Chibig's future as indiegame developers
This 2024 has been a turning point for Chibig as indiegame developers and we want to open our hearts.
Everything we have experienced this year has affected us on many levels and, in some way, has changed us.
From 2025 onwards you’re going to see some changes in us and in our way of doing things, and we want to share the reasons behind this.
There is a lot to tell, so we will be brief, but we want to start by thanking you for taking the time to read it.
Let’s start with some context
Our journey as indiegame developers started in a far 2016, with a single person: Abraham.
At that time, the mobile platform seemed one of the most accessible for a single person with limited resources who wanted to tell his own stories as solodev, and that’s how the adventures of Arco with Deiland and Mûn with Ankora ended up coming to light, the beginning of Chibig universe.
With some more experience and knowledge about videogame development and self-publishing, Chibig’s steps started to approach new platforms, PC and consoles, with the development of Summer in Mara.
At this point, the team already has the wonderful work of people who are still in the team today, such as Vicente, Caro, and Monica, and we’re approaching a turning point at a global level: a pandemic.
In the video game industry, it was a situation of great uncertainty, especially for indiegame developers, where teams had to quickly adapt to working remotely in the face of a future that raised many questions.
Fortunately, we now know how this story continues.
The successful launch of Summer in Mara, the adaptations of Deiland (Deiland Pocket Planet) and Ankora (Ankora Lost Days) to consoles and PC/Steam. In addition to joining forces to develop projects with other indiegame developer studios with the adventures of Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara (Talpa Games, Undercoders), Creatures of Ava (Inverge Studios, 11bit) and Mika and the Witch’s Mountain (Nukefist).
But what's next?
It’s no secret that the video game industry is going through a very bad time, and indiegame development studios are no exception.
During 2024 we have been watching all these changes and hearing the bad news month after month and, unfortunately, we have not been exempt from living it inside our team.
Maybe someone will be surprised to read this after the successful Kickstarter of Mika and the Witch’s Mountain, but as we already developed in the Post mortem of the campaign, not everything is as easy or wonderful as it seems, and it’s been almost two years since then.
We were very glad to have had the opportunity to develop videogames with other studios, for all that we learned from them, and to have told stories full of hope, joy and excitement. That was how we felt in those years since the release of Summer in Mara (2020). That was us.
However, coproduction with other game studios is a road we won’t continue to travel for now.
Circumstances have brought us to a situation of restraint and caution, and we must support each other more than ever to withstand the blows of indie game development.
We are tired but proud. We have survived this 2024 and we will continue to make video games.
Maybe the adventures to come won’t be as wholesome as the previous ones, but they will be more personal than ever. We want to explore new tones and themes. We will create video games to tell our story, how we feel, and who we are now.
“From Kiki’s Delivery Service to Spirited Away.”
We hope you will continue to join us on this journey. And yes, this is an official confirmation that we’re developing something new.
Never forget to take care of yourselves and the people you love.
Happy Holidays!
