Soon we will be celebrating the 8th birthday since we first revealed Transformice to the world, and I wanted to take this opportunity to sum up briefly what we’ve been going through, and what’s the situation today.

Eight years ago, when Tig and I released our wonky little game on the internet, we clearly had no idea how far it would take us. The game was never meant to welcome millions of players, and we’ve been doing our best to improve it over the years so it could, but it’s always been a bit whacky.
Transformice truly has exceeded all our expectations in every way, but it still has some flaws. From a technical point of view, it is hard to maintain and update, for it wasn’t designed to be such a huge project since the beginning, but moreover, it’s a simple game from a design point of view: a simple gameplay loop, get the cheese, go back to the hole.

We’ve been trying to improve that loop over the years in many different ways: adding more gameplay modes (bootcamp, racing, defilante etc), adding more options for the Shamans, more diversity in the map tools etc, but the fact is that you cannot improve a simple gameplay loop without altering it too much. Adding anything on top of this loop would make it lose its simplicity, and the game would simply become another game. That’s why we’ve been tinkering with events all over the years, it was a way to add different gameplay loops to the game without altering its core feature.

But even with events, and those gameplay additions, the number of players has been decreasing regularly since 2012, as it is normal and expected for a Flash game this size. Very early on, we knew that we couldn’t rely on Transformice forever if we meant to live as a professional videogame studio, and that we needed to produce more games in order to renew the playerbase and increase our experience.

That’s why we allocated resources to make games like Bouboum, Fortoresse, Nekodancer, Celousco and Dead Maze. They’re all different and had very distinct purposes, and we learnt a lot by making them, but as it is often true in the videogame industry, we failed to make any of them profitable. Dead Maze is performing a lot better than the others in that regard, but has costed us so much that it will take many years to break even. It was by far our most ambitious project from the start, and we had high hopes that it would secure our future for the next few years as a videogame studio, but the numbers don’t add up anymore.

We went up to 16 people at once in the studio at Dead Maze’s development peak, some people with temporary work contracts, but now that the game is released and we have some revenue projections, we are forced to let some people go if we are to survive as a company.
We need to undergo some drastic changes over the next few months. Transformice clearly doesn’t have as many players as it used to, and some of our systems are overcomplicated for the remaining number of active users, demanding us too many hours to maintain. We might have to cut some features from the game or forums because we won’t be having the necessary workforce to take care of everything.

The future of Atelier 801 is unclear yet. As you might have noticed with the mini-game Tetris, we have started to shift programming languages, and we are experimenting with HTML5 so all our future games can be played either on browser, mobile or even some consoles. This takes time and suggests that we ditch a lot of our previous experience to re-learn everything, but this is something we learnt the hard way with Dead Maze: Flash is now truly, definitely obsolete.
A few options are now open to us, but whatever we choose, it will have to happen with a very limited workforce.

We want to thank you for sticking with us all these years, and for still being here despite the relative lack of updates from our part. On a personal related note, I’ve been on maternity leave since the beginning of March, and I will soon be returning to the office where I shall try to tackle down all these issues.
If you have any suggestions, comment, or desire about what you would like Atelier 801 to be in the next few years, don’t hesitate to tell us so here.

Thanks!

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Hi guys, the big day is approaching!!

As previously said, from the 6th to the 8th of October we will be at the PGA, an annual video game fair that takes place in Poznan (Poland). During these days, we will have the opportunity to meet our Polish team and players. Some activities are planned so we can spend the day with you! So do not hesitate to come and see us at the Transformice booth. Many prizes will be given: plushies, T-shirts, stickers, among others.
CCMs Galaktine and Streaxx will have the pleasure to participate with you in makeup and drawing workshops and will also encourage you to participate in contests and will especially be happy to meet you!!

Check out on the map the TRANSFORMICE booth (see image)

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We have a big news to announce: we will soon make a trip to… POLAND!

We are so excited to tell you that we will come to meet you (again!) at the Poznan Game Arena this year from October 6th to October the 8th. 

I do not know if you remember, but we were already present at this event. Two years ago, Meli and Zou went to meet our players there.
You can find here a little throwback we posted about our experience there: #throwbackthursday to when we were at PGA

Well, here we go again and prepare yourselves for it, it’s going to be awesome!

A lot of surprises await you, such as make-up workshops, drawings contests, goodies, t-shirts and more!

You can find all the information about the PGA on their official website: here!

And, of course, you will be able to meet our two lovely admins: Galaktine (BR and ES CCM) and Streaxx (International CCM), as we will be the face of Atelier801 and Transformice!

Do zobaczenia wkrótce <3

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We have a very big news to announce: soon we’ll take the trip to BRAZIL!

You may have heard it from here and there that we will be on the BIG Festival (or not) :)

Well, here it is, it’s official guys! We will be in São Paulo from June 29th to July the 3rd!

The Brazil’s Independant Games Festival is the biggest video games festival of all Latin America. The best independant games are exposed there every year.

Prepare yourselves, for it will be completely mad! A lot of surprises await you, such as signings, make-up workshops, drawings contests, goodies, t-shirts and more!

And, of course, you will be able to meet our two lovely admins: Melibellule (the boss) and Galaktine (BR and ES CCM), as they will be the face of Atelier801 and Transformice!

You have been waiting for this for so long, haven’t you? Enough is enough! We are going to create good memories, live a beautiful moment with you and we’ll be glad to discuss and get to know you better (please be patient with Meli, she doesn’t speak portuguese!)

It will be easy to find us: we’ll be just next to Google’s stand!

See you, everymice!

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You guys were so sweet, thanks for coming by! Also, thanks to the helpers and the staff members who dedicated their time to help us out on the booth. It was so crowded… we are really grateful you were there.

How did GameX go?

It was pretty amazing and we had many different activities:

• Meli drew players’ mice, on paper or on her graphic tab, as wished
• We organized a drawing contest and a quiz every day. In the end, it was so hard to choose a winner that we gave away way more goodies than we were supposed to!
• We had some make-up sessions where we transformed players into real shamans!
• We gave away many japan expo codes, cheese codes, badges, plushies and other goodies…
• We chatted and had good laughs with the players :-)
• We took many many pictures and selfies with everyone who was coming by!

If you’re more curious about it, you can click on the picture to see our full Facebook album with all the pictures, or click on the video we compiled for you!

Thanks again for coming! We can’t wait for our next convention… and I have the feeling that our next big destination will be… Brazil!!!

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We have prepared many surprises for the players who will be meeting us.During our program, we will have the following fun events:

• Signing/drawing sessions
• A makeup workshop (become an almighty shaman!)
• A drawing competition (explore your creativity!)
• A quiz (who’s the smartest fan out there?)

Each event with many various prizes to win, including the famous Japan Expo codes! Important notice: entries for the quiz and the drawing contest must be submitted before 5 p.m.

Also, as part of GameX, Transformice will take part in a competition in the best Free-to-Play game category, so if you want you can vote for us (sroll down, click on “oy ver”) !

Useful information:
When? From 17th to 20th December — 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where? In Istanbul Lütfi Kidar Fuar Merkezi, Gümüş cad. No: 4 34367
Those wishing to participate to the convention can obtain their free online invitation on www.gamex.com.tr!
See you on Thursday!

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As you might have noticed it, we are trying to go at as many places as possible to meet our players all other the world. This year we were at Play’It in France, Gamescom in Germany, Poznan Game Arena in Poland and we will soon be in GameX in Turkey!
We love meeting you! It recharges our batteries of joy and happiness *_*

Poznan Game Arena was no exception to that. During the two days of that week-end, we got to meet really nice players and staff members. Everyone was super kind and friendly!
Everyone drew a lot, especially Meli who gave a unique drawing to each player who came to meet us. We also got many fanarts that we are now keeping preciously in our office. Thank you!
So it was quite an artistic encounter!

Poznan Game Arena was amazing because we got to meet you. Polish people are particularly adorable :3 We can’t wait to see you again next year!

Now we’re getting ready to meet our Turkish players. Brace yourselves, Atelier 801 is coming!

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There will be many prizes to be won on our stand: mouse plushies, T-shirts, goodies… Participate to our competitions, win the jackpot! And most importantly: don’t forget to claim your Japan Expo code!

Every day we will organize a drawing contest and a quiz. Swing your participation sheet in the box provided for this purpose (at our booth) and discover the results at 4 p.m.

Present at this convention, the admins Zou and Galaktine will be happy to do your mouse make-up, draw with you on the drawing wall, encourage you to participate to the contest and especially to get to know you and to discuss with you!
You can find us in Hall 10, Stand 050A (Level 1, Wing B) next to the Indie Arena.

See you there !

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Japan Expo is the biggest european convention on Japanese popular culture, taking place in Paris, France.
From Manga to Video Games, Martial arts to J-music, it is Japanese popular culture in its whole that’s portrayed in this festival.
Dates: 05/07/12 to 08/07/12
Place: Parc des expositions Villepinte PARIS / FRANCE
Opening hours: 10.00 am to 7.00 pm
Entrance Fees:

You can buy 4 days tickets for 40 € but only in Presale.
For more information : http://www.japan-expo.com/en

During these four days many activities will be available at our stand!
There will be the 5 admins  and an area to discuss. Take a pouf and come near us to have a chat or ask any question on your mind! I promise we won’t bite you! You’ll also be able to play Transformice thanks to the 4 computers waiting for you! And, whether you are an artist or not, a grafitti wall will be available. Impress us and I might feature your drawings on the official homepage! Finally, you’ll be able to dress up as a mouse with some awesome mice ears!

And last but not least, we’ll handle two contests! You’re a real Pro Game Master? You know everything related to the game? Then take part in our Quizz! There will be a draw between quizz with 100% correct answers to win awesome prizes. Do you like to draw? Do you wish to show off your skills? Then take part in the Drawing Contest. Maybe you will be the chosen one and win a fabulous prize .

I’ve been telling you that Melibellule and Loukno were preparing some fantastic goodies for this event! So let’s see what has been done!

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And all of this, is thanks to you.

Thank you for the tremendous support you’ve given to us. Thank you for spreading the word, for being involved, for donating, for drawing tons of fanarts that warm my heart everytime, for making great suggestions, for your great feedback. And most of all, for sticking with us for so long, when there are so many new games coming out every day. We definately wouldn’t be here, living our dream, if it wasn’t for you.

Unfortunatly, unlike last year, we weren’t able to prepare a big update to thank you for the anniversary, as the microtransactions take up all our time, and should be launched soon. As a small token of our gratitude, I’ve compiled all the exclusive artwork I could find : you’ll recognize the preparative sketches of some famous illustrations, but also never-seen-before very first artwork of Transformice, on the top left corner.

Click the picture to access to the whole thing, beware, it’s a very big image !

Thanks again, we love you all <3

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