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I often say that game design is like cooking, because creating a gameplay experience feels a lot like selecting ingredients, mixing them together until it feels good. But we can make the analogy with cooking even larger: making a game is very similar to creating a complete meal! Gameplay is the main dish, for sure, but you also have to think about the starter and dessert. And as much as starters go, what’s better than a good old opening movie?

Opening movies really set the mood before you start the game. The first time you launch the game, you get a peak at the tone, the values, the characters. You project yourself on the journey. It’s a teaser. Then, you discover the game, and you spend hours on it. Each time you launch the game, the opening movie is there. As soon as you hear the first note, you are swapping worlds. Like the smell of a dish, you anticipate it, it makes you salivate. The opening is not a teaser anymore, it’s a welcome.

Japanese games have a tradition of opening movie playing from the title screen. Each time I launch a game like this, I let the opening play once before loading my save. It’s like watching the opening of a TV show or an anime. It’s part of the experience.

In Phantasy Star 2‘s opening, I like how the title screen says that it’s bigger than a kingdom, it’s a multi-star fantasy. There’s mythology and tech. Even the music covers two different tones, starting from gloomy and mysterious to something more cheerful and positive.

Persona games openings are always pieces of art. They present everything with style: characters, world, story. I can’t hear the first notes of Persona 4‘s opening without feeling a chill down my spine. Dragon Quest XI opening movie is much more classic, but no less strong. It’s the image of the game, a pretty classic yet epic adventure of a group of friends.

Years later, when I watch the openings from old games, they take me back. In a couple of minutes, they revive the memory of the whole adventure. Hopefully, we can create that long lasting connection for Haven, with a memorable opening that captures the game magic.

Please enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/bIhi9FP97Ys

The opening movie was directed and created by Yukio Takatsu – an expert of anime openings, with the support of Yapiko Animation. Takatsu-san did an incredible job bringing our concepts, world and characters to life. The editing really makes Danger‘s original music created for the game shine, and vice versa. We hope it will make you want to dance and twirl like Yu and Kay.

The art style is different from the art in the game of course, but it’s in essence exactly what we are trying to express with the game: a couple of characters who love each other, and with whom we hope you are going to fall in love in turn. An established relationship, that’s still evolving, in movement, gliding and twirling at a fast pace, tied by flow and rust, across different planets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ragUUT9bsFQ

We are hard at work for finishing Haven and bringing it to PC and consoles this year. We hope that you liked the starter and still have a bit of appetite for the main dish!

Emeric and The Game Bakers

Mr Boss is still there, bossing around! If you didn’t beat him already by chaining combos, now seems to be the right time.

As you may know, supporting a game is a lot of work. As developers, we make a game, test it, polish it, release it… and sometimes update it after launch. When it is stable, we think we can breathe, take some days off, and maybe, make another game. But reality isn’t as simple. A game that worked great at one point in time will eventually stop working. Not because we left a bug. Because new devices require an update, because there’s a new version of the OS, because the rules of the stores change… It’s not the game itself that’s buggy and stops working, it’s the environment that changes and breaks it. For us, the developer, it means days or weeks of extra work to keep the game working. This is what we call “support” and it’s also a significant amount of money to spend on a game. That’s why unless the game keeps making enough revenue, we can’t support it forever.

For instance, Combo Crew was removed from the Play Store. The same version that was approved a couple of years ago was removed, because the requirements changed, and it required too much work to update it. It’s still available on iOS, but at one point, it might not work on Apple devices as well.
We are working hard to close our next Consoles and PC game, Haven, and we can’t spend too much time and money to work on our beloved 2013 mobile game… But because we love Combo Crew and want people to keep playing it, we decided to make it free!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuW2fmz4S3Y

So, as for today, Combo Crew is available for free on the Apple App Store, and we’ll just host the Android .apk file on our server.

– Download Combo Crew on the Apple App Store
– Download the Combo Crew apk for Android devices
To install the apk on your device, you may need to allow the installation of unknown sources.

Disclaimer
– As our agreement with Capcom ended, the Capcom characters (Viewtiful Joe + Street Fighter) are not playable in this version.
– In App Purchases will not work (note: they were never needed to play and finish the game, so no worries on this side. They were just shortcuts.)

Have fun with the game!
The Game Bakers

POSTE POURVU

Nous recherchons un·e responsable de gestion pour assurer la gestion quotidienne de notre studio.

• Paiement des employés, prestataires et fournisseurs
• Suivi des encaissements, facturation et du tableau de bord des opérations
• Coordination mensuelle avec notre expert-comptable et préparatifs pour les comptes annuels
• Mise à jour des tableaux de bord de suivi des ventes de nos jeux
• Préparation de documents financiers (budget, analyse de rentabilité …)
• Amélioration des processus de suivi (outils et tableaux de bords)
• Gestion quotidienne du studio et achats courants
• Gestion des prestataires de services généraux

Ressources humaines

• Suivi des contrats et informations des salariés et prestataires
• Coordination avec notre expert-comptable pour la gestion des payes
• Prendre part aux processus de recrutement, de formation et autres domaines RH
• Assurer le suivi d’une partie de la législation du travail
• Gestion des prestataires de services sociaux (mutuelle, …)