Asymmetric Publications (Company)

Asymmetric Publications

COMPANY

Mesa,AZ,USA

Asymmetric Publications is developer of the satirical online role-playing game Kingdom of Loathing.

Asymmetric Publications was founded in 1999 by long-time friends Zack "Jick" Johnson and Josh "Mr. Skullhead" Nite. The asymmetric.net website originally played host to an archive of bad jokes and a modest collection of Java games such as "Infinity Plus One," "Dancing Tonto!" and the realistically futile "Quest for Schlitz".

On February 11, 2003 a new browser-based adventure game called Kingdom of Loathing was announced on the site. The game launched on February 23rd. The needs of hosting and maintaining the MMORPG grew to the point that several members of the game's community were hired on as permanent staff. As of 2012, Kingdom of Loathing remains Asymmetric's primary source of revenue and continues to see periodic content updates.

Word Realms (Game), a word game RPG, became Asymmetric's second major project. Development began around 2008, and a preview of the game was first made public at DragonCon 2010. In 2012, the company successfully funded the completion of the single-player version of Word Realms on Kickstarter, gathering over $121,000. The company has suggested that an online multiplayer version of Word Realms may be the next stage of development, if there is sufficient interest.

Podcast network

When not developing games, Zack and various members of the Asymmetric team produce and host a variety of weekly podcasts. Starting in 2004, they began hosting live talk shows on Kingdom of Loathing's unofficial Shoutcast radio channel. These twice-weekly programs include [http:/radio.kingdomofloathing.com 120 Minutes of Jick & Mr. Skullhead], a podcast dedicated to addressing player questions and news of the Kingdom, though usually the topic is derailed very early on.

Since 2011, the Asymmetric staff have branched out into podcasts not directly related to the company's own games, including [http:/videogameshotdog.com Video Games Hot Dog] and [http:/advicehotdog.com Advice Hot Dog].

Developed Games

View all developed games

1769208-screen_shot_2011_04_26_at_5.55.47_pm.png

The Kingdom of Loathing (Game)

11 February 2003

Kingdom of Loathing is a browser-based role-playing game.

BROW

West of Loathing (Game)

10 August 2017

West of Loathing is a black & white, stick figure, slapstick Western from Asymmetric.

PC MAC NSW +4

Shadows Over Loathing (Game)

11 November 2022

A black-and-white stick-figure slapstick comedy horror RPG set in Prohibition era United States. Asymmetric Publication's follow-up to West of Loathing.

PC MAC NSW

Word Realms (Game)

21 May 2013

A word battle fantasy RPG in which players form words from letter tiles to damage opponents in animated battles. The game is created by the developers of Kingdom of Loathing and was partially funded on Kickstarter.

PC MAC LIN

Published Games

View all published games