Ivan Sendin, Founder of Epopeia Games – Interview Series

In a heartfelt effort to broaden the scope for the Latin American culture, developer Epopeia Games is working to deliver a brand-new farming simulation game—a title that will reportedly house a lot of the same bells and whistles as, say, Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda. To learn more about this new project—Gaucho and the Grassland—I decided to speak with Epopeia Games founder, Ivan Sendin.

Thanks for sitting down with us today! Before we delve into the latest developments in the world of Gaucho, please could you introduce yourself to our readers? How did it all start for you, and what brought you to Epopeia Games?

Ivan: Epopeia Games has been around for 14 years and started with two university game students who left their jobs to pursue the dream of building their own company, as at that time in Brazil, there weren’t many opportunities to work for other game companies.

We’ve always dreamed of developing games for PC and consoles, but first, we needed to pay the bills. So, for about seven years, we developed advergames for major companies in Brazil. This allowed us to grow from two to four people on the team.

From there, we laid out a plan to one day actually live our dream, which was to launch games for PC and consoles and make a living solely from that.

We continued working with outsourcing, but this time focusing on the international market, as it paid better and involved actual game production, not just advergames anymore. This brought in enough money for us to invest in more people for the company, growing from four to 17 people and allowing us to follow two paths: one focused on outsourcing to pay our bills, and the other formed by a team dedicated to producing and launching the games we really wanted to develop.

In 2018, we launched two co-op puzzle games, IIN and Goroons. They were cool projects, but they didn’t sell very well. The most valuable thing we gained from them was the experience of launching and learning how to publish games on Steam and consoles. This experience was crucial for the results we’ve been achieving over the past two years.

We followed these two paths until 2023, when, with all the experience we had accumulated, we had the opportunity to publish a game from Hammer 95 Studios called Mullet MadJack. Based on the results we achieved leading up to the launch, we were able to completely shift the company away from outsourcing and focus 100% on our dream to make our games.

We’re excited to hear more about your upcoming life and farming simulation game, Gaucho and the Grassland. Could you please tell us a bit about where the inspiration to fuse Latino culture with the world of agriculture sprouted up from?

Ivan: We see many games exploring Nordic, Asian, and Greek cultures, which are incredibly rich, but we rarely see much about Latin American culture. Because of this, combined with the fact that we’re from the south of Brazil, where the Gaucho culture is already in our blood, along with our brothers from Uruguay and Argentina, it sparked the desire in us to ask: why not make a game about our region? So, we decided to move forward and create this game, which has already been generating good expectations, especially with players from here.

We’ve heard “Latin cowboy” in earlier elevator pitches. Could you tell us a bit more about who this protagonist is, as well as what part they’ll play in the game’s overarching narrative?

Ivan: The “gaucho” is originally a mix of indigenous people from Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil, along with Europeans who came to colonize us. In the past, he was a free citizen, a wanderer who lived by exploring lands and raising cattle, respecting nature. But whenever we showed something along these lines, people from outside would see the hat and comment: “This looks like a cowboy, but instead of living on the land, they live on the grass.” And to avoid complexity in explanations, we named it Gaucho and the Grassland.

But it’s much more than that. In the game, you will play as a “gaucho” (or a “gaucha”, for female characters) living in the 1900s, inheriting a legacy from your father (as farming games usually start), but instead of having a piece of land to care for, all the regions in the game will be your lands because you are the guardian of this place. Therefore, you need to help all humans and mystical beings solve their problems. There’s no combat, just farming mechanics, so they can live in harmony.

Let’s talk about the gameplay; the daily objectives that one will encounter as a fledgling farmhand and creator. What sorts of challenges will we have to overcome in Gaucho and the Grassland?

Ivan: Our main inspirations were Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda, and since our game has a strong adventure vibe, I’d say we have a few key differentiators: We don’t have any combat mechanics. There are some puzzles, a lot of narrative; It’s not focused on farming, but rather on livestock, raising animals (this is more of a “gaucho” tradition), where you lasso animals, guide herds, shear sheep, milk cows, collect eggs, breed animals to produce offspring, go fishing, and so on.

The main thing: it’s not a game where you’ll have to worry so much about your little farm. It’s a more altruistic game; your farm is all the regions of the game, and the main goal is to help people and mystical beings live in harmony. Because of that, we have plenty of missions where you’ll need to explore places, find, collect, build, repair, take care of animals, build your house and the NPCs’ houses, and decorate the interiors of these homes. In short, a series of actions aimed at evolving your home while also helping all the inhabitants of this region.

Gaucho and the Grassland certainly sports a lot of the beginner-friendly bells and whistles that we’ve seen in other farming-like iterations. Would you say that it’s a game that anyone can simply jump into and enjoy without having any prior experience with the genre?

Ivan: Yes, we thought a lot about casual players, but still respected some aspects that fans of this genre already enjoy.

For example, we got rid of stamina; we found it annoying, so we decided to remove it. There’s also no need to focus solely on your home; here, all regions are your home, so you need to take care of everything and everyone.

It’s a game to relax. If you’re tired from work, stressed by life, or from other games that demand more from you, just start up our game and relax. The idea is simply to have fun and enjoy this world. So yes, players who aren’t used to this genre will find it easier to play Gaucho and the Grassland.

While on the subject of learning curves and newcomers to the world of farming, do you have any words of advice for those who are hoping to plant roots in Gaucho and the Grassland when it arrives on its chosen platforms next year?

Ivan: Just come and have tons of fun! It’s not a complex game for those who are used to playing adventure titles, games like Zelda, Nintendo games, and so on. You’ll feel good; the game was designed to satisfy those who already enjoy this genre but also to attract new players who want to explore a new style.

Um simulador de fazenda diferente de tudo que você já viu! 🐎🧉

Não perca tempo, experimente a demo e adicione à sua wishlist! https://t.co/qFfM2NsRBj

#gauchograssland #steam #wishlist #farmgame pic.twitter.com/djUuxktfaD

— Epopeia (@epopeiagames) June 13, 2024

Of course, we wouldn’t want to miss a beat on this. Please could you let us know where we might be able to source some more information on the project? Are there any social channels, streams, or demos that we should be taking note of ahead of the game’s global debut?

Ivan: Just follow Gaucho and the Grassland on social media: Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Also, join our Discord and add the game to your Steam wishlist. It would help us a lot!

Is there anything you would like to add for our readers?

Ivan: Give yourself the opportunity to try this different game, from a new culture, which mixes farming simulation with adventure and aims to bring a strong Nintendo vibe to the gameplay. I hope we can meet your expectations, both in the demo and the final game, and thank you for the space you’re giving us. What you do is very important, and we’re incredibly grateful for it!

Thanks for your time, Ivan. We look forward to seeing more of Epopeia Games and Gaucho and the Grassland over the coming months!

You can stay up to day with Epopeia Games’ Gaucho and the Grassland by following the official social channel on X/Twitter here. You can also wishlist the game over on Steam for additional updates here.