Interview - A look back at Game Créalab Francophone with SpookiCG

The first edition of the Game Créalab Francophone took place from November 14 to 28 in Paris. And it was one of the most rewarding experiences for the participating studios!

Game Créalab Francophone is a residency for video game developers from the French-speaking world. This international project has been developed in partnership with Wallimage, CNC - Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, SODEC, Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, Film Fund Luxembourg and the Guilde du jeu vidéo de Québec.

The creative residency welcomed 5 project teams from French-speaking countries and territories (France, Luxembourg, Quebec, Switzerland and Wallonia). Over a 12-day period, the teams benefited from coaching, webinars and conferences, as well as advice from editors. This work was rounded off by a professional day at the CNC, where the teams had to pitch their projects to an audience of professionals. For the occasion, Zoë Klein, from the winning Walloon studio SpookiCGwas kind enough to take part in our interview.

Hi Zoë! Can you introduce us to SpookiCG and the people behind the studio? And what's your career path so far?

"Hello, SpookiCG is a small outsourcing, tech, vfx and 3D video game studio in Namur, co-founded by Margot and me 3 years ago. We both studied at the HEAJ, in Technical Arts for me and Game Art for Margot. Then we founded SpookiCG to be able to take on collaborative contracts, notably in VR on theBlu, Arizona Sunshine 2, Trombone Champ and, that too, thanks to Damien who joined the team in 2022. We're also helping great Belgian projects like Final Girl and Land of Symbiosis.

Now our next big project is our first game: KeyCars! " - Zoë

How did you hear about the Game Créalab project? Why take part, and what was your reaction when you found out you had been selected?

"Thanks to you, Laure haha. We saw this on the WALGA Discord server but thought we'd miss the opportunity because we were completely in Gamescom preparation mode. When we got back, we saw that the deadline had been pushed back and so we gave it our all to get our game idea down and put together a solid dossier in less than 2 weeks.

So since we made the effort in game jam mode to push the dossier as far as possible, we didn't really expect to be selected, but we wanted to use it as an excuse to push the vision forward as far as possible.

Honestly, we were overexcited when we received the email, because we know exactly what an opportunity this represents for us as a studio embarking on its first game, and to be able to fill in the big gaps we may have in the more marketing, production, planning areas, etc." - Zoë

What project did you decide to work on during the residency? And what stage has it reached?

" KeyCars! (Coupe Cléo) It's an ultra-fast Arcade Racing game with a twist of narrative choices in a girly Neon-Punk universe, very much inspired by 2000s anime such as Beyblade, Bakugan,... where everything is a pretext for a toy battle. Here, KeyCars are key-ring cars that you can launch and miniaturize yourself inside. We play the role of Cléo, who finds herself almost in spite of herself in the underground world of the KeyCars championship, through which she discovers herself. We draw a lot of our inspiration from games like Sayonara Wild Hearts to revitalize the Arcade Racing genre (F-Zero, Ridge Racer), which has gradually fallen into oblivion. " - Zoë

What needs does the residence help you with in your project? What solutions have you found so far?

"When we submitted the application, we still had a very rough vision of our game. Particularly in terms of narrative design: how to present a multi-purpose narrative side without alienating an arcade racing audience who aren't always going to want to read text or wait for the next round. In the end, we managed to combine the two and make the presentation totally fluid. We now have a game design that offers the entire story almost without ever taking control from the player.

We were also able to mature our gameplay and scenario plans enormously throughout the residency." - Zoë

During this residency, you'll have the chance to take part in several webinars with French-speaking speakers. Sophie Schiaratura, CPO of Maracas Studio, was one of them this week. What did you learn from her webinar and those of other speakers?

"It was great to see a familiar face in Paris with Sophie, who got us back on track in terms of audience outreach on Steam in the backend. We were able to talk numbers, metrics to monitor and achieve to make the algorithm work in our favor and how to bring, and above all, keep players on Steam and Discord.

We also received a lot of interesting information from other players. For example, we got feedback on the game from several publishers with completely different backgrounds. From general feedback to details of contract clauses." - Zoë

Did the residency help you position your project in the market? Help you understand the ins and outs? Or pass on the tips and tricks of a good business plan?

"The residency was very useful in presenting the project and its target audience much better. We got a lot of feedback, especially in the feedback sessions with the publishers, where we could see where the presentation was stuck. How to better stand out from certain closed markets and what communication angle to take. For example, we found it hard to present the fact that this is a game that is very feminine in its (re)presentation, but without alienating a male audience, which is very difficult given the status quo where women are still under-represented, even more so in our genre.

Clearly, the game project resonates very strongly with our target audience, and that makes us very happy. At every presentation, we have women coming up to us just to say "Yes! We agree, we're sick of it!" just as we have gamers who are hyper-motivated by the ideas, aesthetics and gameplay position we present." - Zoë

Being in residence also means meeting other studios with projects! Did the effervescence of ideas help you develop your project?

"That's clearly the strong point of a residency like this. We exchanged ideas with the other projects all the time, because we all have completely different points of view and backgrounds. Different game references. We also have different strengths: some are very advanced on the market side, others on the production side, and above all, creatively, it's been extremely enriching.

All in all, the residency was an incredible human experience. We've forged very strong bonds between all of us, and we know we'll be able to count on each other's support." - Zoë

What next?

"After a long nap, we're really hoping to be able to count on public funds to kickstart' the production of a real prototype of the gameplay loop to be able to realize our vision a minimum. Then we'd like to develop a playable demo that would serve as a vertical slice with a very short story, and a few possible branchings, in the universe of KeyCars.

Then it's all a blur. It's hard for us to plan ahead, given the current political environment in terms of public funding, and the fact that a small structure like ours has seen its coffers shrink as a result of the industry's problems.

KeyCarsIt's a project we believe in, and so far it's really caught on with people. After talking about it non-stop for 2 weeks, we can't wait any longer and we just want to give it our all." - Zoë

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