support that made Below the Crown possible, and still passionate about making weird experimental games that don’t fit neatly into established genres. The industry needs more developers like that, even if the business realities make it increasingly difficult to sustain those careers.