Tchia News

Tchia is now available to play on Steam - and on the anniversary of our original release!

Join over 1.4million people who have explored the open-world tropical adventure since our release in March 2023. We are so thrilled to get our love-letter to New Caledonia into the hands of even more people, and we hope you love the journey of discovery that you’ll go on.

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Join Tchia on her tropical open-world journey as she sets off to rescue her father from Meavora, cruel tyrant and ruler of the archipelago. Climb, glide, swim, and sail your boat around the beautiful islands and explore the physics-driven sandbox inspired by the paradise of New Caledonia. Take control of any animal or object that you can find, make new friends, jam out on your fully-playable ukulele, and defeat foes in battles - and remember, your creativity just might be what gives you the edge!

[h3]NEW FEATURES[/h3]

Today's launch also comes with a whole host of new features that were not included in our original release. This includes an Outfit Perks System, new Cosmetic Items, new Comfort Settings and new Soul Melodies that open up a whole host of new ways to play. From spawning food instantly around you, sailing with speed with the new Super Boat Soul Melody, to leading a pack of animals with new Attract Animals abilities, there are even more ways to make an experience that is truly YOURS!



[h3]KEPLER CUSTOMIZATION PACK[/h3]

Alongside the release, you can now nab yourselves The Kepler Customization Pack! This includes four costume sets for Tchia and four boat customization packs, inspired by fellow titles from the Kepler game catalog.



All costume sets include hair, make-up, outfit, and backpack. All boat packs include flag, sail, and base!

[h3]Thank you[/h3]

To Tchia players old and new, we’re so grateful to have you here. We think what we’ve made is pretty special, and we hope that you’ll love it.

Oléti,

The Awaceb Team

Here is every piece of new content that will come to Tchia from Day 1 of the Steam Release!

We've worked hard on these new features to add to the experience of Tchia, and we're excited that you'll all get to explore our world soon!

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[h3]SOUL MELODIES
[/h3]
Spawn Food
Immediately summon a - frankly ridiculous - amount of food in a circle around you, to replenish your stamina. Stash the leftovers in your backpack for later! It's Fast Food the Tchia way!

Random Cosmetics

Don't spend hours fretting over your outfit - let the game decide. Who says you can't wear a shark hat with a clown outfit? Not us, that's for sure. This randomises all of your cosmetics :)

Acrobat Mode
Why jump a reasonable height when you could jump a completely ridiculous height and distance? Spin in the air faster and pull off the best flips and tricks you could possibly imagine.

Human Torch
Become fire! Your slingshot will be able to shoot fireballs, and every object you touch EXPLODES! Super good for clearing camps.

Super Boat
Your boat can go super duper fast with this. Fun for exploration, and for doing super quick sea zoomies. The fish will be in awe.

Invoke Boat
Forgot where you parked your sea vessel? Worry not. Summon a boat whenever needed, and sail the seas without a care.

[h3]COSMETICS PERKS
[/h3]
Attract Animals
Wear a full outfit of a certain animal, and you'll suddenly find them following you wherever possible! Lead a gang of sharks, crabs, or cows, or birds, or - well, any animal in Tchia. Has no benefit other than looking super cool.

[h3]COMFORT SETTING
[/h3]
Infinite Soul-Meter
You will be able to find this in your comfort settings. Tired of your Soul Meter depleting? Here's a way for you to play soul melodies to your hearts content without the bar ever going down... Be a bird forever, the sky's the limit!

Now that March has arrived, we're thrilled to get the game into your hands soon!

Oléti,

The Awaceb Team

In Tchia, you can use your ukulele to play a Soul Melody. Each one comes with a special effect, and you unlock them as you progress through the game.

From the release on Steam in March, there will be 21 Soul Melodies in the game available to unlock and play. Once unlocked, you can play them whenever you wish - though be aware there’s a cooldown between uses (and that varies between the abilities).



These have all been designed to heighten exploration, add dynamic to combat, and make tasks easier where there may be limited resources in an area. You will often use a Soul Melody to alter the time of day, summon an animal to Soul Jump into, change the weather, or bounce to inaccessible locations.

The game originally had 14 Soul Melodies, but we are adding an additional 7 just in time for the Steam launch! We will reveal them all soon, but enjoy a sneak peak at one of our faves!



When you equip full costumes of certain animals, you’ll get the ability to attract them to you, allowing you to be the leader of a gang of Crabs! Or Sharks! Or Chickens, or cows… there are quite a lot of possibilities.

We are so excited to get this into your hands next month!

Oléti ~

Awaceb

Hey everyone! Awaceb here…

Some of you may know this, some of you may not, but our studio was founded by two childhood friends from New Caledonia. Our culture, history, and experiences were integral to creating Tchia…

Ah wait - where is New Caledonia you ask? Well… it’s a little island in the middle of the pacific!



So… Tchia draws from all aspects of New Caledonian culture. Landscapes, music, languages, folklore, and traditions have all been used as inspiration to create the world that you play within. We drew from NC in a literal sense - such as recreating iconic landmarks from the island, and having characters who speak in NC native languages Drehu and French - and in a metaphorical sense, by making the influence of animals and the natural world a focal point of the gameplay and storyline.

The game showcases the customs, beliefs, and traditions of the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia, but is not intended to be a recreation of our history or culture. It is more like a love letter to the island and the people, and you do not need to know about our culture or traditions before entering the game (but we hope you enjoy learning about them)!

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The element of Soul Jumping in Tchia was influenced by tales of shape-shifting in folklore, and brings to the game a crucial and incredibly fun mechanic - ICYMI, we deep-dove into that in our last Steam News Post. The ability to navigate land, sky, and sea as an animal is a reflection of the importance and respect for nature that is ingrained into our culture. The thing is, when you think of a tropical island, most people default to the sea… sandy beaches, palm trees, etc. And of course we have that in Tchia, but there is so much more. The amount of biomes in New Caledonia is quite surprising and so unique, and we wanted to make sure that it was captured. For example, in Tchia you will travel to areas inspired by Lifou (home of the language Drehu which you hear in the game). This island is lush, full of greenery and incredible cliffs, and has a very prolific endemic snake species that swims underwater. See if you can spot it in the game!



Another biome within Tchia takes inspiration from Bourail, located in the north of New Caledonia, which is covered in volcanic sand and is known for its massive Quartz monolith… that looks quite like a human head.



Though the rich landscapes of NC have incredible influence over our game, the people of New Caledonia played the biggest part in shaping Tchia into what it is. The island is full of different cultures with different ways of living, and we wanted to reflect that richness within the game. There are amazing local people who worked on the game. The game’s depictions of Kanak culture were overseen by Thoane Thomadra, one of our friends, who kept our portrayals accurate, respectful, and rich with authenticity. He also voices Tre in the game, even and sings a few beautiful songs!

Music is a focal point in the game, and Tchia’s ukulele is the backbone of everything she does - from combat, to exploration, to the most touching moments within the story. You can join in and play along on the scripted songs, and learn a couple of tunes inspired by our homeland and written by local musicians!

Our team is now situated in Canada, and those of us who hadn’t visited New Caledonia before went on a trip last year to explore the world that inspired the game… you can join us and watch this three-part series on YouTube to see what we got up to 🙂

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We wanted to share a slice of our lives with you, and we can’t wait for you all to explore it on Steam in March

Oléti ~
The Awaceb Team

Bozu, Steam!

We are so excited to bring the world of Tchia to you in March! Before then, we want to get you familiar with one of the core mechanics in the world of Tchia: Soul Jumping!



With Soul Jumping, Tchia enters a sort of hypnotic… trance. This trance slows time around Tchia, allowing her to take precise aim at her targets - which are highlighted in green! Once ready, the Soul Jump activation button can be pressed and Tchia will warp into the target, taking control of it!

The ability to Soul Jump appears early in the game, but it isn’t immediately mastered. You’ll grow and learn with Tchia as she gets to grips with this ability, allowing her to control targets for longer by unlocking additional Soul Meter slots. These are unlocked by completing challenges as you progress through the story. Increasing the number of slots that you have will give you the ability to experiment more with combinations of Soul Jumps, and open more fun combat and exploration opportunities!





The Soul Meter can be seen above in Green! It will drain depending on the actions that you take whilst controlling an animal or an object. This tends to be directly correlated with the potential of what is being controlled.

If you want to be a coconut, go ahead! It will drain your Soul Meter slowly… as it is a coconut and has quite limited mechanical potential. If you’re a bird, and you want to soar great distances, you will find that it is more draining on your Soul Meter.



The biggest thing with Soul Jumping is to consider what an animal could do before you jump into it. Crabs have big pincers - could those break chains? Dogs love to dig… could you find treasure with one? Could you swim to the depths of the ocean as a turtle? The mechanic is designed so that you feel limitless and can think creatively!

As mentioned - with the coconuts, for example - you can Soul Jump into objects and not just animals. The game has a physics–based movement system that makes controlling objects feel super fun. You can warp into something flammable, explosive, or unassuming, and use a Soul Throw to aim and shoot yourself at a target (and you’ll warp out of it at the same time, saving you from harm). Here is a video that covers all of the above and more if you want to delve deeper!

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There are over 30 playable objects in Tchia and each presents a plethora of unique opportunities that will really alter your gameplay. We hope that you love it when you experience it! And new to Tchia in March will be the accessibility setting Infinite Soul Meter. This will give you the option of having a Soul Meter that never depletes, allowing you to fly, swim, and fling to your heart's content!

Oléti!

The Awaceb Team