Nintendo dominated the news cycle this week with a rare double dose of Nintendo Directs in preparation for their upcoming Switch 2. There were several other game companies with news to share, however, not least of which was Cleveland-based indie developer Flipline Studios.
 

Last Thursday, Flipline released the first trailer for an enhanced Steam port of their 2012 time-management game Jacksmith. The updated version, which is subtitled “Weapons and Warriors,” boasts a substantial graphical upgrade, although the core gameplay will largely remain the same.
 

As in the original, players will take on the role of the titular blacksmith to forge weapons for an assortment of anthropomorphic barnyard warriors. Pig soldiers wield swords, chicken soldiers wield bows, sheep soldiers wield shields, etc. At the end of each in-game day, these animal clans use their new munitions to wage war on the forces of evil in real-time strategy battles, collecting loot and items which can be used to create bigger and better weapons.
 

The Weapons and Warriors trailer, which was posted to Flipline’s YouTube channel as well as their dedicated blog, confirms that most of the original features will return. Although the visual overhaul is the flashiest change, there are a few other updates worth mentioning.
 

Many of the animal clans sport new members, with the spear-toting Meadowguard cows seemingly undergoing a ground-up redesign. The game’s Steam page outlines a few quality-of-life improvements as well. Special parts, which can be used during the crafting process to give weapons extra effectiveness against elemental enemies, will be easier to navigate thanks to an expansive new bookmarking system.
 

The initial blog post notes that Weapons and Warriors is coming “after years of testing and planning,” so the development process may have been more difficult than usual this time around. The release date is yet to be posted, but if previous reveal-to-release cycles are anything to go off of, the game will likely be out by September at the latest.
 

Jacksmith was an award-winning title when it originally released over a decade ago for browsers. Its focus on the underappreciated aspects of warfare (scouting out enemy troops and producing arms) helped it to stand out amongst other RTS games of the time. It was something of an anomaly in Flipline’s catalogue as well, combining their penchant for time-management with a unique, more mature fantasy setting.
 

The re-release of Jacksmith signals a shift in the company’s business strategy. Flipline Studios is best known for their Papa Louie franchise, and more specifically the Papa’s Pizzeria spinoff series of restaurant simulators, which began on Adobe Flash in the early 2000s. Since the death of Flash, however, Flipline has mainly migrated to the mobile game market, where their releases are perennially found on lists of the highest-selling paid apps. More recently, they have undergone another transition, porting older titles such as Papa’s Freezeria to Steam and making them officially playable on PC once more.
 

The reason that Weapons and Warriors is so unprecedented is that it marks the first time the company has published a game from outside their successful Papa Louie IP since… the original Jacksmith. This paves the way for other obscure Flipline franchises to see the light of day after a long period of dormancy. Perhaps their puzzle-platformer series Steak and Jake or their Wild West beat-‘em-up Cactus McCoy will be next to get the remake treatment.
 

Regardless of what the future holds for Flipline Studios in particular, though, the reveal of Jacksmith: Weapons and Warriors is yet another sign that former Adobe Flash developers will be an increasingly relevant force in the games industry in years to come.