PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Bonsoir, I’m Christophe Galati, a game developer from France, thank’s for having me. I started to create game when I was 12 using RPG Maker. I then studied game design & programming and worked a bit in the industry. I’m mostly known for my first indie game Save me Mr Tako, a platformer RPG made as a tribute to the Game Boy starring an octopus main character, which was released on PC and Switch in 2018. Since then I created my game company Deneos, and am now working on Tako no Himitsu: Ocean of Secrets.
TELL US ABOUT TAKO NO HIMITSU
Tako no Himitsu is an ARPG made as a tribute to the game boy advance, kind of like Golden Sun meets Terranigma. My goal when creating games is to pay homage to specific eras of gaming history and make my IP evolve in it. Using those nostalgic aesthetics to tell more modern and personal stories. After paying homage to the GB, doing the sequel with the GBA was the logic step. The game had a nice origin story though, in 2019 I became the first game creator to be selected at Villa Kujoyama artist residency in Japan, so I got to start the development while living in Kyoto for 5 months, which was magical. The main theme for this game was secrets and traumas, how they turn into monsters and how people in power use them to shape history. My goal is also to have a very varied and colourful cast of characters, from the singer to the drag queen, as well as having the octopuses make a comeback.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
The development has been kind of slow due to having to starting the game on my own. Creating the company and unlocking fundings took a long time, as well as having to work again on the first game to re release it as a Definitive Edition. But since I created the company and recruited a small team, things have been more smooth.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
The game is made with Unity, which was the software I learned during my studies in game development. As I made my first indie game with it, it was more familiar for the second one. It’s been a bit scary to witness how things at Unity are going, so we are not sure we’ll keep it for the next game, but at least we have it for this one.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
The biggest hurdle is always fundings. For my first game I was kind of alone so I didn’t paid myself, which is completely different than now where I have a team. I thought that because I made a game already, it would be easier to get a publisher, which was wrong, especially due to the post covid crisis we are all stuck into, with publisher not investing much. Thankfully in France we have some public funds, but it’s not enough for a game with such a scale. That’s why I went to Kickstarter, which has been pretty good for us for now. We have 5 days of campaign left so we’ll see how it goes. Hopefully the Kickstarter success will help publishers to be more confident in the project and give us the last push we need.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
Well good luck! Making games is hard. It was already hard 10 years ago, but the indie game world has changed completely since then. The main advice I see is to make small projects to train yourself, but it’s not something I’ve down myself, as I always do more than 4 years project which may seems completely suicidal in our climate. That’s why I can’t really give advice as I have been pretty lucky to get some recognition and a platform to share my messages. I guess the main thing I could say is to stay unique, making a game with a purpose and a message that is dear to your heart, because what is the point then?
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Thank you all so much for your support. Depending when this interview will launch, you still have a bit of time to support us on Kickstarter. Otherwise you can still try the demo of Tako no Himitsu on Steam, as well as wishlisting both my games as it’s always useful. Good luck in your game dev journey, as in the end it is really what it is, a journey.
-Christophe
❤️
