Tag: Rebuild

  • Rebuild 3: Meet the gangs

    Whooo! The Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville Kickstarter campaign is 50% funded after only 3 days! You guys are amazing. :) To celebrate, I’m announcing the project’s first stretch goal: 3 Extra Gangs! These NPC factions will sometimes appear in the city with you. Some are easy going and will help you out so long as you don’t scavenge all the best stuff near their fort. Other factions are… not so nice. Let me introduce you:

    The Granville Riffs

    Ever seen the cult 70’s movie The Warriors? Well I was a little drunk when I did (it helps) but afterward I couldn’t get it out of my head. This faction is a play on the Gramercy Riffs, a badass gang of tall black karate dudes with mirrored shades. They value discipline, have a strict code of ethics and take a little too much joy in killing zombies with katanas and well-placed roundhouse kicks. You can hire them as mercenaries once you prove your honor.

    The Last Judgement Gang

    These guys are just the opposite of the Riffs, and the two are always at eachother’s throats. The Judgement are a good old fashioned Hells Angels type biker gang, except… they dress like catholic priests. They’re all fire-and-brimstone and set to cleanse the world of zombie and human alike. If you’re alive, you’re probably a sinner, and that’s all the excuse they need to roll in and raid your fort.

    The Last Judgement Gang

    The Luddies

    Part hippie, part luddite, these vegan farmers live off the land, and are so much happier now that civilization has collapsed and they can take off their tinfoil hats: there are no more radio, tv and wifi waves flying around to cook their brains or control their thoughts anymore. You’ll clash with these guys if you’re truly intent on bringing back the evils of technology.

    Church of the Chosen Ones

    Another callback to Rebuild 2/Mobile, this zombie-worshipping cult have formed their own fort in this game. You could say they’re a little eccentric but mostly harmless… or are they? If their infectuous new religion takes root among your own survivors, watch out – because the ultimate goal of any Church follower is to join the “Chosen Ones” and become a zombie themselves.

    Church of the Chosen Ones

    St Micheal’s School for Boys

    Still living in their former boarding school, this gang of kids is lead by a 16 year old (Rufio! Rufio!) who is the oldest of them because he was held back a year for bad behavior. But it’s not quite Lord of the Flies over there yet, and they get by on their ability to sneak, hide and steal.

    The Pig Farmers

    I introduced these guys in the Rebuild Mobile winter update. Avid meat merchants, they’ve got all these cuts of pork to trade at surprisingly good prices. Well, that is kind of a funny color for pork, and it does taste a little odd, but hey beggars can’t be choosers, right? They really don’t like people snooping around their pig farm and will shoot at anybody who gets too close. Everybody’s got a right to privacy, right?

    The Pig Farmers

    The Government

    These beurocrats are the last remnants of the actual local government. They claim to have contact with a central organization via a secret government network, and are under orders to regain control of the area and will mercilessly comondeer any supplies they need to do that.

    The Rotten

    Not all zombies are alike; in fact some of them manage to keep their wits about them, more or less. Unfortunately they still look and smell like rotting walking corpses, so most of them get shot on sight by humans. But a few have moved underground and are living a marginal life, hoping someday to find a cure for their illness.

    The Rotten

    Stretch Goal Factions

    Now for the stretch goal: if we make it to $35,000, I’ll be able to add 3 more factions to the mix. These guys are more than just names & faces: each faction comes with a bunch of new random events and at least one major plotline that involves them. Stephen’s been coming up with some great storylines that I’m eager to see play out.

    1337cREw (stretch goal)

    These gamers had gathered together for an epic lan party on the night the zombie infection reached their town. They didn’t even notice the dead roming the streets outside until the Internet finally went down. Now they quest to get it back online.

    The Pharmacists (stretch goal)

    Drug dealers, anarchists, hipsters. This gang is in it for the money and not too concerned if a few people get hurt in the process. They’re makers of the hot new drug Bath Salts, which makes you feel strong and fearless but is terribly addictive.

    The Suffragettes (stretch goal)

    These women have had enough of a male-dominated society putting them in second place, and don’t think you need “superior upper body strength” to kill zombies or do what it takes to survive. Tired of being told to do the laundry (have you seen the The Walking Dead?), they’ve got big plans for a brave new world.

  • Rebuild 3: Kickstarting it

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    The Rebuild 3: Gangs of Deadsville Kickstarter campaign has been live for about an hour, and already has $2000 in pledges! :D I’m so excited and proud just to be a part of the crowdfunding movement which is changing how indie games get made. Since Double Fine opened the floodgates, crowdfunding has become a viable way to fund game development without a publisher. It’s a wonderful way to gather fans together and communally support the creation of something bigger than us. My heart is glowing; let’s all join hands and sing now!

    Rebuild fans have already been showing their support for this sequel since the Rebuild 3 ideas wiki opened last November. I’ve gotten so many valuable suggestions that are going to make this new game the best evah, and most of them are in the game already. I’ve about reached the halfway point and am still on track for a release in Spring 2014.

    The campaign will run until October 31st to raise $25,000 to help with the cost of art, writing and music. I’m going to finish the game regardless, but the more money this campaign raises now, the more awesome I can afford to make it. And if we manage to overshoot the goal, I’ve got some stretch goals I’m just itching to announce.

    This is your chance to get in early and preorder Rebuild 3 for Windows & Mac (via Steam or DRM-free direct download). The first 500 will get a discount price, then there are sweet extras like exclusive starting equipment, a digital artbook, a sticker for your laptop or your name and face on actual survivors in the game.

    Whoo! Let’s do this thing!

  • Rebuild 3: Main menu art

    We’re nearing the start of the Rebuild 3 Kickstarter on October 1st! Here’s a sneak preview of yours truly in the campaign video:

    I think I sum up the game nicely: “Rebuild is a game about Rebuildenating. Click on things… and then you win”. I may have had too much sun that day.

    One of the art pieces I’ll be showing off in the Rebuild 3 Kickstarter campaign is this illustration Adam did for the main menu:

    UI_Results

    You can see his process here with this timelapse:

    Rebuild-Promo-Animated-500

    Wallpaper versions: 1920×1200 1920×1080 1680×1050 1440×900 1366×768

  • Going Indie with Sarah Northway

    Hardcore Droid invited me to write an article about my rise as an indie game developer for their series on game jobs. In it I talk about education, travel, and my experiences as an indie so far.

    I’m an independent game developer. Independent from publishers, independent from bosses, from 9 to 5 work schedules and commutes and possessions and national boundaries. Since I went indie in 2011 I’ve lived in 15 countries and released five games, including the post-apocalyptic strategy series Rebuild.

    I know my experience isn’t the norm but if you’re keen to do the same I can tell you the steps I took to get where I am now.

    Step 1: Love Games

    In 1988 I was 8 years old and saving up for my first big purchase: a NES with a light gun, Duck Hunt and Super Mario Brothers. One afternoon of smushing goombas and I was hooked for a lifetime. Forget TV and books (or God help me, sports or makeup). Give me my video games! In my awkward teens I got deep into the vast open worlds of pc games like Sim City, Civilization, the Elder Scrolls and Might and Magic. Through them I learned how to navigate DOS, connect soundcard drivers and write batch scripts. I loved computers because they were full of little puzzles and let me play games but I knew the games industry was a very exclusive club of brilliant and hard working people. I believed if I was ever lucky enough to become a game developer, that video games would lose their magic and the last thing you’d want to do after working on games all day would be to play one.

    I was wrong…

    …read the rest on Hardcore Droid

  • Rebuild 3: Kickstarter in October

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    Rebuild 3 Kickstarter from October 1 to Halloween!
    Now that Kickstarter‘s available to us Canadian devs, I’m setting up a crowdfunding campaign for Rebuild: Gangs of Deadsville, to help pay for the game’s art and music.

    This will be your chance to show support, preorder the game, and get your hands on some exclusive goodies like the Rebuild Board Game (designed by me!). Best of all, this will be a chance to get your name or face in the game and guarantee your place in line as a beta playtester.

    Perhaps you have some opinions you’d like to share in this survey?

    I’m kind of addicted to funding games through Kickstarter. I love that it helps small teams mass-print awesome board games and film amazing movies. It’s also become a thing to crowd-fund video games since Double Fine opened the floodgates. When it comes down to it, crowdfunding has become a convenient way to preorder games while getting some cool shwag in the process. It’s also a good way for us devs to get the word out and gather a community together. I’ve had a fair bit of success with the Rebuild 3 wiki, but I know there are more people out there who want to be a part of making Rebuild 3.

    The campaign will be a lot of work, and there are some hitches (like distributing iOS versions). But I’m excited to be a part of the whole crowdfunding deal. More info soon!

    Oh – and here are the results of the second Rebuild 3 survey. The most interesting fact was that of the 58% of people who have Steam accounts, a third of them ONLY buy games that are on Steam. And 37% of the (mostly Kongregate) players said they’d rather pirate than buy it when it comes out. Sounds about average to me. :)