When passion meets pixels – the key to Dice Gambit’s success
Nine years ago, Danish friends Joshua Christiansen and Nina Sas met while studying in Malmö. Their shared dream of creating something of their own – and showcasing Nina’s distinctive artistic style – eventually led them, together with former co-founder Anton Pilmark, to Sweden Game Startup, Science Park Skövde’s startup program for game developers.
Today, the duo is based at a game collective outside Växjö, and their studio Chromatic Ink released the game Dice Gambit in mid-August this year.
“We sold 24,000 copies during the first month and received over 700 reviews on Steam. Our biggest markets are the US, China, Japan and Korea. It’s incredible – we had no idea what to expect when we launched,” says Joshua Christiansen, Co-founder and Creative Director.
The startup program gave them the push to go all in
Chromatic Ink is one of many game studios that have started through Science Park Skövde. The company was founded in 2023, but development of Dice Gambit began during the pandemic, when Joshua and Nina worked on their game dream alongside their full-time jobs. Around that time, they also moved to Gothenburg. In 2022, they joined the startup program, and a demo was released online that December. While Anton Pilmark has since moved on, Nicolas Gustafsson has joined the team as Tech Director.
“The startup program has been a huge help for us. Contacts, guidance, business support, conferences – and most importantly, it gave us confidence. Science Park gave us the kick in the butt we needed to take the leap and go all in. Thanks to that, Dice Gambit is now out on the market,” Joshua explains.
Dice Gambit is a PC-based strategic role-playing game inspired by the Italian Renaissance, taking players on a journey to the fictional city of Neo-Talis. Players create and lead a fully customisable (and debt-ridden) inquisitor family tasked with hunting chromatic monsters. As they build their own family tree, they help cleanse Neo-Talis, unlocking unique abilities along the way – becoming increasingly powerful until they eventually retire … or die.
New ideas on the horizon
Co-founder and Art Director Nina Sas brings a remarkable sense of detail and design to every aspect of the game. Her distinctive visual style gives Dice Gambit its unique character, with beautifully crafted environments and intricately illustrated characters.
While the main audience is teenagers and young adults, most players are currently between 20 and 30 years old. The team’s focus now is on supporting the game and keeping its community alive – but the Danish creators are already thinking ahead.
“We’ll see what happens over the next couple of years,” Joshua smiles. “Chromatic Ink is here to stay.”