A competitive multiplayer action game. Stay hidden, be smart, then force and bribe your opponents to pro-actively help you win!
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A competitive multiplayer action game. Stay hidden, be smart, then force and bribe your opponents to pro-actively help you win!
About this project
We've all commanded team mates or groups of AI units in a game. In OBEY you are instead positioned to command your enemies (human opponents) - and to be commanded by them.
Players are always free to obey/disobey, it is up to them to deal with the consequences of their actions in the game.
One player, balanced on a precarious throne, has vast advantages in firepower and income. But everyone else has the very things that the overlord player needs to make their dominion last. Any player could take the overlord's place, if they're clever and quick. Who has the real power?
When funded, OBEY will be released for PC/MAC/Linux.
NOTE TO BACKERS! ALL TIERS $11 AND ABOVE ALL INCLUDE BETA ACCESS: EVERYONE WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY BY SUMMER 2015!
BETA/ALPHA ACCESS IS ALSO INCLUDED IN ANY EXTRA KEYS IN YOUR TIER!
Do you want to be able to share the maps you make with other players? Do you want me to bring this to other platforms? Leaderboards and Achievements? Let's get this thing funded!
To learn more details about how the coercive game mechanics in OBEY function, have a listen to this audio (5 mins) or watch a stream of a play session or scroll down to the "Action! Strategy! Stealth! Coercion!" section.
Press Reactions:
- "[the] mechanics help foster multiplayer dynamics that are amazing to watch unfold. In one game players might end up in a Totalitarian-style play style. In another, a bunny uprising, or flat-out anarchy may occur. Really, it’s up to each player and their acceptance/rejection of “obeying” that makes each match unique. Although there may be other games out there that foster such gameplay, I have definitely never played one before." - Marcus Estrada, Cliqist.com
- "...this is a tense, fast-paced King of the Hill-type encounter where the balance of power is constantly shifting and is not always in the hands of the only person with actual weaponry. Playing into the overlord’s hand can be more lucrative than attempting to constantly subvert, creating a bizarre and uncomfortably totalitarian-feeling experience, whereas once the dropship is eliminated complete anarchy can erupt with players casting off their tracking collars and bum-rushing the robot for control.." - Julian Aidan, hardcoregamer.com
- "As games for the most part have clearly defined player interactions, be they competitive or cooperative, a new project on Kickstarter plays with participants’ self-interests like few games do...The game has players interact as helpless bunnies, but it’s much more complex than it looks."
- Luke Siuty, http://indiegamemag.com/ - "I am really glad we here at GAU caught you early on this because we loved the game", "OBEY was my favorite game at Boston Festival of Indie Games" - Drew Frayre, gaustudios.com
Watch a game session recorded by YouTuber FRAGMIX!
Below is the same session as recorded by YouTuber xGD0G - his strategy is to build up a lot of trust before subverting!
Here is another video of the same session, as experienced by the (very subversive!) Twitch user Venraiden.
Features:
- Unique asymmetrical gameplay
- King-of-the-Hill gameplay for new or casual players and deep gameplay for experienced players
- Stealth gameplay mechanics
- Play tricks and mind games against your opponents
- Maintain fragile alliances with opponents based on self-interest
- Create your own maps
- A complex world that allows for almost unlimited forms of deception
- Really cool robot to control and explode bunnies with
- Bunny customization
- Windows, OSX, Linux
- Multiplayer action
- DRM Free
- Local LAN support - no internet required.
- Run your own private server.
- No micro-transactions, no BS, just a solid game.
All tiers $11 and above get BETA access in Summer 2015. Estimated final release is Fall 2015.
You can get your hands on the OBEY ALPHA as soon as January!
What makes OBEY special?
Maybe you saw the enormous robot annihilating defenseless little bunnies with its cannon, missile launchers, and then a flamethrower and thought "I've seen this before - this is nothing new."
Consider the following: The robot that kills bunnies is also controlled by a 'defenseless' bunny. When we realize that the creatures in the game are the ones committing ultra-violence against each other, we begin to understand the game.
The robot player can only shoot missiles, flames, and generally abuse the other players when those players have enabled it!
"Oh, that's clever! Horrible, and maybe even a little deranged, but exceptionably clever. I mean, we're all used to ordering around hordes of little peasants or heroes or whatever, but giving and receiving orders to/from actual players? And not just team commands, group action, or quest suggestions, actual coercive micromanagement? The psychological aspects are great. Seriously, I'm in." -Grey_Moment, Steam user
Action! Strategy! Stealth! Coercion!!
OBEY is really two games in one.
Some players play OBEY like an action game and like to shoot anything that moves in the face with a chain cannon the size of a small apartment building. This is FINE.
However, OBEY is a deeper game, and playing it for a bit reveals its true nature as a strategy and psychological game. Even in its current state, it rewards trickery and creativity much more than twitch skills. OBEY is the first video game designed from the ground up with player vs. player coercion at its core. Because of this, there is no other game that plays like OBEY.
Mastery of OBEY means understanding its coercion mechanics. If you want to know details about how the game mechanics work, have a listen to the audio below (5 mins), or watch a play session, or have a read of my gameplay blog post or some articles about OBEY.
VOTE for OBEY on Steam Greenlight!
Approach and Inspiration
OBEY was inspired by authoritarian systems of influence and the way they function. OBEY is not about bunnies or robots at all: the meaning of OBEY becomes evident when you realize that the situation spontaneously arising in your game with your fellow players mirrors a recurring human pattern.
These are the ideas that have, and will continue to inform my decisions on OBEY.
Budget
Backers on Kickstarter often see games being funded for $10k or $30k, and you may wonder why I have not done the same. To the uninitiated, let me disabuse you of the illusion that any but the most primitive web games can be funded for those amounts. (Do you really think a team of devs can work for a year on $50k alone? No).
In my case, I have personally invested everything into getting the game where it is today. Backers are funding the completion of OBEY to 100%. In order to keep your risk as backer as low as possible, I developed the game as far as I could BEFORE asking you to fund it.
Here is what I have already completed:
- Gameplay implementation and proof of concept
- Networking systems & matchmaking
- Modular environment systems and art pipeline
- Level editing pipeline
- Art and effect pipelines
Here is how the funds will be distributed:
The minimum goal is designed to buy enough time to complete the list below (in the following section).
Why Kickstarter?
OBEY is a game I have wanted to see made for over a decade. Realizing no one was going to make it but me, I decided to make it myself. I know there are tons of other players that want to get their hands on this. (In fact, someone sent me an email the other day with the subject line "GIVE ME YOUR GAME"). NOW it is time to get this project in front of YOU! Kickstarter is the perfect way to bring us together to not only complete this game but make OBEY as awesome and fun to play as possible!
Things I will do with the funds if we meet the minimum goal:
- Sound effects (the game does not have any sound at the moment)
- Music
- The game is begging for an alliance system so players can team up against each other. This is one of the first things I will add.
- An AI system so that the game can be played with fewer players. (right now, OBEY needs at least 4 players to have the most enjoyable session possible) The AI doesn't have to be smart, just complex enough so human players can hide among them (like in Spy Party). I know this will work because I have already seen skilled human players try to hide among less skilled players!
- Destructible environments (the map has to get utterly trashed as a round progresses)
- The game will require in-game VoIP.
- Game Modes
- A Linux build
- Bunny customization/accessory system (bunnies will still all look the same to the robo player, though)
- Tons of UI work to be done
- Art passes. Do you like the way OBEY looks? I will make it even better!
- The game has only been playable for about 2 months, and it's already fun and doing what it is supposed to do. I need to refine the gameplay based on YOUR feedback!
But there is so much more!
Do you want to be able to share the maps you make with other players? Do you want me to bring this to other platforms? Leaderboards and Achievements? Let's get this thing funded, and tell me what you want!
Do you like what you see? Tell your friends - I can't do this without you!
The more we can raise, the better I can make this game!
The Team
I have been making games for 12 years professionally full time (plus also usually late into the night). Mainly as an environment and technical artist and also as an indie programmer. I am also a self-taught coder (14 years, but forever learning). In 2008, I left my last studio position as environment art supervisor at Kaos Studios to become indie. I have been indie ever since.
If you would like to know more about my professional past, have a look at my linkedIn, my personal website, or my old art portfolio.
OBEY is my personal Mt. Everest. Join the adventure!!! :D
NOTE: I will be hiring out the sound/music - so that will be the one area that I will not be doing alone.
Media
If you would like press materials, please do check out the press kit, or visit obeygame.com. You can also download a big zip with the latest screenshots here.
If you are a YouTuber and want to give OBEY a try, contact me through my YouTube account.
Why do you hate bunnies?
This is a fair question. Firstly, I chose baby bunnies to counter the robot because I wanted the contrast and asymmetry between players inside vs outside the robot to be as large as possible. I wanted the player's avatar to reflect their (apparent) impotence against the robot's (apparent) invincibility. Secondly, because baby bunnies seem to me to be among the most defenseless and innocent of creatures, it makes it all the more shocking when it becomes evident that it is they perpetrating horrific acts against each other (for money). Sound familiar? Finally, baby bunnies are a fitting animal to live in a magical forest, which I also wanted to have as an environment to counter the hard lines and aesthetic of the robot (NOTE: the forest is going to get a few art passes before OBEY is done).
Also, I do not actually hate bunnies. Behold:
Also note that baby bunnies do not care for: carrots, kale, or blueberries. In fact, shortly after this picture was taken I learned that baby bunnies only care about one thing, and one thing only: GOLD. Just kidding. I learned they only care for: milk from mommy bunny teats.
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Risks and challenges
The funding goal is the minimum amount needed to guarantee to put out OBEY as a professional but bare bones product. Barring any catastrophic personal situation or health issue, OBEY will be delivered as a finished game to you sometime in 2015.
I have worked really hard before running this campaign to leave as little risk for backers.
You will note most of the riskiest and most difficult questions and systems are already in place and tested:
- Gameplay implementation and proof of concept
- Networking systems
- Modular environment systems and art pipeline
- Level editing pipeline
- Art and effect pipelines
Here are the systems that are NOT in place and do pose some potential risk:
- AI system
- Environmental destruction system
- bunny customization system
- VoIP
- Sounds and audio system integration
- game recording and playback systems (if stretch goal is met)
Developing games for 12 years has given me insight into what are the risky elements and I purposefully took care of all the stuff I thought was scary before coming to Kickstarter (the 'done' list above).
The main advantage to working alone (and it is the reason I chose to work alone) is that the buck stops with me. There are zero interpersonal dependencies, or hierarchies, or special knowledge among team members. If something needs changing or fixing, I can fix it because I made it. I am responsible only to you, the backers!
Learn about accountability on KickstarterFAQ
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Yes, assuming it is Greenlit. I am pretty confident I will get through. The reason I say 'keys' in the rewards and not 'steam keys' is because I might give you other keys as well. For example, I will try to get on humble bundle, GOG, etc. and if I can get distribution on those I will give you OBEY keys for those as well.
You can vote for OBEY on Steam Greenlight here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/… -
All extra game keys will be delivered when BETA is reached (summer 2015). It will not be possible to give them earlier.
Private forum access will be granted depending on your tier. Access to the forums for you and friends (extra keys) will be granted in the summer for most tiers, but January for all of you if your tier is ALPHA.Exclusive accessories, game credits, and other rewards are only for the person who backed.
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The reason is that it is 'playable', but it is very rough. For example various game mechanics are not knowable unless I directly explain them while playing with you in the game. I want to buy a little time to at least refine things slightly more so at least people can play without me in the game with them (even then, I am not sure January will be enough time, but it should be better by then).
Rewards
Funding period
- (30 days)