Pots, Smashing, and Pure Double Fine Magic: Kiln Is the Pottery Party Brawler Nobody Knew They Needed – PAX East 2026 Interview

By Rob (DadGeek) | PAX East 2026 

If I told you I saw a "Online Multiplayer Pottery Party Brawler" you would probably think like the kind of game description jumbled together by a random word generator. But yet it was the focus of fun at the Double Fine PAX expo booth. People lined up to sit down, create their own pottery characters and take them into battle smashing and crashing other pottery warriors.   Clay vs Clay in an intense back and forth of strategy, skill and sheer will where two teams try to dose each other's kilns with water and shut them down.  Watching the onscreen chaos and fun it was very clear that Double Fine still manages to deliver truly unique experiences.

Right before we had to fly out back home, I was able to meet up with Ashley Asqueda , Senior Community Specialist at Double Fine and get some more insight into Kiln , its origins and what it aims to bring to gamers.

What Even Is Kiln?

In the most simple of terms, kiln is a 4v4 online multiplayer game in which you sculpt a ceramic pot on a pottery wheel and customize it to your hearts content. It can be a large vase or a tiny cup. Once the pot is complete you will then inhabit it with a spirit, using that pottery as its armor in team-based combat. Your job is to collect water and douse the enemy team's kiln three times before they douse yours. The size and shape of your pot determine your stats, your movement speed, your abilities, and your strategic role on the team.

"In this game you will enjoy the pleasure of creation by throwing a wad of clay onto a pottery wheel and creating your own custom armor. And then your little spirit will wear that armor into battle."

The crafting part is as much a part of the game as the battle part and to start you off there are 24 archetypes of pots based on size and shape, each with its advantages and drawbacks. A massive jug might be slow and powerful, but it will have a large area-of-effect splash when it lands after a big jump. Counter to that a tiny cup moves might hold less water but it can move at stealth speed and can squeeze through gaps bigger pots can't reach allowing shortcuts and reach your goal faster or just pester opponents to keep them distracted. The game is easy to pickup and play but the tactical depth here is equally genuine. During the demo on the floor players were already discovering it on the fly and adjusting their approach in real time to take advantage of the attributes and take control of the battle.

The Pottery Wheel Is a Full Feature

Let's focus a bit on the pottery wheel and how it contributes to the creation of some wild and original characters. Kiln features what Ashley described as a "best-in-class simulated pottery wheel" After the idea of the game was put together the team made sure to dive deep into pottery and do its research and not just make things up. While creating  you can pull the clay up, squeeze it in, add textures with tools and apply glazes. This does not mean you have to know pottery to get through this part of the game as the entry bar is low enough that novice or a child can make a recognizable pot in thirty seconds. For those more ambitious and creative,the ceiling is high enough that players will be able to build elaborate, intricate designs such as  hamburgers, Gatorade buckets, elaborate eyeballs. Things the team saw done on the show floor and surprising the team when they saw the creativity of people in action.  

"We've seen people make hamburgers, Gatorade buckets, abominations  just absolute horror shows of pots. And we love all of them equally."

As you build a collection of pots over time you can put your three of your favorites on the "top shelf"  These are the ones that you easily can bring into any given battle. Get shattered mid match? Just pick the next one from your top shelf or go ahead and throw a brand new piece of clay on the wheel and make a new entry right then and there, adapting your loadout on the fly.

Born in a Game Jam  Nine Years Ago

Kiln's origin story feels deeply Double Fine. Double fine holds a regular event called Amnesia Fortnight  a two, week internal game jam where everyone drops whatever they're working on and makes something entirely new  Project . During such an event in 2017,  Derek Brand pitched a darksupernatural brawler involving mountain spirits and pottery. Back then it was selected as a team favorite. Over the years if was picked back up and the team spent time in quiet development, shifting the game's tone from dark and moody to the gloriously vibrant, chaotic, and joyful game it is now.

"We forget about what we're making for two weeks. That's a fortnight. And we get amnesia. We forget about what we're doing and we all do an internal game jam."

Once it was decided to make this a full blown game,the research that went into the game's pottery side became its own journey. Team members took real pottery classes, studied glazing techniques, and explored different historical eras of ceramic art. Throughout the game you will find multiple maps that are inspired by Greek mythology and other cultures with rich pottery traditions. The deep dive went so far that one of the environment artists got so deep into it, he started his own pottery website and now makes ceramic ware as a hobby. The rabbit hole is a big part of the creative process.

Tactics, Teamwork, and the Art of the Smash

During our conversation, Ashley walked me through some of the strategic possibilities in the game. Defensive large pot players would be protecting the kiln while smaller faster pots rush the enemy. Using coordinated strikes, careful water capacity management, and shortcut routes only tiny pots can access a team can try to take the upper hand. This is however just one way to approach the game, and it is fascinating to watch new meta and techniques emerge, even in a convention demo environment like PAX.

"You could say: the large pot, I really want you to stay in front of the kiln and play defense while all the other pots go out and play offense. There are a lot of different ways to tackle every single map."

The maps themselves draw from mythology themed environments, each with their own environmental events and strategic features. Special techniques such as the kintsugi gold healing mechanic used for repairing your pot with gold, all in the Japanese tradition of finding beauty in breakage is exactly the kind of thoughtful, thematic detail that defines Double Fine's design sensibility. And we cannot wait to see what other details are hiding in what at  first glance is a silly little party game.

Open Beta April 9–11 on Steam  Don't Miss It

For those that want to take Kiln for a spin and missed PAX , you do not have to wait much longer. The game is set to launch  April 23, 2026.  If that wait is to long then you can try the open Steam beta which runs April 9–11.  Double Fine will be using it not just as a server stress test but as also as a genuine opportunity to hear from players about which features and customization directions to prioritize post launch. 

So get in there, make something ridiculous on the wheel, and help shape what comes next. Find more information at doublefine.com and on Steam, Xbox, and PS5. 

With the full launch three weeks away at time of writing it is now time to get your potter's wheel spinning.

Watch the full interview video on our YouTube Channel.

 DadGeek (Rob) is the co-founder of GeeksVsGeeks. He is a product of the eighties and never let go of his geek interest and hobbies no matter how often someone told him to stop. His love for gaming and all things geek has been part of his parenting style and permeates throughout the whole family. A family of Geeks vs Geeks.