En Garde developers on the challenges of founding a studio early in your career
For many, it was the surprise of the Future Games Show: En Garde, a colourful fencing action game that pits you against large groups of enemies as experienced swashbuckler Adalia de Volador.
The humorous tone and polished look perked many players' interest, making En Garde one of the most popular demos during the summer 2023 Steam Next Fest.
The game (which is launching next week) began its life as a graduation project by Fireplace Games' eight co-founders at Supinfogame Rubika (now simply Rubika), France, which the team later uploaded to itch.io.
"We didn't think about doing anything more with it at first," says CEO Anaïs Simonnet. "Actually, when we put it online, we had a lot of messages from people who told us they liked it, and publishers and investors were also really interested in it. That was a surprise for us."
"While there is a continuity, it's not like we went out of school, got good feedback, and then founded Fireplace Games," adds Julien Fenoglio, Fireplace's concept artist and writer. "Each of us spent about two years either working in bigger studios or freelancing. It was this time that gave us ideas on how we wanted to run a studio, because we had a taste of how bigger studios operate and how other people were doing."
There was no inciting incident that led to Fireplace's foundation, however. Instead, Simonnet describes herself and her co-founders as a group of developers who were slowly but surely looking for something new.
"I think everyone in the team has different reasons to join the adventure. I know that, for me, it was that I wasn't feeling really good in my job. And I started to realise that the gaming industry was not as ideal as I thought when I was a student and I had a strong desire to
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