OVIVO

Factsheet

• Game Title: OVIVO
  
• Developer: IzHard, based in Almaty, Kazakhstan
• First Release Date: May 12, 2017
• Platforms: Steam, iOS, Android, Switch, PS5, XBOX
• Contact: izhard.dev@gmail.com
• Social: https://x.com/IzHardDev
  

Description

OVIVO is a minimalistic platformer with unusual mechanics where everything is as simple as black and white. The journey in this metaphoric world is filled with illusions and hidden messages.

Gameplay 

In white, the gravity force is directed downwards, in black - upward. Preservation of momentum while transitioning from one color to another allows to player to float along their border as if it is carried by the flow.

Story

In the world of OVIVO Black and White exist in harmony. Constantly intertwining and replacing each other they maintain balance. The main character named OVO created from these two halves of the world and it has the ability to switch between them. OVO travels through the metaphoric world, overcomes various dangers and collects mysterious symbols. These symbols help you to unravel the story of this world but how you interpret it is completely up to you. 

The game tells a story about the journey to simplicity where things become ever more complex on the way.

History

The story of OVIVO began for us in 2014 when three college students, who had never made a game before and didn’t even know each other, decided to participate in a hackathon. During the event, the idea of a black-and-white game emerged, and we named it OVIVO. This marked the beginning of our journey.

What started as a small project soon turned into something bigger when we won the hackathon. Encouraged by this success, we entered the Imagine Cup 2015, and to our surprise, we won again.

Winning the Imagine Cup was a turning point. We received funding, mentorship, and exposure at major industry events. We met many interesting people, including Alexey Pajitnov.

With this new recognition, we decided to self-publish OVIVO, allowing us to retain full creative control over our vision.

We released the game on nearly all available platforms.

The IzHard team consists of people from Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. Nowadays, not all of us are working on our next game, but our friendship has grown beyond just work.

We are all against the war in Ukraine and hope that our small example of an international team with a mix of different cultures will inspire people to strive for world peace and collaboration.


Team

• Game Design: Alexander Vilassak
• Programming : Nikolay Skakun, Victor Passichenko
• UI, Art, Graphics: Daria Kruzhinskaya, Dari Turanga

Awards & Recognitions

•  "Audience choice" Games Jam 2014
•  "1st place in Game category" Imagine Cup 2015
•  "1st place" Imagine Cup Media Award 2015
•  "Best Indie Game" DevGamm 2015
•  "Best Indie Game" Gamedev Conference 2016 Lviv
•  "Best Art" Gamedev Conference 2016 Lviv
•  "Best Game Design" Gamedev Conference 2016 Lviv