Developer Chibig Studio has given an update on the status of Summer in Mara, which is now being delayed to early February 2020.

According to Chibig, while many publishers have approached the team and expressed their interest, they’ll be doing all the work all by themselves – that includes the publishing and selling of the game. Still, all the physical rewards will be sent to backers by October, but not the game. Here’s what they had to say:

We’re going to send all the physical rewards in October. The game might be delayed, but not the postcards, prints, art books, plushies and ukulele.

Then, between October and December, we will be making the ports, the testing, the translation and localization of Summer in Mara.

Additionally, the team has confirmed that Summer in Mara is already working on the Nintendo Switch.

Summer in Mara is an adventure game with easy-RPG elements and farming simulation mechanics which has been heavily inspired by the exploration in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the farming in Stardew Valley, and the visual aspect of Studio Ghibli’s movies.

Read on below for the full update:

Dear Backers,

It’s been a while. We’re sorry for not updating the project during these past months, we’ve been very busy, I hope you can understand.

We want to share with you a couple of things that we have been preparing during this time.

First, we want to show you a little bit more about the main island in the game. Qälis is a small town with different qüidos, humans, cat-children and maybe even an elit or two. In this city, you can see the mixture of cultures scattered all through Mara. Old exotic qüido structures and symbols combine with more new and modern buildings. 

A view of Qälis from your boat. This is the main island in the game, where you will meet people, trade with them and discover lots of secrets from Mara.

The market in the island. Three twins run this place, but be careful with them, since they can be really tricky.

In Qälis Temple you can meet Blu, a strange individual that doesn’t talk much. But when Blu talks… Nobody knows what he meants.

Taka’s Restaurant is famous in all Mara. He’s a great chef, but very traditionalist. Brram, his nephew, wants to be like his uncle… But also wants to explore the galaxy.

Akaji is the blacksmith in Qälis. In her forge, you can see her latest work. Like, well, can you see what emerge from the ground?

Onzo is a cat-child, but also the adventurer like you! He kepts all kind of stories in his diary!

Awan’s Tabern is a great place to enjoy a different meal. But a lot of qüidos don’t like this kind of cuisine.

Another view of Qälis.

Taima, a pirate that doesn’t know what is a pirate. Fink, an elit engineer. And Mayo, the worst waitress in Mara.

Now, the not-so-good-news. Since the Kickstarter ended, we have been in contact with some publishers interested in Summer in Mara. We’re very grateful to them. They help us a lot, solved our doubts, and teach us some cool things about game dev and publishing. However, we want to make this journey on our own. 

We want to learn not only how to make games, but how to publish them and sell them. So we’re going to manage all the things involved in the Summer in Mara release. Thanks to it, we will be closer to you and all of our fans and players. This is the first time that we do something like this, so please be patient with us.

Because of this decision, we will have to delay the game. Yes, we know — another Kickstarter game delaying its initial launch. We’re sorry to tell you this and, until the last minute, we have tried to find other solutions. But we have to face the harsh truth. We will have to make QA, porting to all consoles, managing localization companies, attending to more expos, and other work related to the development of the game. Also, we want to give you the best experience possible on all platforms.

So, what’s our actual plan now?

We’re going to send all the physical rewards in October. The game might be delayed, but not the postcards, prints, art books, plushies and ukulele.

Then, between October and December, we will be making the ports, the testing, the translation and localization of Summer in Mara.

 The new release date for the game is early February.

You can check the calendar here:

And last, a surprise: one of the prints that the ARTIST IN MARA and tiers above will have the chance to get. This is Rigatta in one of her treasure hunts. It looks like she has got a good loot.

We will make updates more frequently from now on. We want to stay in touch with you and get to know what do you think of our development process and the things that we’re making.

So, stay tuned to our next week update, in which we’re going to tell you more about the physical rewards.

See you in Mara!

BONUS EXTRA:

We’re really glad to announce that the game is already working on Nintendo Switch 🙂