We are happy to unveil the opening movie for Haven, the video which will welcome you every time you start the game. The opening was created and directed by Yukio Takatsu - a specialist of anime openings, with the collaboration of Yapiko Animation and on an original music by Danger. 

Takatsu-san did an incredible job bringing our concepts, world and characters to life. The editing really makes Danger's original music created for the game shine, and vice versa. We hope you will want to dance and twirl like Yu and Kay.



The opening movie conveys in essence what the team is trying to bring to life with the game: a couple of characters who love each other, and with whom they hope you are going to fall in love in turn. An established relationship, that's still evolving, in movement, gliding and twirling at a fast pace, tied by flow and rust, across different planets.



Opening movies really set the mood before you start the game. The first time you launch the game, you get a peak at the tone, the values, the characters. You project yourself on the journey. It's a teaser. Then, you discover the game, and you spend hours on it. Each time you launch the game, the opening movie is there. As soon as you hear the first note, you are swapping worlds. Like with the smell of a dish, you anticipate it, it makes you salivate. The opening is not a teaser anymore, it's a welcome.

Years later, when you watch the openings from old games, they take you back. In a couple of minutes, they revive the memory of the whole adventure. Hopefully, we can create that long lasting connection for Haven, with a memorable opening that captures the game magic.

You can read the full blogpost from Emeric Thoa, the game Creative Director on our Dev blog.

Remember to add the game to your wishlist and you are welcome to share your thoughts on our Discord Server

Haven will be available for PC, Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and Xbox Game Pass in 2020.

For the occasion of The Game Awards that take place later today, Valve is launching a "Game Festival" on Steam: a special event featuring a collection of game demos available for 48 hours. Haven was invited to be part of it! You can download the demo until Saturday December 14th, don't miss it.


https://store.steampowered.com/app/983970/Haven/

The demo features the very beginning of the game, to get to know our two lovers stranded on a forgotten planet. But before you start your journey with Yu and Kay, here is some information to keep in mind:

• The demo is beta stage, not final quality
  
• The demo is single-player only (the final game supports local co-op)
  
• A controller is recommended. You can review the controls below. (keyboard and mouse controls are very work in progress).
  
• English, French and Japanese languages (change in Pause menu).

It's the demo some of you already played at PAX West, Tokyo Game Show, Indie X or XO 19 that we are happy to make available for everyone on Steam.

So have fun, and we're looking forward to your feedback on Discord, Twitter or here on Steam.



TRY AT OUR OWN RISK:


AZERTY keyboard layout here

For the occasion of The Game Awards that take place later today, Valve is launching a "Game Festival" on Steam: a special event featuring a collection of game demos available for 48 hours. Haven was invited to be part of it! You can download the demo until Saturday December 14th, don't miss it.



The demo features the very beginning of the game, to get to know our two lovers stranded on a forgotten planet. But before you start your journey with Yu and Kay, here is some information to keep in mind:

• The demo is beta stage, not final quality
  
• The demo is single-player only (the final game supports local co-op)
  
• A controller is recommended. You can review the controls below. (keyboard and mouse controls are very work in progress).
  
• English, French and Japanese languages (change in Pause menu).

It's the demo some of you already played at PAX West, Tokyo Game Show, Indie X or XO 19 that we are happy to make available for everyone on Steam.

So have fun, and we're looking forward to your feedback on Discord, Twitter or here on Steam.



TRY AT OUR OWN RISK:


AZERTY keyboard layout here

It was a blast to show Haven at Gamescom, PAX West and Tokyo Game Show. We had a playable demo, featuring the beginning of the game. It was great to meet with some of you there, but for those of you who didn't get the chance to play, here's a 5 mn extract from the demo. Have a look.

You can watch a video with the best moments of the demo there:


Thank you to everyone that came to play the game and shared their impressions. Haven has received a few accolades and awards during the shows:

• GameSpot’s 37 coolest games from PAX
  
• Rock Paper Shotgun Gamescom's best of the rest: the coolest indies round up
  
• Selection for Kinda Funny Games showcase at PAX West
  
• The Best Nintendo Switch Games Of PAX West 2019 from Nintendo Life
  
• 10 titres marquants de la Gamescom Le Monde
  
• Winner Best Indie Game of PAX West - Marooner's Rock
  
• Guest's Runner Up during The MIX Seattle 2019
  
• Nominee Best Indie Game of Tokyo Game Show - Famitsu
  
• Nominee Best Indie Game of Tokyo Game Show - Dengeki

Here's a few of quotes from the previews and coverage about the game:

• "Boasting a gorgeous art style, a world steeped in mystery and intrigue, and a premise so affecting it’s surprising to consider how fresh it is, Haven is an RPG like none before it." Gamespot
  
• "In the demo I played, the little touches went a long way. (…) Soaring, tumbling, and freewheeling through a not-quite-endless diamond sky felt good. It was exhilarating, but also chill". Kotaku
  
• "Haven‘s combat is a system that has a lot of potential to be pretty cool, and I can’t wait to see what more it offers. Combine that with some great writing, awesome music, and a nice visual style, and Haven is ticking all the boxes." Tech Raptor
  
• "Haven quite masterfully encapsulates the warm feel of being in love, of having to rely on and be relied on by another person. (...) Haven is an odd step forward, but one that works with such a stirring beauty to both its presentation and gameplay." Goomba Stomp
  
• "We really love what Haven is going for. A co-op, narrative RPG with sassy, fully voiced characters is something we think would get a lot of love out of your two Joy-Cons." Nintendo Life

Pictures from our stands on the different shows (1st picture our booth at PAX West on Indie Mega Booth, 2nd picture right Gamescom, 3rd picture Haven at Tokyo Game Show):





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When showing the game we had an amazing reception for ... our loading screens! They made players smile and comment. We designed the loadings screens around the idea of Yu and Kay's "First times": the first times they kissed, made love, fought, or found themselves in those very simple yet special moments when you're with someone you love and loves you back.
There was a lot of demand for them as posters, stickers... So we've gathered some of those artworks as wallpapers to make your desktop smile!
Go {LINK REMOVED}here to download the wallpapers in high resolution.




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For the shows we also produced some of Haven first goodies: posters, stickers, cards. Mylène even got herself some prototype Haven tee-shirts. You also might remember that we developed some nice goodies for Furi: tee-shirts, vinyl, posters, artbook... you can refresh your memory here: http://thegamebakers.com/merch.
We'd love to hear your thoughts about the must have goodies you'd like to see for Haven. Don't hesitate to get in touch or join our Discord server to share your thoughts.



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If you are in France, Montpellier, and would like to participate in Haven's playtests, you're in luck as we are looking for new players. The playtest sessions last about 2 hours and will take place until the end of the year. You're welcome even if you are not a French speaker.
Apply directly by writing to playtest@thegamebakers.com.
More info here (in french): https://www.thegamebakers.com/participez-aux-playtests-de-haven-cet-ete/

Finally we can show you more about Haven!

There are many special moments during the development of a game but the first time you disclose the gameplay of your game to the public is certainly one of the most exciting ones.

So check the gameplay trailer here:
https://youtu.be/ragUUT9bsFQ
And then read a few words from Emeric Thoa the game creative director about the intentions and influences for Haven, and tell us what you think.

Emeric will also be holding a Q&A on Discord server Monday July 15th at 21h CEST - 12h00 PT. You know the way to our Discord to ask your questions!

Last we hope to see you at PAX West where we'll have a demo for you to try, come and meet us!

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Share the journey of two lovers, escaped to a lost planet in a desperate attempt to stay together. Glide over the grasslands of a shattered planet, unraveling its mysteries to find a way to settle for good.
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Haven is a story-rich adventure, with touching characters with whom you fall in love as you follow them through their challenges and everyday life. But it’s also a (J)RPG with an innovative combat system that lets you play the two characters at the same time, and chain actions using tactics and timing.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

The colorful and dreamy art direction of the light science fiction world of Haven is coming to life thanks to an original electro soundtrack by Danger, with a range of tracks that will carry players from the energy of a sunny morning to the tension of a fight in the mountains at night.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Haven is a solo game at its core, but at any time, a second player can jump in locally. Players can then share a moment of exploration and progression together.

Hello here,
We're starting a series of development updates about our upcoming game Haven. We will share some information on how we are working on the game. For the first one we tell you about the character design of our two heroes in Haven.

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Haven is about two lovers escaping to a forgotten planet. Character Artist Koyorin joined our team to design the characters and their complete range of expressions. Their art is a perfect fit for Haven because they manage to communicate a lot of nuances in the characters expressions, even in a simple portrait.


Research for Yu and Kay’s everyday life on Haven – by Koyorin

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Hi, I’m Koyorin. I’m a freelance character designer and illustrator, and I’ve had the pleasure of working with The Game Bakers as their character artist for Haven.

– What makes a good character design?
From a purely subjective standpoint, the most effective character designs to me are the ones that are not over-designed and mostly avoid functionless parts or patterns. While I’m not a purely function over form person myself, I do think there’s a threshold for that haha. A design being both simple and effective helps it to be more memorable, in my opinion.

– Can you tell us a little bit more about the design of Yu and Kay?
It was intended to carry the look of “researchers”, hence the primarily white outfits which were mean to be reminiscent of a lab coat, or people who work in a research environment. And yet, they also needed to have the look of “otherworldly” and “adventurous”, which were aspects I took into consideration when creating their overall designs. A few early drafts of them were even more otherworldly and even somewhat alien-like, but we reeled it back to keep them in more relatable territory.

– What is your secret to make them touching?
When I draw people by themselves or interacting, I think subtleties say a lot about a character’s feelings and inner mood. A lot can be said with very little, and on certain occasions, even subduing things says as much about the mood as exaggeration does. Body language and gestures are very useful tools for this purpose.

– Who are your favorite character designers?
A few of my personal favourite character designers are Akihiko Yoshida, Hideo Minaba, Rui Tomono, Shigenori Soejima, Shunsuke Saito, Yusuke Kozaki, Yuya Nagai, and many more! I also love a lot of illustrators who don’t necessarily focus on character design (or even characters!) but the list could then go on for a long time haha.

More of Koyorin’s work on Twitter Instagram Artstation or their Patreon.

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Yu and Kay are already together when you start the game. They have lived a lot of adventures as a couple before. In particular they’ve been through the first times that are never forgotten in a relationship: the first kiss, the first fight, the first night… Here’s their first pillow fight, it wasn’t the last!



Feel like changing your wallpaper? We will make the First Time Pictures available here in wallpaper format. The Pillow Fight is already available.

Check the timelapse video below to see how the art was drawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=Ia2RKHfdLJc

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If you'd like to receive these dev updates on a regular basis, to share with our community of players, to ask us some questions or give us feedback don't hesitate to:

• Register for our newsletter: http://www.thegamebakers.com/haven/
  
• Join our Discord server hhttps://discordapp.com/invite/thegamebakers

Cheers!

Hello,

We are pretty excited to share with you a first glimpse at our upcoming game Haven. Since most of you know us from Furi, well, it’s not Furi 2.

Haven is an Adventure RPG in which you play as two lovers who escaped to a lost planet. The only thing that matters to them is to stay together.

The game will be available for PC and Consoles, and you will be able to play it solo, or with a special someone.

We’ve been working on it for over a year now, and we will share more with you soon. To stay posted, don’t hesitate to:

• Add the game to your Wishlist on Steam
  
• Join us on our Discord server
  
• Register for our very occasional newsletter.

Cheers

The team at Game Bakers

https://store.steampowered.com/app/983970/Haven/
Haven web page: https://www.thegamebakers.com/haven/