Good surprise at the end of the year on PC, "Unspottable" was released on Switch and Xbox One at the end of January.
This video game, which twists the concept of "Where is Charlie?", Was designed from A to Z by three French amateurs, without the slightest financial assistance.
With more than 10,000 downloads, it is a success and proves that anyone can create their own video game with a little creativity.
The Covid-19 epidemic is not calming down in France, far from it, and the curfew should last for some time.
Suffice to say that there are potentially many evenings left to occupy at home, and why not playing video games?
Unspottable
, a recent French production, has the perfect profile, since it is a local multiplayer game, to be shared with family or roommates.
The principle: a sort of "Where's Charlie?"
crazy in which all the characters, including those managed by the computer, have the same appearance;
the objective being to unmask the "real" players.
A concept as crazy as the backstage of
Unspottable
, created by three friends, without any help, but with a lot of inventiveness.
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Unmask other players among the clones
Unspottable
("undetectable" in good French) belongs to the category of "party-games", these local multiplayer games (from 2 to 4 players on the same console or the same computer, as opposed to online games) which consist of string together games that usually last two or three minutes.
The concept is original: the players are placed in a setting filled with little men with identical appearance, an appearance which is also that of all the players.
Unable to distinguish his character from that of other players as well as clones controlled by the computer.
The first challenge is therefore to identify your own guy.
The objective is then to unmask all the "humans", by punching a character, without being spotted by the adversaries.
But out of the question to go for it.
Robots do not hit anyone, so the slightest hit reveals the "real" players.
It is therefore necessary to blend in with the mass by imitating the movements of robots, while observing the movements of all the characters to try to locate the humans.
If the character you hit is indeed an opponent, you score a point.
If it's a robot, the game continues.
A friends project turned full-time job
Both funny and competitive, although a bit repetitive,
Unspottable
is the perfect game for parties with friends.
A very good surprise with an astonishing creative journey since it is the work of only three people: a graphic designer, Maxime Granger, and two web developers, Gwé Limpalaer and Yohan Lebret, three friends aged 35.
"We've had this project in mind for three years. At the beginning, it was just something we did alongside our job. We weren't working in video games, it was just an idea that we amused ", tells Europe 1 Maxime Granger, friend with Yohan Lebret since kindergarten, and with Gwé Limpalaer since college.
© GrosChevaux
For two years, the three friends, who live between Paris and London, grope in their free time.
"Initially, we wanted to make an adventure game, but we realized that it required a lot of work. As we love to have fun in the evening with friends, we turned to a local multiplayer game", traces Maxime Granger.
The concept of
Unspottable
came about completely by chance.
"One day, Yohan and Gwé were playing a fighting game and suddenly there was a bug with the interface, they had the same character and they no longer knew who was who. It gave them an idea, we discussed it and we decided that would be the very principle of our game. "
Unspottable
has nothing to envy to games from experienced studios
Believing that their game has potential, the three friends quit their jobs to devote themselves fully to development.
They give themselves a year to release it, only with their savings.
"I went to see the CNC to find out about aid (
the National Cinema Center grants aid for independent video game creators, editor's note
). It went rather well, but the only problem is that two of us are in London and that we did not want to hire more people in France. So that blocked any help, "explains Maxime Granger.
"In the end, the three of us preferred to stay and we created a company based in London."
© GrosChevaux
Thus was born the GrosChevaux studio, a small structure held only by the three creators ("we just paid people to make the music").
Together, they prove that video games are first and foremost a story of creativity, and not big bucks.
Unspottable
is pretty, fluid and stands out for the absence of bugs.
It's also a rich game, with 12 levels, each with a different mechanic.
In the cow pen, for example, a robot collapses every five seconds, making real players more visible.
In other settings, there are additional objectives to achieve.
It's smart and worthy of games produced by more experienced studios.
An unexpected success and a second game in preparation
Released in October on PC and Mac and at the end of January on Nintendo Switch and Xbox One (9.90 euros),
Unspottable
has already accumulated more than 10,000 downloads.
A success in the form of a reward for this risky bet.
"We did not pay each other a salary for a year and now we are starting to recover the profits from sales. We are not far from paying ourselves a first salary", rejoices Maxime Granger.
With his associates, they went to the end of their project by self-publishing their baby, even if it meant turning their backs on financially attractive contracts.
"Small publishers contacted us but we were afraid of no longer owning our own game so we refused," explains the game designer.
© GrosChevaux
Unspottable
was therefore released successfully, but the adventure is not over yet.
"We will first refine it, and finish the PS4 version on which we are working at the moment. We will also develop the game online", promises Maxime Granger.
And the rest?
The GrosChevaux studio will continue to exist.
"When we finished the game, we said straight out that we were going to do another!" Exclaims the graphic designer.
To finance their next project, the three founders will take a job to save money.