Farewell, 2020!
With this year finally coming to an end, we’ve decided to collect all our accomplishments into a single video for your viewing pleasure. Before I go into any specifics, though, I’d like to thank all of the fans of our games for making the year such a success as well as the devs on our teams that put in such amazing work!
The Games of 2020!
Relic Hunters Zero: Remix
May of 2020 feels like eons ago but launching Relic Hunters Zero: Remix on the Nintendo Switch feels like yesterday! From our incredibly hype Twitch streams to the bopping soundtrack, this game brims with energy and excitement. It was our Marketing Strategist, Richard Suchit, who coined the phrase “Cute characters, big guns” to describe the game and he couldn’t have been more accurate. Whether you’re looking for a little roguelite action, a little couch co-op fun, or a little leaderboard competition, Relic Hunters Zero: Remix really showed off some of our best. We’ll have some more announcements for Remix soon, so keep an eye on the Spaceheart gang going into next year.
Spinch
If you’ve spent any time in the Akupara Games Discord this year, you are well-acquainted with Spinch. Whether it’s the upbeat chiptune soundtrack by the incomparable Thesis Sahib or the strobing rainbows of Jesse Jacobs’ art and animation, the first thing on most players’ minds were the game’s psychedelic aesthetics. But those that came for the imaginative art stayed for the challenge of its gameplay. Hours spent perfecting the final boss fight, frame by frame, yielded some nailbiting kills and awesome streams. Speedrunning quickly picked up steam as global leaderboards were released and players competed for the top spot on the game’s two dozen levels. From kids just getting into platformers on the Nintendo Switch to precision diehards ready to cut their teeth on Spinch’s toughest levels, fans really responded to this one and we couldn’t be happier.
Gone Viral
From the moment we came on as publisher, Gone Viral has been near and dear to my heart. As a player, the action-packed roguelite gameplay immediately connected with me. Creating new combinations of mutations, weapons, carnage items and consumables sunk me ten hours deep the first two days I played. And as a Community Manager, so much of my job is bridging that gap between players and the developers, helping them understand one another so that changes, feedback and fixes can be implemented swiftly and efficiently. Gone Viral delivered on this from day one, which is why its release into Early Access was such a focus for our studio. The full release of the game will be coming next year with a host of new content to offer and I’m so excited for you to see it.
The Accomplishments of 2020!
Awards
Just picking up nominations in 2020 was more than we could hope for in 2020. So many games came out over the last year worthy of praise but Spinch, Gone Viral, and especially Mutazione found space in technical and artistic awards alike. Our fan-favorite mutant soap opera, Mutazione really knocked it out of the park with over a dozen nominations and some very high profile wins. At the Independent Games Festival, Mutazione was nominated for four awards (The Grand Prize as well as Excellence in Narrative, Visual Art and Audio) and would take home the award for Excellence in Audio. Then, just a few weeks ago, Mutazione also won the Grand Jury Prize at Indiecade 2020! It feels like every few days we get another fan coming into the Discord or tagging us on Twitter to express their love for Kai and all her friends.
Announcements
On top of our game releases, we had plenty of major announcements coming out for our titles! In August, we announced GRIME at IGN’s Awesome Indies event to huge fanfare, followed up with a featured spot in the Escapist Indie Showcase. The Darkside Detective and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark would also come under Akupara’s banner, with the former getting a release with the Stadia Makers program and the latter releasing next year! Mutazione also updated with the Seven Gardens update, bringing all seven Story Mode gardens into the game proper for the game’s major anniversary update. Along with new seeds and music, the update brought everyone back to the island again for hours more ambient gardening gameplay.
The Industry
Finally, I want to highlight the strides we’ve made at fulfilling that motto you hear from us over and over again: We’re an indie for indies. First and foremost, this blog! Since coming on last year as Community Manager, updating and upgrading the company blog has been one of my highest priorities. Today, our blogs are offering deeper insights and observations not just into the games as products but in how our games are created. If you haven’t checked out our Indie Insights series, we’ve brought out our best and brightest to share insights with devs and publishers about how we approach games and how we hope others see us in the future. On top of that, we’ve also taken a more active role in industry conventions and conferences. This year, I gave a presentation called Don’t Panic! How to Save Your Game from a Buggy Launch, Marketing Strategist Richard Suchit presented Relationship Building: Depth over Breadth and CEO David Logan presented How to Take Advantage of All Available Stores in a variety of different locations. Each of these is or will be up on Youtube and we’ll be featuring them in this very blog in 2021! We remain deeply committed to indie games, indie publishing and bringing out the best in the indie scene.
Thank You
Looking in the rearview can be great but it’s the dawn of a new year and 2021 looks better than ever. Betweeen the releases of our two announced titles, GRIME and The Darkside Detective: A Fumble in the Dark as well as a couple secrets we’ve got in store, I have a feeling that the new year will be even brighter for Akupara.
Thanks for coming with us on that journey!
If you want to connect with us for all the new developments in 2021, make sure you join us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Discord!