KQ01
CEO & FOUNDER
KELSY QUIROGA
A video producer and editor whose determination sets the studio's pace. Kelsy runs production, holds the schedule, and is one of the two people who can approve anything going out the door.
LAKELAND, FLORIDA // INDEPENDENT STUDIO
WE MAKE THINGS
THAT GLOW IN THE DARK.
Octokraken is a small multimedia studio. Writing, animation, 3D, film, AI generation, AI video, virtual reality, games and music — we have shipped across most of them, usually for other people. Since 2022 the whole studio has pointed at one thing: building the Cortex Vortex universe and getting it to tables.
WRITINGANIMATION3D & CGIFILM
AI GENERATIONAI VIDEOVIRTUAL REALITY
GAMESMUSIC
OCTOKRAKEN // INDEPENDENT WORLDS · WRITING · ANIMATION · 3D & CGI · FILM & MOTION · AI GENERATION · AI VIDEO · VIRTUAL REALITY · GAMES & INTERACTIVE · MUSIC & SOUND · PUBLISHER OF CORTEX VORTEX ·
OCTOKRAKEN // INDEPENDENT WORLDS · WRITING · ANIMATION · 3D & CGI · FILM & MOTION · AI GENERATION · AI VIDEO · VIRTUAL REALITY · GAMES & INTERACTIVE · MUSIC & SOUND · PUBLISHER OF CORTEX VORTEX ·
01 //
WHAT THE STUDIO DOES
NINE DISCIPLINES · ONE UNIVERSE THEY ALL FEED
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WRITING
The setting, the rules, the species, the classes and the adventure. Every word of Cortex Vortex was written by people at this studio over four years, and writing stays the discipline everything else has to serve.
185 PAGES WRITTEN
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ANIMATION & MOTION
Character animation, motion graphics, title work and shorts. The discipline the studio was founded on, and the one that taught us how a universe has to move before anyone believes in it.
FOUNDING CRAFT
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3D & CGI
Modelling, look development, environments and hard-surface design. Locations in Terra Sol get built here before they get written down.
IN PRODUCTION
≡
FILM & VIDEO
Production, editing, colour and post. Kelsy came up as a producer and editor; the studio still cuts everything in-house.
IN-HOUSE
✦
AI, TECHNO-OPTIMISM, CUTTING EDGE
We use the newest tools on purpose and we say so out loud. Generation, upscaling, compositing and pipeline tooling — directed by people, never left to run on their own. The future is a thing you build with, not a thing you apologise for.
HOW WE WORK
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AI VIDEO
Motion tests, trailers, cinematics and short-form. The fastest way this studio has ever found to show a universe instead of describing it.
SHIPPING WEEKLY
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VIRTUAL REALITY
Immersive prototypes and spatial experiments. Terra Sol is designed to be stood inside eventually, not only read about.
R&D
☉
GAMES & INTERACTIVE
Tabletop systems, game mechanics and the tooling around them. Cortex Vortex is the largest thing this arm has built.
EDITION 1 INBOUND
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MUSIC & SOUND
Original score and in-universe music. Circus of Cosmic Chaos is a real band with real recorded tracks and real lyrics — they just happen to exist inside the year 5000.
CCC · ON STREAMING
THE CURRENT PRIORITY
RIGHT NOW, EVERYTHING POINTS AT CORTEX VORTEX.
A studio this size gets one shot at a flagship. Cortex Vortex is ours, a cinematic sci-fi fantasy TTRPG set in the year 5000: four years in the writing, playtested at real tables, and arriving as Edition 1 for World Space Week. Everything else the studio can do is currently in service of it — the writing, the animation, the 3D, the AI video, the brand system, the music. When the book is out, those arms come back to the front.
02 //
THE CREW
SMALL TEAM · BOUNDLESS IMAGINATION · SUPPORTED BY A WIDER CREW OF CREATIVES
LM02
CO-FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LEONARDO MARINAS
Writer, filmmaker, editor and animator. Leo holds the creative direction of the universe: the voice, the look, and the answer to “would this actually happen in the year 5000?”
AR03
PROJECT MANAGER · GALACTIC MASTER
ABRAHAM RENGIFO
Pragmatic and unstoppable. Project management, game mechanics, VR work, and a large share of the core systems inside the Cortex Vortex book. He is also the one who ran most of the playtests.
GP04
WRITER
GIAMPIERO PAGLIONE
Writing on the setting and the book. Credited alongside the founders on every page of Edition 1.
CREW PORTRAITS: SLOT RESERVED — DROP FOUR SQUARE HEADSHOTS INTO THE STUDIO FOLDER AND THEY REPLACE THE MONOGRAMS.
03 //
HOW WE GOT HERE
ORIGIN · EXPERIMENT · MILESTONE · NEXT
A CREATIVE CRUCIBLE
A studio built where cinema, role-playing, science fiction and fantasy converge. It is the vortex that pulls the team's creativity into a single direction.
A LOT OF FORMATS
Octokraken has experimented with a lot of formats and started plenty of things. Some worked, some haven't, but we've learned from all of those experiences to bring you something really cool.
CORTEX VORTEX
185 pages, eight species, four classes, playtested, and a universe big enough to hold everything the studio can make.
BOUNDLESS WORLDS
Edition 1 first, then print. Then Edition 2 — and this is the part that matters: with the help of the community, Edition 1 will evolve into Edition 2, and it will be way better, because we want to give the community and the fans what they actually want.
VISION & MISSION
ELECTRIC DREAMS.
ELECTRIC DREAMS.
HUMAN CONNECTION.
VISION — be a home for people drawn to the electric dreams of tomorrow: innovative content, games worth playing, and work with a synthwave pulse.
MISSION — deliver immersive experiences through games and content, and build a community around them rather than an audience for them.
CONTACT // LAKELAND, FLORIDA
TALK TO THE STUDIO.
Press, creator review copies, collaboration, or a question about the book — one address reaches all of us.
EMAIL: INFO@OCTOKRAKEN.COM
BASE: LAKELAND, FLORIDA
PRESS & REVIEW COPIES: ASK FOR THE EDITION 1 REVIEW PDF
DISCORD: THE FASTEST WAY TO REACH US
BASE: LAKELAND, FLORIDA
PRESS & REVIEW COPIES: ASK FOR THE EDITION 1 REVIEW PDF
DISCORD: THE FASTEST WAY TO REACH US
Octokraken started as an independent animation and design studio and has experimented with a lot of formats over the years. Since 2022 the whole studio has pointed at one thing: building the Cortex Vortex universe and getting it to tables.
FREE QUICKSTART // PLAY TONIGHT
PLAY THE THING WE'VE BEEN BUILDING.
Four years of work, free at your table this week. The Quickstart carries the complete core engine, all eight species and a one-shot adventure.
NO SPAM · PRODUCTION UPDATES AND PLAYABLE MATERIAL · LEAVE WHENEVER YOU WANT