Kugle: cosy gravity-platformer party game
Kugle is a cosy gravity-platformer party game, online and playable cross-platform on smartphone and PC.
Play with your friends in a cute galaxy where gravity knows no bounds: collect, care for, play with, breed and trade colourful little creatures known as Kugles.
What I did
Founder & CEO · Lead gameplay programmerMultiplayer & netcode
- Shipped online multiplayer with Mirror (WebSockets): server-authoritative game servers spawned on demand by our API, lobbies, a bot system and an offline mode
- Built a level-designer-friendly trigger system that works online: networked trigger volumes, set up in the editor without code
- Built a networked animation sync: timeline and DOTween-style sequences played in sync for every player, together with music, SFX and particles
Leadership & mentoring
- Founded Kugle Corp and led the team that made Kugle for 5 years: 15+ people over time
- Mentored and onboarded the developers, ran code reviews and the Git workflow
- Set the art direction: cute and all-audience, in the spirit of Nintendo and Pokémon
Gameplay & engine
- Programmed the Unity gameplay, in C#
- Gameplay built on our custom gravity engine (the "Galaxy engine"), which grew out of my Philae prototype: gravity tech, level design tools and AI pathfinding (later improved in Tankistador)
- Built a music sync tool: beat-synced (BPM) events driving animations and effects
Tools, pipeline & optimization
- Built a build tool managing 8 build pipelines: game clients for Epic Games Store (Windows & macOS), Steam, Android and iOS, the game server, a dedicated image-generator build and more
- Profiled and optimized the game (Unity Profiler, Memory Profiler, Frame Debugger); Addressables, CI/CD builds and unit tests
Production & live ops
- Shipped a cross-platform online game: iOS, Android, Epic Games Store (Windows & macOS)
- Took Kugle from start to finish: fundraising, beta, pre-production, production, then live service
- Ran the live game, making €5,000 / month for 6 months: community, token sale (ICO), regular updates and marketing
- Led the integration, API and blockchain work, including a tokenomic shop designed for common web2 players
Business & fundraising
- Raised $300,000: public crypto sales, private & public equity investors, grants and an accelerator
- Managed the company: burn rate, salaries, turnover, fundraising, crises and successes
Key features
Kugle mixes Tamagotchi, Pokémon and Mario Galaxy. You are a geneticist caring for your Kugles and bringing a polluted universe back to life:
- Daily care: feed your Kugle and look after it every day to help it evolve.
- Breed: create the Kugle of your dreams, with unlimited combinations of elements.
- Game modes: challenge friends and other players in modes where your skills and your Kugle's powers make the difference.
- Explore: open worlds where gravity has no limits. Solve puzzles and join events to collect resources for your Kugles.
Online & competitive game modes
Races and tournaments run on online game servers (server-authoritative, spun up on demand), built on our own "Gravity 3D platformer" engine.
Released cross-platform on iOS, Android (Google Play) and the Epic Games Store (Windows & macOS).
Behind it, one build tool I made manages 8 build pipelines: the game client for the Epic Games Store (Windows & macOS), Steam, Android and iOS, the game server, a dedicated image-generator build and more, so a release ships to every store from one place.
Monetization
Kugle is free to play, with two currencies:
- Diamonds: the everyday currency, bought in-app or earned in events, used for basic shop items.
- GU: the premium currency, earned in tournaments and through the Battle Pass, or bought. 15% cheaper than Diamonds on every item, and needed for the Reactor.
Players spend them on:
- breeding & hatching: the cost scales with the Kugle's generation,
- boosters & cosmetics: tied to monthly events,
- the Battle Pass.
Players & community
Kugles are cute, and that alone pulls people in. Kids talk about Kugle with their friends at school, and at trade shows and conventions kids and adults have the same reaction: they love the game, its universe and the figurines.
Core players go deeper:
- they spend hours breeding new Kugles and testing element combinations to find rare results,
- they chase world records and personal bests on the leaderboard,
- they show up for live tournaments against other players,
- they spend whole sessions in Food Hunting mode, exploring maps to collect Dracofruit, Berries and Lemons.
Players around the world
Kugle installs well beyond France: Brazil, the Philippines, Indonesia and Argentina are consistently among the top countries, with organic traction and no local marketing.
The next step is Asia-Pacific, the birthplace of the genre (Pokémon, gacha, Sanrio), where the collect, care and breed loop lands with a native audience:
- Localization: the app translated for each target country (14 languages),
- Platforms: deployment on the popular local app stores,
- Partnerships: collaboration with local partners.
NFC figurines
In the path of Pokémon, Amiibo and Skylanders: each iKugle figurine has an NFC chip that brings a Kugle into the game, the twin of the figure in your hands, or a rare surprise.
At trade shows, people pick them up, love them, buy one for their kids or as a keepsake, and ask when figurines and plush toys will reach retail. The figurines are the first step of Kugle as an IP beyond the screen.
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