> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://darylbaxter.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The making of Mewgenics: Ed McMillen and Tyler Glaiel interview - URL: https://darylbaxter.com/posts/the-making-of-mewgenics-ed-mcmillen-and-tyler-glaiel-interview/ - Published: 2026-09-20T15:01:42.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-20T15:01:42.000Z - Description: "Mewgenics is a big, cohesive world - and that's the coolest part" - Author: Daryl Baxter - Tags: Gaming, Interview *Mewgenics* is a game many fans long thought they'd never see. Created by Ed McMillen — known for *Super Meat Boy* and *The Binding of Isaac* — it was on the back burner before he partnered with designer Tyler Glaiel in 2018\. It lets players breed and raise a house of cats, then send them into a tactical campaign of alternate paths, bosses, and surprises. First[ announced in 2012](https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/11sgtr/team%5Fmeat%5Fannounces%5Ftheir%5Fnext%5Fgame%5Fmewgenics/?ref=darylbaxter.com), shelved for *The Binding of Isaac*, then[ re-announced in 2018](https://web.archive.org/web/20181231173850/http://bindingofisaac.com/post/169521328569/a-new-years-qa), the game became something of a running question in the community: was it ever actually coming out? With *Mewgenics* having come out in [February 2026 on PC](https://store.steampowered.com/app/686060/Mewgenics/?ref=darylbaxter.com), and now out for [Nintendo Switch 2](https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-2-games/Mewgenics-3181504.html?srsltid=AU7gw4V85JJA0ReOn7K4O0jZfARqVwSJyYuQUX-5J56hTTsiagSsP5I9&ref=darylbaxter.com),[ PS5](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10019219?ref=darylbaxter.com), and[ Xbox Series X/S](https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/mewgenics/9nn5z9bvrch5?ref=darylbaxter.com) for $35.99 / £39.99, I spoke to McMillen and Glaiel back in February about the fourteen-year journey, how personal the project became, the trouble with turn-based bosses, and their thoughts on Early Access and life after launch. --- ![](https://darylbaxter.com/content/images/2026/09/mewcover.jpeg) ## A Mew Chat with **Ed McMillen** & **Tyler Glaiel** ***Did you ever imagine it would take this long to get here - all the way to 2026?*** **Ed McMillen:** I thought *Mewgenics* was dead. I thought I would never get to work on it again. I thought it was cancelled, that it would be impossible for me to get the IP \[from Team Meat\] and do anything with it. Then, when I was able to acquire the IP, I started to entertain the idea of doing it again with Tyler in a way that would be extra cool. **Tyler Glaiel:** I think we both knew it would probably take a little bit of time, but not this long. I thought maybe four years. I thought we were going to do it in two years. I thought I was going to spend six months getting an engine working while Ed was finishing whatever else he was working on at the time, and then we would just spend a year and a half making content and release it. From the point where we actually settled on it being a tactical strategy game, it took about two more years. The pandemic definitely threw a wrench in the timing. ***Could it have come out sooner than it did?*** **Glaiel:** We probably could have released the full game in 2021, roughly, and it would have been okay, probably pretty good. But we may have gone overboard. It just kept getting better when we kept working on it, so we didn't want to stop. ***So at what point do you decide it's actually finished?*** **McMillen:** Well, we kind of are, because we are going to keep working on this game. **Glaiel:** But Ed, it could be better if we added another year or two of development? 🦖 **If you're enjoying* ***Springboard** *, I'd love it if you'd consider* [***a small tip**](https://darylbaxter.com/#/portal/support) *to help cover my monthly bills. (Follow the link and click 'change amount' to whatever you want)* ***Throughout development, some people compared Mewgenics to Phil Fish's Fez: the long wait, the expectations, the pressure. You were both in Indie Game: The Movie, too. Did that comparison ever worry you?*** **McMillen:** Honestly, I think we put more pressure on ourselves than anybody would put on us. I don't feel much pressure. It definitely feels like a *Duke Nukem Forever* situation in the sense that it's great that it's done and out, but I don't want to compare ourselves to that game, because it didn't turn out well. From what I did play of it, the humour did not carry into that era. It did not work. **Glaiel:** I'm not too worried about that, and there's not much from the original prototype anyway. It's not like people have been holding their breath for 13 or 14 years; a lot of people thought it was dead! ***It's striking that the hype never really curdled into frustration; the enthusiasm stayed. Why do you think that is?*** **McMillen:** If we had never shown gameplay, people would be more frustrated that they still can't play it. Instead, they are getting spoon-fed, but bit by bit. We have fans who watch and think about what choices they would make, so they're almost playing the game in their heads. They are desperate for another video; they just want another run. ***Tyler, when you came on board around 2018, what was your first reaction to the project in the state it was in?*** **Glaiel:** We had been talking about it for a while, because Ed liked the project. The concept was very good, even though it was not fully formed. This was something Ed really wanted to do. He was pitching other ideas that were similar, but without the cats. I said the cats are what make the idea appealing. **McMillen:** There was a basic idea at first - breeding cats in a house and taking them as avatars into another game. When Tyler came on, it became more about asking what the game actually is. What are you breeding these cats for? What is the payoff? ***What was wrong with the original prototype?*** **Glaiel:** The original prototype was not fun. I think the idea was that someone would want a very specific cat, like a cat with a monkey paw for an arm — and you had to breed exactly that through random chance. That is not interesting. Breeding becomes interesting when players can set their own goals. Like in Pokémon, where you breed to combine abilities. That is what makes the mechanic interesting. We needed deep tactical combat so players could have self-directed goals and work toward them. ## Making situations work ![](https://darylbaxter.com/content/images/2026/09/mew-stat.jpeg) ***How did Mewgenics become so personal to you, Ed?*** **McMillen:** We originally planned disorders and injuries to the cats as just bad things that happened. I have a very vivid memory of getting a phone call and having to pick my daughter up from school. At that point, we realized school was not going to work for her. Her ADHD is very severe. We had her tested, and it came back very similar to me. She has a high IQ, but she is dyslexic, has ADHD, and is on the spectrum. That was frustrating for me because I am okay. I made it out okay. I realized that these things have silver linings. Other strengths come up. That is when we decided that all bad things in the game needed a silver lining that allowed you to pivot and make them work. They are not just a wall. It is a wall that, when you look closely, is filled with gold. You take the situation and make the best of it. Bad things happen. You need to persevere and adapt. That became one of the core concepts of Mewgenics, and it made it all personal for me. ***Would Mewgenics have been a different game if you weren't a dad?*** **McMillen:** I don't know if I would have been as invested, because originally**,** the concept did come from cats. My wife likes hoarding cats. And we had four cats, and she's got all these weird, freaky hairless cats that have issues. And I thought that was interesting in a weird, morally kind of grey way. And that became what *Mewgenics* was about. Then that door closed, and when it reopened, I suddenly had children. I don't think it would have been the same game. I'm sure it would have been something different, and it would have mattered in some way because I can't fully invest myself in a project that I'm not personally invested in, something that's important to me. 📱 **Join Springboard on* [***Instagram**](https://www.instagram.com/dbspringboard?ref=darylbaxter.com)**,* [***TikTok**](https://www.tiktok.com/@dbspringboard?ref=darylbaxter.com)**, and* [***YouTube**](https://www.youtube.com/@dbspringboard?ref=darylbaxter.com) *for short-form videos that summarise features like this one!* ## Bosses ![](https://darylbaxter.com/content/images/2026/09/mew-boss.jpeg) ***The bosses seem like they'd be a tricky thing to get right in a turn-based game. Were they?*** **Glaiel:** That was probably the most consistently difficult part of the design. Turn-based bosses do not have much wiggle room. You cannot just adjust speed or spectacle. If a boss is just a big meat bag that moves and attacks, it is not interesting. You need reactions, positioning, and things to think about. We got better over time, and some simpler bosses ended up being the most fun. **McMillen:** Early on, I designed bosses from *The Binding of Isaac*. That only works once. Eventually, we realized bosses needed to use the same mechanics as everything else. When we think about a lot of these classics, turn-based strategy games that we grew up with and played, there's an element of nostalgia that is framing them in ways that they are not. And if you go back and play the bosses in those games, they just move and attack. Going in, the first couple of bosses I designed had two moves, but it becomes kind of repetitive, and you're not really utilizing any of the mechanics that enemies and your cats can use. So why shouldn't the bosses do the same thing? And I think we found a really sweet spot. ***Which bosses clicked first?*** **Glaiel:** The first couple of bosses I did would have been the Radical Rat and the Dividing Slime, and both of those are somewhat unchanged. They kind of just worked out to start. I think we started trying to make them flashier at one point, and that's when they started eating more big meatbags. I think Boris, Chubbs, and Nubs's simplicity was the big aha moment. And even the slime — there's no reason why that boss should be as fun as it is. That was the first boss I implemented. It has a photorealistic eyeball and a big green cube - that's a classic video game boss to me, and for good reason. ## What's next? ![](https://darylbaxter.com/content/images/2026/09/mew-scene.jpeg) ***When did you both realise Mewgenics was actually ready to go?*** **McMillen:** We thought we would be done by October 2025\. We could have been. That would have been terrible. By October, the game was complete. **Glaiel:** You could play it from beginning to end, beat the final boss, and do all the post-game content. But I insisted that after the game was done, we needed three months to polish, fix bugs, and localize it. ***The UI looks made for a touchscreen. Could we see Mewgenics on Switch or tablets?*** **Glaiel:** It is Steam Deck verified. But the Switch is probably the next natural step. Beyond that, it depends on the publisher. **McMillen:** Phones would be difficult. The UI is not designed for that scale. > **Update (September 2026):** Since this interview, Mewgenics has arrived on consoles. It launched on Nintendo Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on 8 September 2026, published by Nicalis at $35.99 / £39.99, with the console release revealed at Gamescom Opening Night Live. A physical edition for Switch 2 and PS5 - the full game on the cartridge, not a key card - is set to ship in early 2027. ***Mewgenics feels like it could build a real community; players trading and showing off their cats. Is that on the cards?*** **McMillen:** That's what DLC is for, right? We can see what people like, and I'm sure there are going to be aspects of the game that we didn't realize a lot of people would really enjoy more of. Now that we've done the hard part, we can pivot and see how we can lean into things that people like and make the game better with DLC. ***In an age of Early Access, you're launching a complete game. That feels almost unusual now.*** **Glaiel:** We are launching a complete game. That is a weird thing now. **McMillen:** I'm really not a fan of Early Access. I feel like it originated from people needing money fast. I'm not shitting on people who do Early Access, but it feels strange to change the experience after people have already finished it. **Glaiel:** There's a handful of situations where it makes sense, like multiplayer stuff; you want to get the balance and the net code right. Other than that, I feel like almost anything else, even Kickstarter or publisher funding, would be better. ***One thing I've noticed in my own playthrough: I keep wanting to just start again, breed a new set of cats, and see what I get. It's the unpredictability. Is that something you designed toward?*** **Glaiel:** I do love the way we took all these mechanics that are floating separately from each other in other roguelikes: challenge runs, difficulty settings, all that. Re-rolling your dice is a thing people do in Isaac. That's how I play it too. But in most roguelikes, people re-roll the start. They don't play *Mewgenics* that way, because we baked that re-rolling into the cat-breeding part of the game. You put all that effort into breeding the cats you want as your starting condition, and then you send them out on an adventure. Pretty much nobody says, "Ah, the first fight went bad, I'm going to abandon this run and kill these four cats." We've managed to make that not be a thing people do — and I haven't seen many other roguelikes solve that problem. ***Finally, is there a highlight you're each taking away from the project, looking back?*** **McMillen:** This is a game that shines bright when all of the mechanics are at play at once. It's a whole experience; we're really trying to create a living world, where it feels like there are rules in place, not just mechanics that work. It feels alive, and the more we've added, the more alive it feels. It all goes in a circle. It gets gloomy. It starts raining. Then you start an adventure*,* and it carries the gloom into the adventure with you. And that gloom isn't just gloom; the gloom is mechanics. It puts out fires, prevents fires from spreading, and makes your cats wet and conductive to electricity. **Glaiel:** It's a living thing. It's like a whole big cohesive world, and that's the coolest part. *Mewgenics is available now on* [*PC via Steam*](https://store.steampowered.com/app/686060/Mewgenics/?ref=darylbaxter.com)*, and on* [*Nintendo Switch 2*](https://www.nintendo.com/en-gb/Games/Nintendo-Switch-2-games/Mewgenics-3181504.html?srsltid=AU7gw4V85JJA0ReOn7K4O0jZfARqVwSJyYuQUX-5J56hTTsiagSsP5I9&ref=darylbaxter.com)*,*[ *PS5*](https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10019219?ref=darylbaxter.com)*, and*[ *Xbox Series X/S*](https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/mewgenics/9nn5z9bvrch5?ref=darylbaxter.com)*.* ## Springboard: The stories behind the games, apps, and more. I'm Daryl. I write about games and technology - the people who make them and why preservation matters. Send me Springboard Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam, no slop, no AI. 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