Cuba’s first independent video game launched internationally this week after its creators leveled up from an epic real-world quest: battling sanctions, wrestling with Internet connection demons and forging through economic turmoil.
Saviorless is a 2D game with hand-drawn illustrations that invites players into a dark fantasy world to unravel the mystery of the “Islands of Smiles” by fighting monsters and solving puzzles.
Much like their characters, creators Josuhe Pagliery and David Darias had to overcome a multitude of obstacles to achieve what at times appeared impossible in the Communist island nation.
Photo: AFP
“The project arose at a historic moment,” said Pagliery, 43, a graphic artist who first dreamed up the idea in 2016, at a time when relations between Havana and Washington thawed under then-US president Barack Obama.
The endeavor received support from a US foundation and crowdfunding, and Pagliery even traveled to the US where his dream of creating an independent Cuban video game was covered by the media.
At the same time in Cuba, where it had only been available in public places at high prices, the Internet became available on cellphones in 2018, and the cost of connecting dropped dramatically.
However, after this “bright period” came “the perfect storm to cancel the project,” Pagliery said.
Political tensions returned under US president Donald Trump, who reinforced economic sanctions. The initial programmer tasked with developing the game emigrated, and Cuba plunged into its worst economic crisis in decades after the COVID-19 pandemic, marked by shortages and electricity blackouts.
“Instability is what characterized this project throughout its development,” said Darias, 35, a former professor at the University of Havana who now works from home as an independent programmer.
Financial constraints, a spat over the name of the game, doubts and technological challenges all provided obstacles along the way in Cuba, which has been under US embargo since 1962.
Their software did not always work on a slow Internet connection, they had to connect via a virtual private network to use programs banned due to sanctions, and backups were complicated by power outages.
“The worst thing, which happened twice, was when we lost not only the work we had just done, but also that from the whole week,” when the electricity cut during a backup, Darias said.
After four years of work, their finances bled dry, and after hundreds of letters to international publishers that went unanswered, the two friends offered a “free demo so that there was at least a trace of all our efforts,” Pagliery said.
It was then that Dear Villagers, a game publisher based in the south of France, spotted the Cubans’ work and opted to support them so that they could “accomplish their dream” company founder Francis Ingrand said.
“We have always had this appetite for original projects, we loved the artistic touch and the game spoke to us,” he said, praising the tenacity of the two developers who “accomplished something crazy.”
Among the community of gamers on Cuba, the project became somewhat of a “legend” due to how long it took to realize, said Luis Antonio Noa, 27, who runs a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming.
His partner on the channel, Carlos Oscar Anaya, 29, said that Cuban gamers — who mostly play free games, pirated games and those produced locally — are used to Cuban video games being “more educational.”
Saviorless is “a game with a darker plot that only seeks to entertain,” he said, emphasizing its “graphic and musical beauty.”
He said he hopes it will “reach a wide audience and put Cuba on the video game map” around the world.
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