Flying Carpets Games

Flying Carpets Games is an independent Canadian studio creating original video games and tabletop games. Founded in Montreal in July 2012 by game designer and programmer Salim Larochelle, it combines narrative design, hand-painted visual aesthetics and distinctive gameplay mechanics. Its work spans action-adventure, survival horror and strategic card games, with an emphasis on developing its own intellectual property.

From fairy-tale adventure to tabletop games

The studio's first major release, The Girl and the Robot, is a third-person action-adventure inspired by classic Japanese animation and games such as Ico. It follows a young girl escaping an enchanted castle with help from a mysterious robot. The relationship between the two characters forms the basis of both the story and its remotely controlled companion mechanics.

The project raised more than twice its initial Kickstarter goal in late 2013. It subsequently launched on PC and PlayStation 4 in August 2016, followed by Wii U in 2017. Flying Carpets Games later extended the setting into The Girl and the Robot – The Card Game, a physical game combining strategic elimination and cooperation. Its crowdfunding campaign followed in October 2019, broadening the studio's work beyond digital releases.

Folklore and survival horror

The studio's current project, Hiboka, is a single-player, third-person survival horror game set in Madagascar in 1942. Drawing on Larochelle's Malagasy heritage, it places players inside the cursed Sanatry Mansion and connects traditional folklore with themes of grief, bereavement and reconciliation.

Its "Perfect Sync" system uses a dual-timeline narrative in which players alternate between French youth Alexandre Leblanc and Malagasy protagonist Ramala Fifaliana. The project continues the studio's interest in character relationships while exploring a darker setting and a different genre.

As of October 2026, Hiboka remains in development. Flying Carpets Games has continued sharing production updates, conducting playtests and presenting playable builds at public events, including Montreal Comiccon and Otakuthon Montreal.