Developer Acceleration Program Spotlight: Folklore Games

The ID@Xbox Developer Acceleration Program, launched in 2023, marches forth with the mission to empower underrepresented creators with the resources and information needed to bring their creativity, innovation, and originality to Xbox. The Developer Acceleration Program seeks to support developers who are led by those from Black, Indigenous, Latino or LGBTQIA+ communities, women, developers with disabilities, developers from emerging markets or teams with unique perspectives, and several other communities by removing longstanding barriers to entry for creators and normalizing diverse storylines and characters in gaming.

Since the program was announced, dozens of games have been released on Xbox to both critical acclaim and commercial success. With that in mind, we believe it is only fitting that we spotlight some of the creators behind these titles in a new recurring series on Microsoft Game Dev blog.

This week, we’re highlighting Folklore Games, developer of the Developer Acceleration Program title Spiral. We had the chance to chat with Creative Director Mikhael Vaillancourt about the studio’s experience with the program and how DAP helped them successfully develop Spiral (a demo is available on Xbox now, so be sure to check it out).

Tell us about Folklore Games.

We’re a small indie studio based in Montreal, Canada. We’ve been around for much longer than seems logical, and we’re about to release our first video game, Spiral!

For a bit more context, we were technically founded in 2012, right after our three founding members completed their bachelor's degrees. At the time, we launched a successful Kickstarter campaign for a physical card game we created during our degree. We sold about 200 copies. Afterwards, we spent some time working on different projects that never saw the light of day and for other companies. We wanted to gain more experience, and we also figured out what we wanted to do and what we wanted to say, which eventually led us to Spiral.

What can you tell us about Spiral?

It is a narrative exploration game sharing a poetic vision of cognitive degeneration seen from the inside, but most of all it is a love letter to our loved ones. It all started with our own family and those experiences we were all sharing but unable to talk about.  The idea of creating something to express our fears and our hope to open a conversation about them. Spiral aims to bring the players into Bernard's shoes by immersing them in those memories. You can go fishing with Dad, hide from Mom, play Castles & Creatures with some friends or go kite flying with your closest friend. But more important than that, you can be there for Bernard when he needs it the most, you can help him cherish those memories and hold onto them as long as possible.

The game is all about patience, empathy and trying to understand Bernard's story and to be able to tell it when he’s not able to anymore. The player is in control of how much he can be a support or just walk by his side, and that choice bears great consequences. 

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced as an independent studio?

Haha, I think we can summarize most of them with: money. This is our first game as a studio, and pretty much everything has been an uphill battle. From finding funds for development to marketing. And while much of that can be helped by investing more time, there’s a limit to the number of hours in a day, unfortunately!

How did you learn about or connect with the Developer Acceleration Program?

We crossed paths with a few people during development that mentioned something about the program but without going into much detail. However, it was Chloé Giusti who really explained it to us, accompanied us, and ultimately brought us into the program. We exchanged a few emails, but it was when she came to an event organized by La Guilde and Ubisoft in Quebec, Canada, that we got the time to sit down with her and really talk. We can’t thank her enough for her work!

How has the Developer Acceleration Program impacted your game’s development?

It was a huge help. We’re a small studio, and Spiral is our first game. This means that most of the development cost came from our personal savings, and we had little to no experience shipping on Xbox.

What accomplishments are you most proud of as an independent studio?

That one is easy, us. I’m incredibly proud of the game we’ve been able to create, even as a penniless independent studio. I’m proud of the team we’ve assembled, the people who joined and stayed with us, and the people who shared our passion and the love we had for the game we're creating. But most of all, we're proud of our journey, the things we’ve learned and how they shaped us into the studio we became over the last few years.

Any hints on what might be coming next from Folklore Games?

It’s still a bit early to say, even for us. We’ve been working on Spiral for so long now and still working on it as we speak, so it’s hard to imagine ourselves working on something else. We do have some plans floating around and have even worked a bit on some concepts, but we won’t know for sure what’s next until Spiral has been released, and we have some time to sit down and think about it more clearly!

The DAP made sure we would be able to release on Xbox on day one and work even more on the game, in addition to giving us access to experts. We’re very grateful!

Why do you feel that programs like DAP are important to the health of the game industry?

Creating video games is a risk; no matter the size of the project or the studio, you can’t know for sure if the risk will pay off. That’s even more true for new studios or games that are trying something different. And since it’s riskier, finding the resources for those small studios is even more of a challenge. Programs like DAP help studios trying to bring their own voice to the game industry. And those new voices will help shape our industry and maybe inspire another generation to do the same, pushing us all forward!