by Maureen Berho 18/01/2019

Niebla Games: 2018 in review!

On this new Dev Blog entry, we present a brief overview of what 2018 meant to our team and our projects. What did we do? And what did we accomplish?

Before starting, just a quick summary on who we are: Niebla Games is an indie studio based in Valparaíso, Chile, which aims to create original tabletop games and videogames. Today, the team has 7 members, and a significant amount of collaborators in diverse areas.

We're lacking an updated picture with the whole team! Here's three members. :)

Regarding board games, last year we reached an important milestone with the release of our second original title: ‘Hegemony, Shadows of Power’.

“Hegemony, Shadows of Power” is a game of negotiations, bluffing and shifting alliances for 3 to 6 people, in which each player assumes the role of a Leader who strives to impose their power to have their Cause become a reality. To do so, they must strategically spend their resources, generate alliances, and battle other leaders. They can negotiate and coordinate to win together, but they can also betray each other on their path to victory. Despite its hardcore appearance, the game is very easy to learn, and each match lasts from 30 to 60 minutes.

We received some excellent vibes at the Tabletop Area of the Indie Megabooth @ PAX East 2018.

During 2018 we had opportunity of presenting Hegemony at international events, which allowed us to gather extremely valuable feedback from new players. Particularly, in March, the prototype of the game was informally presented at the tabletop game showcase “Shut Up & Sit Down” at GDC 2018 (San Francisco, US); and in April, the game was part of the Official Selection of the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2018 (Boston, US). We are proud to say that Hegemony became the first Chilean game to be showcased at the Indie MegaBooth.

Today, ‘Hegemony’ is being distributed to tabletop game stores nationwide .

On the video game side, last year we continued working on our first projects: ‘Causa, Voices of the Dusk’ and ‘Hexland Heroes’.

As many of you may already know, “Causa, Voices of the Dusk” is the video game project with which we founded our studio by the end of 2015.It’s a F2P multiplayer collectible card game set on an original fantasy universe. The project is aimed for multiple platforms (PC, Consoles & Mobile).

By the beginning of 2018 we felt we were not achieving the visual quality we had expected, so we decided to make critical changes on the look of the game. Changing from 3D to 2D art at that stage of the development was a very risky bet, but fortunately we’re very satisfied with the decision. With its new look, we have managed to make a more visually appealing and consistent game that is easier to differentiate from other titles in the genre.

This is Causa's new look!

Alongside these graphic improvements, last year we completed the development of most of the features of the PC version of the game, and also progressed on the development of the PS4 port.

During 2018 we were also able to deliver good quality playable demos to apply to multiple international showcases. We were extremely excited when the game was selected to be part of the Indie Megabooth at PAX East and PAX West 2018, the Busan Indie Connect Festival 2018, the Indie Game Area at Tokyo Game Show 2018, and the BIC Showcase at G-Star 2018. Also, these demos gave us enough material to participate in other competitions, so we also experienced the excitement of winning 2nd place at the PC Indie Pitch at Gamescom 2018.

We also progressed on the development of our strategy/puzzle game Hexland Heroes. Since the game was selected to be part of the Indie Showcase at PAX East 2018, and also achieved a 3rd Place at the Big Indie Pitch at Chinajoy 2018, we were able to gather a lot of feedback from publishers, press and other relevant contacts.

We're impressed by the positive feedback, but there's still a long way to go!

Thank you very much for reading this new entry on our dev blog! We’ll be updating our blog frequently with more details on our adventures. You’re invited to subscribe to our mailing list and keep an eye on our social networks. Cheers!