No Joke! Send In The Clown Playable Demo Hits Steam Ahead of Steam Next Fest

No Joke! Send In The Clown Playable Demo Hits Steam Ahead of Steam Next Fest

_LA improv comedy studio Mad Herons drops a playable demo for their upcoming comedy RPG ahead of Steam Next Fest_

Los Angeles, California - 7 October, 2026 - Mad Herons, a new indie game studio founded by Jacques Mouledoux, Karen Park, and Nick Park, is thrilled to announce that their debut comedy adventure, _Send In The Clown_, is officially participating in October's Steam Next Fest.

To celebrate the demo is now available to play here.

Created by a team featuring a former _iCarly_ writer, SpaceX engineer, and university professor, _Send In The Clown_ is an hour-long comedy RPG where you step into the oversized shoes of Pockets, a struggling birthday clown tasked with saving twelve-year-old Miranda's disastrous birthday party; you need to unlock classic clown abilities and befriend party guests to take back the party from Tad, Miranda's bratty little brother.

The standalone demo acts as a comedic prologue to the main game that distills the game's RPG mechanics. Playing as Pockets, the player arrives early to Miranda's birthday party and finds it is already a mess: the guests are unhappy, the food isn't cooked, and Miranda's bratty little brother Tad has stolen the grill's propane tank.

The player must make things right. To get the propane from Tad, the player needs to beat his high score in _America Shoots Guns At The World_, a satirical bullet-hell shoot 'em up. The player must also befriend at least one of the demo's three available birthday guests by completing their unique minigames. For instance, befriending single dad Ned requires you to teach him to dance in a _Guitar Hero_-style rhythm game. Much like the main game, the player will be given a rating based on how many guests they've befriended and which secrets they've uncovered.

_"We made this game to be a fun, silly treat for players, and this preview is just a taste,"_ said Jacques Mouledoux, the game's lead writer. _"The full game has more characters, more minigames, more secrets, and a proper story with heart and lots of extremely stupid jokes."_

Co-director Nick Park added, _"We even created a full-on, turn-based RPG battle system that is used literally once, in the game's final battle against Tad. We couldn't think of a more fitting ending to Miranda's birthday party than fighting a child."_

Download the demo and wishlist the game now at Send In The Clown's Steam page.

To follow Pockets's adventures in real life you can find Mad Herons and _Send In The Clown_ on X, Bluesky, TikTok, and Instagram.

_No artificial intelligence, or intelligence of any kind, was used in the making of this game._

About Mad Herons

Founded in January 2025 in Los Angeles, and originating from the LA improv and indie game developer scene, Mad Herons is a three-person indie studio composed of former iCarly writer Jacques Mouledoux, former university professor Karen Park, and former SpaceX engineer Nick Park. The trio left their serious careers behind to make genuinely silly, personality-driven video games. SEND IN THE CLOWN is their debut title.