FoxTrotte, released in March 2015 on iPhone, iPad, Android and Facebook, was developed by WitchLake Studio. The gameplay was pretty straightforward: you played as Mr. Fox, desperately trying to get his lover, Cheese, back from the possibly jealous Mr. Crow. The swift-furred hero pursued his winged rival across England, racing through ever-changing landscapes, each more challenging than the last, leading all the way to the rooftop of Big Ben - yet the ultimate goal remained just out of reach.

Three months later, in June 2015, an Egyptian world was released, expanding the game with more action, features, and also, more frustration: despite all his efforts, Mr. Fox still couldn't get Cheese back! :(

Fun fact: A China-themed world was planned, and we even worked on a few mockups along with new mechanics and features, but it never made it past the concept stage.

The game's characters might seem familiar: they were inspired by Jean de La Fontaine's famous fable, Le Corbeau et le Renard (The Crow and the Fox). Jean de La Fontaine was a French fabulist and poet known for his collection of fables, which often feature animals with human traits. His fables are timeless, offering lessons in wisdom, morals, and the nature of human behavior.

In the fable that inspired FoxTrotte, a crow, holding a piece of cheese in its beak, is tricked by a fox who flatters the crow into singing. When the crow opens its mouth to sing, it drops the cheese, which the fox then grabs. The story is a lesson in the dangers of vanity and flattery. In the game, Fox's pursuit of Cheese mirrors the crow's pursuit of flattery in La Fontaine's fable.

Fun fact: 'FoxTrotte' is a play on words. The french word 'trotte' translates to 'trot' or 'dash' in English, refering to a quick, steady pace. 'Foxtrot' is also a ballroom dance known for its smooth, flowing movements.

Fun fact: At one point, we actually considered naming the game 'Voyage, Fromage' - a nod to the French song 'Voyage, Voyage' by Desireless, released in 1986. 'Fromage' means 'cheese' in English.

Creating this game was truly a team effort, with 3 artists and animators, a level designer, a developer, a musician, and me taking on the role of guiding, coordinating, and supporting everyone. I designed a few levels, created art and animations, gave clues to the musician (Mitch Gasser, who did an incredible job), created sounds, animated and edited the gameplay trailer, edited the teasers, tried to put everything together, and worked hard a few evenings :)

The game was developed with Unity 3D, using a custom animation engine developed by Grégory Strubi, who was the main developer of FoxTrotte. Visually, we took inspiration from Hohokum and Night in the Woods, and the result is a very clean game with flat and distinctive colors.

Before the release of the game, WitchLake Studio released a small teaser animation every 2 weeks. There were four teasers in total, and they were done by the company's 2 in-house artists, Oana 'mouette' Lacroix and Clément Espinosa, bringing life to that weird love story between a fox and a cheese. I was in charge of the final editing, adding the music and the informative screens.

I spent a couple of nights working on the gameplay trailer of FoxTrotte: I did the animation with Adobe Flash (now Adobe Animate), and the final editing with Adobe Premiere Pro, adding the music, the sound effects and a few additional visual effects. I think the trailer did a good job at explaining the gameplay mechanics, the setting, and it ended with an effective cliffhanger, inviting everyone to play the game to discover what happened next :)

I also have to mention Swan Keller, an incredible artist and illustrator who created a lot of screens and assets in FoxTrotte, and Joël Herter, the maaaaad level designer of the "Eggbombs" levels (basically, each level could be played in normal mode and Eggbombs mode, making the game harder), and also designer of Quacky Duck, a derpy looking duck selling ice cream, and playable in a secret hidden game inspired by the classic Flappy Bird.

Fun fact: I did the voice of Quacky Duck (you can hear it in the gameplay trailer).

Fun fact: I also used my voice in the funny Star Wars song parody (check below).