Fresh off the heels of participation in this year's Guerilla Collective showcase and a highly successful June NextFest, colorful JRPG Ova Magica launches into Early Access on Steam today, July 23rd, at 10am EST / 3pm BST.
Billing itself as "Pokemon-meets-Harvest Moon", the game has had a long history of development originating as far back as 2019. Developed by a primarily woman-led team, the game has received extensive hype online, and became the #6 most funded game campaign of 2021 on Kickstarter (as well as received the "Big K" community award from the site). The game has had significant attention directed toward it since then from multiple locations, including being spotlighted in an edition of the 2022 PC Gaming Show thanks to its publisher, Top Hat Studios, Inc. The game received significant attention in recent months thanks to its participation in the Steam Cozy Celebration, Guerilla Collective, Woman-led Games Showcase, Games Baked In Germany, and the most recent Steam NextFest. Players have given extremely positive feedback on the prior-available extensive demo, which showcased 4-5+ hours of content.
After much hard work and years of effort, the team is extremely proud to be able to present its initial early access. The early access version of the game is feature complete and features an estimated 20-30+ hours of gameplay, if not more. It is planned to feature the majority of content minus end-game content. The game will launch today at a price of 25 USD/EUR/GBP and maintain a 10% discount for 2 weeks. A trailer for the game's early access launch can be viewed below:
The game features an extensive, highly interwoven mixture of Creature Collector, JRPG, and Simulation elements. You're the new resident of Clover Town, and your new life awaits you! Befriend blobs, explore themed dungeons, and maybe meet the love of your life! When not battling fellow blob trainers or making friends with (or doing errands for) the other residents of the town, tend to your very own customizable farmstead, where you can grow and craft ingredients & materials to not only strengthen your blobs and make money but also unlock beautiful new worlds full of adventures.
The goal of Ova Magica is to combine the charm of classic genres with new, modern and intuitive twists on staple mechanics. After moving to take care of a farmstead in the aforementioned quaint little hamlet Clover Town, you're introduced to something that changes your life forever: Blobs! Blobs are cute, wobbly, and rotund creatures which hatch from eggs. Treat them with care and they can become your greatest companions!
Coming in dozens of varieties (with all of them being cross-breedable, for hundreds if not thousands if not more results!), Blobs can face off against rival blob trainers and help you out around the farm and in the wider world with their unique abilities. As your relationship with the locals (some of whom you might choose to settle down with!) and the town increases, the secrets of Clover Town start to unlock in front of you. And by secrets, we mean hidden temples, dungeons, and portals to exotic dimensions!
These new worlds contain strange items and priceless artifacts that hold the key to the town's - and your own - future. Tame and raise blobs, battle trainers or wild dungeon blobs, build your homestead, explore the secrets of the world, and win the hearts of the residents of the townfolk. What will you write in the history book of Clover Town?
Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1299170/Ova_Magica/
About Skinny Frog
Skinny Frog (formerly ClaudiaTheDev) is a small woman-lead German studio run by Claudia Gorsky, a programmer and mom from Germany dedicated to the creation of fun, colorful, and family-friendly games. Claudia started as a solo developer in 2019-2020 and established her studio, Skinny Frog, alongside several other diverse team members. After running a highly successful Kickstarter in 2021, Claudia went full-time through her studio, transitioning to a full time professional game developer.
About Top Hat Studios, Inc.
Top Hat Studios is your favorite publisher of fine indie delicacies, primarily supporting Japanese-inspired, retro-themed, and highly creative titles. As a company started by and working with grassroots developers and incubating developer talent, Top Hat Studios focuses on supporting games all the way from blockbuster productions through to niche and boutique experimentations.
Top Hat Studios' diverse portfolio includes hits such as Athenian Rhapsody, Frogun, Ova Magica, SONZAI, Labyrinth of the Demon King, and many more. Unique in its relationship to its partnered developers, Top Hat Studios is more than just a publisher but rather a strategic long-term partner, and provides a suite of resources to its developers, which include publishing, business development, corporate advisory, product & long-term strategy, creative media, tools, co-development, and engineering & porting expertise working with all major engines and codebases.