2022 was nothing but an eventful year for Secret 6, so much that it admittedly took us a while to build this article! While there are too many individual events to choose from, here we’ve narrowed it down to six major highlights from the year that was.
Our Biggest Launch Yet
Six years ago, we embarked on a journey to create the first Filipino-made, skill-based, competitive 3v3 shooter—thus, Project Xandata was born. In that time we’ve reached countless milestones: earning multiple awards both locally and internationally, generating innovations in our production pipeline, as well as earning our first Epic MegaGrant! We’ve also made lasting connections both in and out of the office that will only serve to improve our services.
All of this leads us to PXD’s highly-anticipated launch, when we officially entered Steam Early Access in March! Since then, we’ve hosted many online events to connect with our players and given away in-game loot to celebrate. We’re continuing to learn more about the different aspects of launching your IP from there, from hosting servers to maintaining engagement with our community both in and out of the game itself.
Players can continue to enjoy PXD until the early part of 2023 before we move on to exciting, new opportunities down the line. The servers remain open until May 31, 2023.
Key portfolio additions
As always, every year presents us with many exciting opportunities to work with many of the biggest names in the game development industry. Some of our most notable portfolio additions this year:
As Dusk Falls
Winner of the ‘Game of Impact’ award at the 2022 Game Awards. We established a new art pipeline and learned new techniques by working closely with the game’s art director, and we helped bring its hand-painted art style to life by creating over 20,000 frames for the game’s characters.
The Last of Us Part I
The PS5 remake of Naughty Dog’s critically-acclaimed masterpiece. Our team was again given the opportunity to create many of the game’s environmental graphics and 3D assets, to bring Joel and Ellie’s adventure to the current gen.
Monster Train
Monster Train, originally developed by Shiny Shoe, and winner of the 2021 Dice Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year. This makes it our first major PC-to-mobile port, and what better title to have achieved it with? Learn more about our work on this game here. We’ve also been hard at work on a lot of other projects, and while we can’t talk about them until they've been released, we look forward to telling you all about them once they do!
Room for creativity
Every year, we strive to host as many game and art jams as we can, where we can work together on challenges based on a wide range of our shared interests. This also allows us more opportunities to share knowledge and to learn from one another, about the different skills that help Secret 6 function as a leading game development studio.
This year’s game jam was aptly titled ‘Jam from Home’, and followed the theme of ‘The UI is the Enemy.’ Check out our most notable submissions, Surprise! Attack (winner of the Fowl Play award) and Insatiable (winner of the Best Digestible UI award)!
We also hosted a total of seven (!) internal art jams this year, thanks to the efforts of our 2D art team. Check out some of our awesome work! In a work-for-hire business, we are often working with specific art styles, or developing content that highlights our partners’ brands and IP. Internal art jams are our way of honing the fullest range of our skills and creativity!
A returning tradition
This year also marked the return of our annual team outings!
Since we started hosting outings across our different teams, we’ve seen them host all sorts of events, showcasing the astounding variety of personalities and interests that make up the talent in Secret 6. Camping trips, city vacations, out-of-town retreats and even spa dates were just some of the ways that our teams decided to enjoy a much-needed break from a busy year.
It also gave many of us a chance to finally, truly meet some of our new team members, many of which were hired during the pandemic. This culminated in our company Christmas lunch, held at The Alley by Vikings in BGC.
New Year, New Office(s)
In line with recent changes to our work setup, we recently moved our Manila headquarters to the iconic Exquadra Tower. Our hybrid setup allows our employees the option to work from home or take advantage of our updated in-office facilities, including standing desk workstations, high-end machines, and new conferencing areas for both work and play. And we’ve got unlimited coffee! Here’s a sneak peek video of our Manila office.
Our Madrid team also relocated to the heart of the capital, Glorieta de Cuatro Caminos, to our rapidly-growing team there. A culturally-diverse location directly connected to the city, the new headquarters boasts plenty of open space, bright windows, and a spectacular view of the city! The office also features ergonomic workstations, as well as multi-purpose conferencing rooms.
Hello, Catalis!
Capping off the year, we joined the Catalis Group, an industry-leading game and entertainment service provider, based in the UK. This is our next step in elevating our business, with the help of Catalis’ own services, expertise, and global business network.
What does this mean for the Secret 6 brand though, you may ask? Fear not—while this is potentially the biggest change we’re making going into 2023, our name, structure, and management remain the same. We’re still the Secret 6 you know and love!
Another exciting year ahead
We enter 2023 with full optimism, as we solidify our hybrid culture and increase our involvement in the game development space. We’re looking forward to exciting new projects alongside Catalis, and we’re working on ways to better share knowledge, both within and outside of the company.
We’re not just bringing you more in 2023, we’re bringing you better!
Stay tuned for more updates this year by following us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
