A few months after its launch, we chatted with the Valencian team Chibig Studio about the development of the most important project of their career.
More than a year has passed since we spoke with Chibig Studio, the Valencian team in charge of Summer in Mara; known for signing Deiland long ago. Twelve months go a long way, especially if you have a team of hundreds of people. When your project is based on only five components, the situation changes, but that has not prevented what was born as a project seeking crowdfunding on KickStarter has finally become one of the Nintendo Nindies, those independent games that the Japanese publisher winks to link his name and be able to say that about play first on Nintendo Switch. We talked to them again after the Nintendo Indie World in March.
International sensation: interest in half the world
But let's put ourselves in context, what is Summer in Mara? After Deiland, Chibig wanted to go further, a more ambitious project in design, structure and gameplay with which to collect elements from The Legend of Zelda, Stardew Valley and Harvest Moon, combine everything with an ecological message and endow the title with its own idiosyncrasy. Everything to make this video game a relaxing, contemplative and deliberately tropical experience where we will control Koa, who lives alone in her home and has never left her native island. The blue of the horizon is clouded by the ocean, Mara, but what is beyond what the view can see? Up on the boat, the adventure begins.
The premise is clear, but the path is not easy. In fact, the initial KickStarter campaign ended successfully last February with just over 233,900 euros and 9,523 sponsors; 900% of the total contribution necessary to move forward. Everything invited optimism, but more was needed, including an IndieGoGo campaign, because developing a video game the size of what Chibig intended and reaching PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC required an inexpensive mattress to pay, at the same time, bills, wages and time. Above all, time. Especially if a pandemic gets in your way without warning.
The COVID-19 will not be an impediment to meet the planned release date, however, as Diego Freire, marketing manager and CM of the studio tell us, who intend that the title be available in digital format on Nintendo Switch before spring is over.
And here's the interesting thing: Summer in Mara is, de facto, a Nindie, one of those independent video games under the umbrella of Nintendo as a temporary exclusive.
Summer in Mara
How Chibig Studio's relationship with Nintendo begins
FreeGameTips: When did you know you were going to participate in the Nindies and how did the opportunity to participate in a Nintendo Indie World arise? Is Nintendo the one who contacted you?
Chibig Studio: “It is a super complex process. In the first place, they have to know you, because weekly they come out … Dozens. It is crazy. It requires a lot of work. I met the Nintendo people at the Nordic Game in Malmö, Sweden, and it was then. As a result, you start sending emails, you talk a little … you are showing what you are having … But we know for sure that it is a game that attracted attention mainly on Switch; 70% of people (between KickStarter and IndieGoGo) have pre-purchased it for Nintendo Switch. Then it was our great asset. We showed them the numbers and we told them: people want to play Summer in Mara on Switch. "
So it was. With more than 10,000 people who had already bought the game on Nintendo Switch, those in Kyoto ended up accepting an idea that has a few stories behind it, but that for reasons of confidentiality Freire could not delve deeper. "It has been a work of months," he adds. “It was exciting to put the Nintendo Indie World on TV and see our game come out. We all started screaming, "he laughs. "As soon as the Direct ended, social networks were uncontrollable: RT, FAV, mentions … Every time I clicked on refresh, I had 50 new interactions," he proudly points out. “It was amazing to see us share space with Swery and Sean Murray of No Mans Sky. This is real? Is this happening? ”, He admits.
"This marks the beginning of the end," he wields in the form of a metaphor. “On the one hand, we have taken a weight off our shoulders because the most difficult has already passed; now it remains to launch the game. It is a strange feeling, because on the one hand you feel the relaxation; on the other, great pressure because there are many more people watching the game. "
FreeGameTips: What is being the most difficult for now? I remember the last time we talked about this, but how have things evolved in this regard?
Chibig Studio: “The game is much bigger now than we initially thought. Since December, we've been trying and playing it all, the expectations were that it would be a twenty-hour game, but in the end it has become an adventure of more than thirty. This has lengthened all processes, especially the QA (quality assurance process). The road is getting a lot longer, overall, having to play it all and do absolutely everything you can do in the game.
It is also being complicated that, since January, when we learned that we were going to have to delay it to spring, try to manage the community to communicate to them or let them know that we were not stealing their money, that everything was going to be all right, we were not going to disappear; we just needed more time. That was difficult. "
FreeGameTips: How many people are you currently? Have you grown in the last year? With Deiland you were only three people; while last year you told us there were seven of you on the team. How is everything managed economically?
“Now we are only five people. We do what we can. More than growing we have decreased … We squeeze a lot to be six, we became eight … but now we are five. The truth is that, being our first big game, we are doing the best we can not only for the game itself, but for the players: we don't want to launch the title full of bugs and have to patch it week after week; even if it takes us to delay it. We want to launch the best possible game. We prefer to delay the game but launch a finished product, tested, worked, and thus offer the most convenient experience for everyone.
There has been a crucial moment for us to stay afloat, and it was on an economic level, which was the month of February, when we received the money from the IndieGoGo very fair for the launch of the game. There is a little added pressure for us because Summer in Mara has to go well for us to continue; if not, we will have to see how … You see, there are so many things behind that we are managing and that cost money that is not only our salaries, but the additions of the reserve, what if books and others. I mean, we have to pay all those rewards. ”
FreeGameTips: Taking into account the precariousness of the sector and the difficulties that continue to exist to receive 100% of the aid that the Government promises when the conditions are met, can you live on this alone with Chibig?
Chibig Studio: "Yes. We, who are currently in the studio, are living the video game with Chibig. Our wages are not very high, but we in Valencia can live, this is not Madrid. We live a little … project by project. If Summer in Mara works well, we may have a year to live on; if it works very very well, maybe we have for several years "
FreeGameTips: Taking this into account, what is the sales estimate you have? It is a determining factor for the viability and future of any small study like yours. What would be a good sales figure? With Deiland, if we are not wrong, you sold more than 25,000 units.
Chibig Studio: “Being optimistic… in the first month… 50,000 copies? Roughly, it would be a large number. "
FreeGameTips: And what is the percentage that you take of each copy sold in a portal like the Nintendo eShop?
Chibig Studio: “I don't have the exact data, but about 70% in the Nintendo eShop. On Steam, for example, they take 30%; very similar to what the PS Store of Play and others take, approximately 30% and 70% for us. Although you already know that, you have to subtract VAT and the rest of taxes added to that amount. So, when you spend everything in euros and apply those percentages imposed, you realize that the developer really takes 10 or 12 euros (it will cost about 24 euros). And that without publisher. If we had decided to go with the publisher, you gain some things, but you also lose others ”.
FreeGameTips: And why without publisher? With Deiland you were on the Sony PlayStation Talents program. Now one hundred percent independent.
Chibig Studio: “We have had very good offers on the table, but it is all a matter of possibilities. We did some calculations and saw that by launching the game with our own resources and by carrying out our own marketing actions and so on, all on our own, we could do everything well enough to go without a publisher. There are advantages to going with Publisher, your sales can grow by three or by four thanks to their actions. But we did calculations and we said: if we sell 5,000 copies with them, but we manage to sell 50,000 copies on our own, we get the same. We got the numbers out and we took a risk. If we managed to get out on the Nintendo Direct by ourselves, we can. If we can sell those copies without a publisher, there will be an added percentage of pride. ”
Physical format, coronavirus consequences and release date
The enthusiasm for having a physical copy of a video game that we hope is more interesting for the collector than for the studios. This is something that other national teams with whom we have had the opportunity to speak have told us on more than one occasion. Recently, in another meeting with Crema Games (parents of Temtem), we were told the same thing: a launch in physical format can make you lose money if it is not managed correctly. The benefits must be distributed among more parties and, to be profitable, there must be an agreement that yields an optimal percentage for the publisher and that the number of units dispatched is very high. If not, digital benefits more to small studios, which do not have that great showcase of the great sagas or the big publishers.
FreeGameTips: Has an editor contacted you to make a physical release of the game?
Chibig Studio: "Yes. We have contact to do it, but not so much a normal physical edition but something more special. With GTM, for example, we have the art book. Apart from this, we have spoken with several physics game publishers, only right now we are focused on the digital launch and, until a time passes and we evaluate all the options in physical, both the good and the bad part, we will see. Because if the game sells well digitally, we will receive better offers to adapt it to the physical format. If it does not work digitally, we will save this procedure ”.
FreeGameTips: How is the coronavirus confinement situation affecting you? Have you applied teleworking?
Chibig Studio: “It is not affecting us much, luckily. What we have done is take the computers and take them home to continue. At first it was a bit of a hassle to organize, so there will be no problem – we hope – to continue working normally. ”
If all goes well, Summer in Mara will go on sale on Nintendo Switch this spring; Later it will do so on PS4, Xbox One and PC through Steam.
