[UPDATE: Since the following story appeared in OXM's January 2013 issue, Mark of the Ninja went on to become one of the runners-up for OXM's 2012 Game of the Year award. Don't Starve is still in beta form, but you can download this browser-based game here.]

These days, the name Klei (pronounced like the modeling material) gets knowing nods from discerning Xbox fans. Between the hyperviolent Shank series and 2012’s widely praised stealth-platformer Mark of the Ninja, the studio’s defined itself with a striking visual style and a knack for producing thrilling action games. But they haven’t always enjoyed the limelight. Back in 2007, their PC port Eets Chowdown was something of a sleeper on Live Arcade, and their next game, the MMO Sugar Rush, was canceled twice.

We sat down with a few members of the 25-person studio to review this fascinating history — a story that’s come full-circle, in fact, with the announcement of their next project, Eets Munchies. Of course, the journey hasn’t always been as smooth as that 360-degree turn might suggest…

OXM: So, in 2005 — Jamie, you were at Relic Entertainment then, right?

Jamie Cheng, Founder/CEO: Yeah, and then THQ bought them. About a year after that I finished working on [PC game] Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War for Relic, and that was super-fun, and then we worked on The Outfit, and that was much less fun. I thought it was time to move on…and I was working on Eets with a whole bunch of friends. We never thought anything would come out of it.

OXM: Was founding Klei more about having your own studio and being in charge? Or was it more about doing Eets as your own project?

Jamie: I knew I wanted to start something at some point….So when Eets actually became something decent, and people were like, “Hey, I’d pay for that”…[I figured it was a] good time to try it. I didn’t even really have a good idea then what I wanted to do with the company. Not until we had a lot more experience, and working with the folks we have now, did what we want to achieve become clear.

OXM: What are some things about Eets that you’re proud of, or things you wish you’d done differently?

Jamie: Well, we’re proud that we finished it. That was really hard because so many people went through it and nobody was paid. People would be onboard and then they’d just drop out, so [we had all] this old, crusty code and design work…and it was just this monstrous task to get everyone together and finish it. But it was a game that definitely had a lot of personality, and did things that are quite different. It took a lot of inspiration from Incredible Machine but it pulled in different manners. I think the thing I would’ve changed is, it really wasn’t a commercial product — there was really no direction in terms of who was actually going to play it. So we just had a lot of fun with it and we just put whatever the hell we wanted in it, which is why there’s a pig that shoots a super-pig out of its ass, and then it blows up.

OXM: You guys have made some big transitions as far as gameplay style — from puzzle game to ultraviolent shoot-’em-ups to stealth game. What are those shifts like? Scary? Liberating?

Jamie: More liberating than scary. I mean, the reason we’re independent is that we want to be able to experiment and play with [styles]. We don’t want to do the same thing over again. That’s not interesting, and it doesn’t help anyone — the people working on it, the industry, or the medium. We want to push the medium forward; that’s why we experiment with radically different genres.

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Jeff Agala (creative director), Meghan Shaw (lead environment artist), Nels Anderson (lead designer), Aaron Bouthillier (lead animator), and Jamie Cheng (founder/CEO). In the center is Hailey, Jamie’s dog and “frequent office laze-about.”