Press Kit
Cactus Brain Studios
Video Game Studio · Made in Yorkshire
About the studio
Cactus Brain Studios is a solo indie studio based in Leeds, founded by Jacob Morris in 2026.
The studio is currently developing Robot Crucible with the aim of making robot combat more accessible - a hobby which traditionally demands fabrication skills, electronics knowledge, and money most people don't have.
The studio's name was inspired by a cactus Jacob bought, a Polaskia Chichipe Crestata, which resembles a brain!
Robot Crucible
Design a combat robot in 5 minutes - or 5 hours - and throw it into battle!
- Developer
- Cactus Brain Studios
- Status
- Unreleased
- Based in
- Leeds, United Kingdom
- Release date
- TBA 2027
- Platforms
- PC (Steam)
- Genre
- Combat Sandbox, Builder, Physics
- Players
- Single player (vs AI) and local multiplayer (up to 2, planned for 4)
- Engine
- Unity
- Website
- cactusbrainstudios.co.uk
- Weapons
- Spinners (additional types, including flippers, in development)
Description
Short description
Design a combat robot in minutes - or spend hours perfecting it - then throw your creation into a chaotic arena and tear your opponents apart!
Robot combat is a great spectator sport, though for hobbyists wanting to get involved, it's always been quite prohibitive. Building your own robot requires fabrication skills, electronics knowledge, and a lot of money. Robot Crucible puts you into that world without those barriers to entry. Design robots and throw them into the arena without needing any of the real world expertise.
Robot Crucible is a robot combat game where you go from blank grid to arena in 5 minutes - or 5 hours if you want to perfect your design. Sketch your chassis layer by layer, then slap on some batteries, motors, and wheels. The game auto-wires everything, so you can jump straight into battle without configuring anything. Throw your creation into a chaotic arena and tear your opponents apart, with armour that dents, buckles and punctures as the fight goes on. Beyond free battles, an in-depth career mode with leagues, tournaments and real progression is planned as the game develops further.
What sets Robot Crucible apart, aside from its accessibility, is a real focus on depth and presentation. Every match ends in a curated highlight reel, featuring the top moments in dramatic slowmo shots with text commentary. The full replay system lets you rewatch your matches, with a cinematic camera and a free camera system - perfect for capturing spectacular moments to share with friends. It's a game built for two audiences: robot combat fans who want a way into the hobby without needing an engineering degree, and players who love physics sandbox games, who'll happily lose hours to the builder alone, building their perfect fighting machine.
Features
Layered chassis building
Build your chassis node-by-node on a grid, then stack additional layers and adjust nodes to reshape it - wedges, angled scoops, anything you dream up.
5 minute bot, 5 hour bot
Snap on batteries, motors and wheels and jump straight into battle - or spend hours tweaking your design, trying out different configurations to make the perfect fighter.
Auto-wired electronics
Components are automatically wired up, so you can jump straight into battle without configuring anything.
Abstracted units
Components use simple abstracted units (power, speed, force) so you can focus on building something great, not calculating amperage!
Built for everyone
Accessible for casual tinkerers and fans of physics sandbox games, with plenty of depth for those who want to build more complex designs.
Deeply customisable
Place components anywhere on your chassis, then reposition, rotate or mirror them freely. Snapping and alignment tools help keep your builds precise and clean.
Local multiplayer
Put your creations to the test against friends, and see who has the better robot!
Replay mode
Rewatch any fight frame-by-frame: adjust playback speed, switch to the cinematic camera, or use freecam for your own angles.
Share your builds
Export your creations and share with your friends, or import theirs into your game and put them to battle.
Highlight reel
Each match ends with a curated highlight reel, featuring the top moments in dramatic slowmo shots with text commentary.
Videos
Robot Crucible - Gameplay Trailer
Trailer featuring real gameplay recorded with the in-game replay system and cinematic camera setup.
Screenshots
Title Screen shows a curated selection of the best moments in the past few matches.
Chassis Editor being used to design a wedge bot.
Builder Screen demonstrating the component picker tool.
Screenshot of live gameplay featuring 2 bots with moderate damage.
Screenshot of live gameplay shortly after a weapon collision.
Cinematic highlight of a robot being launched.
Cinematic highlight featuring damaged robots.
Fight Result screen showing scores and a highlight reel of best moments.
Logos & branding
Brand colours
Cactus
#4E6C42
Sage
#6B8F5E
Highlight
#A8C48A
Paper
#F4F6F0
Deep spine
#1C2E1A
Awards & selections
Game Republic · 2026
Team
Jacob Morris
Director, Developer
After graduating with a first class degree in Computer Science with Games Development from the University of Hull, Jacob spent 8 years working as a software engineer across healthtech, emergency services, and government sectors, much of it on mission-critical systems. Alongside that career, he's been building games as a personal passion since childhood.
Robot Crucible is his first commercial title, bringing together that production engineering experience with a lifelong love of game development.
Contact
Video & monetisation policy
Cactus Brain Studios grants everyone permission to record and monetise videos or streams of Robot Crucible, including on YouTube, Twitch and elsewhere. Assets on this page may be used freely in articles and videos about the game.