Hello there. I’m Pinworm of StarReaper Studios, and we’re making Void Rats, a procedural twin-stick shooter with fleet defense elements, which is to say it has the gameplay of a twin-stick shooter with your fleet serving as a moving pseudo-tower defense. We think it’s a pretty unique idea that’s pretty fun in action, and our game is about 50% complete… the framework is all there, we’re on the “adding content, tweaking, and polish” phase.
Our team currently consists of me, project lead and blueprinter, a dedicated programmer, and two potential 3D modellers.
What we currently lack is anything related to 2D art - specifically, a UI artist (programmer UI at the moment) and a concept/traditional artist to give our game and space pirates character, by creating characters, scenes, etc to use for the (very light, this is a procedural game) narrative.
We’re currently making our first trailer / advertisement, so I don’t have a video to show (plus we’d like our own assets to be used, right now we’re using [mostly] free 3D assets), but we do have a working demo, albeit one not entirely balanced yet. Enough to see the game exists and has potential. We do plan to actually release this, and we’re pretty dedicated - that said, I am a random unemployed guy, so payment would have to be as a royalty after release. We’re mostly hobbyists hoping to actually get something going.
If you think you can contribute or have any questions leave a reply or send me a PM
Love the enthusiasm! It generally helps developers make better decisions if you include some art, a website link, or other media to get the creative juices flowing. Definitely update the thread whenever possible. I could probably help you out with the concept art and UI elements, maybe get in touch with me on Skype if you would like to have a light chat about the game!
Aye I’d love to show some artwork to look much more professional, unfortunately that’s exactly what we lack. We’re basically two programmers, and our 3D artists aren’t done any models yet. I could post the demo, but I’m not quite ready to do that, and like I said our “teaser” video is under production… but as you say, having actual art would help a lot. This is the best I can do on my own:
So you can see why we’re looking for someone better :). That said, our game is, in my personal opinion, quality so far… we just need an artist to take us over the edge.
Same thing with the website… Waiting until we have unique assets for that. It’s currently voidrats.wordpress.com (eventually I’ll buy a domain) but that’s using art that isn’t my own and isn’t very filled out. Like I said, we’re programmers mostly and most of the work is in the game. I do need to improve all of this, but doing so with a dedicated artist rather than myself would produce better results, I think.
There’s a few bugs, repairing is broken, if systems/stations are too close it can mess with the UI. Trader Defense mode does not yet work. But in general it gives the idea.
How to play since the tutorial is still a WiP:
WASD moves, Mouse aims (controller support as well). Shift Boosts.
You are an escort for your carrier and must go around lowering the danger rating of a system in which space pirates have taken over. Enemies will target you and your carrier. Gear can be equipped on yourself and your carrier and changes how your weapons function. Mouse 4/5 changes your equipped weapon between primary and secondary.
You can refuel at stations or, if you run out, trigger an ambush that refuels you.
Again, this is a PROTOTYPE, not even an alpha. It’s all the pieces of the game, but they aren’t yet balanced or tweaked very much, it’s a little rough around the edges, but I’m also fairly proud of it. I think it’s a unique idea that’s pretty fun to play, and really fun to develop.
