This article originally ran in Back Alley Games Issue 12, February 2025

Newgrounds has always been a place friendly to fresh ideas, scrappy underdogs, and gratuitous blood splatter. From animations to flash games, aspiring and veteran artists and developers alike used the site as a testing ground for new ideas and a repository for their best poop jokes.

From that primordial soup springs Contract Rush DX, a wide-release expansion of a free web game called Contract Rush. One member of the two-man team, Figburn, wrote in to Back Alley Games to discuss the upcoming release of the game, its history, and how art reflects its artist.

Contract Rush came about five years ago as a self-imposed jam project between Melon, the game’s technical director, and Figburn, the creative director. Completing the project in 10 days, the pair posted it on Newgrounds and immediately received massive support. In response, they decided to expand the project.

“The reception to the short game was far more positive than we’d imagined, so our next step was to simply create seven more levels and release it as a full game on Steam,” Figburn said. “Sounds simple, right? The original game only took 10 days! It’s never that easy.”

Besides the ballooning scope, production was slowed by the developers splitting their time among other projects. For Figburn that was Undertale Yellow, a hugely successful fan prequel to Toby Fox’s Undertale (2014).

He is particularly proud of that project. “It [Undertale Yellow] went so much farther than I could’ve ever imagined,” Figburn said. “Everything came together in a way that made so many people happy.”

Development of Contract Rush DX began again in earnest in 2023 following the release of Undertale Yellow, and the team expects a release sometime this year.

Figburn, like most artists, draws inspiration from many different sources. He pointed to movies, flash animations, indie video games, and life itself. Right now, he’s playing UFO 50 (Mossmouth, 2024), but he also said that a new 3-D Mario game would “change his life.”

“I grew up watching and playing a lot of flash content, whether that be cartoons like the Awesome Series and Sonic Shorts or games like Super Smash Flash and Dad ‘n Me,” Figburn said.

Like Dad ‘n Me (Tom Fulp/DanPaladin, 2005), this project is no stranger to 2-D bloodshed, but instead of a beat ‘em up, it’s a shoot ‘em up. More specifically, it’s a run and gunner so chaotic that bullets sometimes fill most of the screen. Besides the carnage, there are roguelike elements that keep each run fresh.

Randomized power-ups are collected throughout levels (or contracts, in the game’s language) which lead to a boss that must be defeated before you can return to the cozy café that serves as the game’s hub world. Once a boss is defeated, however, that’s not the end of that contract.

Of the game’s approach to exploration, Figburn said: “The levels in Contract Rush DX are intended to be revisited after completing the boss, and there are elements of the exploration that were inspired by Banjo-Kazooie.”

Outside of the levels, there is a focus on character interaction. The game’s colorful cast is unlocked in the game’s café hub, “Caffeine Rush,” and are playable once hired.

These character interactions are inspired by all the media that Figburn takes in, but also by small, day-to-day moments that are unique in their unremarkable nature. For example, the protagonist sits in a coffee shop and sketches in the game’s trailer, something Figburn pulled directly from his own life.

“There’s many small moments in life you can take and apply to character interactions or details in-game,” he said. “My work is always inherently silly, but I really do put all of myself into it. I feel like I’d go crazy if I didn’t.”

In his estimation, the more of themself an artist puts into their work, the more authentic and unique the final product. Despite the possible criticism, when artists are open and honest, their work stands out from the crowd.

As for the future, Figburn would like to keep making games. This is the first game he’s releasing for sale, but his game is following in the wake of other browser games turned indie darlings, such as Super Meat Boy (Team Meat, 2010) and Alien Hominid (The Behemoth, 2004).

Reflecting on the development process as a whole, Figburn said: “The game has become something special. Much larger than intended, but I feel it was all worth it. I hope Contract Rush DX can make the jump [from browser game to Steam] and maybe inspire others in the same position.”

Contract Rush: DX is now available for purchase on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1775960/Contract_Rush_DX/