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Launched 12 days ago by Ghost in a Bottle on Kickstarter, Octopus City Blues reaches 620 backers with more than $15,800 funds, surpassing its original target of $7000. 

The game is one of the very few developed by Arab programmers. This in itself is a major achievement knowing that there are few game development studios in the region, according to the Kuwaiti game creator, Firas Assaad. 

Octopus City Blues is not your usual action/adventure game you play online; it takes the audience into a fantasy world full of unlikely imagination and excitement. The plot of the game revolves around Kaf Kafkaryan, a cowardly middle-aged man living in a weird metropolis built around a giant octopus. Kaf enjoys cutting off the tentacles of the octopus and is addicted to its blood, which turns out to be a hallucinogen. The player’s mission (as Kaf) is to go around the city and unlock its mysteries.

The game reveals the wide imagination of Assaad. He admits that his source of imagination comes from "a variety of sources including other video games, movies, and literature.”

Assaad holds a Computer Science degree from a local university in Kuwait. After graduating, he acknowledged the low-production of game development in the region. After working over several years, he was confident enough to share his talent with the world.

The software developer realized that working alone is not good enough in this field; a lot of teamwork is required to succeed. Not to mention the importance of marketing the game early on and reaching out to people. “This was essential for the success of our Kickstarter campaign as a lot of the initial traffic came from people who have been following the game for months,” 
said Assaad.

There are ups and downs in every career. Assaad gladly shared with us the obstacles he had to face while developing Octopus City. For instance, finding a good artist who shares the same vision as the team in the company was a big challenge. But, Assaad firmly believe that “when there’s a will there’s a way,” and eventually, he found the right person for the job: Marina.

"I was lucky to find Marina…I believe it's very important to find talented partners who share your vision and enthusiasm for the project," confided Assaad.

Future plans are on the way for the talented game developer; the company plans to launch the full game in 2014 and translate it to other languages with Arabic on the top of the list.

Click on the link below to watch the demo feature of Octopus City Blues: