Former Niantic developers Alexia Mandeville and Bo Boghosian announced the opening of new indie developer Bodeville Games. Per Boghosian's website, the studio is "the realization of our dream of making games with complete creative freedom."
Most new studios open already having secured millions in funding, or as a subsidiary of a larger corporation. But Bodeville is self-funded between its two founders, said Boghsian, which means the two will be "starting small."
"The two of us will try to make an entire game and manage the business at the same time. [...] By self-funding, we are beholden to nobody but ourselves (for better or worse!)," admitted Boghosian. "But we hope the story and soul will still shine through."
Prior to this, both Mandeville and Boghosian worked at Pokémon Go maker Niantic. Boghosian was a software developer and departed in April of this year.
Meanwhile, Mandeville served as a lead designer on Peridot, the studio's first original augmented reality since its 2012 game Ingress. She left Niantic this past August.
According to Mandeville, multiple narrative-driven titles are in development at Bodeville.
I've been quiet after leaving Niantic, but it's time...
— alexia mandeville (@flexmandeville) November 1, 2022
🍹ANNOUNCING A NEW INDIE GAME STUDIO ☂️
We're currently working on a couple of narrative-driven games!
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