Idol Minds was founded by programmer Mark Lyons and artist Scott Atkins. They had previously worked for Sony Interactive Studios America in San Diego and, after Lyons moved to Colorado with his family, established Idol Minds on April 1, 1997, in Boulder, Colorado. The studio became known for its ragdoll physics-based game "Pain", which was released in November 2007. It was among the most-downloaded games on PlayStation Network of 2008. In October 2009, Idol Minds made 26 of its 46 employees redundant. One source attributed the layoffs to budget cuts by "Pain" publisher Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), which was Idol Minds' only source of funding. At E3 2011, SCE announced "Ruin", a ""Diablo"-style action role-playing game" developed by Idol Minds and SCE's San Diego Studio. After the game was renamed "Warrior's Lair", Idol Minds was taken off the project in April 2012. Later in 2012, Idol Minds shifted its focus onto mobile free-to-play games. "Warrior's Lair" was canceled in July 2013. In August 2015, Idol Minds launched a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter for "Shutterbug", seeking in funding. The project was canceled ten days later after raising $2,973.