The offices of Los Angeles-based independent game studio Robotoki were the target of an attempted robbery tonight, studio founder Robert Bowling tweeted, posting a photo of the studio's shattered glass doors.
Two thugs just kicked through our studio front door & attempted to rob us. I'll post photos of attackers, pls share. pic.twitter.com/SCGGLbXviX
- Robert Bowling (@fourzerotwo) January 9, 2014
"At around 7:20 p.m. after all the staff had left, with exception to myself and our lead FX artist, two males approached the front door of Robotoki and hit the security glass with a rock and began kicking in the weakened glass," Bowling told Polygon. "I began running towards the lobby from my second floor office as soon as I heard the rock hit. I confronted the two males in the lobby, where only one had gained entry."
According to Bowling and the captured security footage, both men fled immediately when they saw Bowling approach. The developer said the attackers didn't make away with any property, such as development material, "which thankfully has triple redundant back up physically and in the cloud." Bowling urges that anyone with information regarding the attempted break-in or the suspects to report to the Los Angeles Police Department detective unit immediately.
In May, the Robotoki studio was stormed by the LAPD after an employee activated the building's "panic" button. When the police response team turned up they mistook the studio's life-sized statue of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2's Simon "Ghost" Riley for a real gunman. The situation defused after 15 minutes, according to Bowling, with the officers laughing about the incident and playing a few video games using the studio's NES controller table.
The Robotoki development team is currently working on Human Element, a zombie apocalypse survival game pegged for release in 2015. The studio launched a Kickstarter campaign for 2D platformer The Adventures of Dash last year, which did not meet its goal before the campaign's conclusion. Bowling said at the time that the project will "come to life eventually."
The LAPD confirmed to Polygon that they responded to the break-in and a report was taken.
