Schell Games

[{"content":{"poster":["file:\/\/C6Emk9Ejvg3AGQPs"],"source":["file:\/\/KEQg29UDNA80IDFV"],"title":"Love is in the Air | Mission: It's Complicated","subtitle":"Powered by NotebookLM","description":"Audio description narrated by AI of the blog post below"},"id":"77f42d8f-3b89-4e38-9a05-eeeab759ed49","isHidden":false,"type":"audioBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Released on Valentine's Day in 2020 (just before a global pandemic would shut down travel across the world) we thought that this month was the perfect time for a retrospective of Schell Games' Mission: It's Complicated . Much like a super-sized issue of your favorite comic book, this blog post is packed full of Schell Games developer commentary, never-before-seen concept art, and a look back at the launch from a very different era of Schell Games. "},"id":"1a05a465-3c7a-4024-939c-c2564cb3188f","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"link":"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/widget\/1041210\/"},"id":"f8108e3b-b85a-4390-93ad-636727738438","isHidden":false,"type":"steamBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CNJ9fKMvH4A","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"6190e5f2-a9d3-41b2-9378-f7660a40bbab","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"What is Mission: It's Complicated ","customid":""},"id":"921cbbd2-ed93-49d1-a1af-f4994c9ae90b","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" If you haven't ever heard of the game, first off, it is free on Steam and Itch.io, so fix that. Second, here's the pitch in a nutshell: Within this narrative matching-making extrav\u00ada\u00adganza, players pair various super\u00adheroes in hopes sparking a love (or friend\u00adship) that will save the world from imminent destruc\u00adtion. Players choose between five heroes of varying genders and orien\u00adta\u00adtions to work on culti\u00advating strong connec\u00adtions through missions, dates, and plenty of late night texting. The stronger and more compat\u00adible the rela\u00adtion\u00adship, romantic or platonic, the higher the chance of protecting the planet. Runs of the game are fairly short, but you'll need to replay a few times to unlock all of the different relationship pairings and bonds. With an inclusive and LGBTQ friendly variety of heroes to choose from, along with the freedom to forge their own story to win the game, Mission: It's Complicated is a one-of-a-kind dating game couched in superhero shenanigans and plenty of silly puns. "},"id":"98034763-f37d-4208-a045-f31a4c7359b2","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/HVJKPWnhJW82tyi5"],"src":"","alt":"City map and bond system screenshot from Mission: It's Complicated","caption":"A look at the city map and bond system in Mission: It's Complicated","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"2037f22a-b3c6-494f-9752-8779fefaaa18","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Every Hero Needs an Origin Story","customid":""},"id":"40010a3a-fef8-4c0c-962f-b3de1165c83c","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" So that's the stuff everyone knows! But this wouldn't be much fun if we stopped there, so we kept digging, asking everyone around the office for some juicy tidbits of this game's production and watching a full interview with some of the Devs for more. Here is some more on how Mission: It's Complicated came to be: Mission: It's Complicated had much different inspirations than the traditional dating sims that you might think! The team was much more interested in the bonding systems one might find in Persona 5 or the Mass Effect series. Instead of the silent protagonist choosing who they wish to woo, the player sets characters up on missions to observe what happens between them. This unique twist makes the game a very untraditional dating sim where your ships can become actual in-game possibilities instead of fan theory. "},"id":"f185dde1-3a55-4093-a3fc-dc5498cb0603","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4722EoIxhyw","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"497e1391-8e4c-4133-b4aa-23c267b8322f","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Mission: It's Complicated ended up on PC, but that isn't where it started. In fact, it was originally a much simpler mobile game where you put heroes on missions together and got rewards after. But as work progressed, it became apparent that the real fun to be found here was making real, impactful choices of your superhero pairings. This led to a pivot to PC to make this a story-heavy game with beautiful character designs and decisions that mattered. Here's some deep lore: the in-game map is a mashup of Pittsburgh and Baltimore, containing the seaside environment, docks, and tons of bridges, giving the team all the environments they wanted to see our heroes explore. Did you ever notice how everyone who plays this game has a different favorite pairing of superheroes? That was by design! Developers wanted to be sure that there was a wide breadth of scenarios and reasons for people to come together, making you able to match like-minded people or put together total opposites and see what blooms. There were a lot of ideas left on the cutting room floor (we'll show some in the gallery below) but here are two of our favorites: "},"id":"dcfb0e59-040a-48be-9e00-2d9926de0b2c","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" A new-game+ mode or second edition of the game that used inverted colors and characterizations of all of the heroes with the end goal of getting them to hate each other. The same game, but supervillain dating focused. "},"id":"2621be2a-a21a-4009-a598-067bdebefd5a","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/asvTCV85dgy3vu5s"],"src":"","alt":"","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"b937090f-90dc-4c5a-8456-ed62aaaab12f","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Set Up for Success","customid":""},"id":"19fa47c4-2a3e-414a-91fc-4b3bb10c05c1","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Besides having amazing game devs, Mission: It's Complicated was built with a lot of tried and tested Schell Games creations. The ancestry of the project involved the work and development tools we had built for the Odyssey health app (which themselves were built on the tools we had built for The World of Lexica ). And while the superhero action is the impetus of the story, this game is much more focused on humor and writing, rather than doing the explosive action sequences yourself. To ensure all of that hit the mark, we hired a sensitivity reader to help us with the narrative portion of the game. Their help was invaluable in reviewing content and ensuring we delivered an authentic and positive experience to players. "},"id":"5f533297-5cc8-40ec-abcc-4f2eadeba4d6","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/kmCZzDVD0oAuouZG"],"src":"","alt":"Mission: It's Complicated screenshot of a hero thinking about another hero kissing a giant slug monster","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"6dac16a6-d835-4bc9-9301-0e5018b34953","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Concept Art & Unused Assets","customid":""},"id":"a195e9c1-7c17-4055-a7a5-8ef5e8bc3488","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" We're lucky to have a lot of the concept art still preserved on our servers today, so why not share it with our fans? Enjoy some of the iterative process of how your favorite heroes came to be, what some almost looked like, and a few that didn't quite make the cut. "},"id":"ad7c979e-2b83-45ed-b9ea-01261a961ed5","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"images":["file:\/\/yrh28aF4lKqXrfIW","file:\/\/gCJC73Dlei7EPvJL","file:\/\/LVaOV5qCLu1X0Kef","file:\/\/StedGNygcrxrqjjP","file:\/\/YaktH9xK13CUovTg","file:\/\/rv8A4EM5Utd96PcH","file:\/\/WaKMLic96Aox5EAD","file:\/\/27bFczkI6ILjqWK2","file:\/\/uuJKCjwHrBM5MbJ2","file:\/\/Kb5SzvyY2fNlVuKy","file:\/\/aFijQCOdtkcW7bNL","file:\/\/lTrgsUQCLvPR0EGr"],"caption":"","ratio":"","crop":"false","gallerytype":"carousel"},"id":"6a7da5eb-5188-4da6-a5b1-c2c558f749e0","isHidden":false,"type":"galleryBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Valentines","customid":""},"id":"607fcf9c-2a34-4e53-a30c-e8dce4795032","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Have a Mission: It's Complicated fan or a Nightgaunt stan in your life? We made these Valentines you can send to your friends! "},"id":"70e144b9-cdfb-4e6e-b15a-0ee50522b214","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/fSkndEGKbGnWh98T"],"src":"","alt":"Valentine's Day card featuring Nightgaunt","caption":"Oh, Nightgaunt. Never change.","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"b13f4889-17b4-4037-8f7d-67e9285c978a","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":"Launch Party","customid":""},"id":"9065c299-7f94-41fa-bfbb-eb5a13c55d82","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Lastly, let's revisit our fantastic launch party for Mission: It's Complicated . Complete with platonic punch, custom M&Ms, t-shirts, and wonderfully decorated cookies and a cake, this went down as one of the most fun launches in Schell Games' history. 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Love is in the Air | Mission: It's Complicated

February 2, 2026 · insights

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