by Maureen Berho 24/06/2018

Causa, Voices of the Dusk: a new indie collectible card game in development.

In this Dev Blog entry, we'll tell you some of the general features of 'Causa, Voices of the Dusk', the first game in development by our indie team, Niebla Games.

'Causa, Voices of the Dusk' is a collectible card game in development for PC, Consoles & Mobile Devices. In this intuitive and fast-paced multiplayer game, players assume the role of powerful Leaders struggling to make their faction's ideals prevail in a re-emerging fantasy world.

The idea behind 'Causa' emerged from our desire to show in a fun and metaphoric way that power in society is complex, and not only restricted to its military and/or belligerent aspect. In the game, players use their Glory (Militar Power), Wealth (Economical Power), Influence (Social Power) or Spirit (Cultural Power) to materialize their ideals (their Cause). By presenting these four dimensions of power, a wide array of character archetypes are presented: Warriors, Workers and Survivors (Glory); Aristocrats, Merchants and Mercenaries (Wealth); Intellectuals, Politicians and Rogues (Influence); and Priests, Mentalists and Sorcerers (Spirit). The game is set in a deep fantasy world where there's no certitude regarding what is the best path for Humankind, and different forces (factions) struggle to reach the Hegemony and have their cosmovision come true.

The game features some unique game mechanics. For instance, once per turn, you may choose a card from your hand or your game to 'dedicate' (sacrifice) to your Cause. You earn 1 Point of Cause for each dedicated card. By raising your Cause, you'll be able to play increasingly powerful cards. Also, once per turn, you may choose to 'require' (draw) one card from those you previously 'dedicated'. But beware; if you do so, you’ll lose one Point of Cause (which is both the resource and one of the victory conditions). You may see some of the key mechanics in the game in the following brief overview video:

In 'Causa', players may build their own strategy by choosing between the aforementioned Powers: Glory, Wealth, Influence and Spirit. They may choose between different Leaders and factions for unique gameplay experiences. During the game, each Leader has access to special pre-defined cards, so players can draw one of them when they reach specific levels of Cause.

The game allows different paths to victory. One of them is to destroy the opponent's Resistance by attacking them directly, or to deal indirect damage by exhausting their deck. As players reach the highest levels of Causa, they are likely to win by using the most powerful Leader's Decisions (special cards).

Apart from the original gameplay, the narrative and the art developed by over 10 Chilean concept artists, we expect 'Causa' to stand out from other card games by presenting a narrative experience, offering the Campaign Mode alongside the Duel Mode. In the Duel Mode, players may challenge each other in 1vs1 multiplayer matches. In the Campaign Mode, players will be able to overcome and complete challenges and map-based campaigns, while exploring the fantasy world of 'Causa' through the stories and struggles of its powerful Leaders.

We're also working to add new multiplayer modes (2vs2 & 2vs1). This will allow a very entertaining experience that mixes cooperation and competition, as well as more defying and variable campaigns. We expect this feature to be added after the release of the game.

Regarding the history of this indie game, 'Causa, Voices of the Dusk' is the first video game in development by our team, the Chilean studio Niebla Games. The idea came up in 2015, when we had presented the prototype of the tabletop game in several hobby events in Chile. Our lack of familiarity with software and video game development was some sort of perk for starting-up in the video game industry by the beginning of 2016. As we were not aware of the difficulties that indie developers generally face, nothing held us back to start working in an ambitious project such as 'Causa'.

Fortunately, from the beginning the development of this video game was finantially supported by multiple governmental agencies. Regarding production, our project 'Causa, Voices of the Dusk' has been received funding from the Corporation of Productive Promotion (Ministry of Economy), and the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage. Additionally, we’ve been supported by ProChile, the organization that aims to foster Chilean exports. Thanks to this support and our own personal savings, we have been able to fully commit to the development of the game.

To this date (June, 2018), we're completing the development of the Alpha version of the game, and also completing the development of all the contents we expect to present in the moment of its release.

Regarding awards & recognitions, in April 2018 the game was part of the Official Selection of the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2018.

Thank you very much for reading this post! In the following entries, we'll share more details about the development of our projects. Don't forget to support us by following our social networks: Facebook (Causa - Niebla), Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Twitch & Tumblr.