At Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2025, Mufsin sat down with BUCK Games to talk about their recent projects and how their background in animation and design shapes the way they approach games.
As part of BUCK, the team brings in artists, animators, and designers who are used to building strong visual work first, then layering gameplay on top of that. The result is a small catalog of games that feel distinct from each other but still carry a clear identity.
The Electric State: Kid Cosmo A Game Inside a Story
One of the main projects they showed was The Electric State: Kid Cosmo, tied to the Netflix film The Electric State.
The structure is unusual. You’re following the story of two siblings, Chris and Michelle, while also playing a fictional retro game on a handheld device called the PX-1. The gameplay takes place inside that device, while the larger story unfolds around it.
It creates an experience where the game and the narrative move together. As you fix Kid Cosmo’s ship and solve puzzles, you also see moments from the characters’ lives across several years.
The game is available on mobile through Netflix, where players log in with their account to access it.
Built for Touch, Not Just Ported
Moving from console-style development to mobile came with its own set of challenges. The team talked about how different it is to design for a wide range of devices instead of a single screen setup.
They had to account for different screen sizes, aspect ratios, and hardware limits, while still keeping the experience consistent. A large part of that work went into testing and making sure the game runs cleanly across phones and tablets.
At the same time, they leaned into what mobile can do. The game uses physical interactions like tilting the device to change lighting or covering the speaker to affect sound, making the handheld feel like part of the story rather than just a screen.
Let’s! Revolution!: Puzzle Design with a Twist
Before Kid Cosmo, the team released Let’s! Revolution!, which mixes puzzle mechanics with roguelite elements.
The idea builds on something familiar. It takes the rules of Minesweeper and reshapes them into a turn-based system where each move reveals new information while also pushing the player forward through a map.
There’s also a light narrative layer, with characters and a setting that give context to the puzzles without slowing them down. The team described it as a “thinky” experience that still leaves room for personality through animation and design.
BUCK Games From Indie Roots to Larger Collaborations
The success of Let’s! Revolution! helped open the door to working with Netflix on Kid Cosmo. That shift meant moving from a self-published project to working within an existing world and story.
The team explained that a big part of that process was figuring out what kind of game would exist inside that world. That’s where the idea of a game within a game came from, tying the retro style to the alternate history setting of the film.
Advice from the Team
When asked about advice for new developers, the answer was straightforward. Making games takes time, and not every project lands the way you expect. What matters is sticking with it and continuing to build.
They pointed out that even experienced developers run into projects that don’t connect with players, so learning to keep going is part of the work itself.
Where to Find BUCK Games
You can find The Electric State: Kid Cosmo on iOS and Android through Netflix, while Let’s! Revolution! is available on Steam and consoles.
We’ll have more coverage from Game Developers Conference 2025 soon, with more interviews and hands-on impressions.
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