What is Bossa Presents?
Bossa Presents is a way for us to bring fresh new ideas and, in some cases, early playable prototypes to you - our players. At Bossa we host regular game jams, where the studio is split into teams and over the course of a few weeks, each team develops a game prototype or a game pitch. We wanted to take this process a step further by releasing some of the projects we come up with in our game jams to our players to provide feedback on - which is how Bossa Presents was born. I Am Fish was one of the original three prototypes we released when Bossa Presents was first introduced and that game ended up going into full production and has now been released as a finished product! With your feedback and suggestions you really are helping to shape the future of Bossa Games.
Things look different around here now. Why is that?
Bossa Presents was always about opening up our development process to our players, to share our ideas and offer insights into our creative processes with you and gather feedback about which projects you would like to see us make next. The first iteration of Bossa Presents resulted in I Am Fish being made, but there were also longer periods of time where no new prototypes were released - this is because game jams don’t always result in playable prototypes, sometimes a team may only have the time or resources to come up with a game pitch and not a playable demo of their idea. So, we’re changing the way Bossa Presents works. Instead of waiting until we have playable prototypes, we’re also going to be sharing our game pitches with you all as well! This will work similarly to how a project on crowdfunding platforms might only have a pitch utilising early concept art and written briefs to help you develop an idea of how the game will look and play. We’ll then listen to your feedback and ideas to help us decide which games we make.
So there won’t be any more playable prototypes?
There will! The playable prototypes aren’t going away completely. We’re just mixing things up a little bit. We want to include our players at a much earlier stage of development to determine which games you’d love to see us to make! Some prototypes can be made very quickly (over the course of a couple of weeks) which is why some of the game jam ideas do end up with playable versions, but developing a prototype for more complex game ideas can take much longer than the time allotted during game jams, which is why some teams only have the time to come up with a pitch. By sharing the pitches with you as well, we’re ensuring that you have a real say in what games get made by us in the future.
Is there a website?
Yes! Head on over to https://www.bossapresents.com/ right now to see the three new projects we want your feedback on - Project Meru, Darkseekers and Room of Doom. You can vote directly on the website for which games you would like us to make and we have also set up channels here on Discord for you to share feedback.
What about the old prototypes? Can I still play them?
As part of the Bossa Presents redesign, the launcher was taken down temporarily. But don’t worry! The launcher will make a return soon and will include playable versions of all previous prototypes. Any of the new prototypes that get playable versions will also be available via the launcher. Just to clarify and temper expectations - The playable games on the Bossa Presents launcher will be early prototypes only and not the final versions of the games.
Do any of the old prototypes still have a chance at being made?
Never say never! As we’ve mentioned we’re keen to hear from you, our players, about which games you would like to see Bossa make. With that said, right now we’re really excited about the three new game ideas we’ve just unveiled on the new Bossa Presents website so please do share your thoughts and feedback with us on those as much as you can.