HumaNature Studios

HumaNature Studios is an American indie game studio founded in 2006 by Greg Johnson, the co-creator of ToeJam & Earl, a franchise that I have loved since the 90s. Based in Albany, California, the studio is a spiritual successor to Johnson Voorsanger Productions, the company Johnson formed with programmer Mark Voorsanger back in 1989. HumaNature is a small operation with a long history behind it, and understanding the studio means understanding Greg Johnson’s career.

Greg Johnson: The Man Behind HumaNature Studios

From Starflight to ToeJam & Earl

Greg Johnson has been in the games industry since the mid-1980s. His first major credit was Starflight, released by Electronic Arts in 1986, which won Game of the Year from Computer Gaming World. He followed that with Caveman Ughlympics in 1988, and then in 1989 he and Mark Voorsanger began working on ToeJam & Earl. The game launched on Sega Genesis in 1991, was initially considered a flop, and then became a cult classic. A sequel, ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron, followed in 1994. Johnson and Voorsanger eventually parted ways after ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth on Xbox in 2003.

Founding HumaNature Studios

Johnson founded HumaNature Studios in 2006. The studio’s first major project was a game called What’s Your Type for Konami, which was fully completed but never published — Konami shelved it and the rights eventually reverted to Johnson. He kept working, contributing to Save the Dinos in 2007 and then building Kung Fu Panda World with DreamWorks Animation, released in 2010. It wasn’t glamorous work, but it kept the studio going.

HumaNature Studios Games

Doki-Doki Universe (2013)

Doki-Doki Universe was HumaNature’s breakout original title, released as a first-party Sony game for PlayStation platforms in 2013. It grew out of design concepts Johnson had been developing since his unreleased Konami project, with two Facebook apps — Deko-Deko Mail and Deko Deko-Quiz — serving as precursors in 2012. Doki-Doki Universe is a quirky, emotionally driven game built around personality quizzes and character interaction. It’s strange and charming in the way ToeJam & Earl was strange and charming — clearly made by the same person.

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove (2019)

In 2015 Johnson launched a Kickstarter to bring ToeJam & Earl back. Back in the Groove released in 2019 and returned to the roguelike format of the original, ditching the platformer direction of Panic on Funkotron. It added HD graphics, quality of life improvements, and online multiplayer. For fans of the original it was a genuine return to form. The game released on PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Steam, and was published by HumaNature Studios and Limited Run Games.

What Makes HumaNature Studios Distinct

HumaNature is Greg Johnson’s studio in the most direct sense — his sensibility runs through everything they’ve made. The games are weird, warm, and built around human connection rather than competition or combat. ToeJam & Earl was about two aliens trying to find their way home while being chased by absurd representations of suburban American culture. Doki-Doki Universe was about emotional intelligence wrapped in a cartoon package. That throughline is consistent across forty years of Greg Johnson’s work, and HumaNature is where it lives now.

What’s Next for HumaNature Studios

Greg Johnson has been working on Kimono Cats, a casual game in development at HumaNature. Beyond that the studio remains small and independent, which is clearly intentional. Johnson has been making games on his own terms since the 1980s, and there’s no sign that’s changing. For fans of offbeat, heartfelt games with personality, HumaNature Studios is worth keeping an eye on.