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ION LANDS - Version 9 vs Version 10
Sep 21, 2026, 05:54 AM
Added the one-million-wishlist milestone with the studio head's comparison to Cloudpunk's launch, the 2024 Most Wanted nomination, the external QA partner, and the developers' pre-launch video plans
Sep 21, 2026, 06:23 AM
Hedged the studio team size and corrected the Most Wanted nomination wording
11ION LANDS22ION LANDS is an independent game development studio based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2015, the studio is led by Marko Dieckmann and operates with a team of approximately 12 people. Despite its relatively small size, ION LANDS has built a recognizable identity through its cyberpunk-themed games, starting with Cloudpunk in 2020 and continuing with Nivalis, the studio's second major release (retitled Nivalis Nights in June 2026).3+ION LANDS is an independent game development studio based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 2015, the studio is led by Marko Dieckmann and operates with a small team whose exact size has not been published. Despite its relatively small size, ION LANDS has built a recognizable identity through its cyberpunk-themed games, starting with Cloudpunk in 2020 and continuing with Nivalis, the studio's second major release (retitled Nivalis Nights in June 2026).44Studio History66ION LANDS was established in 2015 in Berlin. The studio spent its early years developing its distinctive visual approach: a combination of voxel-based art with atmospheric, story-driven game design. This period laid the groundwork for Cloudpunk, which would become the studio's breakout title.88Berlin has a growing independent game development scene, and ION LANDS is part of that community. The studio's small size is deliberate. With around 12 team members, decisions can be made quickly, creative direction stays unified, and the overhead that comes with larger studios is avoided. The trade-off is development speed: ambitious projects take longer with fewer hands, which is part of why Nivalis has experienced multiple delays from its original 2024 target to its confirmed September 29, 2026 release.9+Berlin has a growing independent game development scene, and ION LANDS is part of that community. The studio's small size is deliberate. With a small team, decisions can be made quickly, creative direction stays unified, and the overhead that comes with larger studios is avoided. The trade-off is development speed: ambitious projects take longer with fewer hands, which is part of why Nivalis has experienced multiple delays from its original 2024 target to its confirmed September 29, 2026 release.1010Nivalis Nights Milestones1212On 17 September 2026 the studio announced that Nivalis Nights had passed one million Steam wishlists. Studio head Marko Dieckmann compared the figure with about 130,000 wishlists when Cloudpunk launched, which he said had already felt like a major achievement for the team at the time, and said the studio does not take the support for granted. The game had been nominated in the Most Wanted category of the PC Gaming Show in November 2024. A developer wrote on the official forum on 18 September 2026 that the studio probably would not have time to make another video of its own before launch while it finished the game, and that the publisher had been releasing about one video a week.13+On 17 September 2026 the studio announced that Nivalis Nights had passed one million Steam wishlists. Studio head Marko Dieckmann compared the figure with about 130,000 wishlists when Cloudpunk launched, which he said had already felt like a major achievement for the team at the time, and said the studio does not take the support for granted. In November 2024 the game was announced as a nominee for the PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted broadcast, which aired on 5 December 2024. A developer wrote on the official forum on 18 September 2026 that the studio probably would not have time to make another video of its own before launch while it finished the game, and that the publisher had been releasing about one video a week.1414Team1616While ION LANDS keeps a small core, each member wears multiple hats. The team combines programming, art, design, writing, and audio talent into a tightly integrated unit.1818NameRoleMarko DieckmannStudio Head, Programming, Design, ArtThomas WelshLead Writer and Narrative DesignerEloise TricoliArt, Level DesignRoman AgapovLevel Design, ProgrammingSergey MuninArtHarry CritchleyMusic, Sound DesignWilliam SweetmanPortrait ArtRebecca RoeLevel DesignJustin LeducVoxel Artist2020Thomas Welsh, the lead writer, brings a notable background to the project. He is also the author of the Metiks Fade science fiction novel trilogy and teaches Interactive Digital Narrative at the Glasgow School of Art. Welsh wrote what he described as "a hundred little side stories" for Cloudpunk, building the layered world that Nivalis now inhabits. For Nivalis, he has written roughly 200,000 words of dialogue across roughly 135 characters, a volume that required years of work.2121Harry Critchley handles both music and sound design in-house. His soundtrack work for Cloudpunk and City of Ghosts (totaling over 109 minutes of music) established the sonic identity that carries forward into Nivalis. Having the composer embedded in the development team means music and game design can evolve together rather than being produced in isolation.2323Cloudpunk (2020)2525Cloudpunk was ION LANDS' first major release. It launched in 2020 as a story-driven game set in a cyberpunk city where the player works as a delivery driver, flying a HOVA through the rain-soaked skyline. The game was well-received for its atmosphere, writing, and distinctive voxel art style. Critics praised its world-building and narrative ambition, even while noting that the gameplay loop was relatively simple.2727Cloudpunk established many of the elements that carry over into Nivalis: the city itself, the voxel aesthetic, the focus on characters and story over combat, and the themes of class inequality in a technological society. It also proved that there was an audience for this kind of experience: a cyberpunk game that was more interested in the people living in the city than in the guns and gadgets.2929City of Ghosts (2021)3131City of Ghosts was a major expansion for Cloudpunk, released in 2021. It expanded the story, added new areas to explore, and introduced new characters. The expansion was significant enough that some players and critics treated it as a standalone experience. It deepened the lore of the Nivalis universe and gave ION LANDS more time to refine their storytelling techniques before tackling the much more ambitious scope of Nivalis. Development of Nivalis began after City of Ghosts was completed.3333Visual Pipeline3535One of ION LANDS' most distinctive qualities is their visual style. The voxel-based art direction they established with Cloudpunk has been carried forward into Nivalis, but with three years of evolution and a substantially more detailed take on the same Unity-based pipeline. The studio uses MagicaVoxel to create individual voxel assets, the same tool used for Cloudpunk. For Nivalis, the voxel density has been increased significantly. Because the world is built from voxels but does not use a traditional voxel engine, the resulting polygon counts are unusually high, so the team relies heavily on multiple levels of detail (LODs) to keep the city running smoothly.3737The studio works with a 256-color voxel palette. Each color has physically based rendering (PBR) values assigned to it, which means voxel surfaces interact with the city's baked, real-time, and volumetric lighting in a physically plausible way. Metal reflects, wood absorbs, glass transmits. This PBR approach applied to voxel art creates a visual style that is distinctive: geometric and stylized in shape, but grounded and tactile in how light behaves across surfaces.3939Characters are an exception. Human characters in Nivalis use traditional polygon meshes (non-voxel) for more expressive animation. This hybrid approach allows for detailed facial expressions and body language that would be difficult to achieve with voxel geometry, while keeping the world around the characters in the signature voxel style.4141Motion Capture4343For Nivalis, ION LANDS conducted motion capture sessions at Mocaplab in Paris. Actors Christel Wallois and Florian Hutter were among those who participated in the sessions. Motion capture data informs character animations and adds physicality to the game's roughly 135 characters. For a studio of ION LANDS' size, outsourcing motion capture to a dedicated facility like Mocaplab was a practical choice: the studio gets professional-grade animation data without needing to maintain its own capture setup.4545Testing is also partly external. A May 2026 development update described three quality-assurance teams: the studio's own, the publisher's, and an external team at Quantic Lab, which also assists with compatibility testing against Steam hardware-survey data. See System Requirements for the detail.4747Studio Details4949DetailInformationStudio NameION LANDSFounded2015LocationBerlin, GermanyStudio HeadMarko DieckmannTeam Size~12 peopleFirst Major ReleaseCloudpunk (2020)ExpansionCity of Ghosts (2021)Current ProjectNivalis Nights (September 29, 2026)Publisher505 GamesArt ToolsMagicaVoxel; engine is UnityMotion CaptureMocaplab, Paris50+DetailInformationStudio NameION LANDSFounded2015LocationBerlin, GermanyStudio HeadMarko DieckmannTeam SizeSmall (exact size not published)First Major ReleaseCloudpunk (2020)ExpansionCity of Ghosts (2021)Current ProjectNivalis Nights (September 29, 2026)Publisher505 GamesArt ToolsMagicaVoxel; engine is UnityMotion CaptureMocaplab, Paris
