IN MURCIA | Nintendo and PlayStation open the door to the Murcian video game
The video game industry in Spain is booming. The total turnover of this sector was €1.795 million in 2021 To 2.339 million in 2023. These figures show that Spain, with more than 20 million usersin the third largest EU market, only after Germany and France. Although in recent years the region’s public administrations have begun to promote this sector here, the truth is that there are few success stories and The best creatives and developers from Murcia are packing their bags succeed in your profession.
One of the few video game development studios based in Murcia, Superlumenand runs a full-fledged advertising campaign for his latest creations: Magic bakeryA A single-player cooking and management game set in a haunted bakery.which was presented this week in the “showroom” organized by Nintendo Iberica in Madrid. The video game will be placed in the genre “cozy game‘; That is, games that are free of hype and complex mechanics, and offer a friendly and relaxing experience aimed at younger users. Superlumen’s latest work goes on sale November 7 next year on Steam, Epic Games Store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox.in both digital and physical format.
Video game Magical Bakery, developed by the Murcian company Superlumen. / Superlumen
Murcian studio located in Murcia Science Park who controls Development Institutemade news in September 2022 for its acquisition by the company transnational Sodescoa video game developer and distributor from the Netherlands who has already expressed interest in publishing one of Superlumen’s star projects, Desolatiumgraphic adventure filled with references to myths Lovecraft (one of the passions of the studio’s founders) with real images of the Murcia region. This job was awarded in 2018 as “Most Innovative Game” from PlayStation.
Regarding the origins of the Murcian studio, Superlumen director: Juan Cassinelloindicates that it all stemmed from a group of childhood friends. “We made our own projects, small games, all very amateur, something like a “hobby”. “One day we decided to take the plunge and turn our passion into a business.”says Cassinello. Some of the video games that marked him as a teenager They are of the point-and-click genre. (which uses only the mouse). “We were big fans of the saga Monkey Islandbut there was another game, less well known, that we really liked. “Lost in Time”is a first-person science fiction graphic adventure developed in 1993. “This game was very innovative and groundbreaking for its time in the sense that the graphics were real images,” points out Superlumen director, who acknowledges that this work inspired the first steps of his project.
Some characters from The Magic Bakery. / Superlumen
The early years of research focused not only on video games, but also on developing or immersive virtual reality experiences for private companies and institutions. such as Estrella de Levante or Murcia City Councilwho hired them for, among other things, mini-games. All these orders They served to gain experience and finance the project the team had in mind. at that time: development Desolatium. It was at this moment, in the middle searching for publishers to publish the gamewhen they came into contact with multinational company Soedesco, which fell in love with both the video game and the studio it would eventually absorb.
This was a turning point for the developers from Murcia. “We had to think about it a lot because, for better or worse, up to this point we were the masters of our destiny, but in the end the argument they gave us carried a lot of weight: They played in the Champions League, and we played in the regional one.and we decided to sell,” explains Cassinello, who assures that since the takeover, the multinational corporation has monitored the project every day and set deadlines, but in return were able to benefit from their experience, their resources and their advertising techniques.which expanded the scope of his creations and allowed, among other things, the translation of his video games into 19 languages.
Another game’s portability marks another milestone for SuperlumenProject Magic bakery This was the most ambitious study to date. For a year and a half, 13 people worked there, which became a great challenge for the Murcia company. Moreover, this is a change in the direction of research that is closely related to the mystery. In addition to this project, Superlumen was responsible for the “porting” (the process of transferring a project from one platform to another) to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 and Xbox of another video game: Petit Island from an international studio. , Bali-based Xelo Games. According to Superlumen’s director, this is a very complex process that represents another milestone for both the studio and Murcia. From now on, the team will spend some time monitoring these two games (improvements, looking for “bugs” or bugs that are preventing you from enjoying the game properly). Nothing is certain in the long term, but they have not ruled out resuming at some point the development of the second part of the flagship that brought them so much joy: Desolatium.