Munity Games builds a Love Letter to Classic Arcade Shooters
March 24th, 2026
The following is referenced quotes and grabs from the article written by Mari Rich, writer from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.
Munity Games
Co-founded by Krystel Theuvenin, Sean Heron, Darcelis Gutierrez, and Savannah Chapman — is a democratically led worker cooperative based in New York City. Their debut title is Shootlanzer, a fast-paced 2D shoot ‘em up that the team describes as a love letter to arcade classics like R-Type and Gradius. But the game has something those classics never had: an Afro-Latina heroine at its center.
The name Munity has several layers. It derives from an obsolete English word meaning freedom, immunity, and security – eminently suitable for a studio whose founding ethos is about liberating its members from the conventional power structures of the games industry. -NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Shootlanzer: Battle Record of Midair Mobile Soldier
In Shootlanzer: Battle Record of a Midair Mobile Soldier, players take on the character of Leona Almeida, a rookie pilot in powered armor who gets separated from her unit on her very first mission. Stranded behind enemy lines, Leona uncovers a plot against her country’s capital city and has to blast her way back in time to stop it. Leona, the team believes, might actually be the first Afro-Latina protagonist in a shoot ‘em up game.
Educators who make games, and Vice versa
All four co-founders are game design educators, and they describe that identity as foundational rather than incidental. Together, they bring a perspective on the games industry that is as much pedagogical as commercial. They care about the next generation of developers, and they are building Munity to be an example of what a studio can look like when it genuinely has its employees’ interests at heart. The major publishers and studios, they note, do not always manage that. Munity is an attempt at a different model: one where every member has an equal voice, decisions are made by vote, and the work belongs to everyone who does it.
A Co-op in an Incubator
A worker-owned cooperative is an unusual structure for a startup incubator, which typically assumes a founder hierarchy and an eventual equity event. Munity has no such hierarchy. All four members are equals. They take on various functions, but roles are fluid, and each is accountable to the group, not the other way around.
The GDFL’s willingness to support that model is itself meaningful. Munity joined the lab’s inaugural cohort with Shootlanzer already playable as a prototype: the game is being developed with direct player feedback through communities like Playcrafting NYC, which holds Indie Dev Nights, and they encourage everyone to join their Discord and become playtesters — another expression of the studio’s commitment to building with its audience rather than for it.
Their long-term vision is modest in the best sense: they want to employ young developers one day, give them genuine stakes in their work, and show by example that the industry can operate differently. The pirate cat on the logo isn’t just a mascot. It’s a manifesto.
Full Article Here: https://engineering.nyu.edu/news/munity-games-builds-love-letter-classic-arcade-shooters
