Meet Kyu Valencia, Head of Studio at Hyperbeard

Any fan of casual, cozy games knows Hyperbeard – the indie studio that’s cornered the market on high-quality, stress-free mobile games with cutesy aesthetics. With an eclectic output spanning from management sims to match-3 puzzles, Hyperbeard’s catalog is a reliable go-to when you’re craving a light and uplifting experience.

We sat down with Hyperbeard’s Angelica “Kyu” Valencia, to learn more about how this Mexico-based indie became a leader in the casual cozy games genre. As the creator of Pocket Love, as well as Head of Studio and Chief Creative Officer, Kyu gave us an insight into the magic going on behind the scenes.

Kyu: While video games have always been part of my life, I started my game development journey in animation. When I joined HyperBeard almost ten years ago, the team was very small, and I never imagined I would one day lead a development team. I began by creating animated trailers and gradually transitioned into game development, translating my experience with tools like After Effects into Unity.

As I became more involved in technical development, I took on the direction of my first project. Through hands-on leadership, I learned to address game design and user experience needs, while also gaining experience in monetization and team management. Looking back, it has been a long and enriching journey filled with valuable technical and personal growth.

HyperBeard began as a small group of developers creating simple, cute games. Through small projects and steady iteration, those efforts turned into bigger successes that gradually shaped the studio into what it is today.

Becoming known for a cozy visual style was never the main goal, but it has been a very welcome surprise because it was built with a lot of heart. KleptoCats laid the foundation for a simple and efficient style that allowed us to deliver high-quality content even with a small team. Over time, and thanks to the incredible player response, that style evolved into a more defined and recognizable visual identity.

We draw inspiration from many different sources, especially the shared personal tastes within the studio. Many games inspire us on a personal level, along with films and series. East Asian culture, in particular, has been a strong influence for many years and continues to inspire us today.

On a personal note, I love stuffed animals, small cute toys, miniatures, and collecting stickers and art books. I’m Mexican, and like many of us, I grew up surrounded by color. Some of my favorite memories come from traditional Mexican handcrafted miniatures. Many of our ideas are born from a mix of the things we loved to play with as children and the objects we still enjoy collecting today.

Diversity and inclusion are very important to us because many members of the development team are part of those communities. We want HyperBeard to be a place where people naturally feel comfortable, and we aim to reflect that same feeling in our games. We strive for an approach that’s organic rather than forced, where we focus on sharing a vision of the kind of world we would like to live in.

One of our most important lessons has been that it is better to start with a small, simple idea and build from there. It’s been the fundamental philosophy for most of our games.

The biggest change was learning that a deep understanding of the user experience is essential, and years of trial and error went into discovering how to apply those insights effectively. This also involves learning how to trust your own intuition from a user perspective; if something doesn’t feel right when you play, even at a small scale, it will likely have a negative impact on the players.