Today, we’ll talk about the genesis of SwapTales: Leon!, our first game. Let’s go!
2011 – The student project “Michel”
It all started with a school project. The original idea was to create an adventure and cooperation game which would bring together parents and children on iPad. The idea of swapping words inside a story was already present in this first version, developed in 3 months, as part of a first year of a Masters degree at Enjmin school, France.
2011/12 – Several student prizes won
After the project presentation, “Michel” won several awards: the Great video game student prize at the Paris Games Week and multimedia author SACD prize. The game has even been shown on StarPlayer, the television show of famous French video game program presenter, Bertrand Amar.
See also: SwapTales:Leon! awarded at PGW and SwapTales:Leon! in la Charente Libre
Later, motivated by these victories and in addition to the professional activities they were each individually engaged in, some members of the team decided to continue the adventure and produce a true professional prototype in order to push the potential of the concept.
March 2015 – “Michel” becomes SwapTales: Leon!
This prototype enabled us to win the video game creation contest Magic Festival (organized by Shibuya Productions), which took the shape of a €100,000 investment in the project. On this occasion, the game was also mentioned in the news of the Nolife channel.