Description

Lucid Labs is an award-winning game studio backed by Google Indie Games Accelerator. Indie at heart, we are passionate about molding experiential casual games with lighthearted storytelling. Our latest game, 'Bloom - a puzzle adventure', is a casual puzzle game for iOS and Android. and has acquired the prestigious 'Mobile Game of the Year', 'Indie Game of the Year', and 'Best Visual Art' awards at IGDC 2023. Our previous title, 'Possessions,' was launched exclusively on Apple Arcade and is the only game from India (yet) to be included in the Arcade catalog. The game has also acquired a couple of 'Game of the Year' awards, among several other international accolades. We make games (not) for the masses.

History

Early history

Initially, Lucid Labs was formed just to give a name to the Google Play Store account which was going to publish their first commercial game 'ROTO.' ROTO helped us build the team in the first place. That game was developed in a 24-hour international game jam called 'Global Game Development Competition' and was developed by a few friends studying together in a game design college. We managed to get an 'Honourable Mention' in the competition, and because of the feedback, we decided to develop it into a full game and release it on mobile platforms. Hence, Lucid Labs was formed.

After that

Now that we had a team, a team name and a game to produce, we spent almost 6 months working on the weekends in our hostel rooms and sometimes classrooms, to make a game which we all saw as the next big thing. Living in the hostel, and a game design college, we were able to utilize the power of playtesting and released the game on Android. Why Android first, you may ask? Because none of us had an Apple computer to make an iOS build. So yes, we released the game on Android and immediately after, we submitted the game for 'Casual Connect Asia, Indie Prize' and got nominated for the 'Best Free-to-Play' award. Boy, we were stocked. And we attracted some attention too. Both from the press and the publishers. We were offered a lot of publishing deals at the event and decided to go with a publisher called 'Weraku Games' who promised to help us financially and on the marketing side. After about 3 months of refining and developing the game further based on the publisher's feedback, we released the game on the App Store. To our surprise, we got featured on App Store twice, under 'Best New Games,' an achievement we wouldn't' have achieved without Weraku's help. We were, however, not a registered company when we released ROTO, but after a successful first game, Chirag decided to form a permanent startup to continue making games, with the vision to make something artistic and experimental with emotional values. His view was to create imaginative games but not with a permanent team, but with collaborators from all over the world. This was his idea of having fun while making games. After ROTO, Lucid Labs (Chirag) made a game called Stay, Mum collaborating with people from Singapore and London and managed to win an Editors' Choice for the same. This was when he knew his idea of making games with new mates for each project might work out. He continues collaborating with talented people from all over the world, diving deep into his favorite game dev topics: story-telling, human emotions, and innovative mechanics.

Projects

Videos

Bloom Trailer — YouTube

Possessions AR Trailer — YouTube

Possessions Trailer — YouTube

ROTO Trailer — YouTube

Stay, Mum Trailer — YouTube

Images

Awards & Recognition

  • Game of the Year: Bloom: Indian Digital Gaming Society, CII, 2024
  • Best Indie Developer - Nomineecite>: Pocket Gamer Mobile Awards, 2024
  • Very Big Indie Pitch - Runnerup: GameExpo Summit Dubai, 2024
  • Bharat Tech Triumph Program Winner - GDC, 2024
  • Best Mobile Game - Game Development World Championship, 2024
  • Puzzle Game of the Year - Nominee: PocketGamer Awards, 2023
  • Mobile Game of the Year - IGDC, 2023
  • Indie Game of the Year - IGDC, 2023
  • Best Visual Art - IGDC, 2023
  • Best Upcoming Game - Runnerup - IGDC, 2022
  • Best Game Direction - AnimationXpress GEM Awards, 2022
  • Nominee: Upcoming Game of the Year - IGDC, 2022
  • Best Mobile and Tablet Game - FICCI Frames, 2020
  • Nominee: Innovation in Games - LudiciousX Zurich Game Festival, 2020
  • Nominee: International Mobile Gaming Awards - IMGA, 2020
  • Indie Game of the Year - India GDC, 2019
  • Apple Arcade Launch Partner - Apple, 2019
  • Google Indie Games Accelerator, Batch 1 - Google, 2018
  • Official Selection: Unite India - Unite, 2018
  • Official Selection: Unite India - Unite, 2017
  • Runner-Up: Best Upcoming Game of the Year - NGDC, 2017
  • Nominee: Best Free-to-Play - Casual Connect Asia, 2014

Selected Articles

  • IGDC Awards 2023: Bloom Wins Mobile Game Of The Year
  • Here is a List of All the Award Winners from the Conference
  • Bloom is a vibrant puzzle adventure with chain reactions and a level-maker, out now on iOS and Android
  • Bloom: Indian Game Studio Lucid Labs Launches a Chain-Reactions Based Puzzler for Android and iOS
  • This multi-award-winning game combines brain-teasing challenges with a cast of quirky characters
  • Lucid Labs’ newly built game Bloom received three awards at IGDC
  • 10 More Mindblowing Indian Games I Tried At IGDC 2023
  • Lucid Labs wins big at IGDC Awards 2023
    Shelby Brown, CNET
  • Lucid Labs, which is backed by Google Accelerator, recently launched its casual mobile game Bloom: A Puzzle Adventure in Brazil.
  • 10 relaxing Apple Arcade games that will help you chill out during lockdown
    Shelby Brown, CNET
  • Best Relaxing Games on Apple Arcade in 2020
    Christine Chan, iMore
  • ...Possessions wins Indie Game of the Year at India GDC 2019
    Kayleigh Partleton, Pocket Gamer
  • The 25 Apple Arcade Games That Make It Well Worth The Money
    ToME, Times of Middle East
  • The best games on Apple Arcade
    David Price, Macworld UK
  • The best of Apple Arcade: five games that you need to try out
    Amber Neely, Apple Insider
  • 10 Apple Arcade puzzle games that will make you smarter while you play
    Shelby Brown, CNET
  • Perspective matters when playing Possessions on Apple Arcade
    Brent Dirks, App Advice
  • Apple Arcade is here to upend mobile video gaming business
    Mathures Paul, Telegraph India
  • The 20 Apple Arcade Games That Make It Worth the Money
    Logan Sawyer, Game Rant
  • A month on, Apple Arcade is too cheap to quit
    Nicole Lee, Engadget
  • The 20 Apple Arcade Games That Make It Worth the Money
    David Nield, Gizmodo
  • Apple Arcade Gives Game Developers Room to Breathe in a Free-to-Play World
    Akhil Arora, NDTV Gadgets 360
  • Apple Arcade is a home for premium games that lost their place on mobile
    Andrew Webster, Verge
  • 6 Great Apple Arcade Exclusives Worth Playing
    Samuel Guglielmo, Tech Raptor
  • Possessions Is an Engaging Puzzle Solver
    Lisa Hamilton, Mac Observer
  • Indie games from India level up!
    Jason Johnson, Intel IQ
  • Indie developers in India are channeling their history into exciting new games
    Matt Suckley, PCGamer
  • Indie game theory featuring Possessions
    Sneha Bhura, The Week
  • 2015 in Review: Chirag Chopra on making more emotional experiences
    Ric Crowley, PocketGamer.biz
  • Stay, Mum and the state of games as an art form in India
    Matt Suckley, PocketGamer.biz
  • Made in India, made by indies
    Matthew Handrahan, Gamesindustry.biz

Team & Repeating Collaborators

Chirag Chopra
Founder - Game Design and Art
Jibran Gillani
Code