🍁 Fall news roundup: Toys, Kafka, Bees and Alex

Hi, everyone 🍂

With fall underway, I felt it’s only appropriate to offer you something to read along with your chai, pumpkin spice, or any latte, really. So here goes what went and will go down at Charles Games, autumn edition.

Our time post-Beecarbonize language update is now spent across multiple projects, with most of it devoted to both (working title) Toys, an adventure about war childhood, and Playing Kafka, well, about Kafka. The first one will feature three different conflicts and a number of intertwined fates of kids caught in it all and, if I did not tell you already (okay, I know I did but it’s worth reiterating), its a part of a three-year project Mementoes, international cooperation involving Sarajevo War Childhood Museum.

We also have a concept PDF ready, still subject to many changes, but you can take a look and tell us what you think!

And Playing Kafka? It deserves its own section!

First thing first - if you read Czech (or trust automatic translation) head to Aktuálně.cz where they witnessed a class of students playing the first part of our Kafka game and then asked our CTO Ondřej Paška about it.

But don’t envy those schoolkids too much, since we are set to release the public version of the game in May 2023! It will include three chapters, each one devoted to one of Kafka’s works: The Trial, The Castle and the Letter to His Father.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s a concept art from The Castle:

Stay tuned! And as always, big thanks to our colleagues and collaborators from Goethe Institut Prague.

In other news, Beecarbonize did not win at IndieCade, but still the nomination itself was a great success! And the company it is in is astounding. Give it a look!

Where we did win, though, was Game Connection Europe 2023! Beecarbonize snatched the “Best Mobile/Tablet Game” award. We are grateful and happy. Check out other winners, too!

Also, if you speak/hear Czech, there’s a talk and a discussion happening at NTK (Czech National Library of Technology) with CTO Ondřej Paška (he’s going places, isn’t he?!)

Now is time to get educational with DigiStories: Alex, our newest school-focused title about digital wellbeing. Following a story of 13yo Alex and his best friend Lea, it will help students talk about and reflect not only on how they spend their time, but delves into subjects such as toxic influencers, peer pressure or excessive gaming. It is in Czech only.

Watch the trailer.

If you are a Czech teacher interested in using the game, head to the official website. We developed it with JSNS (Jeden svět na školách) and it’s free!

And, finally, Czech & Slovak Games Week just started. It’s a celebration of, well, Czech and Slovak games! And we have discounted both Attentat 1942 and Svoboda 1945 for it, 70% and 65% respectively on Steam, but also on other platforms. The games that made our studio and kickstarted our career now cost like a cup of coffee or less.

We prepared this handy page with all the links in one place!

And, finally, as always, a tip, by Ondřej: Laya’s Horizon. You got to have a Netflix subscription, but it’s been a while since some game surprised us by controls via touchscreen. Steering, surfing the air waves and exploring the big in-game island is a really soothing experience. From those who brought us Alto’s adventure!

So that’s a hefty wrap for now. Just some quick links to end with:

• watch our little remembering video and another one, too, since it was Attentat 1942’s birthday

• meet us at Game Developers Session Prague, we’ll be there with Playing Kafka

• watch this nice video nice people from Czech Centres and Radio Prague International made with us

And, most importantly: Take care!

Ondřej
Charles Games