The business of gaming is changing. There was once a time where the consumer had little control over the products thrown their way, but with the advent of KickStarter and the raging popularity of the crowd-funding model we’re starting to see both a rise in the amount of games with original concepts released and a resurgence in certain cult genres that are no longer as popular as they once were. Also, whilst before it was incredibly difficult to go indie and release within any reasonable timeframe, new companies have a bit more of a chance.
When I first heard about Galaxy Crash, a tower-defence-styled game under development by the UK-based developer Raging Bear I was intrigued; Whilst Tower-Defence as a genre is currently a little over-done, their original and exciting concepts centred on the idea of using solar energy as the central resource could easily elevate it above the competition.
In actuality, it’s a rather simple idea; both the player (humanity) and the enemies (bug-like alien entities) require the planetary resources in each level, and it’s down to you to make sure the swarm don’t succeed in harvesting them through placing various turrets and protect against the menace. The levels are all set on fully rotatable planetoids with dynamic sunlight, on which both your units and the bugs can feed. The strategy in the gameplay not only comes from the placement of the turrets, but the manipulation of shadow and exposure to remove bonus’ from the enemy units and bestow the player with more options.
Whilst lacking polish that only funding can provide, the work-in-progress is functional and demonstrates that despite the team’s lack of experience they know what they’re doing. At current they have showcased a single enemy and four unique turrets with many more to come and plans to implement a full campaign across a variety of different worlds.
As a KickStarter project, you’re surely asking yourself “What’s in it for me?”. Well, for only £4 you can bag yourself a copy of the game itself, with higher donations reaping higher rewards such as Hoodies and 3D prints. Whilst compared to other projects the rewards may seem lackluster, it’s worth remembering the price-scale. £4 for an original game on release isn’t half bad, especially baring in mind the scale planned;
- • 50 level campaign.
- • Original Mechanics.
- • Various upgradeable weapons for offensive and defensive attacks.
- • Achievements to unlock.
- • Various extra mini games and challenges to unlock.
- • Leaderboards for competitive players.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of crowdfunding, unless they hit their goal of £30,000, they don’t get a penny, so they need YOUR support to go into full-time development.
You can pledge your support on their KS page, (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ragingbearteam/galaxy-crash), give the team your thoughts on Steam Greenlight (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=123715582), or play the work-in-progress demo at http://ragingbear.co.uk/GCDemo.html.
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