LogInChibig's founder Abraham Cozar told us about their upcoming title, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara, discussing how the team balanced the game's accessibility and difficulty, sharing details about its gameplay mechanics, and revealing the main challenges during the game's development.
Introduction
We are Chibig, a videogame studio located in Spain. We started developing video games in 2017 and we have worked with companies like PlayStation, 11bitstudio, and Pikii, and collaborated with other indie studios like Undercoders, Talpa Games, Inverge Studios, and Nukefist. Our video games to date include Deiland: Pocket Planet (2018), Summer in Mara (2020), and Ankora Lost Days (2021).
Perks of Being an Indie Developer
Chibig is a "creators" project. We like to burst our creativity to the fullest, making games that come from our hearts. This makes the day-to-day work very bearable because we make the games we want, dedicated to our players, with total independence, and without influences from third parties. At Chibig, we decided from the beginning to build our own IPs, and each game adds to the universe of games we have created.
Challenges of Indie Development
The challenge is always to create sustainable projects and to put people before ideas. As it’s a very passionate job, this is not easy, and we have to measure our resources very carefully in order to carry out realistic projects. We are independent, and that comes at the price of not having many "lifeguards" or opportunities to fail. That's why we always try to keep the mentality of a small team making small video games.
Balancing Creative and Business Aspects of Game Development
Our strategy has been to iterate in video games, building a catalog based on the same universe and being related. In this way, we manage to generate a community that follows us game by game – this mitigates the risk involved in launching a new project.
In addition, we rely on platforms like Kickstarter to be able to measure the support of the community and have the opportunity to present the video games sometime before their release. This way we have room to change certain aspects of the game and improve the perception.
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is Summer in Mara 2 for us. It is a refocusing of Chibig's successful IP to the platform game genre. The game, like Summer in Mara, is artistically inspired by Studio Ghibli films and also takes references from Nintendo games such as the Zelda saga. In addition, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a very optimistic video game, a summer adventure, with great influence on the Mediterranean sea that bathes our city (Valencia, Spain).
The Game's Art Style
We have always been very inspired by the world of Studio Ghibli at Chibig. In the office, we have the art books of the films, which we have seen many times. The art direction pursues these references while seeking to create its own recognizable personality. In each game, the characters are one of the main elements and we take great care of their designs to make them feel unique and memorable.
Tools that Help Bringing the Game to Life
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara has been developed by Talpa Games with Unreal Engine. This is the engine the Talpa Games and Undercoders teams worked with when developing their previous title Mail Mole, so the easiest decision for this development was to continue with Unreal. However, in Chibig we also usually develop with Unity, and we use other tools like Blender, Substance 3D Painter, or Photoshop.
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara's Gameplay Mechanics
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a platform adventure, in which Koa will face the trials of pirates passing through eight fantastic islands. To do this, she will have to explore the ocean, find new places, and improve the boat to overcome the dangers.
The adventure starts in the city of Qälis, which is the meeting point with the main characters and from where we set off in search of the pirates. It is a game of skill, in which we must dodge traps, solve small puzzles, and face bosses. It also has an optional mode against time, for those looking for a speedrunner experience.
Balancing Accessibility and Difficulty
Accessibility and difficulty are balanced by the game modes. Players who want a more relaxed gaming experience can activate accessibility options. Those looking for a challenge can replay the levels and compete against time on a global leaderboard. The intention of Talpa Games and Undercoders (co-developers and designers) has been to opt for versatility and adapt the experience to each type of player.
Collectibles and Secrets
The game's collectibles and secrets are one of the most fun parts. In each level, there are always three hidden collectibles that we can redeem in the Qälis stores for upgrades, new clothes, backpacks, etc. Thus an economy has been created in the game, which rewards players who seek to be completists, as well as providing opportunities for character customization. The game is extremely rewarding with these systems.
Main Challenges
The genre of platform video games is a challenge in itself since there are references of the highest quality and giant IPs such as Mario. In our case, we have focused a lot on the titles that, in terms of production resources, we could get closer to. Thus we have developed a set of very original character moves linked to the world of Summer in Mara. Napopo, Koa's shell friend, accompanies her in the adventure and helps her to complement the skills.
The video game is very fun, the biggest challenge has been the level design, to achieve a varied and scalable result in difficulty. A differential factor is adventure shaping. Through the characters, exploration, and narrative you get a more organic feeling that you do not have with a more classic sequential distribution of levels.
Preparation for the Game's Steam Release
The game is in the final stages of development. At this moment, the process is focused on the QA of the video game, polishing its features, and correcting bugs. At the same time, the communication of the video game is being carried out between the three studios responsible for the project. The main challenge is to accumulate as many wishlists as we can before launch, to have a better chance of exposure when the time comes, so we are continuously working on actions that allow us to gain visibility.
Attracting Audiences
The most important thing is to try to resonate with the community. To do this, it is necessary to find the most original points, what makes your independent video game different from others.
We test a lot of communication through social networks, this allows us to observe what is most effective and sets the tone and the way to talk about the game. Once you know this, you push harder and increase the base of interested players. Sometimes it’s difficult to devote efforts to marketing and communication, but not doing so is leaving half the work undone. No one is going to expect your game on launch day if you haven't talked about it beforehand.
Advice for Aspiring Indie Developers
We recommend starting with small projects that can be tackled in months. It is a big risk to start with a big project. Once attention is generated, it is interesting to look for financial support to sustain the team until the end. It is good to be independent, but we must also be realistic and think that above all this should be a job that allows us to live. The dream game will come at some point, but we have to make sure we will develop as sustainably as possible until then.
Chibig's Future Plans
We have a very intense 2023! We just finished the Mika Kickstarter campaign, and we still have to launch Ankora: Lost Days on Xbox and PS4. Next will come the release of Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara (dates to be confirmed) and we would like to have Mika and the Witch’s Mountain ready before the end of the year.
But that's not all, Chibig is developing a bigger game: Elusive People, of which we will be able to give more news soon (and it is not expected until at least 2024).