Hello guys, i started a pre-launch page for the IndieGoGo campaign, i hope you will be interested!
Rick Henderson is an endless horizontal-scrolling shoot 'em up with infinite replayability, a true homage to 16-bit shooters wrapped in graphics we all loved. Twitch your fingers through five enemy factions and their bosses, upgrade your ship and try to survive through unpredictable space events.
Levels are generated by combining hand-crafted waves (consisting of single enemies, squadrons, waypoint enemies and their combinations), multiple bosses' variations and random events to provide unique, but satisfying experience every time you play.
The Game Loop consists of Levels. First level is composed of Pirate only waves with a Pirate boss at the end. When you defeat the Pirate Boss, you get to choose a perk from a random selection of perks which will fit your play style (better firing rate for a weapon type, score bonus, and so on) and then enter the Warp. Random events can occur while being in warp, either a Warp Malfunction, which will drop you in the middle of a Meteor Storm, single faction space (the idea is to implement a special Warp Dweller faction which can be only found in Warp, if the funding allows), or other similar hazards during the next Level.
Next Level is made of Pirates AND Rift Miners, and so on until the final Boss. When you defeat it, you loop through the game again. The Bosses remain the same (in a sense of words, another variation of the Boss will be spawned on second loop) for each level, but the enemies are tougher, faster, fire more often and new, harder waves are added. Also, all the enemy factions are present from the start of Game Loop number 2.
To deepen the replayability of the game, i included several random events that will keep the players on their toes:
Warp MalfunctionI borrowed this idea from Galaga Deluxe, one of my favorite games from Amiga 500 back in the day. Between the levels, there's a small chance that your warp drive will malfunction and you may end up in null-space where you will be attacked by solo faction ships only, or get stuck in a meteor storm that can yield extra points or end your run if you are destroyed in it. If i get enough funding, i'd really like to make a special Warp Dweller faction that would appear only during the Warp Malfunction.
Asteroid Rain, Laser Barrage, MinefieldComplete the level during some of these events for an additional score multiplier.
I'm planning more events and i'd be more than happy to hear your ideas on this one.
PerksDepending on your style of play, at the end of each level you are presented with a choice of perks that can help you last longer, be it a faster ship, more health, additional score multiplier, better firing rate for certain types of weapons, critical hit chances for your weapons and so on.
There are over 20 weapons (for now, plan is to have around 40) divided into three groups Bullet, Missile, Energy. Each of the weapon types deals a different amount of damage based on the type of enemy armor, which is spread out into Unarmored, Armored and Shielded.
Bullet weapons deal normal damage to all armor types.
Missile weapons deal extra damage to armored enemies, but less damage to shielded enemies.
Energy weapons deal extra damage to shielded enemies, but less damage to armored enemies.
Switching between weapons takes a small amount of time so you need to have a plan prepared in split second for every incoming wave!
Pirates - Your typical cannon fodder faction, aggressive small and medium ships that make up the ship and weapon quality with numbers.
Rift Miners - Mining AI gone haywire, a lot of blades, drills and industrial grade weapons and armor.
Terran Confederacy - Highly organized military fleet with tight formations and organized attacks.
Paragon Cult - Mysterious cult utilizing an unknown source of energy in form of yellow orbs both for weapons, propulsion and cloak systems.
SunDyne Corporation - Privately owned space exploring corporation equipped with cutting-edge technology that let's no-one stand in their path.
I need your help to bring to life the sixth faction, Rokh Raiders, survivors of a long lost planet colonization gone wrong that are building their ships from space scrap. Here are some designs in the works, but i need additional funding for the artist to finish the rest of the ships.
A very important matter that i must admit i was quite oblivious to inclusion in the gaming until recently, but i vow to give my best for the game to be played by everyone and make it possible for people with visual impairments to compete for the highest score.
The things i've done until now:
Colorblind mode for people with Protanopia, Deuteranopia and Tritanopia.
For people that have problem with flashing lights, background screen flashes when hit are able to be turned off.
Screen shakes can be turned off if someone is bothered by those, and i'm quite sure they can make someone dizzy, at least.
Bloom levels will be adjustable to enable more crisp visual presentation.
Things i'm planning to do:
High-contrast mode for people with low vision.
I'm open to other improvements, if they are viable to do in a reasonable time-frame by a one man team.
One of the most important features of game is the music. It can make or break the game, make an average game feel outstanding or make a great game lifeless and dull. Therefore, i carefully chose the music tracks that will be included in the game. They need to properly breathe with the game, build the tension and release it when necessary, give away the sense of danger and accomplishment. Take a listen to some of the tracks that will appear in the game made by brilliant Cryocon and Mlada Fronta. I hope i will have some more cool tracks to announce soon.
Of course, the main question is how will your pledge be used, so here is a quick breakdown of the expenses involved:
Backgrounds - You noticed that the trailer only has two backgrounds. To make the game more visually pleasing i need 20 backgrounds in 5 thematic colors (red, green, blue, purple, yellow), each costing 45-70 USD per piece, which comes to roughly 1.500 USD since, besides the regular artist hours involved for making them, some additional hours will be probably needed for fixes and adjustments.
Additional gfx works - Additional graphics include finishing the Rokh Raiders sprites, background elements, bullets, special effects, explosions and works on the Galaxy Database. I approximate that 1.000 USD is needed for all of that. It might seem much, but bear in mind that's only 33 hours of more or less standard artist pay.
Translations - They cost around 0.1 USD per word for translating the basic user interface and options, but a lot more if i plan on translating the Galaxy Database. But for the basic translation into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese, i approximate that around 100-200 USD will be needed since the game does not have many words.
Fees and taxes - Steam Fee is 100 USD and Indiegogo takes 5%, and then there's income taxes too, which will come around to 10-20% for this amount.
Music and SFX - Music licenses are very expensive to obtain, but i am in contact with several musicians that are willing to let me use their music for an IndieGoGo and revenue cut. Still, it will come to at least 10-20% of the funding. I have been a music producer for more than 15 years so the sound effects will be handled by myself.
Mostly all of the planned features are already implemented. There's a lot of work on additional weapons and content which needs to be huge enough for the wave combinations to provide a feeling of randomness and feeling that each game you play is a new one.
- Supporter - Your name will appear in the "Supporter" section of the credits.
- Special Supporter - Your name will appear in the "Special Supporter" section of the credits.
- Super Supporter - Your name will appear in the "Super Supporter" section of the credits.
- Early Access - Early Access to the game via Steam.
- Game - Digital Copy of the game (Steam key).
- Soundtrack - Digital Copy of the Soundtrack for the video game
- Galaxy Database in PDF - Database of enemies, weapons and bosses in PDF format.
- Community Enemy Designer - Help design the enemy with other backers on the Discord channel.
- Galaxy Database in hardcover - Database of enemies, weapons and bosses in hardcover.
- Name on a Blimp - Get your name on a space blimp randomly appearing throughout the game.
- Enemy Designer - Help me design your own enemy for any of the factions (bosses excluded).
Come chat about the game on Discord or follow the game's progress on Trello and Twitter! Community feedback is very important to me and essential to developing the game properly.
DiscordTrelloTwitterMy name is Uroš Zečević and i come from Belgrade, Serbia. I'm 36 years old and i grew up playing likes of U.N. Squadron, R-Type and Uridium on C64, then Z-Type, Project X and Xenon 2 on Amiga 500, all the way to Jets 'n' Guns and Steredenn on PC. My dream is to kick off the game development career by making a game i always wanted to make - side-scrolling shoot 'em up that never ends, combining qualities of the games we all loved. Making video games is not cheap, i spent a lot of my own money until now and i need your help to make my dream come true.
Biggest risk is my dedication to quality. I regard this game as my baby and i want it to be perfect from start to finish. A gem that will remain a classic in times to come and always remain fun and challenging. Therе's hardly anything worse than to ruin a great game by tons of bugs.
I want to be completely transparent, share everything with the backers and let everyone express their opinion on features and how we can make them better, together.
Campaign is currently in the pre-launch phase, you can find it
here, please subscribe if you are interested.
Of course, you are always welcome to follow the devlog which has been present for more than two years
here.
Community
