Devespresso Games is a small independent development studio based in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 2015, the team settled on the name due to the fact that they never had a central office location and often do their dev work remotely in various cafs around Seoul. This tradition still holds true today with the team usually assembling for in-person meetings when the occasion calls for it (but, usually when one member happens to be passing through another's hood). From the team's inception, their design priorities have always focused on three conceptual cornerstones: 1.) Hand-illustrated, 2D graphics, 2.) Immersive, narrative-driven gameplay, 3.) Fun.
The team gets a lot of inspiration from studios, like Vanillaware, that have intentionally chosen to pursue a creative direction based on 2D aesthetics. They believe that the qualities of this art style are timeless, regardless of generation or platform. They also relish in the huge visual impact the art delivers as the game's first impression. The art and animation of games such as The Coma: Cutting Class and Vambrace: Cold Soul were all done by Minho Kim. These assets range from cutscene graphics, in-game level assets, dialogue GUI illustrations, and much more.
The members also grew up on a steady diet of retro Western and JRPG classics. The team believes it's important that every story provides an immersive experience with interesting characters, plots, and concepts that leave an indelible impression on the player. T.L. Riven, the lead narrative designer, moved to Korea in 2006, where he would later encounter Minho. They began working together in the games media industry, but discovered they shared a passion for creating new worlds and bringing them to life. His journey as a lifelong gamer and working in South Korea as an English instructor would inform the narrative experience of The Coma series and mesh well with the conceptual foundation Minho had created for worlds such as Vambrace.
Hyunho Kim, Minho's younger brother, is a musician with a knack for making electronic dance music. However, as can be imagined, working on the team's game projects often call for tracks outside his favorite genre. He's collaborated with musicians like Norihiko Hibino, of Metal Gear Solid and Bayonetta fame, and Emi Evans who lent her amazing voice to the Nier: Automata soundtrack. The soundtrack for Vambrace: Cold Soul will be the most epic yet, featuring sweeping orchestral compositions and deeply atmospheric music.
Minchan Kim, the brothers' cousin, is a programmer with a natural talent for making games. Vambrace: Cold Soul is his very first title, and an amazing accomplishment considering it's his first outing. Minchan began working on the game, part-time, while still finishing up his college degree. He had never used the Unity engine before, but learned its ins and outs within record time (he had 1-2 months to prepare for development). He'd go on to create nearly every one of Vambrace's game modules from scratch. He's also working on the team's newest title, The Coma 2: Vicious Sisters, and focusing on a new, exciting killer AI.
Vambrace: Cold Soul represents a big departure from the team's first title, The Coma: Cutting Class. This time around, the team is focused on creating an epic story, featuring 25-30+ hours of replayable dungeon crawling, 10 character classes, and multiple endings. According to T.L. Riven, "This really represents the culmination of everything we learned from working on The Coma: Recut. We took those lessons to heart and made everything more expansive, deeper, and content rich. This game is for people who enjoy deep, fantasy stories and lore, punishing roguelite gameplay, and beautiful art. It's a real love letter to the JRPGs we grew up with and newer indie titles like, FTL, that have heavily inspired Vambrace's mechanics."
Vambrace: Cold Soul will be available on May 28th for Steam on PC, Mac, and Linux. https://store.steampowered.com/app/904380