At PAX East 2025, we met with Gylee Games to preview their upcoming game, Ra Ra Boom. Whether you were looking for the booth specifically or just walking around the area, you could appreciate its colorful arcade vibes.
With two arcade cabinets set for 4-player co-op on each side of the booth, the team welcomed guests to try out the game solo or with their friends and take down the mechanized menaces. After trying out the demo, it was time to ask Gylee Games some questions about Ra Ra Boom; here is our Ra Ra Boom Interview.
Matt from Niche Gamer: Can you introduce yourself to our audience?
Kim Edwards from Gylee Games: Hi, I am Kim Edwards; I’m the senior producer on Ra Ra Boom.
Matt: So, how has it been working with Tinsley PR both for the show and outside of it?
Kim: Our PR team is great. They’re really good at making sure everything’s going to be ahead of time. They’re so respectful.
Matt: How long have you been on the team? Have you been there from the start?
Kim: I haven’t been with the team since the beginning. They started working on this game over five years ago, and we went through three other producers before me during the first year. And then I’ve been with the team for over four years now, and now the game is going to come out in the summertime. I feel good enough to say I’ve made it the whole way.
Matt: I mean, four years out of five, you’re basically been there the whole time. What were some of the learning curves or some things you had to adjust during the development process? What were some of the things that you had to work on or give input on?
Kim: Some major components that we had to figure out when we first started was art style after Streets of Rage came out, and the artwork for it was really phenomenal, and ours wasn’t on the same level; it really didn’t even compare. So we scratched all of the work, all of the artwork that we made, and started brand new.
How do we compete in that market? It was then figuring that out and then discussing what we could do to make it better. So everything is all hand-created. So we didn’t put anything in the build until we had the art. So we really started again from nothing.
Matt: So ironically, I work for a different studio as part of a different job. We have some developers who do not want to actually do concept art. They just want to start building. One of the projects we’re on right now, we’re like, Oh, yeah, here’s our demo already. And we’re like, Where’s the concept art? Where did you come up with this? And they’re like, Oh, I was just tinkering in the model kit, and just one thing led to another and another. I’m like, How do you work like this?
Kim: No! I’d be like, Where’s your art Bible? What’s happening?
Matt: Obviously, Ra Ra Boom is more so a female-driven, but are there any male characters? Because there are male cheerleaders.
Kim: No, you’re not wrong in that. We made it a point to be an all-female cast. So all the narrations, all the art is female male-driven. So it’s very important to know the reason why, because all the characters are going through this struggle together, learning and supporting each other. As they learn and grow, they power up and get stronger together; you can level up their stats.
Matt: Now, we saw four of the possible characters within the demo. Are there other characters beyond that?
Kim: Right now, there are only four characters. We are looking at adding more as DLC. Each of the four characters have their own habits and personalities.
Matt: Looking at the game, I joke and say there’s almost like a little bit of Power Rangers feeling to the game.
Kim: I love that you said that because we take inspiration from things that we know. I can always be up for adding things that we love. My favorite thing is Castle Crashers. Sometimes we sit down and sometimes say, everything’s not how I want to make it. What can I do to make it what I want?
Matt: Is the artwork supposed to be like 90s-themed?
Kim: We really wanted to give it that Saturday morning cartoon’s feeling. It’s a couch co-op, so we really wanted to throw it back to when we really loved couch co-ops the most. So it screamed 90s.
Matt: Obviously, couch co-op is kind of a dying breed. What made the team push more for couch co-op vs online play? Was it more just that there is a market/demand for it?
Kim: There is demand for it. Honestly, we reached out to other developers, and they said, for that style of game, you have to do couch co-op, or you are going to regret it. We went with it, not knowing if it would work, but now looking back at it, there’s no reason we shouldn’t have considered it in the first place.
One of my favorite things to do is play Mario Kart. You can play it online with your friends. I’ve never done that; I’ve only ever played it at home with my friends. That’s the way I prefer to do it.
Matt: So, I’m a little bit more masochistic, and I like Mario Party. Against the very hard bots, but the couch co-op in that, too, is a very big component.
Kim: It’s one of those things where it’s better if you are all together.
Matt: You have the Hit Stick arcade system right there. But have you looked into the actual process of putting it into arcades?
Kim: We thought about it. We really wanted to reach out to One-Up Arcade to make it happen. It just didn’t work out. But I feel like having this down here shows that people want these. So it’s definitely something we want to do. If it could be affordable, then we’d definitely are going to do it.
Matt: I know people have done the hit sticks before on the show floor. So what has been your favorite component in here that people haven’t seen but will see earlier, or even in the trailer?
Kim: That’s a great question.
Matt: That character kind of looks like Master Splitter (TMNT), and then you have the level that looks like the TMNT game.
Kim: We do pay homage to the Ninja Turtles. I think my favorite level is arcade. We don’t want to give too much away, but the boss fight itself is full of 90s Nostalgia. As you play it, you will get it.
Matt: So it just clicks, and you remember.
Ra Ra BOOM is set to launch sometime this summer for Windows PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store) and now consoles on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, and PS5.
